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Then she looked at me

"And you're my hope," she said "I will always love you"

Knowing that Celine's eyes were always following me and that I was her hope made me try harder, but it also made ress as fast as I was expected to make it The day after my uncle Daniel's explosive introduction, Celine had a doctor's appointthere in the corner, I felt a little more at ease, and even Dimitri seemed friendlier Toward the end of the lesson, Madame Malisorf declared that tomorrow she would start me on pointe

"I don't understand why she's doing that," Dimitri declared after she had left for her next lesson He was old enough to drive and had his own car "She's thedance instructor in the area and doesn't easily put a student on pointe Certainly never this early" He thought ayour mother Your feet aren't even properly developed"

"They are too," I said looking down at theht

He wiped his face with the towel and stared at irls develop," he said suddenly

The way he was gazing at ht as his, and for the first time I was embarrassed by how much they revealed

"Are you developing breasts or is that just soer toward me

My breath caught in my throat and I jumped away from his reach

"You know, I've heard there's an avant-garde group of dancers who dance naked Wanna try it?" he asked After what he'd just done, I had no idea if he was kidding me or not

"Naked?" I co

uldn't i

"It's supposed to give you ht try it one of these days," he said "Well?"

"Well what?"

"You didn't answer my question, breasts or baby fat?"