mikki

the moms had a meltdown yesterday. i hate it, this whole environment. i was staying here to compete at nationals and stay with the team. nothing less, nothing more. and hopefully do a solo.

sarah and gia's rehearsals were almost double my length. brady and i had spent every last minute in the rehearsal studios, redoing the moves and counting beats until it was burned into the back of my brain. honestly, i was sick of my brain consistently repeating, 'one, two, jump and down,' over and over and over again.

he made it bearable though. brady was always cracking jokes and making critiques that didn't make sense, laughing about it and giving me encouragement. i was so grateful.

"thank you."

"you've said that already! i told you to stop."

"ok, ok. sorry. but you know i really-"

"mikki, if you don't win, i will never shut up."

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condor 🦅
whats pressleys number
bro
mikki
whats her number

mikki 🐁
no

condor 🦅
mikki

mikki 🐁
no

condor 🦅
yes

mikki 🐁
no

condor 🦅
yes

mikki 🐁
xxx-xxx-xxx-xx

condor 🦅
thanks :)

mikki 🐁
ew love

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studio 19 was ringing cowbells or something outside the competition. ugh. honestly, i didn't need it. i walked straight through the crowd with a smile, waving at the girls. some of them scowled, others waved back. brady seemed to be very popular, struggling to get out of the swarm.

"well, that was an experience!" i sighed, "i just love getting my eardrums destroyed. i could hear vague shouts of 'you liar' behind me. "one thing i've learnt is that moms are really immature."

brady laughed.

stop beating you stupid heart. my chest doesn't need bruises ok.

i had found a coping mechanism to the drama. i'd just leave. brady was more than happy to go with me. we'd disappear into the corridor, or the wings, and we'd pretend we were a normal, functioning team, who definitely didn't scream insults at each other 24/7.

"how are our soloists?" abby asked, wheeling in, "are we ready to rock and roll?"

"are you ok," all the moms chorused.

"yeah, why am i not ok?" abby asked, confused.

"alright, sarah, mikki and gianina, your solos are important. this is going to determine who gets a solo for nationals, right?"

we nodded.

"ok."

we heard the yells of studio 19 again. i swear i was going to go insane if i heard them again.

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"alright, gianina, let's go."

"welcome gianina, performing crossroads!"

gia did a fine job. she smiled, she was tight and strong, her flexibility was incredible and she took every critique that was given to her.

"good job!" i squealed, hugging her.

"sarah, be better than that. you want to dance at nationals," abby whispered.

sarah's dance was dramatic, strong, technically astounding. her acrobatics were amazing, she really blew everyone away. i couldn't tell where one move began and the other started.

it was tight competition.

"mikki, this is your turn. prove to me that your break made you a better dancer, made you stronger. ok? you want to dance at nationals, and you have to beat those studio 19 dancers. don't let me down."

i nodded.

"i'm expecting perfection."

i didn't nod.

"and now we have mikaela performing breaking point, please welcome mikaela to the stage."

i didn't know if i was perfect. but i thought i was pretty damn close. every single moment i spent in studio d, strengthening my ankles, stretching out my limbs, channelled into this dance. so much time, so much energy. it was like this was what everything had been laid out. and all i had to do was to dance through the pieces, and they'd fly into place.

i ended.

silence.

i didn't do that badly did i?

i could see people clapping, but i couldn't hear anything but the drumming of my heart and the blood rushing through my ears. i left the stage. pressley was in the wings, smiling like the sun herself. she hugged me tight and said something i didn't hear.

i think it was, that was amazing.

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"get out there, be cool, be calm and be clear. enunciate your movements. just like you should enunciate your words. as bob fossey said," abby clicked, "it's show time folks."

brady opened perfectly. he seemed to glide through the air. we all joined him, one by one, dancing our poor hearts out. this wasn't just a dance, this was a story. a story about a group of kids who thought they were living their dream, until they weren't. we moved to the beat, staying together. after all, what else do we have, if not each other? we may have been dressed like cupcakes, but all the sweetness seemed to be bitter now. we still danced, because that was the only thing we could do.

"we did it!" we screamed, piling onto each other. "we did it."

yes. we certainly did do it.

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"the tenth highest solo, kensington with 'the arctic' from studio 19!"

"ninth overall, sarah with 'shame' from abby lee dance company."

oh no.

"seventh place goes to gianina with 'crossroads'!"

but her solo was so good!

maybe i didn't even place.

sixth.

fifth.

fourth.

we were up to the top 3 and i still hadn't been called. paris was gripping my hand so tightly i felt like my blood supply was short.

third.

"and your second scoring soloist, mikaela from abby lee dance company!"

but it wasn't perfect.

"now onto our group overalls. third overall, 'in the dark' from studio 19!"

suck it.

"and our top scoring group, 'the frug' from abby lee dance company!"

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