Dancing The Dream (Dance Moms, Autumn Miller, Sophia Lucia & Mia Diaz Fanfiction)

Chapter Thirty Three || Mackenzie's POV (Part One)

Chapter Thirty Three || Mackenzie's POV (Part One)

Published: 19th of July, 2014

***A/N Some of you were a bit confused about why Maddie, Chloe, Paige and Autumn did that, and this chapter and the next are your explanation! I love how angry at Nick you guys were in the comments :') I had so much inspiration for this chapter! It was only going to be about a page long, but I kept writing and writing and now you've got a massively long update!***

I stare out of the window. I'm not even going to hide it - I'm bored. We're in a double Math lesson today and we're doing long division. It sucks. I'd rather be anywhere but here.

The window shows the corridor and the line of busy classrooms and lockers along it. You'd think that because this is mainly a dance school they wouldn't take lessons so seriously, but no. They work us hard academically too, saying that if our dancing career fails or we have to retire because of injuries, we'll always have a back up.

I like it. At home, when I was home schooled, I felt like Mom didn't care about my learning. It was always a far second to dance. But now that I'm actually doing lessons, I've realised that I'm quite clever. Not super super clever like some of the people in my school back home, but clever. I'm an A grade student now and I'm top of my class in Literacy and Music.

Suddenly, I see the school receptionist from the office walking briskly down the corridor. She knocks on the door to Room 14, where Maddie's class is doing Spanish, and walks in, shutting the door behind her. I wonder what that's about.

I don't have to wait too long to find out. The receptionist comes out of the classroom with Chloe, Paige, Autumn and Maddie. She looks kind enough, but they look pretty scared and are sneaking glances at each other.

"Kenzie!" my friend Hazel nudges me. "You should concentrate! She said she'd only go over this once!" Hazel is one of those people who knows everyone and everything. She's friends with everybody and is possibly the most helpful person I know. Which is why I ask her in a whisper,

"Why would the receptionist take my sister and her friends out of a class?"

She looks at me, wide eyed. "The only reason she would do that," she whispers back, "is if they were in trouble with the headmistress."

"So Hazel, Mackenzie, what do you think the answer is?" the teacher asks pointedly. The whole class turns round and I feel my face flush red. I hate when teachers single you out like that when they know you haven't been listening, just to embarrass you. "Pay more attention girls, or when it comes to exams next year you're going to have serious problems!"

As much as I care about what she's saying (obviously), I can't help worrying about Maddie. She's never in trouble. She's always been the teachers' pet wherever she goes. Did Chloe and the others force her to change those things about herself? Or was it her? And why? Oh, and where's Nick in all of this?

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At break time, I go to the cafeteria under the pretense of getting an apple. I know that Autumn will be there with Kendall, watching her eat, like she does every day. Kendall's been kind of AWOL recently and I haven't seen much of her, except in the dorm at night, when she's very quiet.

I find them easily and sit down with my apple across from them. Autumn's got new earrings in (long feathery ones, which are banned in school) and she's messed up her hair like Maddie did yesterday. The school day dress code clearly states that no dance clothing should be worn and students should have no inappropriate skin showing, but Autie's wearing a dance crop top under a very loose tank top, and a miniskirt.

"Hey, Kenzie!' she says brightly.

Hey," Kendall adds, picking half-heartedly at a strawberry yoghurt. She makes a face.

"Are you okay?" Autie asks.

"Yeahhh..." I say, "I just wanted to ask you something."

"Fire away," she says, pushing the yoghurt that Kendall pushed away back towards her, with a no-nonsense look on her face.

"I was just wondering what happened yesterday, with Maddie and everyone."

Autumn sighs. "Did she tell you what happened with Nick?"

"No!" I say, slightly hurt that she didn't, and pretty worried about what Nick could possibly have done to earn so bad a reaction from my sister.

"He was cheating on her," Autumn says slowly. "With Kayla. He cancelled Maddie's date to see her, but we found out. He wasn't even planning to tell Maddie, he was going to carry on going out with her!"

"Nick would do that?!" I say, stunned. It's shocking. I mean, I've heard rumours, but I didn't realise there was any truth in them. Nick, who taught me how to do my own braids and did flying angels with me, would hurt my sister so badly?

"He was telling Kayla that it was because Maddie was too young for him, and too immature," Autie continues. "She didn't listen to any more - she was so angry she just went off. We tried to talk to her, but she didn't want to listen to us. After she got herself together a bit, she said that it was time for her to change, that she didn't want to be 'little' anymore."

I sigh. I suddenly see where all this is going.

"So we went into town and got the streaks in our hair. Chloe said that if we were serious about growing up, a few streaks wasn't enough. So I decided I wanted to pierce my ears. I've wanted to do it for years, but Mom wouldn't let me. They stayed with me while I did that, and then we went and bought new clothes. Maddie has this really beautiful blue dress... she said she didn't want it anymore, that it would always remind her of him. So she threw it in the trash when we left the store.

"We all just want to grow up. I mean, we did it because of what happened with Maddie, but I think we all wanted it too. She didn't force us into anything. We're not kids anymore- we're teenagers. We need to learn to be more mature."

Poor Maddie. If I knew where she was right now, I'd go and give her a massive hug.

"But Autie... growing up, it's not about wearing clothes that make you look sixteen, or piercing your ears, or being a rebel," I tell her. "It's about how you act, how you think."

"I agree with Kenzie," Kendall pipes up quietly.

Autumn pauses. "Okay," she says slowly. "I get what you're saying, I do, and I know that Chloe and Paige will too. But Maddie's hurt and angry. Nick was blatantly cheating on her and he wasn't even going to tell her about it. It's her first heartbreak, and this is her way of dealing with it. And we're helping her."

"What if I go to Nick and sort things out? Will you talk to her then, and try to make her see sense? The thing with Maddie is, she won't ever show if she's upset anymore. It all comes out as anger or indifference."

"I can try," Autie says.

"I'll help," Kendall adds, finishing her yoghurt. I smile.

"But what are you going to say to Nick?" Autie asks, interested.

"Nick... he won't know what's hit him," I reply, smiling triumphantly.

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