HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[3.1] coming home?

❝You guys have liked each other for so long, you've practically been together since Regionals.❞

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     Coming home began to play over the speakers as the dancers began to move to the music, taking their own turns to perform each segment of the dance whilst the others clapped them on. They had just come back from their big win at Nationals and although they felt on top of the world, the news that they were to be evicted out of the studio came as a harsh blow to their excitement.

  "We are officially back from Nationals," Giselle explained, "And I still can't believe we won."

  Eldon seemed just as proud of the studio as he spoke, "With the momentum that we're gaining right now, we won Regionals, we won Nationals, I think TNS is ready to take on Internationals."

  As the teens continued to dance together, they couldn't help but feel two significant losses within their troupe: Michelle wasn't there, because, unfortunately, her parents were getting a divorce and she had taken it upon herself to help her mum find a place in Madison. And Emily was still recovering from the knee injury that had taken her out of the finals.

  "Emily just needs to rest up and we're waiting to see if she can even dance at all," Riley informed the camera, a hint of uncertainty lacing her words. "The recovery is going well, but we'll see."

  As the dance progressed, the troupe split off into two different sections, one of the boys, and the other of the girls before they continued to run through the choreography in their separate groups, the others hyping them on whilst they did so.

  "After we had won Nationals, Maxie and I had finally established our relationship," West grinned, "I had waited so long to say it, but we were finally boyfriend and girlfriend, and we've continued to spend almost every day together since then, whether we've been riding our bikes around the city, or trying out different restaurants and cinemas nearby."

  Maxie held a similar grin on her face, although inside she was beaming, "We've been through so much together already and now, being back at The Next Step is gonna bring us even closer together. I just hope that we get the opportunity to dance a duet together this year, that'd be the dream."

  In essence, the troupe was just celebrating their Nationals win. After their celebrations, they'd heard some bad news that they were to be evicted from the dance studio; they hoped that it didn't jeopardise their chances of going to Internationals. Miss Kate, along with a few of the other dancers, had already started packing up their stuff and they honestly didn't know what it meant for the future of The Next Step — realistically, they didn't really have a place to practise.

  "Right now, I don't exactly know where I stand with The Next Step," Amanda admitted with a hesitant look, "I came here undercover for Elite, trying to bring them down. I didn't want them to go to Nationals. But, when I got there, I realised that I was wrong."

  Maxie frowned slightly, still not ready to fully trust Amanda again, "I mean, it worked out well for her. How are we supposed to know that she didn't help us win just so that she could go to Internationals? Or, even worse, just so that Lucien could take us down again and send Elite there?"