[2X04]

{The nationals team is chosen, with devastating results for some A-Troupers, including Stephanie and Tiffany, who take the news worst of all.}

❝We're going to have a lot of disappointed dancers.❞

The sound of 'Rewind' echoed through the studio whilst the twenty dancers all ran through the routine for round two based purely on their own memory.

"Right now, we're practising the choreography Phoebe gave us for the last round of the challenge," Chloe explained, "And it's actually really hard."

Maxie, who didn't seem as fazed as the other dancers, was in the corner running through the moves when West approached her.

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, the boy caught her attention, "Hey, Max? You don't think you could help me on this one turning section could you?"

"The turning part? Like, with the fouette turns?" she asked, pausing her dance moves to look him in the eyes softly.

"Yeah, yeah, I never could remember those fancy French names," he chuckled, walking closer to stand next to her.

"Honestly, same, though," she laughed along with them as they both got into the starting position, "Okay, so you want to bring your weaker leg backwards so that your weight is on the dominant one."

Doing what the girl told him, West brought his leg back and placed his arms in the air awkwardly, "Uh, like this?" he asked with a slight chuckle at how weirdly the placement of his arms was.

Looking at the odd position of his limbs, Max burst out into laughter, which, in turn, made West giggle at the hilarity.

"Yeah, no," she told him with a smile, walking over to stand behind the dancer.

Placing her hands on his, she tentatively moved his arms to the right position then stepped around to face him, too busy trying to hide her own fluster to notice the blush on his cheeks at the close contact they had mere seconds ago.

With a nod to confirm he was in the right posture, she spoke up once again, "Right, now just focus on something still and just turn. Then, once you've done that, remember to focus your eyesight on that one thing."

Without a second thought, West then began a ― very good for a beginner ― set of turns, which made a proud grin break out onto her face.

Once he was done, he asked, "Was that good?"

"So good," she grinned at him, a grin filled with so much excitement and joy, he couldn't help but reciprocate.

The two of them remained like that for a good minute or so before the sound of the song restarting snapped the pair out of their awestruck gaze and back into reality as they both continued to work through the routine.

"When Maxie helped me get the turn section down, I don't know..." West began with a slight smile on his face as his cheeks blushed once again, "She's a really great friend and I know we'll make it on together."

After a while, Phoebe walked forward and clapped her hands together as she called out, "All right, everyone, listen up. You have five minutes left. Okay? Keep practising. Daniel, will you get the other kids out of the music room?" she asked just as the boy zoomed off as if he was given orders from some sort of general.

‧₊˚✩彡

"This is the biggest audition of my life," Hunter admitted dramatically, "If I don't make the team, I'm out of the studio and I can't win Michelle back."

By now, everyone was back in the studio and Kate, Phoebe, Michelle and Emily were stood at the back watching them all go through the moves for the final time as the song played over the speakers.

Tiffany looked anything but ready as she uttered, "Everything is at stake right now and I just want to do the best I can."

"I'm very nervous," Riley outright told the camera, "I mean, I'm shaking. My heart's pounding. But, we really have to step up our game."

With yet another simply shrug, Maxie said, "Over the years, I learned that keeping your cool and just channelling your compressed nerves into your dance will give you better results than just bricking it completely."

"This is your last chance to prove yourselves," Phoebe yelled over the music.

Kate was next to follow up as she said, "So let's have group one on the floor. Here we go."

The very song everyone had been hearing for the past half an hour began to play as group one, which consisted of Amanda, Jake, Chloe, Cass, James and Tiffany, began to go through the choreo, adding their own little twists on the dance as they did so.

"I'm putting everything on the line. I want this so bad and I'm dancing like I've never danced before," Amanda told the camera seriously.

Tiffany had the same unsure look as before as she muttered, "That fouette section is definitely giving me problems. I'm a hip-hop dancer so this is not what I do."

Soon enough, their dance was over and Kate called out, "Whoo! Okay, group two on the floor. Here we go."

In group two was Riley, West, Beth, Daniel, Maxie and Thalia, which seemed to be a pretty strong group considering.

