There were so many changes going on during two-thousand ten, but moving into a new house was the biggest one, although it wasn't a personal experience.

After her divorce from Kurt, Melissa was finally moving in with her boyfriend, Greg, which meant that Mads and Kenz were going to live in a new place. Both of them were very excited, but when the time came to buy new furniture for the house ― courtesy of Greg ―, the younger Ziegler sister didn't seem that excited anymore. On the other hand, Maddie was ecstatic, and she was set on convincing her mom to buy the couches in a specific color-- If the prices weren't ridiculously high. Yes, my mom had offered to help Melissa, so Maddie and I convinced them to let us tag along.

It was now the third furniture store we entered after stopping at Taco Bell ― and it took us over an hour to be done because the employees were slower than turtles and Melissa really wanted to eat there ―, but we were still just as excited as the first one. The thing about furniture stores is that there are so many things to see, and if you're with someone else, it doesn't get boring. We could play hide and seek, I spy, or we could simply daydream of what we would want our bedrooms to look like.

Like we already knew what our mothers were looking for, we went ahead and did our own thing. This time, the first thing we wanted to check out was the couches ― Maddie really wanted creme-colored couches, for some reason ―, so we raced each other to the area.

Trying to not sound fatigued, I held my breath for a brief moment as I jumped to the gray chaise lounge ― basically a couch you can entirely lie on ― and laughed as Maddie was left the similarly-colored armchair to sit on. She stuck out her tongue as she sat down and I raised my right fist in celebration. "And I won again!"

"Yeah, yeah--" She looked directly at me with a grin. "But I'm winning next time!"

"Sure, Mads." I gave her a grin, clearly taunting her. "Now, aren't you gonna ask me how I'm doing?"

"Why?" I pointed down at the piece of furniture I was sitting on. "Oh." She sat up straight and laughed as I lay down entirely on the chaise lounge, still with the grin plastered on my face. "So, how did that make you feel?"

"I didn't even think of what I was doing-- but it was all done, right? I couldn't take back anything I said, but in a way, I didn't actually want to take it back."

I sat crossed-legged on the brown armchair, looking directly at Teagan, who was jotting down some notes on the sheet of paper that was clipped on the familiar white and turquoise checker-patterned clipboard. At any other time, I would have probably commented on it, and I did comment, but it fell flat. It didn't work because I didn't feel the way I would usually do.

I won last week. My solo was first place, beating Kenzie and JoJo, but I couldn't even bring myself to celebrate it.

"And what did you do after that?" Her brown eyes fell on me, and I couldn't help but sigh.

"I spent the rest of the night backstage, but I couldn't bring myself to sit down, so I paced back and forth," I explained, looking down at the floor, which was covered by a huge olive-colored rug. "The girls were also looking for me, and Kenzie was even crying. Something had happened that had scared her-- But I just assumed it had been everything in general. They told me that Holly forced them to get out of the room not long after I did, and no one really knew what happened after that. Nia did remember that the rest of the moms jumped into the argument to defend me, but Christy didn't do anything. She also said that Jill said something before Abby yelled at her to shut up, and she didn't say anything again. Again, that's according to her."

The cold air in the room made me feel goosebumps, and the clock on the wall ticked loudly, indicating that time hadn't actually stopped when the therapist hadn't spoken again. The brunette was staring down at the clipboard, scribbling something on the white paper. The night of October twenty-fifth was one I clearly wanted to forget, but I also knew it would be a long time until it happened. There were times I still couldn't forget what had happened on February fifteenth, two-thousand and fourteen. I wouldn't be forgetting about what happened on either of those dates for a very long time, and the mental scars they had caused proved it.

Bringing my left hand slightly to the back, I twirled a strand of my blonde hair around my index finger, pulling it softly to the front and starting to twirl it with some of my other fingers in that hand. The longer the woman took to finish taking notes, the more desperate I started to become. I also started to wonder what was taking her so long. It wasn't like she was writing the story of my life, right? I wasn't planning on writing an autobiography for a while.

