Part III -- Metamorphosis in Pointe Shoes (1)

For a few months, Kitty lived in her van, curled among boxes of clothes, pointe shoes, and the one pillow that carried her through the coldest nights. It was the bleakest kind of life, every dawn a struggle. Yet each morning, the instant she pushed open the doors of the Royal Ballet School, the world transformed. The scent of resin and fresh polish rose like incense; the soft strains of piano drifted from practice rooms, as if the walls themselves were breathing music. Light poured through high windows, turning the marley floors to silver, and Kitty would draw in a long, trembling breath. Here, she was no longer the girl without a home—she was a ballerina at the threshold of her dream.

By day, she threw herself into the Royal Ballet School with a discipline that left her body aching and her mind stretched thin. Every correction from her teachers was absorbed, studied, and practiced until the movements became instinct. She perfected her pirouettes, executed flawless arabesques, and floated across the floor in grand jetés that seemed to defy gravity. Hours stretched into nights, and more than once she had fallen asleep on the polished studio floor, ballet slippers still laced tight, her muscles trembling from exhaustion.

But none of it was wasted. Kitty's technique, precision, and musicality made her the second-best dancer in the school—just behind Clarissa Harrington, a high-born girl whose effortless port de bras and poised pliés hinted at a lifetime of privilege and early training. Clarissa's wealth allowed for personal coaches, custom pointe shoes, and a wardrobe of stage costumes, giving her a seemingly perfect elegance. Yet even as Clarissa's family fortune made her the envy of everyone, Kitty's raw talent, fiery determination, and nuanced execution of fouetté turns and adagio sequences earned her a reputation. Admired and respected by both students and teachers alike, she became Clarissa's constant shadow—and fiercest rival. What began as a quiet competition for top billing at the ballet school hardened into a bitter feud, one that followed them into the Royal Ballet Company. There, their rivalry was no longer just whispered about in corridors but announced on posters and debated in reviews, until Kitty and Clarissa were known as nemeses—two dancers locked in a duel of talent, grit, and grace.

Still, respect could not pay for warm meals or clean tights. Rent, food, the daily cost of survival—every bill gnawed at her until the applause of her peers felt like a hollow echo. After weeks of sleepless nights spent calculating coins, Kitty made a choice: she would find work that bent itself to her schedule, that left her mornings free for pliés and pirouettes.

After months of aching bones, sleepless nights, and gnawing hunger, she finally found work at The Horns, a gentleman's club. In simpler terms: she became a stripper. Ballet was meant to be art—poised, elegant, the body turned into music. This was dance too, but of a different kind: a choreography for men's eyes, for lust instead of grace, for bills slipped between fingers instead of roses tossed onto a stage. On her first night, she took off her mother's pendant and tucked it deep inside her bag; the thought of its tiny gold medal watching her from the stage—her parents' eyes judging her every move—made her stomach twist.

She painted her face in thick makeup, hiding behind smoky eyes and crimson lips so no one would recognize her as a student of the Royal Ballet School. No one needed to know she was a ballerina, and she intended to keep it that way.

And soon, she became the club's most beloved dancer-so flexible, so sensual, and most importantly, devastatingly beautiful. Kitty struck the perfect arrangement with The Horns: she danced at night and attended school in the morning. No one from the school can found out about this job, it would ruin her future-and quite possibly get her expelled.

"It's gotta be tough for you, innit?" said the perky, big-breasted Brittania Sugarplum-a curvy dancer who usually performed in the pool next to Kitty's.

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