"Girls! Come one! We need to go!" Melissa shouted up the stairs to the twins, they immediately came running around the corner and down the stairs. They were both dressed for dance and their hair was up in ponytails.
"Here are your bags." Melissa said, holding out two dance bags for the twins. They both grabbed their named ones and rushed out to the car where Mackenzie was waiting.
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They got to dance and went into the dancers den where everyone was waiting to go into studio A. They were all called in so the girls all ran in while the mothers walked to their spot in the room.
"This weekend we were in Providence Rhode Island an hour outside of Boston. Some of the most prestigious Dance Studios in the country are there. Top schools, tough competitors and you really held your own, you won that victory cup. You killed it." Abby said, pausing, "I'm very proud."
All the mothers and girls clap because Abby doesn't say that she's proud very often.
"Excellent. I'm very proud of every single one of you and you know I don't say that often." Abby nods, "I'm also very proud of the moms because they kept their mouths shut and didn't say anything to me. See how much nicer it is when everything goes so smoothly? It was wonderful."
"Now, let's talk about this week's competition." Abby says before turning the blackboard around to reveal this week's pyramid.
Makayla
Maddie Chloe Brooke Paige Nia
Kenzie Vivi-Anne
"We are going to...what?" Abby points to the board.
"Star Power!" The girls all shout, smiling.
"It's at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and it's a resort, it's all self-contained. We can't forget anything so we will have a wardrobe for each day that they are going to be there. Just like the old school days, yes? And you will pack, here, in front of me so I know that you have everything." Abby explains then turns her attention to the blackboard.
"First of all, everybody worked together as a team. That teamwork is going to help you in nationals. That's what's going to put you to the top, teamwork and technique. Those are the two things we are going to concentrate on this week... moms were doing another new number!" Abby announces.
All the girls cheer in excitement. They had all gotten used to learning new numbers and actually enjoyed it now. Because it meant they got better and they learned new techniques.
"One more costume!" Abby shouts with a large smile, "This week I'm going to ask you to work harder than you've ever worked before. We need to show up and walk in like we own the place." Abby paused, "I will give you a pack list for clothes for the trip and I want them dressed a certain way every single day that we are there. Does everyone understand that? Yes. Moms, thank you very much. Ladies, let's get up, let's go."
All the moms go up to their sitting point while the girls all started to stretch and get ready to learn the dance rehearsal.
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"Alright, girls the new number we are going to do for this competition is called, 'Make You Mine'. Can everybody say that?" Abby tells the girls.
"Make you mine." All the girls say.
"I want you all to go out and I want you to get the older girls black chairs." Abby instructed. All the girls nod and walk out to find the older girls chairs. Once they find the chairs, they all head back into studio A.
"Okay, so it's a sassy jazz number. So you'll have the chairs as props." Abby tells the girls who all smile brightly. Abby tells them where they will all be in the dance and teaches them the start of the routine.
The chairs are all placed to replicate a pile, well somewhat a pile. Nia is sitting on the chair in front of Chloe's. Paige has her back turned to where the audience would be. Makayla's chair sits at the back and she stands on it, hands on hips. All the other girls are placed with their chairs around the pile.
While Abby is shouting out moves, she starts to get frustrated with Nia, shouting at her every two seconds. Abby then decides they should do it in threes. Nia, Maddie and Paige go. The Makayla, Chloe and Brooke.
"It was, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 50%." Abby says to the girls, pointing to Makayla, Maddie, Chloe, Brooke, Paige then Nia. They all practise the dance a bit more.
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It's now time for Makayla's solo rehearsal. Makayla walks into studio A after having a drink, she walks over to Abby who smiles at her.
"Okay, Kayla, this week you're getting a lyrical piece. It's called 'It's Not Easy' and the song is 'The Scientist' by Coldplay." Abby tells her and she nods.
"You won last week, okay. I want you to win this week." Abby asks Makayla who nods with a smile.
Gia starts to play the music and teach Makayla her solo. Makayla is loving it so much. She has to put a lot of emotion into the dance to make it look ten times better. Makayla's ending isn't a pose, she has to act really sad at the end before running off stage.
