[2X02]
{A-Troupe meets its new choreographer and votes for open auditions all while unexpected newcomers arrive for the auditions.}
❝I'm hoping she's here to tell everyone that she and Eldon broke up and she's going back to Wisconsin. That's my ultimate dream.❞
For once, Maxie was quite early to get to the studio, meaning she was the first one there. However, upon walking into the room, she was surprised to see someone already there and dancing. The way this woman was dancing was... Not commonly seen in the dance community, to say the least.
"Walking into Studio A, I see this woman just dancing whilst watching herself in the mirror," Maxie told the camera, "I mean, I highly doubt she's a part of A-Troupe... Is she?"
Around a few minutes later, both Emily and Riley walked into the studio, with equally confused looks on their faces as they moved to stand by Maxie.
Riley continued unsurely, "As I enter the studio to get ready for our first day of rehearsals, I see this... Matured woman dancing as Max watches."
Soon enough, the other dancers began filing into the room as their eyes are immediately drawn to the woman dancing wildly in the centre.
"We're kind of confused," Michelle began, "And I look at everyone else, and everyone else has the same expression and I'm not really sure what's going on now," she said with a chuckle.
Sidling up to the girl, Riley asked, "You know her?"
"Uh, no," scoffed Maxie as she turned to her friend, confused as to why she would think that, "But I swear I've seen her face somewhere."
Looking back to the dancing woman, Riley took a second to analyse her face before nodding, "Mhm, come to think of it, she does seem pretty familiar."
"That's what I'm saying," Maxie confirmed before the two of them both turned back to watch the woman again.
Furrowing his brows in confusion, Eldon shrugged, "She was actually pretty good, technically, and you can tell she's had a bit of yoga training, too."
The music began to slow to a repetitive beat as the woman then sat down, cross-legged, on the floor and began chanting peacefully, "Ziva. Ziva. Ziva Ziva," she muttered, making James laugh slightly.
"I think she's so weird," James told the camera with a small smirk, "I think that she's weirder than both West and Maxie combined. Now, that is weird."
Almost mesmerised by the 'Ziva-woman's performance, none of the dancers seemed to notice when Kate strutted into the studio, taking a look at their, now slightly amused, faces, "What are you guys doing? Why aren't you guys warming up?"
"Because we're watching this old lady dance," West replied, pointing over at said lady, who had stopped chanting and was doing nothing but meditating at that point, "You know what? I think she's possessed," he then whispered to Kate, "I don't know."
With a small giggle, Kate announced, "She's not old, and she's not possessed. She's my sister."
At that, everyone's mouths drooped, both at the fact that the odd woman was related to Kate and the fact that West had just blatantly disrespected her to her face.
"Phoebe!" Kate then yelled to grab her sister's attention.
"Oh, Phoebe's Kate's sister," Riley dumbfoundedly repeated.
Nodding, Maxie added, "That's where I recognised her from. They have the same eyebrows."
Chloe then went on to explain, "Kate is so high-strung and serious and, that her sister is the complete opposite, I just think it's so funny."
Once Phoebe had snapped out of her 'zen-zone' and turned to face the dancers, Kate told them with a big smile, "She is going to be our new head choreographer."
"Namaste."
At that, everyone 'oohed' and nodded in realisation; after having been told about Chris's departure earlier on in the week, it wasn't a surprise to them that Kate would find a new choreographer - especially with Nationals on the horizon and the possibility of 'The Challenge' looming over their heads.
"Once Chris left, I had to think quick and the first person that popped into my head was my sister, Phoebe," Kate told the camera.
Turning to the brunette girl, Kate gave her a grateful smile as she said, "Thank you so much for coming to our rescue. You're really saving us."
"No problem," Phoebe breathlessly responded, not taking a single moment to pause before she continued to elaborate, "I save things all the time. When I got your call, I was actually saving dolphins and I was like, 'You know what? There's enough people here saving the dolphins. I need to save my sister because I love you,'" she then turned to the highly amused and confused dancers, "And I will grow to love each and every one of you, I'm sure, but probably not as much as I love dolphins. So..."
