Fight Song

Chapter 11

Briar's PoV
I found it strange that Joe had just immediately left Dianne to come to Caspar and I. I knew firsthand how prickly she could be, especially at competition, but I thought they loved each other, even if it was just as friends.

"Why are you leaving Dianne?" I asked him, confused.

"Oh, she said we can't be friends now we're no longer working together," Joe shrugged. "Rivals only. She basically said beforehand we couldn't dance together ever again either, so yanno, nice knowing her friendship meant a lot."

"Joe..." I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Look, she cares about you, she does. I can see it. Competition sometimes brings out the worst in her. Don't take it personally."

"Yeah," he shrugged. "Congrats on getting through to the trio round though!"

"You too!" I smiled.

"Thanks Joe," Caspar grinned. "Also I could never have done it without Briar, so massive thanks to her, you star!"

"Aww, thanks Casp!" I giggled. I truly had found a good friend in Caspar. And I think I might be able to find one in Joe. Unlike Dianne, he can clearly be friends with someone while also realising they're competition.

"I'm gonna head off and find my team now to see what the trio is looking like," Joe said. "See you guys around!"

"Wait," I grabbed his arm. Seeing his face when he spoke about Dianne, I felt sorry for him. "Me, my boyfriend, Caspar, Byron and another of my teammates were gonna hang out tonight. You should join us. Bring anyone you want."

"I'll think about it," Joe nodded appreciatively before walking off.

"I think he liked her," Caspar mused. "Like as in more than just a friend."

"I think he did too," I said. "And I think Dianne liked him back."

"It's like Romeo and Juliet," Caspar laughed.

"I mean, I hope not because then they're both gonna die at the end which isn't exactly ideal," I said.

Caspar rolled his eyes and I laughed. "There's got to be something we can do," he said with a sigh.

"Not now," I shook my head. "They both need time to think everything through and I doubt it'll work anyway, Dianne in particular will look at it as us trying to psych her out."

"Okay," Caspar nodded, "but soon."

"Soon," I agreed.

Joe's PoV
Upon hearing Dianne and I had won our round, our trio had gone to a rehearsal room to practise. The trio round was tomorrow, where the teams would be halved again, leaving only 16 teams by Wednesday.

"Hey guys!" I grinned as I went into the studio. The trio we'd put forward was Neil, Zoe and Anna. It was supposed to be about a family falling apart, where Neil and Zoe were the parents and Anna was the child. They were getting a divorce, and there was a lot of tugging and lifting Anna, each parent wanting predominant custody of their daughter, and neither of them seeing or understanding the negative effect it was having on her. Their idea had come from Amy doing her solo on a personal matter, but mine and Zoe's parents had also divorced recently so they were using that to drive the dance. I'd seen it in rehearsals before, but it had come so incredibly far since last time. Everything was immaculate. I genuinely couldn't find a single flaw. The technique was flawless, their timing was spot on and the choreography was really impactful. All three of them had facial expressions that conveyed the emotional value of the piece even more too. It was a winning Internationals routine.

"Guys, this looks incredible," I said, awestruck.

"Thanks," Anna breathed. "We've been rehearsing for ages. Do we know who we're up against yet?"

"We won't find out until all the duets have been performed," I shook my head. "Only about half have happened so far."

"Okay," Anna nodded. "I just hope it's not Canada or Australia."

"I don't think it will be," Zoe said. "They like keeping us until the very last hurdle. I doubt it'll be Brazil either, or South Africa now Caspar was paired with Briar."

"Could be anyone else though," Neil said. "But whoever we're up against will be amazing. We're at Internationals remember, not Regionals."

Everyone nodded, understanding completely. You couldn't really afford one mistake even at Regionals, but at Internationals, you having your toes pointed or not could make the difference between winning or going home.

"So how are things with you and Dianne?" Neil asked.

"Can we just focus on the trio?" I said. I didn't want to talk about Dianne right now. I needed to bring my A game for the rest of this competition. I couldn't let any silly little redhead get in my head and psyching me out.

"Uhh, okay," Neil said, raising his eyebrows. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine," I said. "I just don't want to discuss Dianne right now. We need to focus on ourselves, not on rival teams."

All three of my dancers stared at me like I'd gone mad. They didn't understand what it meant to be Dance Captain. We needed the win, and we need not fraternise with other teams. I reminded myself to decline Briar and Caspar's invitation later.

"Joe, can I talk to you for a second?" Zoe asked, looking at me.

"Uhh, sure?" I looked at her, confused.

"Take five guys," Zoe said to Anna and Neil, then dragged me outside the room.

"What's wrong?" she looked me dead in the eye.

"Nothings wrong," I glared at my sister.

"You're lying, Joe," she sighed. "This past weekend you've loved talking about Dianne and this duet, and now suddenly it's like Dianne is your enemy again?"

"She was always my enemy," I shrugged. "It's like during the war the two opposing sides played football and got along for one day only, Christmas Day. After that they went back to slaughtering each other."

"Did you just compare a dance competition to a world war?" Zoe looked at me, gobsmacked.

"I meant it was a similar situation," I said, realising I wasn't helping my case as soon as the words left my mouth.

"It most certainly is not!" Zoe's eyes widened in disbelief. "Look, go away and go rethink all the shit that's going on in your head, because it's giving negative energy to the team and it's clearly making you go crazy. I'll see you later."

I glared at her, but she just slammed the rehearsal door in my face. Fine, whatever. I could have a good time without them. I got out my phone and texted Briar that I'd see them later. If my team didn't want me, I'd find new friends. I shoved my phone in my pocket and looked up, and I was met face to face with none other than Dianne Buswell.

Dianne's PoV
"What do you want?" Joe said, scowling at me.

"To apologise," I bit my lip.

He sighed. "Look, Dianne, you were right. We're rivals. For a brief time we were on the same team, but we'll always be rivals."

"Well, where are you going now?" I asked.

"To see Briar and Caspar," he shrugged.

"Okay, so I'm not allowed to talk to you but they are?" I glared at him.

"Dianne, you straight up said we couldn't be friends," he raised his voice. "Briar and Caspar know how to be friends and rivals at the same time. You don't understand, and I don't think you ever will. You don't trust anyone and it's infuriating because just when I think I've got through to you, you throw everything I thought we had back in my face. Then think you can just apologise? Goodbye, Dianne. Go see how your trio are doing, because mine are doing amazingly."

And then he just walked away. And I let him.

It was all going a little too smoothly on the Joanne ship, I felt like I needed to shake stuff up a little haha. A shorter chapter too, sorry! Also how did you guys feel about me writing in Briar's pov? I might do it with a few other characters too.

I'll update when I can! B x