°•°• HOPELESSLY IN LOVE°•°• [ Under Editing ]

°•°•05. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐓 °•°•

{ "Now's the time for me to earn my space on this team and even though I'm confident with my dancing I'm still a slight bit nervous"}

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
Marie finally competes for her spot on the team against one of her 'friends' and helps the next step say goodbye to some good dancers.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

At this moment, Marie was recapping who had battled who and who made the team. She remembered that Noah, West, Max, Eldon and Cierra had all made the team. This ment that The next step and Elite were tied three for three as even though Michelle was not here she was given a reserve space, in the condition that she'd be counted as an Elite win. This means that there were seven more spots left on the Internationals team and neither her nor Daniel's name was  called.

The events of the day were quickly catching up with her as she realised that her cousin and his girlfriend were up next. As James called Riley's name out of the hat, his face dropped and his heart did too. Riley, on the other hand, looked close to tears as she now seriously regretted participating in this tournament.

Marie:

This must be killing James inside. I mean if I was in his position I honestly would not know what to do. I think I would probably cry and then run away.

In the music room, James and Riley were rehearsing their solos but the  sadness in the air made it literally impossible for the two to concentrate on the competition at hand.

"I don't think I can do this" Riley breathes out

"No"

"What?"

"No" James states in a uncharacteristically harsh tone

James:

I know this is hurting Riley but we need to do this for the team and I know she cares for the team. If it was Piper or Rie I was going against I would say the same thing. All I want is for Riley to dance her best and not let something like this hold her back.

"We need to do this for the team so I want you to go out there and dance the best you can"

Riley:

I understand what James is saying and as much as I want to bow out, I know that if he's going to dance his best then I am too.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
Walking back into the studio made Marie feel all sorts of emotions the strongest being sympathy. This whole situation made no sense to her as she did the maths and out of all the dancers who have already competed; there was like a one in twenty one chance that James would pick his girlfriends name out of that hat so only two conclusions added up: