DANCING THROUGH LIFE, dance moms

Chapter 16: Showgirls

A/N: Hello all! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, please leave a vote and comment if possible <3 love you guys! Thanks for reading!

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After school, Kelly drove me, Brooke, Paige and Chloe to the ALDC. Christi was dealing with an emergency at work — one of her employees had quit on her — and my mom was home taking care of a sick Haven. I wondered if Abby would take her absence out on me.

As the four of us walked into the studio together, Abby made Kelly stay back at the front desk, presumably to ask about where my mom and Christi were. Brooke broke away from us to talk to some members of the Senior company — where she should have been dancing already, in my opinion — which left me, Chloe, and Paige. The three of us made our way to the dressing room, where Maddie and Mackenzie were already waiting.

After about thirty minutes of chatting and getting ready, my mom and Chloe's had made it to the studio right on time. We heard Abby's voice. "Girls! Let's go! Come on!"

The familiar anxiety I always got before pyramid took over my body. I knew that I had done well — I won my division last week, which was exactly what Abby had asked of me — but I was still nervous about the criticism that Abby would inevitably bring.

We all filed into studio A about seven times before the cameramen decided that they had the footage that they needed. I stood between Nia and Paige. Paige gave me an encouraging grin, like she knew that this week was going to be a good one for me. I wished that I had the same optimism.

Abby stood in front of us. "Congratulations on a great job at Fire and Ice. I think the judges said 'I do'." She laughed at her own corny joke before continuing. "We're gonna do the pyramid, and we're gonna start right here with...Paige."

Paige's face fell a little bit, but held her head up high. "The arms. We talked about that. I've been on you for the last few weeks. You need to be stronger and resist." Abby explained. Paige nodded. I knew that she hated getting put on the bottom all the time, but also knew that her desire to be a great dancer overcame that.

"Next, I have Brooke." Abby removed the paper from her picture. I saw Kelly scowl at this, clearly upset that her two kids were at the bottom of the pyramid. "I just wanna see you smile. Even on your wedding day, it's like..." Abby smiled awkwardly. "You need to beam because I want to give you a solo. I want you out there doing a solo every single competition."

Brooke nodded, putting on a real smile, but I knew that the producers wouldn't use that footage. Jerks.

"Next, Mackenzie. You were in the group dance, but I need you to bring up the level of your dancing to the level that Maddie was dancing at when she was seven." Abby said. Mackenzie looked upset at that comment, but Maddie was unfazed. It was nothing the two of them hadn't dealt with before.

"Next...Chloe. I always want more from you. I keep telling you that. You're not standing out in a negative way, but I need you to stand out in a positive way. Right now, you're just kinda...blending in." Abby said to Chloe.

"Moving on up...Nia. Nia, how do you think you did?" Abby asked.

Nia looked surprised to be asked for her opinion. "I think I did pretty well."

Abby looked to Holly. "And Mom?"

Holly got a big grin on her face. "I was very pleased. I was excited to see her onstage and doing her best in a different kind of dance. I think you can still get those high energy performances without being 'stereotypical'."

I had to agree with her. I didn't understand it at the time, but looking back on it when I was older, I hated how typecasted Nia was in nearly every dance she did. The dance last week was a nice change from that.

"Right." Abby nodded. "Next, we have Maddie; great in the group routine as always."

There was only one spot left on the pyramid. Chloe gave me a big smile.

"And on top of the pyramid...is Hailey." Abby gave me a smile, a real, genuine smile, and my friends cheered for me. Nia hugged me, and I couldn't help but grin.

"Hailey, you're on top of the pyramid because you won first place overall with your solo. That's something to be proud of."

I smiled. "Thank you."

Abby nodded at me before addressing the entire group. "Now, this weekend we're going back to Fire and Ice. There is going to be some talent present. Only the best of the best are invited back to this competition."

I wasn't sure that was true. Abby was probably playing it up for the cameras.

"Chloe, you will be doing a solo. Maddie, you will be doing a solo. Hailey, you will also have a solo. You three are currently my best solo dancers. I want to see you all go head to head."

We all glanced at each other uneasily. Another week of competing against my best friends wasn't something that I was looking forward to.

"Everybody is going to be in the group dance." Abby continued. "You're going to be showgirls."

The rest of the girls cheered, but I had no idea what she meant by that. Like the ones in Vegas? I thought.

"Listen closely, because I'm only going to say this once. The audience should think that you are nude." Abby explained.

My eyes widened and I looked at Chloe, who had a similar expression on her face. Nude? But this is gonna be on TV! I mentally screamed.

"So much for being conservative." Kelly snorted.

Christi's hand covered her mouth in shock, and Holly raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me, I don't think I heard that right." She said with a nervous chuckle.

"I'm only eleven." Paige pointed out.

I nodded. "Yeah! How are we gonna be nude? Isn't that, like, illegal or something?"

Abby held back a laugh at our comments before continuing. "This is a famous routine done years gone by. There are two fans, and the fans are basically what cover the dancer's body. So the bigger the fan, the more they cover."

I hoped Abby had bought some big fans.

"One fan goes in front, and one fan goes behind." Abby finished. "Alright, moms, you're dismissed, girls, let's warm up."

Maddie and I shared a look. With our competing solos and the strange group dance, this week would be interesting, to say the least.

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A/N: Hey everyone! This is short because I wanted to get an update out, and because I'm still trying to figure out how I'm gonna write this episode, lol. Thanks for reading. Love you guys <3