⎼⎼⎼ 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 ➵ 𝑏.𝑓.

021

mikki

i was nervous. the whole week abby had been harping on all us girls that we were never as good as brady and how we would never be to his level. so that put on a whole lot of pressure.

"so how are the soloists feeling?" stacey asked.

"i don't even know what's happening with gia's solo," joanne piped up, "gia's not going to go out there and play that character. i'm not having it."

"i just hope she doesn't give you an ultimatum," ann sighed, pinning hannah's hairnet.

"hello!" abby said, rolling in with the coffin behind her. "sarah, you need your wig on and i have it." she handed sarah what looked like a dead mouse. i grimaced. "you need to work on the smile. look at each judge." abby made a weird grin as she nodded three times. "they'll get it when they see the wig and the costume. there. gold medal winner!"

we gave out compliments as sarah unfurled her blue and red leotard.

"snooki, here, chew gum," abby directed, holding out a stick. gia took it.

"my kid's not going to chew gum in front of you," joanne huffed.

abby blew a huge bubble in response. she pulled it out of her hair. i put my foot on the coffin and lowered myself into the oversplits with lilly.

"snooki was known for her slippers," abby continued, pulling out a pair of pink unicorn shoes.

"no. i'm not letting her to dance on that stage with the slippers. i don't want them."

"that's why i want them!" abby cackled.

"my kid is not dancing with slippers on."

"ok. she doesn't dance."

i gasped.

"duet, let me see you," abby shrugged. pressley and i stood in front of abby. "i'm expecting a win. you two have to dance together. it has to be tight and on the mark. suffragettes, ok? women independence."

we nodded.

"ok, sarah, let's go."

the moms and abby made their way into the audience while sarah went to perform.

"mikki, go stretch backstage," abby said, grinning. i nodded.

"wanna help me 'stretch' press?"

"sure!"

we ran our duet backstage in front of all of the other dancers, making sure we added in a few extra tricks at the end to intimidate. it was pretty fun actually.

"our number's up," pressley whispered. we hurried to our opposite wings.

"up next we have act number 54, suffragette!"

the music began to play. we were dancing to 'sit still, look pretty' by daya. it was honestly one of my favorite songs. and i'm sure press and i did it justice. even the judges clapped at the end of the routine.

"woohoo!" i cried, high fiving pressley. she grinned, chugging down water and giving me a double thumbs up.

"we were independent, strong women," she panted, giving me a hug. we made our way back to the dressing room, talking to sarah about her dance.

"i did everything well, but i didn't land the back tuck," she said regretfully.

"hey sarah, who's that?"

she spun around, stopped, then sprinted into the man's arms.

"that's her dad," i hissed, "let's give them some time."