The Next Step Oneshots

7. Spread Your Wings - Emily & Richelle

She finds the girl, wait no. The woman that she had always thought of as a little sister in the locker rooms, staring intensely at her laptop screen. She's deep in thought, and doesn't notice her coming in.

"Hey, Richelle"

She taps her on the shoulder, the woman jumping up at the surprise contact. Her surrogate sibling wasn't used to close contact, she had forgotten in her haste.

"Oh hey Emily."

"What are you looking at?"

Her sister sighs, and shakes her head

"Nothing. At least, nothing of importance. Just a useless email that I was about to delete."

"Don't lie to me, Richelle. IF it were useless you wouldn't have read it so intently. Now. What was the email?"

She grabs the laptop and turns the screen towards her. On the screen, an email with a flyer from Dancemania stares back at her. She reads the email through, seeing that her sister had been scouted by the talent scouts of the prestigious TV show, and they wanted her to audition as a soloist.

"A soloist, huh."

"I'm not taking it. I can't leave a troupe without a choreographer. And I'm one of the resurrection dancers. Leaving them would be selfish." Her sister tells her.

She thinks back to all the dances, and realises that she's neglected her job as studio head. She had been so used to having Michelle around for choreography, that she had left all the choreography for the dancers to do. And her sister, the most senior member had taken up that spot as head choreographer.

--

"I'm sorry."

The closest person she had to an older sister apologises. The small blonde looks up, confused. Her sister had done nothing wrong, to her knowledge.

"Why?"

"I put too much responsibility on your shoulders. I let Michelle leaving affect me as the studio head. Nick and I should've hired a choreographer. I made you have to take over, when you're still just a dancer."

"Excuse me, Emily. I am more than capable of choreographing and teaching, you know. I've done it with j troupe for years."

She protests against her sister's claims, slightly offended at the thought that Emily didn't trust her enough to take charge. She thought she'd already proven herself to be the right person as dance captain this season.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. You're taking too much onto your plate, Richelle. You can't be the face of absolute dance, teacher of j troupe and b troupe, dance captain, and head choreographer all at once.

Her eyes dim at the mention of absolute dance.

"I'm not even the face of absolute dance anyways." She sullenly replies.

"Right. But it's still too much for you. You're barely 18, Richelle. You don't need to be the head choreographer. That's someone else's job."

--

She'd been a terrible sister. How had she not noticed that Richelle was going to be overwhelmed soon enough? She stayed at the studio all day until late at night, studying in the empty rooms in her spare time. She had thought it was just Richelle being her usual, dedicated self. But it was actually her own self at fault.

How could she make it up to her sister?

An idea pops into her head. She snatches the laptop, and quickly types a reply to the email.

"What on earth are you doing, Em?"

"Making it up to you."

"What?"

"I know you want to compete as a soloist. Don't deny it, Richelle. You've wanted to prove yourself ever since you left hospital last year. So as the studio head, and your favourite and only sister, I'm making you go."

"Wait, no! What about a troupe?"

Her sister stresses. She thinks back to when she taught the thirteen year old how to be a dance captain. She realises that this habit of putting a troupe first, had come from her.

"I'll deal with them. Don't worry. Just worry about your own solo, okay?"

"Okay?"

Her sister leaves the room. Turning around, her favourite sibling smiles a rare smile at her. She smiles back at her, giving her a thumbs up.

"Thanks, Emily."

"Don't even mention it, Richelle."

--

She's getting her hair and makeup done in the dressing room, clad in a beautiful golden costume. Her blonde waves tumble down behind her back; the fierce hairstyle she'd grown to love.

As she's warming up and stretching, her sister stumbles into the room.

"I'm so proud of you, you know."

"Thanks, Em. And thank you for everything you've done for me to come and compete here."

"It was my duty as your sister, Richelle. Don't tell a troupe, but I'm rooting for you to win, you know."

"Are they mad at me?"

She worries about them a lot. She'd known that auditioning would hurt the team, but she really did hope that they were happy for her. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to be selfish for once.

"Nope. I told them that I'd convinced you to go, and they're happy that you get your time to shine. In fact, they're terrified of going up against you. Something about being annihilated?

She giggles, thankful that her family didn't hate her.

"Richelle? We need you backstage in 5 minutes."

A production assistant peeps into the room, hands full of papers and fabric. She recognises those costumes. They were the beautiful, purple ones that she had helped Nick unwrap. But they weren't hers to wear anymore. Instead, she had an equally beautiful leotard just for herself. And she was so proud to wear it.

"Almost done."

She tells the assistant, reaching for a red rose hair-clip. She wanted to honour her sister as was performing.

"Want to do the honours?"

She hands it to Emily, her sister clipping it right above her ear. The older sister pulls her baby sister into a hug.

"Good luck out there. You're gonna rock it."

She doesn't reply. Instead, she just smiles, and confidently walks out, knowing fully that she's going to own it the best she can.

--

She watches her sister in the audience, proudly. Her dancer years were long gone, but she loved watching her baby sister dance. It was mesmerising, and she couldn't be happier for her.

They would never be biological sisters, but she was so honoured that the mostly closed off blonde had allowed her to take her under her wing.

But now, the woman didn't need her anymore. Though she would always see her sister as the sassy little thirteen year old in j troupe, Richelle had matured into a beautiful young woman and dancer.

It was time for her to let go; to allow Richelle to spread her own wings and fly.

--

A/N: Can y'all tell that I don't like the idea of Richelle just randomly leaving in s7?