Relevé to the Top

Chapter 1. Camouflaged Maneuvers

"Lexi!!!"

Laughing, Lexie lets herself enjoy the giddiness of the other girls. She really did miss them, and six months away is too long.

She missed Thanksgiving and her and Maddie's birthday, but with the experience and the people she met filming Season: A Life Defining Summer, she wouldn't give up for the world. At least she made it home for Christmas.

Even if the movie doesn't do well and she doesn't get a chance to film the other three books, she's okay because what she did get to do is fantastic.

"Your mom said you went to Croatia before you came back for Christmas."

Lexie nods, separating from the girls to pull her jacket off. "Yeah, we did three months in Canada and then three months in Croatia. I was really excited to come back to Pittsburgh, but then I saw the snow, and I wanted to go back to Croatia. I'm sooooo cold."

"I can tell," Christi says. "You have earmuffs, a scarf, a glove, and a massive jacket on."

"She wouldn't even come play in the snow with us," Mackenzie complains.

Lexie shakes her head profusely. "Too cold."

"She's become a summer baby," Melissa coos at her. "So cute. Tell them about Canada."

"Oh yeah," Lexie pulls off her gloves and removes her earmuffs. "So we were filming outside, and it was break, so all the kids were in mine, Dominique, and Enid's trailer, and a bear walked up to our camping, and we had to lock the doors until it left."

"Oh, my God!" Jill gasps. "It must have smelt the food."

Nodding, Lexie laughs. "It ate all the little snacks that we had outside. I have a video of it. And Janine and I would count how many bears, and dears, and rabbits we saw just hanging out."

"Sounds like you made a lot of new friends," Holly comments, smiling at her.

Smiling sincerely, Lexie thinks back to her time in Canada and Croatia. "I did."

Her Dominique and Arlo were practically already best friends before they started filming, but everybody else was so nice too. The adults always looked out for them, and the teens and kids got along well. Lexie feels like she came back with twenty new friends.

"Come on, girls. Let's go. Come on, let's move it," Abby calls.

Lexie quickly finishes changing outside of street clothes before rushing into studio A with the rest of the girls.

"Welcome back, Lexie; I want to hear all about your filming, but later," Abby tells her. Lexie nods, simile dipping. "Of course, we have to talk about Bernardsville, New Jersey. Second, second, second, second. The duet was fifth. It's okay. Everybody needs knocked down a few pegs. Even you, Maddie. Such is life.

"So, let's talk about the group dance. You looked exquisite, but I didn't see a love story. If you want to be second, then you did a great job. If you wanna win, you might have to go back to the basics. I'm not gonna yell at you or scream at you or anything else. I'll just smile and be sweet and nice, and you be second."

Lexie glances at Maddie, who shrugs. From everything Maddie has told her about the season already, Abby has been really mean, so walking in, Lexie didn't expect anything different.

"This week, we will be going to Minneapolis, Minnesota," Abby announces. "We will attend In10sity Dance. We've been there before we're going again. So let's move on to the pyramid. First Lexie. I'm so happy that you were filming a movie, as for dance, you missed ten competitions. This team comes first. Understood?"