Whilst Riley, Emily and Maxie shared a look, Kate continued, "So, now that we have met Phoebe officially, um, I want to talk about The Challenge," and pretty much immediately, many dancers began scanning the other's expressions for any sign of what they were feeling.
"The Challenge, or Survival of the Skilful as Maxie likes to call it, is something that is open to studios who have made it to Nationals," Kate disclosed to the camera, "You can re-audition to come up with a new group of thirteen dancers to compete."
Michelle was quick to point out, "But two of the thirteen dancers are alternates, so, really, only ten people will be competing."
Maxie then added, "I was an alternate, along with one of my closest friends, when my team went to Nationals, and it is imperative to have them, though. It may seem like the alternates aren't important, but they're basically like the understudy - so, if one of the dancers can't make it, or gets ill or injured, the alternate is needed to step in."
First to give their input on the situation was West as he announced to the group, "I don't mind some competition."
"It would keep us all on our toes," Maxie added, the both of them grinning at each other in agreement.
"No," Riley shook her head, "I think we should stick to this team."
Daniel looked sceptical as he expressed, "I thought that we would just bring in one alternate from B-Troupe or something... But it's insane that Kate's just opening it up to all the dancers in the world."
"Actually," Emily began, gesturing over to her co-captain as she did so, "Michelle and I discussed it and we thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and do The Challenge."
Shrugging slightly, Michelle backed the girl up by saying, "If we do The Challenge, guys, we'll have the best Nationals team, and both me and Maxie know how competitive Nationals is."
All eyes turned to the British girl, making her nod in agreement with the blondes, "Mhm, and if you think about it, teams from all over the country will be having their own challenges, so if we want to even think of being on their level, we have to keep up."
"Okay," nodded Kate, however, she still seemed slightly unsure, "All in favour of The Challenge, please raise your hand."
With that, Emily, Riley, Maxie, West, Chloe, Michelle, Eldon and Phoebe raised their hands in agreement, making them the majority.
Once she had double-checked that more people wanted the challenge to happen than didn't, the studio head nodded again, "Okay, I guess we're doing The Challenge," she told the group calmly, whilst Phoebe giggled in excitement, "I will send word out to all of the studios to let them know that The Next Step is holding auditions."
"Oh, I just love challenges," Phoebe announced out of the blue, a giant smile present on her face, "I remember my first challenge... I got cut."
The dancers looked at each other with both concern and worry written on their faces when the mere thought of being cut from their team - their family - crossed their minds.
"Phoebe got cut?" Giselle scoffed.
Worriedly, Chloe spoke, "It's kind of a shock that even great dancers can get cut."
"Maybe this challenge isn't such a good idea after all," James suggested.
The same nervous look that she had during Regionals spread on Maxie's face as she gritted her teeth, "I'm fine. It's fine. Everything's going to be fine."
‧₊˚✩彡
It had almost been a week since Miss Kate had let the other studios know of The Next Step's decision and Maxie, Michelle, James, Riley and Eldon were all hanging out at the local shopping centre, and -yet again - it seemed Maxie was stuck third-wheeling both couples as they walked arm in arm.
"Me, Michelle, James, Riley and Max are at the mall and, as we walk towards the staircase, we see Lucien yelling at Amanda," Eldon told the camera, his voice seeming almost doubtful.
Maxie looked confused as she added, "Y'know the first thing going through my mind right now is 'Why is nobody stepping in?'. Seriously... If we were back in England there would have been at least some sort of crowd shouting 'fight!'."
"I'm the choreographer! I got them there!" the bald man, now wearing some variation of baseball cap, yelled at the tall girl whilst Tess stood slightly behind them, seeming quite bored for someone watching their Studio head yell at a teenage girl.
Picking up the walking pace, Riley asked, "Is that Lucien?"
"No, no," Maxie protested, "Looks more like Howie Mandel to me."
"You know, you have a good point there," Eldon told her, his eyes wide in realisation whilst James hummed in agreement.
