NATIONALS
NATIONALS
Saturday:
Everyone had gone according to the plan. When we arrived, there were a lot of people present but still no news on the competition.
"Anything yet?" Lexi asked as soon as she walked in
"Nope" we all said
"what if we didn't get in?" Belle asked, looking worried.
"Oh—you Negatron. They haven't even put up a list yet, just chill—have some faith okay." Olivia preached.
She was not wrong, tons of people here and no one knew if they made it to nationals.
"Let's go practice, shall we." Thersa said and started moving, we all picked our stuffs and followed her.
After about 5 minutes of searching, we finally found a space to practice. Everyone was devoted, we all had opinions, songs and steps and really useful ones.
An hour and thirty minutes later; we heard loud screams, followed by huge depressing noises and arguments. We all ran to see what's what.
"What's going on?" Trish asked while Belle made her way through the crowd to read the notice that was just put up by an official some seconds ago.
"National's been postponed." Belle shockingly said as came out of the crowd.
"No wonder they've been so shady" Olivia said
"This is a joke" Vivi said angrily
"Any groups yet?" I asked with genuine curiosity
"No, nothing" Belle shook her head in disappointment.
"Ok someone needs to give this people an ear-full" I said and almost walking away but Thersa held me back;
"And that person is not you" Thersa calmly said.
"This is not ok!" Lexi yelled
"Now what?" Olivia said and folded her arms
"I guess we're going to have to wait till next two weeks" Belle said and we all glared at her "What? Its what the notice says" Belle said.
I put my hands over my face "let's just go" I said in huge depression.
"Getting angry won't solve anything, at least now we have more time to practice. Olivia said, trying her best to keep us positive and calm. Belle threw her hands up in defeat.
Everyone was heated. We went out for lunch along with some other groups who also showed up expecting a competition. While we ate, everyone expressed their anger, frustration and disappointment. It got really animated and funny after some time. Our rides arrived and we all departed to our different schools.
Back at home, Mom was doing great, but Leonardo? Not so much. He did get the job I told him about and made a huge sum of money, but money didn't seem to be his problem as he had bigger things to worry about. His friends, or at least the people he thought were his friends had betrayed him. He couldn't find anyone else to talk to, so he called me.
"Hey lil bro—what's good?" I asked as soon as the facetime connected, it was dark outside.
It had been 4 hours since we left Nationals with the depressing news, I was calm now but Leo needed help. I could tell.
"Nothing" he replied with a husky voice.
"Yoo, Leo what's wrong?" I asked, I had never seen him cry before. We would usually get destructive when we were mad and upset but we never cried.
"Everything—everything's wrong" Leo replied with depression dripping from every word'
"Ok calm down and explain" I said.
He took a deep breathe, "So first thing first; Mom's okay—Um, thanks for the store, it was and still is really helpful." He paused to catch his breath and I nodded.
"Well then, what's going on?" I asked
"This entire week has just been horrible. So, on Wednesday, I saw some guys bulling this new kid, I went over to them to help the kid out, the boys got mad, but couldn't do anything cause our principal showed up. The next day, they vandalized the school and blamed it on me" Leo narrated angrily.
"wait, really" I asked looking concerned.
"Yeah, and everyone believed them, even peter and josh" He paused to think, then continued "oh and if that's not enough, I was running for class president because Ella said she wouldn't do my homework anymore, with lame excuses of not wanting to get in trouble, and then there's this new kid who people think is really cool, turns out he's running for class president too. Guys like to hang out with him, girls' think he's cute; I think Megan might be crushing on him too, my life is destroying before my eyes and I don't know what to do." Leo complained bitterly.
"Ok, you kids these days are something else, but don't cry, don't you let them make you cry or even scratch you a little bit" I paused to ensure he was listening then continued "look kid you'll be fine"
"No, I won't" Leo shot back
"Oh no—not with that attitude you won't." I said, he wiped his face and I continued "bullies will be bullies, they feed on the weak, you got to learn to stand up for yourself, I'm not always going to be around to help, if they push you, push them back harder. And this new kid—" I paused snapping my fingers trying to remember his name'
"Jacob Stewart" Leo answered.
