When new girl Michelle joins A-troupe, everything changes. What'll happen now that Emily's throne is up for grabs? With love comes scandal, sex and secrecy, and with these dancers, there's always a price to pay.
The Next Step TV show reimagined as...
Trigger warning- sexual coercion and mention of dark thoughts.
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As I pirouette through the aching pain of the thought about where I'll be less in than two hours from now rages through my being, I force a smile, acting as if everything's okay.
It's not, though. Of course it's not. Tonight is the night where I have to meet Chris in the cheap motel again to sleep with him. I don't want to, I'd rather do anything else in the world than be succumbed to his touch.
Even the thought of his rough hands groping my body makes my stomach twist into excruciating knots. I don't want to experience that feeling again, I don't want to feel numb for weeks after he touches every crevice of my skin.
I can't go back to that place again, I couldn't feel anything. Just numbness, and whenever I started to feel again, I became subjected to that same repetitive image of the fan spinning above my head in that motel room, all I could do was focus on the fan.
And I was starting to feel better, too, but then Chris bombarded me with expensive lingerie. He was being too arrogant, if West wasn't there to cover up for me, I don't know what would've happened.
If anyone ever found out about mine and Chris' "relationship," then my time at the studio would surely be over. Without my job, I can't afford to pay for dance. It's as simple as that. Either I sleep with Chris, or I lose everything I've ever loved.
I just hate lying to everyone that I care about. My mom thinks I go to work every weekday after dance, I even return home in my uniform, playing into the fictional facade that I didn't lose my job, when in actual fact I just sit in the locker room of the studio and catch up on homework.
It has its perks, I guess. All this extra time allows me to stay ahead in class, but at what cost? I'm sacrificing my body for dance, my mental state, and I just don't know how long I'll be able to keep this act up.
Staying behind at the studio every night also means that I hear everything that happens after hours. I had to put my headphones in last week when I heard Riley and James in Studio A. I heard James say the words "strip tease" and I knew it was time to blast my music loud enough to make me forget about James' attempts at seduction.
God, I can't even imagine what happened after I tuned out, but I really don't want to either.
At least they both have someone who cares about them though, I feel like no one even knows me well enough to notice that I'm so broken. I haven't been the same ever since that day Chris came on to me in his office. I'm so alone, I just want someone to wrap me up in their arms and tell me that it'll be okay. But I can't tell them the truth, I can't put myself in that position.
If I'm completely honest, I'm scared to tell anyone. I don't know what Chris will do, he's unpredictable, and I don't want to get hurt more than I have been already. I can't risk hurting anyone else either, but I just want this to be over.
