𝒫𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒮𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃 𝒮𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓈

𝟣𝟢𝟫. 𝒷𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓌𝑔𝒾𝓇𝓁𝓈

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓅𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒸𝓇𝒶𝓏𝓎. The producers made Miss Abby do this fake bit about the moms being surprised about going to Vegas after this, which then led to Cathy getting into an argument with Miss Abby. Long story short, Cathy and Vivi-Anne left the team.

I don't blame her. She owns a dance company and she only was supposed to come here for six episodes, all in Pittsburgh. This was out of the original bargain. But now instead of eight, we only have seven members.

The flight here was really fun. It was a seven-hour flight with an hour layover in Denver. Unfortunately, we almost missed the plane because Melissa's luggage couldn't be found. I feel worse for Holly, though. Her luggage got put on the next plane to Las Vegas.

Also, some big news! On the East Coast, the first episode of our show is premiering. The network is super excited. The producers and cameramen keep telling us that we're gonna be a hit and they might want new seasons. That'll never happen, though.

"Come on, girls," Melissa shouts as the van opens the doors to our new studio for the week.

I sigh as I get off of Iris' lap. As much as I love traveling the world, I really miss ballet. I want to be with Madame Keira, learning new variations and how to articulate my foot. I grab my duffel bag and head inside while Iris sends out a final Twitter tweet and heads to another room.

"Welcome to Las Vegas!" Miss Abby cheers, waving to us as we walk inside, seeing six headshots covered in the same vermillion paper stuck to the mirror. 

There's also an extra headshot to the side. Who got left behind? I drop my bag, standing in between Kenzie and Maddie, ready to find out if I'm dancing this week.

"I want to reflect on Starpower last week. Some of you did really well-- however, as a whole, not so great. I brought Brandon in, I thought that would do the trick, and the dance was a mess. The competition in Las Vegas this week is Thunderstruck and we have four days to prepare. As a group, this particular group, has never not placed in overall high scores. So you need to be flawless this week," Miss Abby explains.

Miss Abby shifts over to the pyramid and viciously tears off the first piece of paper. Under it is Vivi-Anne with a big circle marked on her headshot, a slash going through the circle.

"Vivi-Anne. Not here," Miss Abby says. "Her mother made it quite clear she was not traveling to Las Vegas, so you know what? This poor little girl is going to suffer. Her mother didn't follow the rules. Let this be a lesson to all of you, and to all of your mothers. If you don't follow the rules, and you don't give me a hundred percent, I will yank your number from the competition."

"Next up..." Miss Abby teases, pulling off the next two pieces of paper, showing me, then Mackenzie. "Mackenzie, honey, I'm sorry you lost your duet partner. But I want you to practice on all of your jumps and all of your tricks because this week and next week, you will definitely be competing."

"Okay," Mackenzie mutters.

"Rue, it's simple. You didn't compete this week, I had nothing to judge you on. But this week, you will also be competing. Last week, your mother asked me why I couldn't throw you into Mackenzie's old duet. Well, this week, you and Mackenzie have your own acro duet," Miss Abby tells me and I smile, grabbing Mackenzie's hand.

Finally! We get to do a duet! I bounce on my toes, trying to contain my excitement.

"Paige," Miss Abby announces, ripping off the next headshot's cover-up. "Your performance is good, but you're not winning, and you're not placing in the overalls. And I feel like that you should be placing definitely in the top ten. This is your city. You have the long legs, you have the look, yes? Because of that, Paige... you're getting a solo. Understand?"