[2X17]
{The pressure is on for Nationals when a key member leaves the troupe, and the team can't afford to lose anyone else. However, the dancers seem more on-edge when Emily and Riley come to blows over Riley's solo audition.}
❝It was only a matter of time before your true colours actually came out.
It was only a matter of time before I realised that you guys just aren't worth it.❞
"Hey, Maxie, wait up!" West called as he jogged down the hallway in an attempt to catch up with the girl.
Maxie greeted him with a warm smile, one that he reciprocated, once they were walking side-by-side on their way into the studio. "What d'you think is gonna happen today?" She asked him with an inquisitive look, causing the boy's brows to furrow in slight confusion.
"What d'you mean?" He questioned her, his eyes darting between the area ahead of them and her curious look whilst he awaited an answer. "Like, dance-wise, or just in general?"
"Just in general," she shrugged nonchalantly, a sense of mystery behind her words as she elaborated, "I don't know, just recently a bunch of weird stuff has been going on."
"Weird stuff?" He repeated, with amusement in his tone at the way she worded her suspicions, "So, like, aliens, and robots and wizards, and stuff?"
A small smile played at Maxie's lips. "No, no, nothing like that. It's nothing, really, just... I've been taking notes on some weird things happening that just cause drama for no reason."
"Sounds very interesting." West chuckled just as the two of them entered Studio A and rejoined the rest of the troupe, ready for whatever weird stuff was about to be thrown at them that day.
Not even five minutes after everyone had arrived, Miss Kate walked into the studio with a solemn look on her face, something that told the dancers the news she was carrying was not good.
"All right, everyone gather around for a second, please," she called out before sighing, "I have some bad news, unfortunately." Kate looked around at the expectant faces before breaking the news, "Michelle has left The Next Step," she told them, not failing to notice the immediate looks of disappointment and upset that flashed on the teen's faces at the news. Well, most of their faces.
"I guess I kinda saw this coming," Maxie shrugged, "I mean, I did have a full-on heart-to-heart with the girl like not even two days ago about how she didn't like dance, so... It's not that big of a surprise, really."
Hunter looked a bit more sympathetic than Maxie did as he told the camera, "I can't help but think that it's my fault. I feel like I drove her away."
Miss Kate continued to inform the troupe, "Which means that we only have eleven dancers left on our Nationals team."
"Having only eleven dancers is bad because if we have one dancer that gets injured or can't dance for whatever reason," Riley went on to explain, worry about their thinning chances at Nationals clear on her face, "Then we can't dance at all. We're done."
‧₊˚✩
It had been a few hours since the news about Michelle's departure had spread and it was clear the team was conflicted: some believing she did it for herself and fully agreeing with her decision to leave, others taking the other side of the coin and discussing how selfish she was being for leaving the team so vulnerable.
Either way, the team knew they had to replace her spot as the female National soloist and, in order to have a properly-prepared routine, they had to do it fast.
"Right now I'm talking to the team about finding a new female soloist," Miss Kate told the camera with a sympathetic look, something obviously not sitting right with starting auditions so early on since Michelle had left.
The blonde continued to explain to the dancers, "Look, I know it's a hard time right now, but we need to decide who's going to do the female solo at Nationals. And I know what you're thinking, I also hate that we have to deal with this so soon after Michelle has left, but Nationals is coming up and we need a strong female soloist."
Almost without hesitation, Amanda stepped forward with a confident grin. "I want the solo," she told the room, almost as if she was daring someone else to try and take it from her.
"Okay," Kate hummed, a small smile in appreciation playing at the corners of her mouth as she did so.
"Um," Riley cleared her throat as she stepped forward, her voice a little shakier and uncertain than Amanda's, but the desperation was there, "I'd like the solo, too, Miss Kate."
Whilst the room was preoccupied with Amanda and Riley, West nudged Maxie lightly to grab her attention. "Why don't you audition?" He asked her with intrigue, "This is, like, your second chance, you're not gonna let that go, are you?"
Giving the boy a look, Maxie sighed, "Yeah, well, I'd rather not at the minute. Besides, both Riley and Amanda are strong dancers, we'll probably get through with either of them."
"Yeah, but with you, we'd definitely get through," West insisted, still confused as to why Maxie refused to do the Nationals solo.
The girl knew that without a viable explanation, she wasn't gonna be able to drop the subject any time soon, so, thinking on her feet, she told him, "I'm just busy with the small group at the minute, yeah, and with the... drama." She said the last part with a slight uncertainty, causing West to raise an eyebrow.
"The drama?" He repeated, the way he said it indicating how he did not believe the lie for a second, but for the sake of Maxie, he decided to let it slide — he knew she'd tell him the real reason when she was ready; it wasn't to be forced out.
As they both tuned back into the main conversation happening in the studio, miss Kate began to explain to the girls the rules of the audition. "What I would like you two ladies to do is find a song, come up with a routine and from there I will decide who gets the solo."
"Sounds good." Amanda grinned, causing Riley to give her a wary look.
