Joe's PoV
Dianne and I stayed together in her hotel room drinking water and chatting, knowing we needed to be sober before going into a loud theatre to watch dances. The flashing lights and loud music really didn't mix well with hangovers. Also Shirley would kill me if she found out I'd got wasted midway during Internationals.
"I'm sorry for everything I said about us being rivals," Dianne sighed, leaning into me. "I should've realised just because we're from rival studios doesn't mean we can't be friends...or more than friends."
I laughed. "You don't have to apologise, I understand where your mind was at. Sometimes it's easier to look at things as black and white than to see situations as they really are. I can't be mad at you for that."
Dianne smiled up at me. It was adorable. Just then her phone buzzed, and she picked it up to see her team had gone through to the small group round.
"Dianne that's great!" I grinned, hugging her.
"Thank you," she giggled. "Did your team make it?"
"I don't know yet, they're not competing for another hour and a half," I said. "I'd love to go and see them but if Shirley catches me with a hangover I'm toast."
"Shirley?" she asked, confused.
"Oh, Shirley is the head of our studio," I smiled. "She's an absolute legend, but you don't wanna get on her bad side."
"Okay," Dianne laughed. "I reckon we should try go over to wish them good luck anyway."
"I mean, if you want," I said. "I don't want you to like faint or something though. That would be a big inconvenience."
She hit my arm. "Wow so I'm just a big inconvenience to you then?"
"You know I'm kidding," I laughed, and she just shook her head at me and laughed too.
"We're going, let me just put a hoodie on," she said. "I still have yesterday's makeup on but fuck it, it's not like I'm going on TV today."
"They're not on for over an hour," I laughed. "What's the rush?"
"I'd quite like to see my own team too and honestly I'm getting sick of being in one hotel room, we need air," she said simply.
"Okay," I chuckled.
I let her get changed and then we headed back to my room so I could grab some water for us.
We were making our way into the theatre when we saw Briar, Caspar, Zoe, Neil and Katie all huddled together in a table at the cafe. They looked very suspicious. I didn't even know Briar spoke to Zoe.
"Shh, I wanna hear what they're saying," I said, shoving Dianne's hood up to cover her red hair. She glared at me, but didn't say anything.
We walked normally towards the table behind them, trying not to act suspicious. It was brilliant, we could hear them perfectly from here.
"For the last time, it wasn't against the rules!" Briar was saying.
"Yes it was," Zoe shot back.
"It wasn't, we filmed them when they were at OUR party," Caspar said.
"They were drunk, it doesn't count," Katie said.
"Okay, so you're telling me that if you saw them kissing you wouldn't film it?" Briar sounded annoyed. "You're just bitter because we're winning."
"You're not winning," Neil said. "Your vlogs haven't been uploaded yet."
"Look, they're literally on your teams, me and Casp have such a disadvantage anyway, let us have this!" Briar moaned.
"Fine," Zoe sighed. "You got them kissing, but I'm gonna get them flirting."
"Nope, I'll make sure all the cute bits are on my vlog," Katie said.
It then hit me that they were talking about us. Me and Dianne.
"Do they have bets over which one of them can catch us together the most?!" Dianne whispered, gobsmacked.
"And they're bloody uploading it to the internet!" I growled. My sister and my best friend exposing me like this? WHERE WAS THE LOYALTY?!
"The audacity," Dianne said.
"The audacity indeed," I replied. "Should we confront them?"
"No way," Dianne grinned. "They don't know that we know. What's better is they also don't know we're dating. Think about the fun we could have with this."
The glint in her eye told me I had SO found the right person to be my girlfriend. I nodded, and we decided to stage something. We slowly got up and crept to the door so it seemed like we'd only just entered the building. We were chatting and laughing, no longer trying to be inconspicuous. We acted like best friends, but as if no chemistry had ever been there. Then we looked straight over to the others before they could press record and ran over to them.
"Hey guys!" Dianne grinned, pulling up a chair.
"Hi," Caspar said, looking pained he hadn't caught that on camera. The others looked the same. It made me so satisfied.
"Damn, I'm surprised you're both so happy given the amount you drank last night," Briar raised her eyebrows at us.
"It's like almost 4pm," I laughed. "Hangovers don't last forever. Also, didn't know you all hung out together! When did this start?"
It was evident that none of them had thought about a background story for this. Their eyes widened slightly and they looked at each other. I don't think they could've made it more obvious if they'd tried.
