"Her or me?" A tear rolled down Michelle's puffy cheek, "You have to make a decision."
For Michelle, life has always been about control-control in the studio, in her friendships, and even in the secrets she hides. But with an unexpected pregnancy...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I received a message from Emily telling me to meet her and Michelle in their office. The message felt urgent considering the fact that it's not often I receive anything online from them.
Today was my day off today. But instead of spending it resting and doing something that doesn't involve dance, I'm walking into the studio. It honestly feels like I can never escape this place.
I walk down the hallway before reaching studio A. And when I get there, I'm instantly confused when I see Summer standing in the office with both Michelle and Emily.
What the fuck?
I hover in the doorway for a second before they notice me.
"Great, you're here!" Emily looks over at me "Come on in then. We don't have much time. I've got a B-troupe rehearsal to run in twenty minutes and I really can't afford to be late."
I walk into the room, taking a seat on the couch, before saying "And why exactly am I here?"
I look over at Summer "And why is she here?"
"She's here because Michelle and I need to speak to the both of you." Emily announces.
"Oh, great." I mutter.
Emily then speaks to Summer "Summer, take a seat, please."
Summer sits down beside me and I make sure to move as far away from her as possible, a look of disgust on my face.
"So, what is it?" I ask them, getting more impatient by the second.
"Okay, so Michelle and I have been doing a lot of thinking, and we both agreed that the dancers on A-troupe could benefit from more opportunities to perform in front of a crowd before we head off to Internationals next month." She begins to explain what's going on.
She continues "I did some digging over the weekend and I happened to find a small duet competition over in New York."
"New York?!" Summer asks "That sounds like a dream!"
I roll my eyes.
"And, we both think that the both of you would be best to represent The Next Step at that competition."
"So we're going to a duet competition?" I ask "Me and her?"
"Yeah, that's right." Emily seems confident in her decision.
I sigh "Well, I guess we'll need time to prepare. But we have a duet already."
And then I ask an important question "Wait... when are we going?"
