Run. It was the only thing I was thinking. Run. But from what? I look behind me and there's no one to be seen. Run. Why can't I stop?

"Rachel." A voice said echoing.

"Rachel." It said louder.

"Rachel!"

I sat up in my bed and rubbed my temples. I look over and see Mitch sitting on the side of the bed with a hand on my leg.

"Are you ok?" He asks.

"Yeah, why are you asking?"

"You looked like you were running just laying down."

"Oh....it was just a dream." I say with a reassuring smile. He returns one.

I hear my phone go off and I reach over to the nightstand to get it. I read all of my notifications.

2 iMessages from Anthony

Hannah_Carmona followed you on Instagram

Joey Graceffa uploaded a video on YouTube

Reminder: Nationals Today!!!!!!

"Shit!" I exclaim.

"What?" Mitch says concerningly.

"I have Nationals today!"

"For dance?"

"Yes. Can you please drive me there?" Looking at the clock. 8:15. If I don't leave in ten minutes I won't be able to perform.

"Of course let me go get ready. Don't worry I won't take forever." He says as I get up and put on some clothes. I didn't bother deciding what to wear so I just grabbed whatever. I dial Anthony's number.

"He-."

"Anthony I need a huge favor....again. Can you please go in my house and get that costume I showed you the other day, and my dance bag. I totally forgot about Nationals.

"Oh shit! Yeah ok but how I'm I going to give it to you?"

"Get the stuff and go to the park. I'll be there in a couple minutes."

"Ok I'm walking  to your house as we speak."

"Thank you so much, I don't know where I would be without you!"

"You would be screwed lol. Ok go get ready I'll be at the park in five minutes." He hung up.

I grabbed my makeup and put it in a shopping bag along with a brush and bobby pins. I walk outside and saw Mitch and Scott already in the car.
Why was Scott going? Mitch was just going to drop me off? I thought in my head. Maybe they had to do something.

"Where to?" Scott asks as I climb into the car.

"We have to stop somewhere first." I say. I tell him the name of the park and he puts it into his GPS.

I explain to them why we had to go to the park.

"Oh is it that guy who came and brought your meds?" Scott asks.

"Yeah, I called him and he's bringing my costume and stuff. He should already be at the park."

"You guys would be a cute couple you know." Mitch says.

"Ok let's get this straight. He is my best friend and nothing more. He doesn't like me in that way and I don't like him in that way." I say slowly so they would understand.

"How do you know that he doesn't like you in that way?" Scott asks looking at me through the rear view mirror.

"Because.....I just know." I say weakly.

Mitch turns around and looks at me with one eyebrow arched. He looked at me for three second and then turned back facing forward.

I look out the window and see Anthony a couple feet away, standing on the curb holding everything I asked him to get.

"There he is. Just stop here." I say.

Scott slows down to a stop and I jump out of the car and run towards Anthony. He meets me halfway and hands me everything. We both embrace when the items are exchanged.

"Thank you so much." I say when I pull away.

"No problem." He says shining his white teeth.

"Are you guys coming or what!" I hear Mitch yell.

Anthony and I look at each other. I turn back to Mitch.

"Can he come?"

"Um... Didn't I say guys?" Mitch says stressing the s in guys.

I smile and I take Anthony's hand. We run back to the car and get settled.

"Everyone buckled?" Scott asks.

"Yeah." I say answering for the both of us.

With that, Scott turns out of the park and we head to the competition.

I look over at Anthony. I can tell he's trying to play it cool but gives his excitement away by smiling every other second. I chuckle softly and grab my brush and bobby pins and start doing my hair.

I was instructed to do a side French braid by my dance teacher. I finish doing it in under four minutes.

"How did you do that so fast and so perfectly?" Mitch asks looking at my hair.

"I've done this a thousand times." I say while sticking in a couple more bobby pins for extra security.

I move on to my makeup. Anthony holds up a mirror while I put it on. It takes longer to do my makeup since it is way more stuff to apply than my regular routine. I finish as soon as Scott pulls in to the front of the building. Anthony and I jump out and run inside.

"I'll be in the audience, okay?" Anthony says grabbing my hand.

I reply with a nod.

"I know you'll do amazing." He says smiling.

"Thank you." I say before I turn and run to the dressing room.

I search to find the one that my studio is in. I finally find it and enter the room. Nobody was in there. I figured they'd be backstage by now. I put down my stuff and go to the curtain to change. As I open it, I find my dance teacher there.

"Where have you been?" He says sternly.

"I'm sorry, it's kind of a long story." I say stripping of my clothes to put my tan leotard on. I didn't care if he was in there. He has been my teacher for almost five years now. Besides he was gay so it didn't really bother me or him that I was changing.

He helps me into my costume and fixes my hair a bit. I am frantically rushing to make sure everything is perfect. He grabs my hands and looks at me. He knows whenever something is wrong with me.

"Todrick I'm so sorry I'm late." I say.

"It's ok. Here I'll help you stretch out."

He helps me stretch out every muscle in my body and walk out of the room. Todrick grabs my hands again.

"Good luck. You're gunna be amazing." He says before placing a kiss on my forehead.

We've always had this strong bond since day one. He was never like this with the other dancers. Maybe because he knows about my anxiety and depression.

I turn and run to backstage. I run through my dance twice just to make sure I don't mess up. I jump up and down shaking my arms. I'm ready.

I watch the other dances to scope out my competition. Then I see her. Faith Winston. I came in second place so many times because of her. I've beat her a handful of times but she has more wins than me. I start to get a little bit nervous watching her dance. She's dancing contemporary to "Skyscraper" by Demi Levato. Todrick always says that she might have better technique but I have way more passion in dance than her. I was born a natural dancer.

She finished her performance and walks off the stage.

"Good luck." She says pushing past me. "You'll need it." She adds with a smirk.

Don't listen to her. I think to myself. She's a self centered bitch.

"Up next in the senior division is number 136, Rachel Vaughn doing contemporary to 'Human' by Christina Perri."

I walk onto the stage and get into position. The music starts and I move to my first move. I dance not worrying about anything. Not about Faith. Not about my fake family and their three years of pretending. Not about who is my real family. I don't even worry about the choreography. I just dance. My arms and legs moving on their own.

What was that wet stuff on my face? Why am I crying? That's when I realized how the lyrics tie into my situation.

"But I'm only human."

"And I bleed when I fall down."

"I'm only human."

"And I crash and I break down."

"Your words in my head, knives in my heart."

"You build me up and then I fall apart."

"'Cause I'm only human, yeah."

Even though I was crying, I made sure I didn't miss a beat.

I finish with tears streaming down my face. There was silence when I finished. Just silence. I looked at the audience still crying. Then they bursts out with cheers and applause. I walk off stage wiping my tears. Smiling.