Leading Ladies

XXXVII. Revenge of The Replacements

"I wonder where Abby is," Sabrina mutters, pulling the back of her turners up her heels.

Bianca shrugs, covering a yawn. "She'll be here soon."

"The last time she was late was after Cathy beat us in New Jersey," Sabrina stands back up. "And we know how that went."

"But we had a clean sweep this week," Bianca counters.

"I'm just saying that it's been proving that if Abby is not the first one here, it's not a good thing."

"By one instance."

Elsa rolls her eyes at them. "Stop bickering; Mom is frowning at you."

Bianca turns slightly to her left, and sure enough, their Mom was frowning at them. She smiles apologetically at her before turning back to the front.

I still think Sabrina is being dramatic, though. What can Abby be mad at when we won in every single division? At that moment, Abby walks through the door with a frown of deep disapproval. Bianca ignores the smug look from Sabrina. I guess we're about to find out.

Abby ignores everyone until she's standing in front of the girls. "Once again, I'm not happy," she addresses them. "When I left that competition, everybody was gloating about how amazing you were. The big winners. Nothing blew me away.

"I think all of you would be interested in knowing that our duet, 'Sugar and Spice,' did not win. It was a mathematical error. And that means that 'Sugar and Spice,' Maddie and Kendall were not the overall high-score winning duet trio.

"So Greensboro, North Carolina, which we thought was a smashing success. Turned out to be a big letdown. I watched the group number. I saw some superb dancing, and I saw some horrendous dancing. Kendall, whose place did you take?"

Pressing her lips together, Bianca leans back to glance at Kendall. Oh no, she's about to cry. If Kendall lets a tear slip, Abby's going to make her sob.

"Sophia's," Kendall replies weakly.

"Sophia's. Did you look like she would have looked doing that number?" Abby asks, causing Kendall to shrug. "You don't know? I'll tell you. No way. Listen to me, learn this, every single one of you; when you're in here rehearsing, and you keep screwing up, you don't need me to stand there and point out every mistake." Abby spins to face the mirror. "Can't you see it!?"

Watching Kendall wipe her tears in the mirror, Bianca elbows Elsa.

"Ow!" Elsa mumbles, rubbing her side and glaring at her. "What was that for?" she hisses.

Bianca juts her head towards Kendall.

Eyes widening in realization, Elsa nods. Shifting so she's closer to Kendall, she whispers something in Kendall's ear while rubbing her back.

Kendall nods, swallowing the rest of her tears.

I wonder what she said? Whatever it is, it got her to stop crying, Bianca muses.

Turning back to them, Abby rips the cover off the first headshot. "Kendall. You worked your way up that pyramid, and now you're right back where you started from. Next Maddie. All for one, one for all-- it's about the team. Kendall's there; you went with her."

In the past, it didn't matter where Maddie's partners were on the pyramid. She was usually on top or on the second row. It was almost guaranteed. Realization hit Bianca like a brick wall. Abby's still mad at Melissa and Maddie.

"Nia... you did an okay job; I just don't see the feet getting any better," Abby critiques. "Next... Paige. You placed in the top five; that's an improvement. Next, Chloe... I thought you really stood out starting the group dance.