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WHEN NAOMI WOKE UP ON SUNDAY MORNING, THE PAIN IN HER LEFT FOOT WAS ALMOST UNBEARABLE. But she made sure to avoid her parents and William so they wouldn't raise any alarm. That meant, taking each step on the staircase one at a time and using the guest bathroom in the far left of the house. The solo for Prix was still hers; the only thing that was still hers and she refused to give it up. So, before she left her house, she made sure to snub a roll of tape and swivel it around her toes, the way Jessica sometimes did, to reduce the pain. She shoved her feet in a pair of converse and threw the tape in her backpack.

A part of her expected to see her best friend again, either in her dreams or sitting on the bed when she woke up. But she wasn't at either. And Naomi was, well, she was surprised.

The California sun outside was unforgiving in every way. Its light was blinding and its heat sizzled on skin. For a moment, Naomi considered just going back home. She was limping as she went and wincing at the sun's radiation; it felt like the Fox Performing Arts Centre was miles out of reach. Perhaps she could have practised at home and nursed her injuries. She scoffed at the idea. Without Mr Carson, her dancing would surely deteriorate. But then, she finally saw the Centre come into the clearing.

Briskly moving down the sidewalk, Naomi glanced both ways before crossing the street and heading towards it. The cracks in the red bricks of its walls were just that much more apparent this close. The lights that embedded the sign had blown out long ago and now dust coated the outside and cobwebs joined the letters.

When a car had zipped by, Naomi caught something just out of her earshot. Like a hose spurting water. She walked and searched, finding the source in a few seconds. Looking at it now, it was actually quite hard to miss. Right across the street from the Fox Performing Arts Centre was a mural that was definitely not there before. Naomi was sure of that much because its designer was still standing there adding their finishing touches. Naomi shielded her eyes from the sun. It was purely lines of greens and purples, with whites giving the illusion of volume and mass. They were words. Naomi squinted. The artist stepped away proudly.

A small breath escaped Naomi at the reveal of a large, '#ThankYouRiverside' branding the wall. Then, the vandal turned around. She found Naomi across the street and stared. A fox mask was covering all of her features, except her dark afro reaching for the sky. The Fox waved and grabbed her bicycle, mounting it without a hitch and gliding down the street.

Naomi looked back to the graffiti and wondered how no one had stopped her. But, her screaming toes wouldn't allow the thought to grow an inch. So quickly, Naomi launched into the Fox Performing Arts Centre and headed straight for the girls dressing room and dropped everything, including herself, to the ground. She revelled in the relief on that dirty dressing room floor before pulling off her shoes. Her toes were tinting into blue. She quickly doubled up on the tape.

Ten minutes later in leotard and tights, Naomi entered the dance studio. "Finally," Mr Carson's voice boomed. Aspen was already there, balancing through a barre routine with ease. She didn't turn around. "Warm up quickly, Naomi," Mr Carson said.

Naomi took her place at the barre, a small distance away from Aspen, and began stretching. The girls didn't look at each other. After what Naomi saw her father do to her, they hadn't since. "I was just telling Aspen that when you perform as Giselle a month from now," Mr Carson folded his arms, "I want that audience to cry. When Giselle's heart breaks, so should theirs. I want that audience to be so torn up that they'll go home and think about your performance all night and ask God why their love life can't be that epic. That's the kind of emotion I need you to pull off when you hit the stage.

But the only way any of that can happen is if you two are believable. No one can feel sorry for a girl they don't like. So today, we're building the core of your character," the girls' eyes snapped up at each other. "Ladies, you are not playing Giselle. You are Giselle. She's an incarnation of you, okay? So pull on every thought that you need to in order to bring this to life. Make it real for you."

In the next few minutes, Mr Carson highlighted some changes he made to the ballet as Naomi and Aspen finished their warm-ups. He told them what he wanted to focus on, and which techniques should be executed when. Naomi only half listened though. The other half of her attention was on her blue her toes crying for help.

"Okay, let's start." Mr Carson walked over to the speaker, no intern in sight, and started the music. "Take it from the beginning."

Wordlessly, the girls took their positions. Then the music began.

They danced...for all but seven minutes.

Each time the box of Naomi's pointe shoes struck the wooden floor, a sharp pain sparked and shot straight up her leg. With every turn that the girls did, Aspen's was tall and lovely while Naomi's wobbled and swayed in the direction of least pain.

Naomi did her best to look beautiful as she danced with a fire in her foot. But it wasn't long before the duct tape was burned away into useless ash and the fire spread up her legs. Naomi attempted gliding across the studio floor and biting back the burns into silence but the flames only continued to crackle louder in her ears. By the seven-minute mark, Naomi Morgan was completely ablaze, leaving trails of ash and smoke in her wake.

