"Come on Nia," I whispered.
Nia walked out with a smile on her face and got into her position, having to wait a few seconds for the music to start. Once it did, Nia started and I thought that Nia did really well, as you could see that she was enjoying it. She stumbled on a few of her turns and she had a few moments where it didn't really flow too well, but otherwise she did amazing. With her dance finished, she walked off.
"Nia, you did amazing!" I complimented her as she got off of the stage and walked towards where we were all standing.
"I stumbled on some of my turns though. Abby's gonna be mad." Nia said to us when she finally got to us after smiling gratefully at us after all of the compliments we gave her.
"Yes but you still did it greatly!" I exclaimed grabbing her shoulders that was covered in her white costume."There are just a few things that you need to work on. No ones perfect but that's okay."
"Taylor, you're a really good friend. Thank you so much though." Nia smiled at me before smiling wider at something behind me.
"What are friends for?" Brooke said putting and arm around my shoulder while smiling at all of us.
Paige and Chloe both smiled mischievously as they looked passed my shoulder and motioned for me to turn around. Obeying their command like a genie, I huffed loudly while turning around annoyed by the way that they were acting. I could faintly hear the girls small laughs as all of the colour drained from my face before my cheeks turned a light shade of red.
"Well, it's nice to see you too." A smirking Nick said standing in front of me with his arms crossed across his chest. "To be honest, I was expecting a better reaction from you. I'm very disappointed, Miss whatever-your-last-name-is."
"Oh, sorry Mr whatever-your-last-name-is. I didn't mean to disappoint." I teased after finally getting over my embarrassment.
"All is forgiven Miss whatever-your-last-name-is." Nick said with a handsome smile finally uncrossing his arms.
"Thank goodness! You had me worried that I would have to live with the guilt of disappointing you my whole life!" Our banter was interrupted by Kendall clearing her throat as if to remind me of something. "Oh right, Nick these are my team. That's Kendall, Brooke, Mackenzie, Paige, Nia, Maddie and Chloe." I said pointing to everyone of them as there name was spoken.
"Well, I came here to tell you that I have to go back to my team. I have to go get ready for my solo and they're probably wondering where I am." Nick's smile faltered slightly when he said the last part and I could clearly see his body tense a little.
"Oh alright, well we probably have to go back to our dressing room as well." I smiled gesturing towards the group of giggling girls behind me.
"Yeah, well I'm guessing that I'll see you later?" He questioned swaying his hands in a questioning way. What? It happens.
"Definitely." Nick smiled at me one more time before waving to the girls and leaving through the big brown chairs.
"Hey, Taylor, we're going to head back to the dressing room. We want to get there before the moms and Abby do." Chloe said bringing me back to reality.
"Huh, oh yeah. Let's go." We started walking and Nia was radiating nerves. "Nia, don't worry you did fine. It could of been worse right?" Maddie put her arm around her after giving her the pep talk.
"Thanks Maddie. You're an amazing friend." Nia hugged her all the while still walking along the hallway with us.
"We all think that you did fine." Mackenzie chimed in still seeing how nervous Nia was. It felt really good to see how they were a like a family just like how I was with my crew. I couldn't wait until I was part of the team and I had more family and new friends in this new country. Don't get me wrong, I really miss my friends from back home, but I was never one for making new friends. These girls made me happy.
"Thanks guys. Group hug!" Nia called making us all Laugh as we hugged it out and continued on our way to the dressing room.
When we walked in all of the mums were there. "Woooooo hooooo! Good job Nia!" All of the mums screamed when they saw Nia and us walk into the dressing room. Beaming, she walked to her mum who hugged her and whispered good things in her ear.
"So did anything interesting happen backstage?" Kelly asked playfully eyeing us as if she knew something we didn't.
"Taylor hooked up with a boy!" Kendall yelled pointing a finger accusingly at me before she ran away and hid behind her mum, smiling innocently.
"What? Care to explain Taylor?" Christi asked with a sneaky grin on her face.
"I didn't hook up with him!" I shouted defensively and without a doubt I was blushing. I hate it when I do that." I just talked to him." I said more quietly this time, hanging my head.
"Taylor's got a boyfriend! Taylor's got a boyfriend! First comes love, second comes marriage then comes that boy with a baby carriage!" Mackenzie screamed/ sung, dancing foolishly around.
"Oooooh, what was his name?" Kelly asked coming up to me and nudging me with her elbow.