The formerly mint-flavored gum that was in my mouth had lost its flavor a long time ago. It didn't have any flavor even when I entered the medium-sized room, but I didn't keep it because of the flavor. I kept it so there was something I could distract my nerves with. Chewing on it, I would focus my energy on the piece of gum instead of whatever else I had to deal with. When a question got too hard, I could simply bite on it harshly as I thought of a valid answer.

While waiting for the woman to finish, I attempted to make a bubble with the gum, but I failed. It quickly exploded with a pop sound and a hole appeared right in the middle of the now-hard white substance. Feeling slightly annoyed about it, I pulled it away from my lips into my mouth with my tongue and closed it afterward.

On my jean-covered lap, my two hands held each other. My right hand was squeezing my left, and the tips of the fingers of my left hand appeared narrowly red. The single silver ring I wore on my left hand's ring finger was now safely placed in my jeans' front right pocket. Ten minutes prior, I had been twisting it around up to the point where it fell on my lap, and I wasn't about to let it fall on the floor and let it get damaged. It was my grandparents' gift for my birthday, and I was going to take care of it.

As if all of my prayers had been answered, the thirty-five-year-old psychologist looked up from the clipboard, looking directly at me, and I indirectly swallowed a lump in my throat I didn't have any idea it was even there in the first place.

To sum up what occurred in the next twenty minutes, let me just say that I couldn't understand what I had been so nervous about. She clearly remembered that I couldn't leave the situation, but what she said instead kind of made me think. In my own words, she said that I needed to find a way to stop focusing on the teacher but focus on the show instead. If I actually made the ratings go up, they would have no choice but to treat me fairly. In a way, it was similar to what Taylor told me back in May. I didn't know how I was going to make the ratings go up, but I had to find a-- I think I've got an idea.

American Music Awards. Millions of people tune in to watch the popular awards ceremony annually, and it would be the perfect way to attract more viewers. After all, the only thing I will do at the ceremony is dance, which is exactly what the reality show is all about. If I get to attract people with my dancing abilities and make the numbers rise for the season premiere, I will be credited for it, achieving what Teagan just told me.

Now, I need to learn the choreography and perform it the best I can in less than a month. The only issue is that rehearsals start next week, so there isn't anything I can do for now but wait.

The last thing she told me before the appointment was over was something I knew I'd have to remember to do daily. It's a journal, and, if you know what a journal is about, I have to do that for an entire month. I did tell her that I'd wait until November started so I could do it throughout the month, and she didn't have any issues with that.

Things were looking up, but as soon as I remembered that the day was currently Tuesday, things looked down again.

The drive to the studio was filled with my younger sister's awkward attempts to sound serious, even if more than half of the words were mispronounced, but I also guessed I should cut her some slack. After all, she is only two and a half. As old as I was when I started dancing, at least.

Once we got to the place, I went to the bathroom to change out of my street clothes. I wore a turquoise ALDC sports bra, and the usual long, black leggings, and I attempted to braid my hair before giving up and tying my hair into a low ponytail instead. Not feeling satisfied with how I looked ― but also knowing that I couldn't waste any more time ―, I left the bathroom, meeting up with the girls in the den for less than a minute before we were called into the studio "A". Giving me a reassuring look, my best friend led the group into the room before her younger sister got in her way and entered the room first.

Starting off with filming, Abby asked Holly about Nia's grandfather's condition. He wasn't doing well, and both the mother and daughter were worried. After that, the teacher gave an update on the things that were going on around the studio Then, she started talking about last weekend, and honestly, I wanted to cry. "Girls, welcome back. This is the last week before your travel to Los Angeles. I don't know if all of you are ready. We need to redeem ourselves from last week-- Everything from last week. How do you expect to travel to Los Angeles, California, and be ready to audition if you've got an attitude and are second-place dancers?"

