Brave

Looking Up

|Emily's P O V|
I check my phone for the millionth time, still no response from Michelle. Her phone must have broke or something, but she'll be here soon, right? She might just be running late, maybe she had something else to do, maybe her parents are mad at her. It could be any of those perfectly logical reasons, it's probably not anything bad. I'm just overthinking it.
Miss Kate walks out of her office, she has that look on her face, I know that look, something happened, something isn't right.
"I'm sorry to say this everyone, but Michelle has unfortunately decided to leave The Next Step." Miss Kate says,
and just like that my world is broken,
I think I physically feel my heart break, why would she leave? Why would she quit... without telling me?
"This can't be right, she would never do this to us." I say, not fully believing what I just heard.
"She has decided to leave for personal reasons, we can fix the choreography, put our alternate in, so put Thalia in Michelle's space in both dances, and Emily can take Michelle's place in the duet in the finals routine, and we'll do auditions for female solo later this week. Emily you're in charge of all of this, I need to go figure some things out in my office."
Miss Kate walks away and I can feel 9 pairs of eyes locked on me, waiting for me to say something.
"Um, we have a lot of work to do, but do you guys want to take a 5 minute break before we start to clear our minds or do you guys just want to start now?" I ask, hoping they choose the break, because I really need it.
"Maybe we should take a break." Riley says, "Yeah, you know what that's a good idea. Just to process what just happened." West says, thankfully the rest of the group agrees with them.
"Okay, so you guys have five minutes, we'll start then." I say dismissing the dancers. I walk over to the ballet bar and just stare at the stained windows, I can't believe that she quit...
"Hey... You okay?" Eldon says, standing beside me.
"I guess. I just can't believe she wouldn't tell me she was leaving, or that something was wrong. I thought she could trust me." I felt myself starting to tear up, wondering where I went wrong. Eldon puts a hand on my shoulder. "I don't know why she left either, but I don't think it had to do anything with you, none of this is your fault, there's probably a reason why she didn't tell you... I just don't know what it is." Eldon gives me a reassuring smile then leaves.
Maybe there is something more to this, something she couldn't tell me. Maybe I should try talking to her tonight.
Everything has to end up alright. We're gonna be alright. This is just a minor bump. We can get through this.
I talk a deep breath, "Okay everyone, let's start. We're gonna go through the Unsinkable choreography."
The dancers regroup, I continue to give directions, as if nothing was bothering me.
"Thalia you start between Eldon and I. Let's get into places everyone. Thalia I'm gonna watch just pretend I'm beside you."
I observe the troupe as they get into their places.
"Do you know the choreography?" I ask Thalia.
"Yeah, I know most of it." Thalia says.
"Okay so, let's go through it, I'll see what you know. Hunter and also Eldon I expect you two to help guide her."
I walk to turn on the music, I look back at the positioning, something looks a little bit off... maybe it's just Michelle not being there? No it's something else.
"Actually Thalia, can you and Amanda trade places, it just looks better, the heights look more even this way."
I turn on the music, hopefully this will be enough work to distract me for now.
-
"Riley hurry up, I don't want to stay here any later than I have to."
Riley gets into the car and buckles her seatbelt.
"Em, are you okay? I know it must be hard on you that Michelle quit." Riley gives me a concerned look.
I nod my head, "I'm fine, I'm gonna call her as soon as I get home and see what's up. It's three in the afternoon on a Sunday, she's usually home at this time."
I start the car and drive home, anxious to call Michelle. When we pull into our driveway I practically leap out of the car. I rush to my bedroom and shut the door, frantically typing in Michelle's number.
I go and sit on my bed as the phone rings,
"Hi..." Michelle says.
"Hey, how are you?" I ask her, trying not to be too obvious.
"Honestly, not too good." Michelle clears her throat,
"I'm sorry I never told you I was going to quit, it was kind of a sudden thing."
A sudden thing?
"Michelle what do you mean a sudden thing...?" I ask.
"Can we talk about this another time? I don't really want to tell you what happened over the phone." Michelle says. I move and lay down on my bed,
"Okay... so then when do you want to talk?"
Michelle hesitates, "Actually I was thinking that maybe we could go on a double date with Hunter and Eldon, maybe next week? I can tell you then, it'll be easier to tell you all at once."
An actual date, next week, I need to go shopping, maybe I'll go after I'm done talking to Michelle.
"Yeah, yeah that sounds good. Just let me know the details when everything is worked out. I miss you at the studio by the way, it's definitely not the same having Amanda dance beside me."
Michelle laughs,
"Well I miss being at dance, I wish I could be, but that story can wait 'till our first official date next week, I gotta go, love you, bye."
"Love you too."
I hang up the phone and grab my purse and keys.
I get in the car and drive to the mall, maybe this is what I need to clear my mind. At least now I have something to be excited about.
I buy a cute pink romper for our date, it's safest that way, it can be casual and dressy. I walk around the mall, debating whether I should buy anything else. As I'm walking I see two people on a bench, as I get closer and closer I see who they are, and I can't believe my eyes.

