The New Ballet Teacher by Teodora Leon

Dear Diary,
Today I went to the ballet lessons. Miss Mimi was not so happy, but I don’t know why... She couldn’t even concentrate on teaching us new steps! Let me tell you what happened exactly:
Me and my friends were waiting for Miss Mimi to come. She was terribly late! When she entered the ballet studio, she looked a bit scared... But then, she looked at us and stayed calm. She said: “Good morning, class! Let’s start dancing!”. We usually start with a few exercises before dancing, but today it was totally different! We started immediately to dance! And the worst part is that Miss Mimi brought the wrong sheets of music for the piano! It was not ballet, it was hip-hop! Everyone was terrified (well, except for A.J.)! Luckily, Marco had some sheets of music for ballet, so we started to dance. Miss Mimi couldn’t concentrate at all! After a while, she fell down (luckily, she didn’t faint or something like that)! She was sad, I felt sorry for her... Miss Mimi got up, looked at us and said: “I’m sorry for all of this, my darlinks! I’m not feeling very well today... I will be back tomorrow, feeling much better! I promise you! Have a nice day!”. Everyone left sad. I went to Miss Mimi and asked her if I could help her with anything. She looked at me. A little tear rolled down her nose... She said that she didn’t need any help, so I left...
What do you thing happened to Miss Mimi? She is always happy, in good spirits! I was totally shocked when I saw her tear! We will see what will happen tomorrow...

Dear Diary,
Everything turned out horrible!!! Miss Mimi didn’t come to the ballet school today! I was about to leave when I bumped into a lady. I think she was the same age as Miss Mimi... She wasn’t so happy... She looked at me with two big eyes. “Where do you think you’re going, you little mouseling?” she asked me. “Nowhere, M-Miss!” I said. I was a bit scared and also, surprised! Alice asked: “Who are you, Miss? Where’s Miss Mimi, our ballet teacher?”. “Miss Mimi has a few problems, so she will be gone for a week. You will do the ballet lessons with me!” the lady said. Everyone was whispering. I looked at that “new ballet teacher”. She had short, black hair, a pair of big earrings and was wearing a red costume. She didn’t look like a ballet teacher at all! “I’m Miss Amelia. You don’t have to worry about me, I’m really good at ballet!” Miss Amelia said and looked at me again (I wonder why...). We started our first ballet lessons. I have to say, Miss Amelia was pretty good... But not so good as Miss Mimi! I really miss her! I wonder what happened to her... Who knows? Maybe she will never return! Maybe something bad happened to her... I have to be very careful! And, by the way, don’t you think it’s strange that Miss Amelia came from nowhere to replace Miss Mimi for a week? As I was saying, I have to be really careful!...

Dear Diary,
Miss Amelia’s ballet lessons are still on... Nothing strange happened... But there is still no sign of Miss Mimi! I went to her house and looked inside her house at the window. It looked like nobody was home. This wasn’t so good... I talked with Alice, Gracie, Viki, Marco and A.J. after the ballet lessons today. “What do you think happened to Miss Mimi?” I asked my friends. Everyone looked at each other confused. “I’m sure that she is all right!... M-Maybe she will be back on Monday morning!” Gracie said, trying to be relaxed. But the look on her face showed me that she was really worried... “Guys, we have to keep calm! Maybe Miss Amelia isn’t so nice like Miss Mimi, but we don’t have a choice! We will see what will happen next week...” Viki said. She was right, so everyone went home, trying to have a smile on their faces. But I wasn’t pleased at all! Mom have heard of Miss Mimi’s problem. She tried to make me feel better. Mom made me some Cheddar cheese pies and Polly prepared a silly dance. I smiled because I knew that my family and my friends were around me. But someone is still missing, and that person is... Miss Mimi!

Dear Diary,
It had been a week and Miss Mimi didn’t come to the ballet lessons. Miss Amelia said that Miss Mimi will be still gone for another month (OMG!) and we didn’t have to be worried. I wasn’t so sure in Miss Amelia’s words... It was too much! Where was Miss Mimi? Where was she? “Are you sure that you don’t know where Miss Mimi is?” I asked Miss Amelia. “How dare you to ask me something like that, missy? You should be ashamed of yourself!” Miss Amelia said. To tell the truth, I felt a bit ashamed, but I knew that something was not right!... After the ballet lessons, Alice came with me at our Treetop Club. We wanted to find out more about this problem with Miss Mimi... The thing I could only say was: A New Case for Detective Angelina (ANCFDA)...

