Change Your Mind

9

James

"What is it that we are doing here?" I asked as we all walked into The Next Step late Friday night
"I figured we could all get one last practice on before auditions tomorrow" Michelle smiled as we walked through the dark corridors
"This late though?" Thalia asked
"Shouldn't we be sleeping preparing for tomorrow" Hunter asked and I chuckled

"Like you would be sleeping right now" I said before we got to the end of the corridor leading to Studio A
The lights were dimmed but there was loud music booming through the walls
"Looks like you weren't alone in the idea Michelle" Eldon said as we walked in 

As we walked in you could see a crowd of B-Troupe watching someone dance, the music started again and you could see Riley in the middle of the floor letting her hair loose
"She's mental" Giselle gushed
"Is she auditioning?" Thalia asked and everyone shrugged before looking at me
"don't get any ideas. Your guess is as good as mine" I confessed turning back to watch Riley some more 

She was an incredible dancer, I think everyone is finally realising that
"Looks like we have company" Maggie said making everyone attention gravitate towards us
"Hey" Michelle smiled
"To what do we owe the pleasure" Alex asked 

"I think we had the same idea, we came here to practice one more time before auditions tomorrow" Giselle said filling them in
"Nah we weren't doing that" Neve said
"We were messing around for the last time as B-Troupe" Maggie said giving both Alex and Riley a nudge
"Last time?" I asked and they all nodded
"both Riley and Alex are attempting A-Troupe Auditions tomorrow" Neve said proudly

She may have look proud but Riley on the other hand looked like she had seen a ghost
It was clear she still wasn't set on the idea

"Awesome! Did Miss Kate show you the Choreography yet?" West asked and Riley nodded
"hell, they are gonna smash it out the park" another boy said piping up
I don't think any of us doubted that for a second 

--

Riley

When I decided to audition I had no idea that my stomach would be doing flips the entire time
There were a lot of people here and who can blame them?
They all want to shoot their shot
Just like Al and I are attempting too

"Alright, welcome to A-Troupe auditions! We're going to dive straight in with Group 1 - That's Michelle, Thalia, Eldon, James, West and Stephanie" Miss Kate called as they all took the floor
I glanced to my side as they started dancing to see Alex paying close attention
It's safe to say he was just as nervous as I was 

"You've got this" I smiled at him but he put his hand on my shoulder
"We got this Ley" He answered making me smile
This shouldn't be as hard as it seems to be 
Watching A-Troupe dance right now, it's making me realise how talented they really are
It's making me rethink it all - Do I really stand a chance

"Awesome! Now group 2! Riley, Alex, Cierra, Giselle, Max, Noah" Miss Kate called
I took a deep breath in before looking at Alex who had a smile plastered on his face, either to fool himself or better yet to fool others

As soon as it was finished, I had this huge weight lifted off of my shoulder
It was over, or at least the first stage of it all
"That was awesome!" Al gushed as we walked back off to the side
I watched as the remainder of A-Troupe joined the group again with a couple cheers upon their arrival

That group was certainly closer then B-Troupe. I feel like it's rare you don't seen them together where as B-Troupe is more of you dance or we don't speak minus a couple people hat is 

--

"Those were some fantastic auditions!" Miss Kate said re-joining us. The last group finished 20 minutes ago and since then she's been making her cuts
"the list is up. I want to thank you all for trying out" Miss Kate said 

Everyone instantly rushed over to the list but Alex and I stayed put for a moment while everyone fizzled out
"I can't look" I muttered making Alex chuckle
"i'll look Ley, it's okay I got you" He said stepping forward

After a moment or two he slowly turned around, his expression a mixture of happy but also completely devastated
"You're scaring me" I said making him blink a few times before looking at me
"you made it through to the next round Ley" He said but something tells me there is more to that story
"but?" I asked and he looked at me, his bottom lip poking our ever so slightly
His one main tell that he was upset

"I didn't" He sighed breaking my heart a little bit. I've danced with him for as long as I can remember 

Shit. What if I can't do think without him..?