Chapter 27

Peyton and Leslie weren't at pyramid the next Tuesday, much to my relief. Melody hadn't wanted me to come back to the studio, but I'd assured her that I could handle it.

"Second place," Abby said, disappointment in her words. "You all can do so much better. Onto pyramid. On the bottom, Kendall. You couldn't keep up in the trio, I expect better. Next, Chloé. Fine, you were good. Nothing special. Maddie- same thing. You need to stand out more. Brooke, you had Contemporary, and I saw quite a few mistakes. You made up for it in the group. In the middle, Paige and Nia. You were great in the trio, but it didn't win and you have to go down with the ship. Next, Mackenzie. You did that solo and you won, and you kept up with the older girls in the group dance. Good for you."

Mackenzie grinned, showing her crooked teeth.

"Second on the pyramid, Ursula. You're a versatile dancer, and I like that about you. Your solo was the second overall high score and the winner of the Teen division. I thought it was powerful and striking. On top of the pyramid once again is Joanne. You were a standout in the group, and your solo won the overalls even when I didn't help you at all. I thought that you handled the conflict with Leslie very maturely."

"Thank you," I said, nodding. "This week, every single one of you will have a solo. No group routine. Jill, you're always looking for special attention for Kendall. Her solo will be choreographed by Joanne, as will Chloé's. Kendall, your solo is Jazz, and Chloé, you're doing ballet. Moms, you will be making the costumes this week. I don't want to see any reused ones."

I raised my hand before drama could start. "Yes, Joanne?"

"My sister's a painter, is it okay if she makes my costume?"

"So long as it's homemade, I don't care. Your solo is dark Contemporary, so tell her that. Maddie, I'm changing it up, you're doing a Spanish-style routine. Ursula, you're going to do Lyrical, no tricks in it. Brooke, you're also doing Lyrical. Paige, you have a sassy Jazz routine, that's your strength. Nia, you have Contemporary. Mackenzie, you're doing an acrobatic routine."

Unusually, I was the first to learn my solo, from Abby herself. It must be a good one, then.

"You're probably my most mature dancer, so I'm really going to push you emotionally this week. Adele has agreed to let you dance to 'Skyfall.' You're going to play the villain."

"Ooh, awesome! I love that song," I replied happily.

"I do too. I just heard it for the first time. This is a new dance, not the one you already know. You will start like you did in that routine, though. Find that position. Good, now go into a plié with your leg all the way in a split, and cover your face like you're scared. Then chainé out of that and whack your leg to your head, arms above your head. This character is bipolar, you need to be ferocious there."

This is what confused me about Abby's choreography. This solo was amazing, certainly a competitive Senior solo, but Peyton's solo last week had been comically easy. As much as I disliked Leslie, I felt for Peyton. She wasn't the nicest but she was a good dancer.

Abby was happy with the solo after an hour and dismissed me to teach Kendall her solo, as she picked up choreography slower than Chloé (not that I blamed her, she truly hadn't been with us for that long.

"I'm excited! Your solo was great last week," Kendall told me somewhat shyly.

"Thank you, Kendall, I was very proud of it. Hopefully you'll like this dance too. It's called 'Hit That!' and it needs to be super high energy. It's not the hardest but it does have turns in it."

Kendall had learned most of the dance once it was Chloé's turn, and Jill recorded it and said she would run it with her daughter.

"Am I going to be en pointe?" Was the first thing Chloé asked, looking a bit stressed.

"No, you've barely been fitted for pointe shoes. That would be dangerous."

"The producers said that I needed to be en pointe."

"Well, that's not happening. You can do a winning ballet solo without pointe shoes," I informed her. "This dance is about you looking pretty and doing the moves right, no more, no less. It's entitled 'The Swan' and your costume could just be a tutu from the store, nothing crazy. Start in second position, arms in first."

Bryan, one of the producers, interrupted halfway through. "Why is she not en pointe? It's a ballet solo."

"She's only been en pointe for a week, it would risk injury for her to do a solo," I replied calmly.

"It'll make it more dramatic for her to struggle with being en pointe," he argued.

"Neither Miss Abby or I or anyone wants her to get hurt," I said firmly. "She will not be wearing pointe shoes, and that's final. Miss Abby told me that she's not ready, and so have her teachers. This isn't something that can be rushed."