There was still an entire month until the AMAs and three months until the new season premiered. There was no way I would be able to handle being treated like this until then. It sucked to say, but maybe I should give a little bit of the fight up. At least until they notice the increase in viewers. For that, well, I'll have to deal with that later on, but I had to make it work.

I would also have to swallow my pride for that.

Snapping back to reality, Holly was talking, indirectly interrupting Abby― who was still ranting about everything. "Abby, just going back for a second, with all of these things going on--" She counted with the fingers of her left hand, pointing at them with her right. "With opening up a new studio, you know, seeing kids for auditions-- Don't you think that's going to take away from time-- For training our girls, getting them ready for competition, giving them the classes they need--"

"That's true." Mom piped up. "You could barely handle two teams when the select team was around. How do you think you can handle two studios on opposite sides of the country--"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Abby interrupted both mothers, looking annoyed at their lack of trust. "I can do it all. I can-- Fry it up in a pan--" She pretended to be shaking a pan with her right hand. "I can bring on the bacon-- I can do it all." She clapped her hands together.

Past experiences would indicate otherwise.

Still, the two women continued to express their concerns, and even though it was good, I would like to express my own concern: stop talking. Really. Stop talking. This pyramid thing already takes forever; we don't have to add even more stuff on top of it.

My legs were about to give out when Abby finally got the overly amazing idea to start revealing the pyramid, and when she did, I kind of wished she would cover it again and walk out of the room. "Genevieve. You performed the wrong choreography for your solo-- And even if you won with it, it wasn't my choreography--"

Here we go. "I wanted to apologize for what happened at the competition," I spoke up and everyone and I mean everyone ― including the cameras and crew people ― looked at me. "I shouldn't have acted that way, and I can assure you that it won't happen again."

Abby clicked her tongue. "Nice to know you can speak."

This was going to take a while.

Mackenzie

JoJo   Alexis   Maddie

Kalani    Kendall   Nia   Genevieve

"This week, we are traveling to Woodbridge, Virginia. We are attending World Class Talent." Abby announced. "All right, my first solo-- Is going to Kendall, and it's called "Clueless"." Dances to describe the dancers, I see. "The next solo is going to-- Maddie. The name of the piece-- It's called "She's History"." I mean, if the shoe fits, right?" "And, the last solo goes to JoJo, and you're doing a routine called "Fashion Victim". This is her last hurrah. It's make it or break it."

After the group rehearsal, I knew I had to take the first step-- It's probably the second step by now, though, but I needed to defuse things. Even if she didn't want to hear it, I needed to say it for my own sake.

JoJo had left studio "A" after learning her solo and going over it twice, and I decided to sneak in before Maddie went in to rehearse. I knew that whatever would happen once I was in that room alone with the teacher, I needed some proof to defend myself with. That is how I ended up deciding to record the audio with my phone yet again, just as I did with Collins.

I slid on my white team jacket and placed the phone in its right pocket. Hoping that nothing bad would happen, I took a deep breath and pushed the door open, stepping into the room and entering. Looking up from the black floor, I noticed the teacher sitting on the usual prop, watching something on her phone.

I cleared my throat and she looked up. "I-- need to talk to you." When she didn't say anything, I continued. "Look, I said I'm sorry about last week, and I mean it--"

Was being a liar part of the plan?

"But I figured something out that has to do with both of us." All right, that got her attention. "I still have two more seasons, and we both know we can't spend the next two years fighting left and right. So then I thought that maybe we could tone it down a bit. You don't have to like me-- And I get it, and I don't have to like you either. The only thing we have to do is tolerate each other-- I'm not asking for everything to go back to the way that it was-- Because it's not what I want. I just want everything to be calm for once, and wouldn't it be better if the fights were limited to the moms instead? After all, people watch the show for their fights, and they don't really like it when the girls fight."

I didn't think I was that serious when I said I'd have to swallow my pride.

"It's good to know you can own up to your mistakes." I needed extra patience with each comment that would come out of her mouth. "And I don't have any time for some life-changing thing, but just don't change my choreography again--"

I decided to grin, for some reason. "I won't. I know I'm not the choreographer. You're the teacher."

