7x24
Considering nothing about Dancemania had gone as planned, it really shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone when it was revealed that Maria was rigging the competition for Richelle to win. Throughout the entire show, Piper had clung to the idea that win or lose, she would be a professional dancer no matter what.
But then A-Troupe and Richelle disqualified themselves from the competition, resulting in the nullification of their Dancemania contracts and, thus, the loss of their professional status.
There would be no world tour. There would be no professional dance career.
But at least they still had Nationals.
As Piper stood in line with her teammates, waiting to board the plane that would take them home, she could overhear Henry enthusing about Nationals with Kingston and Kenzie further ahead. Amy directed a soft smile in her boyfriend's direction as his words travelled back to them. "I don't think anyone's more excited about Nationals than Henry," she commented to no one in particular.
"I don't know. I may have him beat," Finn said, "When we win, we get to go to Internationals! I heard a rumor it's going to be somewhere in Europe."
"Oh, I've always wanted to go to Europe!" Amy enthused before tilting her head to the side, a teasing glint forming in her eye. "Do we need to assign someone to hold your hand so you actually make it to the airport next time?"
Finn simply rolled his eyes. "How long have you been waiting to make that joke?" he asked dryly.
"Since the plane took off without you," she quipped with a smirk.
Giggling, Piper interjected, "Oh, don't even worry about it. That's never happening again. I'll make sure of it." Her tone may have been joking, but she was fully serious. The morning that Finn had missed the Dancemania flight had been one of the worst mornings of her life, and she was never going to let him put her through that again. That she would make sure of.
As they discussed Nationals and Internationals, Summer stood next to Amy, her arms crossed and lips pursed. As the jabs at Finn died down, Summer cut into the conversation. "Guys, I don't know about this."
"What do you mean?" Amy asked, still smiling as the three of them turned their attention to her.
"B-Troupe has been working really hard for Nationals. They're not going to give it up that easily," Summer told them in concern.
"Okay, but we're the team that won Regionals," Finn pointed out, "If we can compete at Nationals, they have to let us."
"Yeah, no one on B-Troupe even competed at Regionals. They'll get disqualified before they even make it to the stage," Amy added.
"Exactly," Finn agreed.
"I know," Summer muttered quietly, looking away and shaking her head. She didn't say anything else as she pointedly fixed her gaze on the plane outside the giant window of the airport, her lips still pursed.
Amy and Finn continued discussing Nationals, completely unconcerned about B-Troupe, but Summer's words had made Piper pause. B-Troupe's plans to compete at Nationals had never even crossed her mind when A-Troupe realized that they could still go to Nationals if they weren't considered professional dancers. Summer seemed concerned about taking this opportunity away from them, and maybe she was right to be. B-Troupe had been preparing for Nationals for months while A-Troupe prepared for Dancemania. If Piper was in their shoes, she could only imagine that she wouldn't be very happy about it if another team was determined to take their place in the competition they'd been working so hard for.
But Finn was right too. A-Troupe had worked hard to win Regionals. Yes, they had chosen Dancemania over Nationals, but it wasn't like they had gone into the competition planning to disqualify themselves and revoke their status as professional dancers. That was just the way things had panned out. If they were indeed still eligible to compete at Nationals, then they should obviously be the team to do so since they were the team that had earned it in the first place.
As it turned out, Summer had every right to be concerned about B-Troupe. When A-Troupe returned to their studio, the recreational team was rehearsing a number that Piper hated to admit was really good. She was having serious flashbacks to the days of TNS East versus TNS West as Cleo and Summer had a showdown in the middle of Studio A that left Piper with a sick feeling in her stomach.
B-Troupe wasn't going to make this easy on A-Troupe, and one glance at Nick told Piper that they couldn't count on him to choose them even though they stood a much better chance at winning and taking the studio to Internationals.
Three days after Summer had declared, "Game on," to B-Troupe, Nick had yet to make an official decision about who would be going to Nationals. Any time anyone asked him about it, he gave a vague statement about how he was still thinking things through and locked himself in his office, and Piper was starting to feel the pressure. With Nationals just weeks away, Nick had to make a decision, and unfortunately, he seemed to be the last person to want to do so.
With the tension rising, A-Troupe had taken to Studio One, working on a new group number to prove to Nick that they were the right troupe to send to Nationals. They had never felt closer or more united as a team, and Piper hated to think that if Nick didn't choose them, they would never compete all together again.
What were they supposed to do if they didn't go to Nationals? They wouldn't be professional or competitive dancers. Piper didn't even know what she was supposed to do with herself if she didn't have a competition or something to work towards.
She was starting to think that they never should have bothered with Dancemania at all.
It was late when A-Troupe finally dispersed from their rehearsal three nights after returning home from Dancemania. Finn and Piper walked out to the parking lot with Henry and Amy. Piper was trying hard to focus on her friends' conversation, but her mind was racing with fears she couldn't silence no matter how hard she tried.
