The Next Step Oneshots

Explosion (part 1)

A-troupe are ready for movie night. After a heated argument about what genre to watch, the boys and Kenzie gave in to Ozzy and the girls and agreed that they would watch a romcom. Amy offers Piper some popcorn, and she accepts happily.

Her phone vibrates as the opening credits start, and she assumes it's James. Her eyes flick to the screen and she drops her phone in shock. It hits Kingston's wooden floor with a loud smash. She puts her hands over her mouth and feels the tears before they come. Her breathing is so fast she can't speak.
"Hey," He's next to her before she can blink. "Hey, Pipes. You're okay. " She shakes her head.
"Let's breathe." He takes her face in his hands and breathes in through his nose. She tries to emulate him but her breathing doesn't start to slow like normal and she freaks out. Her hands flap and she points to her throat desperately. "Piper, you need to breathe. You can." She can see him start to really worry and it pushes her to force herself to breathe in. And then out. "Good." He puts his hand on her knee. She tries to talk but he hushes her. She overrides him.
"Explosion." Her voice comes out raspy. She gestures to her phone. Amy picks it up.
"Oh, god." The whole team look at them apprehensively. "Oh, god." Amy repeats, her voice filled with emotion this time.
"What?" Henry strokes her shoulder kindly.
"There's been an electrical explosion at the Studio."
"B-troupe are at the Studio!" Kenzie shouts, her voice panicky.
"Izzy!" Heath exclaims. His look is one of pure terror. All eyes flick to Ozzy.
"She didn't want to go to rehearsals today. She felt a little sick. I told her to suck it up." Ozzy has tears emerging in his eyes. Kingston puts an arm round him. So does Lily. "I told her to suck it up."
"Riley." Piper gets out. "Riley was at the Studio today. With J-" She can't say it. Because that means he might be hurt. Finn pulls her close to him. "They're okay. They're all okay. They have to be, guys."
"Summer. She was saying goodbye to B-troupe today." Richelle remembers. She doesn't want to think that she might be injured.
"We should go there." Amy suggests. Everyone nods aggressively.
"Okay, Pipes, Ozzy, Heath, I have room for one more person in my car?" Finn plans.
"Me." Richelle replies.
"I'll take Henry, Kenzie, Kingston, and Lily then." Amy announces. Everyone scrambles into their respective cars.

☆

"Can you drive any faster?" Piper picks at her nails. She was being snappy, she knows. But this was her brother. He came before anyone else.
"I love you, but, if I drive any faster we might end up in a crash."
Richelle sits in between Ozzy and Heath. They keep giving each other looks.
"Oh, talk for goodness sake!"
"It's okay for you to be with her." Ozzy leans across Richelle. "I know that you care about her and I'm sorry for standing in the way before."
"That's if she's okay." He closes his eyes. She had to be okay. "But thank you."
"Heath, my sister is strong. And I'm so scared but I know her and she will be fine." He reassures himself more than Heath.
"What if Summer dies?" Both boys pause to look at her. "I was horrible to her. She'd just remember me as the person who made her life a competition."
"Richelle," Ozzy says calmly, "You weren't horrible. You are not horrible."
"You're biased."
"I'm not." Heath responds. "And I agree."

☆

"B-troupe will be okay, right?" Kenzie asks. No one has spoken for most of the journey.
"I hope so." Amy keeps her eyes on the road, and ignores the tears building up in them.
"I teased them a lot. I feel awful." Lily admits. Kingston rubs her back gently.
"Especially Winnie." Amy replies. She'd said some not-so-nice things when Winnie had taken Piper's place on the team. Now, she was praying that the girl came away from this unscathed.
"They're clever and resourceful. They will have done the best they can to protect themselves." Henry tries to lift everyone's mood. But it fails miserably as silence falls over the car once again.

☆

"Sir, please step away from the yellow tape. Beyond there, it is not safe." A firefighter instructs.
"But, my sister!" Ozzy shouts. Kingston holds him back.
"They will find her, and bring her out, sir. Hey!" His attention is drawn elsewhere and Ozzy ducks under the tape.
"Oz," Kingston warns, the whole of A-troupe behind him.
"Are you coming or what?"

The team are too worried for morals. Or their own safety. One by one, they slip under the yellow tape when it's not being monitored. Normally, Piper would flat out refuse to do such a thing, and she'd been talking down Finn. But this was her family.
"Are you sure?"
"Finn, I have to."
"It's not safe."
"I have to."
"I'm coming with you."

Once they are inside, he takes off his hoodie and wraps it around her face. She looks up at him. He doesn't want her inhaling any toxicities. He covers his own mouth with his arm.

☆

"Someone help!" Heath recognises that voice immediately.
"Iz, where are you?" At the mention of her name, Ozzy is beside him. He asks with his eyes, but Heath holds a finger up.
"Help, please!" Ozzy's eyes widen with concern at her voice.
"Izzy! Izzy, can you hear me?"
"Izzy, where are you?"

The two of them yell into the dust.

I did that.
Haha, pretty proud of this.

♥️