DANCING THROUGH LIFE, dance moms

Chapter 12: Hollywood Vibe (Round 2)

A/N: It seems like it's taken me a while to get to this point in the episode, but we're finally at the competition! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

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A few days passed, and finally, it was time to go to the competition. The past few days had been pretty chilled-out for me, since it had mostly been trio work and solo rehearsals - neither of which I was involved in. I had heard from Paige that trio rehearsal had gone badly again, but not for the actual dancers - for Kendall. I had questioned why Kendall was even there, but then I was informed that she was the swing for the number. Apparently, Jill had gone into rehearsal and acted all crazy about how Kendall should be doing something more productive than running music. For once, I actually agreed with Kendall's mom - Kendall didn't need to be wasting her time on running music when she could actually be working on her craft and becoming a better dancer.

I stumbled out of my mom's car, rubbing sleep from my eyes. Even though the comp was in Pittsburgh, Abby had made us get to the studio early, to keep up with our usual schedule. I, personally, thought that her reasoning was dumb, but what could I do? I was just the dancer.

Maddie and Mackenzie were already in the parking lot, bickering about something or other. I loved Maddie to death, but she had serious older sister syndrome - she was bossy and even mean towards Mackenzie at times, especially when something didn't go her way. I was glad that she wasn't that way around us - that would make my friendship with her a lot more difficult.

Brooke and Paige were there as well, taking silly selfies together. Considering that it was fifteen minutes past six in the morning, I hadn't expected Brooke to be as energetic as she was. Normally, halfway through each bus ride, she'd be up and talking or teasing Miss Abby like the rest of us, but she definitely wasn't a morning person. However, we normally woke up for competition at like, four a.m., so there was a bit of a difference.

I walked up to Brooke and Paige, since they seemed to be the happier pair of siblings at the moment. "Hey, guys!" I said brightly, despite the fact that I'd only gotten six hours of sleep last night, which, according to my father this morning, was not enough sleep for a growing child. He was worried about my sleep schedule, what with school and all the time that I spent at the studio - him being a doctor didn't exactly help.

"Hi!" Paige smiled at me, giving me a hug. Brooke waved at me, and the three of us chatted and took selfies on Brooke's phone as more of the team filtered into the parking lot. The bus was parked in the lot as well - now, we were just waiting on Miss Abby, as always.

Soon enough, Abby walked out of the lobby of the dance studio. She had curlers in her hair and she dragged a black leather suitcase with her, which was probably holding our costumes and such, since we obviously weren't staying in a hotel for this competition.

We loaded our bags onto the bus before actually boarding, waving at Bus Driver Jim as we found our seats. I slid into a seat next to Paige, while Chloe and Nia sat in front of us. Maddie sat with Kendall and Mackenzie begged Brooke to sit by her. It didn't take much convincing from Kenz - as much as Brooke liked to act indifferent towards us since she was older, she really loved us, especially Mackenzie.

The bus ride was relatively normal - quiet, but normal. Paige and I watched old episodes of Gossip Girl on my iPad, swooning over Nate and almost crying over Chuck and Blair and how they wouldn't admit that they loved each other even though they obviously did.

Soon enough, we were at the competition, since it was only 15 minutes or so away from the studio. I stretched my arms and legs out before getting off the bus, grabbing my luggage from my mom as I went. Abby had a policy - you bring it, you carry it - and I wasn't gonna get caught breaking the rules. So I tugged along my heavy suitcase, which felt like it was full of rocks or sand, even though I knew it was only my stage makeup.