DANCING THROUGH LIFE, dance moms

Chapter 23: Florida!

When my mom and I got to the studio the next morning, Maddie, Mackenzie, Nia, Brooke and Paige were already waiting by the bus in the parking lot. As we pulled into our parking space, I saw Kelly and Holly unloading suitcases and other things from their cars, while Maddie and Mackenzie already had all of their things with them. I had to hand it to them - those two were probably the most well-prepared kids I had ever met in my life.

I was glad to see Paige, and was anxious to see what the doctors had said about her dancing this weekend. I really hoped she was cleared — not only for the sake of the trio, but for the group routine as well.

"Paigey!" I squealed as I ran out of my car. I ran over to her and gave her a huge hug.

She laughed. "I was only gone for two days! And I saw you at school yesterday."

"It so wasn't the same." I let go of her and we both giggled.

Chloe's car then pulled up to the studio, completing our team. She hopped out, looking just as happy to see Paige as I was. "Paige! You're here!"

"As if I would miss this!" Paige grinned at Chloe. "We are going to Florida."

"I can't wait to go swimming!" Maddie smiled happily. I remembered her saying something about not usually getting to do fun stuff, since Abby was so worried about us getting injured before a competition or something, so I was happy that we were all going to get to go swimming and just be kids for once.

Abby then emerged from inside of the studio. "Hey, girls. Ready to go?"

"Yes!" We all yelled in unison. I was the first kid to clamber onto the bus, practically sprinting to the very back so that I could save Chloe a seat next to me.

Maddie and Paige sat in front of us, with Nia and Kenzie on our other side. Brooke sat alone. I wondered if Miss Abby would ever bring another kid her age onto our team. I hoped so — don't get me wrong, we were awesome, but I bet Brooke got sick of constantly being around people younger than her.

Then again, if Miss Abby were to bring another teenager on, she'd probably make it a competition between the two of them, and they wouldn't end up being super good friends anyways. Just look what happened with Payton.

The bus ride was short and mainly consisted of Miss Abby telling us the rules we'd have to follow upon arrival at the airport. Since Chloe and I were in the back, we didn't really pay much attention. Her rules for the airport were pretty much the same as her rules for competition - stick together, no running, no generally acting like an idiot, et cetera. I thought these were good rules, but did she have to repeat them every time we went somewhere?

After a few hours in the airport, we were finally boarding our flight. Chloe and I grinned at each other, more than ready for the sun and sand of Fort Lauderdale.

~*~

The plane ride was relatively short. Maddie and I took a much needed nap (while Chloe and Paige played on their iPads together across the aisle from us — did they ever run out of energy?), and before we knew it, we were in Florida!

When we got to the hotel, Miss Abby only gave us thirty minutes to get changed and downstairs in the lobby so that we could rehearse our group number on the beach. I was kinda upset that we didn't get more time, but it was honestly fine — rehearsing on the beach was basically a dream come true for all of us.

Once we got outside and Abby had found a lounge chair that she deemed comfortable, she had us spread out into our starting formation for the group routine. Before we started dancing, however, she had a few questions for us. "Okay, so who all watched the video Beach Blanket Bingo?"

Paige and I gave each other a blank stare. We most definitely did not watch whatever that was.

Nia was the only one who raised her hand, so I didn't feel too bad about not watching it in the end. "Me!" She exclaimed.

"You did? Good girl!" Miss Abby high fived Nia before turning to the rest of us. "You didn't watch it?"

We all shook our heads (even Maddie and Mackenzie, to my surprise), and she sighed. "Fifty push-ups, all of you. I told your mothers to make sure you watched the movie."

After finishing our pushups, Nia told us about the dance moves that were featured in the movie, and finally, we were able to rehearse our number. I didn't see what the big deal was about watching it — I thought the number still looked fine, even though only one of us had seen it.

We rehearsed the number three times before Abby told us that we could stop. Mackenzie grinned at Abby. "Can we go in the water?" She asked, motioning out to the ocean.

"Can you go in the water?" Abby raised her eyebrows.

"Please?" Paige said from behind me. Chloe and I giggled.

"I don't know how cold it is, guys..." Abby looked out at the water, but by the time she turned to look back at us, we had already left, sprinting out towards the shore.

Abby was right — the water was really cold. We were out almost as soon as we got in. We had fun tumbling across the shoreline, though. For once, I felt like we were allowed to be kids.

We ran back to Miss Abby after a bit, giving her a group hug (getting her shirt wet in the process). "Where's Mackenzie?" She asked us, a smile threatening to come out.

I looked around at our group. Sure enough, Mackenzie was nowhere to be found. I shrugged, and most of the other girls did the same.

Abby sighed. "You guys had to lose her, didn't you?"

Paige and I glanced at each other and immediately bursted out laughing. Abby raised her eyebrows at us and left to go look for Mackenzie, which somehow made us laugh even harder.

I didn't want to speak too soon, but I felt like Florida had been a success already.

~*~

A/N: Hi all!
So sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I switched to a much more rigorous school recently, so I haven't had much time to write. Hopefully, updates will be more consistent from now on (although I feel like I say that all the time lmao).
Hope y'all enjoyed! See y'all in the next chapter!
— Ainsley :)