When her grandparents go to australia for the year, drina is at first horrified to be sent to the dominick's residential campus. she feels as though she is in exile at chalk green, so far from london. however, she slowly begins to enjoy it more and make friends, and things definitely improve when rose joins her out in the country, given a scholarship in the hopes that the fresh air will help improve her health.
Drina goes to italy to meet her father's family. while there, she ends up dancing with the dominick, along with emilia from chalk green and igor jr.
A sprained ankle at the start of term forces drina to stop dancing for a month. however, this gives her the opportunity to play the role of margaret in the play dear brutus for a short run in the west end. over summer, drina and rose are chosen to dance in the nutcracker as 'little clara' with the dominick company at the edinburgh festival. igor dominick snr. and marianne volanaise also finally discover drina's secret, but they agree to keep the news private.
Drina's grandparents take her on a trip to new york, travelling on a cruise ship where they meet the rossiters and their son grant. while on board the ship, 14-year-old drina choreographs her first short ballet.
Drina and rose are invited to go to paris to dance in 'the nutcracker' after the dancer playing little clara is injured.
Rose and several other of drina's friends from chalk green return to the dominick school in london. drina acts in the play 'diary of a dancer' based on the story of the lorencz family. drina's grandfather becomes seriously ill in hospital, and the chesters go on holiday to madeira where drina dances with the lingeraux company at a festival in funchal.
When drina's grandparents move to switzerland for a year, they take drina with them and send her to the same finishing school as her italian cousin.
Drina passes her school exams and becomes a senior student at her dance school, which means that her whole day is spent in dance classes and rehearsals. a nasty flu epidemic leaves the dance company short-staffed, and drina and some friends are sent out to join the tour as replacements. drina has a difficult time adjusting to life with a touring company, as the accommodation is quite a bit different from what she's used to with her well-off grandparents. and finally, the secret drina has hidden from her peers since