*Michelle's POV*
Right now, West, James, Eldon, Chloe, Thalia, and I are in the studio, warming up and talking about the auditions that are being held today.
"I'm so excited to meet new people," West says.
"I'm just excited to see the look on Emily's face if we find someone so good they end up replacing one of her E-Girls," James says, and Eldon and West laugh.
"Guys, they're not so bad," Thalia says.
"Easy for you to say. They actually like you," West says. James, Eldon, and West are just the kind of guys that you would want at a party. They are funny, kinda crazy, and just fun to be around. They're those guys that everyone loves. You can't help but laugh at them.
Well, unless you are an E-Girl.
"Speaking of E-Girls," Chloe says quietly, looking at the door. We all turned.
"Well, look who it is," James says as Emily, Stephanie, Giselle, and Riley walk in. I smile at Riley, and she comes over to me.
"Hey Michelle," she says gleefully.
"Hey. So, where's Tiffany?" I ask. Riley looks around, almost as if she doesn't know Tiffany's gone.
She scrunches her nose. "I don't know. Stephanie just said she needed to be somewhere," she says. "But, I'm sure she's fine," she adds quickly. She doesn't sound so sure, though.
"So. Do you want to, maybe, do something with the boys and me after dance?" I ask.
"Sure! That sounds like fu-"
"Riley! I need you!" Emily yells. Riley and I both look at her. I really don't know what her problem is, but it seems like every time I try to make plans with Riley, she comes in and changes them.
"I'll ask Emily if that's fine, OK?" I nod, and she goes to Emily.
"You know there's no way she's ever going to hang out with you if she keeps asking Emily if that's OK, right?" James says as he comes up to me. He has always been a little skeptical about me trying to be friends with Riley.
"You don't know that."
"Oh, but I do know that. You know how? Because I know Emily, and there's no way she's going to let her little sister be friends with you," he says confidently.
"Look. Riley said that Emily said she's fine with us hanging out and being friends," I say, kind of annoyed.
"Right, 'cause that's exactly what Emily's known for. Her honesty."
I know he's right, but I don't want to admit it to him. "Well-"
"OK, guys!" Kate says. "So any minute now, people are going to start showing up, but I wanted to explain to you guys how this is going to work."
She then tells us about how first, we're going to watch them all do some freestyle. Then, she, Pheobe, Chloe, Emily, and I will narrow it down to 12 people, and we will see how they do with choreography. Then, we'll choose our 2 alternates from there.
"Does that sound good?" We all nodded. "Ok. Great. Let's get ready." As we started talking again, little by little people started showing up. There were many interesting people. Some from B-troupe, some from J-troupe, and some people from different studios completely.
20 minutes later, Miss Kate decided to get started. "OK, so hi, everyone. My name is Kate, this is Pheobe and Chloe, they're the choreographers. And these are the Dance Captains, Emily and Michelle. I would just like to thank everyone for coming, and I'm going to give you guys some time to warm up, and then I would love to see you freestyle. Sound good?" They all said yes and started warming up.
Just then, someone walked in. I couldn't see him, but I saw Miss Kate walk up to him while Emily gave Stephanie a look.
"Showing up to auditions late? Yeah. That's looking good for you," she said, and they laughed. I rolled my eyes. She hasn't even seen these people dance yet, and she's already judging them? Hmm. Typical.
I saw Miss Kate walk away, and that's when I saw him.
"Michelle?"
"Hunter!" I ran up to him and hugged him. I can't believe it! I haven't seen him since I was in Madison.
