Empire - The Next Step

a forgotten birthday for noah

Noah's birthday was obviously a huge deal as it was his eighteenth, however it was happening on the day of the convention. Harper and Richelle has put their heads together to plan a special party for him after all the convention events were finished so he could have their full attention, but it was going to be difficult hiding it from him all day.

Although hip hop most definitely wasn't her strongest style, Harper wanted to improve so she had submitted a video to enter the ditto workshop with Noah, Henry and Jacquie. She was a little nervous because she knew she wasn't good at hip hop, but it would still hopefully be a lot of fun.

"Hey guys." Harper greeted Henry and Jacquie who were talking and warming up in studio one where the workshop was taking place. The two of them looked at the girl and Henry looked as though he could explode at any moment. Meeting ditto was a dream of his and it was about to come true. "Henry, are you good? You look like you're about to burst."

"Honestly Harper I think I might. I can't believe we get to meet the ditto. That's insane!" The boy exclaimed as he shook Harper's shoulders in excitement. She exchanged a concerned look with Jacquie who simply rolled her eyes at the boy. Clearly he had been acting like that for the whole day.

"Hey guys, are you excited?" Came the voice of Noah as he entered he studio looking subtly excited. It took all of Harper's night not to yell happy birthday at him, but she knew it would be really special for him if she stuck to the plan.

"Oh my gosh, I'm beyond excited. Ditto's coming!" Jacquie replied as Henry nodded eagerly in excitement. Noah looked a little offended that they hadn't yet mentioned anything about his birthday, but everyone knew what they had to do.

"Are you excited about anything else?" He asked patiently as though waiting for one of them to remember.

"Well there's the wild card competition too." Harper suggested feeling guilty deep down, but she kept a bright smile on her face. Noah looked even more disappointed but it didn't last long as through the door came the one and only Ditto. Everyone applauded her but it seemed that Henry was too star struck as he almost fainted. All three of them struggled to get him back on his feet but just about managed to in time.

"Hi everyone, so I'm gonna quickly show you the combo and then I'll teach it to you, sound good?" Everyone nodded eagerly or let out excited responses as the music to 'dangerous' echoed around the studio. The girl started her combo and Harper was pleasantly surprised at how phenomenal she was. Her movement was so animated and sharp it looked like she wasn't even real. Although it made the blonde slightly nervous as she had no idea how she would ever be able to do that. Everyone let out a huge round of applause when she finished and Henry shook Harper out of excitement for the second time that day before they all spread out. "Okay so who can tell me what tutting is?"

"Its ninety degrees angles." Henry answered confidently once his hand shot into the air. It did the same thing when the girl asked who it was inspired by. "King tut."

"Wow you know-it-all." Ditto complimented him jokingly and Henry brushed himself off proudly. Harper shared a glance with Noah who also looked very amused at his friends excited antics. "Okay lets get started."

The brunette internet sensation started them off by demonstrating a tutting sequence and having them follow along but when she sped it up and was doing it rapidly, not even Henry could keep up. She was next level. Ditto then got into teaching them the sequence which was very challenging but Harper was enjoying trying something new for the day.

"Hey, can you help me with this?" The blonde asked Noah as she was struggling with a section of the choreo. The boy nodded and walked over to his girlfriend. The two of them worked on it together until Harper had it solid and noticed that Ditto was taking selfies with Henry. "I think his dream may have just come true."

"Yeah, he's pretty excited." Noah agreed with a chuckle. The brunette then called them for their attention as she made her way back to the front.

"Okay guys, we're gonna just give it a go and see how well you've done with the choreo." She said, Harper was glad they didn't have to do it alone but she was still nervous that she had to do it beside all those amazing hip hop dancers, not to mention Ditto was watching. The music started playing and she pushed her nervous feelings aside to focus. It all went pretty well and Ditto was a really encouraging teacher so overall it was a really great class. "That was amazing guys. Thank you so much for having me hear today, you all did amazing."

Everyone thanked her profusely as Ditto left the room waving to them all with a final goodbye and then they could all finally relax. Harper looked at Henry who looked like his deepest dreams had been fulfilled.

"That was amazing." He gushed as the four of them left to go and watch the rest of the wildcard competition that was happening in studio A. They walked in about half way through acronation's performance for the spot at regionals and Harper was sad to admit it, but they were killing it. She had no idea how strong they were and their acro was next level. When they finished, she pretty much already knew who had won because that performance was almost perfect.

"Alright everyone gather round." Came the familiar voice of Leon Blackwood who was a guest judge for the competition. Everyone hushed and gathered in their teams to hear the announcement. "We've reached a final decision. The winner of the wildcard spot and the team who will be going to regionals is, Acro Nation."

Harper couldn't say she was surprised, but it did make her slightly nervous. They were a very strong team and the idea of competing against them was extremely nerve wracking. Nonetheless, she applauded them like everyone else.

After that announcement, the other teams started to file out as it was getting late and they had no reason to stay, but Harper turned her attention to Noah who looked slightly dampened. Although it had been an exciting day, he was hoping that Harper at least would have wished him a happy birthday. She glanced at Richelle who was also looking at Noah in concern and nodded, the plan was about to start.

"Noah, do you wanna go get shakes? I'm pretty tired so we can take some time to relax." Harper offered and the boy nodded putting a brave smile on. "Oh but can I meet you down there? I just need to talk to Michelle first." Noah nodded for a second time and made his way out of the studio and down the hallway to shakes and ladders.

Harper waited until he was completely gone before she called the team over. She threw a t-shirt with 'happy 18th birthday Noah' on it to each member of the team, aside from Ozzy who was sick, and then put her own on. She rushed inside Michelle and Emily's office to grab the cake, which actually had a picture of Noah's face on it from when they were in J troupe.

"Okay everyone, you know what to do?" Everyone nodded eagerly and she rushed down to shakes and ladders. When she saw Noah sitting there with two milkshakes, Harper hastily zipped up her jacket so he wouldn't see her t-shirt and took the seat beside him.

"Hey." He said in a defeated tone. It took everything she had not to laugh because of what was about to happen. She hoped that it would boost his mood to know that the whole team was there to celebrate with him. "Harps, are you sure you don't know what day it is?"

"Of course I do, it was the first day of the convention." Noah almost winced when he heard her say that. He was in disbelief that a girl he had known for almost seven years would forget his birthday.

"Well actually, it's my eighteenth birthday today." Harper's eyes widened as she pretended to realise.

"Well I guess it's a good job I planned a party for today then." She said and watched the lightbulb go off inside Noah's head as he realised what she was saying. That was the signal for the rest of A Troupe to enter the bistro and Richelle led them in carrying the cake for Noah.

"No way." Noah said as he noticed the cake had an embarrassing picture of his face on it. Everyone yelled 'happy birthday' and it seemed that even though the day started out rough, it had ended up pretty great.