flying • james and riley

| chapter three |

why walk when you can dance?

"ALL RIGHT LISTEN UP DANCERS!" Kate exclaimed as she walked into studio A where everyone who was auditioning was gathered. "Everyone off the floor, please and thank you." The group of dancers all moved to the edge of the room, sitting on the benches or the floor. "Now, we had Daniel come in and choreograph auditions this morning, and I have brought in another next step alumni to choreograph your audition. Please welcome, Stefanie." The room all broke out into cheers and claps as the former A troupe dancer walked into the studio she once called home.

"Okay, so I'm going to get you guys to spread out, learn my choreography, not gonna do it a million times so try and figure it out. If you have questions, ask, if you don't shh." Stefanie walked to the centre of the front. As she began to show her choreo, Raelynn couldn't help but grin in amusement. This dance was pretty easy — not to brag or anything. The brunette knew a lot of dance styles and technique, so the dance Stefanie put to together was a total piece of cake for her. "And that's your choreo." The group cheered with Raelynn grinning at the fact that she knew she was easily getting in.

"Sweet." The group said before walking away to go and rehearse it.

"Woah, Woah, Woah, wait," Stefanie excalimed as she held her arms out. "That's not actually it." The group turned around confused. "See the thing about good choreo is that it needs to have substance. In order to teach you guys that we are going to do some exercises. Is that okay?"

"Sure." Raelynn shrugged as she glanced at Alfie.

"We're going to do an improv challenge. So I'm gonna turn on the music, and I'm going to shout stuff out at you, and you guys have to do what I say." Raelynn rose a brow at the former dance member of the Next Step.

An improv challenge? Really?

As Raelynn watched the first group go up, she couldn't help but be entertained. It was way different from the first audition, but she liked it. It was an excellent way to loosen up the dancers for their audition. Since she was in group two, it was her turn.

"Okay, freestyle." Standing on her toes, she began to do pirouettes really fast as she knew it wouldn't last long. "And you're being struck by lightning." Falling to the ground, Raelynn began to vibrate her body, slowly moving onto the ground. "Make yourself the size of a pea." The brunette curled into a ball and rolled around skillfully, making sure to avoid the other dancers. "Now you're all birds. You're heading south for the winter." Raising her arms, Raelynn lept into the air, twirling around as she did so.

Even though this was supposed to be a playful challenge, Riley couldn't help but be in awe at how elegant Raelynn was. Even though they were doing stupid things, Raelynn had a way of making it look professional and graceful.

"Now you've flown too high, and you're burning!" Raelynn continued to play the silly game Stefanie made before she sat down on the seat next to Riley, who handed her a bottle of water.

"I'm kind of impressed," Riley said as she laughed at the panting Raelynn. The brunette threw her a playful glare as she chugged water out of the bottle. The two continued to watch the last team do their time before they all went off to rehearse the choreo. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Raelynn flashed her a grin before going into the rehearsal room and into the room filled with carpet drapes. Closing the sliding door behind her, Raelynn caught sight of Alfie who was strumming his guitar in his hands. "I like your guitar playing."

"Thank you," Alfie smiled, his dimples showing as his eyes brightened up once he saw the brunette that made his heartbeat speed up. The brunette walked over to the couch next to him at sat on the end, crossing her legs over each other.

"Play me something?" The two sat there in silence, the sound of Alfie strumming his guitar to a random melody was the only thing filling the room until the door was slid open as a few other dancers auditioning came and sat down. They all conversed for a while until they were called back in by one of the other dancers.

Raelynn danced to the song choice correctly, following the choreo precisely. She added a few tricks of every type of dance she knew would fit into the song choice that Stefanie chose. Dancing was one of the times where she laid out all her emotions; it was a way for her to communicate with her body. She was never good at communicating verbally, so she always relied on her actions.

"Well done!" Kate and Stefanie cheered once all the groups performed the choreo. "Now it's time for the freestyle."

Raelynn pulled out all the stunts she could produce, wanting to flaunt her flexibility. Leaping into the air, she split her legs perfectly before landing on her feet and doing a few pirouettes. She began to move her arm in a hip hop way, moving her body in a way that shocked some of the other dancers as she was able to do ballet and hip hop in one before she flipped in the air effortlessly.

Riley couldn't help but watch the girl in awe as she pulled out stunts no one knew she had in her nor did they ever see it before. She was like a delicate swan but with a vicious serpent wrapped around her, showing two sides in just a small freestyle dance.

"Those auditions were insane, you guys," Raelynn grinned happily as she ran a hand through her hair, moving it away from her face. "You are all so so so talented. It was a pleasure to watch you all. We will let you know once we make our final choice." Everyone cheered and clapped, and once Kate turned around and entered her office, all the dancers ran over to each other to talk about their audition.

Raelynn made her way over to Riley, the grin still on her face as she sat down next to her.

"You killed it!" Riley excalimed as she hugged the brunette, excitement bubbling within her. Raelynn smiled as she sighed in content, wrapping her arms around the shorter brunette as she inhaled her scent of lavender. She couldn't help but feel so comfortable in her arms.

Raelynn felt like it was home.