Mountain

3.1

i'm trying to get out of the house. we still have a few days until we get kicked out of the studio, so we go dance for as long as we can, but it's all just feels weird.

James is keeping me out of the house ever since i decided it's too much to stay at his house. he had been taking me out on drives which is really nice, and movies and dinners and it's all good.

but when i get home, it's empty. it had been empty since my dad died, but it's even emptier now that my brother is gone too.

i've been seeing Riley and Emily also to see how her recovery is doing and it's going pretty well and i'm happy.

right now me and James are in the park and he's been showing off some moves he can do with the drum sticks because he joined a band and now he can finally drum a little bit.

"yo, i wonder where internationals are going to be held this year." he said to me. "hopefully it's Barcelona, because i've been working on my Spanish." he looked at me and said something in spanish that sounded really wrong.

"i'm pretty sure you just said i look like a potato." i said to him. "don't even bother though. we're probably not even going to make it to Internationals this year."

we don't even have a space to rehearse right now. how are we gonna come up with a dance that's so amazing that it's going to win Internationals?

"we'll figure it out. we always do." he said back to me with a smile.

"i'm not so sure."

"James!" we turned to look at Luke who is the lead singer at James's band.

"yo!" James answered back.

"we've got practice man."

"for what?"

"upcoming gigs."

"we got a gig?" James asked excitedly.

"no. that's why i said upcoming. come on man. hey izzy."

"hi." i said back as James started to walk away.

"oh hey," he turned to look at me, "do you want to come to aunt cathy's later?"

i looked confused. "why?"

"you'll see."

"okay. Adios Mucgachos!"

"what?" he asked confused.

"seriously?" i thought he'd been practicing Spanish.

i went back home and changed my clothes but i still have time to pass and i'm alone with my thoughts. and i don't like this.

luckily, Kate called an emergency meeting so i went back to the studio.

"have you heard that Lucian bought the building?" Riley asked me as soon as i walked in. this week just getting worse and worse.

"great." i said exhausted.

"everyone gather around." Kate called us and we all stood in front of her. "Lucian has bought the building."

"how can he do that?" i heard West over the overlapping chatter.

"he's insisting that we merge with Elite, otherwise he will shut the studio down and The Next Step will not be able to compete at Internationals."

"there has to be another way." Emily said.

"there is no other way. we have no time to find another way."

"you guys!" Phoebe ran in with an envelope. "this just came from the International board. i'm so excited to read it." she stood in front of us but Kate took it out of her hands.

Kate opened the envelope. "you guys, Internationals is in Miami!" she said and we all got excited.

Miami is beautiful. or so i've heard from my dad. i'm excited.

"guys! there's an exchange program. someone gets to go to Sweden." Giselle said to us, reading more.

"does that mean someone from another country get to come here?" Riley asked.

"yes."

"guys, i wouldn't get so excited." Michelle said to us. "at this point, we're not even going to Internationals."

after this meeting James took me to his Aunt Cathy's house and i have no idea why.

that woman is making me nervous and i've never been at her house before and i'm not sure she even knows i'm here.

she walked in the room. "alright James—" she almost fell when she saw me standing up and she started laughing nervously. "oh, Isabel... oh! what a very sweet surprise!" she said and reached to hug me so i hugged her. "aren't you just as adorable as ever? James come here, i need your help." she told him.

"congratulations on the engagement. let me see that bad boy!" James said to her and she showed out her engagement ring.

that's the reason i'm here.

"so who's the idiot?" Cathy's face turned serious so quickly it was scary. "i mean the lucky guy. when will we get to meet him?"

"when will you get to meet him? when will I get to meet him?"

they laughed and i just went with it.

i'm sure she met him. right?

"we've been working on the seating plan for two weeks and we can finally present it to you."

"oh god." i whispered to myself.

James's family believe that James is all knowing. ever since we were little, they were sure he has superpowers. but this time, apparently James has the ability to know who should sit next to whom. and i know i'm here so he could show off a little bit.

James started rearranging the whole seating plan and i just wanted to kill myself.

Michelle is with Kate and Phoebe trying to see if anyone will rent for us a studio so i texted her.

nope. Lucian is winning. Kate is meeting him later.
  michelle said

this is horrible.