Mountain

2.30

it's the day of the finals, and Emily still can't even stand on her leg. her knee is red and swollen, and the physiotherapist is still not here.

i wanted to stay with Emily and Riley but me and James went to watch Michelle as she is nominated for best female soloist.

"third place in female soloist is... Amanda from Elite!" i clapped slightly but was nervous for Michelle.

"the second place in female soloist is... Lexi from Life Of Dance!" this time i jumped happily because this means that Michelle is miss national soloist second year in a row.

"first place goes to Michelle from the Next Step!" i cheered for her and then looked at James who was already looking at me.

"what?" i asked him.

"nothing. i just like seeing you happy."

"shut up." i said, trying not to blush.

"okay, okay, let's get to the stage."

"would the nominations for best duet come to the stage." they said and we started running through the crowd, just made it on time with James bumping into me because he just ran.

this is the first time me and James did a duet at nationals, so to be a finalist in the Duet awards is just incredible.

we're going against, Joanne Champman who we just won against, and Life Of Dance, and they're both really good and i'm just a little nervous.

"and in third place, National Duet goes to..." James grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Joanne Champman." we clapped, trying to hide my excitement from being the last two.

"and in second place... The Next Step!" i smiled weakly and James before going to the judges and shaking their hand, accepting the award.

second place is still pretty amazing. i mean, it's still within the top 3, so it is really exciting, but... we did lose to LOD so that's also a little bit scary.

"and your first place Duet Award goes to Life Of Dance!"
yes we all know that, thank you.

i walked backstage, next to Michelle because now the boys are up for the small group award.

"can the small groups come to the stage please?"

James was the only one here. none of the other boys are here and this is really bad.

"where would they be?" Michelle asked.

i started texting Chloe, West and Eldon to see where they are.

"they're announcing them right now." Michelle said.

"i'm not sure i can go alone."

"you have to! there's no one else here."

Chloe texted me back that West is on his way, but Eldon and Hunter are nowhere to be found.

"just go on stage for now." I told James.