'you lied to Chloe?'
'they told me to do it! i couldn't say no!'
'i really hope your happy with yourself, i hope the trophy was worth it'
'Cami! Cam!'
'GET YOUR FINGER OUT OF MY FACE!'
'girls out of the room! out of the room!'
i shoot up, i try to catch me breath as i lookaround my room
it's morning.
i'm in my bedroom, with all my trophies, crowns, plaques, banners.
it was all just a dream, or a nightmare
but the thing is..the nightmare is real..or was real
just three days ago i was sitting in that room..watching someone who i view as a second mom fight my dance teacher
it was horrifying,
i never want to live it again.
but sadly in eleven hours i'll be back in the studio,
to compete at another competition,
with my dance teacher who hates my family
a girl who i thought was my friend and my sisters friend
and i have to act like it's all okay,
because the girls don't have drama..no that's not what the shows about it's about the moms
we're just along for the ride even though we get the most torture.
us girls are like guinea pigs for people's entertainment.
______
the car ride was quiet,
we know what's going to happen from now on
Paige and Brooke aren't here,
Chloe and I are the main targets
it's us against them.
we get to the studio and i wish i could just disappear right now.
we walk into the studio and we head to the dancers den
"hey." Jill says
it's quiet.
i follow Chloe and i sit beside her .
Kira and Kalani then walk into the dancers den
"hi Kalani!" Kenzie says
"hello." Melissa says when Kira comes in
"so Kira did Abby ask you to join us this week after the competition." Holly asks
"yup." Kira says
"are you here.." Jill says
"for how long?" Melissa finishes
"what did Abby say come and stay forever?" Jill asks
"it's kinda up in the air" Kira says
"girls let's go" Abby then calls for us
we all then head into studio a
"i told everybody you were warned the face of the Abby Lee Dance Company is changing and Kalani you're the face i wanted here" Abby says
"moving on to the pyramid."
"Brooke and Paige are no longer members of the Abby Lee Dance Company i didn't plan replacing Brooke and Paige their mother did that."
it's really over for them.
i'm sure they're thrilled though
Brooke hated it since the start
and Paige was always the escape goat for everything
"and next we have Nia, Nia you made a mistake in the group routine."
"and next Chloe, when you do duets with Maddie you usually win."
"Camila, i don't want any drama backstage."
who told her?
"what drama?" mom asks
"she was having this whole big fiasco over something that didn't include her." Abby says
mom looks confused
i keep my eyes on the pyramid
"Kendall, only had a group dance to do kept your mouth shut Jill didn't cause any trouble."
"and next Mackenzie, hung in there did the group routine you weren't at the open call audition there were alot of good little kids very talented better watch out."
"next we have Eloise, i thought you were outstanding in the group routine."
"and next Maddie, Maddie another successful competition you stood out in the group routine it was all good."
"and on top of the pyramid our newest member Kalani."
we all clap for Kalani
"welcome to the Abby Lee Dance Company that's the way to do it show up and win."
Kalani
Maddie Eloise Mackenzie Kendall
Camila Chloe Nia Paige Brooke
"alrighty now we are going to woodbridge Virginia, and we will be attending ferice national dance competition we have a group number to do everybody is in the group routine." Abby says
"Holly."
"yes?" Holly asks
"you're getting a little bit of an award." Abby says
"i am?" Holly says
"you kinda jumped in and took over while everybody else was on their butts and did nothing, so Nia you will be performing a solo this week." Abby says
we all clap for Nia
"since the duet did so well last week we're going to have two more duets, Chloe you will be performing a duet along side Maddie again."
she knows what she's doing.
