𝖑𝖎𝖋𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖊 [nochelle & richola]

three.

it's a-troupe auditions day. emily calls all the dancers in to studio a. i stand beside a girl who introduces herself as tate, and i'm pretty sure i recognise her. she tells me that she danced at encore last season, but that the studio shut down after miss angela was exposed. another dancer i didn't expect to see here is lily, as in lily who tried to sabotage our studio. davis, jacquie's sister, is also back after encore shut down.

then someone really unexpected walks in, lola. my heart drops to my stomach. part of me wants to run and throw myself into her arms, and part of me wants to slap her across the face for leaving me so abruptly. we haven't spoken in months. she didn't reply to any of my texts, and i stopped calling eventually after the countless voicemails i left her. it was like one day we were best friends, and the next we were strangers. it hurt.

i start walking in her direction, she's facing the other way, but just as i'm about to tap her shoulder, emily pipes up. i quickly rush back to where i was originally standing with jacquie and tate. talking to lola will have to wait.

"welcome, dancers!" emily called, "i see lots of familiar faces amongst you, but some newbies too, so i might as well introduce myself, and tell you how today is going to run. as most of you know, i am emily. i own the next step, and i'm currently studio head. i've danced with TNS since I was two, and now we're here. as for how today will run, we'll be doing choreo in the morning, and solos in the afternoon. for the choreo, you'll be shown it by our guest choreographer, then they'll work through it with you. the choreography has been tailored to suit as many of you as possible, showcasing technique as well as creativity. you'll have an hour to practice then you'll perform it to our choreographer and me in groups of five. after you've performed we'll break for lunch. after lunch all forty of you here will be narrowed down to just twenty. then the twenty of you left will each perform the solo you should've prepared on coming here. after that, i'll choose the twelve dancers that will make up the next step's nationals team. anyone who hasn't prepared a solo, well you might as well go home, because i can tell when people are improvising, and anyone who hasn't yet submitted their solo music, please see me immediately. you've got 20 minutes to stretch and warm up before we start choreo, good luck!"

i breathe a sigh of relief. that was a long speech emily. i start to warm up and stretch, making small talk, which i hate, with jacquie and tate.

"hey richelle," jacquie begins, "did you see that lola is here?"

i bite my lip and nod.

"why aren't you going to talk to her?" jacquie asks.

i shrug. "i'll probably wait until the auditions are over. i don't want her to think i'm psyching her out, and i don't want her to accidentally psych me out."

"sounds fair," jacquie agrees.

"who's lola?" tate asks.

"the blonde over there," jacquie tells her, pointing at lola and stretching into a scorpion, "she danced here on our team for a few months but then disappeared without even saying goodbye. apparently she told emily why but emily wouldn't tell any of us, not even richelle. lola and richelle have... history. i guess."

"cool," tate says.

"alright everyone!" emily yells, "time to meet our guest choreographer, please put your hands together for the lovely miss riley!"

i have mixed feelings about riley being our choreographer. on one hand, i don't really like her very much. she was shitty to james, which put the entire team in jeopardy, and it was mostly her fault we lost regionals last season. but on the other hand, i can say almost definitely that her choreo will be a contemporary-hip hop mash up with a little ballet technique thrown in; i could do that in my sleep, and it'll be a nice contrast to my solo which is mostly acro.

riley teaches us the choreography, and we perform it in groups. i'm with jacquie, kenzie, finn and some guy called eric.

i eat lunch with jacquie in shakes and ladders, still avoiding lola, until emily calls us back into studio a.

"alright dancers!" riley calls once everyone is back in, "we just want to say that you all danced amazingly, and we wish we could have you all on the team-"

emily cut her off. "-that's a lie, we only want the best of the best, so here's the twenty dancers who have made it through the choreo round!"

my palms are a little clammy with anticipation.

"here we go," emily begins, "lola, tate, jacquie, richelle, davis, finn, henry, summer, kenzie, eric, ozzy, kingston, lily, piper, amy, winnie, heath, oliver, sara and danielle!"

i breathe a sigh of relief. all of my friends and i have made it through the first round.