As the three of them began discussing other bald, old, white men Lucien looked like, Michelle and Riley shared a look of confusion, wanting to focus back on the yelling match that was going down in the middle of the shopping centre.
Hesitantly, they all listened in to the conversation once more to find out why Amanda was crying, "Your job was to make sure everyone's ready to win!" he continued to shout, "You're the dance captain!"
"Can I not just have another shot?" she asked through sobs, folding her arms over her chest in a defensive manner, almost as if she was trying to shield herself from his words.
"No, you can't have another shot. Matter of fact, I don't even want you on our team. What am I thinking? I don't want to see you in my studio again!"
Having heard enough, the five of them made their way out hastily, giving second glances to the other three as they did so.
With a sympathetic frown, Michelle told the camera, "I can't believe how mean Lucien is being to Amanda. It's not fair. No one should be treated that way."
"I want to feel bad for Amanda, honestly, I do," Maxie said sceptically, nodding to back up her point, "But... Why did they do it in the middle of a public space with everyone watching? Just seems a little attention-seeking to me, I mean, it wouldn't surprise me."
‧₊˚✩彡
It was the next day and Maxie, James, West, Riley and Chloe had all walked into Culture shock to find that Michelle and Eldon were already there, having a little catch-up.
"Hey, guys," Riley grinned, taking a seat.
"'Sup, Barbie and Ken," Maxie added, making the others chuckle at her nickname for the blondes.
West, too, joined in on the teasing as he added, "Michel-don."
"Good one."
"Not as good as yours."
"Agree to disagree."
"Disagree to agree."
Ignoring the mini compliment-turned-debate between Maxie and West, Chloe added, "You guys are so cute," in a motherly way whilst James then threw his arm around Riley's shoulder, making it clear that he was also in a relationship.
"I think this is the happiest I've ever been," Eldon added sappily before he placed his hand tenderly over Michelle's, making the majority of the group burst into laughter at how cheesy their friend was being and at how awkward the moment seemed.
"This is the happiest moment I've ever been in my life," West mocked his friend just before grinning slightly, "I mean, I think that's kinda corny, but..."
"Honestly, I'm happy for them," James finished.
Maxie shrugged, "Eh. He dates Emily, he dates Michelle, I don't mind as long as he doesn't try to date me."
With a smirk, Chloe spoke up once again as she told the group, "So, that's basically half of your 'bros' group in a relationship," she said, glancing over at just how close Maxie and West were sat together.
It seemed the pair noticed their proximity, too, blushing slightly before scooting away from each other a tiny bit.
James had also noticed his two friend's newly found shyness as he joked, "Yeah, it's just Max and West who're still single," he then squeezed Riley's shoulder before continuing, "You guys may as well just get together."
The very comment itself made Maxie choke on air and her eyes bulged wide. Sure, she thought West was kinda-sorta-massively cute, and blush would rush to her cheeks slightly whenever they were close together, but everyone got that with their friends, right? Right.
"If I could, I would kill James right now," Maxie deadpanned, before chuckling to herself slightly, "But there's no camembert cheese in prison. I love camembert cheese."
Regaining her composure, Maxie didn't notice the similar lost-for-words look on West's face as she responded sarcastically, "Ha, ha, James. Very funny. Me and Compass over here are just friends, right?" she stated confidently, nudging West slightly with her elbow.
"Mhm, yeah- No, yep. Yep, just friends," he confirmed, not so surely, after swallowing down whatever had left him speechless beforehand.
"Whatever you say," said Chloe suspiciously as she eyed the two who seemed to be growing more and more embarrassed.
After a few moments of pure silence amongst the seven, Eldon clapped his hands together to pull the attention back to him, "So, guys, The Challenge - how are we feeling?"
"It's going to be a really good day," West immediately responded, shaking off whatever had overcome him under the conspicuous eyes of his peers.
"The Next Step's going to represent, though," Chloe then added, as if it wasn't obvious, before all the others agreed with her.
With a nod of her head, Max added, "Exactly, if these guys auditioning couldn't win Regionals with their team, there's no way they'll beat us," making the others burst into laughter at how sure she was of it.