"Woo! That was so good!" Abby clapped, "I want you to do it again, okay? With the same emotions."
Melissa, who was standing off to the side of the studio was watching her daughter in awe. The emotions radiating of off her, her dancing. In Melissa's eyes, she was perfect, all her daughters were perfect to her. Makayla did her ending again and ran to the side of the studio.
"Well done." Abby clapped, "you can go to your ballet private now."
"Thank you Miss Abby." Makayla smiled, walking into the dancers den. She walked over to her dance bag and pulled out her ballet slippers.
"Helping a teacher again?" Nia asked the Ziegler.
"Uh, yeah. Really needed." Makayla said, trying to sound believable. Nia nodded before walking over to the rest of the girls.
Makayla hated lying to all the girls. She felt like she was betraying them in more than one way. Maddie walked over and rubbed her twins back in comfort.
"Go help the teacher, okay. It's okay." Maddie whispered into Makayla's ear who nodded and walked into studio B, putting on a smile.
"Hey M." Anne said as the young girl walked in, slipping her ballet slippers on. Makayla smiled before walking to the bar.
"Okay, today we are doing everything. Just to get better, okay? Let's go." Anne said and Makayla nodded. Doing what Anne was saying.
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"Hey, Kaykay. Time to go home." Maddie said, helping her twin pack her stuff.
"Okay." Makayla said as she zipped her bag up. The twins walked out of the dancers den and they walked out to the car where Melissa was with Kenzie. They all got in the car and went home for the night.
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It's now two days until the competition and the Ziegler's walked into the dancers den, finding all the mothers and their daughters there.
Makayla, Maddie and Kenzie all placed their dance bags away in their spots before all sitting down to stretch. Makayla sat next to Maddie, a couple of feet away from the girls. It was unusual because the girls usually all smiled and watched the Ziegler's but none of them even glanced at them today.
That made Makayla feel uncomfortable, it's probably because they found out about the privates she's been taking. That made her feel really guilty and sad but she just had to ignore it and dance like the amazing dancer she is.
"Okay, ladies." Abby says, walking in and handing out pieces of paper to the moms, "These are your pack lists for the competition. Now I didn't get into too much detail since you guys go away all the time."
Cathy makes a face.
"Cathy, the reason we do this is so it's easy for me to find the kids when I'm travelling. I need to be able to get to them quickly and I want to take photos and they all need to look good for my program book." Abby explains to the mother.
"I'm all about themes but these little themed outfits are just for the children?" Cathy asks.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, they're for everyone attending." Abby corrects her.
"Hold the phone for just a moment because we've already went shopping and we've bought some fabulous clothes and I'm seeing here black and white night time and I'm going to assume that your talking about banquets and I have a fabulous fuchsia formal that I'm going to be wearing and she has green." Cathy complains
"You do remember, I am not a team player and we will be packing at home and what we pack is what we're bringing." Cathy reminds her.
Makayla and Maddie look at each other in shock. Nobody has ever said that to Abby until today.
"Do not make your child an outcast." Abby warns the mother.
"Oh, we would love for Vivi to blend." Cathy says.
"Yes." Abby agrees.
"The reason we're here is to stand out." Cathy tells Abby. Makayla's head falls into her hands, a headache forming from all this bickering.
After all the bickering, Maddie is in studio A, practising her solo. Her solo is dedicated to her grandmother so it's very special but Makayla feels like she has to win for Abby again. After Maddie finished it was Nia's turn to learn her solo.
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Makayla stands in the middle of studio A, waiting for the music to start. She's rubbing her head, a pounding headache banging her head.
"Okay... you okay hunny?" Abby started but changed to worry.
"Mhm. My head just really hurts." Makayla nodded, looking over at her dance teacher.
"Okay. But you have to dance through it, okay? You'll be alright." Abby said and Makayla sent a tight lip smile to her teacher.
Makayla did her dance, dancing through the pain of her head ache. She did her run off at the end and looked to Abby who smiled at her.
"That was beautiful. Look at your mom!" Abby said, pointing to Melissa. Makayla turned to see her mom in tears. Makayla smiled and ran over jumping into Melissa's arms for a large hug.
"You are so beautiful at dancing." Melissa said to her daughter.
