TW:

"Girls, next week, the new team arrives. It's gonna be a tough week." Miss Abby started off. "You all know that Mackenzie is shooting her very first video, for "It's A Girl Party". We shot all day today, and we have a big night ahead of us." She turned to look at the pyramid. "Now, this is a rough pyramid 'cause I have to get tough." And she revealed the bottom headshot. "Nia. You weren't in the group routine. When the routine first started, the one struggling with the movements was Nia. This is a wake-up call." She looked at all of us. "Every single one of you, you may not always automatically be in the group."

Yeah, Nia wasn't in the group, but she had a solo and at least placed. It wasn't a first-place win, but she was third at the very least.

The teacher continued. "Kendall. You were second." The girl nodded in response and the older woman sighed dramatically. "You know how I feel about second." Miss Abby revealed the next headshot. "Giselle. You were keeping up quite well until the end. There-- well, you know what I'm talking about." My older sister nodded. "Kalani, I'm still seeing technical issues. I want you to work your way back up to that top of the pyramid. Understand?"

Just like the last two girls, the thirteen-year-old nodded in response to the teacher's comments.

"Mackenzie. You had to work on all your music while you were learning that routine, and you did it. You went out there, and you looked great. According to--" She looked at the mothers. "My people." She turned back to us and revealed the next headshot. "Evie. You were gorgeous in the group. At least according to them." She pointed at the mothers with the headshot coverings.

Maddie

Chloe   Genevieve   Mackenzie

Kalani   Giselle    Kendall    Nia

"This week, we are going to Masters of Dance Arts in Buffalo, New York." Miss Abby announced. "Before I give out assignments, I want to let you know that this entire week is going to be all about my mom. The best dance mom in the whole world." Some of the girls nodded. "Maddie, you're doing a solo. It's called "Come to the Cabaret". It's a musical theater piece. So, my mom has a really close tie with the people involved in cabaret. You cannot go out on that stage and be anything less than stellar. Got it?"

The eldest Ziegler sister seemingly agreed with the woman. "Yes."

"The next solo is going to Chloe. Chloe, you are doing a solo about the '50s, and it's called "Friday Night"." The teacher told the girl. "My last solo is going to Evie. Your solo is a lyrical piece entitled "Dancing In The Sky" because we all know my mom loves to dance, and I know that it's the first thing she's going to do once she is free from the pain."

That's a really deep and sad way to see it.

"And our group routine is "Amazing Grace". Everybody is in--" She pointed at us with the headshot coverings, soon stopping on the youngest dancer. "--Except you, Mackenzie. You have a lot on your plate. Now, Maddie did a solo to "Amazing Grace" at nationals. You are now going to rework this routine into a group performance. Okay?" Melissa clapped in excitement. "So it's lyrical, it's pretty. Nia, you're in it, I guess. Yes? We'll see. Everybody--" All the attention went back to her. "This has to be flawless."

Just like every week.

"All right, now listen: we have a busy, busy schedule." She continued talking. "What's gonna happen is-- Mackenzie, you're gonna join me and we're gonna head out to the next site for the shoot. Chloe, you are not cast in the slumber party scene in the video that we're doing. You're gonna stay here and work with James on your solo. Okay, the rest of you can go ahead and step out, but I want you to stay warm. All right-- you guys--"

"Abby, are you-- are you taking on too much, with your mom?" Holly interrupted the teacher. "Do you think? Because I--"

"--Yes." Miss Abby answered. "But--"

"--Maybe is this just your way of coping." Holly continued talking, ignoring the teacher's attempts to speak. "By doing--"

"Right." She was quick to agree. "I-I need to-- I-I-- it is. I'm gonna submerge myself in my work--"

And the work started soon. Everyone ― except for Chloe ― left to start rehearsing for the slumber party scene for Mackenzie's music video, so we started at around two in the afternoon. We got a couple of short breaks, but the first big break came around six-thirty at night. We all went to the kitchen in the Ziegler's house to eat and simply calm down. This time around, I was able to say something and comment on a few things, and I could tell the girls looked happy about it, but I decided to ignore it.

Meanwhile, the "Dance Moms" sat in the living room, filming another scene for the show. We were also being filmed, but who knew how many of these scenes would end up in the final cut. From what I could hear, the moms were talking about the pyramid, but I didn't understand what exactly they were talking about.

While Madison and Nia kept on arguing about what bow Maliboo should wear today, I stirred a white plastic spoon in a plastic cup halfway filled with fruit punch. If that wasn't the definition of boredom, I didn't know what it was. I considered joining their argument a couple of times, but each time I ran it through my mind it ended with an argument, so I couldn't risk it.

We were soon back in Mackenzie's bedroom to finally film the scene, but after filming it one time, we were interrupted by arguing that came from downstairs. Miss Abby was the first one to leave the room, followed by two assistants, and then we left, interested in knowing what the commotion was about.

The names "Sarah" and "Mackenzie" were the first things I heard as I walked up to the staircase and looked down to the living room with Giselle and Brooke Kosinski.

"Then I have a question for you!" Christy Hunt ― Sarah's overly protecting mother ― yelled as she looked up at the dance teacher, who looked down at the grown women arguing with a grin possibly because she hadn't been the one to cause an argument for once.

"Yes."

"Our kids do not get you," Christy told her. "Abby, we need you more!"

Miss Abby nodded eagerly, clearly amused by the situation and the position she was in at the moment. "I know."

"My Sarah needs you more!" Christy continued, looking as if she was begging.

While the other mothers ― Holly and Jill between them ― argued in the background and Christy begged for lord and savior Abby to do something, I turned to look at Sarah, who looked overly mortified by her mother's actions.

