"Speak of the devil!", at the sound of that voice, Abby stopped in her tracks, her face never faltering. She turned to face the woman she despised with an essentially fake smile on her face. Abby then saw Sandy standing right in front of both Amelia and Max, almost like a protective shield against the wicked witch, bringing a genuine smile to her lips. Abby knew that Sandy would go to the ends of the earth just to protect those kids.
"I see you got some new toys, Abby! How nice! Especially with your record," Came the nasal voice of Cathy. It had been a peaceful couple of years without her, but it had officially come to an end. When Cathy mentioned Abby' supposed 'new toys', she looked pretty pointedly at Amelia and Max. Which made Sandy square her chest more to cover the children she dearly loved.
|| Breaking into our dressing room last week and writing a message on Amelia's mirror, that's strike one, calling my kids toys, that's strike two, one more strike and she's out! || - Sandy Hatchet
Suddenly the room exploded! Of course, it exploded, but no one expected it to be this quick. Ann started to usher the kids out of the room, all of them except Amelia. She even took Max with her! So there Amelia was, stuck between her dance teacher and some random woman, arguing about who knows what while she was trying not to cry. Then, finally, she just burst, "GET OUT!"
The room fell silent, "GET IN YOUR OWN DRESSING ROOM! GO HARASS SOMEONE ELSE! I DON'T CARE! JUST GET OUT OF HERE!" Amelia took a moment to realize what she just said, but it was written on her face when she did. Wide-eyed and lips slightly parted, her hands were shaking as she just tried to steady her breathing.
|| I don't know why I just did that, I'm not normally like that! I just wanted her out and I didn't think! || - Amelia Hatchet
|| How dare this nobody speak to me like that! || - Cathy Nesbitt-Stein
|| How many times is it now that one of Sandy' children has yelled at an adult? Too many! She has to get in trouble! || - Ann Colin
Abby honestly could care less about the number of times Amelia yelled. At least it meant she was talking to somebody other than her Mom and Max. She especially didn't care if it meant that Cathy got out of her hair.
With Cathy out of the room, Abby took it as a cue to line up her soloists and freak them out right before they went on stage, "Soloist! Huddle up!" With that, she stopped all three girls to stop stretching and warming up, "So Gia, are you ready? You look amazing in the costume I designed especially for you!" Gia's eyes filled with complete and total fear - you never knew what Abby was going to do - she could take away her solo! "This is your opportunity to show me that you aren't just some pretty lyrical dancer and give me some oomf! If you don't do well, maybe we'll just go back to no solos; how would you like that?" Gia was almost shaking with dread as Abby swiftly moved on to the next dancer.
|| Honestly, at this point it doesn't even matter what Abby says, I know that Gia's amazing and she's going to go out there and shine! || || Then Miss Abby might realize that we don't need new dancers! || - Joanne and GiaNina Paolantonio
Sarah stood with her head held high, waiting for Abby critiques to come and try to shake her up. She was prepared for almost anything. Almost. "Sarah, you need to show me that you want this." That was all that was said to the girl. No criticisms of her. No criticisms of her mom. No threats for if she didn't win. Just one sentence. One sentence was all Sarah was worth to Abby. Nothing more than one measly sentence.
|| I don't know what's worse, Abby trying to rattle your kid before they go on stage or barely saying anything to them! || - Michelle Georgiana
|| I feel bad for Sarah, it's obvious that all she wants to do is dance but nobody will give her a fair shot! || - Max Fevoro
Amelia was practically shaking by the time Abby started to critique her. By the way, the other critiques were going; she would either have her tiny amount of self-esteem ruined or be ignored. It was not looking good for her. The girl slowly moved the fringe that was on the bottom of her costume side to side, slowly attempting to calm herself down. Sandy was also feeling similar anxiety. She wouldn't let it show often, but she cared what people thought of her and her daughter. Sandy had given up everything for Amelia to be able to dance at the level she did. If Abby hated the way she danced, Sandy might cry.
|| I almost don't want Miss Abby to give me a pep talk! || || You call what she does in the dressing rooms a pep talk? I call it trying to psych out her own students! || - Amelia and Sandy Hatchet
Abby looked at Amelia, really looked at her. She took in the shaking stature. She took in the fidgeting. She took in the fact that the girl couldn't even look at her. In an instant, Abby knew that Amelia was nervous. Really nervous.
