Mountain

3.2

i've been sitting with James and Cathy for the last two hours and they only just finished the bride's side.

my phone lit up with a text from Eldon.

Lucian just walked in. Kate is talking to him.

this cannot be good. "James." i called him.

"wait." he said back.

"James!" he looked up at me. "Lucian is at the studio. you coming?"

he looked at his aunt. "yeah."

i grabbed my stuff and then we ran all the way to the studio.

we walked in, breathless. "what's going on?" i asked them.

i looked behind at Miss Kate's office and saw her shaking Lucian's hand.

i looked at James, worried and nervous. "so, what did Lucian say?" Chloe asked when Kate and Phoebe walked out to us.

"well, he said a lot of things." Phoebe answered.

"are we allowed to stay here or do we have to hide?" Eldon asked. "because i don't want to get arrested for trespassing."

i looked at him in disbelief. "The Next Step is allowed to stay in this building." Kate said.

i exhaled in relief. "but..." Kate dismissed our relief. "the Elite dancers have a shot at making the team." i scoffed.

"what's going to happen is 12 dancers from The Next Step are going to compete head to head against 12 dancers from Elite." Phoebe explained.

"guys, that's fine." Hunter said. "any one of us can take any one of them."

"that's not exactly how it's going to go. 24 names will go into a hat. two names will be pulled out and those two dancers compete against each other for a spot on the Internationals team." Kate explained.

"wait so if my name gets pulled and then one of their names get pulled," Eldon pointed at us, "then i have to face someone from my own studio?"

"unfortunately, yes." i exhaled in disbelief. "it was the only way i could save the studio, you guys have to understand."

"consider me not a part of this team then!" Eldon said and started walking away.

"Eldon!" we all called him but who can blame him.

"great. now Eldon is gone." West exclaimed.

this is my worst nightmare. there is no way everyone in this room will make Internationals.

James had convinced me to create a dance with him for Cathy's wedding. so we worked on it for a while but it was too hard to focus.

i do enjoy dancing with him, though. and it's gonna be nice at the wedding, but as for right now, i'm just not feeling it.

we walked downstairs to the new Juice bar that now turned to Hildago's and we were sitting with all of the team.

Tahlia said that Eldon is not ready to come back and she's not even sure if he ever will be able to.

"all we need to do is keep The Next Step alive and we can all go to Internationals." Chloe said.

"guys, Lucian probably didn't leave Kate with a choice." Amanda said.

"so, Amanda, did you know that Lucian was planning this all along?" Michelle asked her.

"what are you accusing her of?" Tahlia asked.

"it's... it's fine." Amanda said to her. "actually i didn't. but i get it."

"i'm sorry for thinking that, but can you blame me?" Michelle said.

"we can't start fighting now. let's stick together." James said calming everyone down.

"James is right, and we also need to try and get Eldon back." West said.

"yeah, i'll talk to him."

James can talk anyone into doing anything, so... since Eldon is his best friend, i'm pretty confident.

we're all now back at studio A just a little bit concerned. "i still can't believe you couldn't convince Eldon to come back." i said to James.

"i know."

"he usually always listens to you."

"i've never seen him that upset about something."

"yo, there's Daniel." i heard West say and we looked up to see Daniel walking in.

we're all so confused as to why he's here. Giselle ran to hug him but then we all noticed his Elite hoodie.

"what's going on?" Michelle asked.

"that's right everyone. i'm now a full fledged member of Elite." Daniel said to us.

i scoffed to his words and rolled my eyes. he used to be on this team, and now he's on our enemy's team. i hate to say it, but Daniel has changed.

"you're a traitor, Daniel."
"how could you do this to us?"

i'm not sure who said what, but James on my side was laughing his ass off and i don't why.

"how can you be laughing right now?" i asked him.

"i just figured out how to get Eldon back." he laughed again and i hit his hand.

"stop laughing." i said to him.

"just wait for it, Iz. five, four, three, two, one." as soon as he finished counting, Eldon ran in and looked at Daniel.

"let the competition begin. you are going down, Daniel." Eldon told him.

Eldon is officially back. and we are officially going against Elite.