The Secret Friendship

Chapter Eleven

Chloe POV:

I pulled up in front of the Zieglers’ house on Tuesday night to pick up Maddie for dance class. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been here. The place looked exactly the same and Melissa still drove the same van she had back in the day. As I thought back to all the time Maddie and I had spent making up dance routines in the front lawn and coloring with chalk on the driveway, she came out of the front door, dance bag in tow.

“Hey.” She greeted as she climbed into the passenger seat. Her voice didn’t exactly present enthusiasm.

“Hey. Are you ready?” She nodded.

“Yeah. I’m glad to get out of the house. My mom and I have done nothing but argue lately. I had to lie to her about where I was going. If she knew I was dancing at another studio she would freak out.”

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. I’m just happy to get to dance with you again.”

“Me too.” We drove a little, listening to the radio when Maddie finally said,

“So elephant in the room…I’m competing up against you this weekend again.” I grinned, as this was not news to me.

“I know.”

“Abby demands I beat you…but I’m considering blowing the whole thing off…just to rub it in her face.”

“That’s not the right thing to do.”

“Don’t you want to win?”

“Maddie, I want to win because I was the best dancer. I don’t want to win because you threw in the towel.”

“I just can’t deal with Abby anymore. I want to show her how talented you are.”

“That ship has sailed. She’s irrelevant to me now. I don’t care what she thinks. Plenty of other people think I’m talented. I don’t need her approval.”

“I’m just sick of all the pressure she puts on me.”

“I’m sorry, Mads. I don’t know what to tell you.” She stared out the window at the sunset. I could tell this was really weighing on her mind. Hopefully tonight could help her relax and forget about things.

At the studio, I introduced Maddie to all of my friends. Thankfully none of them fan-girled over her and embarrassed me. She seemed to fit in great with the other girls. A few other people brought friends too, but not a ton of people. The class was a lot of fun. After being frowny all night, I finally got a smile out of Maddie. She seemed to unwind a lot and I saw a lot of her passion unveil. It made me so happy to dance with her. It was just like old times.

Maddie POV:

I had a great time at Studio 19 with Chloe. Dancing with new kids and a different choreographer was quite refreshing. It was a onetime thing and hopefully Abby would never find out about it. Afterwards, Chloe and I went out for ice cream and then she dropped me back off at home around nine. However, the second I walked in the door I could tell Mom was livid with me.

“Maddie! Come here!” She ordered. She was loading the dish washer while Mackenzie sat at the kitchen table working. I made my appearance, leaving my dance bag by the door so she wouldn’t know I’d been out basically cheating on Abby. “Where the hell have you been?” Originally I’d told her that I was going to see a movie with some girls from dance, but I ended up being out longer than the length of a movie. Now she was suspicious.

“I was at the movies. We got ice cream afterwards and I lost track of time. Sorry. I should’ve called.” She looked at me disapprovingly. She didn’t buy a word of it.

“Oh. You were out with dance friends? Then how come Abby called and told me she’d scheduled a last minute rehearsal for your group. You all didn’t miss that did you?” This was getting ugly.

“It wasn’t people from my group.” I lied. “You know that new girl I’ve been hanging around with, I went with her and some of her friends.” She still didn’t buy it.

“Madison, where the hell were you?” I sighed and looked down at my feet. I was caught in a pickle. “Madison!” She shouted, making our poor dog Maliboo cower under Mackenzie’s feet under the table.

“I was out, okay! Don’t worry about it!”

“I called you a dozen times and you didn’t pick up! Were you out with a boy?”

“I was not!”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you were not out with a boy!” I stared into her brown eyes and stammered,

“I was not out with a boy! I was out with Chloe! Calm down!” This didn’t help the situation at all.

“Chloe?!” She retorted. “Chloe Lukasiak?!” I nodded innocently. “What the hell were you doing with Chloe?”

“Just hanging out.”

“Why? You know that is forbidden! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I don’t care anymore, Mom! I can hang out with whoever I want!” I tried to walk away but she grabbed me by the collar on my jacket and pulled me back.

“You are throwing everything away, Madison! You are going to lose everything! I forbid you to ever see Chloe again! Not until you graduate from ALDC! I’m not letting her come between you and Abby and your dance career! You are delusional!”

“You can’t tell me what to do! I can talk to whoever I want! I’m going to see Chloe again and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” That pissed her off even more.

“Give me your car keys!” Maybe there was something she could do about it. I reluctantly handed her my keys from my purse. “You’re grounded! Give me your phone too! No going anywhere except for dance until I say otherwise! You are to drive to dance and back and that’s it! No exceptions!”

“But Mom!”

“No buts! Go to your room!” I surrendered my phone and then headed up to my pink painted room where I would be spending a lot of time. If I’d mentioned to her that I was not only with Chloe but also dancing at another studio with her, I would be dead. This sucked.