Empire - The Next Step

a troupe is overrated

Studio A was decorated beautifully for the open house. After their huge win at internationals, Kate had decided to throw an open house party to welcome in all the new dancers who would be auditioning. Harper still had her mind firmly set on staying in B Troupe so she could improve and get to a higher level, but she attended the open house anyway to meet the new dancers. She knew one thing for certain, The Next Step would be extremely different considering how many of the old A Troupers had left and how many new people from other studios had come to audition.

As she was talking to on of her B Troupe friends Becca, Harper's eyes drifted to where Noah was having a conversation with Riley, James and one of the new dancers. Things were still a little tense between the two of them; Noah was frustrated that she wouldn't audition for A Troupe and Harper was irritated because he refused to let her make her own decision. The blonde quickly smoothed down the lilac skirt she was wearing as she noticed that Noah was bringing the new comer over towards her.

"Alfie, this is Harper and Becca. They're both in B Troupe." Noah introduced as his eyes fell on Harper. She knew that he wouldn't be able to resist making a snarky comment about her choice while mentioning her name and B Troupe in the same sentence.

"Nice to meet you, so you're auditioning for A Troupe this year?" Alfie asked curiously. It was abundantly clear that he was just trying to make polite conversation, but he had unintentionally sent things on a downhill path. Harper went to tell him that she was leaving it until next year and explain why but Noah managed to cut in first and spoke on her behalf.

"Well Becca is, but Harper felt like wasting a perfectly good opportunity and is leaving it until next year." There it was. Alfie suddenly looked uncomfortable and the blonde felt bad for him. Everyone else was suffering because Noah couldn't manage to let go of some meaningless personal drama between them. Harper sent him a harsh glare and felt more detached from Noah than she ever had before. She had no idea in the slightest why he was suddenly so judgemental of her choices. She hadn't decided to audition for the nationals team when himself and Richelle did but that never seemed to bother him.

"I'm actually just going to focus on training this year and I'll try next time." The blonde answered for Alfie, completely ignoring Noah, so he nodded his head in understanding. She was glad to know that some people could be decent enough to respect her decision. Alfie excused himself and Becca had gone to talk to her sister Gabi over by the drinks table so it was just the two of them. An awkward silence filled the space between them as neither knew what to say.

Luckily before anything else that would potentially wreck their friendship could be said, one of the new dancers named LaTroy had started to showcase his moves in the centre of the room. He was very talented and all his movement looked so animated and sharp. That was exactly why Harper didn't want to audition, putting herself against people so talented would only lower her self esteem. Soon, West had joined in freestyling and everyone in the room came onto the dance floor and were all having a good time grooving to the music.

Harper managed to escape from Noah as she moved herself to the other side of the dance floor where Richelle was dancing with Michelle and Sierra. The shorter of the two girls looked at Harper with concern filling her bright green eyes. She and Michelle exchanged a look of realisation as they saw her glaring over towards Noah, the two of them were still fighting.

"Noah just wants whats best for you Harps." Richelle began and flinched slightly as her best friend's harsh glare directed itself to her instead. As soon as she looked at Richelle and had registered what she was saying, Harper's eyes softened slightly. "I know he's coming across really harsh but just give him some time to cool off." What she was saying made perfect sense, but there was still something that was puzzling the blonde.

"I just don't get why he cares so much." Harper said releasing a small sigh. What she chose to do didn't affect Noah in the slightest so she was confused as to why it bothered him so much. What would he gain from having her on the team?

"Noah had always dreamed of the two of you competing together, achieving you dream of being on A Troupe. It's difficult for him because he feels like you're giving up on your dream." That did make a lot of sense when Harper really considered it. They always spent their time after J Troupe rehearsals discussing the future and going to regionals together as A Troupers. Perhaps Noah was so disappointed in her because to him she was abandoning their aspirations.

A queasy feeling surged through Harper's stomach as she bid Richelle a quick goodbye and made her way over to Noah. He was dancing with Henry who was one of the new dancers and he appeared to be having a good time. For a moment, she debated not going over because she didn't want to ruin his fun, but at the same time they really needed to resolve this problem as soon as they could.

"Noah." She called out softly from the side and his head flicked towards her. With an unsure expression he quickly excused himself from dancing with Henry and walked towards the bench she was sitting on. Harper was never normally nervous around Noah, but she felt so overwhelmingly fragile and vulnerable that it was difficult not to feel that way. "I just wanted to apologise. I'm really sorry that I'm not auditioning for A Troupe yet but I promise you I haven't given up on our dream. We'll just have to wait a bit longer." If Noah was expecting anything from their conversation, it most definitely wasn't an apology.

"I'm sorry too. I know I overreacted, I was just upset that I'd have to spend another year dancing without you by my side." He said which brought back those fluttery feelings that Harper had been experiencing ever since before the team went to internationals. The pair smiled at each other and nothing more needed to be said. They each knew they were sorry, and they also knew that they were forgiven.

The remainder of the open house was spent with endless amounts of dancing and the old dancers connecting with the new. It was a really special things to see all the new dancers fit in so well already but what made it even more special for Harper, was sharing it with her best friend.