Joe's PoV
We're here at last. Nationals. We left at 4am to travel to Manchester for the competition. Registration closed at 9am, but we've always wanted to get there as early as we can just in case. Usually we'd book a hotel to stay in for the night before, but with all the commotion we forgot and only have it for the weekend. So, a four hour coach journey it is.
I've always loved Nationals, because it's the biggest competition in the country. A lot of people from the UK don't watch Internationals if their dance studio doesn't make it and obviously if you're not a dancer you might not have even heard of such a competition. Nationals has the entire British dance community watching though. Talent scouts from the UK are often at Nationals and lots of people in the past have been offered jobs. I've been offered them twice, but my mum is adamant that I finish my education before accepting anything, so the scouts just hand me their card for a later date.
"This is so cool," Dianne grins, linking her arm in mine. "It's not quite as big as Australia's Nationals, but for some reason it feels more electric. Like the competition seems way more fierce."
I laugh. "I can't understand why that would be, but I'm glad you like it!"
"Guys stop nattering, we need to register," Zoe comes and yanks my arm, pulling me and Dianne to the registration desk.
Because I'm the dance captain of the team, I'm required to sign all the paperwork as well as our studio head and any other supervising adult. I was never quite sure why, but it's just what's done. I approach the lady sat behind the desk who is looking like she got maybe three hours sleep. She sounds like it too when she tells me where to sign. Poor woman must've already had enough and it's only 8am. Perhaps she'd traveled a long distance like we had and had woken up at an ungodly hour.
"Welcome back to Nationals," she smiles and nods to us all. We smile back at her and head off to our dressing room.
We're Nationals legends. We win every year and have done for as long as I can remember. Therefore, we get given the best dressing room in the building. All of them a lush, but this one is just incredible though, even for our standards. I can't even call it a dressing room really. It's more of a suite. It's on the top floor and consists of four different rooms. There are two dressing rooms really, although the wall/door can be pulled apart to make it one room. We usually give the guys the one by the windows and the girls the ones with the mirrors and lights, more because they shotgun them and claim they need them because they have to do their makeup, which I suppose is fair enough. Attached to the dressing room are two communal bathrooms; one for the girls and one for the boys. They're pretty lush, looking more like luxury hotel bathrooms than communal theatre bathrooms. Madness, really. But the most extravagant area is the huge room to rehearse in. The Nationals board tries their best to give every studio a dance rehearsal space, but ours is one of the best. It's got high ceilings, a sprung floor and mirrors, and although it's not the size of the stage we perform on, it's still big. There are a few rooms for other studios that have similar rehearsal rooms, but I believe ours is the only one with a sprung floor. Some of them have mini theatres, but the performance space isn't that big. Plus, there's no audience so what's the point in having seats? More often than not, some people only get those as their dressing rooms and have to put their makeup on in the bathroom. Hideous.
Most of the competition at Nationals would be easy. There are studios that get to Nationals only to have fun, because they know they don't stand a chance of making it to Internationals. However, there are some, such as the English Dance Academy, that are extremely competitive and do anything to win. I know the EDA have a room similar to ours, because that's always the way - the ones more likely to win get the special treatment. Some may see it as unfair, but it's just the pecking order around here. Reach for the stars.
"Okay, guys! Gather round!" Alesha beckons us all to one room in the changing rooms. "I've got here the schedule for this weekend. Today is male soloists and small groups. The male solos start at 1pm and the small groups start at 4pm. They're allocating slots in alphabetical order and we are the fourth studio to perform for both male solo and small group. Now, we're not allowed to check into our hotel rooms until 2pm, so I suggest we leave everything here and grab an early lunch at around 11am, then watch all the male solos as we can before walking to the hotel. I've been told they're likely to be done with male solos by 2:30pm, so it'll be fine getting to the hotel on time. Small groups are set to finish at around 5:30pm. We can get dinner after that, I've already booked a place at Pizza Express for 7pm."
"YES!" Neil punches the sky. "I love Pizza Express!"
We all laugh.
"And we have another surprise for you," Bruno grins. We all look at him expectantly. What could he possibly have? "CHLOE!"
Chloe steps through the doors, grinning, and we all run towards her. Nationals couldn't get better. Even if she couldn't dance, I'm so happy she's here to watch. She's part of our team, and now our team is complete, stronger than ever.
"CHLOE!" we all embrace her in a huge group hug.
"Hi guys!" Chloe grins. "My ankle is still sore so let's not be violent on the group hugs," she laughs. "I can't wait to see you all perform! And Zoe, thank you so so much for stepping in at the last second. You're a star."
Zoe blushes. "Just doing my team a favour. I'm so sorry you can't perform though."
Chloe shrugs. "Stuff happens! I'll be better in time for Internationals though! So let's make sure you all bring your A Game so we make it there!"
We all high five each other and shout words of encouragement.
"Good, because if someone injures themselves I can't make it to Internationals," Zoe says. "I have exams and I really need to prioritise them!"
"We have our GCSEs," I mention. "Ours are actually more important than yours."