"Okay, so after you invited me and Katie to watch your rehearsal, we kinda got talking and became friends," Neil said. "Then we were hanging out and because Katie and Caspar are friends and Caspar was with Briar, us four started hanging out and then Zoe wanted to talk to me and Katie about you two and we were with Briar and Caspar and so our group just kinda formed from there."
It was a believable story, I'll give him that. Potentially had an element of truth. But it wasn't why they were all hanging out together. I didn't push it though, because Dianne was right - we could have so much fun with them not knowing we know.
"Cool," I smiled. "Nice knowing we're all friends now. I just came to wish you luck before you compete and Dianne wanted to congratulate Katie on winning."
"Excuse me, my team won too," Caspar pouted.
"Congrats South Africa too then," Dianne laughed. "Has Canada been yet?"
"No," Briar shook her head. "We're against Italy before the UK takes on Poland."
"Oh cool," I smiled.
"You know, we're all probably going to be against each other soon if we keep advancing," I said. "After today there's only 16 teams left."
"It'll be weird competing against you all," Briar chewed her lip. "But winning Internationals is my priority. I'm the dance captain, if we lose it looks bad on me."
"All our thoughts," Dianne agreed.
"It'll be one of you three in the final though," Caspar said. "It always is. Who do you reckon it'll be?"
We all looked at each other awkwardly. Nobody wanted to say anything because it would be rude but also because there was never any way to tell.
"It could be anyone," Dianne shrugged. "It's always anyone's game, there are so many factors at play."
"Yeah," I agreed.
"Like if Canada gets paired with Australia in the semi finals and Britain gets paired with another country, then Britain is basically guaranteed a spot in the final," Briar said.
"Not true," Zoe said. "Remember Brazil."
Ah yes, nobody could forget Brazil. They were put against Australia in the semi-finals, and Australia lost. Canada lost to the UK in our semi-finals, and then we lost to Brazil, leaving them the winners. It was an embarrassing day for us all. Thankfully it hadn't happened since.
"Imagine if South Africa wins, how awesome will that be," Caspar grinned.
"I'm resigning as dance captain if you win," Briar said.
"I wouldn't need to resign, my team would probably kick me off if we lost to you," Dianne laughed.
"I'd stay dance captain so I could beat you next year," I said. I wasn't a quitter.
"So are you two together?" Briar grinned at us.
"God no," Dianne laughed. "Neither of us actually knew who we were snogging last night, and it feels weird to talk about. We're friends though, I came around and decided we could be friends and rivals."
"Uhhhh..." the others looked pretty disappointed. This was amazing.
"Wellll, we've got just under an hour left til we're on stage, so I think I'm gonna head over there and find Anna so we can get ready," Zoe said, standing up. "You coming, Neil?"
"Yeah, sounds good," Neil nodded, getting up.
"I think I'm gonna go find my team too," Briar smiled. "See you guys later!"
"Bye!" Caspar waved.
Dianne and I decided to keep pushing Caspar and Katie.
"So, Casp, you and Briar have a joint vlogging channel right?" I looked at my best friend, who looked vaguely concerned.
"Uhh, something like that," he mumbled.
"Well how would you feel about helping me start one up? I'd love to do pranks and jokes and games and dance tutorials," I smiled. Not a total lie.
"Yeah I think it'd be cool if me and you had one too Katie," Dianne looked at Katie grinning. Katie didn't look quite as enthusiastic. I grinned at Dianne and she grinned back.
"Sounds great," Katie said. She shouldn't ever think of becoming an actor, because it was blatantly obvious she was lying.
"We're gonna go give the others moral support now, see you later!" Dianne smiled and got up, with me following her. We made sure not to hold hands or stand too close together, just walking casually like I would next to Caspar and she would next to Katie.
We got into the dressing rooms where Neil, Zoe and Anna were getting into their costumes before going to makeup.
"Hey guys!" Neil waved.
"Hey!" I smiled. "We came to wish you good luck and thought we'd chill here for a bit."
"That's cool," Zoe smiled, eyeing her phone. They clearly still shipped us, even though we'd said we were only friends.
I nodded at Dianne, and we sat down really close together, huddled over my phone. It could look like friendship, but to those who wanted to see it, could also look like we were dating.
"Time to start talking shit about them," Dianne grinned.
"Honestly Caspar is so irritating," I sighed, leaning back. Neil and Zoe suddenly didn't look as excited.
