To Be The Best (Dance Moms Fan Fiction)

Chapter 8

Flashback –

              I was 12, and so was Maddie. We were in the midst of autumn, so every step we took was followed by the crunch of dry, fallen leaves.

            “Remember everyone!” Abby shouted to us before we left the bus, “We’re in a professional environment so don’t be acting like children, you’re all to old for that. I don’t want another repeat of what happened yesterday so stay focused and win.”

            We attended a two-day competition that weekend. Group dances, trios, and duets were yesterday. We placed 5th in our group dance and 3rd in Chloe, Maddie, and Paige’s trio. We were on thin ice. If the soloists didn’t get a clean sweep we’d never hear the end of it from Abby. Instead of the usual four numbers she brings to competitions, Abby decided to bring six numbers. Chloe was doing a solo for the teen division, Brooke was doing a solo for the senior division, and Maddie and I were doing solos for the junior division. Christi was loving this competition season because it was the one year where Chloe and Maddie couldn’t compete in the same age division, but that just put added pressure on me to beat the ever-famous Maddie Zeigler. So far Maddie’s had an undefeated season, and so had Chloe. Abby was practically beaming. She was always getting clean sweeps when it came to solos, which is why she’d been extra harsh on us when we did poorly on the group dances, or any other dances for that matter. I’d been doing ok that competition season, always in the top five, which my mom was overjoyed about, but I wanted to be number one and to receive that huge trophy and crown that Maddie always got. This was one of the last competitions we’d be going to this year, so I really wanted to excel and win a title. I already qualified for Nationals at Starbound but I didn’t know if Abby was going to give me a solo that week. So, I was trying extra hard to win and prove to Abby that I was “nationals material”.

            Once we reached our dressing room, that said our studio name in big, black, bold letters on the front of the door, it was a mad dash to set up our makeup tables in the perfect spot. Everyone had a preference. Chloe liked to be in the middle so she could be between a combination of Maddie, Paige, or me. Mackenzie liked to be near where we changed for costumes, she loved the costumes. Brooke liked to be near the door, so if Abby decided to yell at her or her mom she could make a quick getaway. Maddie and me both liked to be the closest to Abby, so she would notice us right away and run our numbers first.

Senior division was first, so Brooke hastily caked herself in makeup, put her hair in a French twist, and put her costume on, a beautiful emerald green sparkly leotard with a matching skirt that had a few pink flowers on the hip. It reminded me of my duet costume for Chasing Answers and Brooke’s old Garden of Eden costume combined. She didn’t have anytime to run her dance, which was acro-lyrical, because she was in such a rush. After she ran out everyone followed, except for Maddie, Melissa, my mom, and me. We’re on in two hours and we still needed to do hair, makeup, and warm-up all before Abby returned.

“So Kendall K, are you excited for your solo?” My mom asked me with a bobby pin in her mouth.

“I guess so, I mean I really like the song and my costume.” I was dancing to ‘I Love It’, by Icona Pop. It was already one of my favorite songs so when Abby assigned it to me I was super-excited. The dance was jazz, like always, and my costume was a crop top and booty shorts covered in silver sparkles with a fake diamond brooch on my hip and in my hair, which was put up in a French twist. I felt so sassy and full of energy in it, that I could just tell that I was going to do well. 

“What about you Mads? Are you going to bring home another win?” Melissa asked her daughter, while applying nude lipstick on her.

“I don’t know and mom I’m twelve years old! I can put on my own makeup.” Maddie whined while moving her head away from her mom. Melissa just rolled her eyes and walked towards the corner of the room, where Abby usually sits wherever we go, and pulled her iPhone our to play Maddie’s music.