"Thank you."
‧₊˚✩
After Thalia and Maxie had watched Amanda rehearse to 'When the war is over' by Jena Gogo, they both exchanged looks that said more than words could — Amanda really wanted that solo.
Once the rest of the troupe had gathered back into studio A, Miss Kate decided to address the dancers, a look of excitement about whoever was to be the new female soloist on her face. "All right, you guys," she called out, rubbing her hands together, "It's time to see who is going to be the female soloist at Nationals. So, let's get right to these solos." The woman then turned to the taller of the two competitors. "Amanda, you spoke to me earlier about going first, so let's hop up."
The rest of the room, bar Emily and Riley for some reason, applauded the girl whilst she made her way into starting position, and, once the clapping had died down, Miss Kate hit the button on the remote that turned the music on. Once again, 'When the war is over' by Jena Gogo began playing over the speakers, however, as Amanda danced, Maxie couldn't help but notice the way Riley grew increasingly more anxious from across the room. She also couldn't help but notice that James wasn't there, which was weird, 'cause when Maxie had informed him that Riley was trying for the soloist, he practically sprinted to the music room to support her.
As the dance went on, the rest of the A-Trouper's in the room seemed to be amazed by the ex-Elite member's moves and how perfectly crafted her performance actually was.
"Amanda's solo is actually really good," Giselle told the camera, shock written on both her face and in her words as she did so.
Eldon shared the same blown-away look as he spoke, "I was not expecting that, she has this whole new style that she's bringing to the table and it looks really good."
"You could probably beat her easily," West whispered to Maxie, a slight smirk on his lips as he watched her chuckle at his words.
"Yeah, whatever you say, pretty boy," she responded nonchalantly, giving him a pat on the shoulder before turning back to see Amanda finish her dance, not noticing the fact he wouldn't stop beaming.
After applauding the brunette, Miss Kate then announced, "All right, Riley, let's see what you've got." At that, the rest of the dancers applauded wildly for her, disregarding just how nervous she looked as the girl spared a glance at Emily before beginning.
Maxie's face twisted into that of confusion when the music Riley began dancing to was the exact same as Amanda's — usually, dancers prefer to choose their own music when they can, not the same as their competitors. Another odd thing to add to my list, Maxie thought to herself whilst she watched Riley perform multiple ballet and contemporary moves in time with the music.
Part-way through the audition, Riley jumped into a jeté, one that wasn't to her best ability, however, the others decided to overlook it, instead opting to let the girl try and redeem herself through the rest of her dancing. It seemed, however, that Emily wasn't so willing to let it slide.
"Oh, is that a jump?" Emily yelled, out of nowhere, over the music, "Get it together. This is embarrassing, Riley. Riley!"
Obviously, the other dancers in the room had begun to notice the harsh criticism the blonde was unleashing on her sister and were giving each other both confused and worrisome looks. For most of them, the last time they had seen Emily treat anyone — let alone her sister — that ruthlessly, was back in the lead-up to Regionals.
At one point during the yelling, Riley had attempted to raise her leg in the air, however, stumbled slightly and tripped over her own feet. It was odd, to say the least, for Riley had never done something like that; Maxie made a mental note to write down 'Riley falls out of character', and 'Emily yells at sister' onto her list later on.
"You're going to fall on the Nationals stage," Emily scoffed, making it clear to the others in the room that she was not backing down any time soon, "You're going to fall on the Nationals stage," she repeated, crossing her arms with a judgemental glare.
Emily's yelling had obviously gotten into Riley's head by then, for after she had gotten up from her fall, she no longer continued to dance, instead, she tried catching her breath whilst the other dancers attempted to encourage her.
"Riley, keep going," Thalia called from behind, her comment falling onto deaf ears.
The brunette's gaze lifted from her feet to Emily. "What are you doing?" Riley breathed out, running a shaky hand through her hair.
At that, Emily's eyes widened, astonished Riley was even asking such a question. "What am I doing?! What are you doing?! What is this? This is a mess!"
Both West and Maxie turned to each other with both shocked and astonished looks, before breaking eye contact. West turned his view to Riley, who seemed more hurt than anyone, whilst Maxie looked to Miss Kate, who seemed to be doing nothing at all to stop the situation — another odd thing, might she add.
In an attempt to defend Riley, West stepped in, "Emily, you need to settle down, you're taking it way too far."
"And you need to sit down!" She fired back, causing Maxie to give her an incredulous look: usually West and Emily got on well, it was very out of character for her to be snapping at him like that.
"You made me do that," Riley tried to explain herself, her eyes showing the pain Emily was putting her through by just yelling.
Emily did a double-take, offended Riley would even claim it was her fault. "You're going to blame this disaster on me?" She asked before continuing to pick apart the many imperfections in her sister's dance audition.
"To be honest, I'm not really surprised Emily is acting this way," Chloe muttered, her face showing that of disappointment in her friend, "I knew it was only a matter of time before her true colours came out again."
