My World (Michemily)

Chapter 10 - The Alternate Way

⚠️Warning: slight homphobia⚠️
Emily's POV:
Today was the day I was dreading. Choosing the alternates for Regionals. I had in mind a few people I wanted to perform a dance for me and Michelle to see who would be the final two. I arrived at the studio early to prepare myself. Michelle was in the lounge while I was in the office.
Before long it was 8am and the dancers started walking in.
"Reuben!" I shout as I spot him putting his things in his cubby.
"Yeah?" He asks, coming into the office.
"Can you go get Michelle from the lounge room? All three of us will be deciding alternates today." I say to him.
He nods and runs off.
"Alright dancers." I say, walking out to them all. "Today is the day we're choosing the alternates."
The dancers look around, worried.
"Okay so Michelle and I have been talking about who we are considering for the alternate spots." Michelle and Reuben walk in as I am saying this. "Each of the chosen dancers will improvise a solo for me, Michelle and Reuben. Then we'll decide who the two dancers are, okay?"
Everyone nods.
"Obviously Jamie and Kayla are excluded from this as they have the duet. So the dancers we have chosen are... Bailey, Marianne, Tiana and Patrick." Michelle says.
Everyone wishes them good luck before heading out the room, leaving only the four chosen dancers.
"You have five minutes to warm up before we get started." I say.
The five minutes went by quickly... too quickly.
"Alright Tiana, you're up first, followed by Bailey, then Patrick, then last but not least Marianne." Michelle says.
Tiana performs a beautiful lyrical solo. Michelle and I watch as Reuben takes notes.
Bailey then performs a contemporary dance. He looked like he had been practicing it for months.
Patrick dances a hip hop solo. His flow was impeccable but most of the dances are contemporary and even though he was great at it, we didn't know if he was good enough.
Finally, Marianne performs a ballet number. Improv has never been her strong suit but she was doing great.
"Thank you guys." Reuben says.
"We're gonna have a discussion about this. Meanwhile, go grab yourself a juice and meet us back here with the team in ten minutes." I say.
They nod and head off.
"So... what do you guys think?" Michelle asks.
After a really hard debate we decided on two dancers and A-Troupe came back into Studio A.
"Alright guys. This was a really tough decision but we've decided to go with..." I take a deep breath. "Patrick and Tiana."
I see the team pat the two dancers on the shoulders to show them support and they hug Marianne and Bailey congratulating them on being on the team.
"This is rubbish." Patrick says.
"Patrick I know-" Michelle says.
"Just be quiet Michelle, I'm talking. Why didn't you audition the whole team for the alternate spot, huh? I'm a better dancer than most of these people. And don't even get me started on the blatant favouritism you show to Reuben. I guess all you gays stick together." He shouts with rage.
"Patrick that's enough!" I yell.
"Don't be stupid Patrick. Reuben's not gay, are you Reuben?" Alison asks.
"No." Reuben says before running off in embarrassment.
"Reuben!" I run after him to see if he's okay.

Michelle's POV:
My body filled with anger.
"What the hell are you doing!?" I shout at him.
"Oh shut up Michelle, we all know you're only here because your parents don't love you anymore, if they ever did to begin with that is." Patrick rolls his eyes.
"That's it. Get out of here." I say.
"Whatever, I'll see you tomorrow." He stands up.
"No, you won't. Get out of my studio. And don't come back. Not only are you off A-Troupe, but you are banned from being at The Next Step." I say.
"Unbelievable. You just lost your best dancer." He says walking away.
"No, actually we just lost a bully." I say.
The dancers look around in shock.
I calm myself down. "Alison... go get Niall from B-Troupe. Bring him in here."
She nods and leaves.
"Michelle are you okay?" I hear Bailey ask.
"What?" I say, only then realising I had tears streaming down my face, which I wipe away quickly. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."
Just then Alison comes back in the room with Niall, the best dancer on B-Troupe. He had bleached blonde hair and his smile was bigger than anyone else's in the world.
"What's up Miss Michelle?" He asks.
"Niall... how would you like to be the alternate for A-Troupe?" I ask him.
Somehow his smile gets even bigger. "Are you serious?"
"I've never been more serious about anything in my life." I say.
He wraps his arms around me.
"I'll take that as a yes then?" I laugh.
"Yes!" His smile continues to grow wider.
"Alright everyone, group hug!" I shout as everyone comes rushing over.
Just then, Emily and Reuben come back in the room.
"What's going on?" Emily asks.
"Niall is now our newest member of A-Troupe." I say.
Reuben comes over and joins our group hug.
"Alright you guys... get to know Niall a bit, we'll start our proper rehearsal in an hour." I say.
"Where did Patrick go?" Emily asks me a the dancers all take Niall out onto the dance floor.
"He uh- he was saying some things about my relationship with my parents... I kicked him out of the studio... I overreacted, I'm sorry." I say.
"Hey... don't be sorry. You done the right thing. I'm sorry I wasn't there to stand up for you." She says.
She pulls me into a hug.
"I'll never let anyone hurt you like that ever again." She whispers in my ear.