HEARTBURST,, The Next Step

[3.15] cry me a river

❝This is North America, okay? We play real football here.❞

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"Have you guys seen Jake and Cierra's duet?" Michelle gushed to her fellow a troupe dancers as she, Maxie, Giselle and James all sat in Hidalgos, taking a break between rehearsals as they discussed the project Phoebe had set up between the B and A-Troupe dancers where she'd pair a select few up to perform duets.

Giselle grinned, "That's nothing, have you seen Richelle and Noah's duet?"

"Actually though, their technique is insane," James iterated, almost impressed.

"I can't believe how talented these guys are, they're literally just kids," Despite having danced at that level and above at their age, Maxie was still overjoyed to know the future dancers of their studio were just as capable to step up in the future.

Giselle had been on B-Troupe herself not that long ago: it was nowhere near the calibre it was at then. Since their journey began on the road to Regionals, the entirety of The Next Step had really stepped up their dance game.

James shrugged, "Well, someone's gonna have to replace us eventually." Of course, he didn't want A Troupe to change. There was never gonna be another West, or another Thalia, but nothing lasted forever.

"I never thought of that," Giselle frowned lightly.

Maxie remained quiet whilst Michelle shook her head, "Me neither."

"I don't want to think of what happens in the future," Maxie told the camera with a sense of melancholy to her tone, "I just want to stay in our little bubble where we're all teenagers dancing together forever."

Giselle stood up quickly, "I'm gonna go rehearse," The girl abruptly announced before dashing off; the rest of the dancers were quick to follow her. 

For the first time, they were beginning to see the downsides to Internationals. After the impending competition, they were all going to have to make some big decisions that transcended the petty drama they'd been faced with so far.

Elsewhere in the building, Justin Beiber's voice played prominently through Elvita's Beats headphones as she did her routine warmup out in the hallway: she'd always liked preparing for a dance session on her own, rather than surrounded by the rest of the team, and it helped that she could also listen to her favourite artist whilst she did so.

As she leant forward, stretching out her back and hamstrings, the girl instantly sensed a presence appear seemingly out of thin air. She quickly snapped back up in an effort to back away from this mystery person, only to be met with a face she hadn't seen in days.

Richelle's innocent eyes stared into El's soul as the girl gasped in shock, "Richelle, don't do that," She held her hand over her heart in an effort to emphasise how taken aback she was, "You almost sent me into cardiac arrest."

"Whatever," The blonde casually flicked her hair over her shoulder, waiting for El to recover from her overdramatic heart attack with an unimpressed look on her face.

"Where have you been," Elvita finally broke into a smile, she'd missed her best friend. Pulling her in for a hug, she continued, "I haven't seen you in ages, there's so much you've missed."