Plus One. ~ Sequel to 'Love Unlocked.'

Chapter 4 Part 4: Costume.

Cassidy:

I wake up at 8am.

"Crap." I say to myself jumping out of bed.

I'm going to be late for costume fitting. I run into the bathroom and brush my teeth. I quickly go and check on Ava- she's fast asleep. I rush back into mine and Pel's room heading over to the wardrobe. I pull on my Nike shorts and a black vest top. I find my Adidas superstars pulling them on. I tie my head into a messy bun then add mascara and concealer. 

Perri and the boys stayed over at the studio last night. I have to drop Ava off at Pel's mums at 8:30am then costumes are at 8:45am. 

I fling open the door to Ava's room and grab a little blue dress out of the wardrobe. I change her quickly and grab her bag, my bag and my phone. I hurry out the door and check the time - 8:20am. Our apartment is only 5 minutes from Pel's mums house.

"Hey Darling!" Pel's mum says opening the door.

"Hey, thanks for doing this. Ava needs feeding this morning as I was in a rush. She doesn't seem hungry though." I say passing Ava over.

"That's no problem, you go get your costume sorted!"

"Thanks!" I say hugging her then practically running down the driveway.

I arrive at Dancework bang on time.

"Hey Cass!" Jordan says heading into Studio 1. 

"Hey Jord!" I say following him.

"Babe!" Pel says running over pulling me into a warm hug.

"Hey!" I say kissing his cheek.

All the boys had their first costume on. They look really good!

"Hey Cassidy!" Ashley says. "Your costumes in that box over there." He says pointing to over by the speaker.

"Okay cool." I put my bag down and grab the box.

"Changing rooms are there." Sam says nodding over to the door on the right.

I head into the changing room and unpack my costume.

"Wow!" I say pulling out the top.

I pull on the top and shorts then look at myself in the mirror.

(Picture at beginning) 

I walk out of the changing room and over to Ash.

"What do you think?" I say spinning around.

"You look hot!" Pel calls from the balcony.

"Shut up!" I laugh blushing.

"Yeah, that looks really good." Ash says.

"What am I wearing for footwear?" I ask wiggling my toes.

"I think all black converse because your doing street as well."

"Okay cool." I say smiling. "Thankyou."

"No problem!" Ash says hugging me. "Do you want to run the number?"

"Yeah okay." I say pulling on my trainers.

"Pel! Put your costume on for your number." Ash calls up to Perri.

"Cool." He says sliding down the Bannister.

Pel's costume is black jeans and all black converse. No top.

"Right, this costume and dance is abit different." Ash says as they all sit down along the mirrors to watch. "None of us have ever danced with no top on!"

We all laugh.

"But it's fitting for this dance." Ash continues. "This is the first time the rest of the boys have seen this duet. I bet they will love it..."

Ike starts the music for us and we perform our dance like we were on stage.

"Wooh! Nice one!" Ike calls as he stops the music.

"That's amazing!" The rest of the boys say.

"It looks even better in costume!" Jord says.

"Thanks!" Me and Perri say together.

We stay at the studio for another couple of hours. The boys have a meeting and Ava's at her nan's until 5pm so I decide to go to town. I would ask Sadie but she's sort of gone into hiding because whenever she goes outside her house she gets hassled so much she can't get anywhere.

I get to town within 20 minutes. I first head into New Look to get a new bikini for this summer. On my way out I hear someone say: " Hey mum look who it is!"

I turn around to see Alex and my mum. Great. Alex is now 8. I dropped her present around but no one said thanks.

"Hey Alex!" I say smiling.

"Have you palmed your kid onto someone else then?" My mum says looking me up and down.

"What the hell?!" I say shocked.

"You never seem to have her." My mum says.

"Ava's- that's 'her' name- and she's at her nan's because I had a costume fitting." I say explaining myself.

"What for?" Alex says excitedly.

"Alex be quite!" My mum snaps at her.

"I'm going on tour with Diversity." I say ignoring my mum.

"That's so cool!" She says smiling widely.

"Alex." My mum spits at her.

I stare at my mum. Then look down at Alex.

"Um, Alex." I say crouching down looking at her arm. "What are these?" I ask pointing at about 5 bruises covering her lower arm.

She looks up at mum. My mum glares down at her.

"Um, I fell over at school..." She says looking down at the floor.

"Anyway..." My mum says changing the subject. "We need to go." And with that she drags Alex off by the hand.

I finish off in town then head over to collect Ava.

"Thanks for doing this!" I say taking Ava from her.

"I will have her anytime!" Pel's mum says.

"Um, can I ask you something?" I say looking down.

"Anything!"

"Well, I saw mum and Alex today. Alex had bruises all down her arm- she seemed scared of my mum..." I say.

"Really?"

"Yeah, what do I do?" I ask looking at Ava.

"Ask to take her out to the park, then talk to her." Pel's mum says smiling slightly.

"Okay thanks!" I say hugging her.

Me and Ava head home. Perri's on the sofa when we get home.

"Hey how was the meeting?" I ask passing Ava over to him.

"Boring." He says. "But it was needed."

"Cool." I say kicking my shoes off. "I'm going to take Alex out tomorrow, I need to see if she's okay."

"What do you mean?" Pel says looking up from Ava.

"This will sound stupid, but I think my mum is beating Alex..."

"What?" Pel says shocked. "That does sound stupid."

"No, she had bruises all over her arm, plus my mum was controlling her. Alex seemed scared."

"Well, I've got the day off tomorrow, so we can all go out!" He says smiling.

"Okay, sounds good."

We relax for the rest of the evening, listening to music and playing with Ava.