"Alright, let's get this luggage moving," Abby tells the moms and kids once they arrived. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, No, No, No!" Abby exclaims as Holly went to help Nia with her luggage.
"She has two pieces of luggage, Abby," Holly replies.
"She brings it. She carries it," Abby reprimands; she gestures for the kids to start walking. "Now remember that competition starts right now when you walk into this building. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," the kids reply.
Abby nods. "Let's go." The group follows Abby into the hotel.
"Abby Lee Miller, I need to check in," Abby says to the attendant. Behind her, she heard a burst of loud laughter that could only belong to Kelly and Christi; She is not surprised when Abby turns and says. "Shh! Ladies, library voices."
Christi rolls her eyes and looks down at her daughter. "Ladies. Library voices." she mimics Abby, placing her fingers to her lips.
"Okay, listen to me," Abby tells the girls once she was finished checking in. "I don't want any flip-flops. I don't want booty shorts walking through here. You make sure you are covered and dress appropriately," the girls nodded, and my little sun makes a face. "Okay, let's go. I have the room number."
Abby leads the team into the hallway in search of their dressing room.
Once they found their dressing room, the moms and the kids instantly started setting up for the competition. Competitions are always a whirlwind. Everybody was trying to do their hair, makeup and find the best spot to get ready.
"Hey, how are we doing in here?" Abby asks them.
"Good," Melissa responds as she did Maddie's makeup.
I look at luna. I am finishing her group makeup.
I look at Apollo and see he is done applying the duet makeup.
I like it strong, dark and mysterious.
"I hate this last-minute crap, ladies," Abby complains. "Okay, where are the hats? Can I see the hats?"
Holly places a finished party hat on top of Nia's head. "It looks nice. I think they're great."
"No, that's good," Abby agrees.
"Christi did it," Christi boasts.
Abby grimaces. "Oh, oh, okay. Listen! Get them in hair and makeup and get ready to go."
Abby sits down at a table with the unfinished party hats and starts decorating them.
"Ok, tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it," Melissa tells Abby, taking the seat opposite of Abby.
The fact that the hats weren't done an hour before the girls were supposed to go onstage is typical for the Abby Lee Dance company. Us moms were always stoning costumes five minutes before they go on; everything was always last minute,
Abby gathers the girls over to her and places a hat on each of their heads. While doing so, she took notice of Paige's nails. "The same thing, it's over and over, every time we compete. I told you about the nails. I don't care if you have fake nails, but the nail polish -- the white draws attention to your hands, and everybody doesn't have it. Girls, I taught you better than this.
"I told her I wasn't taking it off," Kelly informs Abby.
"why?" Abby asks her.
"Because I just paid to have them done."
"But you..."
"They're French. It's not like she has pink, purple nail polish on."
Abby changes direction. "I don't think this is where we're supposed to be going. I think we're supposed to be talking about the group and our dance."
"Well, whatever," Kelly says, backing up. "But..."
"It's not whatever, it's not whatever," Abby shakes her head.
"You brought it up," Kelly reminds her. "You brought it up."
"Right," Abby nods.
"Then you can give me the twenty dollars to take it of her nails and off her sisters' nails,"
"Can you hand me my purse?" Abby asks Gianna. "Give me forty bucks." Gianna hands Abby forty dollars from her purse. Abby hands it to Kelly.
Aggravated, Kelly made the wise decision to walk away from Abby instead of accepting the money.
Christi walks over to kelly, and I hear her say. "You wanna go for a drink?"
Kelly glances around the room before nodding. Silently the two of them snuck out of the room.
The dressing room was relaxed and comfortable until Abby took notice that she was missing two moms.
"Where are Christi and Kelly?" she asks, only to receive head shakes and unconcerned shrugs. She let out an aggravated sigh before leaving the room to find her missing moms.
Twenty minutes to curtain call Christi and Kelly returned to the dressing room with a glass of wine on one and a cup of whatever, most likely another alcoholic beverage, on the other hand.
Holly looks up from where she sat, knitting. "I was wondering where you guys were. Where were you?"
"We were at the bar making friends," Christi replies in a high-pitched voice. It was apparent she was a little tipsy.
"I should have guessed that was where you were," Holly laughs going back to her knitting.
"Brooke, stay right here," Kelly tells her daughter. "I'm gonna do a couple of curls in her hair and then a couple of curls in yours."
"I think I'm going to hold these hats hostage, and you guys each have to buy me one cocktail each for making the hats," Christi teases.
"Oh, kiss my ass," Kelly scoffs. "I already gave you your cocktail today. I'm done."
Sizzle.
Kelly gasps as Paige began to cry. "Oh, my God, are you okay?"
"What happened?" Melissa asks.
"Oh my god," Kelly rubs on the red mark on Paige's arms. "She walked right into the curling iron."
"What happened?" Brooke asks, walking over. "What happened?"
"She walked right into the curling iron."
Instantly the girls converged around the crying girl.
"It's okay, sweetie," Kelly comforts.
Melissa brought an ice pack over while Holly helped Kelly apply it on Paige's arm.
"It really got her good, uh Paige?" Kelly asks her daughter.
"You did really get it good," Christi agrees.
"It's okay. Your gonna live."
"Paige," Maddie walks over. "Paige. If it makes you feel better, I don't any underwear on."
I see my little moon, walk over and give her a big hug and my little sun run and gran her wet paper towel from the restroom.
Two minutes to curtain call, the girls were in the hallway practicing.