"I'm trying my best," Riley began, "I'm getting the steps down pat so... my chances look good."

Daniel swallowed nervously as he told the camera, "Obviously I feel good about my dancing, but, uh, being in a group with Maxie and having to dance next to her kind of throws me off, 'cause whenever I think I've done something well, I see out of the corner of my eye she's just gone to that next level which is super unnerving."

Maxie, on the other hand, wasn't too focused on how she had done as she spoke, "I'm so glad I'm in a group with West, because I look over my shoulder, and see he's killing it and it just pushes me to go harder." 

Finally, Kate announced, "And now we have group three!" as Stephanie, Hunter, Eldon, Noah, Giselle and Richelle took the floor and began to perform each move to the best of their ability.

"I know I'm dancing my best," Eldon proclaimed, "Especially because Hunter's in there. That's making me dance twice as hard."

Hunter sighed, "There's no question, Eldon is an unreal dancer, but I'm not concerned. I have things that, uh, I can do that he can't."

Kate smirked slightly as she said, "Watching Richelle dance, I can't help but think of Maxie when she first came here, I mean, I see so much of that girl in her it's unreal."

"I can't remember anything," Stephanie huffed exasperatedly, "It's like it went in one ear and out the other and I'm freaking out because I'm a huge mess."

"She has no idea what the choreography is. It's obvious," Emily frowned, shaking her head to show she had no idea what to do, "I don't know how I'm going to handle this one."

Finally, group three's dance had come to an end as everyone applauded their, almost, perfect performance.

"Thank you," Kate grinned, clapping her hands against her clipboard, "You guys, you're amazing. Thank you so much."

"Fantastic," Phoebe added with an alacritous look in her eyes.

Giving her sister and the two co-captains a nod, Miss Kate continued, "It looks like we have a tough decision to make, so we're gonna go talk about it and we'll be back. Thank you," she concluded as everyone clapped once again, "Good job, guys."

‧₊˚✩彡

The dancers were all in a big huddle in the centre of the studio as they peered through the window of the office to try and even catch a snippet of what the four were discussing.

"Michelle, Emily, Kate and Phoebe are talking about who's going to make the cut and it makes me nervous," Amanda confessed to the camera, "Because I'm wondering when they're going to come out and let us know."

Eldon held the same apprehensive expression, "I mean, this is like the final cut so everyone's kinda nervous."

"Obviously, I'm gonna tell people I'm confident," Max began, however, slouched slightly as she continued, "But, I feel the exact opposite. I mean, my turns could've been better, my legs could've extended more, my steps could've been more on-beat. It's just... it's hard to feel good when I keep second-guessing myself."

Stephanie seemed on the verge of a mental breakdown as she said, "A-Troupe is everything to me. If I don't make it back into A-Troupe, I don't know what else I'm going to do. I have my best friend in there who I know will vouch for me no matter what, and Miss Kate, and I know they have faith in me and even though I had a bad audition, that doesn't mean I'm a bad dancer."

"I think Emily sees that I'm more dedicated than Steph," Tiffany nodded, trying desperately to reassure herself.

With a grimace, Daniel told the camera, "Yes, I was injured but that was in the past. I think she sees me as some damaged, broken-winged bird or something and it's just really unfair."

"This is the final cut," James confirmed shakily, "So it's pretty nerve-wracking."

"I mean, if they don't call my name, then everything that I worked for would have been for nothing," Riley deadpanned.

Maxie took her place beside Eldon as Kate and the others emerged from the office, "It's official," Kate told the dancers, "We have our thirteen dancers for A-Troupe!" which made everyone clap, however, they still could not hold back the terrified looks on their faces.

Continuing, she brought up her clipboard to read from, "In A-Troupe we have..."

"Riley," once her name was said, everyone immediately applauded the girl, secretly wishing it was them all while she walked off to the side with a giant smile on her face.

"Hearing my name is a huge relief. I mean, I worked so hard to get here and knowing that I can go to Nationals is really awesome."

"Eldon," Kate then said, just before the blond immediately turned and hugged the person next to him, which was, unfortunately, poor Maxie. After having nearly squeezed the life out of his friend, he then walked over to where Riley was stood, trying to contain his smile at the cheers that followed.

