⎼⎼⎼ 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 ➵ 𝑏.𝑓.

033

mikki

the bermuda triangle dance was probably the hardest dance i had ever done. our balance had to be immaculate. if one of us slipped, all of us would fall.

"again! up a bit more sarah! hannah, turn that foot out," abby directed, staring at us in the mirror, "toes mikki, watch those feet!"

we finished our run through just as the door opened and jessalyn siwa walked in. jessalyn. freaking. siwa.

everyone began murmuring excitedly (i was guilty for participating) and making their way to her.

"hi!" jessalyn grinned, hugging elliana.

"hi! welcome, you can say hello," abby answered, her smile wider than i'd seen in a while. excitement pumped through my veins. here was a dance mom i'd grown up watching avidly and the mom of a girl who i had idolised along with all the others.

"i'm so excited to see you!" she enthused, now hugging everyone else. i stood next to hannah nervously, unable to keep the smile off my face. even though i wanted to quit, a little voice had whispered, this is what you came here for. to meet these people and to get these opportunities.

but what if i don't want this?

no. i want this. i've always wanted this!

"jojo wanted to come too, but she booked a last minute job, so..." jess trailed off. i felt my excitement lessen a little. i wanted to meet jojo so badly, as did everyone else. maybe lilly and ellie less so, because they already knew her, but still. it's jojo siwa!

the back door opened. we all spun around and there she was. in all her sequined glory, jojo!

everyone was jumping and screaming. i caught pressley's eye and she looked away immediately. my mood dampened. i wish we weren't fighting.

ellie, gia and hannah reached jojo first. she hugged them both as brady and i brought up the rear. connor was just as excited, pushing me gently as if to say, can you believe it?

"i heard you had some fun solos this week," jojo said, looking at abby, "you toyed around with my solos?"

abby gave a slow nod, smiling widely.

"see, when you leave the team and you come back, you're not scared of abby anymore," she smiled. "and it's really fun."

"ok, we gotta dance, we gotta dance!" abby called.

"i wanna see the dances!" jojo enthused.

"alright, you're going to sit here and you're going to give corrections," abby directed.

"it's fun to be on this side of things!" she said, sitting on a huge foam block. she seemed like such a nice person beneath the ludicrous sparkle.

"alright, go. lilly, go ahead."

we watched her do the straitjacket dance, her arms restrained. lilly was an incredible dancer, always controlled. that was the problem. in this dance, she needed to lose that control, go all out.

"i think it looks good!" jojo praised, "but when the music escalates, you have to escalate with it with you legs and your body. this needs to be so big and so over exaggerated."

lilly nodded and left the dance floor, smiling at her giant straitjacket.

"ellie, you come here," abby said, "arms, arms, stop marking things!"

you could tell ellie had lost the flow of learning a dance in three days. she was more sloppy and slower than she was on the show before. jojo took ellie aside and i could hear a little pep talk between them.

"girls and boys, we have to do the group dance in the water."

if the water dance was hard, it was a thousand times more stressful under the eye of one of the most famous teens in the world. and not to mention it was the first time with actual water in the dishes. i could feel it. we were nervous about the slippery-ness. we were sloppy. in our defence, we could die if we slipped because of all the momentum we gathered when we leaped or turned.

"we're going to be competing here in pittsburgh," abby said, "i'm going to need you to really step it up and i'm not seeing that. it has to be perfect."

perfect. it has to be perfect.

i want more from you, mikki. i want perfection.

⤎⎼༌·⋱🩰⋰⋆༌⎼⤏

they were screaming a million times louder than usual. as we walked out of the bus, i couldn't help the grin spreading across my face.

"hi!" i waved at all the people milling around us. everyone in the team was wearing a jojo bow, the moms and even brady and connor. i had forced one into their hair.

i watched press and connor talk happily at their dressing tables. connor seemed to like pressley back. it was bittersweet. on one hand, i wanted press to open her eyes and see that i wasn't at fault, but one the other i wanted her and connor to be together because they were so. freaking. adorable.

speaking of adorable-

"mikki help me!" brady whined, "i can't get this off!" he had swiped a whole lot of mascara over his eyebrow, making it a monobrow. i burst into fits of chuckles. he looked ridiculous. "don't laugh, come on, help!"

i took up the cotton swab and put on the makeup remover, laughing as i wiped off the black stuff. "stop moving your eyes!" i pulled his head closer to wipe away the last bits. he opened his eyes and suddenly looked up at me with those piercing green-blue eyes. i realised that we were far too close. i stumbled backward, hit a desk and fell over. brady gave a chuckle and helped me up. i caught sight of my cheeks in the mirror. they were cherry red.

"nervous?" he whispered. i blushed and sat back down and fumbled with my earrings.

"a little bit," i admitted.

"mikki, brady," connor called, "let's do one more runthrough."