⎼⎼⎼ 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 ➵ 𝑏.𝑓.

031

mikki

i couldn't believe it. connor was here at the aldc.

"connor?" i blinked.

"hey mikki moo!" connor laughed, opening his arms. i ran and hugged him.

"what are you doing here? are you the new dancer?"

"sure am!"

"thank you so much for bringing us back," tricia said, smiling, "but i feel like we were ran out of here. i feel like stacey was really jealous and affected the everyone."

"really? this is dumb. abby, how much more-" stacey came into the middle and screamed.

brady was here. connor was here. i should have been delighted, and i was, but tricia had started creating drama before we even started.

"i just wanted to say that this was water under the bridge," tricia started. i gave a slight laugh. that was not what she originally wanted to say.

"settle down!" abby yelled, "everyone, including brady and connor, will be in the group dance this week, and the trio will be with brady, mikki and connor.

it's titled, the river. mikki, you will portray the river. brady and connor will be the men who are...tainting you. and each time they touch you, your costume will be dirtier and dirtier until your..." abby gave a cut throat motion.

i grinned at connor and brady. connor beamed back, but brady gave a strained smile.

"excuse me miss abby," ann spoke up, "but i don't know how it's fair that hannah's been here the whole time and connor walks in and gets a dance handed to him."

"i'm giving him a chance to show what he's capable of," abby explained. "moms, you are dismissed, kids, warm up."

i saw michelle sigh.

🩰

i loved having connor on the team. we were back to being best friends, joined at the hip and going literally anywhere together. i introduced him to carmela's (he loved it) and he made ballet with berkleigh much more enjoyable. i was happy to have him back.

---

brady

we finished rehearsal and went back to the den.

i could tell i was being replaced. before connor padley was introduced to the aldc, mikki was my best friend. the fact that she had never even told me about him was...i don't even know. what i did know was that petty spite was building up inside of me. they were always together and i never seemed to be able to talk to her on my own.

"mikki," i called. she grinned as she turned around and waited for me. "hey."

"hi farrari," she replied, "welcome back!"

"thanks," i said. i suddenly felt really awkward. "um, i just wanted to ask, like...how do you know connor?"

"oh, we've been best friends at our dance studio since we were four years old," she explained, wrapping her scarf up.

"oh. cool," i answered.

"why?"

"nothing. just...curious."

"want to go to carmela's?"

i looked at her. i wanted to say yes. i really did. but if she was going to ignore me and then suddenly decide to hang out with me again, that was not going to happen. but part of me whispered brady, don't be petty.

"no," i said shortly. she seemed surprised. "i mean, i've got plans with press already." that was a lie. i made a mental note to ask press to tell mikki the same thing.

"sure," she replied, seeming disappointed.

now i felt bad. "sorry, we can hang out some other time?"

"nah, it's ok. enjoy your afternoon."

the worst thing was that she sounded genuine.

---

pressley

i wasn't going to lie. i did like connor, and mikki knew it. so why was she so invested in keeping him away from everyone? it was like gia and ellie. i hated thinking badly of my friend, but i wanted to talk to her about it.

"mikki?"

she turned around and put her bag down.

"can i talk to you about sunday?"

it was a dance moms code we'd made up for 'i need to talk to you away from the camera because the producers would love it if they found out'.

she nodded and we walked into a change room together. we rubbed our fingers over the mics to make sure they couldn't hear us.

"mikki, are you trying to keep connor away from the group," i rushed.

she frowned and stared at me. "press, why would i do that? this is just the situation with gia all over again."

"i just need to know. i don't want it to happen again."

"no, i'm not!"

"well then why are you always together and away from everyone else? we agreed that there shouldn't be cliques!"

"what do you mean? like i'm actively trying to go against you guys? trying to make a clique? press, i thought we'd been over this?" mikki's voice rose.

"yeah, but-"

"if you want to talk to connor, you can go up to him! why are you talking to me about this?"

"i do, it's just that..." i trailed off. i don't know what i was about to say.

"if you like him, just say it," she finished, "but i don't appreciate my friends thinking that i'm trying to break up the team."

"i never said you were trying to break up the team!" my voice was getting louder too.

"it sounded like it," mikki said. she opened the door and left me standing there, confused and tired.

well done pressley.

the author speaks:
i'm in an indie rock phase.