ALDC ~ DANCE

four

chapter 4:
"Everyone please welcome Raina!" A girl with curly red hair walks into the studio.

"Raina!" I scream and tackle her in a hug. She was one of my best friends from dance that weren't on the elite team.

"Fi! I missed you so much!" She says, recovering from the hug.

I giggle as we stand next to each other in line.

"Girls, Raina will be the replacement for Kendall this week. And who knows? Maybe I'll keep her." We all nod, excited to start the group dance.

"Alright girls, stretch, then we can start the group routine." We all nod and start stretching.

Once we finish stretching, Abby starts to work on the group routine. Raina is really good, which is something I noticed during rehearsal.

The dance is called Boundaries, and it is about a girl (me!) who is being pushed back by the boundaries people set for her.

It has a lot of hard partner work, but it's really fun. There is one trick I have to do with Raina that was really tricky, so we both decided we would practice it later.

About 1 hour later, after we finished the group routine, Abby called me and Maddie in to talk to us about something.

Maddie and I walk into the Oscar room, curious of what Abby has to say.

"Girls, I have some good news!" Maddie and I both smile and grab hands. "Maddie has been asked to do a photo shoot, and they said she could bring one friend."

Maddie smiles and I smile back. We both already know what's happening.

"I figured, since you girls have been best friends for all of your lives, you would want to do it together."

Abby says, smiling at me. Maddie and I look at each other with wide eyes and start nodding our heads like crazy.

"Okay, it's tomorrow, so you would miss that last day of rehearsal before competition. It's not you I'm worried about, though."

Maddie and I thank Abby and walk out of the room while she calls the trio in again.

During lunch, Maddie and I tell all of the girls about the photo shoot, and they seem genuinely happy for us. I can't say the same about the moms.

***

The next day, I wake up excited to go to the photo shoot with Maddie. My mom is going to drive us because Melissa is carpooling today.

At 9:00, Maddie knocks on my door and we let her in. She comes early enough to have breakfast with me, and my mom males us waffles for the special occasion.

After breakfast, we get changed. I change into my grey PINK leggings and pink sweatshirt, because I know they'll be doing hair, makeup, and costumes there. I keep my hair down.

As soon as Maddie and I are done changing, we grab our matching black mini backpacks, phones, and put our matching adidas sneakers on. Then, we head out.

In the car, we listen to a bunch of throwback songs. We also play with different snapchat filters.

Once we finally get there, we head into the building and are immediately shown to the hair and makeup room while my mom waits in the waiting room outside with our bags.

"Hi! I'm Kelsey." A lady with blue, short hair says. She has on black boots, leggings, and a tank top, with a plaid tied around her waist. "I'll be doing Maddie's hair and makeup."

The other lady steps forward. She has brown, wavy hair, and is wearing a white shirt and ripped jeans. "And I'm Hannah." She says. "You must be Fiona."

I nod, smiling. "I'll be doing your hair and makeup today." She leads me to a chair next to Maddie and we get our makeup done together. It's just a natural makeup. Then, they start our hair. Hannah just puts mine in lose curls, and Kelsey does Maddie's the same.

"Now, costumes!" They both say after admiring their work (us!). I get one red dress with white flowers paired with black and white checkered vans, and a black dress with white flowers and a jean jacket.

Once we get in costumes, they take us to a field outside and we take some pictures there. Then, they bring us to a street and we take some pictures on the street.

They take a couple pictures of us by ourselves, then some together.

A couple hours later, the photo shoot is done. They say that we will get the pictures by competition. I love them so much!

We thank Hannah and Kelsey, then we need to leave and go back to the studio.

I hope the photo shoot doesn't make any of the moms mad.

***

By the time we get back to the studio, it's already 4:30 and we're working on the group.

Maddie and I quickly change into our dance clothes.

I'm wearing a maroon sports bra and high waisted black dance shorts. Because my hair was down for the photo shoot, I just pulled it back into a ponytail, and Maddie did the same.

We quickly walk into the room and place ourselves into the dance with the other girls.

Once we finish running it, Abby asks us how the photo shoot was. Maddie and I say it was really fun, but we get interrupted by Ashlee coming in.

"What photo shoot, Abby?" Maddie and I give each other a look that means, oh no. We stand with the rest of the girls while Ashlee and Abby start screaming.

"Maddie and Fiona were asked to take Part in a photo shoot this morning." Abby says, matter-of-factly.

"Why wasn't Brynn asked? Fiona's not even on the team!" Ashlee screams.

"Maddie was asked to bring a plus one, and she chose Fiona." Maddie and I grab hands.

"What? You didn't let her chose someone actually on the team?" Abby shakes her head.

"Fiona may as well be on the team, though." Ashlee storm out of the room and grabs her purse. We hear her say, "I'm done with this!" And she leaves the building.

I turn to Brynn and see that she has tears in her eyes. I go over to hug her, but Abby stops us.

"Run it again." I look to Brynn, and mouth sorry, and she nods her head. We get in positions.

After the group routine, we are all in the dancer's den while Maddie is running her solo.

"Brynnie," I say, looking up from my phone. "Do you want my mom to drive you home?"

Brynn nods her head and I bring her to where the moms are sitting.

"Hey mom, can we drive Brynn home?" My mom, having heard the fight, nods her head.

When we get back into the dancer's den, we hear Kalani, Raina, and Mackenzie talking about Kendall and what is going to happen.

"I heard she'll be competing against Maddie and Fiona." Kenzie says as I sit down next to her.

I just ignore it and start talking to Evan Miller, who is in my tap, lyrical, hiphop, and ballroom classes. He's a really good dancer.

Later, after I finish running my solo, Evan and I go to Studio B for tap class. We learn a really fun combo, but it's also really hard.

Eventually, we all leave the studio and go to our homes. I fall asleep with the fear of losing the competition. If I win this, I could get on the team. For good.