what if's · tns oneshots

6 · [ alternate ]

noah pov

I groaned as my insane friend dragged me through the studio, it's not exactly like I wanted to be here. Ever since Miss Kate lost the studio to Lucien, things had been different.

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(Set in a different version of S3 · Only half of A-Troupe won the dance battles and they're stuck with elite dancers they know are not as technically skilled. Miss Kate was forced to leave and now everyone always dreaded coming to rehearsal. Lucien's daughter, Richelle ( in this story ), is watching her father lead a-troupe rehearsal. )

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thalia pov

"Noah!" I exclaimed, waiting for him to hurry up. He insisted that there was no rush but we are already late to rehearsal! He can be so ignorant sometimes.

I carried on and quickly made my way to Studio A, with the brown haired boy following behind me. We were usually always late and it didn't look good on A-Troupe at all. "Why are you late this time?" Lucien growled. I shoved Noah forward. "Because.. I tripped over my cat." Well done, Noah. Well done. I elbowed him before we joined the rest of the troupe on the dance floor.

Max, Shantel, Cierra and Daniel had become part of our team for Internationals. Plus, Tess. We lost six valid members of our team that had to try and fight for spots on the team going to the internationals.

James, Eldon, West, Noah, Chloe, Giselle and Myself had managed to get past it. All twelve of us each had something that made us survive the round of cuts. During that time, we lost loads of great dancers. Riley, Amanda, Hunter, Emily and Michelle. The rivalry that caused so much tension was unreal. I barely expected to beat Nick at all. He was so much taller, stronger and more acro trick based than me. Yet, I still made it on.

The only thing I can do now is be grateful that I'm still an a-trouper. What is there to complain about? I haven't been kicked off or anything. Loads of my friends are still here too and we are doing pretty well.

"You didn't have to elbow me!" he winced. "Stop using the cat as an excuse! We haven't seen him since yesterday!" I shout-whispered. "Whatever." Joining the others, it instantly turned back into two groups. The elites stayed over to the left and we stay over a bit more to the right of the dance floor.

"You guys are ridiculous. We have to get going on the dances." Giselle said, standing up from a previous stretch she was doing. We all stared at her blankly. We lost our studio and now we are going as The Elite Step. The name sounds so ugly and it abbreviates into T.E.S. which Tess, herself, brags about. Calling it 'Her Studio' and saying that she owns the dancers. Obvious why Amanda tried to avoid her in the first place.

The Elite dancers stared at us. "Can any of you even dance?" Shantel asked. Her tone was very sassy and full of annoyance. What does she have to be annoyed about? I swear she is dance captain. "That's why we're here, dumb bitch." James spoke up all of a sudden. Suppose he had enough with the things that were going on.

Me, Noah and Chloe all did some pirouettes which happened to be in actual sync. We counted as the more technical type. A lot of contemporary, lyrical, jazz etc.

"Fouettes?" "Fouettes." We even added in some fouettes before I ended my turns by doing them into an illusion, making it a combo. Chloe and Noah copied, one after the other in order to keep in synchronized. That was actually a good idea.

Shantel and Tess rolled their eyes. It was safe to say that we do have a lot of stronger dancers. Although, it seems possible I might become an alternate. I mean, I don't want it to happen but I doubt I can avoid it in any way.

Lucien came out of the office with a petite brunette. I supposed she is somewhat close to him in some kind of way. She has to be. We already have our international troupe that us former TNS dancers have to accept. It makes me wonder what the original internationals team would've looked like. "Listen up! Today I will be deciding alternates and my lovely daughter, Richelle, will be helping me decide!"

Knew it. That's his daughter. I looked over at Noah and Eldon. They both looked at me and we were just mouthing things to each other. "Do you think I'm going to be an alternate?" Noah mouthed to me. "He can't put his best dancers on the bench, No. You and Eldon are totally safe." I mouthed back, only to be interrupted by Lucien who started talking again.

"There will a few rounds. Handstands, Balance and flexibility then different styles of dance that require dancers that I think suit each style best to perform a group dance which will show the better dancers and the weaker ones." Eliminating, not a bad idea. Even though I hate Lucien, this way of preparing for who will be the alternates is actually kind of fair I guess.

He told us to get into a space across the floor. We all spread out and got into a fair amount of space for the first round of elimination. "Handstand! Make sure you hold it until I say so!" We all did handstands very carefully and I made sure it looked gracefully as opposed to messy. My chances need to be lowered.

Everyone appeared to be holding theirs pretty well. He then told us to do the splits whilst in that handstand. I guess this is where the balance and flexibility comes into play. "Hold it!" he shouted, looking around as people were starting to shake.

"Legs up!" We all went back into the original handstand pose. Although, some people fell. Tess was first to fall, I think anyways. Upper body strength is key when you're a dancer. It went silent. People began to drop out and stuff but me, Noah and Giselle were still going strong. I suppose Eldon, Chloe, James and West just dropped out. Balance can be very tricky.

Daniel, Cierra and Max were going strong as well. This meant we had to at least tie with one Elite dancer to prove our worth.

"over into the splits!" The hardest bit of it. Handstand forwards into the splits. I slowly moved my right leg over so it slid back as my left leg went over in front. I was on the ground, in the splits. Looking over, Giselle had managed it as well.

We were all hoping Noah could do it as well. "Come on, Noah!" He had to do it. He did the exact same method as I did and managed to do it too. All before the elite dancers did. Max and Cierra followed but Daniel had just about failed. Yikes.

Lucien's face was priceless. "That took a lot of control, balance and flexibility - New elites, you have surpassed all my expectations of quality components that go into dance. I didn't mention control but I expected it and, I got it. Old Elites, get up!" All three of us got back up along with the 'old elites', smiling graciously.

"You did it. Congrats." James whispered to me. No matter what happens, the seven of us will always have each other.. I just hope all of us can make it on that international stage without being alternated.

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(a/n: tried something new, sorry if it is a bit messed up. S3 was one of my favourite seasons and I thought why not write something a bit more outside my comfort zone.

- for: Anyone :) + tordansdolphin