To Be The Best (Dance Moms Fan Fiction)

Chapter 17

“Kendall Vertes.” announced a young lady at a table, with the rest of the callback advisors. I quickly shook out my nerves by actually shaking my hands and feet, something I always did before going on stage during dance competitions. I saw Maddie, out of the corner of my eye, smiling at my ritual. I took a few deep breaths, then walked out onto the stage. I greeted my friend, the pianist, from auditions, and handed him my sheet music. He gave me a quick nod and placed his fingers over keys.

“Hello Kendall. What are you going to sing for us today?”

“I’m going to sing ‘The Winner Takes It All’ from Mamma Mia.” I quickly glanced backstage, to try to catch Maddie’s expression, but I couldn’t see past the wall of girls in front of her.

As the melody started to play I took another deep breath and then let the music flow out of me.   

“I don’t wanna talk, about things we’ve gone through. Though it’s hurting me, now it’s history. I’ve played all my cards, and that’s what you’ve done to. Nothing more to say. No more ace to play. The winner takes it all. The loser’s standing strong. Beside the victory, that’s her destiny.” Tears began to form in the corners of my eyes. I found the song crumpled at the bottom of my dance bag. I had sung it once, for a voice class, but I never touched it again. It was the only scene in the entire movie that ever made Maddie and me cry, although the mother-daughter song before it came very close.

“I don’t wanna talk, if it makes you feel sad. And I understand, you’ve come to shake my hand. I apologize, if it makes you feel bad, seeing me so tense, with no self-confidence. But you see, the winner takes it all!” I belted to the judges, throwing my arms up into the air. Then, everything was silent, even the pianist didn’t play a note.

“The winner takes it, all…” I sang in a faint whisper, without any musical accompaniment. I broke eye contact the casting people so that I could, again, try to catch a glimpse of Maddie. She pushed all of the other girls away from her so she could be right at the side of the stage She was gripping onto the red velvet curtain with tears in her eyes, but she was also smiling.

“Thank you Kendall. You were very vulnerable during that song. You need that rawness to convey your emotions to the audience. Well done.”

“Thank you so much!” I said, while trying to prevent more tears from flowing. “Ok. Well, you can exit stage right.” I was slightly disappointed, because Maddie was at stage left and all I wanted to do was run up to her, give her a hug and say that I was sorry.  

I grabbed my dance bag and was about to head out the door, since I already sang, and therefor my audition was over. But, before I did I heard a woman shout, “Maddie Ziegler” I was planning on just calling her tonight, because I had to attend my afternoon classes, but I couldn’t not watch my best friend sing and I was really curious about her super secret song.

As Maddie strolled down to center stage she bent herself backwards and quickly tried to spot me backstage. When our eyes locked I gave her a small smile and a thumbs up, which seemed to reassure her.

“Maddie, how are you today?”

“I’m well, thank you.”

“What are you going to sing for us?”

“I’m going to sing a really personal song, called ‘I’m Not That Girl’, from the musical Wicked.” I could tell that the judges were skeptical, even if I couldn’t see their faces at the angle I was at. Singing popular songs, like any song from Wicked, was risky because so many people have done so many different versions, that it’s hard to sound very original. But, before they could protest she started to sing.