reality is a prison for the dreamers

"You know, I think you'd be a lot better at the Pirouette if you were to lose a couple of pounds," Dahlia spoke, watching Noelle with a sour expression. "You need to have extremely good core strength to perfect it, and a good workout or two once a week would help with that."

"You don't- you don't think I'm good at it?" Noelle asked with a look of shock, watching her friend closely. "I thought it was better than it has been recently."

"I mean, it was." Dahlia dragged the last word out before taking a long sip out of her water bottle. She waited to continue until she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, fixing her messy ponytail. "I just think it could be better."

Noelle didn't say anything and instead looked at herself in the mirror. She had never really questioned her weight, but Dahlia seemed to have a point. To perfect the Pirouette - and other ballet moves as well - you had to have good leg and core strength. It was obvious Noelle didn't work out. It was obvious she didn't focus on those, which hindered her moves.

"I didn't mean to offend, Elle, so there's no need to get sad about it," Dahlia spoke as she saw the look on her friend's face. "I'm just saying. See how flat my stomach is?" She then pointed to her own core, Noelle's eyes following quickly. "I work out before school every day."

Noelle didn't say anything, knowing that no matter what she said would be taken the wrong way by Dahlia. This was how it always went, leaving Noelle feeling guilty and wrong.

Dahlia had been her friend since she moved to Kildare. Well, that depends on what your definition of a friend is. Sometimes, it felt as if she was only friends with Noelle due to her family having lots of money and the fact that they were both Kooks.

Anytime those thoughts went through Noelle's mind, she pushed them away. It was cruel and horrible to think those things of Dahlia, even if she was a little too mean at times.

Thankfully, the conversation ended there. The other girls chatted amongst each other, Noelle continuously sending glances at herself in the giant mirror as she took off her shoes and changed into more comfortable ones.

"You all did lovely today, and before you go I have some serious news to tell you guys." The instructor, Taylor, spoke with excitement. "I've been working with both Kildare Academy and Kildare County High School to get all of the dancers together to work on our next performance."

Chatter immediately erupted through the room, talks of distaste at Kooks and Pogues working together. Taylor, having expected this response, only silenced the room.

"We will not be putting this performance on until later on in the year, as it's going to take a lot of prepping and practice. Practice, practice, practice. And simply because we do not have enough dancers and are in dire need of male dancers, this is why we need to come together. We all agree as a way of shedding light on the arts in Kildare, this would be the best thing to do." Taylor told the group, motioning her hands around dramatically.

"Why would we need that many dancers anyway?" Dahlia asked from her spot next to Noelle.

"Well, this is the exciting news!" Taylor exclaimed, almost unable to hide her enthusiasm. "This year, our major performance of the year is going to be that of Swan Lake!"

The chatter grew louder, and everyone in the room was excited for such a show. Swan Lake was one of the biggest most popular routines in ballet, one of the hardest as well.

"We'll be performing it at Kildare Academy, as that's the biggest theatre. I and the others in charge of the production will get together to choose who will be needed for which part, and it'll go on in a few months. The time is closer than we think, so we need to start taking practice much more seriously." Taylor explained.

The girls in the room continued to talk, save for a couple. Noelle was a part of the select few who didn't say anything, her mind running in thoughts about how this was such a big opportunity for someone in Kildare at all. She listened as Dahlia talked about how she had the role of Odette - the main character - in the bag. How she not only had the perfect look but also the perfect body to do all of the stressful and harder moves that they do in the performance.

Noelle took this to heart, despite not wanting to. It was a coincidence that Dahlia was saying these things, but Noelle being the type of person she is, felt like it was a jab to her own body since Dahlia had commented on it only moments before.

Taylor released the class. Everyone stood up and gathered their things as they had been excited about the news they'd just received, being told they'd find out more information as the days went on. Noelle stayed in her spot on the floor, staring at the ballet shoes she'd yet to put in her bag.

"Listen," The sound of Dahila's voice caught her attention, and she looked to see her standing there with another friend of hers closely behind her. "Don't beat yourself up too much about not perfecting the move." She told Noelle, "It was only practice after all. Surely you'll be able to still get a pretty good part."

Noelle pressed her lips together in a thin line. She knew this was Dahlia's way of apologizing and doing her best to make up for it, so she just nodded and smiled a small smile toward her. "Thanks."

Dahlia sent a fake smile back, before turning and walking away with her friend. Noelle took this as her time to gather her things and get out of there, as her father should be there at any moment to pick her up.

Just as she stood up and pulled her gym bag over her shoulder, she turned to see Sarah Cameron standing in front of her. She stopped in surprise, her arm moving slowly down the strap of the bag.