She wasn't even sure when the music had stopped, but it was obvious when the only thing wafting in the air was her exhales.

Mr Carson cleared his throat. "Naomi, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." If he knew she was injured, he'd never allow her to dance in Prix. "I just need some air." Mr Carson folded his arms and told her not to feel too pressured, then said she had fifteen minutes to walk it out. He offered to follow her but she shook her head and left through the squeaky dance studio doors. Gulping, Naomi stumbled down the narrow corridors firstly using the walls to help her, then resorting to hopping, then limping. It was a lifetime before Naomi found the dressing room doors and all but fell through them.

She managed herself into the corner on the floor. Inhale. Exhale. Then she grit her teeth and discarded her pointe shoe to slowly unravel the rolls of tape. Now, her toes were swollen beyond recognition and the bruise fused blues and purples on her dark skin.

Naomi whimpered and threw her head back at the wall, staring teary-eyed into the dusty ceiling of the Fox Performing Arts Centre. For a second, she was glad Jessica wasn't here to tease her. Then she was disappointed that she wasn't here to tell her what to do. Naomi wiped her tears before they were allowed freedom on her face and balled the old tape in her fist. She threw it into the bin. It didn't make a sound. Glancing helplessly at the old clock hanging on the wall, Naomi saw she still had ten minutes. She exhaled.

Then quickly, she rolled thrice the amount of tape than last time and put on her sneakers. She grabbed her bag and headed out the dressing room doors. She knew exactly what she had to do.

In a rush, Naomi half-ran, half-jumped out of the Fox Performing Arts Centre and went into the Californian sun. Her eyes briefly caught the bright mural from earlier beginning to attract an audience of photographers, before she dashed off. She'd only heard about girls doing this, never actually seen it.

She took the shortcut alley behind the Centre that Mr Carson constantly warned against and came out on the other side of Downtown Riverside. Naomi rushed down the sidewalk. She stumbled inside Phil's Pharmacy off 6th and shamelessly bought a pack of Orasol gum numbing gel. Her toes cried for it. She muttered a quick thank you at the man at the cash register before bursting out the double doors. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and prayed she still had enough time to make it back to the Fox Performing Arts Centre.

But before she could move off again, she saw something unexpected. A few blocks away, glistening in the Californian sun, was her father's car. She stopped moving. At least, she thought it was her father's car. Wasn't it? But then, remembering he didn't have work on Sundays and didn't normally come to this side of town, she shook off the idea and continued limping down the sidewalk, looking over at it again a second time for good measure.

Sure enough, the owner, a young lady complete with sunglasses and a messy bun walked up to the car. Naomi let out a breath. The pain in her toes had obviously gone up to her brain. She continued on her way down the sidewalk. Then, without even thinking about it, she shot one last quick glance at the vehicle to catch the driver's door open from the inside. And out of it, stepped Mr Morgan. Naomi's feet turned to stone.

Her father walked around it and took in the lady, who was definitely not his wife, for a passionate kiss. Naomi felt the Riverside sun melt some necessary organ inside of her because she swore she was about to die right there on that sidewalk.

Author's Note
Oh my. Hands up if you saw it coming! If you didn't, don't worry me either tbh. These characters have minds of their own.

This week's dedication can only go to the kind and supportive shattered_realities bc she gives me stars and I love stars. Thank you sm for constantly supporting me ilysm! If you vote, comment and share the next dedication could be you!

Paywalls Start Here

So, this is the final free chapter, readers. To read the rest of 'Wicked, Wild, Wonderful' you'll have to pay using Wattpad coins. I hope you'll all give it a shot because this story truly means a lot to me and let me just tell you, this is only the TIP of Naomi's story, trust me. By buying Wattpad coins, it's still a lot cheaper than traditionally published books and if you don't have a credit card you can always buy a $10 iTunes gift card or google play store card in a store or even online!

So you might be wondering, is it worth it? Well, if you want to properly meet The Guise, see Naomi's romantic interest and read even more plot twists (one of which is only two chapters away) then it sure as hell is.

However, if you're unable to pay, that is completely okay. I still have free books on my profile and I will continue to make more free content for you guys. With all that said, I hope to see you in the next chapter and happy reading!

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER...

"Naomi," Mr Carson called, "Are you feeling better?"

She stood but didn't turn around. "Yes," she lied. In fact, when she'd gotten back to the centre she beelined for the girls' dressing room and doused her toes in the numbing gel. Silently praying it would numb something much, much worse...