The Next Step Season 8

9 - Inside Out

Ethan looked around the room in complete disbelief. This was his first chance to make a good impression to Giselle, to prove that he was good enough to be featured at Nationals. And Piper was blowing that for him.
"Ethan?" Nick asked. "Where's Piper?"

Ethan was lost for words, an extremely rare occasion for him, as he struggled with how to respond. After what felt like an age of silence, he shook his head in defeat.
"I don't know-"

At this moment, a breathless Piper came running in.
"I'm sorry I'm late! I'm ready to dance now." Ethan let out a sigh of relief.

"Piper, where have you been?" Giselle asked, a stern tone to her voice.
"I was just out..." Piper trailed off.
"Well, I'm sorry but you missed your opportunity. Unfortunately, I will not be asking you and Ethan to perform for us today. I hope you'll both take this as a lesson."

Ethan was furious. Piper had gone and ruined everything for him, and now he was going to have to work twice as hard to make his mark on A-Troupe. Across the room, Piper felt equally awful. A heavy feeling sat on her chest, and she knew there was nothing she could do that could shake if off.

"The rest of you, you've done an amazing job. Rehearsal is finished for the day, but we'll start on some new ideas tomorrow. Have a great evening, guys!" Giselle announced. As everyone began to head out, Giselle stopped Piper in her tracks.
"Piper, can I see you in my office for a moment?"

Piper gulped as she nodded and followed her Studio Head.
"Take a seat," Giselle said, gesturing towards one of the chairs in the office. "What happened today, Piper? The way you acted was extremely unprofessional. Nationals is the real deal, and I need to be able to count on every single one of my dancers to arrive on time. Think of what would happen if you were late to a Nationals performance. We could get cut, just like that!"

Piper took a deep breath, and words began to pour out of her mouth.
"Look, I'm really sorry! I just went to see Finn, he's in a really bad way and I was so worried about him, and every single time that I tried to dance, all I could think about was whether he was okay and-"

Giselle held her hand up to signal that Piper should stop talking. She gave her a sympathetic look.
"Look, Piper, I understand why you did what you did. I know you were just trying to be a good girlfriend but from now on I am going to need you here, giving 110% for every single rehearsal. This is a big competition and I'm relying on you," Giselle said. "I'm going to let you off this time as it's our first day and we are all finding out feet, but next time I might not be so forgiving. Now go home and get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow."

With an apologetic grin, Piper got up from her seat and left the office. She knew she was going to have to do much better.

*

Over in Fruit Fusion, many of the dancers were hanging out. Ozzy was sat with Becca, still angered by the romantic dance he had just seen Richelle and Heath perform.
"We did really well, Ozzy!" Becca exclaimed.
"Yeah we did great! Much better than everyone else, especially Heathcliff and Richelle," Ozzy replied.

Becca shook her head enthusiastically.
"Oh my God, absolutely not! I'm sorry but did you see the chemistry that those two had? It was insane!" This opinion only triggered even more frustration from the male dancer.

"Chemistry? Heathcliff and Richelle? No way. Those two would never date, never ever." Becca shrugged her shoulders and raised her eyebrows.
"I don't know, that performance was pretty believable. And you have to admit, they would make a HOT couple," Becca said.

At this moment, Ozzy saw Richelle enter the room and head towards the bar.
"Are you thirsty? I'm thirsty. I could really do with a juice, let me go and grab us some," Ozzy babbled, racing up to join Richelle at the bar.

"Hey, Oz! Great performance today," Richelle said as she noticed her friend. "Just a shame it wasn't quite as good as me." Ozzy let out an uneasy laugh before replying,
"Yeah, well. What can I say? I guess you can't argue with that kind of chemistry. I suppose you two will be dating now," Ozzy said.

Richelle was taken aback. Where had this come from?
"Dating? I'm not dating Heath," Richelle replied. Ozzy scratched the back of his head, trying to act casual.
"Ah, well, shame. You definitely should. You guys would be great together."

For some reason she couldn't explain, these words cut right through her.
"You think so?" Richelle said. Her voice came out marginally quieter than usual, but not enough that Ozzy appeared to notice.

"Absolutely! Me and Becca were just discussing it - how cool is she by the way?" Ozzy grinned, still acting with his forced confidence, seemingly indifferent and unfazed.
"Yeah, she's, er, great. So are you two, like, on a date right now?" Richelle asked.
"We're just chilling now, but what a great idea. I should definitely ask her out, thanks Richelle!" Ozzy exclaimed, taking the juices he ordered and making his way back towards the sofa where Becca was sitting waiting for him. "Catch you later, man!" He shouted after her.

"Man?" Richelle muttered under her breath. Ozzy had never called her "man" in his life; he was acting so weird. She took her order to go, and looked over to see Ozzy draping his arm over Becca's shoulder and laughing, before she headed out the door.

*

Ethan was lying on the floor in Studio One and bouncing a ball off of the wall,. Anger exuded from him, filling the room with an intense aura. Marcus sensed it as soon as he walked in the room.
"Well, somebody isn't having a good day," he said, narrowly dodging being hit by Ethan's tennis ball.

"Not really. Piper," he said her name with such contempt. "Didn't show up in time, and Giselle wouldn't let us do our duet."
"Well," Marcus replied, picking up the ball from the ground. "There's no need to take it out on this perfectly good studio."

Ethan sat up abruptly.
"Shouldn't you be doing slave things for me or something? After all we did have a deal," he snapped. Marcus was used to his best friend's anger at this point, and simply laughed.
"Come on, I'll give you a ride home, and we can play the new Legions of Lasers game. Bet I can beat your high score." Ethan, who was never known to back down from a challenge, perked up at this, the sound of his taunting following the boys as they left the studio.

*

Richelle entered the locker room to find Heath in there. She couldn't help but think about what Ozzy said, and maybe he was right. Maybe she should be with Heath.
"Hey Richelle," he said, looking up from his phone.
"Hey," Richelle replied, as she started to pack up her dance bag. "I've been wanting to talk to you actually."

"Sure, what's up?"
"Do you wanna go out with me sometime?" Richelle said plainly. Heathcliff was completely taken aback by her bold approach - he wasn't expecting this at all.
"Go out with you?" Heath said, dumbfounded. Richelle rolled her eyes.
"Relax. I'm not in love with you or anything, and I'm not looking for anything serious. I just want something casual, something fun. So, what do you say?"

Heath stared at the female dancer for a moment, taking in what she had said. He had always thought she was attractive, and they always had a lot of fun together. Why not?
"Sure," Heath smiled. "Let's do it."