|Eldon's P O V|
"This place is nice, very quiet." Hunter says, looking around.
I lead him to an area by the lake, there's plenty of rocks to sit at, it's secluded, there's a nice view, it's just a good place to talk.
We find two rocks to sit on, we don't sit too close, but we don't sit far away, I guess it's a comfortable distance between us. Hunter seems completely distracted by the water, it's very beautiful today, but we need to talk, no more distractions.
"Hunter, we kinda need to talk about stuff." I say, starting the conversation.
Hunter looks at me, "I know." he says then looks back at the lake.
"The kiss..." I say,
Hunter looks down at the ground, "What about it?" he says.
"Hunter we kissed, now what happens? Things can't just go back to the way they were before. We can't pretend it didn't happen." I say.
Hunter looks at me and gives a small smile, "I don't want to pretend it didn't happen, I really like you."
I smile too, "So...."
Hunter bites his lip, man he's hot...
"So, we're an official thing now, you're my boyfriend Eldon, and we're together." Hunter's smile grows as he talks, but his face suddenly becomes a bit more serious, "Can this still be a secret for now? I need time." he says,
I nod my head. I understand where he's coming from, I'm not exactly ready to tell people yet either.
"Yeah of course, I need time too."
Hunter smiles, "Thanks."
I decide to switch the topic,
"Michelle asked me something, do you wanna go on a double date next week with her and Emily? We're thinking about going to the amusement park just outside of town." 
Hunter's face drops,
"Yeah that sounds good..."
I look closely at Hunter's expression,
"Is everything good?" I say,
Hunter nods, "Yeah, I was just thinking... Do you know why Michelle quit the studio?" Hunter asks, I didn't expect that question.
"No, she never told me, why?"
Hunter sighs, "I keep thinking that it's my fault she quit. Yesterday I got mad at her and yelled at her and I don't know if it had anything to do with it or-" Hunter was starting to freak out, so I stop him, momentarily placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Look, trust me it's not your fault. I think there's something bigger that happened."
I let go of his shoulder, Hunter looks at me and we lock eyes, Hunter starts to relax and he smiles, "I can't wait for that date."
I feel my face lighting up with happiness, I smile, "Me neither, it's gonna be so much fun."
I keep looking at Hunter, I've never wanted to kiss someone more in my life than I want to kiss Hunter right now.
I hate having to keep this a secret, but I don't know how people will react. I shouldn't be worried about it. I mean I want to tell people, I just, I don't know how it would go.
"Do you think someday we'll be able to tell people about us?" I ask Hunter, Hunter looks out at the lake again,
he takes a moment to respond, he looks like he's really thinking about this.
"Someday for sure, I don't want to keep this a secret forever, I guess whenever we're ready we'll know."
What Hunter said makes a lot of sense, maybe we just have to wait until we get some sort of sign.
"Do you think things would change with James and West?" I ask, I can't help but think about what would happen. Hunter shrugs, "I don't know, probably a bit. I doubt West would care but I don't know about James."
I nod, "Yeah, I don't know about James either, hopefully he'd be cool with it."
Hunter looks at me, a smile starts to form on his lips, "Even if he doesn't, I don't care, as long as I have you."
I bite my lip, I feel myself starting to smile, this feels like a scene in a movie, a very, very gay movie.
"That was pretty cute. Thanks."
Hunter starts to laugh,
"Aww did I make you blush?"
I must be blushing, oh my god.
"N-no..."
Hunter raises his eyebrow,
"Yeah you did." I admit.
Hunter laughs, "How long have we been out here?"
I look up at the sky, the sun is starting to set,
"There's no way we've been here for more than 30 minutes, why is the sun setting?" I can't believe my eyes.
"How about we watch the sunset?" Hunter asks, giving me an irresistible smile, I nod, "Maybe we could head into my car and watch it? There's more privacy there."
Hunter stands up, "I think that's a great idea."
We walk to my car and we get into the front seats, "Don't worry the windows are tinted. Only the front one is clear."
Hunter laughs and grabs my hand, we watch the sunset, we talk and talk and talk, and maybe we kissed a few times, I couldn't have asked for a better night.