Fix You (A Paige Hyland/Chloe Lukasiak Short Story)

Part 5

Part 5

The moms all arrived for pyramid and they all filed their way into studio A. Chloe stood next to Paige and Maddie in the line. They waited in silence for Abby to come into the room. They waited for almost 20 minutes before she came into the room.

She walked straight over to the pyramid and ripped the first sheet off. Mackenzie. “Mackenzie, you didn’t even place with your solo. I expect so much more from you.” Abby sounded disappointed. She ripped off the next sheet.

Kendall. “Not a lot to judge you on, you didn’t draw my eyes in a negative way which is good but you didn’t draw them in a positive way.” She pulled down the next sheet.

Nia. “You can really see that your extra classes are helping, keep it up.” Nia smiled over at her mom. Abby pulled the next sheet off.

Brooke. “I thought your solo was good. We just need to work on your face.”  She moved on the second row and pulled both sheets off at the same time.

 Chloe. Paige. “Your duet won first overall in your age division. I thought you both did an outstanding job.” Everyone congratulated Paige and Chloe. Finally Abby pulled off the top sheet.  

Maddie. “Your solo was exceptional. Highest scoring solo of the day.”

Abby looked at all the girls and then at the moms. Abby then went on and explained the dances this week. Everyone was in the group dance, Maddie solo, Nia, Kendall, Mackenzie trio, Chloe and Paige duet and Brooke had a solo. She dismissed the moms and told all the girls to stretch.

Abby called the girls over to the mats to explain the dances for this week. The group dance was an older routine they had done. Black and Blue. She also explained the trio, it was about a girl. Mackenzie, who is bullied by the others and finally she commits suicide because she’s had enough.  Next she explained Brooke and Maddie’s solos, both where very similar in storyline, they were about girls who had been bullied and where telling their stories. By now everyone got that there was a theme to all the dances.

Chloe grabbed Paige’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze, Chloe barely felt Paige squeeze back. Finally Abby went on to explaining the duet. “The duet is to the song ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay. It’s about a young girl, Paige, who is being bullied and her best friend, Chloe, finding out about it and helping her.” Chloe could tell Abby wasn’t finished explain but when she looked over at Paige she had tears almost spilling out of her eyes. She turned and sprinted out of the studio.

Brooke and Chloe locked eyes for a split second before sprinting after her. They ran out of the studio screaming Paige’s name. They managed to see the bathroom door shut they ran toward it but just before they got there Chloe blocked Brooke’s path. “You can’t go in.” Chloe stated.

“What? Why? Chloe, my sister is sitting in the bathroom crying I need to go and comfort her.” Brooke whispered back.

“She doesn’t know you know, and you don’t know the full story. I’ll go in and calm her down and then you can come in.”

Brooked nodded and Chloe turned to go into the bathroom when Brooke grabbed her arm. “Make sure my sister is okay and if she needs someone to listen I’m here, I’ll always be here.” Chloe nodded and Brooke let go of her arm.

Chloe walked in and quietly called Paige’s name, she didn’t get a reply she just heard sobs from the back of the bathroom. Chloe sat down in front of the ball that was Paige Hyland. She pulled Paige’s hands away from her face to see red tear stained cheeks and watery swollen eyes.

“I can’t do it Chloe, I can’t do the duet.” Paige cried.

“Paige, look at me. You are one of the strongest girls I know. You can do this and you can make this duet amazing. I will be with you every step of the way. So will Brooke. And your mom. And everyone else.” Chloe wrapped Paige into a hug. They stayed like that for a while until Paige calmed down. Chloe dabbed Paige’s eyes with wet toilet paper so that it looked like she hadn’t been crying.

Chloe helped her to her feet and they made their way out of the bathroom. Brooke was sitting against the door so when they opened it she fell back into their feet. Brooke jumped to her feet and wrapped Paige in a hug and rocked her back and forth. Once Brooke let her go they make their way back into Studio A only to be met with the onslaught of Abby screaming at them.