"Hey," Sarah softly said. She looked nervous, but Noelle didn't know why. They hadn't talked much before, despite both of them being Kooks, attending the same school, and both going to ballet for the majority of their lives.

"Hi," Noelle spoke in return, glancing around at the empty studio before back at Sarah.

"Um-" Sarah stopped, turning to make sure nobody was around before looking back at Noelle. "I just wanted to say that I personally think you were amazing. You're one of the best dancers in Kildare County, and your Pirouette was the better than I've seen anyone here do."

Noelle was taken back by the praise, and her jaw fell slack in shock. She wasn't sure what to expect from Sarah Cameron, but it most definitely wasn't that.

"Th-thank you," Noelle barely managed to say, her cheeks burning up at the compliment.

"If it's any consolation, Dahlia's wrong about who's going to get the lead part. I think even if we combined all of North Carolina you'd still be number one." Sarah continued, despite Noelle's lack of responses.

Noelle began to deny her words, but couldn't find the voice to. She just stood there, looking like an idiot, as Sarah waited for her response.

"Look, I-" Noelle began, but didn't get much out due to the sound of someone entering the studio.

She looked over to see a boy - one resembling Sarah in certain aspects - standing in the doorway.

"Sam and I have been waiting for ten minutes, Sarah." The boy spoke, his voice full of annoyance.

"Sorry, Rafe." Sarah apologized, "One second." Without waiting to see what he said, she turned back to Noelle. "I gotta get out of here. We should hang out sometime. It's nice to find other Kooks who have similar taste as me."

Noelle nodded and chose not to respond. This was enough for Sarah, as she grabbed her bag from the floor and walked through the door. The boy - Rafe, was what Sarah had called him - took another glance at Noelle, his eyes shifting across the features on her face before following his sister out of the room.

This left Noelle alone in the studio, as even Taylor had exited at some point before Sarah had approached her.

She thought about Sarah's words as she left the studio, standing outside as she waited for her dad to arrive. She'd gone to school with Sarah, yet they never really spoke. She'd also seen her brother around, yet neither of them took any interest in the other.

Despite how long they've all lived with each other, Noelle didn't care to partake in any conversation with many people. She had her few set friends/classmates she talked with, but that was it. Her life consisted of school, staying at home, and more importantly - dancing. She loved dancing of all types, although ballet will always be her favorite. 

Her dad hadn't shown up. She'd waited so long, that she was the only one in the parking lot left. It was insane he was insistent on him or her mother picking her up due to not wanting anything to happen to her, but something was more likely to happen to her as she waited alone.

However, her being alone at the moment may give her an advantage. People didn't pass by too much, meaning she was here alone where nobody could see - or judge - her as she worked on her dancing.

She wasn't in the right shoes anymore, having taken them off when their practice ended. But she was still in the right attire, and sneakers would suffice enough to practice until her father decided to finally show.

Setting her bag down on the floor, she popped in her earbuds before she began to dance. Move after move, twirl after twirl. Following the music, letting her emotions out through the way she knew best. She'd mess up here and there, but after spitting out a short curse at herself, she'd try again.

She did this as she waited, freer than she felt during practice since nobody was there to criticize or judge her. She was fully herself, the way she usually was when she was in her bedroom at home with nobody around.

Little did she know, she was being watched. Across the street stood none other than JJ Maybank, a boy she'd seen around town yet never spoke with. He watched as she moved, her eyes shut as she seemed so carefree.

Brown locks fell from her ponytail, but she made no move to fix them. Sweat glistened off of her forehead and chest, probably due to the all-black outfit she wore under the blazing hot sun.

He smiled. She looked so graceful, so delicate. It was something he'd never seen before let alone cared about. He didn't know much about her, just that she was some Kook from the better parts of town. Someone who blended in with the others to him, usually. Someone who belonged to an important family with an important name.

Someone completely opposite of him.

But now that he'd seen her, he knew he'd never be able to forget her.

++

Prologue is finally here! Sorry that it took so long, it took a while due to waiting on character thoughts and when they were finally finished, it took me forever to think of a good enough prologue to start the story.

Anyways, I'd like to clarify a few things as the story begins. 1) I'm still new to the OBX fandom. I've yet to finish the entire show (I'm somewhere in s2) so I don't know what happens in the future of the show, so bare with me. 2) That being said, the timeline will not be accurate. I've got a huge side plot thing planned with her ballet, as you can tell. Therefore not everything that happens in the show might not happen at the right time and so on. I'm going to try and follow the timeline, but just remember I'm not WANTING it to be exactly like the show. Things may change, even when it comes to certain personalities and characters. And 3) I know little about ballet. I've been studying it for this story, watching performances, looking up terms. So if certain things aren't accurate or are wrong, I apologize as I'm learning.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story!