It was November 19th and in a city called St. Louis, located in the state of Missouri aka the Show Me State, Abby, the girls and moms were seen walking down Market Street and approached a building called the St Louis Union Station Hotel, which was where Hollywood Vibe, the competition that they would be attending and Payton and her mother, Leslie were on the team filling in for Brooke who was recovering from her injury and also Cooper wasn't there and neither was Gianna, but Abby had a surprise up her sleeve.
Abby, the girls and moms all entered the building and the dance teacher got them checked in and headed to their dressing room, which was in a conference room with makeup tables. Jill and Leslie's makeup tables were next to each other and that might spell big time disaster.
"Girls, listen closely. This is Hollywood Vibe and the people here at this competition are professionals from New York and Los Angeles, even the one that puts you on the stage and there's a great chance that by Monday, they'll be working in some casting agency or studio talent agency. This is really huge and important to all of you for the remainder of your lives, let alone me." Abby said as Leslie was talking to Payton.
"Payton, work on this dance as this might be your only chance, be sure to get your leaps up there and if you mess up in your dance today, there's a great chance you might not be on the team." Leslie told her daughter, she really wanted Payton to be on the team as to her, Jill and Kendall were strangers from somewhere else.
"Kendall, make sure to go over the trio a lot of times as i have to know that you know it." Jill told her daughter before putting $20 and put it on the makeup table. "Should you do well, that $20 is yours."
The door opened and coming in was Gianna as the girls and moms greeted her.
"Hey, everybody." Gianna said, coming into the dressing room.
"Hey, Gianna. Girls, what if i were to tell you that Gianna didn't come alone?" Abby asked before she whistled and right after whistling, the door opened again and this time coming in was none other than Cooper, who was wearing a red and black tracksuit.
"Surprise!" Cooper exclaimed.
"Coop's back!" Mackenzie exclaimed as she raced over to the son of Abby giving him a hug as Abby gestured to the girls and moms to hug him too, which they did, they were so happy to have him back at a competition since he had his appendectomy.
"How did you get here?" Paige wondered.
"Gia and i took Amtrak's Texas Eagle last night from Chicago, which was Mom and Gia's idea." Cooper answered.
"Cool." Payton remarked.
"We missed you lots!" Nia said.
"Yeah!" Chloe added.
"I missed you guys as well, now i'm back." Cooper stated. "So am i missing anything?"
"No, you made it just in time." Christi assured as Cooper stood next to his mother.
"Mom, with Jill and Leslie's daughters being on probation, that means that Kendall and Payton are on probation as well and they go right along with the student, is that correct?" Cooper said to Abby.
"That's right, Coop." Abby told him. "We need to see how this will go."
"One more question, what's the running order?" Cooper asked.
"The trio will go 1st, then Maddie and Chloe's solos and then the group."
"Thanks for the heads up."
"No problem."
Maddie, Chloe and Kendall headed to the stage as Abby, Cooper, Gianna, Mackenzie, Nia, Paige, Payton and the moms went to the audience.
"Mom, i don't know if it's me, but Chloe's a mile away from Maddie and Kendall due to the placement of the microphone." Cooper pointed out.
"I know." Abby said.
"He's right." Melissa added.
Maddie, Chloe and Kendall began their trio when the music started to play and they did well with their trio and at the end of the music, they posed and left the stage. Backstage, Abby and Cooper came in.
"Girls, what did you think?" Abby asked.
"It was good." Maddie remarked.
"Kendall, just when my mom was about to order that sweatsuit for you, we saw that foot up in the air. You've got to angle yourself and be sure that people don't see things. All right?" Cooper told Kendall, before he turned to Chloe. "Chloe, the spacing was off at the start, you were way far stage left, but then again, it was the way the microphone was placed. Moms, here's a word of advice, head to the audience ahead of time before the start of the competition, look at it and figure out where you'll be lined up, so figure all that out."
"Well said, Cooper. Well said." Abby complimented before looking to Chloe. "Chloe, the pressure's on."
Chloe nodded as she and Maddie did one more run through before heading to the stage for their solos as Abby, Cooper, Gianna, Mackenzie, Paige, Nia, Payton, Kendall and the moms went back to the audience.
"Please welcome to the stage, The Girl I Want To Be!" Maddie went on the stage and went into her starting pose. The music began and Maddie was gracious on the stage with her dancing and at the end, she posed and left the stage.
