Double Life

3

Riley

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Maisie asked as we sat in our final lesson of the day, I was religiously looking up at the clock watching as time slowly past
"What?" I asked turning my head to look at her
This was one of the few classes I had without James. Or any of James' friends too which worked in my favour

Auditions are this evening and I'm glad that I've made it the entire day without any comment, attention or anything from James and his little group

"Riley if you tap your leg anymore and you'll start to dig a hole to China" Maisie laughed making me notice the shaking of my leg
"I have an audition this evening and I'm petrified to say the least" I said making Maisie tilt her head
"And what is it your worried about?" She asked
"It's for the competition team at The Next Step. I was on the team at my old town but this is a whole new level" I explained

"Well I've never seen you dance Riley but something tells me you are going to kill this" She said placing a hand on my shoulder

The bell soon rang and before anyone could say a word I had said my goodbyes to Maisie and was walking straight out of the door
I got home in a record time might I add before walking upstairs to get ready
Dad was due to be home any minute to take me to the Auditions. I hadn't been this nervous since my last big audition and even then it wasn't this bad

I walked into the kitchen to see Marie stood there looking through a catalogue of some sort
"Your home early, don't you have some sort of audition?" She asked and I nodded grabbing an orange from the side
"Well don't choke" She said making me narrow my eyes at her
"Heaven forbid you say something nice" I groaned rolling my eyes walking back out
I would rather wait outside for Dad then waste another moment with her

--

As soon as my hand reached the door handle of Studio A, my stomach was flipping and a feeling of nausea crept up
I took a deep breath in before heading inside, the moment I did I looked around and was almost in shock with how many people were here but at the same time I wasn't surprised

I continued to walk into the room until I heard a familiar voice, one I did not expect to hear here
"She really thinks she can dance?" Beth said making me glance in her direction to see her stood in a corner with a group of people I didn't know but amongst them all, one face stuck out

James stood there rolling his eyes laughing looking directly at me while he had his arm wrapped around Beth's shoulder
I don't know when he did this whole 360 twist but I do not like it and I do not want any part of it

Auditions were well and truly underway, I had the luxury of going directly behind Beth. It's clear that she was going to do well, she's clearly a crowd favourite how on earth am I meant to compete with her

We walk to the centre with the rest of our group and partially behind me I can see James smirking in our direction, probably checking Beth out
I turn my head slightly to see him smirking directly at me, not even bothering to bat an eye lid towards the girl who was in his arms not that long ago

"Shitt" A voice said making me look in front of me to see Beth failing to complete one of her moves, it was only then that James glanced at her for a second before rolling his eyes and going back to stare at me
Beth's section comes to and end and I step forward leaving everything on the floor, I had an upper hand now. People were still stuck on her mistake so if I blow them out of the water then maybe I'll stand a chance

--

With everything said and done, I think I did well?
The little groups that had formed before the audition reformed as we waited for the results but the big change in dynamic is that James is no longer looking at Beth, he's barely even stood next to her, instead his gaze is still on me no matter how many times I try and look away

"Alright guys" Miss Kate said walking out of the office
"we've thought long and hard about this choice and we want to say how amazing you all were" She continued
"But A-Troupe is as followed" she said looking down at her clipboard

"For boys, we have. Eldon, West, Max, Noah and James" Miss Kate said allowing the room to irrupt in a applause as all the boys in James' little group were chosen

"And for the girls" Miss Kate said making everyone quieten down, I looked over at her before noticing the hopeful look on Beth's face
"Michelle, Amanda, Giselle, Thalia, Cierra, Stephanie and Riley" Miss Kate said nodding in my direction
Me being the only one not stood in that little group

I looked around as everyone clapped again but I couldn't help but notice the increasingly dangerous glare I was getting from Beth
Things just got a lot more worrying..