HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[2.33] danger zone

❝All or nothing, right?❞

‧₊˚✩

Maxie slowly paced the centre of the Nationals stage, gliding her eyes across the rows of empty seats that were illuminated by the many lights that had previously shone on her and her teammates. 

The past few days had been an absolute whirlwind; from admitting to West that she liked him, to getting locked in a dressing room minutes before she was due on stage, and even to Emily facing what could be a heartbreaking injury days before they were set to dance in the final against their toughest competition yet.

It was safe to say, Nationals hadn't been easy. But, despite the rivalries and awkward teenage feelings, Maxie loved it. The buzz of being backstage, and helping your friends prepare for one of the most significant performances of their careers was definitely one of the best feelings the girl had experienced. Despite everything that had happened, she would do it all again in a heartbeat.

As she continued to wander about the stage, two girls stuck their heads past the curtains on the far side of the stage, watching as the British dancer tried to work through any possible solutions that would get her troupe through the finals. Amanda and Tess seemed contradicted in their feelings towards Maxie and The Next Step as the latter felt no remorse for the dance studio, jealousy had pushed her thoughts too far over the edge, whilst Amanda couldn't help the fierce sense of guilt that had washed over her.

"Although Maxie didn't trust me much at first, she grew to be one of my closest friends at The Next Step," Amanda admitted as regret laced her expression, "She's worked so hard to get here just for everything to come crashing down. Max doesn't deserve this, none of them do."

"Maxie?" A weak voice tore through the deafening silence of the empty auditorium, "Max, is that you?" Soon enough, Emily's limp figure emerged from the wings, sending shock and confusion into Maxie's head as to why the blonde wasn't resting, causing the girl to furrow her brows as she jogged over to help her friend off her feet.

"Emily, what the hell are you doing?" Maxie almost exclaimed, placing the girl's arm around her shoulders as she removed the weight from off her knee, "You can't just walk about here as if nothing's wrong, you know?"

Giving her a small smirk, Emily shrugged, "You seem to be pretty good at it."

"Yeah, well, I've not got a leg injury, do I?" Maxie scoffed, causing Emily to chuckle slightly through the pain, "What are you doing out here, anyway? I thought Miss Kate had you, like, chained to a chair," She joked, earning her another small smile.

Emily gave her best attempt at a one-shouldered shrug as she responded, "Well, it got boring waiting around and Phoebe's voodoo energy bending stuff wasn't helping at all, so I needed a change of scenery," She admitted, turning to look at the many empty seats in remorse, "And I also needed to talk to you."

"Me?" Max repeated, raising her eyebrow slightly to indicate her intrigue.

"Yeah, I wanted to speak to you about you and West," The blonde began, watching as Maxie swallowed nervously at the mention of the subject, "You came to me earlier asking for advice, and we established pretty quickly I'm not perfect at relationships, or even keeping them. But, I was thinking about it earlier and, when you really put it into perspective, I don't think anyone is."