"Yeah, so what if his cool? Am glad Ella finally stopped doing your homework, now you have to use your brain, don't worry about people they switch up all the time, as long as you have yourself that's enough" I said convincingly
"what about Megan" He asked
"She'll come around. Now cheer up, I had a bad day too but you don't see me being all down and gloomy" I stopped because I saw a figure walking up to him from behind, it was Megan. I smiled and continued "I got to go—be good"
"Thanks Sis." He said and cut the call
"I was not having this much problems when I was 14" I said to myself, switched off my phone and went to bed.
As the days went by, all I could think of was Nationals. I really loved dancing, and we needed to win nationals to raise enough money to keep the studio open and functioning.
The days went by so quickly, time seemed faster than usual. Everyone seemed to have only one-track mind, as no one was starting any fights, drama, or spreading rumors and false assumptions. It felt like everyone got some serious counselling during the winter but it was fine.
A week had gone by since we left Nationals, there was still no news about the competition, no one even cared anymore, we had bigger things to focus on.
Taylor on the other hand was getting tired of a roommate she couldn't talk to.
"That does it" Taylor screamed as she stormed into our room.
"what does what" Corinne asked
"I'm sick of living with king" Taylor replied, she was depressed and sat on the bed.
"Did she do anything to you?" I asked sitting up straight on my bed.
"I wish she did—she doesn't even act like she's living with someone; I have to be quiet every single time." She said and let out a heavy sigh.
"Well, you could always move in with us" I suggested and Taylor rose up immediately.
"Wait really?" she asked in excitement.
"Yeah, why not—we are here for you" Corinne replied and made her way to the fridge to get a bottle of water.
"Wait, actually—oh my gosh you guys are life savers thank you so much" she said in excitement as she ran to hug corinne and I.
"Tay...Taylor I can't breathe" I said and Taylor let go.
"Oh sorry. Am going to go get my stuffs" with that she ran out of the room and came back in about thirty minutes later with her stuffs.
"Just set up where ever" Corinne said and went back to her bed.
"Ok is it just me or is this the most boring school year ever?" Corinne asked scrolling through her phone.
"It seems like every one is more focused this year" I said while scribbling in my journal.
"What are you doing?" Taylor asked me while setting up her things.
"Oh nothing, just drawing" I replied eyes stuck on my book.
"Can I see?" Taylor asked.
"Just a sec, am almost done" I replied, I was almost done drawing. "Here you go." I said as I handed my journal over to Taylor
"Woah this is Gorgeous" Taylor said with a smile as she flipped through the pages.
"Shut up" I said nicely "no its not" I added
"It literally is, I would wear this" Taylor replied
"You would wear everything" Corinne said and collected the book from Taylor.
"Not bad, we would make bank if we sold this" Corinne said.
"Alright let me have my book back" I said and stretched out my hand but got nothing.
"Wouldn't it be cool if this actually came to life. Am telling you people would love this" Taylor said flipping through the pages.
"I'll think about it" I said and dragged my book back.
Days had passed and it was finally the Friday before Nationals, we had another zoom call where we practiced virtually, everything was perfect, no one messed up, we were ready.
Saturday came and we all showed up at nationals, there were a lot of people there, but still no list yet but everyone was sure the list was going to be on today.
"Alright ladies, lets go over it one last time to get the spacing correctly" Thersa said and we started rehearsing. Two minutes later the list was up, everyone gathered, trying to see who got in.
"Are you joking me" Lexi said as we all scanned the list looking for our names, we couldn't find it.
"Ok, let's not freak out yet, maybe there's a mistake" Olivia said trying her best to calm everybody down.
"There better be!" I said with a hint of anger.
"Let's go talk to the person in charge" Thersa said
"You know we can't do that" Belle said and Trish picked up a chair and threw it to the wall, it broke; everyone turned to look at us,
"what kind of joke is this?!" Trish yelled
"This is not ok! First the dance gets postponed, the list which usually come out early came out late and now this? Lexi said, counting her fingers as she spoke.
