Fly With You - TNS Season 7

chapter 14

Richelle was sat a little distance away from me, cross-legged on the ground underneath an apple tree. Her hair was half-up half-down, pinned back with two delicate braids, interwoven with daisies. She looked positively angelic, with the sun diffracting in the deep hazel of her eyes.

I smiled as she stood up, making her way over to me. She took my hands, leading me out into the middle of the field we were stood in, and we began spinning around, laughing. I felt the sun on my neck, and the breeze in my face as we ran.

I felt so happy. It was almost like I was... flying. My eyes were on Richelle, and only her. And suddenly, we lost control, and I was about to let go of her hands and stumble to the ground in a fit of giggles, when the scene changed abruptly.

I was standing on a stage, with Richelle beside me, and we were performing a duet. Everything seemed to be going okay. She moved to stand behind me, and I realized she was prepping to lift me. I got into the correct position, and up we went. I was suspended in the air, flying high above the crowds. Richelle's strong arms held me securely around the waist.

And then... I felt her grip slacken. I looked down in horror, about to fall out of her arms and come crashing down to the ground, when the scene switched again.

Now, I was on a trapeze, soaring through the air of a massive room with the highest ceilings known to man. Maybe I'd been watching The Greatest Showman a little too often. I was flying, carefree, and I launched into a flip mid-air, landing perfectly. The crowd burst into applause below me. Laughing, I looked down, and suddenly saw Richelle, standing where my trapeze rope had been tied to a pole firmly secured in the ground. I saw a flash of glistening metal in her hand. 

And then I realized what was happening. 

In one swift motion, she sawed the scissors right through the support, and the ropes I was clinging to slackened, and then suddenly I was falling, with nothing to hold onto, and I was inches away from the ground when her maniacal laugh rang out and- 

I woke in a cold sweat.

This wasn't the first time it had happened. Every night this week, I'd dreamt of Richelle. The dreams started out so perfectly innocent, all sunshine and rainbows and happiness. I was flying. Flying, always flying. And then I fell. Over, and over, until I jolted awake. 

But it was time to face the music.

I looked at my alarm clock. 08:47. It was Sunday, which meant that I had several hours of A Troupe rehearsals ahead of me. And no matter how much it hurt me, I was going to get out of bed and go to the studio. I hadn't set foot in The Next Step since Monday. There had been an A Troupe rehearsal on Wednesday after school, and another on Friday - I'd missed both. Simply put, I'd been too scared to show my face.

Emily hadn't inquired as to my whereabouts throughout the week, but I'd felt bad anyway, so I rattled off some pathetic excuse about being sick. She'd responded telling me that it was okay, and to take as much time off as I needed. I got the feeling she saw right through my lie, but yet had unexplainably let me get away with it.

But I needed to get back into the swing of things, pick myself up after I'd fallen. Have a little resilience, Lena. Even if it was going to be tough to face everyone - Emily, Nick, Dylan, Richelle - the sooner the better. I couldn't afford to miss any more class, and risk landing myself an alternate position for Nationals.

Besides, I was dying to find out who'd won the solo and duet spots. No doubt they'd already announced the results. I'd been studiously avoiding Henry's texts all week, so I was completely in the dark as to who'd won.