"You can trust me." (The Next Step 8 x Oc) (Discontinued)

Climbing Uphill

Heath takes me into Studio A to see Kingston dancing. I am amazed and smiling at Kingston's dance. I also notice Heath is smiling at me so I smile at him. We are amazed at his dance. 

When Heath said he wanted our duet to have some A-Troupe energy, I thought we were just going to look at some videos or something, not have some professional dancer who's an actual movie star critique us. 

We start clapping. 
"Let's go!" Heath says. 
"Heath! Good to see you, bruv." Kingston says. 
They greet each other with a hand shake and I follow behind Heath. 
"Good to see you, too, bruv. I'm surprised you still know me after your glamorous life in England." Heath says.
"Don't get me started!" Kingston says. "Ozzy was calling me Prince Kingston all morning in Middle C. I'm Kingston, by the way. I don't know if we crossed paths when I was here."
"No, yeah, I saw Step Inside. You were all so awesome." I tell him.
"Aw, thank you." He replies. 

I'm so intimidated to work with Kingston. He's one of the most successful people ever to dance at The Next Step. 

"All righty, you ready to give us some notes on this duet?" Heath says, I hear a little jealousy. "Anything you come up with would be extremely helpful for us." 
"I'm into it. Whenever you're ready." Kingston says. 

"Remember, we want as many notes as possible." Heath tells Kingston before we start. 
"But we also want to respect your time, so we can just do it once or, like, a part of it." I say really nervous, I'm not sure either of them caught it. 
"Don't worry about all that. I got time, so show me what you got." He tells us. 

I know that Heath and Kingston are friends, but I'm so intimidated to dance in front of Kingston. What he's achieved since he left the studio is on a whole other level. 

I am panicking while showing the dance.

Heath: Dani seems a little nervous about Kingston being here, but I'm not worried because Kingston is super easy to get along with. She'll loosen up. 

I start messing up.
"Sorry. Sorry. I- I just lost count. Erm..." I say.
"It's all good. It was looking brilliant." Kingston says.
Heath tries to help me out. 
"Relax. Don't overthink it. You got it." He tells me. 
I keep messing up. 

I'm usually not like this. I'm not supposed to be the one who gets nervous and can't do the dance. I'm the one who actually crushes it. 

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Erm... I'm just going to go get some water." I say because of nerves. "Yeah."
Then I walk out of there. 

Heath: I've never seen Dani stop a rehearsal like that before. Maybe Lucien's right. The pressure of Nationals might be too much for this new troupe. 

I go to Studio 1 instead to dance my nerves out. Alone. Doing one of the dances Heath and me watched yesterday. 

Usually when I dance, I feel like the best version of myself. But that hasn't been coming out lately, especially in front of Kingston. Making A-Troupe was one of the best days of my life, but that was just supposed to be the beginning. I want to be a real force, but maybe I just don't have what it takes. 

I find Kingston clapping as I finish. 
"You're an incredible dancer. Why did you choke up during rehearsal?" He asks. "You've got skills."
"I don't know. I guess I got stuck in my own head." I tell him.
"Man, can I relate." Kingston says. 

Did Kingston just say he relates to me? 

"I used to be untrained." He tells me. "I thought I'd never make it as a dancer, and now I'm on a movie set and I feel the exact same way I used to before- except, now, I know how to handle my nerves just a little bit better, and... I can help you with that." 
"I'd love that." I say.