At that point, the dancer had moved closer to the centre of the room, accepting that the dance was over.
"She was probably thrown off, let's just-" Chloe tried, with some of the others backing her up, yet Emily then cut in.
"She's not even acting like she's on A-Troupe right now," the blonde girl scoffed as she looked at her sister with distaste, continuing to verbally drag Riley through the dirt.
Amanda seemed somewhat intimidated as she told the camera, "When Emily starts to yell at Riley, it kind of scares me. I mean, everyone told me that Emily was over that."
"Em..." Riley choked out, looking to her sister with a face of betrayal, "How could you do this to your own sister?"
"Sister?" Emily repeated, her tone feigning offence once more, "You're an embarrassment."
That seemed like the last straw for the others, for they began to call Emily out, telling her it wasn't how she should treat her sister, and trying to stop Riley from running out the studio, yet it seemed the short-haired brunette had no intention of staying in the same room as he sister any more.
"Emily, what is going on?" Giselle exclaimed, throwing her hands out confusedly whilst Hunter moved to stand by the blonde.
Once again, Maxie looked back to Miss Kate to do something, and once again, the woman just stood and watched as the dancers berated Emily for treating Riley in such a harsh manner.
"You're just gonna let her leave like that?" Chloe asked, gesturing to the door Riley had just run through to get away from the situation, "You should go help her."
"Help her?" Emily scoffed, seeing the perfect opportunity to call Chloe out this time, "Maybe I should help you pay for your classes."
The very comment was enough to cause Maxie's eyes to go wide in both shock and slight amusement, obviously, Emily had taken it too far, but Maxie couldn't help but find it slightly humorous.
"Okay, Emily. That's enough," Giselle scolded her, becoming protective over Chloe's insecurity.
Soon enough, the majority of the room also gave Emily disapproving comments and looks, knowing that her old personality was shining through once again, although they had no idea why.
Maxie, on the other hand, hung back where Kate and Amanda were stood, deciding to assess the situation rather than get involved.
"It's kinda weird, I guess," the British girl shrugged, "I mean, after everything that's happened with Michelle and Eldon, she was doing so well. It makes no sense that now that her supposed 'enemy' has gone, she's turned mean again. I'm definitely adding this to the list."
Folding her arms over her chest, Chloe tutted before looking Emily dead in the eyes. "It was only a matter of time before your true colours actually came out."
"It was only a matter of time before I realised that you guys just aren't worth it," Emily spat, the words seemingly leaving a bitter taste in her mouth, for her face scrunched up in disgust as she said it.
Finally, Miss Kate thought it was best to put a stop to it, "Emily!" She exclaimed, walking over to come face to face with the blonde girl, "You are way out of line. What are you doing? Nationals is right around the corner and you go back to old Emily? I thought we were past that," she scolded her, a stern look on her features, mirroring the one Emily gave her, "You know what? You're no longer the dance captain."
"Aw," Emily cooed sarcastically, feigning sadness at losing her title.
"You know what?" Kate then continued, having had enough of the girl's attitude, "We should probably think about whether you even deserve to be here in A-Troupe."
As the others looked on in silence, Emily looked Miss Kate up and down. "Yeah, well, you know what? Chris was better than you ever were," she stated before waltzing out of the room, leaving everyone else both stunned and shocked at her behaviour.
"Bye!" Thalia called after her mockingly, "See yourself out the door."
Pointing to where Emily had just left, West scoffed, "She's ridiculous." He claimed as the others hummed and nodded in agreement, still trying to wrap their heads around what exactly had just happened
"She's acting really out of character," Maxie mumbled, not too sure whether she should be upset with Emily, or more worried about why her friend had lashed out.
Chloe shrugged, "Not really, though. She's just being typical old Emily, we all knew the happy attitude wouldn't last forever."
"I thought she was really changing, though," Maxie added with furrowed brows, "I don't think we should turn on her so quickly, we're being too-"
"Did you hear her, Max?" Thalia cut the girl off with an incredulous look, "Out of character, or not, she was way out of line."
Whilst the rest of the troupe continued to rant on about how ridiculous Emily had been and how they were wrong to trust her again so quickly, Maxie decided to remove herself from the situation to go heck on Riley. She was just about to call the girl to see where she was before walking out into the hallway and seeing the brunette girl hugging Emily, who was practically in tears.
Standing there for a moment, Maxie tried her hardest to figure out what exactly was going on — she could've sworn Emily and Riley had fallen out not even five minutes ago, I mean, it's what the whole team were talking about back in the studio. Shaking her head, she muttered under her breath, "Things work so weirdly in this country."
The girl gave the camera a confused look, "If we were back home, those two would be pulling each others hair in the Asda car park. But they're hugging each other after a fight? That's definitely going on my 'odd things' list."
‧₊˚✩
Author's note,,
icl, i know they don't know that emily was faking it, but i felt so bad for her in that scene like bless her sacrificing her friendships to save the team.
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stay safe <33