"Look at me I can finally do it!" Jacquie exclaimed in the middle of Toronto High's main hall. She had been trying to do a new TikTok dance move successfully ever since the previous night, and she finally got it right.
She had become obsessed with TikTok and wouldn't unglue her eyes from that app for a second.
"That's great Jacquie" Richelle said sarcastically, already tired of her new obsession.
Jacquie was one of those people that always had a current obsession. She had been obsessed with Basketball players right after she joined her Basketball team (which she then left to join the Tennis team), baking, Youtube, boy bands, fashion, ice skating, and now TikTok. She had even created an account in which she posted her TikToks - which truthfully was successful.
"Give up Richelle" Davis, Jacquie's sister, suggested "She has been like this for ages"
Davis, Richelle and Amy looked over at Jacquie, who wouldn't stop dancing to the new TikTok she was learning.
"Yep, we might as well give in" Amy confessed. A few seconds later, as Amy looked up, she saw their friends (namely Kingston, Zayan, Julian, Piper and Lola) by the stairs. "Oh look who's here"
Richelle, hearing what Amy had said, turned her head to find what she was referring to only to see a few of their friends. Including Lola.
Ever since the previous night, Richelle hadn't stopped thinking about her dms with Lola. The way they talked was way too flirty to be normal. And something inside her drew her to Lola.
Now seeing her live gave her a fuzzy feeling inside. A mix of excitement and anxiety.
Lola looked up to them, her eyes ending up focusing on Richelle.
Lola had her long wavy hair down, giving her a more natural look whereas Richelle had decided to straighten her hair for the day.
It was the first time Lola had ever seen Richelle's hair straight, and she had to admit - she looked hot with it. It gave her a more mature look.
Their friends started chatting, yet all they could focus on was one another, giving each other intense and smirking glares.
Just by the sight of each other, their moments flashed back into their minds.
When Jacquie told Richelle Lola had been staring at her all afternoon.
When Lola stared at Richelle's body in the changing room.
Richelle's "I would do it all over again for you" that made Lola feel a sense of trust and safety.
And mostly, them flirting through dms.
It was extremely weird and confusing. They had never been attracted to girls before, so why start now? What was happening to them? What would their friends think about it?
The rational thing to do was ignore whatever they were feeling and focus on dance. The emotional thing to do was go with it and go along with whatever they were feeling.
Which one would win though..?
"We have PE now, let's get going" Piper suggested, not wanting to be late.
"Where's Noah though?" His girlfriend asked.
All of a sudden, all of them saw Noah running around the place as if he were headless - which made them burst out in laughter. As he heard their laughs, his head turned in their direction, a realisation expression coming across his face.
"There he is"
***
The dancers were now warming up in Studio A before starting the actual rehearsal with Michelle while they chatted randomly to keep them out of boredom, whereas Emily and Richelle were in the office.
"And how has school been?" Emily asked, sat down behind the desk while she sorted a few papers out.
Richelle, with her straightened hair now up and a few strands of hair falling out, answered "It's been great, been getting straight A's as always"
Emily smiled out of pride - she loved how Richelle was exquisite in every area she was involved in - namely dance and school. She gave her best in every second, every single thing she put her mind to.
"Wouldn't except anything else coming from you"
"It takes me many sleepless nights but they're worth it in the end. Hard-work..."
"...always pays off" Emily finished, making Richelle smile. Emily always understood her, no matter what. It felt as if when she looked at Emily, she saw herself - just like a mirror. The both of them had always been hardworkers and never had anything handed to them. Everything they had in their lives was due to their own sweat.
Richelle looked down at her hands, before looking up again "Emily" She called, making her look up at her waiting for her to proceed. Richelle was the only dancer that called her Emily instead of Miss Emily - they truly had a special bond together. "Do you think Michelle will include this new move I figured out into the routine? I think it would definitely put us over the top but I think she's scared it might go wrong. It's like she doesn't believe in me"
Emily gave her a sympathetic look "Richelle you'd have to ask Michelle, not me. She's the choreographer but if she decides it's best for you and the team not to include it then you've to respect her decision. She's the choreographer, you're the dancer. You know, she probably is just cautious and doesn't want you to get injured. You're our best dancer, if you got injured now I don't know what we'd do"
Richelle sighed a little disappointed. She truly wanted for it to be included, however she had to admit Emily was right. Michelle had far way more experience than Richelle, and she was the head choreographer.