"Thank you, mom." Makayla said, smiling into her mom's shoulder. Melissa put her down and Makayla ran over to Abby who gave her a hug as well.
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Makayla was sat in the dancers den, knees up to chest, head resting in her knees. Her head was pounding, it just seemed to get worse through out the day and it wouldn't go away.
She had done the group rehearsal, solo rehearsal and her head just didn't get better. She didn't realise how long she was sat there for until someone walked in.
"Baby?" Melissa's voice said softly, seeing her daughter like that worried her. Makayla looked up to her mother and the tears started, Melissa looked sadly at her daughter before picking her up.
"Awww, baby, you're okay. What's wrong?" Melissa asked. Makayla buried her head into Melissa's shoulder.
"My head won't stop hurting." Makayla sniffled. Melissa nodded, rubbing her daughters back.
"Do you want to go home?" Melissa asked her. Makayla nodded, feeling her mom start to move around she held on tighter.
"Hey, Ab." Melissa said, walking into studio A. Abby looked over to the mother, a look of worry being plastered onto her face at the sight of Makayla.
"Is she okay?" Abby asked, gesturing to Makayla.
"Her head." Melissa said softly. Abby nodded in understanding.
"Take your girls home and hopefully she'll be better by tomorrow." Abby said. Maddie and Kenzie both walked past their mother and into the dancers den to get their stuff. Maddie grabbed all of Makayla's stuff as well.
"Thanks Ab." Melissa said. She walked back into the dancers den, finding her other two daughters ready to go, "come one girls."
Melissa takes all her kids out to the car, putting a crying Makayla in her seat before helping Kenzie in. She drove her and her three daughters home. She carried Makayla in and tucked her into bed where she had to stay with her until she fell asleep.
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The next day Makayla was feeling way better. She was still half asleep but she didn't have a headache anymore. Today was costume try on day and one day until competition.
When they got to dance today, the girls actually talked to Makayla. That made her feel a lot better.
"Okay, here is Kayla and Maddie costumes." Abby said, handing Melissa two costumes. She then handed Christi Chloe's costume. Then Kelly for Brooke and Paige and then Holly for Nia.
"I love it." Makayla smiled to Abby who returned it.
"I'm glad." Abby said.
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"Kaykay. It's time to wake up. We have to get to the airport." A very tired Maddie shook Makayla awake.
"Okay. Okay. I'm up. I'm up." Makayla said, sitting up and sliding out of bed, "it's four am."
"Mom wants us up and ready now or we'll be late." Maddie groans, rubbing her eyes. Makayla groans in annoyance.
"Girls! Come on!" Melissa shouts up the stairs, both girls come down stairs, still in their pyjamas. Melissa told them that they didn't have to get dressed because they'll be on a plane for a bit.
"Have you girls got everything?" Melissa asks the twins, who both nod, "okay, let's go."
Melissa picks a very tired Kenzie up and they all walk out with their luggage, Melissa locking the door behind them. Melissa gets Mackenzie in her car seat as the twins get in their seats. The car is packed with luggage and Melissa drives to the airport.
When they get there they meet the group at the gate. The group gets priority boarding because of all the kids with them. Makayla, Maddie and Chloe sit together. Makayla is sitting in the window seat, fast asleep, Chloe's in the middle also fast asleep and Maddie is in the aisle seat, fast asleep.
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The group is at the competition place, in the dressing room. They had yesterday to settle in before the competition so it wasn't a full let's go and dance straight after the flight.
"Moms, they're running 30 minutes ahead. So get the makeup on as quickly as possible so we have time to run this number. That's more important." Abby tells everyone.
Unfortunately, when competitions run ahead or the girls are late and have to rush, the twins get very frustrated and attitudey.
Makayla does her makeup as quickly as possible but messes up a little which stresses her out. She gets mad at the makeup, which in theory is funny but in reality makes the situation worse. She finally finishes her makeup and gets into her costume.
Makayla's costume - same as Maddie.
Makayla rushes around the room, needing her hair done but Melissa was dealing with Maddie and her attitude.
"Kayla, come here I'll do your hair." Abby called and the young Ziegler ran over, standing in front of her teacher to let her do her hair.
