It won't keep us apart

Chapter 25: Round one

"Now I'm with you

Sitting on top, 

Sitting on top of the world."

Richelle's POV
Regionals. I can't believe that I'm finally back here again, but this time, we're not leaving without the trophy. All the small groups are performing today, the duet included. This year, I have higher hopes for A-troupe, thanks to Emily and Michelle. It'll be tougher in the senior advanced division, but we're ready.

"Hey Richelle, there's something that I've been thinking a lot about lately and I need to tell you about it," Noah seems a little unhappy, but I'll let him talk.

"What is it?" 

"I've only told one other person this, but – " 

Noah was cut off by Kingston, who said, "There you are dance captain, we've got the contemporary group dance next."

As they leave, I felt really confused. What could there possibly be to talk about? 

Noah's POV

Waiting backstage before performing is nerve racking. This is the last dance for the day - the dance that needs to push us up to the top three. Otherwise, our chances will be blown yet again. I don't want to end my time on A-troupe with defeat. I want to see tns get back up there and make it past Regionals, then Nationals and even Internationals.

I'm pacing back and forth as Richelle is warming up. Earlier, I was meant to break the news about my departure to her, but I didn't get the chance. Kingston dragged me away from her so we could get ready for the contemporary small group.

This is it. I've finally decided what I want to do. After Jacquie broke up with me, everything made sense. If I'm going, then I have to learn to move on.

"Richelle."

She pauses and turns her attention to me. I begin my speech with a quick pep talk. Everything will be fine as long as we both give it our all. Bring in the emotions into the duet. Richelle nods knowingly. I take a deep breath and carried onto how much I appreciate our friendship from the very start.

Richelle holds a hand up and I immediately stop speaking. "Wait, you're acting like you're leaving or something. Are you?"

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do after this, but I'll explore whatever opportunities are out there for me, yeah?" She watches me with watery eyes, and I realise that mine are too.

We walk together to the side of the stage, my arm around her shoulders. 
I pull away and face her. "If you fall, I'll be there to catch you."
She nods and before she could say anything else, a voice booms from the speakers.

"Can The Next Step make their way onto the stage?" and she hurries across the stage to her position.

The music starts and Richelle glides across the stage. In the wings, I wait for my cue. All my emotions are everywhere. I can still feel the tears in my eyes.

As she travels back across the stage. I join her, only to see that she runs away. Our duet is about revisiting the memories that happened with a lost loved one. She's a ghost who can see me, but I can't. The storyline is so beautiful.

While we dance, I keep my eyes on her. Richelle's eyes are shining with tears, but she has managed to bring in a soft smile as she moves. 

There's no one else that I share that history with. Just me and her.
Our journey has been a long road with a few bumps along the way and I'm glad we sorted our issues out this season. 

I lift her high up into the air, and the music fades away. The audience bursts into applause as I bring her back down and we bow. I slip my arm around her and we walk off stage. 

Even Michelle and Emily are quite emotional after our performance as they congratulate us with hugs. Everyone else on A-troupe gathered around us.
"You took that dance to a whole other level. That was amazing," I held her hands in mine.
"Wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else," she smiles gratefully.

The host announces that all team captains have to go on stage. I proceed onstage and take my place beside another dancer. If we don't get into the top three, then it's over. My second Regionals gone down the drain.

"Coming in first place, Miss Angela's Encore Dance Studio!"

"In second place, we have... Acronation!"

I clench my hands together. This is the moment we've all been waiting for. "And in third place..."

"THE NEXT STEP!"

A-troupe is ecstatic. Emily and Michelle are shocked beyond words. Everyone runs onto the stage, Richelle in the lead. She pulls me into the tightest hug. "We did it!" she squealed in an un-Richelle like way.

We all embrace each other, feeling relieved and joyful at the same time. In other words, I can't describe how awe-struck I am. After all, it feels awesome to be back in another competition.
We've worked so hard to get here, and now we're up in the finals.

A/N: AHH I FINALLY FINISHED WRITING THIS CHAPTER (don't mind the caps, I'm just really proud that I motivated myself to get this done). 

Also, just to point this out, Noah's speech to Richelle actually does make sense now (compared to the actual episode itself) as I wrote this story to rebuild their friendship - sorry for disappointing the Nochelle shippers though.

One final note, this book is nearly coming to an end and I would like to thank you all for following on with my book as I update it (and I apologise for the delays to numerous chapters in the past). 

Whether you're reading this right after I update, or after this book is completed, I just want to let you all know that every read, vote and comment means a lot to me :)

- Ali <3