Mountain

3.24

we are all now on the stage, having our rehearsal time for the semi finals routine.

we only have one hour so we need to make this count.

"the time is up!" ella said as all of england walked in.

"what?" i exclaimed. "no, she's just messing with us."

"no, no, no. the time is up. please get off the stage." the woman from the internationals board said.

having to leave for ella's team just makes me really angry.

"you just don't look ready." ella said, walking closer to the stage. "and you know why?"

"why?" i asked her angrily.

"because you're not."

she's wrong. we are ready. we're gonna win and we're gonna find a way to beat her. we have to.

we walked to the back room, to have more time to prepare but West was feeling sick.

he was on the floor, groaning with pain.

"how many times have you thrown up?" james asked him.

"three times." tahlia answered for him.

"you know what... actually four." he corrected her. "because i just threw up in my mouth. and i swallowed it back."

we all exclaimed in disgust.

"what are we gonna do?" kate asked us.

"you know what, this is food poisoning." james said. "i know it. it takes about 24 hours to pass."

"we do not have 24 hours."

"it was... someone help me up." West raised his hands and me and kate pulled him up.

he stood up, with his hand on his stomach. "i think i gotta go." he put his hand on his mouth and then ran out of the room.

"that makes five times." tahlia pointed out.

"we can't afford for him to get better so we're gonna have to replace him." kate said.

"it's either michele or amanda." i said looking at them.

"michelle is better for this one." amanda said.

"michelle do you feel ready?" kate asked her. "do you think you can handle it?"

"yeah. i'll do it." she said.

"we need to get you a costume. we need to rework the routine."

"we have lifts so we need to change that, obviously." i said to her and i started to rechoreograph some of the moves as the whole team worked on it as well.

michelle is a great dancer, but picking up our semi finals routine just before we go on, would be a lot for any of us.

"got it?" kate walked back after a while.

"yeah. i'm ready to go." michelle said.

"good. because we need to get in costumes and go." we followed kate out.

we got into our costume, and then we heard Sweden won, and they're the first team to make it to finals.

we're now in the wings, waiting for england to start dancing. their dance was beautiful. it was a little girl walking around the woods and the rest of them are enchanted trees trying to scare her.

they are all so technically beautiful and very fluid and it's actually kinda brilliant. ours is a lot more fun and upbeat. and it kinda worries me just because their routine is beautiful.

"guys come here." kate said robusb "cuddle around." we turned to look at her. "listen. i know that england is fantastic they are a very strong team. and that's fine. because we're here at the semi finals. and i want you guys to focus on yourselves don't even think about them for one second."

"yes. i totally agree." james said. "if we dance for us, we'll win. it's gonna be our last time dancing together guys. we have to go all in."

"yeah!" we all cheered and made a group hug as england finished their performance.

ella walked off stage next to me. "beat that." she said to me.

"planning on it."

i wanna beat ella more than anything. after what she did to alex when we were younger. what she did the whole time when she was in the next step. what she did to riley. i won't accept any other ending.

"alright. you guys got this." kate said to us.

"okay! i'm here!" we heard west's voice and he stood up next to us.

"what are you doing?" michelle asked him. "west, i got this."

"no it doesn't matter. i haven't thrown up in three minutes it's fine. im good."

"michelle it's up to you." kate said to her.

"you can probably do a better job than i could. so go up the stage, guys."

they called us and we all walked on stage, kinda nervous for west.

our semi finals routine is called let's dance tonight. and it's kinda about James having this dream he kinda gets pulled into this old fashioned style of dancing. he's very hip hop and completely different from how we're dancing which is very swing.

but then he realized that we have never seen hip hop. so he show us some moves and by the end of it it's a swing fusion.

it felt so great being on stage with the whole team. some moves were with james holding my hands, some were me doing flips. i just loves this whole feeling.

i had so much fun on stage and that was what's important.

the crowd cheered for us so loudly which made us smile so widely. it was one of our best dances yet.

england came back on stage and we waited for the judges decision.

it was the most nerve wracking moment in my life. i've never wanted anything more.

james' hand wrapped around mine and he squeezed in comfort.

we all want to beat ella after everything, and we all just want to make it to the finals.

"the judges have tabulated their scores and the team moving on to the final round is..."

i want this with every cell of my being. we deserve this.

"this next step!" we all jumped happily screaming with excitement.

i looked at james and hugged him tightly.

i finally beat ella. she deserves it. cheating does not get you ahead. ella cheated and she lost.

we walked off stage and hugged kate.

i felt arms around me and i saw ella hugging me. "what are you doing?" i asked, pushing her away.

"it's over. you beat us. we can be friends now. don't you get it?"

"no, i get it. i just don't play that way."

"oh, iz, scowling doesn't suit you."

"ella, im not sure why i forgiven you for putting my brother in a hospital, but i do not forgive you for not acting like a human being. cheating does suit you." she scoffed and walked away.

i turned to look at my team and screamed happily as they did after me as well.