I sighed miserably. I already ransacked 13 people’s bedrooms and couldn’t find anything suitable for my teacher. As evil and rotten as I sounded, I gave gifts to my teacher every holiday, including the last day of school! I had this crazy thought that I should put on a ballet performance, but sadly, most people were extremely close to discovering my identity through observing my non-hidden parts, including my not-well-hidden messy dark brown hair.
I slipped into the last bedroom I could go without leaving my extremely tiny village. I was just about to leave when I tripped over what seemed to be a marble. Well, the most important part was that I let out an extremely loud shriek as I tumbled to the floor. The body in the bed slowly woke up. I saw blue eyes, not the icy and distant type, but the genially warm type that made you feel like you were riding on a cloud.
“Um, hi? You must be the Ballet Thief! I must say, although you are a thief while wearing that mask and tutu, you are simply…dazzling!”
I could hear a slight British accent and I was still shocked that he called me dazzling.
“Well, it feels awkward to encounter a thief, especially when they are robbing you. I don’t have much valuable stuff, but I see more value in humans that objects, or money. Anyhoo, feel free to take anything you’d like. Nothing that resides in my bedroom quite matters anyways.”
I was shocked over a normal guy practically asking me to steal his stuff. I felt too scared to look around so I just grabbed a pink-framed portrait of some sort and leapt over to the next building without looking back. While I twirled and leapt through the air, I read what it said in large cursive letters on the portrait.
Don’t try to hide your true identity. Be who you really are! It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad!
I smiled and finally decided what to present to my teacher as a gift.
I nervously put on a pink silk mask, a ballet tutu, a pink leotard, and ballet slippers. I pirouetted all the way to school and leapt onto my desk before finally taking a seat. When the teacher called my actual name on the attendance sheet, I slowly said “here.” I was pretty sure all my classmates were taken aback. I noticed the British boy with the genially warm blue eyes sitting in the back of the room. He gave me a thumbs-up, which gave me more courage.
Right after the teacher finished calling attendance, I got up and turned on a “Waltz of the Flowers” soundtrack. I pirouetted all over the room and leapt right over students’ heads, grabbing pens, pencils, folders, notebooks, looseleaf, and even one backpack! The students were clearly distracted by my quick dancing, so they didn’t even notice that their stuff had gone missing, not even after the show!
The Ballet Thief’s identity was revealed, but everybody treated her the same, even when she was The Ballet Thief.
The Gift is a Success!
The Swerve 