i felt it in my chest as she looked at me,
i knew we were bound to be together.
East North goes through the ups and downs of what it really means to be an A-Trouper, while dealing with her own drama.
（ 𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 ）
（ 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!�...
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THIRD PERSON'S POV.
The day East had been longing for had finally arrived. It was the first day of Internationals and East could feel the excitement running through her veins. She was so ready to get on the stage and leave it all on the dance floor, especially after talking to Richelle. East had to admit she was a bit disappointed with not telling Richelle how she felt, but maybe them remaining friends was for the best. Besides, she was at Internationals and she was ready to have the time of her life.
The first agenda of the morning at Internationals was getting all the teams from each country announced during the opening ceremony and there were 160 countries, so it was a lot. When The Next Step was eventually called onto stage, East burst with excitement as she and her teammates walked onto the stage, all waving to the various cameras. Her smile only managed to widen upon seeing how big the stage and auditorium were and the number of people in the audience. She couldn't wait to dance on it.
The first round of Internationals were the male and female solo rounds, which meant that Riley and Eldon were competing in these rounds. For this round, no team would get eliminated, but whoever got titled Mister Internationals Soloist and Miss Internationals Soloist would get a five-point advantage for their team which could be used in any round. East sat in the audience with West, James, Eldon, Sam, and Max sitting on her one side as they watched Poland's male soloist dance. Unfortunately for her, she made the terrible mistake of sitting next to the boys, especially considering Eldon wouldn't stop freaking out over a small thing.
"This competition is so serious." Eldon sighed and East restrained herself from rolling her eyes, knowing that the boy was going to go on about his coin again. "And I don't have my lucky coin. I've never been at a competition without my lucky coin before and Internationals is not the time to start."
"Eldon, it's all in your head," East spoke up, an exasperated look on her face. "Seriously, it's just some silly superstition you use to center yourself when in reality the thing that made you win all those competitions wasn't your coin. It was you."
"You just don't get it, East."
East threw her hands up in disbelief as sunk into her seat, giving pointed looks to West and James.
"You guys just had to go to the Everglades," East scolded them.
"Well, how were we supposed to know that something bad was going to happen?" West inquired in his and James's defense.
"It's a swamp filled with man-eating alligators; you also managed to get stuck in the middle of it and your creepy tour guide disappeared."
West and James shared a look, the latter shrugging in agreement with East. "Yoh, she's got a point."
. . .
The dancers of A-Troupe, as well as Miss Kate, stood in the deep wings by the stage, ready to cheer Eldon on. East could see he was still nervous. It was evident to everyone, which was why James had to step in and bring Thalia to talk to Eldon, breaking the whole '30 piourettes' agreement. East hoped Thalia could get through to Eldon. She wanted to see him dance the best he has and win that title. She knew he was an amazing dancer and soon the rest of the world will too.
