Too Young

68

Riley

"Come on Riley. You aren't yourself lets have a sister day like we used to do?" Emily suggested as she stood at my door at 7am the following morning
"Em we have school" I reminded her making her nod
"I know, we'll leave the boys to it today. It'll just be the two of us" She said

"I don't know what happened in the last 24 hours Riles but you need your sister" She reminded me and for once, she was right

"Alright Em" I said making her squeal as she jumped on to my bed with me making both of us burst out laughing 
What could one sister date hurt?

We walked into school that morning to completely ignore Emily's boyfriend as we continued to walk through the halls, we got to my locker where A-Troupe stood opposite at James'
I glanced over my shoulder to see sure enough that James was looking in our direction

"What's the story there?" Emily asked looking at him
"don't even worry about it" I sighed closing my locker
Opening that can of worms would only scoop out the truth for Emily and I don't think she is ready for that yet 

"Where to first?" I asked making Emily smile widely as she linked are arms dragging me through the corridor as she irrupted in a fit of laughter, a laughter that was only contagious 
I've missed this side of Emily, I really have 

--

We walked into The Next Step that night, Emily had completely bailed on her team practice to come here 
"What are you doing here Emily?" Miss Kate asked probably cautious considering she is the competition
"Don't worry. I'm not here to scope out the competition. I'm here to spend time with Riles so I'll sit on the sidelines" She explained making Miss Kate shrug it off and let her sit down

"Alright from the top" Miss Kate calls

As soon as we finished, Emily and Miss Kate were clapping making most of A-Troupe smile the rest of them were probably still a little unsure considering the last time they all really saw her she hit me 
"That was great guys" Miss Kate said 

"Now there is something else we all need to talk about. James you have a choice to make" Miss Kate said making us all furrow our brows in his direction
"What?" James asked with a little bit of an attitude
"The National board called to inform all teams that there is a surprise round. You need to choose two dancers to be added to the board to possibly be entered. Only one of them would actually need to dance" She explained

"What is the surprise round?" I asked making Miss Kate's attention shift off of James
"We don't know until it happens. It could be dancing to certain music, it could be improv. Anything really" She said making all of the team nod
"So James, who's it going to be?" Miss Kate asked making everyone look at him

I caught his gaze for a second too long making it obvious I would be one of the people
"How about our soloists? El and Ri?" James said making everyone look at Eldon and I 

"Riley, aren't you doing a lot as it is?" Michelle asked and I nodded
"but the dance captain wants what he wants" I said making James shot me a look
"Riley" He warned

"No it's fine James, I'll do it" I said
"What's one more routine right?" I asked making the team all look at me a little concerned

"Are you sure Riley?" Miss Kate asked making me look at her, I nodded before taking a big deep breath in
"I'll be fine" I said in the hope they would believe me 

--

Emily and I ended up at home after practice just the two of us and honestly, after the last couple days it's exactly what you needed
"Can I talk to you about something?" I asked her and she nodded
"Hypothetically, if I knew something that you didn't. Would you believe me if I told you?" I asked making her furrow her brows

"I mean depends on what it is?" She asked making me look at her blankly
"Yes Riley I would believe you" She laughed throwing a piece of popcorn at me 

"What if I was to say that it's about Henry?" I asked making her sigh
"not you too.. West and James already try Riley, Henry isn't like that" She said making my face sink

"Not even if I told he's the one who made James and I break up?" I asked making Emily look at me in disbelief
"I'm doing all I can to keep my cool right now Riley" She said making me sigh

"Forget I mentioned it" I muttered getting up off of the sofa to head upstairs
Pretty sure I overstayed that welcome