Trapped by You- Jiley

Chapter 1

This story will include dark themes but nothing as of now. There will be trigger warnings later on in the book.

After winning Internationals, The Next Step was known as the greatest dance studio in the world. Riley was excited to see what the next year at the studio has to offer her, but was hurt when her boyfriend, James, told her he would not be returning to A-Troupe this year. Of course Riley wanted James to do whatever made him happy but she was unsure how she would cope without him there to help her.

Still though Riley was ecstatic when she made A-Troupe again, and was happy to be alongside one of her best friends, Michelle. A lot of people were leaving from the Internationals team- Max, Giselle, Stephanie, Eldon, Thalia, and West. Additionally, Cierra didn't earn a spot after a failed audition, and Amanda never made it to her audition. However, she could deal with most of that, it was James leaving that truly hurt.

They were always together in dances, she always felt slightly uncomfortable doing lifts with anyone else. She could never trust anyone the way she trusted James. He never dropped her, if he thought he was going to he would put her down before she got hurt. Plus, there was something so intimate about dancing, the way he would hold her, so close to him and tightly. She hated the thought of having to dance that way with someone else, she used to love duets. Her duets with James meant so much to her, Flying was one of the best moments of her life, and her favourite dance she'd ever performed. But now, she would hate to have to do a duet, it would just feel wrong.

There was so many new people on A-Troupe, there would always be new members joining but never so many this quick. She didn't really know these people, Richelle and Skylar had been in B-Troupe, and she knew Piper well, since she's James' little sister. The rest of these people she had only had brief conversations with.

A lot of the dancers had never competed at this high a level before, there was one dancer, Alfie, who had actually competed at Internationals and was the male soloist. She thought his solo was very impressive, but unfortunately his time lost in the blind folded round. He did tell Riley though that he very much loved her duet, and told her it was his favourite dance at Internationals.

Riley had a lot of worries on how this year was going to go. As always James tried to assure her everything would be ok, but she still wasn't sure. She always felt uneasy when she didn't know what was coming next.

Today was the first day with the new A-Troupe, and Riley was sat in Java Junction, counting down the minutes until rehearsal starts, whilst finishing her drink. She was playing a game on her phone to distract herself and to pass the time.

"Sup Babe," called a voice.

Riley smiled at the sound of the voice, immediately recognising who it belonged to. She looked up at her boyfriend sitting across from her, happy to see him but unsure why he was there.

"What are you doing here? I thought band rehearsal didn't start for another hour?" she asked him.

"I dropped Piper off, but mainly I just wanted to see you. How do you feel?"

"Nervous, terrified, stressed," she listed.

"So just normal then. You have nothing to worry about. Riley, you are an incredible dancer, and the I'm sure the new members will be amazing, they would've have made the team if they weren't," he told her honestly.

"James, I'm the most senior dancer on A-Troupe. That's a lot of responsibility, I'm used to being one of the youngest. It's a big change, and I don't know if I can handle it alone," she says as she looks down picking at her nails.

James frowns at this. He hates it when his girl doesn't believe in herself. She doesn't realise how incredible she is. James reaches his hand over the table and grabs Riley's hand, but she still keeps looking down.