LOVING THE DEVIL [02]

Chapter 41.

CHAPTER 41: 'don't trust a kid to keep a secret'

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Dancers joined each other on stage when they announced they would be telling us the winners in a few minutes and I'd caught myself having a conversation with a few of them whilst maintaining a relaxed persona.

Even though I was practically shitting it inside.

I had previously changed into some flats before heading on stage amongst the other dancers. There were a whole variety of other people there and most of them seemed so sweet and friendly, but there were the odd few that didn't come to these competitions to make friends or associate with others.

They kept themselves to themselves, refusing to have any sort of enjoyment unless it was dancing. I've never been one to judge them because everyone at competitions are different, but it's when they're rude to others that makes my blood boil.

However, I'd much rather go home now, the adrenaline leaving my body when I finished dancing and I just felt exhausted. If I could sleep for a century after this, I would.

One of the judges—who had been a judge for a few years now and I've regularly seen her—appeared on stage with a card in her hand. She gracefully moved to the microphone with a casual smile on her face.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The results are in and well done to all the dancers that competed today. You all did amazing, but of course, there can only be one winner. So starting with our fifth place dancer..."

I'd zoned out, listening to the pitter patter of my heartbeat, the same heartbeat that slowly increased even though nothing that was being said was going into my brain. It was more or less nerve-racking trying to pay attention to two things all at once.

"Congratulations on second place!" oh, I hadn't been called up, I thought. Probably because you weren't even listening. A glimmer of hope was slowly draining within me, my eyes avoiding the audience at all costs because quite frankly, I was sort of embarrassed.

Because I won the year before, I felt as if people had expectations on making sure I keep that winning streak, which is one of the downsides of winning. People expect greater things from you, the struggle to keep up causing nothing but tarnish.

But could I be surprised? Not entirely. Most of my dance was thrown in with the panic and chaos of everything that happened before. If I don't win, I wouldn't be surprised, but I would still be disappointed in myself.

"So...now for the moment of truth. Well done to all our dancers today, now time to see who wins this year's trophy. The winner of Dance Reality is..." I held my breath upon that stage, stood amongst other dancers who competed with me. It would be really exciting if I won, but I wasn't holding my breath too much. If I don't win, the only reason I would be upset was because of Liam.

The crowd were quiet—quiet enough that if you were lucky, you may hear a pin drop on stage. I could see my family sat towards the front, my father, Jennifer and my cousins were there. Liam was sat in front of them, eyeing me from where he was sat.

He has hopes that I would win, but I did remind him not to be surprised if I didn't. Though from the small snippets of time where he managed to catch me dancing, he's immediately assumed that I was one of the greatest dancers to exist. Thanks for feeding my ego, but no, not quite the best.