The moment was almost cut short when a familiar tall, brunette figure walked through the doors; one five of them had just seen the day previous - Amanda.
"Yo!" West called out, and, when Chloe asked what, he raised his eyebrows in the ex-Elite dancer's direction as they all turned to stare at her.
"She is such a hater on The Next Step," Chloe huffed, already tired of Amanda's presence in their juice café, "and for her to just walk in here and think everything's fine is just... I don't even know."
"Maybe she's here to cry again," Maxie suggested with a small shrug, "I mean, it would be funny to see," however, when she got yet another odd look from the cameraman, she elaborated, "I always find people who cry in public funny. I'd never do it myself, obviously, but... I don't know... It's just funny, isn't it?"
After having turned back to the group, Chloe muttered, "What is she doing here and who invited her?"
"I did," Michelle told them simply, making everyone gawk at the randomness of what she did.
West seemed to be thinking the same as the others as he asked her, "Why would you do that?"
"Yeah, are you on drugs?" Maxie added confusedly.
"Why do you always ask her that?" James questioned the girl, now confused at both Maxie and Michelle which seemed to be too much for his brain at that moment.
Max just shrugged and looked back to Michelle, obviously wanting more to get her answer than to explain her reasoning. However, nobody's questions got answered as Michelle simply just shook her head lightly before getting up from her seat and walking over to the (un?)welcome dancer.
None of them had a second to process whatever had just happened, for yet another new dancer had walked into Culture Shock, he too looking as lost as a puppy without its owner.
"This girl Emily told me Michelle might be in Culture Shock, so I head in there and I'm looking for Michelle but I can't find her anywhere," the brunette boy told the camera.
"Hey, guy!" Eldon yelled, rather rudely if you ask some people, "You auditioning for The Challenge?"
Swapping his large, black duffle bag into his left hand, the mystery boy walked over to the six of them sat at the table, "Yeah."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I am."
"Sweet."
"Candyfloss."
"Huh?"
"It's a... It's a type of sweet..."
Brushing off the awkward comment, the boy took a seat in the bright orange chair that Michelle had previously sat in whilst Chloe greeted him, "Hey. We're from The Next Step. I'm Chloe," she then went on to gesture to the others, "This is James, Riley, Maxie, West and Eldon."
"Hey guys, I'm Hunter," the boy, Hunter, responded with a smile and a nod.
"Nice to meet you," they all told him.
Eldon then told him, "Well, Hunter, welcome to The Next Step. Mi casa es tu casa."
When Hunter gave the blonde boy an incredulous look, Maxie clarified, "He means 'My house is your house'. Or, in simpler terms, welcome."
"Oh, uh, thanks," he grinned, giving Maxie a grateful nod as he fist-bumped Eldon, who was beaming like the Chesire cat at something nobody could make out - probably just Eldon being Eldon.
"A nice guy names Eldon introduces himself and he seems like a pretty cool guy," Hunter concluded, "And that girl Maxie seems pretty chill, too."
Eldon was next to say, "I'm excited to see what Hunter can bring to the Nationals team."
"Hopefully it's not drama," Max mentioned with wide eyes and a slight shrug.
‧₊˚✩彡
Hours had passed and Studio A was almost filled to the brim with budding dancers who were stretching and working on their moves in preparation for The Challenge; people from J-Troupe, B-Troupe, A-Troupe, and even dancers from different studios across the region.
"Right now, we're just warming up in Studio A," Eldon explained to the camera, "Just getting ready for The Challenge."
Maxie added, "I am getting a serious case of deja vu from rehearsals for the Regionals team."
Riley seemed quite stressed as she said, "I am very nervous for these auditions, probably more nervous than the auditions for the Regionals team."
"This audition is much different and much harder," James elaborated, although he wouldn't show it, he was probably feeling just as nervous as his girlfriend, "All of the best dancers in the region are coming to audition."
Chloe changed the subject as she talked about who had shown up, "There's a few J-Troupers which is really cool and they're amazing."
"I'm so excited to see all the people that showed up to audition," West expressed, "I mean, so much talent, so much energy. Unless they're better than me and I get cut... Then I won't be so excited."
