𝒫𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒮𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃 𝒮𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓈

𝟤𝟤𝟢. 𝑔𝓊𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝑜'𝓈 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀?

𝒲𝒶𝓁𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶 𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓊𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝓉𝒶𝓅 𝒸𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓂𝓎 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝓅𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓈𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝓇𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝓈𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝐼 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝒹𝓊𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓁 𝒷𝒶𝑔. Taking off my clacky tap shoes on the bench, I shrug on the thing so I can better access my duffel bag. Paige runs out behind me and takes off her tap shoes, tossing them in haphazardly.

"So, how's the official jacket? Is it warm?" Chloé asks, stretching out before the pyramid.

I nod. "It's perfect."

Off camera, Miss Abby gave me my official jacket with my name embossed on the side and everything. Apparently, my hard work and dedication both on and off the stage overshadowed my inability to win against Mackenzie at the competition. I feel so incredibly grateful to have the jacket. I'm a real member of the competition team.

"I wish she would take my jacket away," Brooke laughs as she comes out of her backbend.

"You can always go back to cheerleading," Maddie taunts and Brooke rolls her eyes.

"No way. The cheerleaders are so whiny," Brooke scoffs, tugging on her ponytail.

"Girls! Come on!" Miss Abby shouts from the studio right as Nia rushes into the studio, running a finger through her ponytail as I take off my jacket, before we all bolt into the studio. "Come on! Let's go! Let's go, ladies!"

Tugging on the small strap of my leotard, I tack myself onto the end of the growing line. I hope Mackenzie makes it to the top of the pyramid. But since Maddie won her solo and the group number finally won for the first time in months, she's probably going to sit pretty right on top. I glance at the "Six Weeks Until Nationals!" sign as Miss Abby gets settled.

Once she does, Miss Abby immediately turns her attention to the moms, quickly noticing that Holly isn't there. "Holly is busy?"

"She'll be here," Christi promises, rubbing her fingernails against each other.

"Well, we went to Starbound. We proved that you are National Champions, once again. It's much, much more fun to win, ladies."

I remember standing up and clapping as the other girls cheered when we learned we won. It was a big relief, since none of us thought the choreography was special enough to win anything at all.

"All right, now let's talk about this week. We are headed--" Miss Abby begins before the door suddenly opens, and we all stop to watch what's happening.

Everybody knows not to interrupt the pyramid. Somebody from production always posts a sign on the door to make sure nobody enters while we're filming. But all of a sudden, I see none other than Jill walk in, her hair bleached into a brassy blonde. My jaw almost drops to the floor.

"Hi, everyone," Jill greets. "Abby, can I talk to you?"

"Jill," Miss Abby stammers, just as dumbfounded as the rest of us.

"Yeah, we've had some differences," Jill begins, my eyes wide as I realize what's she trying to propose.

No, God. Please don't let Kendall come back on this team.

"You know what? I'm right in the middle of--"

"I know."

"--the pyramid. You know how this works," Miss Abby states and I see both Mommy and Christi's mouths wide open in shock.