DANCING THROUGH LIFE, dance moms

Chapter 4: Second Week

When I walked into the studio, it felt different. More familiar. Although it wasn't like I was a permanent member yet - I'd be happy when I was!

Yesterday, I kept on thinking about what Jill had said about me. And Leslie, for that matter. They both said that I wasn't any good, and that I wouldn't last long here, and I definitely wanted to prove them both wrong.

I waved at Abby, who was sitting at the front desk. "Hi, Miss Abby!"

"Hello!" Abby said. I walked through to the dressing room while my mom stopped to talk to Abby.

When I got to the dressing room, I waved at all the girls and sat down, putting on my half soles and sliding into my split. I winced - my hamstrings were tight.

Paige sat down by me, as did Maddie. It didn't seem like Chloe was there yet. "Hi!" I said, dragging out the "I".

Paige laughed. "Hi! How's life? Y'know, since your win."

"Pretty good. Although what Jill said kinda ruined my weekend. But y'know. Okay."

"Ugh. Don't listen to the parents. Most of them are probably just jealous." Maddie said.

"One time, a lady told me that I couldn't turn to save my life. I proved her wrong, though." Paige said, shrugging.

I nodded. Paige didn't seem like a person who would take crap from anyone. Except Abby, apparently.

Just about as soon as Chloe walked in the door, Abby yelled, "Come on, girls! Time for pyramid! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

I ran into the studio, standing between Brooke and Maddie. Brooke had become something of a big sister to me - even within the short time that I've known her.

"Okay! Energy dance competition. Some really good things happened..." Abby said, nodding at me. "And some not-so-great things happened." She looked at Kendall.

"On the bottom of the pyramid, we have..." Abby removed the white slip of paper. "Kendall. You were okay in the group dance, but you were completely off the music. And your mother, obviously, doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut. Needless to say, you're still on probation." I saw Jill roll her eyes.

"Next we have Nia. You did well in the group dance, but it's simply that one mistake in the choreography." Nia nodded, and I remembered that Nia had gone the wrong way at some point and tried to go the right way at the last minute and kind of ended up in the middle.

"Next...Paige." I frowned. I thought that Paige had done well. "You did fine. You didn't pull my eye negatively. But you need to start standing out in a positive way."

"Next we have...Mackenzie. You won't be in this week's group routine, but you will have a solo." Mackenzie smiled.

"Moving up, we have...Maddie." I could almost hear dramatic music playing in the background. Maddie's not on top of the pyramid? Holy crap! That never happens! "I need you to stop resting on your laurels. You need to keep getting better with every routine you do and every class you take."

"Next is...Chloe. Chloe, you did well in the group dance. You didn't really have any other places to shine, so that's why you aren't higher up."

"Brooke," She said. "You danced, really, really well in the group dance. But I need you to start being more of a leader." Brooke nodded.

"And on top of the pyramid, we have..." Abby paused for dramatic effect. "Hailey!" I smiled, and Brooke hugged me. "You got the overall high score in the junior solo category, and you had the second highest scoring solo of the entire competition. You're still on probation, but...maybe not for long."