𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 - 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙨 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙧 - discontinued

national title

|3.1|

"on the bottom of the pyramid, we have lilliana. lilly, i'm very disappointed in you once again. and your mother is not helping your case. i think maybe we should cut you." she tilts her head. "what do you think, gia? could we do the pieces i have planned without her?" gianna shrugs.

"it's not my decision to make, but with our without anyone, i can choreograph a winning routine."

"yes, and i know that. what do you think, lilly?" abby looks at her almost menacingly.

 lilly takes a deep breath.

"miss abby, yesterday was really hard for me." she begins.

"me, too." abby says, trying to shut her down.

"i just want you to know how dedicated i am to this team. i've had a bad couple of weeks, but i promise that if you let me stay here, i can show you how much i'm willing to win for you. i love this team, i love this studio and i love you and gia, and i know i can prove that i deserv- i mean, i know i can work hard to earn my place."

 abby looks at her thoughtfully. "this is exactly what i want to hear, but not when you're not showing me any of this in practice. so how do i know you're not just all bark and no bite? because all i'm seeing is a little happy tail wag towards those competitors, not even a bark OR a bite." it was a terrible analogy, but it got the point across.

"she did win a national title in your name, abby. and there have been issues...at home." stacey says quietly, adding the second part in an attempt to squeeze out some sympathy. i can tell she's working hard to restrain herself from screaming.

"she did win a national title in my name." abby agrees before un-peeling all the other pictures. "willow, you're at the top. your solo was beautiful. but we need that energy in the group." everyone claps, especially brady, who's grinning from ear to ear as if it was him on top, even though he's two squares below me. i grin back at him, his smile intoxicating.

"so does lilly get to stay on the team or not?" joanne, gianina's mom, speaks up.

"she will not be participating in the group this week. she will be in a acro-jazz trio called 'ducklings to swans' this week with savannah and sarah. it is a cinderella story with three cinderellas who are lowly servants until they discover dance and undergo a huge mental and physical transformation and become princesses. if she does well, she may get to be in the group once again next week." lilly breathes a sigh of relief, and stacey still looks livid, although considerably less so.

"the group dance is entitled 'what goes up must come down', and it's a musical theatre dance. it's about karma, and willow, you will be our lead. you better not disappoint me, or the dance gods will zap you with their karma, understood?" i nod, smiling from ear to ear. this is my chance to prove to abby that i can be a good group dancer.

"brady, you will be doing a solo entitled 'the dark warrior'. it is a tribute to star wars, and you will have a lightsaber as a prop." seemingly out of nowhere, she pulls out a glowing lightsaber and waves it around. everyone laughs and claps. i lean over at brady, flashing him a thumbs up. he grins at me and his cheeks turn pink, probably from excitement.

"all right, let us begin."