Dancing The Edge // ptv /aldc fic ///

ONE : California bound

Ramone

I rushed Riley, my social worker, in order to get to the studio on time. I had taken 2 weeks off dance to get myself together after everything that happened last month and I knew my teacher would not be too happy about it but I know the team would understand because I had lost the only other parent I had left.

My grandmother couldn't take me in as she was in hospice thanks to her dementia getting progressively worse, and my aunt had fallen into a drug addiction and had been busted for dealing drugs and was currently in jail for it. And lastly, I had no uncles or other aunts, as my dad (who passed away when I was 2) was an only child.

It was like after my mom passed, everything was just starting to fall apart.

At least I still had dance. It was all I needed.

After stretching I joined the rest of them, knowing I was only a couple minutes late and just in time for the announcement of another competition we were attending this weekend.

"Ah, Flora, glad to see you back, how are you holding up?"

I gave Miss Jackson a half-assed smile and she returned it with a sympathetic one of her own.

In my peripheral vision, I could see Riley on her phone talking to someone. She was smiling really wide.

I ignored her as Miss Jackson clapped her hands together.

"Alright, girls! We are attending Star competition this weekend in San Diego, California!"

We all cheered. I loved when we went to California, it was a very beautiful state and we usually left a day or two early so we could go explore whatever city we were in.

"And, another thing!"

We all quieted our chatter and diverted our attention to its original place, Miss Jackson.

"Not only are we having two duets, a trio, and a group dance, I'm entering in a younger group and one of you-" she paused to gesture her hands to us - "will be co-choreographer on their group dance."

We all got excited again, turning to each other and buzzing about working with the little ones.

While it was sometimes hard, it was always really rewarding and fun because they were always super energetic and usually focused really hard because they loved us. That and we usually got to pick the concept, music, and costumes. Miss Lockhart (the assistant Choreographer who taught the little ones) picked the style they would be doing and she was younger than Miss Jackson, who was 38, and very fun and easy to work with.

"Florenity!"

We all gave her our undivided attention again and I listened carefully, she only ever used my full first name to gain my attention and when giving me directions.

"You will not be in the group this week, as I want you focusing on your duet, trio, and the 8 year old group that will be entering."

I grinned widely as I nodded. The 8 year olds were my favorite to work with, especially with a sassy or upbeat routine. So I really hope Miss Lockhart was going to pick Jazz for the style.

"Delphine, you will be in a duet with Flora. Gemini and Alice, you will be in a duet. And lastly, Flora, you will be joined by Alex and Zader from our boys competition team in the trio"

We all started buzzing again about the competition.

It was very rare we would have boys within our group, plus Alex and Zader are really fun to dance with, especially in a trio when they are together.