Hollyâs eyes widened as, slowly, she took in what her mum was saying. âYou mean â¦â
âYes,â smiled her mum. âIâm giving up professional ballet!â
Holly couldnât believe her ears. Sheâd been living with her aunt and uncle during term time because her mum and dad, who were divorced, were away on tour with their ballet companies. Only now her mum was coming home for good! It was the best news sheâd heard in ages.
âBut wonât you miss dancing?â Holly asked quickly, thinking how awful sheâd feel if she couldnât go to her own ballet school, Madame Za-Zaâs.
Her mum looked thoughtful. âYou know in your heart when the time is right to give something up, Holly.â She paused and sighed, then broke into a smile. âAnyway, Iâm not giving it up completely, Iâm going to teach instead.â
âReally? But thatâs brilliant!â said Holly.
âIt certainly is,â her mother smiled. âThe only downside is that the ballet school Iâm going to work at is a bit of a distance from here, so weâll be moving again. Iâm sorry, love,â she finished, seeing the look in Hollyâs eyes and giving her a quick hug. âI know youâve settled in well here, and Auntie Maria and Uncle Ted have loved having you but, well, youâll have me as a teacher from now on!â
Holly nodded. She felt over the moon that her mum was going to be back, but it would mean she could no longer go to Madame Za-Zaâs ballet school. And that meant giving up all sorts of things â including her best friend, Chloe. She felt a lump in her throat, but smiled so her mum wouldnât realise she was sad. She didnât want Mum to think she was upset about her coming home, because she wasnât. She was really pleased.
âIâll just get my ballet bag, Mum. Itâs time for class.â
On her way to Madame Za-Zaâs, Holly went over in her mind all the things that her mum had said and all the changes it would bring. And when she thought about leaving Chloe, her heart felt like lead. She hadnât exactly been good at making new friends when sheâd first joined Madame Za-Zaâs, but Chloe had been so patient. It would be dreadful breaking the news to her. Why did everything have to change? If only they werenât moving so far away.
Still, there was one special, secret thing in Hollyâs life that definitely wouldnât have to change, no matter what â the beautiful pair of red ballet shoes that she owned. Sheâd been given them by another girl when sheâd arrived at the ballet school. She hadnât realised quite how special they were at first, but sheâd soon found out.
When they glowed, they whisked her away to the magical land of Enchantia, where all the characters from the ballets live, and thatâs where Holly had met her friend, the White Cat. Theyâd already had all sorts of incredible adventures together.
A lovely surge of excitement at the memories made Holly leap up the steps to Madame Za-Zaâs two at a time.
At the top, she stopped and turned round. She and Chloe had started a new game of seeing how many steps they could jump down in one go, and it was tempting to have a go right now. But Holly knew that she was just trying to put off the moment when she had to tell Chloe her news. She sighed and pushed back the door.
The Saturday morning class was always full, so the changing rooms were buzzing with chatter as Holly sat down in a corner with Chloe.
Holly kept glancing at her friend as she got changed. She was trying to pluck up the courage to tell her she was leaving. But every time she thought sheâd found the right words, she imagined herself saying them and then she saw Chloeâs face falling. The thought of that was so unbearable, she couldnât bring herself to speak.
Then, as Holly put on her ballet shoes, another thought flitted across her mind, like the tiniest cloud passing the sun and blocking it out for a second. Maybe the shoes would be better off here with one of the girls at Madame Za-Zaâs, when Holly moved away After all, theyâd always belonged to someone at the ballet school. But Holly shook the thought out of her head. She was just being silly. Of course they wouldnât have to stay behind. Theyâd been given to