Maxie was rehearsing with Eldon, just practising their turns, when James walked over, a shaken-up look on his face.
"You guys see Beth over there?" he asked the pair in a low whisper, careful to not let the brunette girl hear him.
When both Eldon and Maxie turned their heads to look directly at her, James slapped their heads lightly before hissing, "Don't look right at her, idiots."
"Ow, dude, that hurt."
"Yeah, James, you asked us if we saw her. We can't see her if we don't look."
"Oh my- This is besides the point," he groaned, dragging his hand over his face as he looked over to Beth nervously as she chatted with Michelle, "So, uh, basically, at Regionals, just before we performed Stand Up, she told me she, uh..."
When he took a pause, both Max and Eldon looked at him expectantly as they pushed, "She told you..."
"That she loves me."
To say Maxie and Eldon's eyes widened was an understatement, for the news they had heard had a lot more impact on them than that.
"Bro..." the blonde boy began, seemingly lost for words.
"This is, uh..." Maxie continued, "It's definitely something."
"Yeah, something," James mumbled, looking over Eldon's shoulder to where Riley was stretching on her own, ignoring the others as she focused on herself and herself only.
Maxie followed his eye line to see Riley as she asked, "Have you told her then?"
"Told who?" James asked her, making Eldon groaned.
"Told Beth about her own love confession," she quipped, before whacking James the same way he did to her a few minutes previous, "Who do you think?"
Almost like a lightbulb had turned on above his head, James finally realised who his friend was referring to, "Ohhh, Riley. Right. No."
"No?" Eldon repeated dumbfoundedly.
"No?" Maxie continued, "What do you mean 'No'," she said, imitating the laid-back way James had said it, "Don't you think she has the right to know that your ex-girlfriend is still in..." she paused, looking around to make sure no one could hear as she whispered, "In love with you?"
With a sigh, the boy explained, "No. I didn't tell her because she is stressed enough already and it might really affect her chances of performing her best. You guys saw her when Brighter Brightest came - and those were people she liked."
"James not telling Riley about Beth..." Maxie began unsurely, "I don't know, it's not the best decision in my eyes. Relationships need communication if they're going to last and if James doesn't communicate with Riley, Beth could be the downfall of their relationship."
"That's a fair point-" Eldon began, however, was cut off by Maxie hitting him over the head, "Okay, ouch," he told her, raising his index finger.
"Okay, nothing," she snapped at him, turning back to James, "You're gonna have to tell her sooner or later. 'Cause she'll find out, and I'm telling you now, it's best she finds out from you and not like, oh I dunno, Beth?!"
With a scoff, James responded, "Beth? She's not gonna tell her. You know what? This isn't that big of a deal, alright? Don't even worry about it."
And before either Maxie or Eldon could get another word in, he had already dashed off to go speak to Riley herself - probably not about how his ex confessed her undying love for him.
Mere moments later, Kate and Phoebe walked to the front of the studio as the others crowded into some sort of group formation: Maxie stood between West and Eldon.
"All right, you guys, welcome to auditions for the Nationals troupe!" the blonde exclaimed, making the dancers all cheer and applaud at the mention of going to Nationals, "We have some amazing dancers here in this room. Jake," she gestured over to a boy in a red top in the centre of the room.
"He puts a lot of videos on the internet and they are amazing. He may be better than some of our guys," Emily commented with an intrigued look on her face.
Kate continued as she gestured to a blonde girl at the back, "We have Cass. I saw Morgan in here somewhere..." she said before pointing to another girl in red at the back.
"Morgan and Cass, they're really great dancers and they're really strong," Michelle commented, "I can't wait to see them audition."
Once the applause had died down once more, she added, "And of course the beautiful Miss Thalia."
"Thalia I do know of because her studio actually went to Nationals a few years back. You know, that could come in handy," Emily told the camera.
"And some of you may remember Amanda from Elite," Kate then announced, however, the response to that was not as great as the one to the others, and understandably so, making Kate try to encourage them more, "Come on, guys. Yes."
