The Girl I Wanna Be (Dance Moms Fanfic) - Discontinued

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Paige’s knees popped as she ran up the hill. Her chest killing as she choked back tears that had sprung from her blue eyes. She finally collapsed on the sidewalk, under the orange street light. She heard her name and pitter patters of feet as rolled onto her back, unable to catch her breath. She put her hands over her head and took shallow, unsteady breaths.

“Paige!” She heard again. Paige slowly sat up and saw Chloe walking up the hill.

Chloe held her hands up and asked, “What was that?” Chloe snarled at Paige as she came into the orange glow of the streetlight.

“What are you talking about, Chloe?” Paige asked.

“That!” Chloe motioned towards the house. “Running out as one of your best friends needed us!”

“She’s not my best friend,” Paige stood up and looked up into Chloe’s big brown eyes that reflected specks of gold in the street light. “She’s your best friend. Not mine. And she didn’t need me. She was kissing Mikey.”

“So?” Chloe snarled again. “He’s just a boy. You don’t own him or anything. Why are you being so cold about this?”

“I dunno, Chlo. Maybe because she just broke girl code?” Paige snarled back before turning away and continuing to the next streetlight, still being followed by the pest, Chloe.

“How in the world did she break girl code?” Chloe asked with the whiny dialect in her voice.

Every so often Paige would hear it. Whether it be at a dance competition or dance class or something. It always made Paige cringe. Chloe was so used to getting whatever she wanted right then and there. Whenever and wherever she wanted it. At least that’s what Paige believed. Sure the Hyland’s were a little bit spoiled, but in those last few years, it had been Chloe and you could see it with every look. Ever since she became the cover model for the Miss Dance USA magazine, she hadn’t been the same Chloe she was.

Paige didn’t want to explain herself. She wanted Chloe to leave. Walk back down the hill, collect her things, and go home. Paige looked up from her feet, trying to remember which way was which. Which way was Nick’s house. Though Nick was about to be a junior in high school, he always knew how to comfort Paige. She knew that if she kept going straight, she’d end up reaching the park, and that was fine by her. She looked both ways and then trudged across the street, looking back down to her shoes.

“Are you mad at me too?” Chloe asked flatly. For a moment, Paige detected more hurt than whining. But at the end of her question, Paige found the wining tone again. Paige rolled her eyes and kept moving. “Paige!”

“What?!” She turned around, tears streaming out of her eyes. “Don’t act like you’ve been nothing but nice to me today because you haven’t!”

“Paige, why are you crying now?” Chloe grunted, obviously ignoring everything Paige had just said. “If you ever expect to make it in this world, you’re going to have to suck it up and put on a brave face. You can run off crying every time something doesn’t go your way.”

“I hate you.” Paige shook her head lightly before turning away.

Chloe’s jaw dropped and her chest became heavy. “Well the feeling is mutual! I never want to talk to you again!”

“FINE!” Paige screamed and passed another mail box before seeing two yellow swings passing back and forth lightly in the wind.

Her feet were sore and she was annoying with the clicking sound they made as they slapped her heels. Paige’s toes hurt from trying to run in the sandals. A light breeze picked up and rustled all the branches in the trees. She heard a light sob come from Chloe, who was still walking after Paige. Paige darted across the street, turning back once and seeing Chloe’s shoulders bounce as she turned away and paced back home.

Paige sat on the swing closest to the slide. She dropped her hand, wrapping her arms around the chains that were keeping the swing in the air. Paige kicked her flip flops off and dug her feet into the fine dirt, kicky dirt chips and mulch to the side.

Paige was taken back to the time that she and Chloe got in their first big fight...

They stood in the green room with the senior dancers. Chloe and Kendall had just finished their ‘Chasing Answers’ duet. Abby called Chloe a snake, and Paige ran after Chloe. They walked to the other green room, where all of the teen and senior dancers were, along with the other junior company dancers.

“Aw Chlobird,” Brandon Pent, Brooke’s boyfriend at the time, said as he picked Chloe up.

Kendall filed in after Paige and pulled Brooke along with her and Nia behind them. Paige walked up to Brandon and gave him a side hug, worried mostly about Chloe. “Abby and Christi are fighting again.”

Nick and Olivia joined them. And minutes later Chloe was okay. Brandon set her back down and walked back off with his friends. It was just Chloe and Paige then. They talked about the competition and then Chloe said something. It hurt Paige’s feelings. And that was the beginning of the end of the Paige and Chloe friendship.

Chloe said, “I’m glad that it was Kendall and me. I wouldn’t have won any other way.”

“Not even with me?” Paige asked before making a few seconds of intense eye contact with Chloe. “Yeah. I get it, you don’t think I’m a good dancer.”

Paige stood up, off of the hotel chair and walked back to the other dressing room where she ran into Brandon and Brooke making out in the corner by themselves while Gianna did computer work and Mackenzie and Clara napped on the floor.

“Can we go?” Paige squeaked as she sat next to Kelly who was to into her phone to see Brooke and Brandon in the corner.  

“Why honey? You always want to stay for the rest of the competition with Chloe and Maddie.” Kelly said scrolling through emails.

“Not today I don’t.” Paige gulped.

Paige sniffed and wiped a few tears before sobbing a little bit more. She wheezed in and let out an audible sigh. She heard someone shouting her name. A boys voice this time. Paige lightly rocked back and forth, ignoring the sound of the voice.

“Paige, I know you can hear me.” The voice turned from a boys voice to Maddie’s voice.

Paige slowly turned and saw Maddie standing with Chloe a few steps behind her. Once Maddie reached the edge of mulch, she stopped and folded her arms. Chloe’s back was slightly turned towards them. Her fingers were under her eyes, catching her tears.

“You’ve changed Paigey.” Maddie said. She sniffed as she turned away, “I don’t like the person you’ve become.”

Maddie and Chloe strut off, leaving Paige alone once more. She looked down and kicked the dirt, chipping her toe nail. “I’m not the one who has changed. It was you guys.” She said quietly, mostly to herself, as she watched her best friends walk off.