Chapter 58

• MONIQUE
• I had control issues, and ballet school made me become a perfectionist. When I started getting bullied, our dance instructor from Italy—Costanza—had made a joke about my weight. She told me I was missing steps because I had fat arms and calves. The girls laughed and they used it to make fun of me every single day till I left that school.
• This made me a control freak. If things didn't go my way, I would want to tear things apart. But while I was in hiding, Don Antonio had a girlfriend, she was French and she was a lot younger than him and closer to my age. We bonded, in a way. She was a ballet instructor, too, and one of the few people who didn't make me feel inadequate. She showed me how to use my frustration and lack of control to fuel something productive, something that could center me.