Your smile - The Next Step

strange behaviour

Harper could feel her heart beating loudly in her chest as she stood in the wing alone. Noah was stood in the opposite one and could see how nervous she looked. They were the next duet to perform at the competition and she could barely even focus on her surroundings. Miss Kate approached her as she would be watching them from the wings not the audience.

"Harper is everything okay?"

"Y-yeah I'm just a little nervous." Kate could tell it was more than a little. The girl's voice trembled with every word and she was beginning to doubt whether Harper would even be able to step onstage.

"Harper, I wouldn't have chosen you for this dance if I didn't think you could do it." She told the younger girl who finally snapped out of her dance and looked up. "I could have chosen Gabi or Camille, but I chose you."

"But, why would you choose me? I've only been here a few weeks."

"Because I can see how much you love to dance and I know that once you and Noah get out there, you are gonna kill it." Kate's words somehow soothed her, so much that she was still nervous but it was much easier to control. It had almost transformed into a desire to prove herself, she was bouncing with adrenaline.

"Will duet number twenty three, 'Help', please take the stage" The studio head patted her on the shoulder as Harper sent her a huge smile in return before she entered the stage. As the lights shone down on her, she could feel the excitement coursing through her body. All eyes were on her and Noah, but it didn't matter. As soon as she looked into his eyes, she felt everything else slip away. She could no longer feel the piercing stares of the judges piercing through her, the pressure of knowing that her parents and Michelle would be watching her every move from the audience had suddenly eased. Knowing that Noah was up there with her made it all go away.

The music began and Harper felt more confident than she ever had done before. They were seamlessly moving through the dance and everything went perfectly. She didn't mess anything up, not the lifts, not the turns, nothing. It all went perfectly. The two took a bow then rushed off the stage hand in hand to Miss Kate who engulfed them in a huge hug.

"You guys that was amazing! I'm so proud of you." The studio head was beaming with pride as they watched the remaining few competitors from the wings. Although they had done an amazing job, they couldn't help but notice that everyone was doing a great job. As the teams were all called back onstage to announce the winners, Harper felt all those nerves come rushing back. She felt slightly assured when Noah intertwined their fingers, but nothing would be able to calm her entirely at that point.

As it turned out, they didn't place. They came in fourth so they were extremely close, but not close enough. Harper was pretty defeated as she'd given it her all but clearly that wasn't good enough to win, or even to come in second or third. Noah also looking defeated but he kept sending her small smiles to reassure her that it was no one's fault. He had an inkling that Harper might be blaming herself for it.

"Guys I know you didn't place, but you should both be so proud of yourselves." Kate reassured the pair. Harper sent her an appreciative smile but her heart just wasn't in it.

| | |

The car ride home for Harper's family was a little awkward. She wasn't really in the mood to talk and no one else knew what they could say to make her feel better so her parents engaged in quiet chatter between the two of them but that was it. The tension was killing her so she decided to ask Michelle a bit about how she was doing since they hadn't really talked about what was going on in A Troupe for a few weeks. From what she'd heard last, a lot had happened.

Michelle finally decided to take up James and Riley's idea of making her the dance captain instead of Emily and it had worked, but unfortunately Emily couldn't cope with the team's betrayal and she left to go to Elite.

"So how are things now that Emily's gone?" She asked snapping Michelle's attention up towards her.

"It's okay I guess, there's not as much drama and Giselle took her spot anyway which is great for her." The blonde replied but she seemed distracted by something.

"Is something else going on?"

"I'm just worried about Eldon." Michelle confessed as she looked back out the window trying to hide her blush.

"Is that the goofy one who's dating Emily?" Harper asked. She had gotten to know the A Troupers a little bit better after being taught by a few of them, but sometimes she still got them jumbled up.

"Yeah. I just think he's putting too much trust in her. She treated him horribly for years, constantly rejecting him and now I feel like she's just taking advantage of him." Michelle explained. Her sister frowned slightly, she knew that Emily could be difficult and mean sometimes but she didn't seem like the type of person to date someone just to exploit their kindness.

"Is that the only reason?" Harper inquires, but she pretty much already knew the answer.

"Well I might like him just a little," she admitted bashfully, "and I wasn't going to tell him but I think he deserves to know. He might even realise then that there's someone out there who likes him for who he is."

"Michelle you can't do that!" Harper exclaimed incredulously. "You can't ruin someone's relationship just because you like who they're dating. I know Emily was really horrible to you but you can't just take Eldon from her, you'll break her heart."

"I don't remember asking for your opinion Harper." Michelle sassed as she brushed off her sister's distaste. Harper was appalled that she would even consider doing such a thing, even to Emily.

"I'm serious Michelle, breaking up a relationship just because you have feelings for someone is probably the worst thing you could do-"

"Worse than not placing in a competition?" She bit back, sharply cutting Harper off and not even thinking about what she said before the words slipped out.

"Michelle that's enough!" Their father scolded her from the front of the car as Harper sucked in s sharp intake of air and diverted her eyes to the floor. She couldn't quite believe that Michelle, the person who was supposed to support her the most, would say something so harsh. Even if it had slipped out in the heat of the moment, clearly she was thinking about it otherwise it wouldn't have been the first thing to come to her mind.

Harper remained silent for the duration of the journey. Michelle also sat in silence but although she was still frustrated with Harper, she felt terrible for stooping so low. She was probably already feeling down about not placing in the duet and Michelle had gone ahead and made it ten times worse. She had no idea how to fix what she'd done.

| | |

a/n: what do we have, a double upload? it's just bc i feel bad for not uploading often but i'm hoping to keep them coming more quickly now. what do we think to the beginning of the sibling drama? spicy? i love it🤩

i hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and let me know what you thought in the comments, i love to read and reply to them! :)