flying • james and riley

| chapter fifteen |

she danced with zero fucks

RAELYNN WAS CURRENTLY FIDDLING WITH THE zipper of her Next Step jacket, slightly nervous. Anxiety rippled through her veins, forcing her heart to beat faster and pump more blood to the rest of her body in hopes of matching the energy level within her. Though, Raelynn quickly masked her nervousness and smiled fondly at her girlfriend that looked equally as nervous - if not more than she did.

"Hey." Riley greeted her, flashing her a smile as she felt her anxiety increase in anticipation for the qualifier dance. Raelynn grinned, feeling calm all of a sudden. She walked over to her girlfriend, wrapping her in a hug and placing her chin on top of her head.

"I love how short you are," she teased. Riley gasped and pulled back, lightly slapping Raelynn's arm who just chuckled, pressing a kiss to her temple. Amanda and Michelle walked up to them, and Raelynn knew that her girlfriend needed to talk to them alone. "I'm going to go check up in the dancers."

The brunette smiled at her lover before making her way to the trio that was stretching their arms and legs, all nervous. "Sup kiddos,"

"You do realise that you're only nineteen, right?" Piper said, the words very familiar in her mouth as she's repeated it to her boyfriend's second girlfriend. Piper was glad that James had people that loved him with all their heart, even if being in a three-way relationship was seen as weird in society right now. But the good thing about Raelynn and James is that they didn't give a shit about what others say and though Riley did care, her lovers would always be there to beat the shit out of those that made her sad. Raelynn shrugged her shoulders.

"Still older than you all." She teased, smirking amusingly when Piper huffed. "Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that you're going to do amazing." She said, genuinely. "I'm proud of all of you." The trio couldn't help but smile widely, happy they could make their dance captain proud. "So good luck, but I doubt that you need it," She fist-bumped Noah, who hid the wince as he stepped back, before hugging the girls.

Raelynn made her way to the stage, watching all the other dancers from the back. She stood by Alfie with Noah and Riley on the opposite side of the stage. Raelynn bit her lip, her nerves spiking up as she watched a new group of dancers she was very familiar with.

"Are you okay?" Alfie asked the brunette, who side glanced him.

"Yeah. I mean I trust our dancers but," Raelynn motioned to the trio that was performing. Alfie nodded.

"I think it's time you get a pep talk." The brunette's eyes widened as Alfie turned her around, placing both his arms on her shoulders and forcing her to look into his eyes. As Alfie reassured her, Riley watched from the other side of the stage, a slight spark of jealousy igniting within her. But Riley trusted her girlfriend and she and Alfie were just friends.

"Thank you, Alfie." She smiled warmly at the prince, giving him a side hug before gasping as the judges gave the Gemini trio a 97, a new record. "What the fuck?" Alfie nodded in agreement.

Raelynn inhaled deeply once her trio stepped onto the stage. She crossed her fingers and watched intently as they performed. A smile broke out onto her face when she saw everything was going to plan until it wasn't. Noah was failing to lift the girls up high, and as she looked closely, she could see that he wasn't following through with the steps correctly. She clenched her hands into fists, pissed. He promised her he could do this yet here he was failing. Raelynn knew she should've given the dance to the other trio.

"The Next Step 83 points, that puts them in third place." When Noah walks past the group, Raelynn followed him, eyes darkening with fury.

"Noah." She walked up to the young dancer, who looked slightly scared. "What the hell was that?" Noah looked down in shame. He hated disappointing the others, especially Raelynn. He looked up to her a lot. "You promised Noah. You promised you could do this."

"I know, and I'm sorry." Raelynn shook her head.

"Sorry isn't good enough. Not only did you cost us this qualifier but you lied to me. I expected more out of you." The brunette walked away, leaving Noah to feel worse than he did. Raelynn knew she was being hard on him, but she was angry. She'd apologise to him tomorrow. Right now she just wanted to go home, fed up with today. She was going to make sure that the next day, she trained her dancers even harder.