HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[2.10] i hope i get it

[2X10]

{Emily and Hunter run J-Troupe auditions to expand The Next Step's dancing range, which ultimately leads to new bonds being formed as Maxie gives a younger dancer a helping hand in putting herself out there.}

❝She's too worried about everyone else. In dance, confidence is key. It doesn't matter how good of a dancer you are, 'cause if you don't believe in yourself, you'll always fail.❞

Clutching her dance bag tightly to her chest, the young girl tried her hardest not to crash into anyone walking by as she tried to navigate her way through the building. She had been to The Next Step studio before with her parents after they had won Regionals, however, that was a few weeks ago. Now, she was on her own and was having a hard time locating any friendly faces that could hopefully show her the way to where she needed to be.

The small girl's hair was pulled tightly back into a low bun, tied up with a childish multi-coloured ribbon that she'd been ever so excited to wear, yet, upon arriving at the studio, she felt 'babyish' for choosing it over one of her mum's plain, grey ones. Her leotard was pale pink in colour and was patterned with small sequins on the back that spelt out her name.

Her nerves inclined as she spotted other dancers, probably members of B-Troupe and A-Troupe, congregating together in the public areas, laughing and joking about something or other, and she could only wish that'd be her in one, maybe two, years.

Turning the next corner, the last thing she saw was a flash of brunette hair, and the words, "Watch it!" shot through her ears, before she and her unlucky victim went tumbling to the floor, two dance bags following shortly behind.

The girl took a second to adjust to her surroundings on the carpeted ground before coming to the realisation that she had quite obviously walked right into someone: exactly what she didn't want to do on her first day at the studio. A thousand thoughts rushed through her head as she double-checked her hair hadn't fallen out of place before turning to see the much older girl who had, quite honestly, run right into her.

Rubbing her head, Maxie began contemplating her life decisions as she started to prepare a speech to berate whatever obnoxious idiot had just walked right into her, causing the both of them to tumble down, however, cut herself short upon noticing the supposed culprit was nothing but a thirteen-year-old girl who seemed to be scared enough as it is.

"Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no," the young girl repeated under her breath, her face showing every emotion possible as she scrambled to her feet in an attempt to redeem herself, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to walk into you, it's just this building is so big, there are so many floors and corners and I'm already late for auditions, and I promised my mom and dad that I'd be fine on my own, but obviously, I'm not because you're all so big and I'm just really nervous and I definitely think I should stop talking right now."

Maxie stood and watched with wide eyes as the small child began chatting her ears off with her worries and excuses, up to the point where the British girl thought she was about to pass out due to lack of breath and escalated stress.

"Okay, okay, wait," Maxie chuckled, placing her hands on the girl's shoulder, crouching down slightly so she could be at her level, making the situation that bit calmer, yet still awkward for she didn't know what else to do other than say, "Before you start having heart palpitations-"

"I don't know what heart palpitations are," the girl cut her off, however, quickly smacked her hand over her mouth after realising what she had done, "I'm so sorry, I do that a lot."