"I guess"
Right a second later, Michelle walked into the office, walking over to her wife and placing one of her arms over her shoulder.
"Hey Em, Hey Richelle" She greeted "Ready for rehearsal?"
Richelle nodded "Anyways, I'll get going" She said before walking out of their office and joining her teammates.
Michelle sat on the desk slightly, looking down at the paperwork that was in front of Emily.
"How is it going?" She questioned, referring to the paperwork.
"It's going." Emily sighed "I still have to meet up with this girl that wants to join J and her parents, settle her schedule and all that this afternoon. They signed her up the other day, she's five. Pretty cute, she actually reminds me of Margie."
"Oh, that sounds great. Looks like more and more parents want to sign their kids onto J-Troupe which means we're doing a pretty good job in representing the studio out there" Michelle comments.
"And that's exactly what makes our studio run."
Emily and Michelle not only were the Studio Heads of The Next Step, but also the owners of it. After Miss Kate decided to sell it, the both of them bought it with the money they got from Regionals. And ever since, the studio became more successful.
"By the way, I heard Richelle wanted to include one of her moves onto the choreo" Emily changed the subject.
Michelle sighed "She has been insisting for ages now. I'm just not sure if that's a good idea, I mean she just figured that move out and I want her to be fully secure with it before actually including it"
"Richelle barely ever fails her moves. They're always flawless. Maybe trust her a bit more? She really wants this. And you know how stubborn she is, once she puts her mind onto something she won't stop until she gets it"
Michelle smiled "Reminds me of someone I know" She joked, before supposing "She already convinced you to come talk to me didn't she?"
Michelle was aware of how important Richelle was to Emily - and vice-versa - and she knew that anything Richelle asked her, she would give in.
"No, I just know how bad she wants this"
Michelle stared at Emily for a few seconds, thinking.
She sighed once again "I will think about it."
Emily smiled happily.
"You know, I'm starting to think we should adopt Richelle. She always manages to change your mind and convince you to do things her way" Michelle jokes again.
"Come on Mich, give us a break, okay? She just has a hard relationship with her parents, and I feel too protective of her, you know that"
"I do know that, and I find it very sweet. I'm glad you have each other"
"Now let's go, you have a bunch of dancers waiting for you and I need to talk to Chloe and Iván now"
Rehearsals eventually started, lead by both Michelle and the dance captain, Noah. The two of them made a great team, they were pretty similar in terms of personality. The both of them listened to the dancers and were always there to help everyone out no matter what.
However Noah also had the mature and rational side, he was a responsible and a professional dance captain who never let his personal matters interfere with the studio or the team. He was just like both Michelle and Emily put together in one person.
A-Troupe was very focused this season, way more than last year. Their experience with regionals gave them a taste of the reality in the dance world - they knew there was no time to play around. Each one of the dancers gave their all on the floor, they wanted their routines to be as clean and as sharp as possible.
Some of the B-Troupers - such as Presley, Ozzy, Izzy, Jude and Heathcliff - were watching the rehearsal just so they could inspire and motivate themselves from the A-Troupe dancers, aspiring that one day they would be as good as them.
It was an honour to each member of A to be an inspiration to the whole studio - and they truly looked like professional dancers.
Ozzy, creepily obsessed with Richelle, commented "Richelle looks flawless" With his jaw dropped.
Izzy, who was besides him, raised her eyebrows before proceeding to put his jaw back up with her finger.
The four of them were mesmerised by the whole dancing level of A-Troupe, specially Presley, whose eyes wouldn't stop focusing on Richelle. Richelle was an idol to Presley, she was everything she wanted to be as a dancer and as a person in general.
Michelle felt proud of her dancers too, watching them grow was an amazing experience and she did have faith they could win Nationals. They had everything they needed.
Time passed by, and as their rehearsal finally came to an end, they felt exhausted.
"I'm literally exhausted" Piper complained taking a sip of her water.
"I feel like I could do it all over again, though, that's how pumped up I am for Nationals!" Jacquie exclaimed excitedly.
"Same" Richelle commented drinking her water.
Jacquie let a sarcastic chuckle out "Please we all know you're exhausted, don't try acting all strong cupcake"
Richelle gave her a glare before proceeding to do a scorpion, challenging Jacquie, to which she just raised her eyebrows.
