it's the day of the finals, and Emily still can't even stand on her leg. her knee is red and swollen, and the physiotherapist is still not here.
i wanted to stay with Emily and Riley but me and James went to watch Michelle as she is nominated for best female soloist.
"third place in female soloist is... Amanda from Elite!" i clapped slightly but was nervous for Michelle.
"the second place in female soloist is... Lexi from Life Of Dance!" this time i jumped happily because this means that Michelle is miss national soloist second year in a row.
"first place goes to Michelle from the Next Step!" i cheered for her and then looked at James who was already looking at me.
"what?" i asked him.
"nothing. i just like seeing you happy."
"shut up." i said, trying not to blush.
"okay, okay, let's get to the stage."
"would the nominations for best duet come to the stage." they said and we started running through the crowd, just made it on time with James bumping into me because he just ran.
this is the first time me and James did a duet at nationals, so to be a finalist in the Duet awards is just incredible.
we're going against, Joanne Champman who we just won against, and Life Of Dance, and they're both really good and i'm just a little nervous.
"and in third place, National Duet goes to..." James grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Joanne Champman." we clapped, trying to hide my excitement from being the last two.
"and in second place... The Next Step!" i smiled weakly and James before going to the judges and shaking their hand, accepting the award.
second place is still pretty amazing. i mean, it's still within the top 3, so it is really exciting, but... we did lose to LOD so that's also a little bit scary.
"and your first place Duet Award goes to Life Of Dance!"
yes we all know that, thank you.
i walked backstage, next to Michelle because now the boys are up for the small group award.
"can the small groups come to the stage please?"
James was the only one here. none of the other boys are here and this is really bad.
"where would they be?" Michelle asked.
i started texting Chloe, West and Eldon to see where they are.
"they're announcing them right now." Michelle said.
"i'm not sure i can go alone."
"you have to! there's no one else here."
Chloe texted me back that West is on his way, but Eldon and Hunter are nowhere to be found.
"just go on stage for now." I told James.
"are you serious?" he asked surprised.
"yeah! go."
West arrived shortly after, but half of the group is still missing.
i looked across the stage and saw Amanda looking at us. "why is Amanda looking at us?" i asked Michelle.
"she asked me about Emily's injury." Michelle answered.
"why?"
"i don't know. but whatever she's up to, it can't be good. she's trouble."
but the look on her face wasn't of a schemer. it was... it was kinda sad.
West and James are on stage for the past five minutes and there's still no sign of Eldon or Hunter.
"what are we gonna do?" i asked nervously.
"i don't know but they're making our studio look so bad." michelle answered. "we only have two of them on stage!"
"guys what's wrong?" i turned around quickly to see Eldon and Hunter standing behind us. "can we help?"
"umm..." i grabbed Eldon while Michelle grabbed Hunter and we pushed them on stage next to West and James and then walked away as the crowd laughed.
"and in third place, Elite dance academy." i clapped literally out of respect.
"your second place Small Group award goes to..." they really love to make a dramatic pause. "life of dance!"
i clapped happily next to Michelle and was really proud of the boys.
"and our Small Group first place national winner is The Next Step!"
"whoo!" i yelled for them.
the boys walked out of stage and i hugged them quickly. "i'm gonna go see how Emily's doing." i told James.
"i'll come with you." he said and we ran through the halls, to get to the back studio the team were.
when we got there Kate and Phoebe were outside and everyone looked disappointed. "what?" i asked them.
"Izzy, Emily can't dance." Kate said to me.
i nodded, hiding every disappointment bit in myself and walked in the empty room.
"hey." i told her. "how's the pain?"
"it's... painful." i sat down next to her.
"don't worry about it, Em, okay? we'll figure something out."
"you have a plan, Iz? cause if you do, i'd like to hear it." she said, her voice breaking.
"you don't have to worry about that. you need to focus on healing."
"i'm letting everyone down." she cried.
"no, you're not. it's okay! do you have any idea how proud of you we all are?"
"look, i love you, but i just need some time, okay?"
"yeah." i agreed and left her alone, walking out of the room.
"look guys..." Kate said, standing in front of us. "we need to start thinking about forfeiting.
we worked so hard on getting here. it's so hard to think about it.
"i know we don't want to, but we what other options do we have?"
"no, we can't. we worked so hard!" everyone started resisting this idea, but suddenly the captain of Life Of Dance walked in with the nationals manager, Sandra.
"kate, i need to know whether your dancer is going to dance or not." one of the judges asked her.
"she can't dance, which means we don't have a full team." Kate said.
"okay, all right, so i'll let the judges know that you're not dancing, then. is that correct?"
"yeah. it looks like we have to officially..."
"not forfeit." i heard a voice from the hallway, seeing Amanda walking in. "i will be dancing with The Next Step."
i looked at Amanda, partly with amusement and partly with shock. why is Amanda helping us? is this one her schemes? but then again, what was that look she gave me earlier?
"woah, wait, how is that even possible?" the LOD captain asked.
"cause i'm registered on both teams." amanda answered. "which gives me the right to compete with them."
"there's rules against it. she can't be on both teams."
"you know what? i don't know so i'm going to find out. alright?" Sandra said. "so give me a minute and i'll find out from the judges. i'll get back to you in a second."
"phoebe go with them." Kate said to her sister.
"i'm on it."
i exchanged looks with James first. his look was desperate. but is Amanda worth it?
i looked at the rest of my teammates. every single one of them seem to like this idea.
"how do we even know we can trust you?" West asked what everyone were thinking.
"what other choice do you have?" Amanda answered.
"okay, i think we need to do what we always do- let's take a vote. who thinks Amanda should dance with us?" Kate asked.
"miss Kate—" she was cut off by Emily. "there's no need to vote. Amanda's right. we need her."