"I did my GCSEs with Internationals, so can you," Zoe shoves me lightly. "Oh, also, is it okay if I vlog today?"
"It's okay with us, but you might want to double check with the Nationals board," Bruno says. "We don't need to have any reasons for them to disqualify us."
"You know what, don't worry about it," Zoe waves her hand in dismissal. "I'll just write a blog post instead and upload some cute instagram photos. You're right, being disqualified is the last thing we need."
"Okay, well, the male solos aren't for a few hours now and we can't get to the hotel, so who's up for a game truth or dare?" Neil claps his hands together."
"Oh, I'm awesome at this game," Dianne flexes her muscles. "I'll win hands down."
"If we're doing that then I'm laying down some rules," Alesha shouts over our chatter. "There is to be no stripping, climbing out of windows, terrorising other teams or anything else of that extremity. Understood?"
"Why would we do that?" Jack asks.
"Because they were all dares you did last year and it almost got Joe and Neil suspended from the competition meaning we would've had to forfeit!" Alesha glares at us.
"A fair point," I shrug. "No stupid dares."
"Great," Neil smiles. "I'm up first. Joe, truth or dare?"
"Truth," I say, not completely trusting Neil's dares. I want to be safe before my solo.
"Ooooooh," Neil rubs his hands together gleefully. "Okay. Have you ever thought about marrying Dianne?"
I freeze. There are two ways I could go with this. Tell the truth and risk damaging our relationship or lie and risk damaging our relationship also. It seems to be a lose lose situation. I look at Dianne, and she's just looking curious. I sigh.
"No," I say. "I'm 16. I haven't thought about that stuff yet." I look at Dianne, and she's smiling. Everyone else buys it but I can see the smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. What did she want me to do? Lie and say yes and risk looking like the gushy romantic my friends and sister know I'm not? "My turn," I continue. I look at everyone in the room. I can't pick Neil because he asked me, and I don't want to pick Dianne or Zoe because I already know basically everything about them. "Jack. Truth or dare?"
"I usually say dare, but I'm gonna go with truth just for a risk," Jack grins. "Bring it, Sugg."
"Who's the girl you like?" I smirk. His face pales. I knew he liked someone.
"None at the moment," he shrugged. "I know that sounds like a lie, but honestly I just can't find anyone I click with."
I look at him sceptically. He looks like he's telling the truth, but I'm sure he likes someone. I'll find out who it is.
We continue playing truth or dare happily for the next half hour before we get immensely bored. Anna has texted her ex, Zoe posted a photo of her face on a cows body on her instagram (which got many likes), Dianne admitted she prefers our team over her old team (although I'm still unsure as to whether she just said that to please us all) and evening Bruno had joined in, asking the lady at the registration desk to do a tango with him while he was wearing the sparkliest jacket I've ever seen. It was pretty enjoyable, and this time Alesha didn't have any objections to any of it.
———
Dianne's PoV
After we'd finished truth or dare I'd suggested we go explore the venue. I've never been here before and apparently it's been a few years since Nationals has been held at this venue and Joe can't really remember it either. So, me, Joe, Neil and Zoe are wandering around. We'd invited Jack, but he just said he needed some time by himself and disappeared.
"I'm worried about Jack," Neil says, biting his lip. "He's not been the same since Joe asked him about his crush."
"If I'd known it was going to do this I obviously wouldn't have asked," Joe replies.
"He definitely has a crush though," Zoe says. "I wonder who it is."
"It's none of our business," I shake my head. "Let's just leave him alone and not bring it up again."
Joe takes my hand, squeezes it and smiles at me.
"I agree with Dianne," says Neil. "It might be Sophia."
Everyone glares at him. We don't need that reminder. We're a team united now, and hopefully we don't encounter any more drama.
It's a short lived hope.
"Joe! Dianne!" Lola comes running towards us. "So nice to see you two holding hands again! And hey Neil! And Zoe? Are you back on the team?"
Zoe nods. "Last minute replacement."
"Ooh, last minute replacement?" Tilly appears. "Can't be good for the team. Maybe this will be your first Nationals loss?"
"We've lost Nationals before," Neil rolls his eyes. "Nice to see you, Tilly."
Tilly just looks him up and down in a look that seems very close to disgusted. I narrow my eyes at her.
"Our dances are truly spectacular," Tilly smiles. "So, don't be disheartened if you lose. Plus, I'm sure Shirley would allow you to audition for our studio if you want to come to Internationals with us. You probably wouldn't get in, but you can at least try!"
I let go of Joe's hands and take theee steps towards Tilly and look her dead in the eye. "We're going to beat you."
"Bring it on."
"Oh, I will."
Joe grabs my arm and pulls me back. "Don't respond," he whispers in my ear. "They're trying time psych us out."
I nod, and give Tilly one final glare before we turn away from them. I am not looking forward to going up against them.
I'm going to aim to update at least once a week, probably every Monday or Tuesday! Next chapter will be focused on the male solo, I'll potentially throw in the small group too.
Bee xx