"Coming up next, Proof!" Chloe walked on to the stage and posed and once the music started, that started her dance and she did well with her solo until the music came to an end and she headed off the stage so the group could get prepared.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, here is What Goes Around!" Maddie, Chloe, Paige, Nia, Kendall and Payton went to the stage. At first, they did well with their group dance, but Payton took the kick me sign and placed it too high on the back of Maddie as Abby, Cooper, Gianna, Mackenzie and the moms cringed and at the end, they posed and headed to the dressing room.
"Pay, what do you think your critique will be?" Leslie asked her daughter.
"That i did better than Kendall." Payton responded as the moms and girls looked on as Jill and Kendall were glaring and Abby, Cooper and Gianna came in.
"I thought you were better than Kendall as well." Leslie commented, she really wanted Abby to realize that Payton deserved to be on the team and that Jill and Kendall were just strangers to the studio and the team. "I believe you'll be getting that sweatsuit and Kendall will get the boot."
Abby glared at Payton with her hands on her hips. "Payton! You nearly screwed up the group dance with the placement of the sign.
"Hold up--" Leslie started before Abby cut her off.
"She has to correct what she screwed up and you have to make sure that--"
"No, Abby. It starts at--"
"Did you just say 'No, Abby'?" Abby raised her eyebrow.
"No, i thought she was fabulous." Leslie responded.
"Here's the thing, Myself and Gianna are the dance teacher and we think she was all right, but the turnout and turns need tuning."
"I thought that i was better than most in the people in the group performance wise." Payton stated.
Cooper did a facepalm over what Payton said as the moms, girls and Gianna's eyes all went wider than saucers Abby looked at the 14 year old dancer like she had gone nuts.
"Payton..." Cooper muttered.
"Did you see anybody else dancing, though?" Abby asked.
"Performance wise, that's how i felt." Payton replied.
"We have a nice little camaraderie amongst the kids here, but we do not critique each other, that's my job even though Cooper contributes with his own critiques. We ask you how you felt about how you did, not in comparison to the other dancers."
"So everybody was perfect with the exception of Payton?" Leslie asked.
"No, i didn't need to critique anybody as Payton already did that." Abby responded. Payton eventually apologized to everybody and she was forgiven, but they weren't gonna forget as the girls went back to the stage for the awards and Abby, Cooper, Gianna and the moms went back to the audience. Maddie's solo got 1st in the junior soloist division, Chloe's solo got 1st in the intermediate lyrical soloist division, Maddie, Kendall and Chloe's trio didn't place and neither did the group.
"How bout that over-inflated ego, Payton?" Abby asked. "This group has been winning, winning, winning."
"You think they lost due to Payton?" Leslie wondered.
"We don't know, we'll have to hear what the judges say." Cooper said.
"Will she be able to dance with the team again?" Leslie also asked, she was hoping that Jill and Kendall got thrown out of the studio as to her, they were strangers to the studio.
"The concern isn't what she did on the stage, it's about returning to the dressing room and saying she was better than the other dancers." Abby responded.
"You two flustered her! She didn't mean it like that and if you want to fight with somebody, let it be me so i can defend her as i'm her mother!"
"Leslie, it isn't about fighting and if you do not have anything nice to say, keep the beak shut." Cooper told Leslie. "People pay my mom for her opinion. After we talked about it, Payton is still on probation."
Abby and Cooper exited the dressing room and talked to a colleague of Abby's, who is a good friend of hers, but they could hear the moms arguing.
"It's a neverending story." Cooper muttered sullenly.
"Sadly, you're right." Abby agreed, fuming before they headed back in to stop the drams. "Ladies, we're outside talking to a dance teacher who is a good friend of mine and we could hear every word you are saying!"
"I'm still upset!" Leslie whined.
"We get that and all, but your daughter is 14 and you say she's a grown up, she's got a smart mouth on her and you have to dig your fingernails in her back..."
"Didn't you put Payton on the spot that made her say what she said which wasn't right and she apologized? You didn't put her on the team because of the comment. That's what i want to know?"
"Yes." Abby replied as Payton was embarrassed.
"That's just a shame--"
"Leslie, here's some advice, shut the beak as you're making yourself look more and more like an idiot." Cooper stated, then everybody left the dressing room and headed to the bus, which took them back to Chicago.