Sous-Sus: Premier Jewels

Chapter Nine: From Ballerinas to Showgirls

MYLA

"Myla! Ilse! Wake up! The car will be here in an hour!"

I groan, turning over in the bed. I don't like waking up early, and I don't want to. "You can use the bathroom first," I mumble to Ilse.

Ilse chuckled tiredly. "You just want me to go first so you can sleep more."

I turn to give her a blank look. "And..."

Mom chuckles at us from where she is sitting, filling out some paperwork.

I smile when Ilse rolls her eyes but gets out of the bed. Yay, I won, and I can't get at least thirty minutes more. Ilse takes a long time in the bathroom.

That doesn't happen, and Ilse comes out in ten minutes.

"Your turn~."

I squint my eyes at her, glowering. "You couldn't take longer."

"Nope," she pops the 'p.'

Throwing the comfort off, I stomp into the bathroom grumbling, "Annoying older sister that won't let you get extra minutes of sleep."

I slam the door shut behind me.

"Do you have to tease her so much?" I heard Mom asks.

"It's not my fault she's not a morning place," Ilse giggles. "Besides, I took a shower when we arrived at the hotel yesterday night, so she should have known I wasn't gonna take a long time in the bathroom. Plus, she looks so cute when she tries to glare at me."

I'm not cute, and I didn't know she took a shower. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, I was asleep.

After brushing my teeth, I took a quick shower and walked out to see Ilse braiding her hair. In two hours, I was ready to go.

"Okay, put your shoes on, girls, and let's go," Mom tells us. Once our shoes were on, the three of us walked out of the hotel room and headed to the car that was waiting for us along with Gianna.

When we arrived at the studio, we were renting Ilse, and I dropped our sports bag and headed to the local Dunkin Donut with Gianna while Mom prepared for the pyramid; when we got back, all the girls were just arriving.

"Welcome to Las Vegas!" Mom cheers as we all walk in. "I wanna reflect on Starpower last week. Some of you did really well, however as a whole, not so great. I brought Brandon in. I thought that would be the trick, but it ended up looking like a mess. The competition this week is Thunderstruck, and we have four days to prepare. As a group, this particular group as not placed in the overall high score, so you need to be flawless this week."

Mom turns to the mirror, starting the pyramid. My mouth drops at the sight of Vivi-Anne's headshot with a massive red slash over it. "Vivi-Anne, not here. Her mother made it very clear that she was not traveling to Las Vegas, so you know what this poor little girl is going to suffer. Her mother didn't follow the rules. Let this be a lesson to all of you and to all of your mothers.

"If you don't follow the rules and you don't give me 100 percent, I will yank your number from the competition. Next up, Mackenzie. Honey, I'm sorry you lost your duet partner; however, I want you to practice on all of your jumps and all of your tricks because next week, you will definitely be dancing."

"Okay," Mackenzie replies quickly. I don't think she minds that much. Mackenzie probably just wanted to hang out at the pool.

"Paige," Mom continues, revealing her headshot. "Your performance was good, but you're not winning, and you're not placing in the overalls, and I think you should be definitely placing in the top ten. This is your city. You have the long legs. You have the looks. Yes? Because of that, Paige, you're getting a solo. Understood?"