Brave

Trouble in Paradise

|Emily's P O V|
"I'm cleared to dance." I tell Miss Kate, she smiles at me, "That's great Emily! I guess we'll be seeing you at auditions tomorrow."
My fellow A-Troupers clap, they're buying it.
Suddenly the studio goes quiet,
"No she can't."
I look back, my eyes meet with Michelle's.
"Yes I can Michelle. I was cleared, remember? You were there."
Michelle takes a few steps forward from the back of the crowd, towards Miss Kate.
"She wasn't. She's lying." Michelle states coldly, I look at her in disbelief. She knew how much going to Internationals meant to me, how could she do this.
"Emily, is this true?" I turn back to Miss Kate, her arms are crossed, I know this isn't going to work out for me now.
"No, I can dance. She's lying." I insist.
"Really? Then show me. Do an aerial, right here, right now."
I freeze, I can't do an aerial. I could barely do one when my knee wasn't injured, there's no way I can do one right now with an injury.
"Well, I'm not warmed up..."
Miss Kate sighs, "Emily, give it up. If you aren't really cleared, you can't dance. Just tell the truth."
I look back at Michelle angrily,
"Fine." I turn back to Miss Kate, "I'm out. Find someone to replace me."
I turn back around and leave, forcefully hitting Michelle's shoulder with mine as I walk out.
I'm officially done at The Next Step. My time is up. It'll be another year before I can compete. By then I'll be at University in another city. There's no way I could balance the two.
I just wanted to compete at Internationals and compete next season, but thanks to Michelle, I won't get to do that now. She took my passion away from me... I could've danced and been completely fine if she just stayed quiet. I thought I could trust her.
I don't know if I can look past this.
I've lost dance, something I've spent my whole life doing... but on the other hand don't know if I can handle losing Michelle as well over this, I just need some time to think.

|Michelle's P O V|
Emily hasn't answered a single call or text of mine. Since the incident yesterday she's been ignoring me.
I decide to go to her house, this is the only way I can get to her.
I knock on the door,
nobody answers.
I knock harder,
nobody answers.
I knock so hard I almost break my hand, I hear the doorknob rattle.
The door swings open,
Riley is on the other side.
"Is Emily home?"
Riley nervously looks back before answering, "Yeah, but she's really mad at you."
I walk past Riley into her house,
"Well I'm gonna get going, I have a date with James. Good luck."
Riley smiles at me and shuts the door.
"Riley who are you talking to?" I hear Emily call from another room.
"...Riley?"
Emily walks into the room and stops.
"What are you doing here?" she asks, visibly upset.
"You wouldn't answer my phone calls, so I came here."
Emily stands there silently, avoiding eye contact with me.
"I'm sorry, but you could've injured yourself permenantly if you danced. Are you crazy?"
Emily looks up at me and shakes her head, "I'm not crazy, everything would have worked out if you kept your mouth shut. I thought you loved me, I thought I could trust you. Why did you have to ruin things for me?" Emily is crying and yelling, I keep a straight face. I feel bad, but I couldn't let her hurt herself further.
"I did it because I love you, I didn't want you to get hurt even more."
Emily rolls her eyes, "It doesn't feel that way. It feels like you did it just to ruin my chance at my dreams coming true." Emily storms off to her bedroom, I follow her,
"Emily I understand why you're hurt, but you have to understand I did it to help you."
Emily's back is facing me, she's looking out of her window.
"Emily please..." I walk towards her, she stays still.
I place a hand on her shoulder.
She looks back at me, I lean in to kiss her, she moves away.
"That's not going to fix this." Emily says, still not making eye contact.
"What do you want me to say? What can I do to fix this? I was just trying to help you." I plead, I knew this would happen before I spoke up yesterday, I knew she would be mad, but I thought she'd understand and be over it by now.
"My mom needs me in Wisconsin tomorrow. This is the last time I'm going to see you for a week, I don't want to leave when you're mad at me."
"I'll have to think about it..." she says softly, Emily looks at me, then at my lips, then at my eyes, then back at my lips, "I thought about it." she whispers, then finally she connects our lips, she has one hand on my neck and the other in my hair.
She pushes me onto her bed, not breaking the kiss for more than a second. Our bodies push together, our lips colliding, I guess she can't stay mad at me.