A/N: It seems like it's taken me a while to get to this point in the episode, but we're finally at the competition! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
~*~
A few days passed, and finally, it was time to go to the competition. The past few days had been pretty chilled-out for me, since it had mostly been trio work and solo rehearsals - neither of which I was involved in. I had heard from Paige that trio rehearsal had gone badly again, but not for the actual dancers - for Kendall. I had questioned why Kendall was even there, but then I was informed that she was the swing for the number. Apparently, Jill had gone into rehearsal and acted all crazy about how Kendall should be doing something more productive than running music. For once, I actually agreed with Kendall's mom - Kendall didn't need to be wasting her time on running music when she could actually be working on her craft and becoming a better dancer.
I stumbled out of my mom's car, rubbing sleep from my eyes. Even though the comp was in Pittsburgh, Abby had made us get to the studio early, to keep up with our usual schedule. I, personally, thought that her reasoning was dumb, but what could I do? I was just the dancer.
Maddie and Mackenzie were already in the parking lot, bickering about something or other. I loved Maddie to death, but she had serious older sister syndrome - she was bossy and even mean towards Mackenzie at times, especially when something didn't go her way. I was glad that she wasn't that way around us - that would make my friendship with her a lot more difficult.
Brooke and Paige were there as well, taking silly selfies together. Considering that it was fifteen minutes past six in the morning, I hadn't expected Brooke to be as energetic as she was. Normally, halfway through each bus ride, she'd be up and talking or teasing Miss Abby like the rest of us, but she definitely wasn't a morning person. However, we normally woke up for competition at like, four a.m., so there was a bit of a difference.
I walked up to Brooke and Paige, since they seemed to be the happier pair of siblings at the moment. "Hey, guys!" I said brightly, despite the fact that I'd only gotten six hours of sleep last night, which, according to my father this morning, was not enough sleep for a growing child. He was worried about my sleep schedule, what with school and all the time that I spent at the studio - him being a doctor didn't exactly help.
"Hi!" Paige smiled at me, giving me a hug. Brooke waved at me, and the three of us chatted and took selfies on Brooke's phone as more of the team filtered into the parking lot. The bus was parked in the lot as well - now, we were just waiting on Miss Abby, as always.
Soon enough, Abby walked out of the lobby of the dance studio. She had curlers in her hair and she dragged a black leather suitcase with her, which was probably holding our costumes and such, since we obviously weren't staying in a hotel for this competition.
We loaded our bags onto the bus before actually boarding, waving at Bus Driver Jim as we found our seats. I slid into a seat next to Paige, while Chloe and Nia sat in front of us. Maddie sat with Kendall and Mackenzie begged Brooke to sit by her. It didn't take much convincing from Kenz - as much as Brooke liked to act indifferent towards us since she was older, she really loved us, especially Mackenzie.
The bus ride was relatively normal - quiet, but normal. Paige and I watched old episodes of Gossip Girl on my iPad, swooning over Nate and almost crying over Chuck and Blair and how they wouldn't admit that they loved each other even though they obviously did.
Soon enough, we were at the competition, since it was only 15 minutes or so away from the studio. I stretched my arms and legs out before getting off the bus, grabbing my luggage from my mom as I went. Abby had a policy - you bring it, you carry it - and I wasn't gonna get caught breaking the rules. So I tugged along my heavy suitcase, which felt like it was full of rocks or sand, even though I knew it was only my stage makeup.
I skipped along the hallway with Maddie and Chloe, not caring about the hordes of fans snapping pictures of us. Abby and the moms trailed behind the team and I as we excitedly ran to the dressing room, ready to get into our costumes.
First were Maddie and Chloe's solos. I was really hoping for Chlo to pull through and win. Nothing against Maddie, of course, but I thought that Chloe kinda deserved a chance to be on top this week, since she hadn't beaten Maddie yet this competition season.
This week, Maddie had a pretty lyrical dance called Every Little Step. It was the exact kind of dance that Maddie excelled in - it included lots of leaps and a la secondes, and it was the type of dance that she'd have to emote with. She was nervous this week, because she had fallen out of her trick in her solo the week before, but when Maddie got nervous, she worked harder, and when Maddie worked harder, she did a better job. I was excited to see it performed onstage - watching my best friends perform was one of my favorite things in the whole world.
Chloe had a lyrical solo as well. It was called Please, and unlike Maddie, she wasn't as experienced with lyrical dances - she mainly did darker contemporary dances and cutesy musical theatre numbers - or at least, that was what I could tell from watching the first season of the show last year. She had been working her butt off this week, though, so I had really high hopes for this dance.
Soon enough, one of the competition directors pulled Maddie and Chloe out of the dressing room and led them both to the stage. Miss Abby rounded up the rest of us, and we went to go sit in the audience, anxious to see our friends' solos.
