Upheaval: Day 6

Word Count: 36,066

Summary of Events:

Leon ended up being the only dancer out of 280 to complete his dance without stumbling and falling on the first night of the competition. The following afternoon he found out that the competition had become the sensation of the ballet world because nobody understood why it was going on — although few had made the connection between Leon and his grandmother. In the second night of the competition Leon again was the only dancer to complete his dance without stumbling, although it was a tiring dance after which he was granted a shower . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Gratefully Leon accepted the bathrobe that felt like it'd been made out of towels from the man and then followed the man, but not back to his dressing room as he'd expected; instead they ended up in Mr. Chekov's office.

"Thank you Юрий," Mr. Chekov said to the man, who promptly departed.

Leon wondered if he could find a way to look up all the men named Yuri who danced for the Bolshoi currently and see if this Yuri was one of them.

"Congratulations on your performance tonight Артемий," Mr. Chekov said.

"Спасибо," Leon replied.

"I underestimated you, I must say," Mr. Chekov said. "I am sure that it is mostly Валентина's blood that courses through your veins. Her smile is wider tonight."

Leon nodded.

"On behalf of Анжелина, however, I must inform you that your hair is unsuitably long for what the contest requires," Mr. Chekov said. "You must get a haircut before the competition tomorrow or you will be disqualified."

"What sort of haircut?" Leon asked.

Mr. Chekov opened a drawer in his desk and held out a photograph to Leon. It showed a young man who looked vaguely familiar. His hair was decently long at the top, but trimmed short to the sides and the back."

"Keep it and show the hairdresser," Mr. Chekov said.

Leon nodded. "Is that all?"

"Go get dressed, then you will wait for Полина," Mr. Chekov said.

"No I won't," Leon replied. "I'm not riding with her. I'd rather take transit than ride with her."

Mr. Chekov sighed, then opened the drawer again and drew out a transit schedule and a bus pass that had been issued for Artemi Bogomolov.

"She complained that you made her cold last night," Mr. Chekov said. "So long as you do not walk home I care not."

"What's wrong with me walking home?" Leon asked.

"Go get dressed," Mr. Chekov said.

"I asked a question," Leon replied.

"And I ignored it," Mr. Chekov replied.

Leon exhaled with annoyance. He felt like there was something going on, like all those conspiracy theorists who'd written articles about the competition between last night and this morning were on to something.

Unfortunately they didn't necessarily know the answers, and some of their suggestions had been rather hare-brained in Leon's mind, but he couldn't shake it. Something was going on with this competition, and he was pretty sure it was something to do with him.

Pronunciations:

Юрий: Yuri

Артемий: Artemi

Спасибо: spahseebow

Валенина: Valentina

Анжелина: Anzhelina

Полина: Polina