Brave

Bad Blood

|Emily's P O V|
I see Amanda and Lucien sitting on a bench, talking.
I knew Amanda couldn't be trusted.
I move close enough to listen to what they're talking about.
"Two of them have already quit, Daniel left on his own, I had nothing to do with him leaving and I just got Michelle to quit the studio." Amanda says.
I feel myself getting even angrier, she's responsible for Michelle leaving, she took Michelle away from dance, Amanda has reached a new level of low.
"How'd you manage to get National Soloist Michelle to quit?" Lucien says in shock.
Amanda laughs, "Blackmail. I heard Hunter yelling at her about ruining his life or something, so I followed him down the hallway, he went into a room with Eldon, and next thing you know I take out my phone and I have a picture of Hunter and Eldon kissing, and they want it to be a secret from what I heard. I assume Michelle knew about it from what Hunter was saying to her and the fact that they're close friends. So I slipped a note and a picture of her friends kissing, leaving her two options, she could leave the studio, or I could expose them, pretending to be Michelle, resulting in major drama and probably someone quitting anyways."
Lucien smiles, "Outstanding job, I'm impressed. So here's what's going on at Elite..."
I turn around and walk away, furious, I can't believe her, I call Michelle, I don't want to bug her, but this, this is important.
"Hey babe."
"Michelle can I come over?"
"Um y-yeah I guess, my parents are out, why?" Michelle sounds confused.
"I found out what happened." I say, making my way into the parking lot.
"Wait what?" Michelle's voice raises.
"I'll be over in five, do you still have the note and picture?" I say looking through my purse for my keys,
"Yeah, wait how did you know tha-"
I get into my car,
"Can't talk I'm about to drive, just get everything ready, love you."
I hang up my phone and drive to Michelle's house.
I can't believe Amanda, that bitch. She thinks she's all smart but she has no idea what's coming her way. Once I have a plan, I'm taking her down hard.
I pull into Michelle's driveway, I see Michelle waiting by her door, a confused expression pasted on her face.
I practically sprint into her house, I sit on a couch in her living room.
Michelle shuts the door and sits beside me, "What happened, how did you find out?" Michelle asks, handing me the note and picture.
"It was Amanda, she's still with Elite, she's the one who did this to you."
Michelle's jaw drops, "What!? How do you know?"
"I saw her at the mall talking to Lucien, I overheard her admit to it."
Michelle shakes her head, "I can't believe this, what are we gonna do?"
I put the note into my purse, leaving the picture with Michelle.
"I don't know, I'll think of something. Don't worry, you'll be back at The Next Step in no time, I promise."
I give a quick kiss to Michelle,
Michelle smiles, "Okay, I trust you."
-
I get home, I head into my bedroom and start to brainstorm plans to get Amanda exposed.
I can't think of anything good, I guess my scheming days really are behind me, the old Emily would've been really good at thinking of a plan.
I can't just tell Miss Kate, she wouldn't believe me, I don't have any real proof.
I should've recorded Amanda, then I would have proof. Why didn't I think of that when I was there?
"Em, mom says her and dad went out to eat so they won't be home till late. So what should we do for dinner? Maybe we can order pizza?" Riley says,
I look at Riley, maybe she can help me think of something.
"Riley I need your help, sit down."
Riley takes a seat on my bed while I sit on a chair across from her,
"Riley, I'm about to let you in on something big, you cannot tell anyone, this is super important and I need your help, okay?"
Riley nods her head, I continue to talk,
"Amanda is still working with Elite, and I need your help to think of a plan to bring her down."
Riley's eyes basically pop out of her head, "What!? No way!"
"I saw her and Lucien talking, they're trying to take down The Next Step."
Riley pushes her hair back,
"Okay, okay, umm, how about one of us go undercover too?" Riley suggests.
"What do you mean?" I ask, confused about how that would work.
"Well, if I can get everyone to hate me Amanda might let me join her, and we can get proof and expose her."
I've never been more proud of Riley than in this moment, her plan is genius, but there's one flaw...
"Ri, maybe I should go undercover, I got everyone to hate me once, I can do it again." I suggest.
"Are you sure? You just got everyone to like you again a few months ago, I don't want you to get hurt..."
I nod my head, "I'm sure, I'm willing to do this for the team. So how are we gonna get this to play out?"
"Female solo auditions are Friday, Amanda said she's auditioning, I can audition too. I'll perform a solo, and when I give you a signal, you start yelling at me, don't hold back, do whatever it takes, meaning you have to yell at the others too, and that should do it." Riley says.
I guess we have our plan, I'm super nervous to do this, I hate that I have to have everyone hate me, but in the end they'll see me as a hero, so it'll be worth it, plus I'll get Michelle back at the studio, it's all really worth it for her.