"Kalani you will be performing a duet with Kendall."
we clap for Kalani and Kendall
"Kendall you better keep up"
"alright before i dismiss you all, since Mackenzie is going to be travelling to Los Angelous California to record two songs so we're going to be working on them all week long, alright so moms you are dismissed everybody else we are going to spread apart and warm up."
|Group Rehearsals|
we learn the group routine and it's musical theatre and i really love the acting in it
it's something different so it's fun
"alright that's all we have today we have to go thank you so much." Abby says
we leave and head to the dancers den
"what was she talking about?" Kendall asks
"what?" Nia asks
"what was Abby talking about Cami, what happened?" Kendall asks
"nothing, nothing happened." i say
"clearly something did." Kendall says
"it had nothing to do with you so it's fine." i say before i walk out of the den
|Two Days To Competition|
|Group Rehearsals|
"straighten this diagonal out." Abby calls out
i do my turn section and i give a little wink
|One Day To Competition|
"why did you fight with Maddie?" i hear Eloise come in
"what?" i ask
"Maddie, you fought with Maddie..why?" Eloise asks
"she lied to Chloe..for a trophy." i say
"she didn't lie, Maddie never wanted to hurt Chloe" Eloise says
"why are you defending her?" i ask
"because she didn't do anything wrong!" Eloise says
"and Chloe did?" i ask
"no of course not! i'm just saying Maddie didn't have a choice like fifty adults were telling her she had to do it." Eloise says
"she still could've told Chloe it was happening! not all of us get to come back and not be yelled at every day!" i say
"look i know you're mad, and i know Abby hates you and treats you like garbage i've seen it on screen and first hand but that's not Maddies fault." Eloise says
"i know that! i just don't want to be friends with someone who lies to my sister so she gets a trophy or the top of a stupid pyramid" i say
"she didn't have a choice..clearly this conversation is going in circles here it's not you and Chloe against the world it's the whole group because we experience the same thing." Eloise says
"you've been here barely a year El, you don't know anything plus you're practically Abbys second hand girl you don't get it..you'll never get it wait till she hates you wait till she calls you a snake, or a liar, or awful just wait till that happens El and you'll know all about it." i say as i start to choke up
"that doesn't matter!" Eloise starts
i can't be here.
i run out of the room and into the bathrooms
i choke on a sob.
i hate it here,
i hate dance,
i hate this stupid show and i wish it never happened.
|Competition Day|
we arrive at the competition and we head for the dressing room
"is there just two solos and two duets or are there any extra dances today that we don't know about yet like like last week." mom says
Abby shrugs
we head backstage for the duets
Kalani and Kendall are up first and i don't know what this prop was
but it wasn't good
Chloe and Maddie are up next and i give Chloe a hug before they enter
they start their duet and it's a really nice duet
i think they are nailing it they finish the duet and they exit the stage
i go round and i give Chloe a hug
"i was like so nervous." Maddie says to Chloe
Chloe just stands there
"what?" Maddie asks
"nothing." Chloe says
"it was good though." Maddie says
"yeah." Chloe says
i sigh and i walk away
she acts like nothing happened
Nias solo is up and she enters the stage she starts her solo and
it's really nice but her headpiece slipt off
we go back to the dressing room and mom hugs Chloe
i start getting ready for the group while Abby talks about Kenzie about her music
group costume:
we go over the group dance
then we head backstage
"this is number 67 Yum Yum." the announcer says
we all enter the stage and we start the group dance
i make sure to act and really give the theatre vibe
we finish the group number and we exit the stage
|Awards|
"getting to our advance junior in fourth place that goes to 15 where the light gets in." the announcer says
that's a a duet.. i'm a little confused
"in second place we have a tie for second place that goes to number 22 Confessions and number 47 the moment."
"and our first place finisher is Yum Yum"
i smile and we join Maddie and Chloe up front
we take a bow and we head to the dressing room
and we come in and Abby cheers
"you beat the other numbers!" Abby says
we all hug Abby
"huh did you understand those scores?" Abby asks
"kind of towards the end" Kalani says
"the highest scoring number of the entire day was from the Abby Lee Dance Company" Abby says
we all cheer
"and that's what matters but enough chit chat Kalani you really shined in the group routine" Abby says
"does that mean i'm staying another week?" Kalani asks
"yes you are staying another week are you happy about that?" Abby says and hugs Kalani
"yeah" Kalani smiles
then Abby calls Kira over and i start getting my headpiece out
"just so all the moms know what happened, Kelly was arrested that's the truth so if you miss someone like that you might wanna think about going cause i saw a whole bunch of kids in New York City that wanna be on this team." Abby says