This doesn't involve Richelle's injury, but I thought I'd use this title to show it's a continuation of the same story. It is set during S6:22 & S6:23
Noah's POV:
"It's all wrong. The ropes are too small, the dancers aren't focused, Henry and Summer are in love and I don't know what's going on with Richelle."
I vent out all my stress to Michelle and Emily. Between the team falling apart after Davis left and mistakes with props, I don't know if a troupe is ready for regionals, and we compete the day after tomorrow!
"Okay Noah, take deep breaths," Michelle says. I try to, but how am I meant to when my mind is racing at 100 miles an hour? "I know a guy who has a dance prop store, and I'm sure he'll be able to supply us with last minute ropes. Emily will do what she does best and have a go at the dancers who are messing around, and you can work on choreographing."
"And Noah, I'm sure you can figure out what's going on with Richelle. After all, you have known her the longest." Emily adds, and Michelle agrees. But I'm not so sure about that. I still haven't forgotten about our conversation in the hospital, and I don't think our friendship will ever be the same as it once was.
I just simply nod. Michelle gives me a reassuring pat on the back, and I head out to studio A to continue helping the other dancers with the choreography.
"Richelle, stop marking it." I say to the small blonde, and she just nods, and looks down. She's going through something, her face looks dull and sullen, and she's still not giving it her all.
I wish she would open up to me.
Richelle's POV:
This season was going pretty good. My hip is as good as new, and my dancing has only been improving. Of course, Summer arrived and got crowned queen, but I am featured in the regionals ballet duet! But, right before regionals, my entire world came crashing down.
I'm trying to hold back the tears, and Noah keeps correcting me, rightfully so, I am dancing horribly. I just don't want to be here right now, dance reminds me of everything.
Part of me has no motivation to win regionals anymore.
*Time skip to after the escape room*
Noah's POV:
The team feels bonded now, but, there's still one problem I need to fix. Everyone grabs their stuff and heads off, as we all have a long evening of packing ahead of us. However, I have to stay behind, and if I don't it'll be too late to fix everything.
"You coming?" Jaquie asks, as since Davis left the next step, we usually walk home together.
"Sorry babe, I have some dance captain stuff to get sorted. Love you though."
I mean I'm not lying, it was my role as dance captain to sort this out. I don't tell Jaquie my true intentions - not because I have anything to hide from her - but she can get paranoid fast and jealous even faster. We have a lot of partnering in the group dances, and we need to avoid drama.
"Hey Richelle," I say, and she turns back to look at me. I see how red her eyes are and the dark circles underneath them. She'd been crying.
"Would you mind staying back for a second? I want to talk to you about something." I say.
"Um, sorry, but I kind of want to get home."
She turns around and starts to quickly walk out of Shakes and Ladders. However, I'm not letting go of this so quickly. When Richelle spoke, she didn't give me the sassy tone that I got when I went to see her in the hospital. Her voice was, hurt. Broken...
"Richelle," I grab her shoulder. "I'm not letting you go home like this. You need someone. And I'm here."
"I'm fine Noah, I'm really-,"
"Then why do you look like you've been crying? Why Richelle?" I look into her eyes, and I watch her fight against the tears trying to escape. "Come on, lets go somewhere else." I put my arm around her, and we sit on a nearby bench. There's barely any other people around, just pure darkness, and us "Your safe, ok. I won't judge, all I care about is you being ok, and you don't look very ok right now."
"Elliot broke up with me." She blurts out, and then starts bawling her eyes out. Of course, that bitch. Right before regionals too? I pull her into a hug, and she sobs into my arms.
"And, it sounds kind of stupid, but I really saw myself having a future with him. And now, he seems perfectly alright. Do you think he broke up with me because I wasn't a good enough dancer?" She cries into my arms, and I don't remember the last time I saw her so vunerable.
"Richie," I murmur. "You are an amazing dancer, one of the best I've seen in my life. And he's just some egoistic guy."
"I can't believe I didn't see the signs," she says into my chest, and I don't care, because she's opening up. "I was so naive. He made me think that we connected through our drive for dance, and he put his career over me. I thought he was just a hard worker. But now I see it. Henry doesn't put his career over Summer. You don't put yours over Jaquie. But Elliot was different."
"He doesn't deserve you." I reply, lifting her chin up to face me. "What you deserve is to shine on that regionals stage tomorrow, got it?" She giggles, and I feel satisfaction inside me. I made her happy. I lifted her up when she was down. Maybe, I saved our friendship.
I give her a hug, but she winces as my hand scrapes against her stomach.
"You ok Rich? Did I hurt you or something?" I instantly ask.
"No, no, I'm okay." She gives me a weak smile, which doesn't reassure me, and pulls down her hoodie. Immediately, it all clicks. I know what this is about.
Richelle's POV:
My stomachs in pain. Well my whole body's always in pain, bruises cover most of me. I'm lucky I live in a cold country, and I can always cover them up. It makes me anxious for competitions, and I learnt buying underlayers is better than begging for a modest costume with no reason.
Noah knows. He knows its happened to me, but he doesn't know how horrible it's gotten. I can barely even face my sister anymore. Yesterday, I tried to talk about Elliot with her, but lets just say that didn't go well...
"When?" He simply asks.
"Last night." I whisper. "I really got to go, she said if I told anyone, the police or mom and dad, she'd hurt me even more." And just like that, the tears Noah managed to get rid of returned.
He slowly lift up my top, and sees it, the pancake sized bruise underneath my sports bra. He puts his hand over it, and strokes it.
"Does it hurt if I touch hear?" He says, and despite the fact he's putting the least pressure possible, I nod in pain. He releases it, and I lean onto him, tears falling.
"You need to tell someone Richie." He whispers. "I don't want to be the one who does it, but if you don't, someone's got to."
I've wanted to speak up for the longest time. But I know my sister. She doesn't just hit me when she drinks too much anymore. The only reason I'm under her roof is because she steals the money I set aside for dance costumes for drugs. I've tried to stop it, but every time I try, she hurts me. My parents pay all of our house bills, and they send the money over for whatever I need, but that doesn't change how alone I feel constantly. Elliot was a bit of an escape for me, and now he's gone too.
"After regionals, we can go to the police station. Together." He says to me, and I nod. This has gone on way too long for me to hide anymore. When I was a toddler, I looked up to Julianna, but, people change. And she changed for the worse.
"Noah," I look up at him. "The truth is...I feel terrible about that day in the hospital. I understand people make mistakes, and how you've helped me today shows how much you care about me. And, thank you. It's nice having someone who I trust and can help me through stuff."
"Oh Richelle," he begins. "This is all I wanted. And I'm sorry for not being the best friend to you over the years, but I hope we can have a clean slate?"
"Oh my god, that would be great." I grab him into a hug.
We just stay there. Not trying to be anything we're not, just two best friend thanking each other for being there for them. I've missed these sort of hugs.
Things aren't perfect in my life. But I was able to let someone in, and now, I have my best friend back. And together, we can win regionals.
i'm not a big nochelle shipper romantically, but i wish we'd gotten more of this friendship. male/female friendships are really nice to watch (cough cough haisy), and they had sm potential to help eachother out <3
also who's watched s9 a of tns?? I've watched all the episodes that have been released so far, and I don't want to share any spoilers bc ik a lot of people havent seen it yet, but if anyone wants to chat abt it defo dm me
my fav character this season is defo Heath, and I hope he has a nice plot, because i loved the depth we got with him in s8 (male characters need way more deep storylines imo). pete's plot is also really good, and i hope it has more relevance later on in the season. my fav new character is probably olive, she just seems like someone you'd want to be friends with, a really feel good character!!