My Time to Shine (Dance Moms/Harry Potter Crossover - Part 1)

Chapter 15: Solo Surprise

Mackenzie was surprisingly calm for someone who was about to perform Maddie Ziegler's title-winning solo in front of Abby Lee Miller after only solitary rehearsal.

"Mackenzie!" Abby belted out startling some of the girls. "Are you ready to show me the solo?"

"Yes," Kenzie replied, exuding as much confidence as she was capable of.

"No, she isn't!" Maddie looked confused and deeply annoyed with Mackenzie's answer. "She didn't want to work on it at all. She blew off all of our rehearsals, Miss Abby!" Mackenzie couldn't believe the nerve of her sister. She was lying to Abby's face.

"I don't think they worked on it at all." Melissa piped in. The moms were all in the room sitting on their chairs in the corner. They were enjoying this deliciously dramatic moment but no one dared speak. 

"I did!" Kenzie would not let Maddie and her mother take this chance from her. They had done so enough in the past, it was time to stop it. "I worked on it by myself because Maddie refused to help me."

"No, I didn't! You're the one who's lazy and never practices." Maddie shot back at her. All the girls and the moms were wide-eyed staring from each of the Zieglers to Abby and back again.

"This is ridiculous! I have the three of you yelling at me and you're all saying different things!" Abby meant business and would not tolerate this.

"Abby, don't you think a good way to solve this would just be to put the music on and let Mackenzie have a try at the solo?" It was Holly who had cut in this time. She was always the voice of reason. This seemed to have thrown Abby. "That way we can get to the bottom of it in two and a half minutes and will have a clear answer." Surprisingly enough, Abby was nodding her head. Abby and Holly didn't usually agree on much, but Mackenzie was quite relieved to see that this was an extraordinary circumstance.

"Ok, Mackenzie! You will show us the solo and then we can chat." Abby decided.

"Thank you!" Mackenzie went to her starting position, lying on the ground in a ball downstage center. She pretended that she had no family or friends and that she hadn't eaten in days. She told herself she was thirsty and cold and her clothes were dirty rags. People refused to help her even though she begged and begged them to. They were selfish and had so much that they kept to themselves. They couldn't understand that she was trying as hard as she could and they wouldn't do anything.

Then the dance was over. She had nailed it. She had known that she would. The spell could not let her down, nor could she let herself down. She was out of breath, it was a challenging routine technically.

She looked around the room. Her mother looked close to tears, although if they were happy or sad she could not tell. Maddie's eyes were wide and her mouth was open. The other girls and moms were cheering and clapping as though they were at the actual competition.

"Kenzie," There was a pause. "That was really great work. You know how rarely I say that so soak it in!" She was so happy to hear Abby say that. "I have a couple of changes I would like to make. I want to add a front aerial after the side aerial from the ground, I think that with your acro training we can up the ante a bit. I also want to take out that arm flick and change it to a cabriole to get you to travel more towards stage left. Other than that, I have no notes. Melissa, can we get the costume on her and see if it will work? Grab a sip of water, Mackenzie!" she ran over to her bag and gulped down water before taking the costume from her mom who actually wrapped her up in a tight hug and told her she was proud of her.

"Maddie!" Abby turned to Maddie with a ferocious look in her eyes. "You lied to me. You lied to my face and you tried to sabotage your own sister's performance. How dare you?! I didn't give you a solo this week because I wanted you to be more of a team player. Right now, you couldn't be farther from that position. I have no choice but to put you on probation. You will not be competing with the Abby Lee Dance Company until you have earned your place back. I gave you the opportunity to pass on your expertise and you failed. You need to learn this lesson the hard way." Maddie began to sob and immediately ran out of the room. Mackenzie wasn't surprised when Melissa let her out of the long-anticipated hug to run after Maddie. She couldn't be too upset though, her mom was proud of her.

"How's the costume, Kenz?" She had just put on a ragged-looking grey dress, over top of which she wore a tattered brown sweater, a grey shawl on her head, ripped burgundy gloves, and skin-coloured shorts. It did give the homeless feel, that was certain. There were areas of the costume that Kenzie remembered them ripping on purpose while the costume was under construction.

"It's a little looser on you but I think that's what we're going for, right?" she replied. "Yeah, I think it'll work. Do a tilt and check the shorts." She did so. "Ok, nope! Let's get a pair of tighter shorts but otherwise, I think we're good."

She was elated. She couldn't remember a time when this much attention had been put on her. And what was more, Maddie wasn't dancing this weekend. She knew it was malicious to be happy about this fact but Maddie rarely had to learn lessons from Abby while Mackenzie knew what it was like for the rest of them that had to suffer for what they loved.

They started the group dance, which would be only Kendall, Nia, Jojo, and Mackenzie this week. It was a contemporary lyrical piece called Think Inside the Box. The four girls each had a large cardboard box that they could fit inside and would make various structures out of. It was a bit of an odd piece but the moms really liked it. They worked all day on the choreography. Maddie sulked in the back, not used to going unnoticed and upraised.

The rest of the girls were free to rest after the group rehearsal but Abby kept Mackenzie to work out some of the changes to the solo. They spent thirty minutes working on it and did another run at the very end.

"I know I don't say this often, Mackenzie, but you have improved so much. If you dance this solo tomorrow as you did just now, not only will you win but you will have some big changes in your future. You're the youngest member on the team and you must feel like you aren't featured because of that sometimes, don't you?" Kenzie nodded cautiously. "Especially being Maddie's sister, I understand. If you keep working and performing like this though, you can be my go-to girl. You can get gigs like your sister and really get to that next level, yeah?" she nodded again and smiled. Abby gave her a hug. "Rock it tomorrow, Kenzie."