|Hunter's P O V|
I get Eldon to drop me off down the street. It's eleven at night and my dad is home. I didn't tell Eldon why he couldn't drop me off at my house, but he's definitely getting suspicious.
As I walk down the street to my house I think of a lie to tell my dad, I'll tell him I was at dance late practicing, that might work.
I take a deep breath and walk through the door trying to be as quiet as possible, I close the door and head to my bedroom. I don't know where my dad is, but if I can get away with not talking to him tonight, that's for sure a good thing.
I open my bedroom door and I see my dad sitting on my bed, he looks me dead in the eyes,
"Where were you son?"
I feel my heart beating and my palms starting to sweat, why am I so scared? Just tell him where you were and stay calm,
"I stayed late at dance." I say.
"I thought your dance ended at three or around there..." my dad says.
Think of something, stay calm, act natural...
"I stayed 'till six and then went for dinner after."
My dad stands up, towering over me from across the room,
"Who'd ya go to dinner with, your boyfriend?" he says, I see him starting to tense up and his face starting to get red from anger.
"No, I don't have a boyfriend dad, I went with a group of friends from dance."
My dad shakes his head,
"Don't lie to me son. Tell me who you really went to dinner with, now." I see him growing impatient, I decide to lie once again, there is no way I'm telling him what I was really doing.
"Fine. I went to dinner with... Emily."
My dad raises his eyebrow,
"Who is Emily?"
I pause, "She's my girlfriend, okay?"
My dad's face freezes, he stays quiet for a few seconds before I see a slight smile on his face,
"Hunter, good job, you should've told me you had a girlfriend earlier! Invite her over for dinner tomorrow, I wanna meet this girl. I'm gonna go tell your mom, she's gonna be so proud. Good night Hunter, I'm excited to meet her tomorrow."
I give a small smile to my dad and he leaves, I shut the door behind him and lay on my bed.
What have I done?
I grab my phone and find Emily's contact, I send her a text.

Me: Emily i need a favour

I turn off my phone and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth and shower, after I finish my shower I get into my pyjamas then nervously check my phone. The screen lights up,

Emily: What is it?

I unlock my phone and text her back,

Me: can you come to my house for dinner tomorrow and pretend to be my girlfriend??

I hesitantly press send and wait for her answer, hopefully she isn't busy tomorrow.

Emily: Sure, no problem. Why do you need me to do this?

I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders, I text her back,

Me: I'll tell you everything tomorrow at dance. i gotta go now.

I turn off my phone and put it on my dressers, trying not to think about it too much. I turn off my lights and get into my bed.
I end up tossing and turning worrying about tomorrow, what if he doesn't believe she's my girlfriend? Can Emily even act well? I need to go full out with this dinner thing, act super in love, but not too obviously, does that make sense? So when she comes over, I'll hug her and bring her to the dinner table, we'll sit down across from each other, I'll look at her all in love and stuff, and when the date ends I'll kiss her, hopefully my dad sees then he'll really believe me and I don't have to be scared in my own house anymore, at least for a little while.
I relax, confident in my plan, and I start to think about Eldon, then it really hits me right for the first time, I'm not single anymore, I have a boyfriend. Eldon is my boyfriend. I feel myself start to smile, replaying what happened earlier today in my head. Would that be considered a date? I mean we watched the sunset together, that was really nice, I wish I could have stayed in that moment forever, I think about our kisses, how each kiss was better than the last, and how much I want him to be next to me right now. I hate keeping this a secret from my friends. I wish we could tell everyone, at least everyone at dance, I don't know why we don't just tell everyone. I think Eldon's scared of losing his best friend, James. I don't know about James either, he can be pretty ignorant sometimes, but he has a heart, at least I think he does. I don't want to pressure or force Eldon into telling everybody at dance, even though I want to, so I can do the simplest things like hold his hand there without worrying about being seen. I guess it's for the best we keep it a secret for now, the studio doesn't need any more things to freak out about right now, neither does Eldon.