Olivia 'Livvy' Johnson has been dancing at The Next Step her whole life, with her older sister Amelia. Going to Regionals and following in her sister's footsteps has always been her dream, and now, finally, it stands a chance at coming true.
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A-Troupe were stood in Studio A with Miss Kate and Chris, discussing what they could add to their Regionals routine as everyone agreed it felt like something was missing.
"What about an overhead lift?" Tiffany suggested, causing most of the team to nod and mutter in agreement.
"No, absolutely not. That's way too risky to put in at this stage," Miss Kate frowned.
"Liv and I used to do overhead lifts all the time," Daniel pointed out, looking at Olivia for backup.
"Yeah, all the time," She added, nodding as if that would help strengthen their case. She wanted to make her mark on A-Troupe, prove that she deserved to be there, and an overhead lift was the perfect way to do so. It wasn't like she couldn't do them, as she and Daniel had a lot of practice doing lifts such as the helicopter, but she was also very wary of not pushing the boundaries. She'd only just got onto A-Troupe, the last thing she wanted was to get kicked off.
"Okay, we'll think about it," Miss Kate sighed, although it was obvious that the answer was no.
-
Michelle had brought Olivia and Daniel to Studio B, away from all the others so that nobody knew what they were up to.
"I don't know why Miss Kate and Chris are so against doing an overhead, I was kind of really disappointed. I mean, she hasn't even seen it before. And that's why I wanted to ask you guys if you could just take me through the helicopter lift, you could just show me like...how you do it and stuff?" Michelle asked.
"Yeah, sure," Daniel nodded. Olivia gave him a look, her mind going to his ankle, but he didn't notice. As long as we mark it, he should be fine, right? She thought.
"So I stand in a wide second with parallel feet, Liv steps in front," Daniel began.
"I extend my right leg, he holds underneath my right leg and my left hip. Then I jump and Daniel throws me in the air-"
"Liv's right leg is gonna helicopter over my head, and then I catch her into the finish,"
"Okay, so could you guys show me right now, like full out?" Michelle asked. Olivia's stomach knotted, not wanting Daniel to make his injury worse.
"Um, there might not be enough space...the ceiling's are a little low in here," She said quickly.
"We could go into Studio A then?" Michelle suggested, "If it's empty, we could totally do it, right?"
"I don't know," Olivia frowned. Daniel glanced at her, trying to work out what she was doing.
"Are you not comfortable with doing it?" Michelle asked. As the dance captain, she knew she had to look out for her team, and she didn't want to push anyone to do something they weren't happy with.
"No, I am, I just...I'm a little worried now that Miss Kate and Chris said no," She lied.
"Liv, you just came from B-Troupe. You don't wanna go back there, do you?" Daniel frowned, "Let's just do it."
-
Olivia found herself entering Studio A with Daniel and Michelle, the two walking slightly behind the dance captain and whispering with hushed voices.
"Are you sure you can do it? Your ankle-" Olivia whispered.
"Shut up. It's fine, I told you," Daniel hissed back. They found Eldon rehearsing in Studio A, but aside from that it was empty. Miss Kate and Chris were nowhere to be seen. Olivia had hoped they were around, or that Studio A was packed. Anything to prevent them from doing the lift.
"Ok, we need two things. You can't tell anyone what we're going to do right now, and we need you to spot us," Michelle asked Eldon.
"Yes and yes," Eldon shrugged, as he had nothing better to do and was intrigued to know what was going on. Olivia tried to hide her disappointment. Why couldn't he have said no?
"We're gonna do the helicopter lift," Daniel revealed.
"Really?" Eldon replied, his eyes widening, "Okay. Cool." Olivia and Daniel took their position to start the lift. She placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Sure?" She whispered.
"Sure," He replied, slightly annoyed at her. He wanted to prove he could do it regardless of his ankle. The last thing he wanted was to lose his solo, or worse, his spot on A-Troupe.
"Five six seven eight..." Michelle counted. Olivia took a deep breath, lifting her leg up, before jumping. Daniel threw her, and then caught her again in the final position. Olivia felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Everything was fine. They executed the lift perfectly. His ankle was alright. It all went according to plan. She felt slightly guilty for not trusting Daniel before. He was right when he said his ankle was healing. I should've believed in him.
"Perfect!" Michelle smiled, "Now all we need to do is find a place in the dance to put it in."
-
A-Troupe were rehearsing their main Regionals routine in front of Kate and Chris, as Regionals was right around the corner and they needed to be at the top of their game. Olivia, Daniel, Michelle and Eldon had secretly reworked their parts of the routine, so that when needed they could surprise everyone with the helicopter lift. Olivia was more than excited to show off what she could do and prove that Miss Kate made the right choice for the tenth spot on A-Troupe. They continued the routine as normal, until they reached the agreed section where they had worked in the lift. Olivia glanced over at Michelle, and she nodded. Olivia and Daniel danced through Michelle's additional choreography that led to the lift, before they finally reached the part in the song where they were going to spring the lift on Miss Kate and Chris. But as Daniel was meant to catch Olivia, she felt herself falling closer to the ground without the necessary support. Confused, she put her hands out to cushion her fall, only for Daniel to grab her right at the last second. She landed on top of him, confused and embarrassed that they'd messed up the lift. But she soon realised that something had gone horribly, terribly wrong.
The whole of A-Troupe gathered around Daniel, who was on the floor holding his ankle and crying. Olivia's heart was pounding. She knew he had an injury and she didn't tell anyone. She could've stopped this from happening. It broke her heart to see him in so much pain.
"Olivia, will you call Daniel's mom?" Miss Kate asked. She nodded, running to the cubbies so she could pull out her phone and ring his mother. She couldn't believe this had happened. If she had told somebody that he was hiding an injury, none of this would've happened. It's all my fault.
