⎼⎼⎼ 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 ➵ 𝑏.𝑓.

012

mikki

"good morning!" abby called. i took off my shoes and hugged gianna.

"good morning," i replied.

"ok. so you know the storyline of the dance and you know what is expected. i want facials, i want technique and i want all of your passion, ok?"

i nodded.

"ok, let's start. sassy. cry. yes. use your legs to propel yourself. uhuh. when you do that leap, bring your arm to your right. beautiful. gianna, can you teach her the part where she does the roll again? yeah."

i was so happy with my solo. it was absolutely gorgeous, and displayed the full range of my talent.

"ok, you're done. bring pressley and brady in, good girl."

"press! farrari!" i yelled. brady and pressley emerged from the dancers den. "abby wants you for your duet."

🩰

"is she done for the day?" i heard a mom upstairs say. abby was indeed wheeling out of the room. i followed as quietly as i could. i saw erin and michelle follow her as well.

"we just want to make sure if sarah and savannah are getting a fair chance tomorrow," michelle said. brady was suddenly behind me, his hand on my shoulder.

"your daughter will never get a chance, she sucks," abby stated. i gasped. michelle came back inside, erin's hand on her shoulder. i saw her duck away into an acro room and brady and i followed her.

"hi," i said, plopping myself down on the floor and holding her hand.

"hey mikki!" she said, trying to sound cheerful, even though she was crying hard.

"we heard what abby said," brady said, sitting on the pile of pink acro mats next to her.

"sarah. does. not. suck," i said, glaring at her. "repeat after me."

"sarah does not suck," she whispered croakily.

"scream it!" i said.

"sarah does not suck," she said a little louder.

"sarah does not suck," i repeated, "louder!"

"my daughter does not suck!" she screamed.

brady burst out laughing and applauded. michelle gave a hoarse giggle and smiled.

"thank you."

🩰

"hannah, stop. hannah, that's wrong. posture hannah!" i heard abby scream correction after correction at hannah, who was rehearsing her duet with lilly. "you know what, go. i'm done. bring mikki in."

i gave hannah a hug as she came out and at the same time, i heard sobbing from upstairs. "hannah, go into the dancer's den." i strode into the studio.

"thank goodness," abby sighed, "i have a dancer with good technique and good facials. let's run your solo."

during my rehearsal, i tried my hardest. i was 14, never had a boyfriend or anything. only friends who were guys. i tried to imagine talking to someone and having them not listen to me. not even caring what i said and how hurt and frustrated that would make me.

abby didn't say anything at the end of my performance, so i looked in the mirror. she was crying. my first instinct was to hug her, but i remembered what she had said to michelle and hannah and i stopped.

"beautiful. ok, i'm going to pull myself together. you really gave me all you had that time. good girl. ok, you're done for today."

i was surprised. i hadn't even had five minutes of lesson.

"mom," i said, going up into the observation mezzanine.

"are you done?" she said incredulously. everyone was staring.

"yeah! i didn't even have five minutes!" i protested.

"what did abby say?" joanne asked.

"she said 'i'm going to pull myself together, you're done for today'."

"that's a good thing," stacey said. mom rounded on her.

"you think it's a good thing that my daughter got less than five minutes to go through a solo that is senior level?" mom asked.

"no, i meant that she finished because of a good thing!"

🩰

"brady," i moaned, collapsing onto his shoulder, "too much drama."

"tell me about it," he groaned, "let's go get ice cream."

"can't," i apologised, "mom and i are going shopping."

"oh, ok," he said, sounding disappointed.

"are you ready?" mom asked, beckoning me out.

we went straight to the shop and dived into the aisles. it was one of my favourite things to do, shopping with my mom. nothing like a good bit of retail therapy, am i right?

"that's enough," mom sighed, shoving everything into a bag.

"yeah, i think so," i sighed, then shot up. "i forgot to call connor!"

"you do that," she said, already walking out of the store. i dialled my best friend's number.

he picked up on the second ring. "so, you finally remembered me."

"sorry connor! i was so distracted, you know, dance and stuff and-"

"hey, it's fine mikki. how's it going?"

"great. i'm learning so much and making a bunch of new friends. i can't tell you much, but there really is as much drama as you see on television. how are you?" i gushed.

"pretty good. dance is boring without you there though. no one to give annoyed looks to whenever miss gilly is around."

i chuckled. "still a tyrant?"

"once a tyrant, always a tyrant."

"what are you doing now?"

"playing video games while stretching. i've got technique class soon."

club dance, my old studio, was known for its incredible technique.

"oh, ok. who do you have this year?"

connor groaned. "don't remind me. i've got miss abella."

i sucked in a breath. "oof connor. poor you." even though connor was one of the best dancers i knew, he always got picked on by miss abella, who always played favourites. usually they were small, quiet and obedient. connor was tall, loud and rebellious.

"yeah. i have to go now. call soon, ok?"

"bye!"