HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[2.15] you're the one that i want

[2X15]

{Giselle and Thalia think a little competition will be good for James and Riley, despite Maxie's doubts, and Hunter comes to a realisation after taking Michelle to a concert.}

❝If Riley and James think their duet is threatened, they're gonna step up.❞

The fog hung over Toronto like some sort of pestering child that wouldn't leave their parent alone as Maxie drove into the studio with her mum that morning. Since news had spread like the plague about Elite sneaking into another Regionals and winning, things had been tense. Maxie hadn't spoken to Max or his mother since she found out and, on top of that, her own mum had the audacity to sympathise with the team.

"But don't you think they earned it?" Rose asked as she swerved the car through the oncoming traffic, reminding herself which side of the road she was supposed to drive on ― after living in the country for three years, you would've thought she'd remember it already.

"Earned it?" Maxie repeated, her tone indicating the ridiculousness of the statement, "You really think after they bullied Emily out of their studio, made comments about us at Regionals, and couldn't accept defeat when we beat them, they earned it?"

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Maxie's mother kept her eyes on the road, for safety reasons, of course, before bouncing off Maxie's point. "Yeah, but wasn't that mostly Amanda? I mean, she changed, didn't she? She's, like, good now."

"Mum, this isn't a TV show, there's no 'good' and 'bad', there's just trustworthy and untrustworthy, and Elite is untrustworthy." Maxie shrugged in response. Obviously, she had accepted Amanda as a friend, I mean, she was doing the small group dance with her at Nationals, but it took weeks for the girl to even consider calling the ex-Elite member a friend.

"What I'm trying to get at here is that, sure, you can be mad at Lucas, or whatever his name is that runs that studio, but why are you avoiding Max? He's been your friend since before you joined his rival studio, and he wanted to go to Nationals just as much as you." Her mother proposed, still trying to get Maxie to give up whatever newly-formed grudge she had against her friend. "Even then, he's never done anything to your studio personally, has he? All he did was go to another Regionals and, unless Elite being at Nationals somehow affects your performance, there's no need to be like this."

It took Maxie a moment to process what her mum had told her. Of course, she knew where the woman was coming from seen as they were going to end up competing against whoever won that Regionals anyway; the fact that Max didn't tell her anything about it was probably only because Lucien had told him not to, it's not like he purposefully kept it from her with intent to harm her. Anyway, even if he did tell her, it might've affected her preparations for Nationals and he was just doing it for her benefit ― at least, that's what she hoped was what really happened.

The rest of the car ride remained oddly silent, right up until the moment they pulled into the familiar car park. Leaning across the gearstick, Maxie's mum pulled her in for a comforting, yet slightly awkward due to the angle, hug, that took the teen girl by surprise.

"Don't get me wrong, mum, I love the spontaneity, but what's the hug for?" Maxie asked her once they had pulled apart, one eyebrow raised in slight suspicion.

Rose smiled lightly at her daughter as she told her, "I don't say it often enough, M, but I'm incredibly proud of you. And not to be that soppy mother you try to avoid all the time, but I love you, I hope you know that."