Your smile - The Next Step

celebrate bad times

Harper felt as though her life was spiralling out of control. That was probably the overstatement of the millennium since there were people in the world suffering much more serious problems, however being ignored by your best friend and having a new enemy for absolutely no reason wasn't an ideal situation to be in.

There was a big party going on to celebrate A troupe winning regionals but there was nothing she wanted to do less than celebrate. Harper was stood beside Camille who was talking to Chris about something, but her attention was diverted elsewhere. She continued to glance over at Richelle, the new girl, who was strutting around as though she owned the place with Gabby. She had made the affirmative decision in the short space of time between ballet class that morning and the party that if Richelle wasn't going to play nice, then neither would she. There was no point in trying to be friends with someone who clearly had no interest.

Her main concern remained with Noah. She hadn't built up the courage to question him about why he was so preoccupied lately, but she was hoping to do so after the party. He looked like he was having a great time, laughing and talking with the other J troupers, but each time his eyes met Harper's he'd instantly look away and move himself elsewhere before she could even try and approach.

A sense of relief washed over her as she noticed Michelle walk in with Eldon, but that was instantly washed away when Emily came through the other door. Harper was the only person, beside the three involved, who knew what had happened at regionals between Michelle, Emily and Eldon. With all three of them in the same room she knew it couldn't end well. She could almost smell the drama coming.

A shock came to Harper when she realised that neither Chris nor Camille were standing by her any longer, they had been replaced by James and West who took a place either side of her. She only noticed they were there when West clicked in front of her face almost making her spill the drink she was holding.

"Harper, you look like you've just seen a dolphin that's been forced to wear a tiara, because you know dolphins should never be forced to wear extravagant headpieces." West commented with a chuckle as both Harper and James frowned up at him. She knew he was full of strange metaphors but they seemed to continue getting weirder.

"I think what he means to say is what's up? You look distracted." James said as he followed her line of sight towards Noah who was now having a pirouette-off with Giselle.

"I'm fine." She replied distantly as though she still wasn't one hundred percent present.

"Hey what's going on over there?" James continued as he got the hint that she wasn't prepared to talk about whatever issues she was going through. They all looked towards the benches by Miss Kate's office and noticed Michelle and Eldon were sat beside each other.

"Eldon didn't tell you?" She inquired as both boys shook their heads in confusion. That was surprising judging by how close they all were but apparently she was the only person who knew. As Emily strode out in front of the new couple, Harper inwardly cringed knowing the extent of the drama that was about to happen. "Well I guess you're about to find out."

"Hey everybody! Sorry to interrupt I just have a quick announcement." Emily announced with a clearly fake smile slapped across her face. "Okay, Michelle and Eldon. Stand." She demanded them. "Now, some of you might think that Eldon and I are dating. We're not! Surprise, he's dating Michelle now instead." Harper was a little shocked that she was doing it in front of everyone but with Emily it was always go big or go home. "So I just wanted to let you all know so you could find out at the right time, not the wrong time." She patted Eldon sarcastically so his drink spilled out of his hand. Harper just about managed to supress her laugh.

"So you knew about all of this?" James whispered as he stifled his own laughter. She nodded and watched painfully as Emily continued.

"Michelle, let's have a friendly hand shake. See there's no hard feelings between these gals." Harper could clearly see how uncomfortable Michelle was and she couldn't quite figure out if she deserved this or not. On the one hand, they had gone behind Emily's back and left her heartbroken on what should have been the happiest day for her. Then again, Eldon had told her that he really didn't like Emily in that way anymore so maybe it was better this way rather than having him string her along.

As the chatter faded back in, albeit slightly more awkwardly, Harper was about to go and see if Michelle was okay after that car crash but Kate had beat her to it as she called the three of them into her office. As West and Daniel both left to talk to Giselle and Chloe, Harper was left alone with James. She didn't know him that well yet but he could always make her laugh so his company was welcome, especially when she was feeling so down. She noticed however, that his attention was elsewhere as his eyes widened. Looking over to whatever it was he was staring at, she could now see that Beth, a girl from B troupe, was making a beeline over to them.

"Harper quick make it look like we're having a really intense conversation so she won't come over!" He pleaded desperately, but Harper found the entire situation far too amusing to do that. She smiled over at Beth as she joined the pair and quickly thought of a reason to excuse herself.

"Hi Beth! Well, I'm gonna go and get a drink so I'll leave you guys to it." She knew that if things got out of hand then Riley would intervene anyway, so Harper really didn't feel too guilty as she approached the drinks table. Unfortunately though, some people were already there when she arrived. She glanced up to see Noah was reaching for a juice without looking as he spoke with Richelle and Gabby. Harper rolled her eyes in annoyance as she grabbed her own juice and turned to walk away, but a voice held her back.

"Hey Harper!" Gabby called. She really liked the her, but it was times like these that she really wished Gabby wasn't there. With a slight wince, she turned around to face the trio who all stood there with a strong variation of different expressions. Gabby was smiling brightly but Noah looked extremely awkward all of a sudden and Richelle, worst of all, had a sour glare on her face. For some reason, ever since that morning she had this effect on Harper to make her feel completely worthless with just one look. Gabby looked as though she instantly regretted calling over the blonde, you could have cut through the tension with a knife.

"What are you doing here?" Richelle asked as she slapped on a fake smile, though everyone could tell she was not asking in a genuine manner. More of a 'stay-out-of-my-way' manner.

"I'm just getting a drink. Trust me, I know when I'm not welcome." Harper responded in a bitter tone as she grabbed a bottle. Noah looked for a moment as though he was about to say something as his mouth opened, but it closed just as quickly and he cowered back staying silent. Harper released a small sigh in exasperation, silently hoping that he would have stuck up for her, before she left the studio entirely.

She couldn't really think of another reason to stay there as A troupe would be taking the photos with their regionals trophy soon anyway. All she wanted was to get away from everyone. Harper decided to head down to the juice bar, she couldn't leave completely as their mom wouldn't be there to pick her up until later.

Taking a seat in the surprisingly empty room, she felt a sense of comfort wash over her. The whole day had been a complete disaster. And to make things worse, her moment of piece was cut short as the rude blonde she couldn't seem to shake had followed her into Squeezed. Harper released an exhausted sigh as Richelle took the seat opposite her.

"Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah actually you can." The shorter blonde replied deviously. "You can stay away from the studio. Nobody needs you around now that I'm here."

"Did you fall down and hit your head or something? You can't just tell me to leave." Harper scoffed as she folded her arms. She would usually not be so confident and as able to speak out, but she'd had enough of how she was being treated.

"Fine, have it your way." Richelle told her in an unpleasant tone. "But believe me, you're life will never go back to the way it was. I mean, looks like even Noah doesn't like you anymore. Is there really any point in being here if you have no friends?" Harper was left in silence as Richelle flounced out of the room dramatically and she sunk back into her chair.

That was exactly how she felt, like she had no friends. Although Richelle wasn't being nice to her, Harper couldn't help but feel like this was her own fault. She must have said or done something to Noah to have him act so distant, but she just couldn't figure out what that was.

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a/n: i hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, the first of season 2! as you can probably tell, there will be much more drama now that richelle's in the picture. i know they both seem a little out of character but it will all be explained soon enough (sometimes people can bring out both the best and worst in each other). let me know what you thought of the spicy drama in the comments! thank you so much for reading :)