{EDITED}

Maddison Brooks

The music was beating through the speakers making the walls vibrate. The white walls were covered with mirrors so I could almost see myself in every direction as I moved over the floor.

"Come on Maddison!" Cameron yelled at me, his sharp voice loud over the music.

He stood and watched my every move as I danced in the middle of the floor. I didn't complain, I needed to be at the top even if the way up there would lead my body into constant pain.

The dance awards were nothing to play with. People from all around the world came to watch all the dancers that had gotten there with all possible training they could manage. I had succeeded to be there every year since I was ten years old, I'm seventeen now and I have never missed  the dance awards even if I wanted to crawl into my bed because my body was in pointless pain. Even if I broke a toe during warm up, I never missed it because of the opportunities that could follow if you got in the top fifteen.

No type of pain could stop me from doing my best when the world was watching me.

My body ached after the two hours of pushing my body to maximum and perfection even if there were many weeks of practice left before the yearly competition and my middle year in senior, my last competition with Cameron by my side.

Laying flat on the dark floor as the music stopped and Cameron showed up in front of me with his hands on his hips. His dark brown hair was done in perfection as he just looked at me for a second before reaching out his hand for me to take which I didn't take, the cold floor feeling way too comfortable at the moment.

"Come on Maddison, you need to stretch to not become stiff tomorrow." Cameron laughed out loud when I didn't make any movement to stand up from the cold floor that sank my body temperature after the heavy exercise.

"Two hours," pointing two fingers up in the air. "Have you been trying to kill me, give me a break." I panted.

I looked down on my sweaty body. My knees were filled with red marks from sliding around on the floor but it didn't bother me more than a little stinging pain that I have grown used to as long as I got something out because of the pain.

It felt like my head was spinning while I took deep breaths to slow down my pulse to normal.

Feeling how Cameron stared at me. His eyes were trying to find some flaw that needed fixing while we still had time, no matter if it was a tense muscle that needed to be stretched or if it was some weak muscle that needed to become stronger. "Are you just gonna stand there or can you bring me my bottle of water? I'm literally dying here." I joked while sitting up and dragging my body to the closest wall to lean on something.

"I stand pretty good here you know?" Cameron crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ha-Ha-Ha- hilarious!" I said sarcastically to him as he thankfully started walking against the other side of the dance studio to get my bottle of water.

Cameron has been standing as my dance instructor for a few years. Putting pressure from the second I told him what I wanted to do with dance, I wanted to win.

I'm thankful for the days he made me work until I almost passed out; like today, just for me to reach a win eventually.

"Earth back to Maddison." Cameron waving the plastic bottle in front of my face.

Grabbing the bottle from his grasp and taking a sip after opening the lid. Putting pressure on the middle of the bottle; making water pour over my face and down my damp body to land on the floor. "Come on, now you have to dry it up!" Cameron groaned, clearly annoyed by my actions.

"It's just a little water, it will dry within minutes in this heat." Rolling my eyes while pushing up on my feet and walking over the dance floor to the bench where my bottle with water was standing before. Turning the screen up on my phone to see two text messages from my boyfriend.

Trevor: I'm waiting.
Trevor: Hurry up I have something more important to do!

"Shit.." I cursed under my breath. Grabbing my keys from the bench and putting on my white crocs that I have grown attached to.

I'm gonna have them on me the day I get married in the future.

"What? is everything alright?" Cameron asked, concerned while he placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned off the screen before he could see mine and Trevor's pointless conversations.

"Yeah, gotta go. Bye!" I stressed out through the door before he could say goodbye.

Walking down the short corridor, not even saying goodbye to the hopeless receptionist, all she did was scroll through her phone and not pick up the calls for classes and schedule unless Cameron was nearby.

The warm air pushed against me as I opened the door out. Shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand to look for Trevor's silver Mercedes in the almost empty parking lot.

Walking over the parking lot until I reached my boyfriend's car. Opening the door quickly so the chilly air from the air conditioning wouldn't slip out.

Trevor sat on the driver seat, pressing his foot on the accelerator the second I closed the door. Hurrying on the seatbelt while he speeded out of the parking lot in case he crashes his car again. 

His ice blue eyes were fixed on the street in front of us as we made our way through Marlton.

The small town I have grown up in. The modern houses on the outside with the older and smaller houses were around the main square.

"You were slow, be happy that I didn't drive away without you." Trevor muttered without even giving me a glance. His voice was deep and filled with annoyance. "And you stink." He filled up with.

No shit Sherlock.

Two hours without air conditioning and pushing myself to the maximum just to become perfect will make me stink.

"Well that's what you get in a two hour practice with no air conditioning and just being able to open windows that didn't help a shit." I mumbled under my breath knowing that anything could piss him off on a bad day.

"You should take a shower." Trevor kept talking almost as I hadn't noticed it myself. "And what did you do with that Doyle guy anyway?" His eyes never left the street in front of us.

It took me a second before I realized who he was talking about; Cameron, because I only hear his last name on competitions and shows.

