HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[2.28] re-match

( 2x28 )
[ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴜᴅɪᴏ ꜰᴀᴄᴇꜱ ᴇʟɪᴛᴇ ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ᴀꜱ ᴏʟᴅ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱ, ᴛᴜʀɴᴇᴅ ʀɪᴠᴀʟꜱ, ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴇᴛᴇ ɪɴ ᴀɴ ᴀɴɴᴜᴀʟ ꜱᴄᴀᴠᴇɴɢᴇʀ ʜᴜɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴛᴛᴇɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ ɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴘᴀʀᴛʏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ꜱʜᴀᴡɴ ᴅᴇꜱᴍᴀɴ.]

❝It's The Compass, and I'm sure you've met my beautifully gorgeous other half, Lady Maxwell.❞

It was finally time. Everything The Next Step had done since winning Regionals had led up to that day and Maxie couldn't help but look back on just how much had happened — not just to her, but to the team as a whole.

When the challenge had happened, they had lost crucial members of their team, however, were ready with thirteen new dancers to face the next step up in dance competitions. However, those thirteen dancers soon turned to twelve after the unchallenged departure of Daniel.

It wasn't just people leaving that altered the troupe, either. It was the drama, too. Relationships, friendships and even sibling bonds had been severed and rebuilt over the course of the past few months.

It had turned out Amanda was with Elite the whole time, which not only lead to some devastating realisations on Maxie's end, but also for the team, for they were left with only ten dancers after Michelle had left them a month or so prior.

Through all of it, though, they held it together as a team and though they had almost been torn apart by the harsh blows of the dance world, they had come back stronger for it. As the eleven dancers made their way onto the coach that would take them to the much-anticipated competition, there was one thing on everyone's mind — it was time to take the Nationals title.

Maxie was soon snapped out of her thoughts at the feeling of two people sitting down beside her in her row of three and two people taking a seat in front of her. Looking away from where her mum was waving to her through the window, the girl greeted James, Riley, West and Hunter with a smile, nodding along as they discussed how excited they were to perform and take part in the upcoming competition.

"How about you, Max? Feeling confident with the solo?" Hunter asked, actively pulling Maxie into their conversation to see where her head was at.

Letting out a small giggle, she told him, "I mean, I've rehearsed it so much that my mum probably knows the choreo off by heart at this point."

"Is that a good thing?" James then asked, causing the others to laugh at the image of Rose dancing alongside Maxie on the Nationals stage.

"Well, I, for one, am excited to see what both of our National soloists pull out of the bag," Riley grinned from beside James. It was no secret in the studio that Maxie and Eldon were the soloists for Nationals, however, the pair had decided to show a limited number of people their solo to keep the element of surprise there. So far, Eldon had only shown Maxie, Michelle and James his solo, whereas Max herself had only shown West and Eldon.

Looking over at the empty seat beside Hunter, Maxie frowned. "Speaking of, where is Eldon? Is he getting dropped off by his parents, or?"

"No, no, I saw his bag with the rest of ours when Miss Kate and Phoebe were loading the coach earlier on," West told her, he also held a look of confusion as to where his friend had disappeared to.

"Did anyone see him get on here by any chance?" Riley asked the three boys and Maxie, who all responded to her with blank looks, causing the girl to let out an exasperated sigh. "Someone needs to tell Miss Kate we've left Eldon in the studio."