Pinn - Memories

Chapter 39

~ONE WEEK LATER~

Piper's POV

'Listen up A-troupe!', Emily yells, just before rehearsal starts. 'Today, Nick and I will be deciding your room placements for nationals. We'll be pairing you up and we'll let you know our final decisions tomorrow!'

A-troupers cheer. Even though I'm grinning, a pit starts to form in my stomach and my arms begins to shake.

If I'm not paired up with Amy, I don't know what I'll do. She's the only female on A-troupe that knows that I have anxiety. If someone else is in the room and I have a panic attack, I don't know what I'll-'

Finn's POV

I spot Piper standing a few metres away, trembling. I hurry over and gently brush her arm.

I lean down to her ear. 'Hey, you ok?', I whisper.

'Yeah', she exhales. 'Fine.'

Clearly she's not. One by one, A-troupers turn to look at Piper.

'Hey, it's ok. It's ok. Just breathe', I soothe quietly. Piper nods and starts to take some deep breaths.

'What's going on?', Kenzie asks.

Piper's breathing instantly starts to accelerate again, and now all eyes are on her.

This is not good. Everybody looking at Piper is just going to make everything a million times worse. Richelle's gaze shifts from Piper to me. She raises her eyebrows tentatively.

'Go', I mouth at her desperately. She nods.

'Ok A-troupe, nationals is only 2 weeks away, so let's get rehearsals started!', Richelle says. 'First, we'll go through the semi-finals routine from the top.'

Dancers start to get into their positions and I can hear Piper's breathing start to ease.

Piper's POV

I'm so grateful that Richelle took everyone's attention away from me. Despite that, I'm still feeling pretty uneasy and can't get the prospective room placements off my mind.

'5, 6, 7, 8!', Richelle shouts. I start the dance with a solo on the floor. I roll, do legwork...

I guess it wouldn't be too bad if I was paired with Summer. She's nice, and doesn't gossip like the other girls. But if something happens, she might tell Henry, who could tell all the bros. That's half of A-troupe already-

'Piper, you missed a kick!', Richelle shouts.

'Huh?', I mumble, trying to pull my brain away from all my thoughts.

'The kick! You missed it!', she repeats.

'Oh. Sorry', I murmur.

'Let's just start from that count of 8 again', Richelle replies.

I nod and manage to stay focused until the group section. The bystanders walk in from the right and I begin my pirouette sequence.

What if I get paired up with Kenzie or Lily? They're both queens of gossip!

'Where's your spotting, Piper?', Richelle asks in a rough tone.

Flip.

My breathing starts to quicken again.

Focus, Piper. Focus.

'Again', Richelle sighs, and we restart from the beginning of my turning sequence.