The Next Step: Reality

Chapter 8: James

Yo, I made it into A-Troupe! I'm so pumped to be working with my boys. West, Eldon and I are going to have a blast in A-Troupe. I saw Michelle and Chloe leave, which is a bit sad, but hey! I'm now going to be in A-Troupe!

"James!" Beth squeals as she follows me and Eldon as we make our way to Squeezed.

She's so annoying. I mean she thinks we dated and we're a "thing" when nothing even happened! It's crazy, but she's got good jokes, so that's a plus side. As Eldon and I try ignoring Beth, George comes up to me.

"James! Just the guy I was looking for!" He smiles at me. "Could we get an interview?"

"Sure thing!" I say, eager to get rid of Beth.

When we start walking to Studio A, I hear George say, "Beth, sorry, you can't come with us."

I breathe a sigh of relief. When we get far enough I say, "Thanks."

"No problem," George cracks a small grin. "You looked like you needed some help back there."

"So what are you going to be asking me this time?" I ask as we make our way back into the halls of the studio. There's nothing much they really need to know since I already told them before the audition.

"Basically how you feel about making it," George responds. He checks his messages on his phone before continuing, "I won't be asking you the questions, it's going to be my partner. She's the producer. She has all these questions in mind about the auditions."

I nod as I walk into Studio A with him. The cameras are set up against a background and the studio is empty except for the cameraman, a woman and Emily who keeps talking. I can see that the woman is starting to get annoyed. I wonder how long they've been here.

"Emily thanks." The woman cuts Emily's talking. She peers over at me. "You can go now."

Emily's eyes trail over to me and she rolls her eyes, sighing, before exiting the room. I take my seat on the chair. It's actually comfy. George stands behind the camera and the woman who sits on the chair beside the camera is looking at me. She has scary sharp blue eyes that are scary. As scary as my math marks.

"Hello," She says. "My name's Julianna, and I'm the producer of this show. I'm just going to be asking you a few questions."

"Bring it." I say, smiling. She doesn't even crack a grin.

"What were your first thoughts when you found out you got in A-Troupe?"

"Man, I did it!" I say, almost jumping from my seat. George seems startled but the Julianna lady just keeps looking at me, with no expression on her face whatsoever. "I'm in A-Troupe! Another year to practice my Spanish with West! Uh-es patato."

I hear a chuckle but it comes from George at my horrible Spanish skills. I'm pretty sure I even pronounced it incorrectly. Julianna just looks at her clipboard. She literally is like a robot. Except robots can laugh robotically. I wonder if she's always this serious because even Ms. Kate laughs at my jokes and she's really serious.

"That's great," she says without much emotion. "So I've heard some rumours about you and Beth."

I freeze in my spot for a minute. When she looks back up, she's smiling. Man, the time she finally smiles happens to be the time she hits my sore spot. I look uneasily at George who's now conveniently on his phone. He looks up to see me looking at him and mouths "sorry".