|| It's a good thing that Amelia's nervous, it means she cares, but right now she needs to be ready for this! || - Abby Lee-Miller
"Amelia. Look at me." The young girl looked up, and she wasn't the only one. Everyone who was in the dressing room was staring at the two of them. Abby took one of Amelia's hands into her own, "I want you to go out there and dance. That's all. Just dance. Dance like you have no cares at all, like it's just you and the music, okay?" Abby spoke in a firm voice, her eyes never leaving the girl who was now noticeably calmer. Amelia just nodded; what else could she do? She knew that Abby believed in her, so now she couldn't let her down.
Joanne, on the other hand, was fuming. Where was the heartfelt speech for Gia? Why did Gia never seem to matter as much as anyone else? She was sick of it. "Abby! Why is it that Gia, a seasoned professional, doesn't get a slither of your attention, and you instead give it to some amateur? Gia has earned your attention time and time again, and yet it's never good enough! IT'S NOT FAIR!"
|| I'm sick of Abby treating Gia like she's worthless! My Gia is the most talented kid in that room! Abby must be blind if she can't see that! || - Joanne Paolantonio
Sandy was getting real sick of these mothers, not understanding that her children had feelings as well. Maybe it was a combination of the stress that the day had already brought and Joanne' annoying voice, but she was ready to snap. And she did. "Joanne! Not everything is fair, okay! Not everything will go your way, and you need to learn to deal with it like an ADULT! You can't take your frustrations with Abby out on my kid. You are not the only person that matters!" She took a minute to get her breath back. Then, in a much calmer tone of voice, she continued, "You don't need to talk about my kids. You don't need to talk to them, and funnily enough, you don't actually need to think about them. I don't care about any of that, but I need you to do a few things for me, Joanne. Respect my goddamn kids! You don't need to like 'em but show them some f*****g respect!"
|| I don't know what came over me! Joanne was just pissing me off and I couldn't take it anymore! || - Sandy Hatchet
|| Honestly, who does this woman think she is? She can't say those kinds of things to me! || - Joanne Paolantonio
The moms all gasped. This was it. Sandy had sworn in the dressing room. With the kids in it. This was the moment Sandy would get in trouble. This was the moment Amelia would get her solo taken off of her. Abby looked towards Sandy and smiled, "Couldn't have said it better myself, Sandy. Let's rollout, guys!" And with no to if the girls followed her started to roll out of the room.
|| I give up! I don't care if Abby doesn't think Gia can win, I know she can! || - Joanne Paolantonio
|| Does Abby think that this family can seriously do no wrong? Cause she's lying to herself! || - Ann Colin
|| That whole dressing room fiasco would have gone better if the rest of the moms knew how to mind their own business! || - Michelle Georgiana
All of the kids stood in the wings waiting for one of them to be announced, when finally, after what seemed like hours, it happened, "Next up to the StarQuest stage is Number 13, Sarah with Let Her Go!" Of course, this was met with loud cheers, not only from the audience but her teammates in the wings.
(Start at 0:38)
As she held her final pose, you could see the tears start to well up in Michelle' eyes, waiting for the floodgates to open. On the other hand, Abby seemed rather unimpressed, only a tiny clap with zero expression on her face.
|| Sarah's solo was nothing special, it didn't wow me! With a solo like that she'll never win in the teen category! || - Abby Lee Miller
As soon as Sarah left the audience's view, the team could see that she had the Cheshire Cat's smile on her face. However, whilst Amelia wanted to celebrate Sarah's amazing solo, she knew she didn't have a whole lot of dances before her solo. So she needed to get into the right headspace.
Amelia could also see one of Cathy's dancers staring at her, so she used one of Abby's old tricks. She got herself in the correct position, and with perfected poise, she started one of her favourite turn sequences. For the killing blow, she ended it then turned to face the boy who was staring at her and gracefully bowed.
You could feel the boy's shock from a mile away. Max turned to face Amelia with a smug smirk on his face, "Now, what was that little miss?" A little giggle escaped Amelia's mouth, leading Max to also let a chuckle out.