Stephanie scowled as she said, "I find it ridiculous that Amanda gets to audition. I mean, really, do we need more drama around here?"
"Great," Kate finished, clapping her hands together, "Okay, I would love to explain to you how this audition is going to run. First, everyone will perform their solos. From there, we will narrow it down to twenty dancers. Those twenty dancers will then return tomorrow to the next round of auditions."
"Which is the choreo round," Phoebe chimed in.
"Exactly, it's going to be tough."
"Really tough."
"Because from there, we will choose the thirteen dancers that will make up our Nationals team."
"Yes," Phoebe nodded along, "And we have Emily and Michelle helping us to decide which dancers will make it through."
Maxie didn't have a second to react to what was just said, before Hunter, the guy they had met in Culture Shock, quite literally weaved his way through the crowd and grabbed Michelle and spun her around through the sir.
"Yo, I haven't seen you in so long," he grinned whilst Michelle looked noticeably confused and uncomfortable.
Almost immediately, Maxie believed that he was about to kidnap her friend, so she quickly pinched his hand, making him put her down as she stepped between them and raised her fists to show she was ready to fight - which, in honesty, looked a little funny due to the dramatic difference in muscle mass between them.
"Don't worry Michelle," Maxie told her in a way that if you didn't know who she was, you'd assume it was nothing but satire, "You're not getting taken on my watch," she said whilst James snickered slightly.
Confused as anything, Hunter raised his hands in surrender as he responded, "Hey, chill. She's my girlfriend."
Maxie didn't know whether to burst into laughter or gasp at the new information the room had to process as she stepped back slightly, out of the new love triangle that had just formed.
"I am in love with this new love triangle," Emily said with a devious glint in her eyes, "Do you know triangles are one of the strongest shapes?"
"True fact," Maxie continued, somehow knowing what Emily was talking about, "Also, one of my favourite buildings in France is built triangular-shaped. The Louvre. I'm not interested in the art or anything like that, but it's a pretty cool shape."
It took a few moments of the others trying to hide their amusement, Eldon's intense stares and Hunter's looks of confusion for Michelle to finally speak up, "Miss Kate, can I please borrow your office for two minutes?"
"Please. Go ahead," Kate told her sternly, she and Phoebe were just as confused as to what was going on with Michelle.
Once Michelle had dragged the boy into Kate's office, leaving a very confused and upset Eldon, Miss Kate brushed it off as she continued, "We're going to start soon, so how about everyone warms up and gets ready, okay?"
"So, first Michelle takes Emily's boyfriend, but she already has another boyfriend?" Stephanie began, "This girl needs to slow down."
"I called it! I called it! I literally called it," Maxie exclaimed before settling down in her chair, "We should literally create our own version of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. I'll call it 'Keeping Up With The Next Step... ians', or maybe just 'The Next Step,' but that sounds a bit less interesting."
After the group had dispersed, West, Maxie and Eldon were talking amongst themselves in the corner about what had just happened, "So, how are you holding up about..." West began, "That?"
"Yeah, you guys only just got together. That must be hard," Maxie added as they both nodded.
"I'm all right. I'm just stunned," he shrugged, almost too nonchalant for a guy whose girlfriend has another boyfriend.
"Yeah," West nodded once again, "Well... It's not every day a guy called Hunter, who grew up with a girl called Michelle, comes to a studio called The Next Step and-"
Placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, ignoring the blush that rose to both of their cheeks, Maxie stopped West, "Yeah, I, uh, I think he gets it. No need to rub salt into the wound."
Trying to swallow how flustered he was at the contact, West smiled, "Yeah, yeah, of course."
"If I lost Michelle, I'd... I don't know what I'd do," Eldon admitted glumly, "I don't know if I could handle seeing her every day. I'd just be lost."
"Oh, he'd survive," Maxie shrugged it off, "Eldon's just a bit dramatic sometimes."
A/N
hey guys! sorry for the long wait. how have you been?
school has been a kick in the ass especially since i have one of my first gcse's this year which is always fun.
anyway, remember to vote and comment if you so wish
stay safe <33