HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[3.4] the times they are a changin'

❝ You've been here since my first day, I've never known The Next Step without you. I can't believe this is how it ends. ❞

‧₊˚✩

     It was officially the second day of the head-to-head competitions and tensions were already high. The first day had been rough on all of the dancers, they had lost some incredible members of their team; only time would tell if they were to face the same fate on day two.

  Currently, Mackenzie, a strong Elite member, was dancing her hardest to grab a spot on the Internationals team, despite the fact she had chosen the name of one of her teammates to battle against.

  As it stood, The Next Step was leading Elite in the competition four dancers to three with only five more dance battles left to go, meaning that if their studio were to have three more winning dancers, The Next Step would be free of Lucien and his mind games forever.

  Mackenzie's dance came to its swift end, meaning it was Shantel's turn — just by the determined look on her face, many dancers could tell that the girl was ready to battle and would be taking to prisoners.

  The girl began dancing as Straight to the Top played in the studio and the dancers could already make out just how strong her dance skills were. Shantel was focused, focused so much to the point that you could tell there was nothing on her mind during that solo other than that dance in that competition during that very moment.

  "I know how political she is, how ambitious she is," Amanda explained, almost as if she was in awe of the dancer, "And I know that she's got her eye on becoming Dance Captain one day."

  She finished her solo in a strong position, earning her much applause both from her own team, and also from the remaining Next Step dancers that had either already made the Internationals team, or were yet to compete for a spot.

  For Maxie, choosing between the two dancers was somewhat difficult. She knew very little about either Mackenize or Shantel, meaning the one solo they had performed was all she had to go off — even then, both girls showed hardly any emotion of personality in their performances.

  "Okay, who do you guys think it should be?" Miss Kate looked around the room, allowing the dancers to take a moment to conclude their final decision before the majority pointed toward Shantel, making it clear who their winner was, "Looks like it's you, Shantel. Congratulations."

  The next two names to be pulled from the hat were Chloe and Jen, two equally strong dancers from separate troupes who were ready to battle to reach the same goal. Quickly, the recommended hour had passed and as of current, the dancers were watching Jen perform.

  As much as The Next Step knew Chloe had what it took, Elite dancers were killer — they practically lived up to their studio's name.

  "I'm so nervous right now," Chloe admitted with a somewhat shaky tone, "I'm not even really paying attention to what's going on. A-Troupe means everything to me. I don't know what I'm gonna do if I don't make the team."

  "Yeah!" Lucien cheered along with the rest of Elite as Jen's solo came to an end, "Good girl, Jen!"

  The applause for Jen, however, was quickly drowned out by the cheers for Chloe as she took the floor, a look of fierce determination overtook her expression as she moved to the centre of the room, nothing else on her mind other than her solo and a possible spot on the team.