"Okay, is that stable?" Abby asked, Makayla shook her head and it did not feel secure.
"No." Makayla said to Abby adjusted it and made sure it was tighter.
"What about now?" Abby asked. Makayla shook her head again and it was secure.
"Yeah, thanks." Makayla said.
"Let me fix your makeup." Abby said. Makayla sighed deeply, wanting to stretch but being stopped, Abby fixed her makeup, "there you go."
Makayla walked into a clearing and did a couple of turns just to stretch and make sure her hair would stay put.
"Ah! I need earrings." Makayla said, stooping suddenly and running over to rhe dressing table to grab her earrings. She put them in and did some turns again.
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"Welcome, 'Make You Mine' from 128." The announcer calls. The girls do their entrance, pulling their chairs behind them. They get into their positions. When the music starts, so do they.
About half way through the routine Nia goes so far stage left that she misses a leap. Makayla wanted to cry, she had never messed up in a group dance and she had never seen anyone mess up before but she kept her cool and continued the dance strongly.
They all finish the dance and make their way off stage. Makayla takes the water bottle that was handed to her as tears start to fall on her and Maddie faces. The cameras are filming them as well and it's going to portray them as brats. Which they're not.
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"Girls, I'm talking to you right now because I'm disappointed.. and why were you two crying?" Abby asked, they were all back in the dressing room after the performance.
"We got hurt a little." Maddie answered shyly.
"You both got hurt a little?" Abby asks the twins who both nod, "Where'd it happen?"
"When I jumped of my chair I twisted my ankle a little." Maddie lied, Abby didn't know so she looked at Makayla to why she was crying.
"I twisted my ankle on one of my leaps." Makayla answered shyly. She didn't want to lie but she didn't want to get anyone in trouble either.
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It was now competition day two. Makayla was feeling way calmer today and so was Maddie so the two weren't rushing around like stressed headless chicken.
Makayla's solo costume, hair and headpiece.
Melissa gave Maddie their grandmas angel pin and it completed the outfit. The soloists all headed backstage. Makayla hugged Maddie just as she was called on, "Welcome Maddie to the stage with 'Angel'."
Maddie walks on stage and performs it so beautifully. Makayla fans her face, tilting her head back so her tears don't make her makeup run.
Maddie comes off stage and pulls her twin into a large hug, "why are you crying?"
"Because you were so beautiful and this dance means a lot." Makayla explained, her tears backing away.
"Mom was crying." Maddie said.
"Awww."
It was now Nia's turn. She did great and performed amazingly.
"Welcome Kayla to the stage with 'Its Not Easy'." The announcer called. Makayla made her way on stage and laid down on the floor, curled up in a ball.
The music starts and so does Makayla. When the music comes to the end, Makayla looks to the side, like she's being told the worst news of her life. She took all the feelings about her grandmother and used them, to the point where she was actually crying. She ran off stage as the music slowly stopped.
Maddie immediately hugged her, tears running down her face.
"Mom was crying again." Makayla cried. The girls all hug the twins in comfort.
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All the girls are sat on the stage, waiting for their awards. The announced looks at his cards then up to the audience, "Only four tenths of a point separate 1st from 3rd."
"In 3rd place is...'Gratitude' from 124." The announcer called. Someone from their group went up and received their award.
"In second place is...'You're 2nd place world champion today is...'Make You Mine' from 128." The announcer calls, Makayla's smile slowly drops from her face, as does Maddie's. Paige goes up and gets the award.
Paige sits back down and now it's time for solo awards. Nia didn't place. She did good but the judges obviously thought it wasn't good enough.
"In second place is... Maddie with 'Angel'." The announcer calls. Maddie hugs Makayla and she goes up and gets her award. Makayla squeezed Chloe's hand, praying that she placed 1st.
"In first place and Miss petite is... Kayla with 'Its Not Easy'." The announcer called. Makayla squealed in excitement with Chloe before getting up and getting crowned and had a banner. Makayla looks into the audience to see her mom in tears but she was smiling and Abby smiling brightly.
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This part is done!
Onto the next! Hope you're all enjoying this book!
Love you all!