𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃 • 𝐉𝐄𝐍𝐙𝐈𝐄

7.00

mackenzie nodded her head. "who's before me?"

maddie shrugged. "i don't know."

"who's after me– who's last?"

maddie stuttered. "i– i dont know that either. do you want me to ask?"

kenzie shook her head. "don't leave me alone with all these weirdos." she then grinned. maddie laughed. mackenzie was referring to the fact that a group of boys dressed as clowns were parading around their corner of the room. she tried to ignore them, especially because she was pretty sure at least half of them had seen her nudes.

in actual fact, most of the school had seen her nudes. most of the boys were immature assholes, and even today, weeks later, they still airdropped it to each other. mackenzie was ashamed, sure, and certainly not flattered by that type of attention, but at least the boys weren't being complete idiots by bringing up the situation to her face. the girls on the other hand, had been incredibly gracious. some commented on her confidence, others on her great body, and it had been great for all of the girls to see which guys had good morals and which didn't. some girls had reached out to her saying that their boyfriends had talked to their friends about deleting the pictures, and that had made mackenzie super happy. although embarrassing, it was cool to know when she was walking around her school which groups of people had her back and which didn't.

lost in thought, mackenzie didn't hear her name being called to rehearse. maddie was the one that nudged her, and gestured for her to walk through the room because it was her turn. inconspicuously, most people in the room watched her as she walked through to the stage. after shutting the door, mackenzie heard maddie yell out for everyone's attention, but she thought nothing of it. after all, maddie was on the events committee, and she was probably just giving them a briefing.

mackenzie shyly walked up the steps behind the stage and kept going until she was under the lights. the tech team greeted her, and ran her through what they had planned for the lighting. she marked the dance with the music, and to her surprise, everyone watching clapped when she had finished. after the only girl on the tech team told her she was a beautiful dancer, she thanked her, and headed backstage again. she looked out for whoever was the last act, as they were normally expected to be the best of the best, but she didn't see them. oh well, she'd see the act in a couple of hours anyway.

she opened the door to the room, and wasn't surprised to see the room back to it's normal state, with everyone rushing around adding last minute touch-ups and different groups chatting and joking together. mackenzie headed back to her spot in the corner with maddie, briefly telling her about the rehearsal.

around half an hour later, the school served them a complimentary dinner, and everyone ate together. it was funny, mackenzie admitted to herself, and almost felt like they were on an eighth grade school camp. after eating dinner with everyone, she felt closer to them all, and it was great to get to know some more people in the room. even after dinner, she continued chatting with everyone, and was surprised to find most of the people were extremely nice, not just loud and extroverted like she'd assumed.

when the audience started to file into the school auditorium at around six-thirty, maddie hushed all of the people in the room and ordered them all to stay quiet. most of the acts watched the audience through the TV in the corner of the room, pointing out their friends and laughing at each others parents. mackenzie didn't look. if lauren was watching, johnny was almost bound to be, but she didn't want to know for sure.

at seven, the show officially started, and the TV in the room turned to the stage instead of the audience. the other acts that weren't already watching pulled chairs up to the TV to sit and watch. mackenzie didn't. she warmed up her muscles and then stretched in her secluded corner, all by herself. maddie was the presenter of the night, a role that perfectly fit her personality, and she'd been cracking silly jokes and making the audience laugh.

the interval of the show came and went, and once again, the room filled with noise. at this point mackenzie could barely sit still, and it was lucky maddie had a break from presenting so she could calm her down. they drank hot chocolates and ate muffins, and after the spike in sugar, mackenzie felt better. when the audience started to take their seats once again for the second half of the show, maddie left and this time, mackenzie watched the other acts for something to do. she laughed at the comedians, was amazed at brynn rumfallo's contortion routine, and felt shivers at some of the singers. the time whizzed by, and before she knew it her routine was two numbers away and she was called to the stage. bidding goodbye to some of her new friends, she slipped off her jacket and headed backstage.

mackenzie ran through her stretches quickly, but because she was already warm, she knew she'd be fine. she practiced some turns, and felt a confidence boost when she nailed them all. sinking down into the splits, she reveled at the excited-nervousness feeling in her stomach. her whole family was in the audience, maddie would be watching, and hopefully johnny would be too.

the numbers before her flew by, and before she knew it, the audience was clapping and the lights dimmed, ready for her solo. breathing in, and then out fully, she mustered up a smile and slowly, dramatically, walked onto the stage and took her beginning pose.

the music began to play, and she began to move, knowing that she had this. the lyrics swirled around her, filled her up inside, and every movement she made had more emotion than the last. this was her song, and her dance, and she knew that this was her moment to shine. with moving facials, she told a story. a story of a girl who had her heart broken– a story of a girl just like herself.

when it came to the chorus, at the part where lewis capaldi's voice always gave her shivers, she executed a perfect calypso leap and finished it off with an elegant roll to the ground. the audience gasped, which she heard over the music, and it gave her the confidence to carry on. until the end of her routine, she continued to move the audience with the pure emotions she communicated. in the closing moments of her routine, she landed her front aerial into the back corner and took her prop out of a waiting hand.

it was a single red rose. a rose, in fact, that johnny had given her.

she walked to center stage with the rose in one hand and curtsied. she then placed the rose against her heart, and slowly, let a smile take over her face.

the audience was silent.

mackenzie watched as people started to clap. and then people started to stand. before she knew it, she was given a standing ovation, and her heartbeat was beating loud in her ears. when she finally managed to pick out her mom and dad, who were clapping like crazy and cheering for her, she did she started to cry.

not because she was sad. because she was happy, truly, happy, for what felt like the first time in forever.

breathing hard, she smiled; and really smiled at that. bowing respectfully, she walked calmly off the stage and into the wings. the door to the backstage area was opened, and some of her friends came streaming in– maisy, mandla, lauren and brynn. she fell into their arms, still smiling, and accepted the water bottle somebody handed her. chugging it down, she thanked everyone who told her she'd done well, and turned to the stage to hear maddie introducing the last act. curious, she listened in to who the act was.

when maddie introduced the last act as johnny orlando, she thought she was daydreaming. she thought she hadn't heard right– and then he actually stepped onto the stage, walking in from the audience, looking absolutely breathtaking in a crisp black and white suit.

the water bottle she was holding slipped from her grasp and her hand flew up to my mouth as she gasped. "oh my god." she said. "oh my fucking god."

and then the lyrics to her favourite song ever began to play.

AUTHORS NOTE

mwah ha ha ha i ❤️ cliffhangers
300 votes and i will post again– i worked hard on this chapter!