Richelle's Story - After The Injury

6. Getting Serious

Now that Richelle had her title back and the whole team were settled and happy once again, it was time to start thinking about the qualifying video. The troupe had decided that their video's concept would be having an injured dancer, and the team guiding them through to victory. They thought that this was appropriate as it was based on their own struggles. Richelle was going to be the injured dancer and the rest of the team were helping her. They knew what the competition was like since competing last year. The team choreographed their dance and rehearsed it from 7:30am to 10:00pm that day, desperate to make it through to regionals once again.

The next day, the team members each walked into studio 1, one by one for the busy day of dance ahead of them. Lola, who was the last dancer to arrive, hurried into the studio where Emily, Michelle and the team were waiting for her. "Okay guys, Emily and I have ordered your costumes for the video, they look amazing and we hope you like them! They will cost $32 each" Michelle explained to them. The team were all so happy, Lola and Richelle were hugging, Noah and Henry doing their hip hop handshakes and the general atmosphere was calm and happy. Suddenly, a pained look washed over Heather's face. She knew she would have to face a lot if she wanted the costume, AND to pay for regionals if they qualify. She was really starting to worry as her financial situation had worsened a lot since last competitive season. Heather knew that in order to be loyal to her team, and to get to compete with them, she had to talk to Emily and Michelle, which wasn't going to be easy for her.

"Guys, get to work as Michelle and I have a lot of work to do if we're going to get TNS to regionals! Richelle, lead warm up please!" Emily insisted. Michelle and Emily went back into the office to start getting the team to regionals. After around an hour, warm up had finished and rehearsal was about to start and Emily had gone to make a cup of tea for the two hard working studio heads. While everyone took a 5 minute break, Heather saw her chance to talk to Michelle. She went for it. "Michelle, have you got a minute?" Heather whispered. "Sure, what's bothering you, Heather?" Michelle replied warmly. "Well you know my financial situation, it's got worse since last season and I'm really not sure how I can balance work and dance out." "I'm so sorry to hear that! The best I can do is to maybe offer you a job either cleaning the studio or teaching baby ballet. With either of those jobs, you will earn enough money to pay for regionals." Michelle sighed sympathetically. "Heather immediately looked grateful. "Sure, any one of those would be good for me, thank you so much!" "No problem! All I have to do is to speak to Emily, and I will get back to you as soon as possible!" "Thanks Michelle, it's so nice to know I can count on you" Michelle felt amazing that she had helped out Heather, now all she had to do was clear it with Emily.

Class started up again, hours passed and all the dancers were working incredibly hard still. Michelle, Emily and Richelle were so proud of them! "Okay, thank you so much guys! You all did amazing in rehearsal today, I'm sorry it was so long, but we have to train so hard if we're going to even make it to the competition, let alone win it! See you all tomorrow bright and early, goodbye!" "Goodbye, Richelle, thank you!" The team gushed, one by one. Each member began leaving one by one, with smiles on their faces, knowing they had done their studio heads, their dance captain and themselves proud, what a team!