Dear Diary,
I have been searching and searching for some clues or details, but I didn’t have any success... But today something strange happened... We were at the ballet lessons with Miss Amelia when, suddenly, a mobile phone started to ring. It was Miss Amelia’s. She went on the hall and started to talk on the phone. I didn’t stay in my place, I went to the door to listen to the conversation. Alice followed me. I heard this:
Miss Amelia: Hello, Mr. Crane. Well, how is the work going?
Mr. Crane (I didn’t hear everything that he said): Yeah, everything turns good... But we still have some problems to resolve... (This part I didn’t hear...)
Miss Amelia: Well, I suggest you to hurry up! We don’t have so much time! I’m tired of these ballet lessons... But, to tell the truth, those mouselings are really good. There is a gymnastic girl (Alice made two big eyes when she heard this part), a girl so yellow like a duckling (that’s Gracie), a shy girl (I’m sure that’s Viki), a boy who loves instruments (yep, that’s Marco) and a hip-hop boy (that’s definitely A.J.). Oh, I almost forgot: there’s another girl. She is really good at ballet, but I think she is spying on me (oops, that’s me!)...
Mr. Crane: Well (...), you better watch out! We don’t want those mouselings to find out our secret, am I right or wrong?
Miss Amelia: Okay, Mr. Crane. I will do my best! For how long I have to do this?
Mr. Crane: I don’t know... Maybe for a week or two. I will call you when everything will be almost done, okay?
Miss Amelia: Oh, come on! I hate being bad! (This part surprised me...) Why did we have to do this in the first place?
Mr. Crane: You know why, I’d rather not tell it again, all right?
Miss Amelia: [sigh] Okay, Mr. Crane. Goodbye.
-End of the line-
Alice and I returned to our places. Miss Amelia came in the ballet studio with a sad face (that face remembered me of Miss Mimi...). I suddenly felt a bit sorry for Miss Amelia. She looked at us and said: “Sorry, let’s start again with the dancing!”...
After the ballet lessons, I talked with Alice. “What shall we do?” Alice said. “This phone call gave us a clue! We know that Miss Amelia and Mr. Crane are working in a team to do something with Miss Mimi! We have some plans!” I said. Alice looked at me. “It’s time for Plan A: to talk with Miss Amelia!” I continued. This case is ON!

Dear Diary,
Well, Plan A is resolved. Alice and I went back to the ballet studio. We found Miss Amelia there. She was surprised to see us. She started to talk with a “scary” voice: “What are you doing here?”. “Miss Amelia, you can stop with all of this! We know everything!” I said. Miss Amelia looked at me shocked and then, she sat on a chair. She was sniffing. “Great, so all the plan is ruined! Mr. Crane will be very “pleased” with it!” Miss Amelia said. I went beside her. “Miss Amelia, you can tell us everything! You can trust us!” I said. Miss Amelia looked at me with two big eyes. She sighed and started to talk. “Well, first of all, I want to say “sorry” to all of you. Mr. Crane obliged me to be rude and scary as possible with you!”. “Wait, before starting the story, can you tell us who is Mr. Crane?” I asked (Alice was prepared to take notes). Wow, we were like in a detective story: Detective Angelina and Assistant Alice! Cool, right? “Mr. Crane is... my father!” Miss Amelia said. I was SUPER shocked. Mr. Crane was Miss Amelia’s father??? “I know it’s hard to believe, but I can explain everything. It won’t take long...” Miss Amelia continued. “Sure!” I said, took a seat and started to listen.
“I heard that Miss Mimi is the best ballet teacher in the whole of Mouseland! I wanted to be just like her, it has been my dream for many years! I told my dad my wish. I told him that I could be Miss Mimi’s assistant or something like that... But he wanted everything to be more... CRUEL!” Miss Amelia said. I was all ears and Alice was the taking-notes guy! :) “Dad doesn’t like me SOO much, so that’s why he told me to call him “Mr. Crane”, not dad!... I hate this, but I don’t have any choice...” Miss Amelia continued. “I understand... But in this moment, where is Miss Mimi? What’s Mr. Crane’s plan?” I asked. I wanted to get to the important part... “Well, Da... I mean, Mr. Crane, is 10 km away from Chipping Cheddar in a secret lab. He is building a big bomb to kill Miss Mimi, so I can become the best teacher ever!” Miss Amelia said. “O h, come on! Seriously, a bomb? He really has some stupidly cruel ideas!” Alice asked. “But, Miss Amelia, you said that Mr. Crane doesn’t like you so much!” I said. “Yes, I know. He is doing all of this... to win my money for being the ballet teacher!” Miss Amelia said. “Oh, my gosh, what a dad!” Alice said. “Miss Amelia, when is the bomb ready?” I asked. Before answering, Miss Amelia’s phone rang. It was Mr. Crane! The bomb was ready!!! “Mr. Crane, wait for me! I want to come to your lab!” Miss Amelia said. “All right, hurry up!” Mr. Crane said. “Oh, no! What should we do, Angelina?” Miss Amelia asked, scared. “Don’t worry, I’ve got an idea...” I said, grinning. “It’s time for Plan... Z: saving Miss Mimi!” I continued, doing my evil laugh.

Dear Diary,
Yeah!!! I’m the best detective! Miss Mimi is safe and sound. With my dad’s car, Miss Amelia, Alice and I went to Mr. Crane’s lab. He was absolutely surprised to see me and Alice! “Amelia, I told you that all of this is a secret!!!” Mr. Crane said. Behind him was... Miss Mimi! She was in a big cage! “Miss Mimi!” I shouted! “Help me, please!” Miss Mimi said. I haven’t seen her for a long time! Miss Amelia grabbed Mr. Crane, I took Miss Mimi out from the cage and put Mr. Crane inside it. Miss Amelia “turned on” the bomb and... BOOM!... Mr. Crane was completely gone! “Aren’t you sad of what have you done?” Alice asked. “No, not at all! Mr. Crane was totally bad!” Miss Amelia said.
On our way home, Miss Mimi thanked us for saving her. She told us how she found a note saying: “I’m coming after you!”. She was scared and the next day, Mr. Crane kidnapped her.
Well, all this detective story ended like this: Miss Amelia turned out to be Miss Mimi’s ballet assistant and everyone was PROUD of me! I saved Miss Mimi all by myself (well, with the help of Alice and Miss Amelia, of course!). All I can say is: Case Solved (CS)!
Detective Angelina... OUT of here! ;)
The-tective End