⎼⎼⎼ 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 ➵ 𝑏.𝑓.

029

mikki

sarah looked shellshocked, but then gave me a weak smile. i let out a breath and felt my stomach relax.

"ok, thank you mikki. ellie's not on trial!"

"she is! she is being tried by judge gia. oh, i know something we can judge. stacey," she stood up, "you are the plaintiff. yolanda, come up here. you're the defendant. you have thirty seconds," gia handed abby the gavel, "to plead your case."

"do you need a bible miss abby? to swear the truth?" ann said, pulling one out of her bag.

"oh my god ann, do you have a bible," abby replied, taking it from her and holding it out to stacey. "do you solemnly swear to tell the truth?"

"i do." both women said.

"she can't," stacey replied.

"i never choked her. i pushed her back, her daughter lied and said that i was screaming in her face. i just calmly talked to my daughter to say please get your stuff-"

"time," abby declared. i felt so bad for lilly and ellie. lilly looked so uncomfortable and ellie looked embarrassed.

lilly raised her hand.

"we have a witness," abby said.

"i did say that you yelled at me, but i'm not going to say that you calmly told me that i bullied-"

"lilly, it's not ok to say-"

"ahahahahah" abby interrupted, "you had your thirty seconds."

they started screaming again. stacey pointing at yolanda, yolanda speaking like lilly was a baby and lilly trying to block it all out. i went and put an arm around her. she had done nothing to deserve it.

⤎⎼༌·⋱🩰⋰⋆༌⎼⤏

"it's time to go to the competition and take that anger out there and use it in your performance."

i left as quickly as possible to avoid any yelling after. it was really stressing me out.

"i want to go home," ellie sobbed. i wrapped her up.

"ellie, it's not your fault," i said, my voice cracking. her mom took her by the hand and lead her away.

gia came out of the dressing room, looking upset.

"she's going home after this dance," she said to me. "thanks by the way, for sticking up for her."

i smiled weakly.

their dance turned out great. you could barely tell that ellie was upset, except for her wide, shiny smile, which didn't quite meet her eyes. they nailed the turns and the tricks. i think gia really resurfaced in all her glory.

"it was good!" i said, hugging them both.

"let's go kammy!" i cheered. she was shaking out in the wings with hannah and i, her huge wig and sparkly dress swishing, breathing hard. she was so cute!

"entry number 41, here is proud kammy!"

it was so cute. not technically incredible, but entertaining, and oh, kammy owned that stage! i was clapping all throughout.

i hugged her so tightly and hannah did too.

"you did so good!" hannah laughed, picking her up.

i didn't go back to the dressing room. i wasn't up for the drama. i hid in a toilet stall the whole time with mom watching guard outside.

"mikki, they're doing the group dance now," she hissed and i appeared again. let's slay this.

⤎⎼༌·⋱🩰⋰⋆༌⎼⤏

i thought we did incredible. we were together, we were clean, and the blood was a great touch. i think every single one of us pulled our weight in the dance.

"good job," i panted, pulling everyone into a circle, "i just wanted to say i'm so happy that i'm here and that even though there's a lot going on, we're going to be fine in the end. i mean, we're going to get through this together. i'm really sorry ellie that you had to go through all of this."

"it's not your fault," ellie said.

"i know, i just thought i had to say something. and gia? i'm sorry that i blamed you and shut you out."

"me too," press admitted.

"i'm sorry too," gia concluded, "i should have brought ellie into the conversation more."

we didn't need to say it. we were friends again.

i didn't need a victory.

⤎⎼༌·⋱🩰⋰⋆༌⎼⤏

"first place...abby lee dance company!"

kammy smiled and received her plaque. i clapped wildly.

"second junior duet, judge gia, abby lee dance company!" i cheered for gia and ellie.

"first place junior small group, abby lee dance company, blue bloods!"

it was the icing on the cake.