Empire - The Next Step

come together, that's likely

The news of regionals being cancelled had hit everyone hard. Most of the dancers were moping around and to make things even worse, Michelle and Emily had just made it a rule that none of the dancers could even speak to each other. East and west were completely divided.

Harper decided to work on her acro as she still wasn't the strongest. She could do some basic skills like aerials and backhand springs but she had been working on a back layout for a while and couldn't quite get it. She grabbed a mat and laid in out in the corner of studio one which was empty apart from herself. To prep she did a few backhand springs and got herself nice and warm before trying it. No matter how many times she tried it, the landing just wasn't working for her and she couldn't stick it.

"If you keep your body flat rather than arching, it's easier to stick the landing." Came the voice of Noah as he entered the studio. Harper had no idea what he was doing there as TNS west dancers weren't allowed in studio one and they hadn't even spoken properly since the brunette accused her of liking Elliot.

"You shouldn't be here." Harper replied sharply as she stood up and readjusted her mat so she could try the skill again. Noah sighed rubbing his neck nervously as he watched the girl. She tried the skill again but still didn't manage to land it properly.

"Okay Harper can we please talk?" The girl stood up and walked over to him with a stern expression as she folded her arms.

"Things are getting too complicated between us Noah. It's exhausting. Every time we make progress, something goes wrong then we're set back a few steps and now we won't even be allowed to see each other." The boy looked down to the floor as he knew she was right. Every time the two of them got somewhere, something interrupted. It was like something was pushing them apart no matter how much they liked each other.

"I get that but if there's an us to fight for, I'm going to fight for it." Hearing Noah say that brought a feeling of warmth to Harper. She had never seen him be so persistent with something that wasn't related to perfecting a dance move, it made her really happy that she was that thing. "This is how hard I'm willing to fight for us, for you." Noah said as he clicked on a song called 'up in the clouds' so it echoed throughout the studio.

As he began dancing for Harper, she could see that he was putting every ounce of his being into this solo. It was such a powerful and emotional piece that had all his feelings about her and what was happening at the studio. She couldn't help but watch him in admiration. He was such an incredible dancer.

"That was amazing." She complimented him as she stood up from the bench with her arms folded. Harper couldn't believe how far Noah had come from the tiny little J Trouper she was best friends with.

"What do you say?" Noah asked as he moved towards the girl getting closer by the second. Harper didn't know what to do. On the one hand, Noah had proved that he was willing to try and make it work between them, but there was also so much drama that it seemed impossible at times. Before she could respond, Piper and Amy had entered the studio together which was strange because the two studios weren't supposed to be speaking.

"Sorry are we interrupting something?" Piper asked as herself and Amy shared a smug look as though they knew what was going to happen next had they not walked in. Both Noah and Harper shook their heads but the former looked a little irritated that he never got a response. "We have a plan to make things better at the studio. We're going to get both Emily and Michelle's dancers and unite them to make one big team. We'll perform a dance and show Miss Kate that we deserve to go to regionals."

"So you want us to go behind Michelle and Emily's backs to choreograph a secret dance on the slim chance it will get us to regionals?" Noah asked to clarify as he shared a look with Harper then returned his attention to the best friends.

"It's pretty risky. If we fail we'll probably all get kicked out of the studio." Harper added as the two girls before them exchanged a nervous glance.

"We're in." The two of them answered. What else did they really have to lose? It always seemed like the dancers from TNS east and TNS west would balance each other out anyway so there was no harm in trying. Besides the fact that they could all get in some seriously big trouble. The two best friends squealed in excitement as they all had a group hug.

"Alright, well we should start now. Let's go and ask around to see who would be interested." Amy suggested and the four of them went their separate ways. Harper knew exactly who she had to ask first. Richelle.

It took her a while to find her best friend, she went around the entire studio but it felt like every time she moved, so did Richelle. When Harper returned to check studio A again, she saw the blonde in there and was shocked. Harper had always thought that she preferred studio one.

"Hey Richelle, what are you doing in here?" The blonde turned around to face her best friend with a sheepish expression.

"Don't tell Emily but I've always kinda preferred it in here." Harper nodded because she felt the same way. Studio A was just a special place to dance, it felt more magical than studio one. So many amazing dancers had danced there in the past.

"It's okay me too. But I actually have something to ask you." The shorter of the two looked intrigued about what her best friend had to say. She nodded for Harper to go on. "Piper and Amy came up with a great idea to unite the dancers from our team and TNS west to create a dance and prove to Kate that we deserve to go to regionals. We can't do it without you, what do you say?"

"Of course I'm in, that sounds amazing. I always felt that having both technique and grooves would work really well together. We'll balance each other out for sure." Harper was so glad that Richelle had agreed, she couldn't imagine doing it without her best friend by her side.

By the end of the day, they had managed to gather almost all the dancers although some from both teams decided not to join like Danielle and Jordan from TNS east and Brianna from TNS west. There were eleven of them all together, as Zara had decided she wanted to focus more on her math and she didn't think the merge would work and Jacquie had received an offer from Skylar at Gemini that she couldn't refuse.

As everyone filtered into studio A, Jacquie looked around and seemed shocked that the merge had actually worked.

"Do you have room for one more?" She asked timidly as Piper and Amy squealed and hugged her. She had her answer, and they had their team. The new A Troupe.