"I have no clue what you're talking about, Maxie?" She told him innocently, "I just needed to warm up my turns," She looked towards him with a giant pout and massive puppy dog eyes. Then, without warning, the guy Amelia had been taunting with her turns started to make his way onto the stage, and Amelia held her breath.
All was going well. The boy was an incredible dancer, and his routine was almost over. He could possibly win! But in his last turn sequence, he spun and spun and then he fell. He fell out of his turns! Amelia and Max shared a secret little high five for successfully freaking out what seemed to be some of their toughest competition.
|| I have absolutely no idea why that boy fell out of his turns! || ||What did you do? || - Amelia and Sandy Hatchet
While the boy was walking off stage, he made an effort to glare at Amelia and knock into her. Brady saw this action and made his way over to the two that were secluded from the group. Looking towards them, he asked, "What was that about?" All they did was smile at him.
"Next up to the StarQuest stage: Number 22, Amelia dancing Mama Knows Best!" With that, Amelia started to walk onto the stage with the confidence that she was perfect, head held high and everything.
"She got that guy to fall out of his turns," Max whispered to Brady.
"WHAT!" Everyone backstage looked towards the commotion, and Brady flushed whilst Max tried to hold back his laughter.
While Amelia strutted off the stage, she could see Abby, who had her hands above her head, clapping out of the corner of her eye. Just that simple fact made Amelia smile wider than before. When she got off stage, she was crushed in a hug by Brady and Max, then when she got released, Lilli and Sarah were very quick to jump in and ask so many questions.
"How do you turn like that?"
"Do you not get dizzy?"
"How was it so clean?"
Max was quick to calm them down, "Guys, don't give her a bigger head!" He jokingly told them he could see the attention was making Amelia uncomfortable and just wanted them to take a chill pill. He understood why they were so excited, though. It was the first time the girls had ever seen her run her routine full out since Abby treated it like a state secret, and needless to say, the girls were impressed and not scared to show it. For the most part.
Hannah and Pressley were over by Gia, trying to tell her that she looked great and perfect. They were saying just about anything to make her feel better. It wasn't working. But they had no time to help, "Coming up to the StarQuest stage: Number 23, GiaNina with Pretty Girls!" Gia just rolled her eyes and started to walk on stage with a fake smile on her face.
Abby did not seem impressed. Not in the slightest. She refused to clap as Gia was walking off, which Joanne immediately noticed. Joanne was just done with Abby at this point. If she didn't appreciate her little Gia's talent, it was her loss.
|| Gia did good! She did the best she could with the little amount of attention Abby gave her! I mean, did you see her choreo? || - Joanne Paolantonio
|| Gia could do so much better, especially if Joanne let me do my job! Joanne thinks she could be a star, well the girl who just performed was not a star! || - Abby Lee Miller
Gia walked off stage and dodged all of her teammates' congratulations and hugs, and chose to walk straight past them and just walk towards the hallway. Everyone was gobsmacked. They always celebrated before going back to the dressing room. Always. But Gia was just not feeling it, apparently.
In the dressing room, the moms were discussing what they thought Abby would say about the solos. They were not hopeful. "She just didn't seem impressed by Sarah, but she's twelve and just danced against fifteen year old's! I mean, come on! What more does she want from us?" Michelle complained. Michelle had noticed how blasé Abby was when she was watching Sarah dance. It wasn't looking good for Sarah.
Stacey had enough of Michelle and Joanne complaining, they had been in the dressing room, and all she had heard was how much it wasn't fair, "You know what isn't fair? Lilli is the only one who got a perfect score last season; why hasn't Abby given her a solo? Abby knows my kid wins, so she doesn't want to risk Amelia losing to her, so she gets no solos!"
Sandy just rolled her eyes. She was getting a headache from these moms. All they did was talk and talk and talk. It got them nowhere! "Stacey, Lilli and Amelia are in different age categories; they wouldn't even be competing directly against each other," At this point, Sandy wanted the kids to come in so this pointless bickering would stop, "Also, in case you've forgotten, the other kid I take care of, Max, hasn't had a solo either,"
|| Amelia comes in and suddenly Lilli can't get a solo to save her life! It's cause and effect! || - Stacey Ketchman
|| All these moms do is complain, it's driving me mad! || - Sandy Hatchet
Stacey was prepared to fight Sandy on this, "Yeah, but he's had a duet and now a trio! Lilli hasn't had any of that!" The other moms had gone quiet listening to Sandy and Stacey fight. Well, if you could call it a fight. Stacey was basically yelling, while Sandy seemed to not care at all. It was pretty funny. Stacey' red face and aggressive hand movements perfectly contrasted Sandy' apathetic way of organizing her kid's makeup.
