HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[3.6] i'm your captain

 ❝ Dance is what brought us together, but this team... This team is what keeps us together. ❞

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      "Hey, you guys, listen up," Miss Kate smiled at the dancers in the studio as she carried a green envelope out of the office, gathering the thirteen dancers' attention, "I have a letter from the Internationals board."

  During the road to Internationals, the board of judges would send each attending studio different letters of information about the competition at different times, giving them insight as to what dances are going to be needed etc. Safe to say, Internationals was gonna be a big step up from what everyone was used to at Nationals.

  Pulling the letter out, the woman announced, "At Internationals, you have to work as a team, but you won't get far without a leader. Declare your captain, and you'll be one step closer to Miami."

  The rest of the group grinned, gesturing toward Michelle as they agreed to keep her as their Dance Captain to see them through yet another, hopefully successful, competition. 

  "Uh, actually guys, I've decided to step down as Dance Captain," Michelle admitted reluctantly, watching as the group's smiles slowly faded at the news. They should've seen it coming, in truth, for she'd been so absent from the studio over the past few weeks, it wouldn't be fair to lead them when she wasn't fully there.

  Whilst the rest of the troupe furrowed their brows in confusion, Miss Kate sighed, "Look, you guys, with Emily gone and Michelle stepping down, Phoebe and I have come to a joint decision that Maxie will be the best fit for our new Dance Captain."

  Maxie felt a small smile creep onto her face at the news. Even if Emily had gifted her with the diary earlier that week, it was still a friendly shock to hear Miss Kate finalise it. Whilst the rest of the room applauded and presented their vocal agreement with the decision, Maxie felt her small grow larger.

  "Hearing Miss Kate telling me I was chosen to be Dance Captain feels surreal," The girl explained with a look of ecstasy, "I mean, I've never really been ready for it in the past, but I'd like to think it's my time, now."

  Just as the applause for their new Dance Captain had died down, a new voice occupied the empty space, "Guys, no, what about me?" Shantel protested, much to the others' confusion, "I want a chance to be Dance Captain, too."

  From what the others had heard, Shantel seemed the least willing out of all three Elite dancers to get to know anyone from the rest of the team, so how was she supposed to successfully lead a team of people she hadn't bothered to form a bond with?

  Eager to not start some sort of argument, Miss Kate gave the girl a tight-lipped smile. "All right, this is what we'll do. Shantel, you'll choreograph a trio, Maxie, you'll choreograph a trio. Those two trios will compete against each other, and the winning dance will determine the Dance Captain."

  Maxie scoffed silently, finding it a waste of time competing with someone who hadn't even been on the team five minutes when they could be spending it working through some solid routines to get them through Internationals.

  "Cool," Shantel nodded, somewhat pleased with herself.

  "Yeah, whatever," Maxie then added. She knew that despite how unnecessary the challenge was, there was no way she'd back down from it, no matter what it took.