The Showstopper

Chapter 29 (Part 1)

Lauren's POV

"Yes, it's true. You're looking at one of the 12 young women who have been accepted to the Juilliard Dance Division," Normani beamed, walking over to the lunch table and waving her acceptance letter.

"Yes!! I'm so proud of you, Manibear. Oh my God!" I pulled her into a tight hug.

"Yay, Mani!" Justin came over too. Dinah and Ally were with Camila at her table.

Normani told me yesterday that she'd been accepted into her dream school and not to mention the number one best school for dance in the country.

"Thanks, Lo and Just," she hugged. "I cried for at least two hours straight yesterday." That's what Camila and I did when we found out we were accepted into NYU. We cried together for hours.

"That's amazing," I sighed in delightful relief. "So, now you, Ally, Camila, Dinah, and I are all officially going to be in New York together." Ally and Dinah got into the Ailey School, part of Fordham University which was one of their dream schools as well. It was the second best dance school in the country so that was an amazing achievement. I was so proud of all my best friends.

"Yep and I can go to New York in May with you guys for apartment hunting," she said.

"That's right," I smiled as we sat down. "Man, this is gonna be so much fun. All five of us living in NYC like how we've always dreamt of. And we're all gonna be in America's top performing arts schools. That's incredible," I said, biting into a chip.

"I'm soooo excited," she started to eat her lunch. "So, what were you guys talking about?" she asked, joining in on the conversation Brad, Ariana, Justin, the other guys and I were already having.

"Just about hell week," I answered.

"Oh, this is the week, right?" Normani asked excitedly. It was Monday and the start of hell week for Les Mis which was opening on Friday.

"Yep and Diggins is making us rehearse for an extra hour," I sighed.

"Well, that's show biz," she shrugged.

"I guess. I love it though," I smiled.

"Yeah and I have a cast party to prepare for," Justin claimed.

"Oh, you're doing it, J?" I asked.

"Yeah, but don't worry, it's not going to be crazy. It's gonna be like Luke and Jai's," he high-fived them.

"Oh, good. Should be fun then," I nodded.

"Snapping your girl?" Normani asked quietly, looking down at my phone that was in my lap.

"Maybe," I smirked.

"Ooh, so, what'd you two talk about at the party on Saturday? You kinda told me through text but I wanna hear it," she wanted to know.

"Well, we talked about a lot of things. She actually wanted to get back together but I turned her down surprisingly."

"Yeah, why did you do that?" she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Because I'm not ready. I'm still going through the help and therapy. Until I feel like I'm ready and at least mostly recovered, then we'll get back together."

"Damn, never thought you'd do that, Jauregui," Normani eyed me.

"Me neither but this is good. We're being mature about this," I said.

"True. I'm proud of you and all the progress you've made already," she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Thanks, nugget. Love you," I kissed the top of her head.