𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐓 𝐔𝐏 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 (𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞.)

TWO. chance of a lifetime

THIRD PERSON'S POV.

East sat in Hidalgos, taking another sip of her cranberry juice, while her eyes glued to her game of Candy Crush. For some odd reason, West sent her an SOS message, asking her to meet here. It had been ten minutes since she arrived and East had a feeling West wasn't going to show up. He most likely forgot since tomorrow was a big day.

Tomorrow was the day of the competition between The Next Step and Elite. Both East's friends were competing — Noah being chosen by Mis Kate and Richelle filling in Emily's spot after Emily got the news that she couldn't dance. East was upset that Richelle was also getting a shot and she wasn't, but she wasn't going to let her feelings stop her from cheering on her friends before their competition tomorrow.

Checking the time again, East sighed and switched her phone off. She closed the lid of her juice, seeing that there was no more point in waiting. Just as she was about to jump off her stool, a familiar face came running into the area. West North, finally. Although he looked very tired and out of breath.

East furrowed her brows, watching her older brother approach the table she sat at. West leaned against the table, pants escaping his mouth, while people around the room threw odd looks at him. East let out a nervous chuckle, giving short waves to the concerned gazes before she hit West's arm.

"You are creeping people out," East scolded her brother.

West's head shot up as his breaths slowly went back to normal. "Come with me."

"Huh?" East asked, growing perplexed with her brother. He asked to meet here and now he wanted her to go somewhere else? "West, how much coffee have you had today?" West didn't answer. Instead, he did the last thing East expected him to do in a public area. He picked East up and threw her over his shoulder, causing the girl to gasp at the action and hit his back. "West! What the heck? Put me down!"

East should've known that West wouldn't listen to her. He never listened to her. Instead of putting her down, he rushed out of Hidalgos, not caring for the stares sent his way. East kept on hitting her brother's back, yelling at him to put her down. She didn't even know where they were going, since the only view she had was West's back.

Finally, after a few minutes, West set East down. Glancing around the room, East found that she was now standing in Miss Kate's office, without the woman in question. East turned to West, who held a grin and threw his arms out.

"Surprise!" West yelled.

East responded by hitting her brother's arm, which caused him to flinch, while she shouted, "What is wrong with you?!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Cutting their argument off was Miss Kate, who rushed into the room and gestured with her arms for the North siblings to stop. East crossed her arms, sending her brother an infuriated stare, while West just rubbed his arms. "Now, East, I'm assuming you know about what's happened."

East furrowed her brows in confusion, not knowing what Miss Kate was going on about. "Something happened?"

Miss Kate looked over to West, who wore a sheepish smile, and gave him an incredulous look. "You didn't tell her?"

"Well, I was going to, but she slapped me," West argued.

"Because you threw me over your shoulder like I was some rag doll," East countered.

"Guys," Miss Kate quickly spoke up, wanting to avoid another argument. "East, I want you to compete for a spot on the Internationals team."

Instantly, East's face morphed into a delighted grin. "Wait, really?"

"Yes, really," Kate confirmed with a smile. "Lucien had a loophole in our agreement and now Elite has 13 dancers."

"So I suggested to Miss Kate, 'hey, why not let East be our 13th dancer?'," West went on with a smile.

"And you can, only if you're up for it."

East nodded her head, her smile failing to leave her lips. "Of course, I am. I will not let you down, Miss Kate." East turned to West, giving him a side hug. "I'm still mad at you, but thanks."

The girl left the office, her smile on getting wider as a skip was now in her step. Finally, she had a shot at A-Troupe and she definitely wasn't going to miss it.

. . .

East stood in one of the corners of Studio A with Noah and Richelle beside her, while the rest of A-Troupe were dispersed in their own little group conversations. Today was the day of the battle and let's just say East was super nervous, but also super excited.

"See, I told you our time would come," East said to Richelle when Noah bent down to tie his shoe.

Richelle smiled at her. "I guess you were right."

East stretched her arm across her chest as Noah stood up, an excited smile on his face. "Are you guys ready?"

"Oh, definitely," Richelle responded to Noah with a confident nod. "Nothing is going to stop me from beating whoever I'm facing."

"Same," East agreed with a grin. "I've always wanted to be on A-Troupe, especially with you guys. Imagine, we could make history by jumping from J-Troupe and to A-Troupe."

"I wonder when Elite's getting here," Noah pondered aloud. East wondered that too. She would've assumed Elite would be prompt.

"Maybe they chickened out," Richelle suggested with a smirk, causing her two friends to chuckle.

"Well, whenever they come," East began, "I'm ready to take those suckers down."

Noah's eyes caught something behind East, making him say, "The eagles have landed in the nest." East's eyebrows scrunched up as she shared a confused looked with Richelle. "Elite's here."

East turned her body, seeing that Elite was here. What caused her to grow perplexed was the fact that they stormed in in unions, all of the dancers wearing blank expressions on their faces. East had to scoff. If this was their way of intimidating The Next Step, then they really were going to lose this game. East crossed her arms as she watched Elite get into positions, assuming it was a dance they choreographed.

"Let's do this," Lucien spoke.

Elite's music began and so did their dance. Okay, maybe East was wrong... by a lot about the fact that Elite couldn't intimidate them. Her face slowly dropped as she watched the Elite dancers perform and do lifts that she would never imagine herself doing. They were good. Really good.

East shared worried glances with her friends as Elite ended their dance. Their song was called Make The Ground Shake and they definitely did that. This competition was going to be a lot harder than East previously anticipated.

. . .

please don't be a ghost reader :(
vote, comment & share!💓