Belle who had found a seat stood up "I blame Olivia" belle bluntly said,
"For what" Olivia asked very confused.
"Oh no problem, we'll all get in, no need to worry" Belle said as she mimicked Olivia's voice and started talking, In anger "well there is a huge need to worry!"
"Why are you blaming me? Vivi was the one being so negative" Olivia said.
"What?!" Vivi shot back
"Maybe instead of being so negative all the time, you actually had some faith in us!" Olivia screamed in anger.
"Can you guys not fight, right now, first we have to figure out why we didn't get in" I said
"I'll tell you why—" Thersa started "The day we shot the video we submitted, you guys were miserable, so if anything, I blame all of you." Thersa said in anger.
"Dude, you can't say that." I said and everyone started arguing. We could barely hear ourselves.
"You know what? Belle paused, stroked her hair then continued "I'm done" she threw her hands up in defeat "I don't want to do this anymore." Belle said in a sad tone.
"What do you mean?" Lexi asked bluntly.
"Think about it, every year something or someone had always been against us, there has always been a reason for us to stress or even go crazy" Belle said aggressively, then took a deep breath to calm down "I can't do this anymore you guys, I'm sorry" Belle said and turned to leave.
"Belle wait!" I shouted.
"Let her go" Trish said "she's right, this is exhausting, and now thanks to this we no longer have a studio to practice" Trish added with a depression.
"So, what—you're just giving up? I asked.
"Its not about giving up, we can't always win" Trish answered and got her bags to leave.
"Welcome to the end of an era" Lexi said as she picked up her stuffs and left. Olivia and Vivi collected their stuffs and left in different directions. I was left with Thersa who was also about to leave.
"Are you also just going to quit" I asked softly
"What do you want me to do?" Thersa asked depressingly.
"Your captain" I replied.
"So? am a human too. You can't always fix everything Emily, the earlier you realize; that the better." Thersa said and left.
I stood there for about ten seconds, trying to fathom what just happened. Did we just break up I thought. I was brought back to reality when I felt someone hold my shoulder; it was one of the rejects.
"You okay?" he asked
"No, I just feel like I've lost a huge part of me" I replied in a soft tone.
"You'll be fine" He said and left.
I took a deep breathe, grabbed my things and left. While heading back to my school, I stopped at the studio to take one last look around but by the time I got there, it was shut down...Out of Order. I held the door knob, then left it and walked away.
I got back to school, I walked by Ryker who tried to greet me, but I didn't respond. I was sad. I got up to my room, fell flat on my bed and closed my eyes.
There were a lot of flashbacks; all the good times we had together, the fun times, all our wining and everything in between.
I was brought back to reality by Ryker who opened the door and walked in.
"Earth to Emily" He said as he waved his hand over my face. I sat up and he continued "what's wrong? You look terrible" He asked as he grabbed a chair to sit down.
"Thanks, I feel terrible" I sniffed.
"Why? what happened?" he asked
"We didn't get in" I answered
"So, you guys didn't get to perform?" he asked leaning forward.
I shot a plain dead look "how are we supposed to perform if we didn't get in" I answered a little mad.
"Oh sorry," he said and leaned back on the chair he was on "But, hey cheer up. Wait, I know something that'll make you feel better" he said and ran to the fridge, coming back with a bucket of ice cream. "Here, ice cream fixes everything'' he said and handed me the bucket of ice cream. I smiled and collected it.
"Also, while you were out of school, there were a lot of fliers put up for trials, like the school drama club, music, cheerleader, debate and even dance team." Ryker said convincingly.
"You think I want my heart broken twice?" I asked and continued with my ice-cream.
"No—but I suggest you give it a shot, what do you have to lose?" He paused and brought out his phone from his pocket. "Think about it, find something else to worry about." He said, patted my head and left.
Did you see that coming? Lol!
What do you think about the characters, and which one do you think or wish you were?
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Xoxo khleeopathra.