RIPLEY POV
the day after my sister and i were released from the hospital was probably one of the top moments of my life. so once we were cleared we walked through the next step.
"i'm super excited sis." richelle smiled as we walked towards studio a
"me too. they better be excited to see us." i said, knowing they have.
"does ozzy have anymore updates about the team?" she asked me and i thought
he told my a lot while visiting me "um, the last time i seen him was a few days ago. everything's still quite the same- oh piper was replaced by winnie." i said stopping in my tracks
"what? winnie like- i don't know. all because of the aerial?" richelle scoffed stopping as well
"i know. piper is amazing." i rolled my eyes as we started walking again. "ms angela doesn't know what's she's missing." i said and richelle started shushing me "don't sush me."
"ok ready. deep breath." she told me as we both took a deep breath and walked in the door where the whole team stood cleaning the mirror
"hey guys. were back." we said in unison as they're jaws dropped as they looked at us. they all cheered running over and hugging us.
~~
the following day was richelle and i's first day of rehearsal. the new dress code was kinda weird. we had to wear teal tns tops with black bottoms.
ms angela had us all get into duets to see who'd get the duet for regionals. i was partnered with kingston, which i was happy about. he was originally with winnie but ms angela benched her for the time being.
"when I was in the hospital, Ozzy brought me up to speed on what's been happening, and i feel so bad about how last season ended. me and richelle danced with an injury and got michelle and emily fired. we definitely need to make it up to the team"
"Dancer, A-troupe you've all had plenty of time to prepare your duets so impress me bring on the dazzle" angela announced walking over to us
kingston and i were marking our dance like everyone else before moving to the sides of the room. we've been best friends since tns east and west combined so it was easy to bounce off each others ideas.
we added tutting, flips and even the turns he's been working on. i knew the duet was going to lily and ozzy for obvious reasons, so we just had fun with it.
"i gotta say, ms angela knows how to pick her dancers. finn summer and kenzie are some great dancers."
we all took turns going in the center and did our minute routine. once done she called us all over to her "well, I can see you're having fun out there. but is that what the judges want to see? fun is one thing, dazzle is another." she told us and i shared a subtle side eye with kingston "an example of that would be lily. she will be our star dancer. beautiful job lily. fortunately there are two dancers who will be able to keep up with you lily. I would like to see richelle and ripley partner up with lily" she told us and i raised a brow confused
"wait, seriously?" we said in unison, her more excited then me
"all i can say is ms angela definitely knows talent."
"the rest of you work on your dazzle. yes it's fine but this is work, let's go." she clapped them walked back in her office
i made my way over to my sister to talk about the trio but before i could get a word out, amy called us so we turned to her "twins, see what I mean by miss angela favoriting lily?" she asked us
"if I'm gonna be honest, she's not that bad. I mean you gotta be tuff if you wanna win and obviously she does. they just need to move on from the sweetness we were given with kate michelle emily even riley, and learn to take her toughness"
"look she's won a lot of trophies amy, and if this is what it takes to win regionals.." richelle trailed off
"we're willing to give her a chance." i added with a shrug. we went over to lily for a quick hug then i made my way over to henry ozzy and kingston.
later in the day richelle and i were in the locker room talking when summer walked in. richelle was on the bench and i was brushing out my hair standing in front of the mirror that hung in my locker .
"hey guys." she smiled and we smiled back "hi." "sup."
"so a trio with lily." she said sitting down next to richelle
"yeah, i mean we think it'll go pretty well." richelle nodded "we're just happy to be dancing." I added
"i know it's kind of tempting to be in the featured trio with lily, but I know lily and she's bad news." summer tells us "I just want you guys to be carful."
"oh so are you the new mom of the team?" richelle asked sarcastically
"summer we can handle ourselves" I tell her with a chuckle sliding on a hoodie that i'm sure was kingstons
"were the last people you have to worry about." we say in unison and close our lockers in sync and walk out the locker room
"oh- ok." she says unsure
soon ms angela called us in for the trio and let's just say. i wish i wasn't in it. she was bringing richelle and i way down to lily's level. she thinks richelles kicks are too high and my jumps are to high. she even said we were moving to much, she wants us to be stiff. she even thinks that our faces matters more then technique
when she left richelle and i exchanged looks of irritation before rolling our eyes. "you know guys, it's really not that bad. I think if we go over it a few more times, you can get to my level. so let's just go through it from the beginning, ready? also the whole time lets like smile cool?"
"your lev-" i started before richelle elbowed me in the rib and i stopped "yeah let's go from the beginning." richelle said and i nodded reluctantly
once we were done i went down to shakes and ladders and got me a smoothie when i overheard an interesting conversation
"ozzy, hey I got a question for you buddy? can you tell me a little bit about ripley? "Finn asked making my eyebrows raise
"ripley? well she's a fantastic dancer." ozzy said as i leaned on the counter being handed my smoothie
"she is."
"super nice- when she wants to be. very inspiring, one and of my favorite people." he added making me smile to myself
"Yeah mine too. now does she have a boyfriend?" finn asked and i stood straight as my eyes got wide
"do you know who doesn't have a boyfriend? amy" ozzy said making me chuckle
"ok yeah, but I want to know about ripley. does she have a boyfriend?" he asked again
"there's summer, there's kenzie." he listed
"bug again. does ripley have a boyfriend?"
"um technically she doesn't-"
"technically? that's all I needed to hear. thanks ozzy." he smiled running out and i shook my head.
