Makayla groans as she pushes herself out of bed, Maddie still sleeping in hers. Makayla walked over to Maddie's bed and shook her awake, earning groans and 'go away' s from the Ziegler.
"Maddie come on." Makayla said, shaking her twin. Maddie groaned, sitting up while rubbing her eyes.
"It's too early." Maddie groaned, standing up and getting dressed, Makayla doing the same.
The twins made their way downstairs to see, Melissa and Mackenzie sat at the table, eating breakfast. Makayla and Maddie sat down, digging into the food that was sat out for them.
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After breakfast, the three Ziegler daughters got their dance bags and drove to dance. Once all four girls got there, the three sisters walked into the dancers den, placing their bags down and heading into Studio A, sitting in front of the blackboard. Abby looks very serious.
"I want to talk about this upcoming weekend. It's regionals, everybody knows how important that is. We are going to star power, you know that's one of the toughest competitions out there." Abby tells all the girls before spinning the blackboard around to reveal the pyramid.
Makayla
Maddie Chloe
Paige Brooke Nia Vivi-Anne Kenzie
"Here's what's going to happen this weekend." Abby starts, "Kayla, new solo. Maddie, new solo. Brooke, new solo. Chloe, new solo." Abby says to them. Makayla and Maddie high-five each other.
"Now, the age category's are a little different, so we want to make sure your dances reflect you as a dancer now, not the beginning of the season." Abby explains and the soloists nod.
"We are doing a new group routine this weekend, and everybody's in it. It is called 'Where Have All The Children Gone'. This is a routine about children who become missing. You've all seen the children faces on the milk cartons, it's contemporary, it's mature and it is very dark. You all have to be great actresses to pull it off and they're all in white like they're angels" Abby explains to the moms and daughters.
"I don't want any discrepancies. I don't want any opinions." Abby says, looking at the moms. The girls all warm up as the moms go and sit in their watching area. All the girls then head into Studio B.
All the girls learn the dance and seem to be having fun. Once they've run the dance once, Abby gets them to do it again. Abby pauses the music and beckons all the girls over.
"You're dancing, you're doing steps, you're trying to listen to the words but you're not interpreting the story correctly and this is very serious because maybe people in the audience have had a child that's gone missing. You're going to touch someone's heart. This is a very serious routine and right now you're just running doing the steps and we need to get past that we need to perform." Abby tells all the girls and they nod.
"Do you two understand?" Abby asks Kenzie and Vivi-Anne and the two nod.
"Good, dismissed. Solo's please."
All the girls go into the dancers den, as Maddie does her solo practice. The Brook, then Chloe.
"Makayla." Gia says, locking her head into the dancers den as Chloe walks back in. Makayla smiles, standing up and walking out and into studio A.
"Okay, Kayla. Your solo is called 'Happy Girl' and the song is called 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz. Now, it's a musical theatre solo and you have to have all eyes on you, got it." Abby tells Makayla who nods.
"Okay, let's go." Abby says and Makayla moves to the middle of the room. The dance is really bright and fun. It has a lot of tricks and turns. While she's turning, she moves into a leap but her foot slipped and she landed on her butt.
Makayla sat there for a second, disappointed in herself that she did that. She may had done it before but it wasn't nice, she hated falling but she knew it would happen.
"You okay?" Abby asked as Makayla got up. She nodded and Abby did the same. Gia restarted the music and Makayla started dancing again. She didn't fall this time and finished her routine strongly.
"That was amazing!" Abby clapped and Makayla smiled, "Remember, you are up against Maddie this week. Don't let me down." Abby said, telling the young Ziegler who nodded.
"Okay, you're dismissed." Abby said and Makayla smiled.
"Thank you, Miss Abby!" Makayla shouted as she walked into the dancers den. Melissa was sat there waiting on Makayla who immediately jumped up for a hug.
"I saw you fall. You okay?" Melissa asked her daughter who nodded into her shoulder. Melissa rubbed Makayla's back, comforting her.
"Is she okay?" Mackenzie asked, looking at her older sister who was being held up by their mom.
"She's okay, she just needed a hug." Melissa smiled to her youngest before setting Makayla down, "go get your stuff."
Makayla, Maddie and Kenzie all got their stuff and headed home for the night.
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The next morning, it was only two days until regionals. Melissa and her daughters had just arrived at the studios. They all went into the dancers den, where all the moms and daughters were waiting.
"Okay, you three need to stretch. Maddie, help Mackenzie I'm going to help Makayla." Melissa told her eldest daughter. Maddie nodded as she started to stretch with Mackenzie.
Makayla sat down on the floor, leaning against one of the seats that Melissa sat on behind her. Makayla did her pike, then a straddle split, switching to left leg and right leg. Melissa then pulled one of Makayla's leg back, stretching it then doing the same with the other.
Makayla was extremely more bendy and flexible than both her sisters. Ever since she started dance, she's always been bendy and flexible.
"Hey, Kayla. We saw you fall again yesterday. You okay?" Christi asked the Ziegler who smiled and nodded, "Are you okay to dance?"
"She just nodded. She's fine." Melissa said, her daughter looking up at her.
"I was just asking, Melissa, jeeze." Christi sighed, crossing her arms. Abby then called all the girls in and sent the moms up to their sitting area. They all learned the dance, got their corrections and everything they needed to do.
