𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓 𝐔𝐏 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 (𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞.)

FIFTY-FOUR. can't stop the fire

THIRD PERSON'S POV.

The day for The Next Step's A-Troupe to shoot their qualifier video had finally arrived. To say East was excited was an understatement. It had been a long road to get to this day, but she couldn't be prouder of her teammates. Right now, some A-Troupers were in Studio A, packing everything that would be needed. Emily walked around with Ozzy beside her as she ticked everything off her checklist, while Daniel and West were checking on Jacquie and Noah's section of the choreography. East wanted to check on how some of her friends were feeling, so she made her way over to Kai, Henry, and Kingston who were packing some cables.

"Hey, guys," East greeted them with a smile, and the three boys sent grins toward her. "So, how are we feeling about today?"

"So excited!" Kai stated in joy. "This video is gonna be sick."

"Yeah, hopefully, it'll be good enough to get us to Regionals," Henry hoped.

"Fingers crossed," East said, crossing her fingers.

"Ready to start coiling?" Kingston asked his friends.

"All day, every day, man," Kai replied with a nod.

"I've been ready to start coiling," Henry piped in.

East's attention moved to Kingston who kept jumping around and moving way too much. Though this was amusing, she was quite confused at his actions.

"Uh, Kingston, do you need the bathroom or something?" East couldn't help but inquire with an amused smile.

"Yeah, dude, you look like you're gonna explode," Henry pointed out.

"I particularly woke myself up last night," Kingston told them. "I'm so excited."

"Well, let's get these cables packed then," East said as she decided to join the boys in wrapping the cables. "Come on, I'll help you guys."

. . .

The Opera House was the place where the A-Troupers would be filming their qualifier video. East had to hand it to Ozzy, he got a really good place to film their video. Everyone was in their costumes and had their makeup done upon arriving. Currently, the A-Troupers were stretching or marking up on their choreography in the area. While doing that, Daniel had given East a roll of duct tape and asked her to find Richelle and give it to her. Richelle broke into her pointe shoes too much and they snapped.

East eventually found Richelle sitting on the staircase in the entrance hall. The blonde held her snapped pointe shoe in her hands, a frown on her face as she looked down at it. East knew how important pointe shoes were to Richelle, so she understood why she looked so upset.

"Hey, Richelle," East spoke, grabbing the blonde's attention as she approached her. "Daniel said you needed this for your pointe shoes."

"Oh, thanks," Richelle replied. East handed her the duct tape and Richelle took it with a small smile.

"How did they break anyway?"

"Oh, uhm, I guess I just broke them in too much."

"Oh, okay." East nodded. Something was telling her that Richelle wasn't saying the whole story, that something else happened. But Richelle seemed certain with what she said so East left it. "Well, I guess I'll leave you to it then."

East stepped away from Richelle and began making her way back to where she came from. However, she stopped when Richelle suddenly called her back.

"Hey, uhm, East?" The blonde quickly spoke up.

"Yeah?" East replied as she turned to face Richelle.

"I, uhm..." Richelle trailed off her words, growing a bit nervous. "I just wanted to apologize for everything. I know things haven't been the best between us the past months and I can't take back what I said, but I do want you to know that I never meant it. I was just... angry and I am sorry."

"It's water under the bridge, but thanks for the apology," East replied, a smile growing on her face and Richelle reciprocated one. "Uhm, I'll see you inside."

Soon afterward, everyone gathered inside, ready to shoot the qualifier video. The A-Troupers would be dancing to Can't Stop the Fire while their dance showed the story of two rival teams, TNS East and TNS West, who were once a team called The Next Step. These two teams come into an abandoned building to take cover from the rainstorm. However, neither team know that the other is there until the lights turn on. From there, a dance battle breaks out between each team. However, realizing they're stronger together, the two teams form to one, meshing all their strengths together to form one unstoppable routine. East loved performing the routine with her team. Not only did it highlight everyone's strengths, but it also showed how far they all came. From all the drama, sweat, and tears experienced at the start of the competition, it was all worth it at the end.

. . .

East never realized that her excitement for the Regionals qualifier video would instantly be replaced with anxiousness as she and the whole of A-Troupe waited on the results. Yesterday was fun, but today was the day The Next Step would find out if their hard work paid off. The whole of A-Troupe was in Studio A, the nervous atmosphere only heightening every second. East and Noah wanted to wait on Richelle as well as Emily and Michelle before they went online to check the results, but neither of them showed up and everyone was getting restless.

"Okay, guys, it's time," Noah spoke up to the nervous crowd who all gathered before him and East. East held the iPad that would make or break A-Troupe's dream of Regionals.

"I'm so nervous. You do it," East said, outstretching the iPad to Noah. He was about to take it, but East changed her mind. "No, you know what? I wanna do it." East sighed and hesitated a bit as her eyes froze on the closed iPad. "On second thought—"

"East!" The dancers as well as Daniel and West complained.

"You know what? Let's check together, okay?" Noah suggested and East nodded. She and Noah opened up the iPad and held each side of it. The two quickly went online to the Regionals qualifier video site, looking for the results while everyone went quiet.

"Are we going to Regionals?" Jacquie asked the dance co-captains.

Upon reading the results, East and Noah shared a look before they both broke into smiles, simultaneously saying, "We made it!"

Cheers erupted in Studio A as everyone jumped around in joy and shared hugs. East got pulled into a hug by Noah. She couldn't believe that this was finally happening. The Next Step was going to Regionals with her and Noah as the dance co-captains. Nothing was going to stop them from taking on the title of Regionals champions!

. . .

this season was pretty short no wonder i finished writing it in such a short time

hope y'all enjoyed season five as much as i did :) anyways season six (all time favorite) is coming soon ahhh !!! and all i'm gonna tell y'all is that richeast s6 will be better (hopefully) than richeast s5

please don't be a ghost reader :(
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