Abby had to come in and repeat the message before the producers backed up, and poor Chloé was near tears. I couldn't finish teaching her the solo then, because I had class, but stayed late to give her the rest of the steps. It wasn't fair to her, she deserved as much time as anyone else.

"Mel, would you be able to make a costume for the competition for me?" I asked my sister that night. She looked up from her book.

"I mean, yeah, but don't you usually get them from the studio?"

"Usually, but not this week. I have a shirt and pants that I'm willing to give up for the cause. My solo is dark Contemporary about a villain so it should be black, probably with a few other colors on it. Nothing fancy."

"That should be pretty simple," Melody said. "Get the outfit to me tonight and it'll be done by tomorrow afternoon."

With that out of the way, I was able to focus on school and dance. As always. Melody's friends were nice, but the last time I'd talked to them, they'd called my life boring. On the contrary, I wished that it was less interesting.

Two days later, right before the competition, Abby wanted to see everyone's solos with their costumes. I had the shirt and pants, painted black with red lines imitating blood, and everyone else but Kendall at least had completed homemade costumes.

"Jill, you did not make that costume," Abby deadpanned at the Lyrical-style leotard that Jill held up.

"You haven't seen it before," Jill defended herself.

"No, but she's competed in it, so it's against the rules. Kendall, just wear your dancewear. Jill, try again. It can be plain, but it can't already exist."

Jill sighed, but didn't interrupt rehearsal anymore. Maddie showed off her fun Spanish-style dance, and was looking like the confident cousin that I'd seen the year before. Good for her. Mackenzie was just adorable, and didn't forget her dance, something she was working very hard on at barely seven. Ursula had a beautiful piece and she needed to be more fluid but was solid otherwise. Nia messed up a few steps on her Contemporary piece, but wasn't awful. Paige looked better than I'd seen her all season, with straight legs, pointed feet and an entertaining performance. Brooke had some serious stiffness issues on her solo, I was sorry to think about my best friend.

Kendall went up and did the dance well, but she lost energy about halfway through. Then it was my turn.

I'd only gotten through about thirty seconds when Jill complained. "Why does Joanne get a special song?"

"Jill! Do not interrupt her! You were quiet for everyone else," my aunt snapped. "I'm sure that Joanne would be happy for Kendall if she got to dance to a special song, and so would I."

"Jill, get out," Abby ordered. "Up to dance jail or whatever you call it. How disrespectful."

Once Jill was gone, I restarted the dance, and poured my anger at Jill into it.

"It's good, but you're off the music when you enter your turns," Ursula told me. "You also aren't really getting fear across at the beginning."

I had a few other things to work on. That was fine with me. Chloé went last, and wore a pretty blue tutu. I thought that she did very well for learning a proper ballet combination in three days.

"Your face goes totally flat on your turns," I told Chloé. "It's not even ballet face, it's nothing. Watch your shoulders, they're tensing up quite a bit. Otherwise, it looks great."

"Yes, the shoulder tension and face," Abby backed me up. "You could be more fluid, you still need to have good movement even if it's ballet. I've seen you do it before."

I headed to Senior ballet class with Ursula after that, and Peyton pulled me aside during a break.

"I'm really sorry about last week," she said, looking more vulnerable than I'd ever seen her. "My mom told me to act that way, and the producers paid her. I think you're cool and wish that I could be on the team."

"I appreciate it," I replied, surprised. "Friends?"

"Friends," Peyton smiled.

So, the initial competition was canceled, but Abby was able to find a smaller competition in Texas for us to attend instead. These things happened, at least we had a dance teacher who always got what she wanted.

There was kind of a big issue when we arrived- the competition was held on a gym floor.

"I have to do an aerial," Maddie said blankly. "What if I fall?"

"If you think you're going to fall, you definitely will, so forget about it," Abby told Maddie rather harshly. "Joanne, you're up first. You need to set the bar for everyone else, so go out there and dance like you're the team leader. Got it?"

I nodded, not feeling too much pressure from Abby. I always wanted to perform my best no matter what. "I have a question. I'm supposed to end the dance crouched in front of the judges, but they probably won't be able to see me if they're sitting at a table- could the ending be changed?"

"Good point. Finish the dance leaning on their table and glaring at them. It's a bold move, but you should be able to pull it off."

I was actually the first dance of the entire competition, so I would really need to be amazing to pull off a win in the oldest age category. I would absolutely have an advantage in the Adele song and great costume.

