Relevé to the Top

Chapter 3. Stealing the Show

"Let's talk about Starbound competition," Abby starts the pyramid. "Can we have a round of applause? Whoo-hoo!" The girls clap. "Okay. So, Brooke blew them away; the people behind me were in awe when you did that handstand twist."

Lexie grins. Last week was their first win of the season, and it was to a really pretty routine that Brooke led. She's very excited that they finally have a win under their belt.

"But why all the drama with the hip. If you are seriously injured, you don't need to go to your Mother and get everybody all worked up. You come to me, and that needs to be clear. Yes?"

"I wanna talk about this week's competition. Do you see there's somebody new on top? Yes, Brooke, you are here because of your performance; you worked through an injury, you did what you had to do, you were a team play. You are getting a solo this week. Chloe, Maddie, Lexie, you are also getting solos this weekend. The bottom row, what am I supposed to do with you four? You need to step it up. You need to get your butts back into class and start working on your technique. And you know what? Since we're in Pittsburgh this weekend, I'm gonna give every single one of you a solo."

Abby looks over at the moms. "Mom's it's going to be a busy week this week. I expect them to be amazing. Sit up straight. Ladies, let's go. Abby sends the moms away while the girls start warming up.

After warmups were over, Lexie leaves the rest of the girls and heads over to studio 'C.' When she got there, Beck was already waiting for her.

"I'm not gonna lie, this week is going to be tough for you," Beck admits to her. "Everybody is learning a new solo; you're learning a ballet routine. You're going to perform 'Darkest Rose,' and the ballet routine, 'Fairy NightSongs.' Two weeks ago, you did not win; you need to win this week. Abby is letting us use this room for two hours, so we need to be effective."

He claps once, rubbing his hands together. "We're gonna start with the ballet routine. Walk to center, and your feet should be fourth open, arms in third. The music will start, and you'll bring your arms to second, releve come to third, releve come to third. Sus-sous to the right and come to third, coupe come to third. And you repeat that combo two more times, but the sus-sous after this one should be to your left. Do it for me."

Lexie does it for him, making sure to remember to sus-sous to the left the second time she does it. She does it once again while Beck makes corrections on her posture before doing thrice to the music.

"Let's move on," Beck tells him. "Go back to sus-sous, and move back, at the same time you're going to bring your arms to third, and shift. Do that for four counts, then bring your feet to fourth crossed. From there, you're going to arabesque, arabesque, going forward, right. You finish that last arabesque and grand battement. I don't want a small one; I want it big. Get that leg as high as you can. You're going to repeat that combo, and then glissade, glissade, attitude. Let me see it."

Once again, Lexie repeats his movements, twice without the music, thrice with the music, and then thrice from the beginning.

"I think we got pretty far today," Beck tells her. "We'll finish the last 30 seconds tomorrow. Run it, run 'Darkest Rose,' and the rest of the week will be practice, practice, practice," he gives her a noogie. "Until it's ingrained in your brain."

Lexie pushes his arm away, sticks her tongue out at him, and then turns towards the door. "Bye, I'm leaving now."

He chuckles. "Bring your pointe shoes tomorrow."

"I will," she agrees, waving him off.

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