Originally Posted by fsquared
Beep beep, beep beep....
The alarm clock buzzed. Slowly, young Eglantine rubbed her sleepy eyes and threw off her cover. As she rose from her bed, she shook off her dazed slumber, and, in a flash, bolted up. Today is the big day, she said to herself. As she slid daintily off her bed, she looked up at the posters in her room. Madonna, her idol. "One day...one day...", she whispered to herself, with a dreamy look. She cast her eyes on a poster of her favorite actor, Ben Stiller. "There is just something about that Mary, isn't there...?", she thought with a chuckle.
Eglantine, the wild rose. Her parents, avid horticulturists in their spare time, had named her after their favorite flower, which grew on her native Corsica. She adored the tart, intense flavor of their fruits. Her parents ran a successful shoe-store chain with several branches; they had even opened one as far away as Arcachon, on the mainland.
She trundled off to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, she delicately licked at the corners of her chipped front teeth. Her scar on her left eyebrow, a product of a snowboarding accident when she was 10, was in its usual place. "Wabi", she thought to herself, "but no one will notice, I hope, and anyway they're there to hear me sing". She brushed her raven hair, a light bob that came down to her ears, and crinkled her nose slightly, looking for a hint of a freckle.
Then she dressed in her leotard and began, as she did every morning, with a series of warm-ups; plies, stretches, bends. Dancing was her first love, ever since she was 4 and put on those ballet slippers in her parents' store and wouldn't take them off until they promised her lessons. Then, she found her favorite CD, True Blue, and put on La Isla Bonita. As the Spanish guitars delicately evoked the clouds, her hands raised themselves in a flamboyant flamenco pose and she swayed rhythmically as her voice lifted in a passionate contralto:
"Tropical the island breeze
All of nature wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita..."
"BREAKFAST!!" Her mother called... "Plus vite! You'll miss the bus!" She quickly got dressed and went downstairs to eat. Her heart raced slightly as she thought about the day. She was leaving on a plane to Paris, for the Graines de Star audition. She had trained so hard for this day, memorizing her lyrics, her intonations; she had wanted to dance, but the dance competition was only for groups, so she decided to sing instead. After passing the regional casting call, she had dedicated hours every day to getting everything right. The poise, the breath, the voice; it she would have to give it everything if she wanted to make it to the finals.
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