Empire - The Next Step

stand up

With the two teams united there was only one thing to do before they started working on a new dance, get rid of Michell and Emily. Everyone had agreed that since Harper was Michelle's sister she should tell her that Emily was injured then lock them both in the office in studio one together so they could start working on the routine.

"Michelle you have to come quickly Emily'a hurt!" She exclaimed putting her best acting abilities to the test. She didn't particularly enjoy lying to her sister, but it was necessary.

"Oh my gosh! Okay let's go help her." Michelle said as she scrambled up from her chair and the two of them rushed into Emily's office to see her sitting there, perfectly unscathed, with an irritated expression. As the two of them looked at each other confused and Michelle questioned Emily about her injury, Harper slipped the key out of the door, shut the door and locked it tight. The two studio heads rushed over and banged dramatically on the glass. "Harper open this door right now!"

"Sorry." She told them with a cheeky smile as she jogged back to studio A, the screams and pleas of the two studio heads echoing down the hallway. She reentered studio A to see everyone gathered around brain storming ideas about their routine. "They're locked in." She announced warning cheers from the whole team who were waiting for Amy to arrive before they started the dance.

"Okay guys, I really think we should get stared and Amy can just fill in when she gets here." Piper told everyone and they all reluctantly agreed. If they didn't start working on the dance right then, it wouldn't be good enough to impress Miss Kate.

"Well who's gonna lead the rehearsal?" Josh asked from where he was standing and Piper and Richelle exchanged an awkward glance. Nobody had really thought this far ahead.

"I think the dance captains should." Noah suggested and the two girl smiled at each other. Harper never thought she would see Richelle collaborate as a co-captain like that but she was doing it.

They were running through the choreo over and over again to make it really clean and crisp so it would impress Kate and then Ozzy decided to make a suggestion. Everybody either sighed or rolled their eyes as him but listened anyway.

"Guys, what if we made a human chain so we can lock it down chain style." He suggested and nobody was entirely sure what he meant. Josh put forth a pretty similar idea and for some reason, everyone thought it was amazing. Harper glanced at Ozzy who looked disappointed that he was overlooked but decided she would try and talk to him later. There were more important things to think about.

Amy finally walked in just in time, they were talking about re-choreographing to fill her space but they really didn't have the time. They took a quick break while Richelle went over spacing with Amy and Harper gave herself a minute to clear her head.

Everything had been happening so fast the past few weeks, with all the studio drama and her complicated feelings about Noah she was struggling to stay focused.

"Hey Harper." Came the voice of Jacquie as she noticed the girl was off in her own world. The blonde smiled in response but didn't say anything as Jacquie joined her on the floor. "I know what you're thinking about, or better yet who you're thinking about."

"It's all so complicated and it's just making me really stressed. I don't know where his head is at." She replied in reference to Noah. He always seemed so distracted that she was beginning to question what his true intentions and feelings were.

"I know Noah's a pretty confusing guy to like, but I'm routing for you guys. I know at some it's gonna work out. Just be patient." The brunette told her before she stood up to start rehearsing again when Richelle called everyone back in. Jacquie did have a point, if Harper was just patient and allowed Noah to figure things out on his own then things would probably work themselves out anyway.

"Thanks Jacquie." She said with an appreciative smile as the two girls rejoined the group to rehearse again.

The dance was looking really great, but Richelle and Piper when they were watching had realised that it was missing something. They weren't sure what though. When Ozzy began speaking everyone groaned again thinking it would be another silly suggestion, but Harper had a feeling this one would be a good one.

"Guys just hear him out." Harper defended the smaller boy who looked thankful for her input. Everyone stopped complaining and decided to listen to Ozzy.

"Yes thank you Harper," the goofball began in a more serious tone than he usually would. "I think that Henry and Amy should do an acro and b-boy mashup." Everyone was shocked to hear such a great idea come from Ozzy but they were all impressed and let out several responses of agreement.

They continued rehearsing the whole dance including the sections in between the unison, and it was starting to look really strong. They finally thought it was time to call in Miss Kate but just as she arrived, so did Emily and Michelle. They did not look pleased.

"Uh, Emily we brought in Miss Kate to show her yours and Michelle's brilliant idea to unite us as one big team. We want to show her what we've come up with because of all your hard work." Piper said quickly before neither Emily or Michelle could get a word in.

"Well I'm very excited to see this." Kate told them and signalled the dancers to get ready. They all found their starting positions and the music to 'stand up' filled the entire studio.

The dance was going perfectly and Harper loved being able to dance with Noah at the very beginning. Everyone was hitting the choreo, their individual parts looked amazing and it was just an amazing routine which would hopefully prove to Kate that they deserved to go to regionals as a team. As they all ran into a circle at the end, Kate, Emily and Michelle all gave them a round of applause as the dancers turned to face them. All three were smiling proudly.

"You guys that was amazing." Kate said as she looked at each one of the dancers with pride. "I could really tell that you've all found your love for dance again."

"So, does that mean we can submit a regionals video?" Piper asked as they all awaited Miss Kate's answer in anticipation. She looked impressed but they still weren't sure it was enough to get them back on track for the competitive season.

"Well you are my twelve A Troupe, so yes." Everyone celebrated together. They were really going to regionals. They did it. Harper turned around to see Richelle charging at her and she was engulfed in a huge hug.

"Harper we did it! We're going to regionals together." The shorter blonde exclaimed as she squeezed the living daylights out of her best friend. Harper couldn't believe that had pulled it off, but she was equally as excited to be going to compete with their new team.

"I know! I'm so excited." She replied as she squeezed Richelle back. The two went their separate ways to celebrate with the other team member and Harper noticed Noah cheering Ozzy on with the other boys. They definitely needed to talk and clear the air, but it wasn't the time. They would just have to wait a little longer.