The Beginning (Prequel to I Can't Find The Words)

Chapter 1: Just Another Day

*22 years later*

It was April 4th and the year was 2011 and Andrew was now 21 years old and he would turn 22 in june and he had also grown to being 6'6 and his hair was long down to his shoulders and he was no longer living in Pittsburgh, because in 1999, he, his mother, his grandparents and Broadway Baby all moved to Miami because it was warm year round and he was living in a house on Bay Road in Miami Beach.

The time was 2:00 PM and in the house, Andrew was wearing black trackpants, matching button up shirt with a black crew neck shirt and on his feet were reebok sneakers and then he heard the doorbell ring, he got up and headed to the door and saw his mother, Abby Lee Miller at the door and Abby was wearing a black shirt, sneakers and black yoga pants.

"Hello, mom." Andrew greeted his mother and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and hugged her, she hugged him back and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"Hello, baby." Abby greeted her son. "Are you ready for another day in the studio?"

"You know it, i was born to dance." Andrew chuckled, his confidence he had when he was younger helped him become one of the popular dancers in his mother's studio and because of Abby's toughness, it made him into a eight time national champion.

"All right, let's go." Abby smiled as she and Andrew, who had locked up the house and walked to his mother's car and he got in the passenger side.

"Do you think Christi is gonna act crazy this week?" Andrew asked his mother.

Abby just frowned and rolled her eyes. "Don't be surprised if she does, we know Chloe is talented, but Christi does stupid things that get her daughter in trouble."

"Yep." Andrew agreed.

"What were your thoughts about the past competition?" Abby then asked her son.

"Well, Nia did a great job and she got first in in the junior solo division by beating Maddie who got eighth place, but what is beyond me is how Brooke and Mackenzie's duet and the group dance didn't place at all." Andrew said, even though Nia got first with her solo, the duet between Brooke and Mackenzie and the group dance lost.

They arrived at the studio a few minutes later and Abby parked in the space where a sign said "Reserved for Abby Lee" and after she carefully parked, they both got out of the car, they walked into the studio and sitting at the front desk was Gianna Martello, the assistant choreographer of the ALDC and a good friend of Andrew's.

"Hi, Gianna." Abby greeted her assistant choreographer.

"Hi, Miss Abby. Hi, Andrew." Gianna replied to the greeting.

"How's it going today?" Andrew asked his friend.

Andrew headed inside of the studio while Abby was getting things ready before rehearsal for the upcoming competition that upcoming weekend, then he walked over to the laptop and he looked through the music and chose Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor and as soon the song started, he started dancing and let the music take over him and he was dancing like he won the eight straight titles as Abby and Gianna looked on with smiles on their faces and when he finished, he was sweating from dancing and noticed that his mother and friend applauded, Andrew smiled at them.

"That was absolutely marvelous dancing, Andrew!" Abby exclaimed after seeing her son dance.

"Thanks, mom." Andrew replied, drinking some Gatorade.

"We can use that for the group dance." Gianna told him. "How did you come up with that?"

"I just let the music take over whenever i dance, i've been doing that since i was two and i came up with it on the spot. I'm full of surprises, aren't i?"

"You sure are!" Gianna said as Abby walked over to her son and wrapped an arm around him. "I've seen fantastic dancing, but that was amazing!"

"I got it from my mom." Andrew chuckled, that comment got him a kiss on his cheek from his mom as Gianna smiled at the closeness of Abby and Andrew.

"You sure did get it from me, dancing's in your blood."

"That's for sure and because of your toughness as a dance teacher, that motivated me to win eight straight national dancing titles as a solo dancer!" Andrew stated as Abby and Gianna couldn't help but laugh, and then at 3:00 PM, the girls and their moms began to arrive.

"Come on, hurry up! we do not have all day!" Abby yelled as the girls entered the studio, coming in first was Maddie, and behind her was Mackenzie, Nia, Brooke, Paige, Chloe and Vivi-Anne. Entering next were Melissa, Holly, Kelly, Christi and Cathy, who were their mothers.

"Well." Andrew said and his tone got stern. "This past weekend was horrible, you all lost to a bunch of studios that you could have beaten and only two dances placed and the others didn't!"

The girls and their moms recoiled from the previous competition where they got beat and there was one thing that was for sure, if a dancer was in the bad books of Abby and Andrew, they were not afraid of telling it like it was.

"All right, let's get to pyramid."

"At the bottom of the pyramid is Vivi." Abby said, revealing Vivi's headshot as Vivi nodded and so did Cathy, who desperately wanted Vivi to be the star. "You were only in the group dance, so there's not much to judge you on."

"Next, we have Maddie." Andrew said, revealing Maddie's headshot as he and Abby had disappointed expressions as Maddie had a sad look on her face. "Maddie, we have worked with you so much on this dance and out of all places, you placed EIGHTH?! That is not acceptable!"

Melissa couldn't help but glare at Andrew and Abby yell at her daughter as Kelly and Christi snickered without being seen or heard as Maddie felt a few tears in her eyes and she wiped them.

"Save those tears for your pillow!" Andrew told her as Melissa had something to say.

"Maybe if you hadn't been spending less time and spent more time with Maddie, then she would've--"

"Melissa can you please SHUT UP!? IF THERE WAS A SHUT UP BUTTON I'D SUGGEST YOU PUSH IT AND CALL IT A DAY!" Andrew screeched, showing that he has that famous temper that Abby has as Melissa shut up.

"Next on the pyramid is Mackenzie." Abby stated, revealing Mackenzie's headshot. "You were a beat behind in the group dance and you didn't turn your leg out in your duet with brooke."

Mackenzie had a disappointed look on her face as Melissa struggled to keep herself calm from seeing her daughters on the bottom of the pyramid.

"Next, Brooke." Andrew revealed Brooke's headshot as Brooke had a stoic look on her face, because she knew that she messed up in the duet. "You forgot your aerial, your turns were sloppy and you didn't use your emotions."

"Next up we have Chloe." Abby said as she revealed Chloe's headshot "Chloe you did your part in the group dance well, but your leaps needed a little tuning, we know you're getting there."

Chloe nodded as Christi didn't get upset for once, she hoped that was a signal that Chloe was gonna get the attention she was working for from both Andrew and Abby.

"Up next on the pyramid we have Paige." Andrew stated as Paige's headshot was the next to be revealed. "Paige you looked good in the group dance and you were on point with your moves."

"And for the first time, on the top of the pyramid is Nia!" Abby and Andrew both said as they revealed Nia's headshot as Nia smiled brightly and got hugged by the girls, but Holly was the happiest at seeing her daughter on the top of the pyramid

"Nia, you were fantastic! your solo was flawless and you didn't have a single problem in sight! Great job!"

Nia smiled at Abby and Andrew, who smirked as well.

"For the dancing assignments, we have the usual group dance and three solos. The Group Dance will be called Eye Of The Tiger, it's about rising up in the face of adversity and survival. Nia, you're going to have the first solo, it is going to be called Electric Avenue. The second solo will go to Chloe, it is called Queen of Hearts and the third solo will go to Paige and it's called Human Nature." Andrew stated. "Moms, you can leave. Girls, warm up."