Une Fleure Fanée

Week 10 Part 3 (Tuesday)

     It is a little weird seeing that the other girls are treating me normally. I thought they would have treated me like a black sheep until I die from starving myself. But, they're treating me pretty normally, which I'm grateful for.

     "Girls, moms, let's go!" Ms. Abby yells for the dancer's den.

     I know Ms. Abby is going to yell at us for the group dance. Fourth for goodness sake! Not even in the top three. You're the reason the group failed, Lilliana. You were too fat and scared to do your moves correctly.

     "The group was a huge disappointment for me. You had the tools, you had the technique, you had the choreography. The group dance should have won. Let me ask you a question. Did your mothers have you freaked out?" Ms. Abby asks.

     Pressley and Sarah nod. I keep quiet. It was more of the intrusive thoughts yelling at me more than my Mom.

    "Maybe your mothers are in your head, and you have to hear it in the car, you have to hear it at home-" Ms. Abby begins to explain before Ms. Michelle begins to overlap on her explanation.

    "What, you mean us? You're blaming us?"

     "I-I don't want to hear any more crap about it. Never gonna be in the same situation," Ms. Abby cryptically puts out.

     "What does that mean?" Mom and Ms. Yolanda both ask, all of us confused by Ms. Abby's cryptic message.

     "It means I have zero tolerance for a mom's bad behavior, so don't test me. We have no more time for distractions. No more. All right, it's time for the pyramid," Ms. Abby explains and wheels over to the pyramid.

     Oh, boy, here we go. You were awful in the group dance, Lilliana. Don't expect to be anywhere near the top.

     "At the bottom of the pyramid... Sarah. Huge disappointment, huge," Ms. Abby tells Sarah, and it's like she already knows how bad she did.

     She didn't palace in her solo, and wasn't a big standout in the group. But I still feel bad for her. It's sad to be on the bottom.

     "'Cause that was my hometown, I was really stressed, and I just choked, and it wasn't a good performance," Sarah explains.

     "That's what I think, too. Next... Brady. We brought you in, you were back, we're never gonna lose, we lost," Ms. Abby says.

      Seriously, Brady, at the bottom of the pyramid? He did a Russian switch leap and a front aerial walkover in water. Water! And he didn't screw it up. I'm a little annoyed at the ranking, but I can't change it.

     "I don't know, Abby, but you said on Saturday that he was great, you thought he was wonderful," Ms. Tricia protests.

     "I expect more from him. He needs to get into the character more, I think he needs to tell the story more, and I think he needs to be confident. Next, Pressley. You slipped. Those are things you can't rehearse for. Those are things that happen. Didn't affect the group. I mean, the judges see that. They-they know," Ms. Abby dismisses the slip-up.

     How is Ms. Abby so chill about slipping? If it were me, Gia, or Hannah, Ms. Abby would be all over our case. Guess you aren't the favorite anymore, Lilliana. It's about time.

     "Next, Elliana. You should not have been third. You should have been second, by a hair. Next, we have Hannah. Hannah, you actually had a good week. I guess because your mother's old, and you live in that small town, you all know that, 'best you don't know' and 'Luigi,' style, right?" Ms. Abby comments.

     Even when Hannah does good for once, she can't skirt by without some sort of burn from Ms. Abby.

     "Next, GiaNina. You were one of the standouts using the water. So maybe, GiaNina, this summer, you could get scuba-certified, and then you can dance in water all the time," Ms. Abby jokes, making Gia chuckle.