"All right--" She looked at her phone again. "Can you tell Maddie to come in now?"

"Sure." I was about to turn around when I abruptly stopped and looked at the woman over my right shoulder. "Is that a yes, then?" She didn't say anything, but she didn't glare at me either. "I'll take that as a yes."

With that, I left the room and walked back into the den, the grin now disappearing. "Mads, Abby's gonna start with your solo now."

The girl looked up at me from her spot between Lexi and Kenzie. "Where were you?"

"Doing some stuff I needed to get out of the way." I briefly stated, scurrying over to my dance bag and zipping it open.

It wasn't like I was lying. I did need to get that out of the way, and it's not that I feel any less uneasy about everything, but it's good to know that I was able to do something this week other than waiting.

It wasn't like I was forgiving the woman about all the things she did to me, but I hoped that I'd be able to hold it all off until January. There were only three months left until that.

Once the girl left to start learning her routine, I got into some of the other dancers' conversations. The topic was Halloween, which was on Friday, and they were talking about their costumes. In all honesty, I hadn't even thought about Halloween. Ironically, it was my favorite holiday a few years prior. Up to two thousand and ten, I would dress up every single year. For that specific year, I dressed up as Princess Aurora, and it wasn't that I wanted to, but we didn't have enough time to go shopping, and we ended up doing it way too late. I was also not about to dress up as Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks, which was Zane's ― not so ― magnificent suggestion.

I didn't know what I was going to do this year, and I was planning on staying in instead before Lexi spoke. "We should all go out together, right?" And most of the girls agreed.

Many pairs of eyes fell on me, and I tried to not look awkward as Nia spoke. "You're also coming with us--"

"No buts!" Kalani exclaimed and I grimaced. "We're all going together--"

"I don't have a costume." I pointed out, somehow hoping it would save me from everything. I was already picturing the empty couch and the movies on the TV.

"We'll go out shopping on Thursday." The Price teenager insisted. "There's probably a few good costumes left, or you could use one of Giselle's."

I've already done that before. The Princess Aurora costume was Giselle's from when she was seven. The Theodore costume didn't sound that bad anymore. I would simply need to steal a green t-shirt from my parents' closet and figure out how to put a "T" on it. Then again, I don't really want to be a chipmunk.

I really forgot all about Halloween, huh?

It was set. We had Thursday off ― for some reason ―, so Lexi, Kenzie, and I would go costume shopping. Maddie would also be tagging along, but at the time we made the plans, she didn't even know they existed in the first place.

On Wednesday, we were all warming up in the den, mentally preparing for the draining day of filming we had ahead of us. Kendall, Nia, and JoJo were stretching on the floor, right in front of the bench Maddie, Kalani, and I sat at. Lexi was away in one of the bathrooms and Kenzie was in a tap class with some of the other juniors.

"But it was just a one-time thing," Nia explained something to the Siwa girl. "Sarah didn't sign a contract, so she can't appear on the show, and no one really wants to deal with Christy daily."

"It's just weird." Using the bench for support, JoJo stood up from the floor. "I know Sarah dances with you guys, but I didn't think she was gonna dance with us in the group routine."

"We didn't know either." Kalani scrolled through her phone, not looking up. "G was supposed to be the one to perform, but then Abby got mad at her--"

"And why did she get mad?" The blonde questioned again. "I mean, she changed the routine, but she was mentioning something about-- What was it?"

"The week before that." Nia pointed out and the girl nodded.

"I competed against Maddie and Kalani two weeks ago, but Abby gave me a bad routine." I started fidgeting with the silver ring again. "She was trying to get back at me for something that happened back in July when we were filming the season finale-- But she kept on doing it, and I was already embarrassed from the first routine-- I didn't want to do it again."

"I suggested that she changed the routine if she felt uncomfortable with it." Kalani continued, looking at herself with her phone's camera. "But Abby got really mad about