After Andrea stormed out the door Nick sighed in frustration. He hated arguing with people and just didn't feel like himself at the moment. Nick walked over to his nightstand where is phone was lying. He picked it up and noticed the screen was still light and the timer for his call to Chloe was still up. Seeing the timer on his phone screen and Chloe's name underneath it made Nick's eyes go wide in fear. Had Chloe just heard him and Andrea argue? If she did, how would he explain it to her? These were all thoughts going through his head until there was knock on his door, before his mom walked in.
Nick jumped at the sound of the knock on his door. He quickly realized it was just his mom and acted as much like himself as he could. Nick's mom was only checking to see if he had ate dinner before she put the leftovers in the fridge, when she saw there was a fresh salad on his desk she nodded and reminded him to finish his homework before it got to late then walked back out the door.
Chloe was still a little in shock the next day after what she had heard the previous night. She was at cheer practice getting ready for their first competition and of course Andrea was there. Andrea had been even more mean to Chloe than she had been before and Chloe tried not to lead on that she knew what happened between her and Nick.
"Now girls! Tomorrow we have our first competition!" The girls coach started, the girls cheered after she announced that the competition is tomorrow. "I want all of you to go home and get well rested because you will have to be here at 5:30 a.m." All the girls groaned at the thought of having to get up that early. "We will be traveling to Raleigh, North Carolina."
Chloe's stomach dropped when she heard that they were going to Raleigh. That's where Abby and the dance team were going and if by any chance Abby saw Chloe, she knew there was no way that Abby would ever let her back into the company. That also meant that Nick would be there and that made Chloe's stomach go into even more knots.
"Now the venue that the competition is held at....there is also a dance competition called Starpower going on at the same time." Chloe's mouth fell open, it was going to be torture trying to stay out of the sights of Abby and even Nick all day. Chloe wanted to see Nick and talk to him but she didn't want him to see her in a short, tight, skimpy, glittery cheerleading uniform. She wanted him to see her how she normally looked. In her dance clothes with a messy ponytail or bun. Anything was better than her cheerleading uniform.
"Now, you are all dismissed, go home and get some rest." All the girls got up after that was said. They all left and went home and got straight to bed wanting to be well rested for tomorrow.
Chloe and the team arrived at the competition around 11:30 the following day. When Chloe stepped off the bus with her cheer team she looked up and saw Abby was only a few feet away. Thankfully Abby wasn't looking in this direction and Chloe took the opportunity to grab her suitcase and follow her team as quickly as possible without being seen by Abby or any of the girls and Nick.
Two hours later it was an hour till curtain and all the girls had seen some pretty tough competition out there on the floor already. Chloe was a nervous wreck this was her first cheer competition and Abby and everyone from ALDC was here. She tried to block out the nerves by listening to music while her mom did her hair and applied her makeup.
Soon enough it was time to hit the floor. The girls were standing off to the side of the floor waiting to be called onto the mat. They did a quick prayer circle and right before they went on Andrea grabbed Chloe's shoulder and pulled her back. "Don't mess this up for us, newbie." She whispered harshly. Chloe tried to shake off what Andrea had said as they took their starting positions on the mat waiting for the music to start playing. Chloe was born a performer if she could dance, she could cheer. Simple as that. She then remembered that Andrea was her back spot in case she fell when the girls lifted her and she did a scorpion.
The music started and Chloe started the routine everything was going perfectly until it was time for the lifts. Chloe got up and did her scorpion looking out into the audience she spotted her mm and someone was sitting next to her. It wasn't one of the cheer moms, it was someone Chloe could recognize anywhere...Nick. She started to panic and thankfully Andrea hadn't pulled anything on Chloe during their stunt, the routine was now over and Chloe was starting to hyperventilate. When she walked back out into the hallway with the rest of her team she saw her mom standing in the hallway and she was still talking to Nick.
Nick spotted Chloe when she was walking over to Christi. "Hey Chlo." He said, reaching out to give her a hug. Andrea was right in front of Chloe and quickly stuck her foot out causing Chloe to trip. Nick didn't lunge for Chloe fast enough and Chloe hit the ground, hard. Everyone started to laugh at her, Nick and Christi tried to help her up but Chloe just pushed herself up and started running down the hallway towards the team’s dressing room away from Nick, from her mom, her team, Andrea, everyone. She just wanted to be alone. Andrea had just publicly humiliated her in front of her mom, her new team and Nick. Chloe wasn't exactly sure of her feelings for him yet, but she knew it was more than just friends.
Chloe ran to the team’s dressing room and pushed the door open letting it slam behind her and sat down in the farthest corner form the door. She put her head in her knees and started to cry. Chloe didn't want to be part of the cheer team. She wanted to be part of her original team, the Abby Lee Dance Company. It was where she belonged. She didn't belong her with a bunch of snobby cheerleaders; she wanted to be dancing with Maddie, and Paige and Nick and everyone at her studio. She missed them, they were her family.