"Hasn't Lilli been in every group dance? Max has only been in one, so I think we're even. Why do you care?" This sentence seemed to enrage Stacey as she shot up from her chair. You could see the steam waves rolling off her hair. Everyone's eyes were flickering between the two waiting for something to happen.
Quite loudly Stacey started, "HOW DARE YO-"
"Are we interrupting something?"
All the moms turned to see all their kids standing by the doorway, staring at them. Amelia stood with her head down, making it clear that she had heard the start of the argument. She stood behind Max, who was the one who got the moms to be quiet.
All of a sudden, Abby rolled in through the other door. She was surprised to see all the kids crowding around the door as if they were waiting for permission to enter. "What are you lot waiting for? We have dances to get ready for!" And like nothing ever happened, the room was brought back to life, with kids and parents alike rushing around looking for makeup wipes and their next costumes.
The trio was first out of the little changing area, which contained Max and Brady in white button-downs and pants. Amelia was in an intricate soft pink and blue leotard, with floral applicates and a skirt. It was quite the sight.
As always, the moms gushed about it. They fawned over it so much that they almost missed their own daughters entering the room in their costumes. Of course, if Max hadn't overdramatically cleared his throat, the moms might have missed it.
The girls walked out in gold, sparkling leotards that kind of resembled a tuxedo that flared out at the bottom. The look was finished with a top hat that would need to be fastened with a billion bobby pins and little black gloves.
While the moms got to work on getting those hats stuck to their child's head, Abby wanted some pictures of Amelia, Brady, Max and herself. They posed in front of the banners that were always in their dressing room, and the other girls just looked on with jealousy; why had they ever got the fantastic costume? Or the photos with Miss Abby? Or even just a rehearsal where they weren't screamed at the entire time?
|| Max, Amelia and Brady are the epitome of Abby Lee dancers, why wouldn't I want to take photos with them in costumes that I designed? || - Abby Lee Miller
|| The blatant favoritism I can handle while we're at the studio, but in the dressing room right before the kids go on, seriously? || - Ashley Hosbach
|| Taking photos with Miss Abby is always a little uncomfortable, but I would say it's worse when you have grown adults glaring at you for it || - Max Fevoro
"KIDS! HUDDLE UP!" The kids rushed from their seats to stand around Abby, "Now, I expect wins from all of you, with the trio and group dance! Okay! So we're going to run the trio once, then we'll polish off the group dance, got it?" All the kids scattered to finish off what they were doing before Abby had called them over. The moms, on the other hand, were shocked. Really, Abby wanted to spend more time with the trio! Instead of a group dance that had never been done entirely! Was she serious?
|| It's like Abby wants our kids to fail! || - Stacey Ketchman
|| Why even do a group dance if you're not gonna spend any time with it? Is it to make our kids feel like sh*t? Because that's what she's doing! || - Joanne Paolantonio
The moms sensibly chose to close their mouths and wait until after the competition to talk to Abby about treating their children. They just sat there quietly and watched their kids try and stop the inevitable trainwreck of their group dance. Abby could barely watch it, and she choreographed it!
Eventually, she sent the kids out to wait for their performance. Max, Brady and Amelia were in a little huddle, talking through their routine. The rest of the girls were either marking the routine they had just learnt or staring at the trio mildly threateningly. "Now we have on the StarQuest stage: Number 32, Amelia, Brady and Max with Stuck In The Middle!" The crowd cheered while two stagehands put their little bench on the stage, and the kids got in position.
