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17: Brain Games

**Olivia POV**

"Why am I here when I could be at home having a facial?" Harper asked as she entered my kitchen.

"I was going to ask something similar but scratch the part of facials. Nobodies got time for that." Rosie muttered as she hopped onto the counter. I chuckled as I started stirring a bowl of hot soup on the stove.

"I am perfectly happy to be here at the moment. Anything is better than being near my mother and flirt of a brother." Elle stated from one corner of my kitchen as she helped me cut bread.

"Who thought it was smart for Elle to be using a knife?" Rosie asked, watching Elle with eagle eyes. I shrugged.

"She's old enough to use a knife by herself." I said nicely. Elle shook her head.

"Yeah, no actually that was a very stupid idea. Even I wouldn't normally give myself a knife." She replied amused. Rosie walked over toward Elle and took the knife from her and then continued to cut the bread while Elle stuffed her face with bread.

"So what is going on Olive?" Harper asked, bringing me bowls from one of my cupboards.

"Ms. Marina gave me a job to teach the ballet three class during the week." I said as I started filling the bowls with the red soup.

"Oh good for you! That must be a dream come true for you Olive." Rosie said as she brought the finished bowl of bread to the island in the middle of the kitchen, half empty. Elle followed her with two pieces of bread in her hand while munching on a third. I shrugged.

"Yes it is but I am in charge of the class now. I'm not just helping.." I muttered.

"Wait... what about Ms. Alice? What happened to her?" Harper asked. I gave her a look and she sighed.

"Oh but why?" She whined.

"Well that is what I brought you over here for. I think the dance studio is losing a lot of money and might be close to closing. That would explain why we have all those new dancers coming in to promote the school and dropping Ms. Alice." I replied.

"Oh my god..." Elle muttered. "What will I do?" She asked. It took me a moment to realize that Elle was a year younger than us in school, which meant that she could be in dance for one more year while the rest of us could just go to college and forget about it.

"We will have to help out of course. But Olive how are you so sure?" Rosie asked curiously. By this time we moved to my table and were eating.

"When we were talking about what she would pay me, she said it would be less than normal... because of budget cuts." I replied sadly.

"Well that would explain why James was angry at me when I lashed out at him a while ago." Rosie muttered as she sat playing with her soup.

"Oooh! When was that?" Harper asked excitedly.

"A while ago. Catch up Blondie." Elle stated sarcastically. Harper rolled her eyes and I sighed.

"Guys what should I do? I can't let the school close!" I stated depressed. Rosie gave me a weak smile.

"Well what can we do? We're only students."

"Maybe we can fundraise?" Harper advised. I shook my head.

"No. That would be weird. What we should do is a benefit dinner or something like that." I replied. The girls nodded.

"And we will make you in charge of that Olive." Elle muttered through bread and tomato soup. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. But you all will help one way or another." All the girls said deal, even Elle who still had a full mouth of food.

The next day I spent the whole day in my day dreams trying to figure out how to plan the dance. Even during school.