Vivi-Anne at the ALDC

33. Girls In The House

VIVI-ANNE'S POV

We go into the studio 5 minutes before class starts. Jennine, one of the ALDC instructors, is at the front desk. "Hi, Melissa! I see you have Vivi with you. Another sleepover?"

Melissa smiles. "No, this time Vivi's staying with us for a bit longer."

We head into the Dancers' Den, which is basically a change room for the dancers. The class lets out, and thirty girls aged 6-8 come into the den all at once. It gets kind of packed, but Kenzie and Maddie find their way over to us.

"Hi mom! Hi Vivi!" Kenzie says happily, bouncing out of the room. Maddie follows, looking a little tired.

"Okay, girls, so Vivi is going to stay with us for the rest of the month. Just until the docu- series ends."

The whole filming thing is only supposed to be 6 episodes. I really wish it was more, but I guess it won't be. In just a few weeks, I'll have to go back to my mom and her Crabby Apples. I'm dreading it so much, but at least it'll be nice to be with Kenzie and Maddie.

Maddie yawns and starts changing out of her jazz shoes, while Kenzie wraps me in a hug. Melissa notices and chuckles. "Don't worry, Maddie's always like this when dance is over."

Maddie looks up. "I wish I could just keep dancing, forever and ever. Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in the studio?"

Melissa laughs. "Oh, Maddie." She turns to me with a conspiratorial glance. "She'd never stop dancing if she could."

Kenzie nods. "Yeah. She's always tapping around the house."

Maddie smiles for the first time since she left the dance floor. "Hey, you do cartwheels everywhere!"

Kenzie huffs and starts putting on her sneakers, but I can see that Melissa is glad that her two daughters are enjoying dance.

The girls finish changing and putting their shoes away. Melissa picks up Kenzie's duffel and we head out to the car. We cram into the backseat of her car, Kenzie in the middle seat. Melissa checks the backseat mirror. "Seatbelts?"

"Yep!" we all chorus. Kenzie giggles, and Melissa starts driving back to her house.

We sing along to the radio all the way home. Kenzie's actually a pretty good singer, but the rest of us wail passionately off- key. I don't mind. My mom would never let me do this. She's a fan of silence and listening to the jazz station. Not that jazz music is bad, but when you hear it for four hours a day, it gets a bit dry.

When we finally get there, we all help carry my bags inside. There are only four, so Melissa grabs two, Maddie grabs one, and Kenzie and I share.

We pile my things in the living room. The sleeping bags are still set up from yesterday. Melissa sighs. "So... of course this won't do. We've gotta find you a real bed to sleep in!"

We head upstairs. There are four bedrooms- the master, where Melissa sleeps; Maddie's room, Kenzie's room, and a smaller room they use for all their dance clothes and accessories.

"We call it the Store." Maddie says proudly, and I notice piles of medals and trophies line the shelves. "Short for Storage."

Melissa frowns. "Well, Vivi, I honestly don't think there's enough space here to put a bed."

We head downstairs. There are a couple rooms there, but it's freezing and so we go back to the living room. Melissa frowns. "You know what, girls, you can all sleep in the living room tonight, like a sleepover. Then, tomorrow, we'll go to a furniture store and pick out a bunk bed so that you can finally sleep on a real bed. Okay?"

"Thank you so much." I tell her. I'm so grateful for all of this. My mother is only giving Melissa a thousand dollars to take care of me for the rest of this month, and a bunk bed is definitely a large chunk of that money.

Melissa smiles. "Of course. As long as you feel welcome here, okay? Anything that's ours is yours."

We eat dinner at an Italian restaurant ten minutes away from the house. The food is nice, but what's even nicer is the feeling that I'm loved.