~*~
"Next up, ladies and gentlemen, this is an intermediate lyrical solo, please welcome, 'Please'." The emcee announced over a microphone.
Chloe walked out onstage, looking absolutely beautiful in her sparkly purple costume. Her music turned on, and she started an intricately choreographed turn sequence that none of us on the elite team could do but her. I thought that this dance had to be one of her best solos to date. Her technique was spectacular and her emotional execution was the best it had ever been.
When Chloe's solo ended, I stood up and cheered for her loudly - that is, before Miss Abby shook her head at me and motioned for me to sit down. Even so, Abby looked pleased with Chloe's performance, which was all I could ask for.
"Next up, judges, this is act number 23, 'Every Little Step'." I heard the emcee say. Maddie skipped out onstage, her blue costume shimmering under the bright stage lights.
Maddie might have been nervous about her solo in the dressing room, but she definitely didn't show it onstage. Her entire solo looked effortless, and she hit everything she needed to. Her dance was, in a single word, beautiful.
Paige and I met Maddie and Chloe in the hallway that exited the auditorium. Paige ran up to both of them and attacked them with a huge bear hug before saying, "You were both so amazing!"
I rolled my eyes at her, amused, before giving Chloe and Maddie hugs. "For real. You were so good!"
Maddie opened her mouth to speak before her mom walked by, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the rest of us. "Come on, Maddie. Let's go get you ready for the trio."
Maddie gave the three of us an apologetic look before letting Melissa pull her along to the dressing room, Mackenzie trailing behind the two of them.
I furrowed my brow. "What was that about?"
Chloe stayed silent while Paige sighed, still watching Maddie walk ahead of us. "Her mom always gets like this when Maddie dances against Chloe. 'Cause she knows that Chloe actually has a chance to beat Maddie."
"It gets exhausting sometimes. I don't get why everything has to be so...competitive between us." Chlo said quietly.
I sighed. "I don't know, Chlo."
We walked down the hallway in silence, pondering Chloe's question, but none of us ever came up with an answer.
~*~
Long story short, the trio was a mess. The timing was off, Paige was too far away from Chloe, and Maddie bobbled a set of turns that seemed too easy for her to mess up. Overall, it wasn't a winning routine, which really sucked, because Paige had really wanted to get back in that trio.
I met my friends in the hallway behind the auditorium and gave them all hugs. "Hey. You guys were great!" I smiled, trying not to let them know that I didn't really like the dance.
Maddie shook her head. "I bobbled my turns. All of them."
"And I was way off on that section with the leaps." Chloe added, furrowing her brow.
Paige stayed quiet, looking down at the floor, which was way out of character for her. She would normally be complaining about what she did wrong along with the other girls, but right now, she was dead silent. Then again, I could see why - this was supposed to be her week. She was on top of the pyramid, back in the trio, and she had blown it - now Kendall might be in the trio for good.
Chloe and Maddie walked ahead, whispering about the dance and how angry Abby would be at them. I stayed behind with Paige, who looked scared out of her mind.
"Hey. You okay?" I asked Paige, startling her.
There was a pause before Paige answered, "Yeah. Yeah, totally. Let's catch up with the others."
I didn't let up. "Paige, you're my best friend. You can tell me if something's wrong."
"I know. And thank you. But I'm totally fine, I promise. Now let's go." Paige put a weak smile on her face.
I hesitantly nodded, and as we walked ahead, catching up with Maddie and Chloe, I couldn't help but wonder if all the pressure was finally starting to get to Paige.
~*~
The awards went just as expected. Maddie won her division, Chloe was the runner up, and the trio ended up with second place. I was actually a bit surprised about that - I hadn't thought that the trio would do very well at all, so second place actually wasn't bad.
However, as Miss Abby always said - second is the first to lose, and the conversation in the dressing room after awards was not going to be pretty.
After we got back to the dressing room, Abby entered, ready to critique. "Hey, hey," she greeted, zeroing in on the trio. "What'd you think?"
The room was silent, so Abby continued with her critiques. "Maddie, you were great. Paige, were you late at the beginning?"
"No." Paige replied, shrugging. In all honesty, she probably didn't remember.
"No?" Abby asked condescendingly. "There was a big gap there. You were a little late on those coupé turns. I wasn't happy with how you did."
"You at least gotta give some positive to those kids." Kelly stated, arms crossed.
"Look, I just don't like enabling kids to keep-"
"And Abby, that's fine." Holly interrupted our dance teacher. "But I think you can prepare kids to take ownership of mistakes without belittling them."
"But that's not my way. That's not my nature." Abby responded. ""I don't sugar-coat it. I have the success rate I have with producing professional dancers because of the delivery."
