Delphie and the Masked Ball. Darcey Bussell

she realised it was Sukie.

      “Ow!” Sukie said, rubbing her elbow. “Watch where you’re going, Delphie!”

      “You were the one who ran into me!” Delphie went to get up but pain stabbed through her left foot and she gasped. “Ow! My ankle!”

      Poppy tried to help her, but when Delphie put her foot down it really hurt. “I can’t stand,” she said.

      “I’ll go and get Madame Za-Za!” Poppy dashed off.

      Lola swung round to Sukie. “You did that on purpose!”

      Sukie scowled. “What do you mean?”

      “I bet you tripped Delphie up because you wanted her to be hurt!” Lola said accusingly. “You’re her understudy so if she doesn’t dance the part of the Bluebird, you will!”

      Delphie stared. Was Lola right? Had Sukie really run into her on purpose? Sukie turned red. “I … I didn’t!” she stammered. “I …” She broke off as the backstage door opened and Madame Za-Za came hurrying into the wings. “Delphie! What’s happened?”

      Delphie blinked back the tears. “I’ve hurt my ankle.”

      “But how?” Madame Za-Za asked.

      Sukie sent Delphie an imploring look. For a moment it was on the tip of Delphie’s tongue to say that Sukie had run into her on purpose. But she didn’t know that for sure and anyway she hated it when people told tales and got others into trouble. “I … I tripped,” she said. “I was running off the stage and I just tripped over.”

      Poppy and Lola stared at her.

      “That isn’t what …” Lola began.

      “It IS what happened,” Delphie interrupted. She saw a look of relief flash across Sukie’s face.

      “Let me see.” Madame Za-Za gently unlaced Delphie’s ballet shoe and turned Delphie’s ankle this way and that. Delphie caught her breath. It really did hurt. “Can you move your toes?” Madame Za-Za asked.

      Delphie nodded and wriggled them.

      “It is probably just a sprain,” Madame Za-Za said, after examining it a moment longer. “But you’ll need to go to hospital to have it checked over. Hopefully it should be back to normal in a week or so.”

      Poppy and Lola gasped.

      “A week!” said Delphie in dismay. “But what about the show?”

      Madame Za-Za looked at her sadly. “I’m afraid you’re not going to be better in time to dance in it, Delphie. Sukie will have to take the part of the Bluebird.”

      Tears welled up in Delphie’s eyes, blinding her so she couldn’t see the expression on Sukie’s face. She didn’t need to see it though. She knew just how delighted Sukie would be!

      

      The following day, Delphie lay on the sofa at home listening to the music of a ballet called Swan Lake, and rested her ankle. The doctor she had seen at the hospital had told her that it was indeed a nasty sprain and confirmed that she couldn’t dance on it for at least a couple of weeks. Delphie’s eyes were red with crying. She’d practised so hard to be the Bluebird over the last month and had been looking forward to it so much. It was so unfair that Sukie was getting to dance the part instead of her.

      The more Delphie thought about it, the more she felt sure that Sukie had knocked her over on purpose. It was just the kind of thing Sukie would do. Thinking about it made fresh tears spring to her eyes. She blinked them away and tried to concentrate on the music. She knew the piece well. It was from a scene where the prince in the story was standing near an enchanted lake watching a group of swans dance for him, led by the swan princess. Delphie sighed. She desperately wanted to be up practising and dancing, not lying on a sofa.

      She looked at the floor. Her red ballet shoes were there. If only they would glow and take her to Enchantia. She had been willing them to do just that but nothing had happened yet. Everything must be quiet in Enchantia, thought Delphie. The shoes only took her to the magic land when the characters needed her help. Delphie didn’t know whether to feel glad for her friends that everything must be OK or whether to wish something would go wrong so she could go and see them all!

      She leaned over and picked the shoes up. The beautiful music from Swan Lake swelled through the room. Delphie couldn’t resist slipping the ballet shoes on. She sighed longingly. If only I could get up and dance, she thought.

      As she did up her ribbons, she heard the front doorbell. Delphie’s mum answered it. There was the murmur of voices and then Mrs Durand called from the hall, “Delphie! There’s a friend here from your ballet class to see you … Sukie.”

      Sukie! What was she doing calling round? Coming over to gloat probably, thought Delphie, her heart sinking. The last thing she felt like doing was seeing Sukie.