"Knowing that I'm on the Nationals team makes me feel so much better. I'm so ready to get into this studio and just kill everything, every number."

"James," she continued, making the boy whoop and cheer as he swaggered over to where Eldon and his girlfriend were, putting an arm around the brunette once he did so.

"It feels so good to know that I get to go to Nationals. I am so stoked for this year. I cannot wait to work with this group of people and just kill Nationals."

"Maxie," she grinned just as the girl's face showed that of shock, excitement and confusion. Everyone applauded her as she dawdled over to where the other's were stood, not before West quickly pulled her in for a hug to congratulate her, however.

"I can't actually believe I made it onto the Nationals team. Round two, baby, here I come!"

"Giselle," Kate added whilst the girl made her way over to where her friends were stood, a shellshocked look on her face, mirroring the one on Maxie's, as the two girls embraced each other excitedly.

"West," she said as if it wasn't obvious he would make it. James, Max and Eldon all cheered for their friend. Maxie then pulled him in for a similar hug to congratulate the boy, much like the one he gave her.

"Hunter," she then announced, and at that, the applause wasn't as loud, for everyone was thinking the same thing that had haunted them since auditions started.

Their worries only became intensely heightened when the next name was called, "Thalia."

"When I hear Thalia's name being called it pretty much sinks in that not all original Regional members are going to Nationals."

"The only question is... how many cuts are there going to be?"

Kate then went on to read the remainder of the names on the sheet.

"Chloe."

"I just want to jump and scream and be excited. I can't even contain it. I'm just... I'm going to Nationals."

"Daniel."

"I'm very relieved that I made the cut. Uh, I'm so excited to go to Nationals."

"And last, but definitely not least..." Kate trailed off, looking accross at the hopeful faces, just knowing their hearts would be crushed at the news.

Stephanie had a look of desperation as she said, "When there's one name left to be called and I see that the only two names that haven't been called from A-Troupe last year are me and Tiffany, I'm really nervous."

"I definitely feel that I'm more dedicated because, I mean, she has so many things on her plate - she's acting, she's trying to be a triple threat, when I'm really trying to be a dancer," Tiffany said with what little confidence she had left in herself.

"Amanda," Kate smiled, yet not as brightly as before, whilst a light applause sounded from the others that didn't make it, as the new Nationals team welcomed the ex-Elite dancer cautiously.

Without missing a beat, Tiffany immediately jogged over to Kate, not caring if she was making a scene or not as she whisper-shouted, "Kate! Why... why did I not make the team?"

"Look, I know this is really hard but it's a part of auditioning, okay?" the woman tried to console her, however, her attempts ended with no avail, for tears began rolling down her face as she placed a hand on her forehead, "I'm sorry," she tried once more, but Tiffany was already halfway out of the studio.

Once the dust had settled slightly, Maxie turned to West with a smile that practically lit up the whole room, if you asked him anyway, as she commented, "I guess our practise did pay off then, huh?"

"Yeah," he smiled back at her, geniunely feeling elated that both he and Max made it onto the team, "And don't think I didn't spot that little hip-hop move you added in at the end."

"What can I say?" she asked, throwing her arms up in mock surrender, "I learn from the best."

With a chuckle, West responded, "So do I."

Maxie then headed over to one of the new dancers and greeted her, "Hey, I'm Maxie, it's so great to meet you."

"Thalia," she responded with a smile, "You went to Nationals a few years back, right?"

Maxie's eyes widened slightly as she replied, "Wh- How- How do you know that?"

"I have my ways," she smirked, giving a small wink befre the pair of them burst nto laughter at the gesture.

"Thalia seems like such a nice person," Maxie began with a nod, "And she's super talented, too. And as much as I'll miss Steph and Tiffany, I'm also really excited to have some new faces around here."

A/N

ew this chapter is so short but i decided to quickly update before revision catches up with me ig.

comment stuff you want to see or conversations/relationships you want maxie to have/form over this season and don't forget to vote!

have a great day/night/evening.

stay safe <33