Thankfully, before I had to reply, Miss Abby came in. "Nia what was that? You messed up on your turns. Do you want to be here? Because I don't see it. If you want to be here then you better improve your dancing and dancing like you should as an Abby Lee Dance Company dancer!" Abby screamed at Nia immediately putting a damper on our good mood.
I had seen some of the show but I didn't think that she was that loud. Abby is so much scarier in real life then she is on the TV. "Let's just move on with this and prepare for Maddie and Chloe's solo. Taylor it would be best if you actually did your makeup this time." Abby glared at us before sitting down in a seat in the corner of the room and pulling out her phone.
Trying not to put her into an even worse mood I got to it and sat down in the same chair as before. Pulling out the right makeup, I started it. I had to put the mascara and eyeliner on heavily because later I would have to cry and make streaks.
"How dare she!" Abby bellowed her face turning a dark shade of red. "Look at what she just tweeted! 'So proud of my little apples for how hard they have been working for this week. Sure to beat those little, stinky dancers of Abby's' She had the nerve!"
Abby stormed out after that and I just continued doing my makeup trying not to smile too much. "I can't believe that Nick saw me without makeup! I must've looked horrible! It's early in the morning too! That must've looked so bad!" I said in exasperation quietly to myself so as not to have the mums hear me but the girls must've.
"Don't worry Taylor, by the way he was looking at you I think that he thought that you were beautiful." Maddie said as she came up behind me grabbing my shoulders just like what a friend would do.
"I think that he may even like you." Paige winked also coming up behind me.
"Shut up! We're just friends, I think, but I still would of looked horrible!" I muttered grumpily continuing to do my makeup.
"It's not even that early in the morning. It's 9." Mackenzie announced squeezing past Maddie and into the tight space that only she was small enough to fit in.
"Exactly, that's too early." I gave her a look that said 'duh'. I finally finished my makeup and put some more of that stuff in my hair that kept it in place and neat.
There was going to be about a 15 minute break between when Chloe (who was dancing towards the middle of her age division after Maddie) and my dance. When there was 5 minutes before Maddie and Chloe's age division, we quickly split from the mums and rushed backstage. There Chloe and Maddie started running through their routines.
"Hey Taylor! I was talking to you." Paige said as she was waving her hand in front of my face snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Oh what? Sorry I guess that I was day dreaming." I said in embarrassment drawing my eyes away from Chloe who was practicing.
"Anyway, as I was saying, lover boy is over there. You have to go talk to him."
Looking over to where she was pointing, I saw Nick. He was just sitting down on his iPhone but when he looked up for a split second, our eyes met causing me to feel butterflies in my stomach and for me to put on a small smile.
"I don't think that I can go talk to him. He's obviously doing something." I teared my eyes away from him to look fully at Paige.
"He's not doing anything! Look, he wants you to go to him." Paige looked over at him subtly. "Don't be too obvious but look at him. He's shifting in his seat which means that he wants to get up, he looks slightly sadder than before and he keeps on glancing up at you. He wants either you or him to get up and go to each other.
"Oh, you're good but isn't the boy supposed to go to the girl? I'm a bit too old fashioned in some ways." I protested wanting to give in but I didn't want to admit that she was right and I was wrong.
"It's the 21st century! Now move your butt over to the seat next to him!" Paige pushed me off of the chair and let me tell you she is strong. Still standing there, Paige pushed me really hard again making me trip and blush. I looked up at Nick and saw him smiling at me. Oh fudge, he has a good smile, much better than mine. I looked back at Paige and glared at her as her and the other girls, including Chloe and Maddie who had stopped dancing to watch.
I walked over to him smiling shyly. "Hey there." Nick greeted in a pretty good American accent.
'You dumb idiot! Maybe he has a really good American accent because he's American.' I thought and scolded myself.
"Hey Nick. What are you up to?" I asked still nervous. I'm not that good at talking to people.
"Do you want to sit down?" Nick asked gesturing to the chair beside him, on his right.
"Yeah sure." I sat down scooting a little to the right to put a little distance between us.
Where we sat I saw that we had a pretty good view of the stage. This meant that when Maddie and Chloe went on, I didn't have to leave Nick! Wow, I really sound clingy right now.
"I never asked but what's your dance studio?" He asked scooting a little closer to me. Oh well that distance that I put between us was for nothing.
"Oh, I'm kind of a part of the ALDC now."
"Kind of a part?"
"Well I'm not fully a team member yet but I hope to be. What studio are you?"
"Candy Apples."