"I know right, and Briar," Dianne fake gagged. "She's such a show off and thinks she's so great at everything."
"I agree, like filming us at her party? Rude much," I shook my head. "Same goes for Caspar."
"Honestly, I can't believe we have to pretend to like them," Dianne rolled her eyes. Zoe and Neil looked ULTRA uncomfortable, which made me very happy.
"Also, no offence to you or anything but Katie is SO annoying, like her voice," I groaned.
"Nah it's chill, her voice is very annoying," Dianne laughed. "Also all of them shipping us is so shitty, like they call themselves friends? Dude cmon, it's gonna make our friendship awkward because we've established we don't like each other that way."
Zoe's PoV
Here we were, thinking we could finally one up Briar and Caspar, and they were just bitching about everyone. Not even trying to be discreet. And I thought Joe and Caspar were basically best friends?! And I'd never have expected Dianne to say a bad word about Katie. And that's when it hit me. They knew what we were doing.
I pulled Neil out the door, saying to Anna we'd be back in five minutes.
"What?" Neil asked, looking at me.
"They know," I said. "They would never say that stuff about their friends."
Neil's face suddenly shone with realisation. "Oh my god they know we're competing to film them! How did they find out?"
"I don't know, but we need to tell the others," I said, pulling up our group chat.
Zoe: Joe and Dianne know we're competing for them and uploading them online
Briar: what?? how??
Neil: we don't know how they know but we know they know. They were talking absolute rubbish about you guys, and no offence but neither of them are amazing at acting
Caspar: fuck
Zoe: yes, but they don't know we know they know
Katie: what?
Zoe: next time they do something weird, go along with it, agree with what they're saying if they're talking shit about other people. Two can play this game.
Briar: ohmygodddddd
Katie: so they don't know we know they know, but they think we don't know they know we know?
Neil: this is getting so confusing but yes
Caspar: sweet, i'm definitely down for messing with them
I grinned at Neil. We walked back into the room, and Joe and Dianne started talking shit about people again.
"You know what, I couldn't help but overhear and I so agree," I said after Joe insulted Caspar. His eyes literally popped out their sockets.
"Uhh, you do?" Dianne asked.
"Yeah," I nodded. "Katie I don't mind, like her voice can get irritating but the others are a nightmare, so rude and just ugh honestly."
Dianne opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. God this was going to be fun.
Dianne's PoV
I eyed Joe, and I could tell he also didn't know what to say. We'd anticipated many reactions, but Zoe agreeing with us was NOT one of them.
"I've gotta go get my makeup done now, we're on in about 45 mins and I don't wanna be late," Zoe waved at us. "So glad we have someone to talk to about this stuff though."
Joe and I just sat and stared at each other as all three British dancers went to their makeup artists. What had just happened? Did they know we knew what they were up to? No, they couldn't possibly... I mean, Zoe was newest to the group, so she might have a little against them all... Good lord what had we started?
"Zoe's phone," Joe nudged me suddenly, seeing she'd left it unlocked on her chair. I quickly got up and took it, being met with a shock of a sight. Joe was equally as shocked. They had a group chat called 'Project Joanne', and the latest messages proved my suspicions.
Katie: ok so they know our plan, but they don't know we know they know
Briar: every time you say it it becomes more confusing
Caspar: i agree. I wanna know what zoe and neil have been doing to mess with them. Can't wait for my turn too :D
Katie: it's certainly gonna spice up the competition life
"Oh my god they KNOW," I said in an outraged whisper.
Joe looked angry too, but then smiled. "Yes, but they don't know we know they know we know!"
"My brain can't handle that," I looked at him.
"Ball is in our court again, we can continue messing with them," Joe grinned.
Oh god, this had totally distracted from the competition.
"And they also don't know we're dating, so let's play around with that later too," he added.
"Play around how?" I asked.
"I'm going to start flirting and hitting on Katie," Joe explained. "She's gonna be hella uncomfortable. Oh my god this is all gonna be so fun."
I groaned. Fun as it may be, if we now lost the competition because of this ENORMOUS distraction, I would personally hunt Joe down and crush him to powder.
I'm sorry I wanted to include a bit of pranking/messing around, so I took inspiration from Friends. I loved this episode, and it's gonna be so fun to rewrite. But they don't know we know they know we know they know we know! A great episode honestly.
Also thank you for 2k reads! :)
New chapter tomorrow - B x