"See those girls down there. See those girls with the legs," Abby points down the hallway where some older girls were standing. "You're gonna be against them. Do you need to step it up?"
Abby asks the girls about their hats. "Is it in? If it's not when you're ready to go on that stage, you tell Linda Diamond or somebody backstage that you need a bobby pin, and they'll give you one. Do you understand me? Open your mouth and ask somebody if you need something backstage. Chances her, they have it laying... or there's probably ten bobby pins laying on the floor."
"It fell out when she did her side aerial. It went down," Paige informs Abby.
"I know," Abby tells her. "But that's dangerous. What if she was at Radio City Music Hall? And the thing was open for the ice skating rink to come out, and she did a side aerial and fell 13 stories down and died? Huh? Let's go, girls."
Abby directs the wide-eyed girls backstage, giving them corrections the whole time.
"And next up to the stage will be a mini Jazz group, 'Party, Party, Party.'"
Abby was not pleased. The girls were sloppy, and they shouldn't be.
When the awards were over, Chloe, Maddie, Luna and Paige raced off the stage and headed to the dressing room to prepare for the trio and duet performances.
"Go. Fast. As fast as you can," Christi orders her daughter. "We have five minutes; you need to get the costume off now."
"Luna, sit down now. I am going to put on your makeup. Then you are going to get changed alright." I finish her makeup. It is a really pretty spider web type design around her eye and a nude lip.
"Luna and Apollo, change into your costumes now," I say, handing them their costumes. They come out in
For him, they were just stretchy navy blue pants. Luna's costume was a white crop top, and shorts with white see threw fabric as a skirt and shimmer on the see threw sleeves of the crop top.
They were beautiful, and I brought them backstage. " Good luck. I will be in the audience, my little moon and sun and remember I am proud of you."
"Now to the stage will be a mini Musical Theatre trio -- 'Pin-Up Girls.'"
"Come on, girls!" Christi cheers as the girls stepped on stage. "Good turn! Good job."
She watched the trio with bated breath. "Oh, my God. Oh my God, I'm gonna lose it." Christi said. On the stage, Chloe's headband was slowly come down her face, "Oh! She can't see! Pull your headband back, please, darling. Oh shit." Christi freaked out.
Watching for her seat in the audience, Abby's face reddened. This would not have happened if Christi wasn't getting drunk at the bar. The piece ended, and all the girls were ok, and they didn't miss a beat.
"Now to the stage will be a mini Contempery Duo -- My Unbreakable Will."
They danced like it was the last time they would ever dance. They were amazing. Memorizing and inspiring. I was so proud. Abby was smiling proudly and was giving them the high clap. From the corner of my eye, I saw Christi and Abby leave after the duet was over. It didn't matter to me, though; I had to be ready for when the duo trio awards were done to help Apollo get ready for his solo.
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"It came forward. What did you want me to do?" Christi asks Abby.
"You're in a bar having a drink, and her headpiece is falling off," Abby reprimands her.
"Her headpiece didn't fall off; it came forward."
"Whatever."
"It didn't fall on the stage. She's fine."
"She's fine? It's my number; it's my name."
"It was fine. They didn't miss a beat."
While Abby and Christi were arguing in the hallway, duo trio awards were being given off.
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"Okay, teams, listen up! Starting off, in duo-trio, a third place-- with a score of 266-- goes to "Money." in second -- with a score of 282 out of 300-- Abby Lee Dance Company: Pin-Up Girls! Our remaining mini overall high score duo-trio-- with a score of 294 out of 300 --- Abby Lee Dance Company: My Unbreakable Will."
Missing the excitement of the duo winning, Christi and Abby were still arguing.
____________________________________________________________________________
"It'll never happen again," Christi confirms.
"It better not," Abby tells her. "That's right."
"This conversation is over," Christi walks away.
"And you pay your bills late, by the way," Abby calls after her.
"I do not pay my bills late," Christi denies.
"Yes, you do. Yes, you do."
"We'll talk."
Abby shakes her head and walks back into the auditorium. Christi was gonna be the death of her. She was going to cause her child to be expelled from the studio.
Christi was thinking along the same line. She didn't care if Chloe ever danced again. She didn't know how long she could take it. She can't put up with Abby anymore.
_____________________________________________________________________________
I was quick to wipe off my makeup in the dressing room, put on a pair of gray stretchy pants, and have dark brown smudges painted on my chest. It is my first solo of the season, and I am really excited and somewhat nervous, but I know I could do this.
Luna and Mom wish me luck, and I race backstage just in time. I was up next. I close my eyes and count to ten and walk on stage.
"Now to the stage will be a Junior Contemporary solo. Please welcome Apollo West with -- " Gentle Strenght."
It was amazing, and I thought I did really well.
It was time for awards, and I was nervous but happy.
"Okay, teams, listen up! Starting off, in Jr.Solo, third place-- with a score of 278-- goes to "ocean." in second -- with a score of 280 out of 300-- My Drum -- Our remaining Jr. overall high score solo-- with a score of 292 out of 300 --- Abby Lee Dance Company: Gentle Strenght."
I cheer, run up and grab my trophy. When I return, I got a lot of congrats from the team. Ms.Abby walked in and gave Luna and me a huge. She glared at everyone else and just left without a word—we just kind of stared after her as she left for the bus.
On the bus, I was thinking about the week, and I was satisfied. I felt a weight on my shoulder and looked over to see my sister fast asleep. I move her head onto my lap and lean against the window and let myself drift off. It's been a long week. I can't wait to see what the future holds.