UPSIDE DOWN. (aldc)

nine

"Please welcome to the stage act number 450 Snow White." We hear the announcer say from the side of the stage.

We walk on with straight legs and pointed feet and powerful expressions. The first 30 second of the dance was just me dancing with the other girls who played the dwarfs in the movie. We did a turn sequences into an illusion and fell to the ground only to look up and witness the evil queen with the poison apple. The rest of the dance was the other dwarfs trying to persuade me not to eat the apple even though the woman has offered it to me, in the end, I eat the apple which causes me to fall to the ground and die. The acting was really amazing and because all of us girls were a little bit mad at each other it made it a little bit easier for Kaylee to poison me with the apple. As we finished the dance I looked out into the crowd to see Abby clapping and looking directly at me. When making eye contact she gives me a wink before leaning over and saying something in Gianna's ear. Since I am dead the end of the dance the other dwarfs had to carry me off stage. As the girls picked me up I saw them look at me with annoyed eyes and as soon as we got backstage they dropped me on the ground which didn't really hurt.

As I walk over to the complimentary water bottles handed out by the backstage crew I see the ALDC team trying to reblock their routine while JoJo stands awkwardly to the side and looks at the girls. She notices me near the water table and walks over pushing her blonde hair out of her face and behind her ear. She grabs a water bottle and smiles at me weirdly and I can tell she is gonna say something rude to me.

"You know I can just smell the desperation on you," she says to me calmly as she takes a sip of her water.

I roll my eyes at the blonde and continue drinking my water trying my best to ignore her.

"You tried so hard to get Abby to notice you and then you rat me and my mom out to the moms," she says again trying to get me worked up.

"Actually I was just being a nice person and warning the girls that not everyone on the team was a team player," I say sassily to her as she looks at me with wide eyes.

"Oh and also it's not my fault that Abby noticed me I mean let's face it my dancing is amazing compared to yours," I add to the end which really set her off.

After I said that to her she flipped her hair again and walked off to her previous place against the wall with her head looking down at her phone. When she walks away I decide to be a little petty so I walk over to the girls trying to reblock their number. They all greet me with a smile but I can tell they are all trying to concentrate really hard.

"Hey, how about you guys run the dance for me and I can give you guys a couple of pointers," I suggest to the group and they all get ready for their big turn sequence. They all nod their head and start the dance from the top.

It's not hard to see that the girls are missing a large part of the dance since JoJo wasn't there. After running through the dance a couple times I start to pick up the choreography which was a little challenging but I got the hang of it. I joined in on the part where JoJo should be and did 6 pirouettes into a firebird leap. I continued the dance with the rest of the girls and I glanced at them to make sure I was getting the movements right. A few minutes later I had the dance down and it was fairly easy after I got the hang of it. By the time we finished the dance, the girls had to be on in 15 minutes which wasn't really much time to perfect the way they reblocked it. Finally, Brynn spoke up with an idea she thought was really good.

"What if we ask Abby if Katie can be in the dance and then we put her in JoJo's costume," she says with a hopeful look on her face.

All the other girls start shaking their heads and responding with "yeah" and "oh my god that would work" while I stand there stunned. They all look at me for confirmation and I finally give in when Kenzie gives me puppy dog eyes that were impossible to say no to. We all run out of the backstage area and to the dressing room where we are met with Abby and the moms without Jess.

"What are you girls doing back here it's almost time for the dance," Abby says to the girls with a confused face.

"Well Mrs.Abby we were thinking that Katie could put on JoJo's costume and take JoJo's spot in the dance," Maddie explains to Abby with a smile on her face.

Abby immediately looks back surprised and stunned that we would even suggest that.

"Girls even If we could put the costume on her she doesn't know the dance," Abby says back to us matter of factly.

"Actually Mrs.Abby I ran through the routine with the girls a couple of times backstage and I know how to do it," I speak up earning a look from Abby, the moms, and the girls.

Abby says nothing else but she goes over to her dance suitcase and pulls out a sparkly blue two-piece costume that looks beautiful. She throws the costume over to me and I immediately got behind the ALDC sign and change into the costume. With only a couple minutes until the group has to go on Gianna quickly sews a blue end piece in my hair. After getting dressed and my headpiece sewed in us girls quickly run backstage right as the group before we were going on stage to dance. We quickly run through the routine again and halfway through it really hits me. I was acting as a swing for JoJo Siwa and I was dancing with the ALDC which my mom didn't even know about. Before I could find a way to tell her I hear the group dance get called on to the stage and I can see JoJo out the corner of my eye giving me dirty looks. I shake it off and proceed walking on stage with the girls and as soon as I make eye contact with Abby I knew that I could do this and I knew she had faith in me. I look towards the crowd to see my mom and the other moms from the team looking at me with confused and surprised faces while Mrs.Fowler gave me the biggest smile ever which made me feel even better.