Relevé to the Top

Chapter 23. Night of the Living Dancers

"Girls, you walked into this room just as sluggish and boring as you walked out on that stage. Zero energy. You have to come out there with energy. You can't get halfway...."

Lexie closes her eyes as Abby continues to speak. She has a runny nose, her head is pounding, and her stomach hurts. She squints her eyes open to see Maddie's picture at the bottom only with Mackenzie's and knows she missed something.

Her stomach twists, and she retches. Ignoring everyone around, Lexie drops to the floor, burying her head in her knee.

"Abby! Lexie looks like she's about to throw up!"

That's Maddie, Lexie thinks tiredly. Suddenly her Mom was taking her hand and guiding her out of the room.

"Mommy, my stomach hurts."

"I know Lexie," her Mom opens the door to the bathroom, and feeling her stomach roll, Lexie tugs her hand out of her hold and runs for the toilets.

The chicken salad she had for lunch just a few hours ago didn't taste half as good as it had on the way down. Feeling hands run through her hair, she looks up to see her Mom with a wet paper towel.

Melissa holds her chin up and wipes her mouth. "Feel better?"

Lexie shakes her head. "My stomach feels better, but my head still hurts. I wanna go home."

"I know, baby," unexpectedly, Melissa chuckles. "You and Maddie are making this a tradition."

Lexie pouts. "It's Maddie's fault anyway. She got sick first."

Chuckling again, Melissa nods. "Yes, it is. Still wanna go home?"

Shaking her head, Lexie stands. "No. I'll be okay." She can deal with the runny nose and headache for the day.

"Alright."

After washing their hands, the two of them return to the studio.

"Good to go?" Abby asks.

Nodding, Lexie silently joins the girls in line, standing between Maddie and Mackenzie. She smiles slightly when both her sisters give her looks of worry.

"Lexie, as you can see, you're on top of the pyramid because you were the only winner of this team. Again. You have a solo this week," Abby says. "Now, girls, I look at this pyramid, and I don't even want to do a group dance. Because you're lazy, you're lifeless, and you don't give me 150 percent.

"Now this routine is about Zombies because that's what I think you are on stage. You get out there, and you're like a zombie. You're like sleeping half the time. Holly, you're not working anymore. You have all the time in the world, so you are in charge of the costume."

"For the group?" Holly asks in surprise.

Abby nods. "Alright, Moms, you're dismissed. Holly, don't procrastinate. Everybody else spread apart."

"Are you okay?" Maddie asks.

Nodding, Lexie gets to the floor and goes into a middle split, like Abby orders. When Maddie keeps looking at her, she turns and smiles, speaking softly. "I'll be okay, Maddie." she groans when her d's come out like n's.

"Alright," Maddie says before turning to the front.

It's nice of Maddie to worry about her, but Lexie just wanted to get the day over with minimal communication.

This is like 'Night at the Museum,' Lexie giggles to herself, only to wince when her head throbs. Except there was no museum keeper, and they were zombies, not different people from history.