⎼⎼⎼ 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 ➵ 𝑏.𝑓.

022

mikki

"where is savannah?" abby voiced the question i had been wondering all morning.

"we don't know. erin's car isn't in the parking lot," ashley told her.

"she stopped by last night and said this environment is not good for her," ann gestured.

"for her or her mom...her."

michelle spoke up, "erin doesn't want to lose to elliana."

"but they're on the same team, i know there's rivalries, but ultimately, it's about the team," abby shrugged.

"we get that, we're all here!"

"it just doesn't make sense to me," stacey piped up, "i feel if i can be here, you can be here."

"i mean, you've had physical altercations with yolanda," abby frowned.

"yeah! this time i came with protection," stacey pointed to ashley and michelle, who were both wearing 'security' shirts.

"i'm insulted, i'm offended and i'm ticked," abby grimaced, "i can't believe that somebody have this opportunity and throw it away for her child! alright, time for the pyramid.

"at the bottom, g-i-a-ni-na." abby ripped the paper off her headshot.

"good job miss abby," joanne said sarcastically. abby had a problem pronouncing gia's name.

"shut up!" she screamed. "don't you get sick and tired of hearing that mouth all the time? everybody, twenty pushups."

i groaned internally and went down. it wasn't a complete struggle to get to twenty, but close enough.

"you're at the bottom of the pyramid because you did not perform your solo. i will not have that chaos in the dressing room."

abby wheeled her chair around, backed away and bumped into the mirror. "next! hannah, you can't be a thirteen-year-old that's the follower. you need to be the leader.

"we have sarah. you under-rotated a little bit and did not stick it. you blew it."

"i know i can do better," sarah nodded.

"next we have pressley," abby said, tearing the paper off, "i thought you were good in the duet, good in the group, but i want something more. i want you to be brilliant."

"but don't you think that she needs to be more challenged?" ashley asked.

"i love it when mothers say that," abby clapped, "you're on.

"then we have lilliana, lilly, excellent job in the group dance, but i don't want to have to give you an ultimatum to get you to do well.

"then, savannah. she's not here. and mikki! you did well in the group dance, and the duet was incredible.

ok, girls. welcome to hell week."

i thought that was a tiny bit dramatic. even for abby.

"this week we're travelling to fairfax, virginia, to attend starbound competition. two dancers will perform solos. the first solo goes to elliana. elliana and yolanda are running late from the airport, they will be here to join us soon. the title is 'the strangler'."

everyone laughed. stacey let out a snort like a horse blowing air.

"the second solo goes to pressley. your solo is entitled 'scissor hands'. your mother wanted you to be challenged, having scissors on the ends of your hands will be challenging.

"i told you that this is hell week. and that's exactly what i mean. the name of the group is 'hazing'. the brief setup is it's all fun and games until somebody dies."

i cringed. this was going to be a scary week.

"moms, you can go, girls warm up." a man carrying a white table came through the door while we were doing burpees.

"we are sending the message out to the world that hazing is wrong. we're showing kids what hazing is. so, lilly is the one being hazed, the youngest pledge coming into your sorority. things get out of control and she dies."

my eyes went wide.

"alright let's go."

i never thought we'd ever do a group dance about sorority hazing. one of the judges might think it's too brutal or something. but the dance part was fun. the choreography was cool.

"no. mikki, no, hannah swap with sarah, mikki, swap with pressley. yes. ok."

yolanda came in while we were rehearsing.

"elliana isn't dancing," yolanda announced before gianna rushed us into the choreography again.

⤎⎼༌·⋱🩰⋰⋆༌⎼⤏

"hello," abby spoke into the receiver. "really? i thought they were going to phoenix this week. yes. ok, thank you. i appreciate my friends in this field."

gianna had approached the reception. "what happened?"

"studio bleu is attending starbound," abby hissed, shifting a few papers, "i'm worried. ellie isn't here and hasn't learnt her solo and pressley's good, but not enough to beat studio bleu. they put- you know cady?- her into the program doing lyrical, which is usually her strong suit."

"what are you going to do about it?"

"i think i'm going to teach mikki a solo, just in case."