The colour drained from my face. "Candy Apples, like Cathy's, Candy Apples?"
"Yeah why?"
"It's just that Miss Abby has a strict policy for us not to really talk to the students of her. She would kill me if she saw this."
Looking down, Nick said "I can go if you want me to then."
"No, no! Stay please. We're friends right?"
"Yeah, right." He looked a little bit sad when I said the friend part. Maybe that was just my imagination.
"Well I don't just abandon my friends."
"Thanks. So what's your dance about?"
"Well it's called Young and Beautiful and it's about a girl who has insecurities and basically just wants to know if her boyfriend will love her when she's really old and like not pretty."
"Well, I'm sure that you'll dance beautifully. Mine's called Beautiful You and well I guess that you can tell what it's about."
"That's not fair! I explained mine to you!" I swatted his arm and he rubbed it acting as if it hurt "Oh look, Maddie's on now."
We watched Maddie and I swear that Nick scooted a bit closer to me, not that I minded this time. It felt nice. Maddie was an amazing dancer. The amount of passion that she put into her dancing was outstanding. It seemed that Maddie flowed through the moves.
I noticed that Chloe started to get really shaky. Excusing myself from Nick I walked over to Chloe. "Chloe, you don't have to worry. You are an amazing dancer and you will do great. I've heard what Abby has said to you but you don't have to believe that. Everyone on the team is amazing and you are too. Just go out and have fun alright."
"Thanks, I'm really glad that your on the team. The moms seem to get on really well and all of the girls love you. I know that I do." She hugged me and stopped shaking.
"Thanks, I love you all of you guys too. I better get back to Nick don't want him thinking that I left him now do?"
"Get going back to your lover boy." She joked turning me around and pushed me.
I sat down next to Nick right as Maddie came out. Giving her a quick thumbs up and a smile, I turned my attention to Nick.
"When are you going on?" I asked.
"Well I'm number 132 for the 14-17 devision. You?"
"I'm number 135 for the same divsion."
"How about we play 20 questions? You know so that we can get to know each other." Nick suggested shifting in his seat so that he could put his full focus on me.
"Yeah sure you start." I honestly didn't know where I could start from.
"Okay, what to ask, what to ask?" Nick pondered to himself looking around for inspiration. "So when's your birthday?"
"My birthday is on Monday actually. So it's on the 20th of April and I'll be turning 15. What's your favourite thing to do?"
"Happy birthday for Monday then. I love to dance so it would have to be that I think. What do you look for in a guy?" He looked at me kind of, flirtatiously?
"Wouldn't you like to know." Is that flirting 'cause if it is, I'm horrible. "I really just want someone who can make me laugh, has a great and kind personality. I don't really care about looks so they could be the most ugliest person but if their nice and funny, I don't really care. So do you have a girlfriend?"
"No, I'm single and ready to mingle." When he said that he gave a little shimmy with a fake and over the top flirtatious face. I started laughing and put my hand over my mouth and nose because when I laugh my nose scrunches up unattractively. Nick seemed proud of himself that he made me laugh and was giving me the biggest smile.
"How about we both just ask one more question each and then we do something else? I've lost count of the questions 'cause someone," I looked at him accusingly before continuing. "Made me laugh so hard I forgot where we were up to."
Nick looked really proud that he made me laugh and gave me the biggest smile. "Well sorry," he put his hand up in a sassy way with a sassy face to match. "So to make it up to you, you can go first."
"Why thank you. So what's your full name?"
"It's Nickolas Joseph Daniels." He smiled at me and just sat there smiling while looking at me.
"Well, aren't you going to ask me a question?" I looked at him quizzically.
"Oh yeah, can I have your number?" Nick said snapping out of whatever trance he was in before he seemed to realise what he said and looked away with a faint pink colour on his cheeks.
"Yeah sure maybe after I've danced I'll give it to you. Well I guess that this is the end of our questions."
"Wait! Let me ask you just one more question. Do you want to maybe go out with me some time?" You could tell that he was really nervous because he adverted his gaze and started fidgeting. He just asked me out!
"If I do say yes and things go well, we have to keep this a secret from Abby."
"Yeah, sure, anything you want! I promise."
"Well then it's a yes, but we have to keep away from the cameras and everything else."
"Great! I promise you that I'll try my hardest to keep it a secret."
"Great but I better go and run through my dance with Abby. See you soon." With that I gave him a kiss on the check and left him blushing. He was just too cute and I think that I'm about to faint for kissing him.
What on Earth was I thinking?!