I thought that the solo went off without a hitch- I was able to commit to the character and pour all the paid I'd been feeling the past few weeks into the dance without falling off in terms of technique. I ended the dance staring down the middle judge, not too far away from her face. She seemed a bit intimidated, which had to be a good thing.

It was a full hour before anyone else from the team performed, so I fully took a shower and dressed in sweats before heading back to the dressing room to help out with costumes and makeup.

"Excellent work, you danced confidently and as I expected," Abby complimented me. "I thought that you sold your character completely."

"Who is the villain for 'Skyfall?'" Holly wondered.

"He's played by Javier Bardem, who said that he couldn't talk about the character when I met him," Ursula said with a slight pout. "I did get an autograph, though, so that was cool."

"Next time you get an opportunity like that, bring Kendall along so she can participate too," Jill said to me.

"That's not how it works," I explained. "Adele called me specifically, Ursula was a guest. She won't be in the video. If you want Kendall to get opportunities like that, you'd need to hire a publicist or manager. I've had a manager for a year and a half."

"You can't do something nice for a teammate?" Jill asked. I just held back an eyeroll.

"Again, it doesn't work that way. Kendall should be more focused on her solo at the moment anyway. Do you want to run it, Kendall? Do you have a costume?"

Kendall was in a red bra top and purple shorts, which clashed horribly but oh well. The solo itself looked good, though of course Abby grilled her and made her lose confidence. Fabulous coaching, really.

Ursula was up next. She had a few issues with fluidity but overall did well, and I was proud of her as it was her first competitive Lyrical solo. Brooke went next and didn't look great, if I was honest. She shook her head when I met her in the hallway.

"That wasn't good. Abby won't be happy."

"I won't say it was great, but it wasn't too awful," I assured her. "New styles always need work."

"Hopefully I get another chance."

"Ursula, fine, but not great. At least your technique was good. Brooke, what a hot mess. I doubt that will even place."

This made Kelly argue with Abby, of course, and I slipped out to run Kendall and Chloé's solos with them.

"Do you have a story for this solo?" I asked Kendall, and she shook her head. "That may help you with your energy levels. You're not getting tired, I don't think, it seems almost practiced that you lose energy."

"So it's not on me?" She asked hopefully.

"No, but it is on you to fix it. Think of a story and run it in your head. Chloé, let's see it."

Chloé had fixed her face quite a bit. "You need to extend the moves more, to your fingers and toes. Really stretch. It's better than it was yesterday, you clearly practiced last night."

Kendall and Chloé performed admirably, followed by Paige and Nia. Mackenzie went on and was adorable, attacking the Acro moves with little fear. I hugged her tightly once she left the stage area.

Maddie's solo was going well until she changed her mind in the air during her front aerial and fell onto her back. To her credit, she got right back up and continued on as if nothing had happened, but her face crumpled as soon as she got out of the gym and into the hallway. I followed as indiscreetly as possible and put my arm around her, highly aware of the cameras on us.

"Are you okay?"

Maddie nodded, sniffling. "I think so. I'm really disappointed in myself, I got scared."

"Mistakes happen to everyone," I reassured her. "You got up and kept dancing, that's what's important. If you ever do think that you're seriously injured, though, forget about the routine and stay still while calling for help."

Maddie got checked out by the medics, and much to mine, Abby's, and Aunt Melissa's relief, she just had a bruise. She and I had to rush to get back to the gym for awards.

Mackenzie was 5th in Pre K/Kindergarten solos, while Maddie placed 3rd in Elementary 1-3 solos, not too bad considering the fall. The show probably wouldn't show that, though. Kendall placed 5th in that category. In Elementary 4-6 solos,Nia was 2nd and Paige and Chloé tied for first place. Paige received the Outstanding Performer award as well.

"Fifth place in Junior 7-8 solos... Brooke from the ALDC! First place in Junior 7-8 solos... Ursula with the ALDC!"

At least Brooke had placed. Ursula looked thrilled to win once again.

"Your first-place winner in the Senior 11-12 solos... Joanne with the ALDC!"

I stood and accepted the trophy. "You are also receiving the Outstanding Stage Presence award and Costume award," the announcer said. "Where did you get that costume? It's amazing."

"I gave my sister an outfit of mine and she painted it. Everyone from the ALDC has a homemade costume," I said.

"Well, your sister did a great job."

I slept on the bus ride back, happy with a successful and relatively peaceful competition. 

AN: #1 in dancemomsfanfiction and dancemoms WHAT