Mom, It'll Never Be the Same (Dance Moms Fan Fiction)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

The next morning, Maddie sat on her bed staring out the window at the rain falling from the sky. It was a good day to rain. A good day to go to school and come home to watch TV. That’s what Maddie felt like doing. Nick had been staying with her since Melissa and Greg were spending long hours at the hospital watching over Mackenzie like she wasn’t in good hands.

Maddie wore a pink, box pleated skirt with a white sweater, navy blue leggings, a maroon scarf and maroon booties. Her long brown hair was in a messy fishtail braid going down her back, a typical Wednesday look for her. Brandon still wasn’t letting her audition, so instead, she would be sitting in the coffee shop reading a book and a sipping on lemonade.

“Maddie,” Nick said, “Chloe’s here to pick you up.”

“Thanks,” Maddie said as she stood up.

She pulled her phone from the charger and marched down the stairs and skipped out to the car. Maddie thanked Chloe for picking her up at last minute. That was the only thing said between the two girls. The car ride was slow and quiet. It was just all together awkward. Chloe didn’t want to talk, and neither did Maddie, but somewhere, deep down inside, they were begging each other to say something.

Maddie, being the braver of the two, finally decided to speak up. “Chloe, I’m really sorry for how I’ve treated you the past couple of days.” Maddie blinked, only half meaning it. The two girls sat in the parking lot in Chloe’s parking space in absolute silence.

“It’s okay.” Chloe said and pulled her key out of the ignition. “I’ve been pretty awful to you too.”

“So, friends?” Maddie asked looking from the tree in front of her to Chloe.

“Maddie,” Chloe started with a long, sad face. “I don’t know if we can ever be as close as we were.”

“But it wasn’t even that big of a fight. You and Paige…”

“Me and Paige are different. We’ve been best friends since we were two years old on the first day of dance! Me and you, it’s just different.” Chloe said.

“Fine,” Maddie snorted picking up her bags and storming out of Chloe’s car, giving the door one last good slam before skipping off to the school in the rain.

Once she reached cover, Maddie let out a big howl and started crying. She walked into the office, wiping the tears away from her face. She signed in and walked off to the coffee shop. There was no point in going to the morning announcements. She could’ve cared less. Maddie bought a blueberry muffin and a bottle of water and had the sudden urge to dance. She shoved the muffin in a paper bag and pushed that one into the side of her dance bag. She walked around the school to auditorium A and snuck in through the back door. She took off her shoes and blasted her new dance music from her phone. For a few minutes, it was just her and the stage.

“What are you doing in here?” A stern voice echoed from the distance.

“Hello?” Maddie asked.

Stage lights were brought up and nearly blinded the small girl. Maddie covered her eyes and looked out into the audience.

“I asked you a question…what are you doing in here?” The voice repeated.

“I…I just wanted to dance.” Maddie said. “Who am I talking to?”

“Who do you think?”

“Just answer my question!” Maddie stomped her foot on the ground. A boy, just a few inches under six foot, walked out of the wing of the far side of the stage. “Who are you?” Maddie asked, she had never seen the boy before.

“I’m Luke.” The boy said. “Who are you?”

“Maddie…” She said. “How did you know I was in here?”

“I didn’t. You’re kinda in my rehearsal space.” He said.

“Well I was here first!” Maddie said, sounding like a baby. “I mean…”

Luke laughed and sat down at the lip of the stage. He nodded and picked up Maddie’s phone. “I can’t believe you were dancing in the dark…let’s do this again.”

Luke restarted the music and made Maddie run her dance more times than Abby would have ever made her run her dance. At the end of the fifteenth time running it, the bell rang. Maddie ran to her stuff and pulled on her shoes. She grabbed her phone from Luke and her bags from the ground.

“It was nice dancing for you,” Maddie said.

“You’re a real star, you know that?” Luke shouted as Maddie ran off and back towards the school.

For the rest of the morning, Maddie couldn’t stop thinking about Luke. Everything she did. She did end up going to her audition. She aced her dance, beautifully. She had a free period before lunch when she came back to the auditorium. Luke was already in there working on his hip-hop. Maddie would need all the help she could get. Hip-hop was her worst genre of dance, and she had an audition in a few.

Luke smiled, “You’re back.”

“Um, yeah…” Maddie squeaked. “I didn’t know you were going to be in her. I’ll just be going now…”

“No! I’m sorry. I - I can go. You can have the stage. I’ve had it all morning.”

Maddie gave a grin to the boy. She walked over to the lip of the stage and looked out into the house. Maddie took in a few deep breaths and began to dance. She did her ‘Cry’ routine in silence. Maddie sang along to the song in her head as she spiced up the dance with newer tricks and turns that she could do. Luke never left. He sat in the wings watching. At the end, Maddie sat in the middle of the floor. Her hands cold against the dance-floor stage and her feet crossed in front of her.

“Mackenzie…” Maddie said. “Can you hear me? If you can, just know that I love you. I love you so much. If you can hear me, the just know that you were the best little sister ever.”

There was a slight sting in the back of her eyes. She didn’t hold back anything, assuming she was alone. She started crying and then pulled her knees to her chest.

“Kenzie, if you can hear me, I wanna tell you that you are a fabulous dance. And if in fact, you can hear me, just stay strong. I’m not ready to let you go. I want you to stay right here and come back to school and see your friends. I wanna see you go on your first date. I wanna see you get married and have kids. I don’t want to do that alone.” Maddie sniffed as she stood up. She sauntered around the stage. She kicked at scratches on the floor and approached the lip of the stage. “I’m scared Kenzie. I’m so scared that you’re going to leave me to face Abby all by myself.”

“Mackenzie was your little sister?” Luke asked.

Maddie jumped and gasped, as she nearly ripped her head off. She looked at the wing and watched Luke appear from the darkness. There was something easy and cool in his voice that made him so mysterious.

Luke didn’t look mysterious. He had dusty blonde, wavy hair that was cut short. He wasn’t too tall, but he wasn’t too short. He was just right. He had green eyes and a pale face. His lips were a pinky-purple color that were so inviting. But his voice was as smooth as silk.

Maddie nodded after she calmed herself down.

“She was so cute. We were in the same tap class last year.” Luke said. He let out a small laugh, “I’m terrible at tap.”

Something switched in Maddie. She wasn’t sad, she was…expressionless almost. “I could give you some help. If you’d like, you know.” Maddie said, sounding stupid.

Luke smiled as he walked to her. Luke’s smooth hands picked up Maddie’s. He nodded, “I really hope Mackenzie’s okay.”

“Me too.” Maddie nodded.

Luke hugged Maddie and let her cry. He decided that he’d go get lunch for the two of them and returned shortly after with two turkey sandwiches, fruit salad, and pretzel sticks. They had a picnic lunch in the auditorium. And before their mini-date was over, the two almost shared a kiss. Maddie pulled back, grabbed her bag, and ran out.