People laughed as they got in their final positions, Max holding the book over Amelia's neck, pretending to read it, Brady laughing along with him. At the same time, Amelia sat there with a tremendous big pout. While walking off the stage, Amelia whispered to Max, "Thanks for not hitting me in the face with that book," Max tried to hold back his smile, but it was difficult.
|| Was the trio perfect? No. Brady put his hands down in the standing back tuck and Max's technique wasn't absolutely perfect, but it was a lot better than the other trio I saw! || - Abby Lee Miller
|| I'm really happy with the trio! I thought we did really good!|| - Amelia Hatchet
|| I thought the trio was great! I'm so happy I got to work with Max and Amelia this week! || ||You think you enjoyed working with one work than the other? Cause I think you did || - Brady and Tricia Farrar
The group waited backstage for the group to be announced for a long time. A really long time. Since they didn't talk to each other, it felt like even longer. Max, Amelia and Brady were riding the high of performing. Still, all the other girls just watched on anxiously because now they had to live up to them. Lilli felt her hat slightly move, and she got a bit nervous about it, so she turned to one of the stagehands and asked if they had a bobby pin lying around. The young woman quickly went to see if she could find one, but it didn't matter, "Please give a warm welcome to the StarQuest stage: Number 38, the ALDC with Business of Love!" Lilli shook her head a couple times and hoped for the best.
|| I don't know who was on that stage because it sure as hell wasn't the Abby Lee Dance Company! || - Abby Lee Miller
|| That's what Abby gets for not giving our girls more than ten minutes of rehearsal! || - Joanne Paolantonio
|| I know the group wasn't great but I though we did okay || || You did what you could with what Abby gave you! If she wanted you to win she would've spent time working on it! || - Hannah and Ann Colin
The crowd clapped, but everyone knew it was out of pity. Abby didn't even bother to clap. The girls walked off stage a little dejected, not even bothering to try and see the positives to their routine. Instead, they looked at each other, and Lilli burst into tears! "It's my fault! My glove got caught on something, and then my hat was falling, and I hit it! And th-the-then I just couldn't see, and I messed up everything!" She was out of breath and frantic. She just felt so horrible!
|| Abby's gonna kill me! I was horrible, I couldn't even do the simple things! || - Lilliana Ketchman
Amelia just took Lilli in her arms and hugged her. She had felt like this before and knew what to do, "Hey, it's okay. I saw you ask someone for a bobby pin because you knew your hat would come off! That's what you tell Abby, okay? You did everything you could. It's not your fault! Abby worked with you for like ten minutes! You've known this dance for less than twenty-four hours! That's ridiculous!" Amelia looked down to see Lilli breathing a lot better, and she stood there hugging her for a few more seconds.
"Coming up to the StarQuest stage next is Number 39, CADC with I Will Survive!" The ALDC looked out onto the stage and saw the Candy Apple' moving as though they had been doing this routine for months! They were clean, sharp and moved as a unit.
|| God, we're screwed! || - Pressley Hosbach
Walking into the dressing room, almost everyone had their heads down. Max was walking normally and was trying to get Amelia to do the same. "C'mon, we did great! Amazing even! Cheer up, Buttercup!" Amelia gave him a sad smile, knowing that he was doing his best.
"I just feel bad if Abby hadn't spent so much time on our tri-" Amelia was abruptly cut off by Max grabbing her shoulders and shaking her lightly.
"Here's what we're not gonna do. We're not blaming their performance on us, okay? That's on Abby and themselves! We are not at fault for their mistakes, got it!" Max knew Amelia got in her head about these kinds of things, and he had to stop her before she went too far. They entered the dressing room and were immediately attacked with Sandy' hugs. She was muttering how proud of them she was until Abby rolled in.
The woman's eyes immediately focused on Amelia, Max and Brady. "Amazing job, trio! I was beyond impressed. It looked like you guys had been working on that for a while. Congratulations!" Then she just took out her phone and started scrolling. This was the wrong move.
|| When Abby doesn't even look at us, it's like why even try? She doesn't care! || || She's really pissing me off today, she doesn't get to pick and chose when she cares about you guys! || - GiaNina and Joanne Paolantonio
|| It's really uncomfortable when Abby doesn't say anything to us, it makes us feel like we've disappointed her even more! || - Sarah Georgiana
"You're not going to say anything to your actual team? Just to the people, you've never worked with before, okay?" But, of course, Joanne was angry about this, when was she not angry. Abby raised children she had never worked with before above children desperate for her attention and praise.
