his little girl // jiley

Chapter XXXI

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C H A P T E R
T H I R T Y O N E
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Rileys POV

I SMILE AT Hazel and hug her, telling her how amazing she was, and she's practically glowing with pride, then Giselle runs over excitedly and streals her from me.

James comes over to me. "I'm going to go see the others before they go on stage," he says. I almost forgot he wa stage instructor for the junior team — so I nod and he goes off.

I head back to the audience to get my bag, which I left on the seat. I walk down the hallway with my hands in my pockets.

I get this strange feeling that someone's following me. I try to brush it off, but it won't go away. I'm too scared to look behind me.

Then someone grabs my arm and yanks it back. I let out a scream and I come face to face with Alfie. "There you are," he snarls.

"A–Alfie.."

"Where were you?" He asks it quietly but his eyes are mean and brooding. I try to answer, but my mouth won't cooperate.

"Where were you?" He says louder, yanking my arm hard. I wince. His hand is squeezing my arm so hard I can pretty much feel it bruising.

"At a friends..."

"Which friend?" He seethes.

"You... don't need... to know everything... about my life..." I say through the pain.

"Yes, I do!" He yells. "We're going home. NOW!"

He starts dragging me down the hall. I try and pull my hand away. He turns around angrily. "Why aren't you listening to me?"

"Because you can't control me!"

"Yes I can!" He punches me in the stomach. I fall backwards. "Fine. Don't come with me"

I look up at him from the ground. He kicks me in the stomach, in the same place he hit me last time.

"You monster," I say, tears running down my cheeks. My vision is going fuzzy around the edges. He's about to punch me again, I can tell.

Then I hear another male voice and I see James, and then him punching Alfie square in the jaw. Alfie falls backwards.

James rushes to my aid. "Riley! Oh my god, are you okay?"

I nod, tears running down my cheeks. He pulls me into a hug.

I hear him yell at Alfie, and Alfie yell back. In just a few seconds James and Alfie are back up on their feet.

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James's POV

I shove Alfie and he stumbles. "This is what you get for messing with my family," I say angrily.

Alfie tries to punch me, but I'm faster so I get him first. Blood is trickling down my lip but I ignore it. He looks worse.

"Just piss off, Alfie," I seethe. "And don't even think of coming back near us ever again."

Alfie looks like he's about to say something, but he doesn't, just storms away. I hug Riley again, and we stay that way for a while. 

"Come on," I finally say, "lets go and get cleaned up to see these results."

Riley sniffs and nods. She winces in pain as she stands up, but she smiles and walks on anyway.

"Do you think we'll ever have a drama free life?" Riley asks as we walk back to the changing room. I look over and see she's smiling slightly.

"Doubt it," I smile back.

"Can you just promise that with Lydia we'll be, like, normal?" Riley says.

I nod. "Yeah, of course."

We get to the changing room and it's empty. Riley sighs when she examines the cuts on my face.

My nose is bleeding, as is my lip, and I have an alarmingly bad black eye, but I refuse any help Riley offers, because I don't need it. I keep asking if her stomach is okay, but she tells me it's fine. Part of me believes she's been through worse, but I don't think about it.

"Are you sure I shouldn't call a doctor?" Riley says, biting her lip.

"Riley, I'm fine," I insist. "And I am trained in first aid...." I smirk.

She smiles and shakes her head. "James, the only thing you got from that course was a kiss from The Bingo Lady."

I wince. "No. We don't talk about that."

Riley laughs, and then she's interrupted by her phone beeping. She shows me the text;

Giselle - results are in 5 minutes – where are you??!!

I laugh slightly. "Let's go," I say to Riley.

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I brace myself as the announcements start to be called out, because the first category is solos in the Mini's — which is where Hazel competed.

I can see Hazel getting nervous. There's 80 solos entered in her catagory, she's probably petrified.

They start from 10th place and work their way down. Eventually the announcer calls out 3rd place and I'm filled with hope, and dread. Either she got a really high spot, or she didn't even place.

"2nd place is..." the announced says. Then he calls out a girl from another dance school.

Then he announces first place. Number. 49. What number was Hazel again?

But I don't need to remember, because Hazel jumps up happily to receive her award. I cheer and clap loudly, smiling with pride for my daughter — this girl is going places. Even though she's barely 6, it's obvious already.

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I don't even know where this books plot is going 😂
Hope this isnt too awful... lol.