Chapter 12: the Joanne Saga

First Day Of Training

Dianne's POV

My name is Dianne Buswell, and this year I will be starting my second year as a professional dancer on the brilliant show called Strictly Come Dancing! YouTube star Joe Sugg is my partner for this year's journey, and I couldn't be happier! On the launch day I could feel Joe's nerves and I could tell that he was out of his comfort zone, but as soon as we were paired up, I knew this partnership was going to be something special. And I definitely couldn't turn down the invite to his twenty-seventh birthday party the day the launch episode aired. We had such a great time, even if I did end up getting a bit drunk. Luckily, my good friend Amy was there to drag me out of there at the end of the party, before I could do any more embarrassing damage, and I slept it all off at her place for the night. I had known Amy from when I joined the show in 2017, as she was also a newbie pro too, as well as a nice Ukrainian lady called Nadiya Bychkova, and we've been best friends ever since. Amy may be a few years younger than me, but she felt like the big sister I never had, and she felt like the mother figure of the tight group that is the Strictly pro family.

When I woke up, I had one banging headache. Thank god the rehearsals started tomorrow. If they started today, I would have to cut a few hours off the training schedule, to leave time for both me and Joe to sleep off our hangovers, as I'm sure he's got a large hangover too, it was his birthday after all, not mine, and properly sober up. It would've been very unprofessional to waste precious training time for a silly reason, and I hated rehearsing late. So, I was so thankful it wasn't today, so I could get as drunk as I like! Well, not as I like, but hey, I'm twenty-nine! I'll be thirty next year! Life's too short, and you only live it once! I had a quick wash and got dressed, then I staggered into the dining room. Amy was already wide awake and sitting at the table, writing in a slightly large notepad and eating a banana.

"Good morning, Party Animal," she quipped as I made my way to the coffee machine, "Headache medicine is in the cupboard above you."

"Thanks, Ames..." I moaned as I downed a couple of pills for my headache, "I'm so sorry to be a bother..."

"Don't say that darling. You had fun at Joe's party, and that's all that matters," Amy reassured me, "Besides, I'm always more than happy to help you out. Just say the word, and I'll be there, straight away."

"Thank you, Amy. I'm so glad I have someone to trust like you," I said, as I took a seat with a mug of coffee and a bowl of granola cereal. I pointed to her notepad, "What you doing there?"

"Planning the choreography for my first dance with Danny," Amy explained, "We're doing a Foxtrot to the Top Cat Theme." Amy had been partnered up with the actor Danny John-Jules for this year's Strictly. I'm guessing the style of dance and the song was a reference to one of his most famous roles in the TV show Red Dwarf.

"I bet you five pounds he won't get you further than Brian!" I winked at her, talking about her first Strictly partner, the comedian Brian Conley.

"And I bet you five pounds he will get me further than Bri!" Amy retorted playfully.

"Oh, it is on!" I accepted her challenge and we roared with laughter. "Hey, can you lend me some paper please?" I asked, "And a pen. I might as well spend the day choreographing Joe and I's dance for tomorrow."

"Oh, sure. Here you go, darling," Amy tore out some pages of her notepad and got out a spare pen and handed it to me, and I got to writing. I was going to make Joe's first dance an experience he will never forget!

Monday had rolled around quickly, and the first day of training had officially started. I got to the training studio at an earlier time, as well as the film crew, as this was standard that they come at least once per day to film our progress and stuff for the VT that will play just before our dance. One of the crew had told me that they had given Joe a phone that looks like his own and instructed him to film him coming into the studio for the first time, as if he were vlogging for his channel. In the meantime, I set the studio up and went a little over the dance I've choreographed. Then I heard a knock at the door, and as the crew were filming it, as they needed Joe's reaction to what his first dance will be on camera, I knew it was him.