On the other hand, Abby was just happy that finally, she had found some dancers that checked all of her boxes. Good technique? Check. Respectful? Check. No too dependent on their mothers? Check. What more would she want? "Joanne! I am sick of your attitude! You've been here before. You know that I praise children who deserve it! That group dance doesn't even deserve to be called an Abby Lee dance! Get with it or get out!"
|| Joanne needs to understand that I will teach how I want to teach! I will not teach how some mother wants me to! || - Abby Lee Miller
"Can we just go to awards?" Amelia softly asked. Frankly, she was tired of all the yelling. It was giving her a massive headache. The kids all nodded. They were just sick of today. Finally, the moms and Abby all gave in, and together they started to make their way on stage for awards.
After a few minutes of sitting through Mini and Junior solo awards, it was time for the Teens. "Starting us off in fifth place with a score of 220 is Miss Sarah from the Abby Lee Dance Company!" Sarah stood up, a sad smile on her face while all her friends broke out in applause around her. GiaNina was gripping hands with Hannah and Pressley, while Amelia had both Brady and Max' hands in her own. "In fourth place with a score of 222, form the Abby Lee Dance Company is," Both girls squeezed whoever's hands they could tighter than ever, "Miss GiaNina! Give her a cheer, folks!" The girl mentioned above did not look pleased. In fact, it kind of looked like she had just sucked on a lemon. She stood up begrudgingly next to Sarah and secretly rolled her eyes.
At that moment, Amelia realized that there was still that Candy Apple dancer that she had freaked out. If she lost to him, Miss Abby would kill her! She might as well not even get back on the bus to Pittsburgh! "Now in second place with a score of 256.5 is Darren from Candy Apple's Dance Center!" Amelia took in a sharp breath. It was either she didn't place and get screamed at, or maybe, just maybe, a miracle had happened, and she had won. And for once, Amelia really wanted to win!
|| If I don't win, I screw up this opportunity for Max as well and that just wouldn't be cool, so I need to win! || - Amelia Hatchet
|| If Amelia doesn't win this I can't protect her from the vultures that are the other mothers, so for the love of god do I hope she wins! || - Sandy Hatchet
"And in first place, with an impressive score of 298.5, we have..." Amelia's lungs stopped working, and Brady and Max squeezed her hands tighter than ever, "Miss Amelia! Mama Knows Best from the Abby Lee Dance Company! Give a cheer, ladies and gentlemen!" Amelia's eyes lit up with joy, and she had a smile so big it hurt. She got up and very gracefully shook hands with the boy from Candy Apples, but her eyes were scanning the crowd, and she finally saw it. Her mom clapping like a madwoman with a smile that could rival Amelia's.
Everyone listen to the Senior Solo awards, and then it was time for the Duet/Trio awards. This is what the boys were anxious for. This was their group dance! And if they didn't win, what was Abby gonna do to them? They listened to fifth, then fourth, then third and then second, and they started to feel like they just didn't place. Maybe they felt confident for no reason. "And rounding off the category, with a score of 279, we have act number 32! Stuck In The Middle! From the Abby Lee Dance Company!" The three rushed up to the front, like kids in a candy store.
Awards only went down from there. The group, of course, didn't place, but to rub salt into the wound, the Candy Apples placed first! So most of the girls were walking to the dressing room with their heads down, defeated. Well, except for Amelia and the boys, they were ecstatic! When they entered the dressing room, the energy changed.
|| Abby just took off! She's sat on the bus because she doesn't want Cathy to rub it in that she won! What a coward! || - Ashley Hosbach
Once the kids were made aware of Abby choice, they packed up pretty quickly because they just knew that Cathy would taunt them until their ears bled. Just as they thought they were in the clear, "Running away, huh? After that group dance, I would too!" The nasally sound was followed by what could only be described as a witches cackle, and the kids were more than ready to get on a bus and just sit there in silence.
|| We are gonna have a long pyramid on Monday! || - Max Fevoro
Hey guys! Long time no see! How have you been? It feels nice writing this book for the first time in a while, it really does! I hoped you enjoyed it. This is probably the longest chapter I will ever write for this book; it's over 5000 words! So if you've made it this far I appreciate you so much!
Question: What was you favourite moment from this chapter?
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