"We had sex.." I said under my breath as a joke. He actually looked over at me for the first time since he picked me up a few minutes ago, his eyes filled with rage and coldness; not the warmth they spread through my body in the beginning of our relationship.
"Of course we didn't have sex, what the hell where you thinking?! He's twenty five! We had dance practice." I said in defense when it looked like he was going to slam his foot on the break and turn the car around or throw me out from the car window.

His eyes went back to the empty road that only was filled with a couple of cars that were parked to the side.

Trevor drove up to the driveway, his head never turning around to look at me as I closed the door and let him speed away without a word.

Walking up to the house I call my home. Big windows showing me that no one watched me as I walked up to the front door.

The smell of someone cooking food filled my senses as I took off my crocs and left them by the door before I made my way through the living rooms withe walls. Only a few paintings were hung on the walls and colorful pillows on the big couch in front of the closed TV.

Loud voices from the kitchen echoed through the house, picking up my attention because it wasn't only my parents voices that sounded even if we should be the only one home unless I had missed something. My brother could be at college in Boston and we almost never have guests over when it's only me, mom and dad home.

Continuing walking against the kitchen, the many voices getting louder and louder through every step I took against the hardwood floor.

Four people stood in the kitchen and laughed as I let them come into sight before they could see me if it was any important people that would not accept my sweaty smell and training clothes.

Mom stood and sipped on some red wine while cooking some type of dish I couldn't see from around the corner while dad stood next to her and drank his beer, from time to time speaking to my brother that apparently was home without telling me.

Traitor, I should've known so I could mess up his room.

Walking into the kitchen after seeing my brother; Max just stood in a normal T-shirt and some jeans even if there was another person behind him that I couldn't see clearly enough to know if it was an important human or not.

Opening the fridge; the cold air working as an air conditioner while I took another bottle of water to drink after placing the other one on the marble counter to be filled up with new water and stand in the fridge for a few hours to be good enough for me to drink without the feeling of needing to vomit.

"Though something smelled like shit but I guess it was just Mads." Max said just as I had pushed every single drop of water down my throat. Why did I drink it all, I should have saved it and tip it over his head.

Stupid of me to think my big brother could be nice for once.

I turned against my brother that still stood almost safe on the other side of my mom.

His blonde messy hair covered his forehead, clear blue eyes sparkled with playfulness. One of his hands was covering his nose, how dramatic. I don't smell that bad.

From this angle I could see the person behind my brother. His dark brown hair was almost in the same shade as his eyes. A tight black T-shirt that made his biceps look huge or it was just how they looked when the man crossed his arms over his chest; also making the veins on his forearms bulge out of his  already sun kissed skin.

It felt like I recognized him from somewhere but I can't set a finger on where I could have seen him before since I haven't left this town since the latest dance awards; last year, when it was in Washington. Since then I have been here and worked for this year to be there, the last competition with Cameron before I will go on for college.

The male scanned his eyes over my body, leaving a fire inside my body from everywhere his eyes looked.

"Well Cameron decided to kill me.." Telling my family and the other guy why I stink when I remembered Max saying something about it earlier.

"I can smell that." Max grinned. Before he could even react the bottle flew against his head, mom was fast enough to move herself from getting hit.

As our mother she must of predicted the move but my dumb ass brother was to slow.

With full power the bottle hit his head leaving a loud bong once it smacked into his forehead and fell to the floor by his feet. "What was that for?!" My brother said with a hand on his forehead.

"Full shot!" I shrieked, the guy let out a deep, barely hearable chuckle. Mom just looked between me and her son with disapproving eyes before putting her attention on the dish she was cooking. Dad just shook his head, not wanting to go into an argument.

"Charles got home from Italy yesterday and decided to show up. And if its ok for you he would like to come and celibate your graduation tomorrow with us, just to hang out like old times." Max said, breaking the silence that fell over the room.

Fuck me dead.

No way that is Charles. I haven't seen him in years, I can admit that and I didn't have any reason to see how he looked over the years but this is not him.

Charles is a kid, a few years ago.

Charles and Max have been friends for as long I can remember. Also as far as I can remember, Charles has acted like a dickhead around me even when I didn't do anything that could bother him. And now he is back.

Someone pinch me to see if I'm having the worst type of nightmare.

"God I haven't missed him a bit." I announced loud enough for him to hear. He just let out an embarrassing hot smirk before sticking his tongue out against me.

That bastard.

"Why do you wanna go to my graduation? Don't you have girls to hook up with?" The whole room went silent. This family seriously doesn't know how to take a joke right, they take everything too seriously.

"What are you jealous little Mads?" Charles said, mocking me. He definitely forgot that everyone in my family is having full focus on us now, not that it mattered. I would never be jealous of that arse.

"You wish." I stuck my tongue out to him before I continued. "Different from you I actually have someone good to take care of me, even that. So I think I'm fine."

Before turning around to leave I catched Charles looking over to my brother with a serious expression, Max just shrugged; probably not wanting any part of Charles and mine pointless arguments.

My room was right in front of me when I came up from the stairs. Directly crawling over my bed to open the window to let some air into my room. White walls covered with pictures of my closest friends and my boyfriend.