DANCING THROUGH LIFE, dance moms

Chapter 13: Jill, Where Are You Going?

a/n: hey besties! i know i kinda took a long-ish break from this book and i'm super sorry but here's a chapter for y'all! let's get on with it :)

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Next Monday at the studio, I got there a bit later than everyone else. My math teacher had made me stay late after school to finish a test — Paige and Chloe had offered to stay behind with me, but I'd told them not to. It was better for just one of us to get in trouble for being late than all three of us.

Luckily, I walked in when the cameramen were having us walk into studio A for pyramid, so I wasn't technically late.

The way that the cameramen filmed pyramid was weird. Sometimes the process could take up to three hours, all because they wanted us to walk in a certain way. It was dumb, to be honest — all I wanted to do was dance, and since this was reality TV, shouldn't they show how everyone actually walked in?

After maybe five times walking in, the cameramen decided that they had the shots they needed, and Miss Abby got straight to the pyramid. "Alright, girls. Hollywood Vibe last week. You guys were okay. You could've been better. There is always room for improvement."

"Now, moving on. This week, we're going to Fire & Ice right here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."

The group of us cheered. Not having to travel a super long way was something I was more than happy about. I loved it when we went to cool places like LA and Miami, but otherwise, all that traveling was just boring and...not my favorite.

"And I have a reputation to uphold. It's much more difficult to go in and compete against people you know than a bunch of strangers." Abby raised her eyebrows at us.

I nodded. That was true — when you compete in your home city, most people have already picked up on what your team specifically doesn't do so well, so then they can try to really shine in those areas and beat you in those categories of the judging sheet.

With us, our technique was what was holding us back. Our team could emote and tell a story that would bring you to tears, but our technique scores weren't up to par with where they should've been. The technique scores at my old studio were actually a lot better than they were at the ALDC.

Chloe was probably the most technically sound dancer on our team, but she was hardly ever featured in group numbers — and neither was I, for that matter. It was weird, because our solos always ended up with good technique scores — I wondered why Abby hadn't picked up on that yet.

Oh, well. Maybe Maddie would always be the favorite, no matter what — her technique was still good, and she told a story better than any of us.

"Okay, let's get to the pyramid." Abby nodded.

I wondered where I'd be on the pyramid this week — I hadn't been in anything other than the group routine this week, and the group lost. However, I was sure Paige would get the brunt of it all — she had messed up in the trio, and Abby was always extremely hard on her for almost no reason.

"I hate to do this, but...Kendall. You are back on probation." Abby ripped the first piece of paper off the pyramid.

Jill looked appalled, while Kendall just looked devastated.

"That's ridiculous, Abby. What more do you want from her?" Jill yelled, extremely upset.

Abby looked at Kendall as she cried. "Your head is distended. Your shoulders are hunched. Your ribcage is open."