Empire - The Next Step

this changes everything

As it turned out, she had tried to bribe the judge after he found out she plagiarised their entire dance from someone else. Encore was disqualified. As sorry as Harper was for both Kenzie and Davis, herself and the team also were ecstatic because it gave them another shot at winning.

"So what does this mean?" Thalia asked as she stood beside her own team who were all equally baffled.

"It means we go head to head." Emily announced with excitement oozing out of her. It had been her goal for so long to take the next step to regionals and win and she finally had another chance to do so.

As the team went off celebrating, Harper noticed a man walking over to her. He was tall and extremely thin and held an air of sophistication as he strode towards her. She shared an odd look with Richelle who was stood beside her.

"Hello Harper, I was wondering if I could have a word." He requested politely in a much more formal voice than she was even capable off. She felt as though she should bow or do something to show respect to this man.

"Uh sure." She replied nervously earning herself a thin smile from the older man who led her away from the team.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Jeremy Bentley, the owner of my own contemporary dance company here in Canada, and I have a proposition for you." He began and Harper nodded for him to go on. "I watched your final dance with your team earlier and was utterly blown away."

"Yeah the team's pretty ama-"

"Not with your team my dear, although they were also incredibly talented, I was particularly blown away with your performance. I would like to offer you a position in my touring company for our upcoming world tour. I think you would be a huge asset to our team." Harper was completely and utterly shocked. She had never even considered what would happen to her after the next step, but here she was being offered a huge opportunity to perform onstage. "I'll give you some time to think about it, but please let me know by tomorrow at the very latest."

"I will!" She exclaimed, a little too excitedly but Jeremy simply chuckled before he left her standing in shock.

"What was that about?" Michelle asked as she approached her sister. Harper glanced over and noticed that most of the others had gone. Richelle and Noah were hanging back, but they didn't want to be too intrusive on the sister's conversation so they decided to follow the rest of the team out and give them some space.

"He offered me a position for a world tour." She replied, still in shock that she was the one who had been chosen. Out of all of a troupe, how could he have chosen her?

"Seriously? That's incredible Harper, I'm so proud of you!" Michelle gushed as she wrapped her arms around the blonde. "So does this mean you'll be leaving the next step?"

"I mean, he's giving me some time to think about it, but I feel like it's too big of an opportunity to pass up. The next step has taught me everything I know, but maybe this means it's time to move on." It was true, ever since she was really young Harper had been at the next step and moving on seemed terrifying, but she couldn't stay just for the nostalgia. She couldn't stay because she was scared of the unknown.

"Well I think you've made up your mind then. The problem is, how are you gonna tell the team?" Michelle asked as she tilted her head to the side pitying the girl who had to break the news to her friends.

"I might just have to come out and say it, but I think sooner rather than later. I wanna get it out of the way." Harper was extremely nervous about how the team would react, although she hoped that they would show her their utmost support. She was most nervous about Richelle, with two of her closest friends at the studio moving on, it would be really hard for her to cope. Harper could only hope and pray that I would go well.

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a/n: 🥺🥺 it's nearly over! oml I can't even comprehend how amazing you guys all are, thank you so so soooo much for 10k reads and all the votes and comments are so appreciated as well. i'll try not to make the final chapter too emotional but i'm actually crying even thinking about it :(( and yes, you heard me correctly, the next chapter will be the final one for this story!!!! eek. i really hope you enjoyed this one and aren't too sad that both noah and harper are leaving (poor richelle) but hopefully it will be more bittersweet as they're leaving to do amazing things. i'll try my best to get it uploaded asap but pls bare with me as i have lots of work for my a levels and etc. thank you so much for reading and stick around to see how it will all end.

p.s. i do apologise about the title but it just made me laugh bc it's literally one of the most common phrases they use on the show, plus it's super dramatic so it fits well!! see you next time :)