"Well that was an interesting conversation"
i walked over to ozzy plopping down next to him on the couch "sup ozz." i said and he smiled at me
"oh- hey ripley." he said and i looked down at his cards "how's the trio with lily?" he asked me and i groaned
"oh let me rant." i said and he nodded turning to me to pay attention "ms angela is killing me. she thinks my kicks are to high, my jumps are to high, i'm moving to much, and i need more face then technique. i pride myself on my technique." i ranged on and on
"your technique is amazing lee." he told me and i sat up "i know! what is she on?" i asked leaning back and he laughed.
"well, be prepared to sit through more. we have to show you and richelle the group." he said saying and i groaned as he pulled me up "come on." he laughed leading me out shakes and ladders
richelle and i sat on the side watching as the troupe did the dance for regionals and i'm gonna be honest. it was bad.
"richelle and i are just watching the dance so we can learn it and they all look miserable. their being dragged down to lily's level. like there doing 3 turns and noah can do more then 30. jacquie has the highest jetes i've ever seen and she's barely off the floor. ozzy told he ms angela is tough but he never said they were ruining they sprits to dance. richelle and i are the reason ms angelas even here so we have to fix this."
my sister and i devised a plan to get rid of lily and richelle the best we could. so we decided to take them down from the inside.
we walked into shakes and ladders seeing lily play with a deck of cards and we knew it was time to get this plan in action. "hey lily. we've been thinking." i said with the fakest smile i could muster
"i know being dance captain can be a lot of work." richelle starts off "so if you'd like, we'd be more than willing to help you." i added "you know to take some of that weight off for you. like what if we were your dance captain assistances? "richelle finished
"an assistant? that seems like a great idea. I've never had a assistant before. great why don't i make a list of all the things you should do. actually that seems like a lot of work- an assistance kind of job. why don't you guys make the list." she decided and we glanced at each other before nodding and going off to find a pad of paper and a pencil
"sure lily, the first thing in that list; get rid of miss angela."
lily soon gathered the team to make the new announcement. i felt bad about leaving them out but it's the only way the plan would work fully.
"ok guys I have something to say. so come gather around. firstly I would like to let everyone know that ripley and richelle are my new assistances, so if you have any questions just go to them you don't have to bug me with them." she said and i noticed the way all of there faces drop. i noticed the look i got from henry but chose to ignore it
"secondly i'll also be picking the alternate for regionals today so- you know what? I actually have a great idea. richelle, ripley you guys are going to help me choose alternate today because you know all these dances weaknesses."
our faces dropped as we glanced over to the team. we gave each other a glance before hesitantly agreeing.
"lily is asking us to point out the dancers weaknesses. and as much as I don't want too, i. have to if I want her trust us."
"sure let's start with henry then." richelle said and i stood behind them slightly "henry can't do ballet, at all. I mean look at those feet they like bricks" she started. henry looked over at me making me look away.
it was my turn and i sighed putting on a front for lily"jackie only dances with one facial expression. I mean if you're going to be a well rounded, successful dancer. she's going to have to work on that one." i said and pushed away my guilt before going over to amy "and amy, amy is really- nice" i said scrunching my face up
"thank you.
"yeah I but like my mom says nice doesn't win regionals." lily said and we moved on
"exactly. kingston just graduated baby ballet. cute." richelle said as i stood back
"super cute" lily agreed and i was met with noah who crossed his arms.
"And noah," i hesitated "noah always puts his relationship before dance" i said as his face drops and guilt spread across my face
"really?"
"yeah, i don't know if dance is really important to him anymore" richelle told her
"i really hope lily trust us now. cause i'm sure i just lost my best friends over this."
after exposing everyone's weaknesses i avoided everyone until i was dragged to her smoothies with lily and my sister. we sat on the couch as lily and i played dominoes.
"so rehearsals have been pretty tough lately haven't they?" richelle asked
"yeah but tough will get us to regionals." she shrugged setting down a domino
"you know I can't even imagine what it's like being the daughter of a studio head." i said sipping my drink
"yeah especially lately." she nodded
"why lately?"
"i've just been under a lot of pressure. but it will be over tomorrow." she told us and we glanced at each other
"tomorrow? what's tomorrow?" we asked in unison
"so I'm not really supposed to tell you guys this, but ms kate and my mom agreed on a 30 day time span probation. and as long as nobody change their mind- which obviously no one has. my mom gets to become a partner up the next step tomorrow." she explained to us and saying we were shocked was an understatement
"Wait tomorrow- me and richelle need to fix this before it becomes permanent."
"can you guys keep a secret ." she asked us and we both nodded "so my mom wants to change the whole next step. she wants to change all the studios. they're all gonna look like this." she pulled out her phone scrolling through the pictures "everything will be different. isn't a great?"
our jaws dropped slightly at how fancy it was "wow, fancy. kinda like a vegas casino." i said
"so all these are online?"
"if you know where to look. my mom posted them on her photo share. look at this one."
while lily looked at more pictures, we exchanged small smirks. we had a plan.
"richelle and i just need to play our cards right and miss angela will be gone for good."
"why am i nervous." richelle whispered as we left lily to find a troupe
"cause they hate us now. but they can't be mad at us for long." i said and we took a deep breath intertwining our pinkies- something we started doing when we were both nervous for our first day at the next step
we walked in and the same people we ripped apart, stood up with glared but we kept our heads high.
"twins. where is your new bestie?" she asked us titling her head
"funny you should say that." richelle told her and glanced at me
"yeah, because our new 'bestie' just gave us all the information that we need to get our Studio back." i told them and they all looked at each other
"you guys in?" we asked them in unison
"Miss angela your days here at the next step our numbered"
heyyy!!!! under major editing cause i read this and didn't like how it was written. so i'm changing a lot. even the face claim because i plan to post another TNS book ( a james x oc ) and i made the oc maddie ziegler. but i feel like autumn miller looks more like briar nolet. enjoy !!!