"But isn't there something to having hope?" Kelly asked. "Like, if you have hopes and dreams, you work towards them. If you keep crushing them down just because your kid isn't the best turner and this kid is— if you keep crushing them down, they're never gonna become good."
"If that kid loved to dance, she would've remembered that trio." Abby shrugged at Kelly.
I raised my eyebrows and looked over at Paige. She bit her lip, looking worried.
"You made my daughter cry!" Christi cut in, referring to the night that Chloe, Maddie, and Paige had stayed at the studio late working on the routine.
"She didn't remember the dance!" Abby shot back.
"Abby, how many dances does that kid remember every week, and go out and deliver them?" Christi crossed her arms at Abby.
"I don't know, but you know the one I remember? The one where she forgot her solo at Nationals and ran around to music onstage." Abby sneered nastily at Christi, making Chloe hide her face in her hands. I really hoped she wasn't crying.
"Of course it is, 'cause you're negative Nelly, glass half-empty." Christi yelled back.
Abby shrugged, and that was the end of that. Christi was fuming, absolutely furious that Abby didn't seem to care about anything that she said.
I tried to stay focused on doing my makeup for the group dance, but it was difficult when I knew that my friends were hurt by everything that Miss Abby had said.
~*~
The group was amazing. Even though it wasn't lyrical, which was our forte, it still felt great to do a more fast-paced jazz dance.
As the seven of us strutted offstage, I knew we had the competition in the bag. I mean, maybe the judges wouldn't take too kindly to us carrying guns, but they had to know that they were just used to make the dance more fun and realistic-ish...right?
Later, we sat down for group awards. We were in the intermediate small group jazz category, which we won easily. But now, it was time for the overall awards, which would be a whole lot tougher to win - still, I thought we'd do pretty well. They hadn't called our number yet, which got my hopes up a little bit - it must've been us in first place. It had to be.
"And now, our overall high scoring group routine, taking home two-hundred dollars is...act number 22, 'War'."
What?
With downcast expressions, the girls and I looked out at the crowd, where our mothers and Miss Abby looked similarly disappointed. I didn't understand - how had we not even placed?
~*~
Abby entered the dressing room with a huge smile on her face. "Hey, hey! Did you see that gold on that stage? It was just..."
"Gorgeous." Jill finished, nodding at the thought of her little Kendall onstage.
Still, I had to agree. We looked awesome.
"I didn't think it had it all together at the beginning of the week, but seeing it onstage...I have to admit, I was wrong," Holly admits.
"Oh, they were fabulous," Abby smiles, milking it. "They looked like they were in a show. It was great. Doesn't your stomach get full eating crow week after week after week?"
I tried to hide my eye roll. That was a bit far.
Still, all was pleasant and calm. Abby hadn't yelled at us for losing yet, which was beyond my original expectations.
And then Jill had to ruin it all.
"I thought the number looked great on stage, but maybe if you did more group turns, made it dynamic..."
I hit my face in my hands. She's really doing this now?
"I just think that this group of kids were not all used to their fullest potential," Jill went on. "Maybe Maddie was. Hailey got a nice little turn section too...but I know for a fact Kendall wasn't used to her fullest potential."
I shared a glance with Maddie, and we consecutively rolled our eyes. What was even the point?
"You were all excited to give her a special part, and there was no special part. She did what everyone else did and less than some."
"Jill, Kendall is a beautiful girl. She picks up very quickly. Does she need technique? Yes. Do all of them? Yes. That's a growing process. It takes years to develop." Abby explained to her.
"Then I don't think you should run your studio like that, "Jill responded.
If there was one thing I knew about Abby, it was that she hated being told how to do things at her studio. This was her career, her livelihood, and when people told her that she was doing it wrong, she didn't take too kindly to that.
Abby sent a withering glare at Jill. "I produce employable working dancers, not 'competition kids.' You need to keep your eye on the ball and the big picture."
Jill looked like she was about to go ballistic. "What is my big picture? Every weekend I have to look forward to coming, dancing behind Maddie and Chloe and Hailey - who is also new, by the way - and never being put in a trio, never doing a solo. I get nothing, Abby. You're telling me to look at the big picture, and I am, and I don't like it. Give her a solo, Abby! Let her do a trio! Give her something!"
Abby looked down at Kendall, who looked a bit afraid. "Don't worry - I have something perfect in mind for you," Abby told her.
And with that, Abby left the room, leaving all of us (especially Kendall) to wonder - what did she mean?
~*~
a/n: BAHAHAHA it took me literally forever to write this- i was honestly just stuck on the ending. please don't hate me for this being so late lmao. thanks for reading (and being so patient with me) - love y'all!
- ainsley :)