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Competition day one was finally here. Regionals. Makayla was so excited for her solo that she was up the earliest in her house. They all headed to commotion and Melissa got Makayla ready for her solo.
Makayla headed behind the curtain after her hair and makeup were finished. She loved her costume so much.
Makayla's solo costume, hair and headpiece:
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Makayla walks out from behind the curtain, seeing Maddie in her costume as well. Melissa admires her two daughters in their costumes.
"Hey, hey!" Abby says as she walks into her dressing room, "I'm going to move Kayla and Maddie up into the nine to eleven category."
Makayla looks to Maddie then to Chloe who looks a little defeat. Makayla notices Christi rolling her eyes. Chloe, Makayla and Maddie all head backstage, ready for their solos.
"Good luck, Mads!" Makayla whisper yelled to her twin. Maddie smiles sweetly to Makayla who returns it.
"Welcome to the stage, Maddie with 'Beautiful'." The announcer calls and Maddie makes her way on stage. Makayla watches in awe, she's so proud of her twin and would happily watch her dance for hours. Maddie finishes her dance and heads off to the opposite side that she entered.
"Good luck, Chlo!" Makayla whispered to the blonde, hugging her tightly.
"Thank, Kayla. Good luck to you too." Chloe whispered back. The two girls pulled away from each other.
"Welcome to the stage, Chloe with 'Parlez Moi'." The announcer calls. Chloe makes her way on stage and dances her heart out. Makayla would also happily watch her dance. Chloe finishes and makes her way off stage and now it was Makayla's turn.
"Welcome to the stage, Kayla with 'Happy Girl'." The announcer calls. Makayla places a look on her face after taking a deep breath before doing her entrance. For this dance, she had to be bubbly and happy and she was.
Makayla made eye contact with the judges a lot, they were smiling every time and that made her dance even better. She looked in the audience a couple times to see her mom and Abby both very happy. Makayla finishes her solo strongly before skipping happily off stage.
"KayKay! You were so good! I was dancing along over here!" Maddie says, attacking her twin sister in a tight hug. Makayla smiles, hugging her back.
"Thank you, Maddie." Makayla smiled.
Chloe pulled Makayla in for a hug after the twins pulled away from each other.
"Well done, Kayla." Chloe said, rocking her and Makayla side to side.
"Thank you Chloe." Makayla says. All three girls then head back to the dressing room to see Brooke getting ready for her solo.
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When the girls get to the dressing room to see Brooke in a horrible looking hot pink costumes with red polka dots all over it.
Makayla makes a face, "ew"
"Excactly, Makayla, excactly." Kelly nodded to the young girl. Suddenly Vivi-Anne's costume is on Brooke and they are putting glitter on her.
A little while later, while the younger girls are talking, Brooke steps out from behind the curtain in her dance wear.
"What happened to your costume?" Makayla asked the older girl.
"Cathy didn't want her wearing it." Kelly answered for her daughter, Makayla made an 'o' shape with her mouth in understanding. Brooke then went and performed her solo.
When Makayla saw Brooke, she jumped up into her arms for a hug, Brooke gladly returned the hug before setting the Ziegler down so they can go to awards.
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Now that it was awards, they had announced up to 4th place, it was now time to announce the top three.
"In third place is, Chloe from Abby Lee!" The announcer calls. Chloe looks a little upset when she goes to get her award. Makayla is happy for her but she's also sorry for her.
"In second place is, Maddie from Abby Lee!" The announcer calls. Maddie smiles, standing up to get her awards. Makayla squeezed Brooke's hand as she waited for first place.
"And, in first place is... Kayla with 'Happy Girl'!" The announcer called and Makayla smiled widely, standing up to get her award. She thanked the person who handed her the award before they all bowed to the audience, then sitting down.
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It was now the final day of the competition and all the girls had just arrived at the dressing room, ready to get into the group costume and get their hair and makeup done.
Makayla's group costume, hair and headpiece:
All the girls then head backstage so they're ready to go on to the stage. Makayla does a couple of turns to stretch quickly and Maddie cheers her on quietly.
"Please welcome to the stage, Abby Lee Dance Company with, 'Where Have All The Children Gone'." The announcer says, the girls then all make their way onto the stage and start the dance.
Makayla is the last person to die of, she fall backwards into the wings. She stands up and watches Brooke run off the stage as the music ends. The crowd cheers loudly.
"We did so good!" Makayla says to Maddie as they jump up and down in excitement.
"We did!"
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Now it was time for awards. They've just announced 2nd place and it wasn't the girls so they are all squeezing each other's hands, waiting for first.
"Your high score of the day goes to... 'Where Have All The Children Gone'!" The announcers shouts and all the girls scream in excitement before standing up and getting their award.
"What studio are you girls from?"
"ABBY LEE DANCE COMPANY!" All the girls shout into the microphone. The announcer laughs a little before all the groups bow and sit back down.
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All the girls run into the dressing room, shouting and squealing at their winning. Abby hugs all the girls tightly, congratulating them. They all sit at their makeup stations.
"Can we go to the mall now?" Paige asked Abby who laughed slightly.
"Can you go to the mall now?" Abby repeats with a smile and Paige nods, "Yes, I think you can go to the mall now."
All the girls smile and get changed into their normal clothes before getting ready to go shopping and have some fun.
______________________________
Nationals are on the way!!
Hope you're all enjoying the book!!
Love you all!!