Fight Song

Chapter 5

Joe's PoV
Waiting to hear who won the solos was always nerve wracking. Because there were so many teams, only the dance captains of each team were allowed on the stage, even if they hadn't competed a solo. The rest of your team was in your dressing room with a guy reading over the radio announcements.

"Good luck bro," Caspar fistbumped me as we stood on the stage. All eyes were on me, Dianne and Briar. They knew it was down to us.

"The winner of the Elite Dance Internationals Miss Internationals Awards 2018 goes to...."

I crossed my fingers and prayed for Amy, but the look on Dianne's face told me Briar had it.

"Briar Lloyd from The Toronto School of Dance!"

The audience all cheered and we clapped politely as Briar went up to accept her trophy. She stuck her tongue out at Dianne as she walked back to her place, which annoyed me a bit. No need to be a bad winner.

"Now to announce Mr Internationals..."

I closed my eyes, praying I'd done enough to beat Milo and Andrew.

"Joe Sugg from the British Dance Company!"

I grinned and jumped up, collecting my award as the audience cheered. I sat back down smiling, imagining the joy on my team's face right now. I looked over to Dianne, who looked very upset. I knew she was competition but I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She'd wanted to win so badly.

———

"JOEEEEEEE!!!!!" Zoe screamed and jumped on me the moment I stepped into our dressing room.

"JOE!!" Everyone else grinned and yelled and clapped, congratulating me on my win. It felt amazing, but I felt bad for Amy - she'd worked so hard.

"Amy you did amazing too," I smiled at her.

"Thank you," Amy smiled. "Honestly dancing that was the best feeling ever, I don't even care all that much that I didn't win."

"You're such a good loser," I smiled at her. "You're literally the heart and soul of this team."

"Thanks, Joe," she smiled, then walked back over to Sophia and Cinzia.

Just then, Shirley came over to me with a note from the Internationals board. They wanted all the dance captains to meet in the main theatre immediately, and it didn't give a reason.
I headed out, making my way towards the main theatre as the audience were filtering out. Friday only had a matinee show, so today's performances were over. What could they possibly want from us?

I saw Caspar walking and immediately ran up to him. "Caspar!"

"Joe," he smiled. "Any idea what this is about?"

"Not a clue, mate," I shrugged. "But it's Internationals I guess, they like to keep us on our toes."

"True," he chuckled.

We entered the auditorium that was by now almost completely empty, and sat in the stalls next to a bunch of others who'd already arrived, Briar and Dianne among them, though they were sat probably as far away from each other as they possibly could. We waited probably about ten more minutes for everyone to arrive, and then one of the members of the Internationals board took to the stage, causing us to all hush.

"Now, you're all probably wondering why you've been called here on such short notice," the man said calmly. "As you are aware, The Elite Dance Internationals is one of the most prestigious dance competitions in the world and the most recognised among young dancers. Because of this, we like to spice things up a little each year. This year you may have noticed how we didn't require any duets to be choreographed. Some of you might have choreographed them anyway, but it's pointless as you won't need them. For this week, we will be assigning you a dance partner from another team, and you are to choreograph a duet with each other to be performed for the next round, which will be on Monday. This means you have the whole weekend to rehearse with the partner we give you, and then 52 teams will become 26 as half of you will be eliminated."