All of a sudden, a phone ring was heard, which turned their attentions to Jacquie's cellphone.
"Oh it's my sister, I think she's got the tickets for that concert" She informed Richelle, Piper and Kenzie.
The three of them got excited, mostly Piper and Kenzie who looked like two five year olds.
Richelle giggled at them, her leg still up without her even noticing. They really loved that band, they were way more obsessed with them than herself for sure.
As Richelle payed attention to what Jacquie was saying, she heard a voice coming up behind her that sent chills down her spine.
"Nice scorpion"
She let go of her leg only to turn around and see Lola walking away towards the main hall, her beautiful hair falling down her back.
That same second, she felt dozens of butterflies invading her stomach.
Richelle bit her lip as she looked at Lola who was now vanishing into the hall, not being able to contain her emotions inside.
"Richelle!" Kenzie called "Come here Davis got us the tickets!!"
She wished she could jump out of excitement due to the tickets, however all she wanted to do was jump out of excitement because of Lola. The way the both of them constantly teased each other brought her that much excitement, and she didn't want to stop. Not anytime soon.
Soon all of them were already in the changing room, mostly chatting than anything.
Jacquie kept on doing her TikTok dances as the others chatted sat down, still exhausted from the rehearsal.
"Does anyone want to come with me buy it?" Amy asked, referring to a dress she saw at the mall the other day.
"I'm in" Kenzie said, followed by Piper and Jacquie.
"Great! Want to come Richelle?" Amy turned to her.
Richelle looked at her, pondering what to answer "I'm not sure, I have school work and a few tests to
study for"
"Rich, you're always working. Give yourself a break" Piper told her.
"I really can't guys, I'm sorry"
The girls didn't insist, and the chatting kept on until they saw how Jacquie took all of her clothes out of her bag, spreading them all across the floor.
"Where's my bra??" She mumbled as she looked for it frenetically.
"If your bag were organised then maybe you would be able to find it wouldn't you" Richelle complained.
"Shut up Richelle, I'm sure it was you who stole it to piss me off"
"Me? Is it just me or you're more stupid day by day?"
Jacquie threw a shirt at her, attempting to shut her up and sending her a glare.
"Gross" Richelle grabbed it and threw it back at Jacquie.
Lola and Maya, who had gone to the toilet, walked in as they chatted.
"No he was like at her party and he saw her locking herself in a room with Peter" Maya gossiped.
"Wasn't Peter dating Lauren though?" Lola questioned.
"I think they broke up on Thrusday, he very clearly didn't care about her because it didn't take long for him to hook up with Andrea"
"I never liked him anyways" She commented, ripping her shirt off her body, leaving her on her sports bra.
Right at that second, Richelle's brain froze at the sight. She had seen Lola shirtless, yet this time it felt different. She felt herself extremely attracted to her. Just as if it was the first time she ever saw her without a shirt.
Richelle found herself staring at Lola - more specifically her body. In her eyes, man, she was hot.
Lola then proceeded to take her leggings off, leaving her on her underwear solely, however, Richelle was interrupted by Kenzie, who was stood up.
"Richelle, are you coming?"
As she heard her name, Lola looked up only to face Richelle staring at her, which confused her.
Richelle snapped out of her gaze, looking up at Kenzie, who raised her eyebrows at her waiting for an answer.
"Yes, I'm coming let me just take my clothes off"
***
That same night, both Lola and Richelle dived into a whole deep ocean of thoughts, laid in bed staring at the ceiling.
Lola smiled as she remembered what had happened the previous days. From when they started being friends to when she caught Richelle staring at her. Not that Lola hadn't stared at her too before, but knowing Richelle was feeling the same as her was just comforting.
She didn't know what was happening. And she was extremely confused about her sexuality - she had always been attracted to boys, why was she feeling this way towards a girl, all of a sudden? Something inside of her had changed abruptly.
It felt good though.
Lola's thoughts were interrupted by her phone bipping.
She smiled as she read Richelle on the screen, before unlocking her phone.
———∗♡∗———
{ ✧ } :: 2650 words
Author's Note :: this sucks ass lmao sorry, anyways it was 00:15 when i wrote this and i was tired asf, goodnight cuties