Fears about Nationals. Fears about the future. Fears of the uncertainty.
She had performed on live television in front of millions of viewers. It was completely ridiculous that pressure over B-Troupe and Nationals was getting to her like this.
When they reached the parking lot, Henry and Amy bid them goodnight, and the two couples went separate directions. As Piper and Finn approached his car, Piper said in a slightly higher voice than normal, "Finn?"
"Yeah?"
"I think I'm starting to panic."
Finn immediately turned to face her, his eyes widening in concern as he placed a hand on her arm. "What? Why? What's wrong?"
His voice was so laced with concern that she sighed and looked away from him, suddenly feeling bad for worrying him. She probably could have chosen a better way to phrase that. Now he just thought she was on the verge of another panic attack.
"Piper, what's going on?" Finn asked again. He gave a weak smile as he said, "You can't just drop that on me, and then not say anything."
"No, I'm fine. It's just..." She sighed, stepping around him and moving to lean her back against his car. He followed her lead as she voiced out loud the one question that had been on her mind for days but that she was so afraid to voice out loud, as if doing so would be speaking it into existence and sealing their fate once and for all.
"What if we don't go to Nationals?"
"We will," Finn said confidently, but Piper shook her head, hands clenching into fists. She didn't want assurance tonight. She wanted to talk about a reality that was starting to feel more and more real the longer Nick waited to make a definitive decision.
"What if we don't?" she repeated, emphasizing the question so he would know that she was serious. "If we don't go to Nationals, we won't go to Internationals, and then what? What are we supposed to do then?"
Finn exhaled deeply, sticking his hands in his pockets as he gazed around the parking lot in silence. Finally, after a long moment, he muttered, "I don't know, Pipes."
She frowned as she stared at a Mini Cooper on the other end of the parking lot. She was fairly certain it belonged to Jude, which meant that B-Troupe was still at the studio rehearsing. Maybe A-Troupe had taken off too early tonight.
"We were supposed to go to Nationals," she murmured, "And then next year, we'd go to Internationals, and then we'd be finishing high school and starting our dance careers or college or whatever. That was the plan."
She was blinking back tears as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "Dancemania was supposed to start our professional careers, and now we don't even have that to fall back on. It was all for nothing."
"It wasn't for nothing," Finn said quietly, but Piper threw her hands out in frustration.
"What good came out of it?" she snapped.
He hesitated before answering. "Ozzy found his confidence. We're closer as a team. And..." He turned to face her, resting his arm on top of his car as he grinned proudly down at her. "I sang you a pretty dope song."
Piper's lips turned up in spite of herself. Fine. One good thing had come out of Dancemania.
His expression softened as he added, "Even if we don't go to Nationals... It'll suck, but it won't be the end of the world. We'll get through it."
"I have no idea what comes next if we don't go," she muttered miserably.
"You know you don't always have to have a big ten-year plan, right?" Finn told her seriously, "It's okay to just figure it out as you go sometimes."
And maybe that was true and he was right, but gosh, Piper hated feeling so out of control of her own life. It felt like everything important to her was resting in Nick's hands and she could lose it all at any given moment.
"Are we going to be okay?" Piper asked in concern, "If we don't go to Nationals, are we going to be okay?"
"Of course," Finn said as if he couldn't believe she would even ask such a question. "Why wouldn't we be?"
Piper shrugged one shoulder, looking down as she muttered, "I don't know. If we don't have dance everyday..." She trailed off, hating the idea that they could grow apart if they weren't always at the studio together.
"Piper, I live twenty minutes away from you. It's not like we'll never see each other again," Finn assured her, and she looked up at him with a small smile, realizing that he was right. Why should she worry about losing Finn when he seemed to be one of the only constants she could depend on right now?
Seeming to have a similar train of thought, he grinned at her and said, "You're stuck with me, baby."
She smiled softly, realizing that the nerves she'd been feeling all day had dissipated. They weren't totally gone, but she felt a little better regardless.
Finn's expression turned serious as he placed a hand on either of her arms and told her, "Whatever happens, we're going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay."
His hands ran down her arms, and he gave both of her hands a gentle squeeze – an unspoken reminder that he loved her, and he cared, and he was there just as he had been since that fateful day in Shakes and Ladders where she'd first opened up to him and he'd calmly reassured her that no one cared about Miss Angela making them do planks.
Piper still didn't know what she had done to make Finn take such an interest in her all those months ago, but whatever it was, she was glad she had done it. She didn't know how she would have survived the last couple of dance seasons without him. The uncertainty of the future still scared her, but Finn made it seem just a little less scary.
And so, in the parking lot of their dance studio, under the starry night sky, Piper kissed Finn a little longer than usual, and hugged him a little tighter, and thanked her lucky stars that he was hers – her best friend. Her confidant. Her love. Her rock.
Through all the ups and downs, in the face of the unknown, there wasn't anyone else that Piper would rather face the future with.