DANCING THROUGH LIFE, dance moms

Chapter 20: Paige's Problem

a/n: hey y'all! here's another chapter, hope y'all enjoy :)

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The next day at the dance studio, the girls and I were in the dancers den, waiting for Miss Abby to start Pyramid. Maddie, Nia, Chloe, and I were sitting in a circle, stretching and talking about our days when Paige walked in, a rare frown on her face.

I immediately took notice. "What's wrong, Paigey?"

She sighed. "I have to get my planters warts removed this week. I might not be able to dance! Like, at all!"

"Oh no, Paige! I'm sorry!" Maddie said.

Nia put her arm around the blond girl. "I hope you get to dance! It would be really sad if you couldn't."

Paige nodded sadly. "Yeah. I don't know. I should probably be, like, physically able to dance, but it's just a matter of if it's painful or not, y'know?"

Chloe looked like she was about to say something, but was interrupted by Abby yelling at us from Studio A. "Girls! Get in here! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

We all jogged into the studio, facing Abby and the pyramid. Our moms followed from the front lobby. Chloe and I met eyes for a second, both bracing ourselves for whatever was to come. We never knew with Abby.

Abby began. "Last week's competition at Fire and Ice Elite was a big disappointment. I mean, here we are invited back as winners, and you didn't even place? Not acceptable."

I saw my mom and Kelly both roll their eyes at that. They had both been very outspoken about how last week went, and neither of them had been happy.

My mom had obviously hated the group number, which was nothing new. Kelly, however, was upset about the long hours that we were putting in at the studio. It was taking a toll on both of her girls, especially Brooke, who was in all honors and AP classes. Because we were at the studio all the time - sometimes until 10 at night - she was now struggling when it came to balancing her schoolwork.

Abby continued, interrupting me from my internal musings about the Hylands. "You aren't in unison when you dance. The groups need to be cleaner. Understood?"

We all nodded. I was a bit surprised by Abby's critique — before awards, she had acted as if we had all done well in the group. Maybe she had seen some judges notes or something that made her rethink everything. Or maybe she was just mad that we lost. Probably the second thing.

"Alright, let's move on to the pyramid." Abby said, beginning to critique each of us individually. I had begun to hate this part of being on the show. Seeing my friends constantly be put down was upsetting to say the least.

I frowned at Chloe's critique, which was fine aside from Abby picking on her when it came to getting beaten by me and Maddie. She said something about Chloe needing to want it more than we did, which I found stupid because obviously Chloe wanted it just as much as we did. She wouldn't be here if she didn't.

"Moving up, we have Hailey." Abby revealed my headshot on the pyramid with a flourish. I grinned, happy with my placement.

"Hailey, your mother made a big deal about the group dance. You didn't get rattled by it. You did your solo. It was good, and you were up against some good competition." Abby nodded at Maddie and Chloe, who were standing on either side of me. "You should be proud of how you did."

I nodded back. "Thank you."

Ahead of me were Brooke and Maddie, which made sense because they had both won their individual divisions. Maddie had been on top of the pyramid for two weeks in a row at this point, and Abby was going to challenge her to keep it up for this week too.