"But Abby, Sarah has the ability to be your next Evie." I furrowed my eyebrows at the comment.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one. "Oh!" Kira's head snapped in Christy's direction. "Did you really just say that?!" She then laughed. "Please! You need your eyes checked then."

"No." Christy denied.

"Yes." Kira nodded. "You do."

Nicole: Christy Hunt never knows when to shut up. Yes, little Sarah has the potential, but it's not necessary to drag other kids into the argument. It's not necessary to drag my daughter into it, and I'm not going to stay quiet.

And then the argument began between my mother and Christy with the rest of the "Dance Moms" jumping in soon. It was now my turn to feel mortified, but the situation was still kind of amusing. It definitely was when I was watching it from a distance.

"You know what!?" Melissa stood up from the brown couch. "Get your shoes on and leave my house!"

"Get out!" Jill agreed.

"You guys are delusional." Christy kept on arguing.

And the background argument ― this time between my mother, Kira, and two other mothers ― continued as the "main" argument ― this time consisting of Melissa, Christy, and Jill ― was the one everyone was focused on.

And as usual, it ended with a threat to call the cops on Christy and the Hunts leaving. Everyone then attempted to go back and pretended as if nothing had happened, but the damage was already past done.

The next day, the main focus was the solos. Madison and Chloe were performing solos in the musical theater style, but I would be performing a solo in the lyrical style. The song was sweet, but also extremely sad-- maybe the word is bittersweet. It was a pretty routine, and I thought it was worthy of a tribute.

The day after that, Miss Abby wasn't in the studio. It was one day until the competition and the pressure was extreme. We finally got to try on our costumes, and mine was pretty. It was a soft orange, which represented the sunrise. As if it was to "begin again", and with what the dance is about and how important it is, it was perfect.

After going over the dance for nearly the tenth time in a row, I was dismissed and Chloe was called in. I walked through the front desk area to go into the dancer's den when I noticed an open laptop with the screen on. Curious, I redirected my focus to it and walked behind the desk, sitting down on one of the empty black office chairs.

It was on its home screen with a yellow, orange, and green background that looked like one every laptop has. The typical programs ― Word, PowerPoint, Excel ― were all pinned on the taskbar, but there was a program that was open and blinking in a light blue color. Placing my right hand's index finger on the black touchpad, I dragged the small white cursor to the taskbar, up to the program, and tapped on it.

The program's name was Stagelight and it had a lot of black in its background. It also had a lot of lines with colors-- that looked pretty weird.

On its top ― right next to the program's name ― was a green bar with multiple shapes, such as a red circle, two bars standing one right next to the other in a light green color, and a white square. In the middle of each line with colors, there were different shapes colored white. On the left side ― right next to each colored line ― there was a microphone symbol with a name in small letters on top of it. There were about six of them, but the one on the top had a small tape symbol, which is also commonly used to represent a video.

Some of the colored lines were cut in half, starting later than others and being really short. Some were longer, but the one on the top ― the one with the video symbol ― was the longest, but it was cut a couple of times in the middle of it, right where the others started and stopped. Getting confused by the one on the top and the way it stood out from the rest, I decided to read its title, only to feel like I had lost my breath because of it.

"G. Turner voicemail 121612"

I immediately hovered the cursor and pressed on the two light green bars ― pause button ― twice and then it started running.

"Hey." My voice said in a whisper. "I know it's late and you're probably sleeping by now, but I wanted to tell you that I won't be going home for Christmas. There's another project that I have to work with and I'll be busy with it for the next few weeks--"

The bar on top was cut and the one right under it started playing.

"G. Turner interview 041712 S2E14"

"I don't get why--"

That one was cut and the one underneath it started playing.

"G. Turner interview 051711 S1E4"

"--the moms--"

The next one started playing and I couldn't stop staring at the laptop.

"Abby and Holly fight 052412 S2E20"

"--say time and time again that I don't deserve--"

Next one, but it was from the same day.

"--the opportunities--"

The next one started playing and I found myself getting the pieces to the neverending puzzle.

"G. Turner interview 072811 S1E12"

"--I think I--"

It went back to one of the bars on the top.

"G. Turner interview 051711 S1E4"

"--deserve--"

I couldn't bring myself to continue checking the audio titles; it was obvious.

Someone had edited and made me look bad on purpose.

"--it and the other girls don't, but I didn't want the rest of the girls to feel bad. I beat them and won-- See ya."

Wait a minute. I recognize that final part.

And it was exactly what I thought it was:

"G. Turner defending P. Hyland from Candy Apples 051112 S2E18"

Someone edited the voicemail to make me look bad and turn everyone against me. The only thing I did was to send a voicemail to my sister and it ended up like this-- how did they end up with the voicemail? I don't think Giselle would willingly give it to any of the producers without listening to it first-- or at all.

This edited voicemail was what turned everyone against me and I hadn't been able to get my hands on it. Everyone else in the world listened to it and hated me while I didn't even know about its existence, and that's why none of the girls had the voicemail in the first place.

It was some dirty producer work.

And if this one was fake, what guaranteed that any of the other audios they've used are real?

"Genevieve!" I heard Gianna's voice call and I quickly pressed the X to close the program.

I hurriedly stood up from the chair and went back to studio "A", starting to rehearse the group dance with the girls once again, but my mind was somewhere else.

Did they know it was edited?

Did anyone?

Soon, Miss Abby showed up while we rehearsed, and she was quick to start correcting. However, she looked really upset, and it was obvious as to why. "Okay, girls, I just want to tell you that we don't know what's gonna happen in the next week, okey-doke?"

We all walked up to her and she cleared her throat.

"My life will change significantly." She continued talking. "You never know how long you have on this Earth. You have no idea, okay? So make the most of every moment. Don't waste a second."

And the dreaded competition day arrived. I hoped my solo could do Mrs. Miller justice, but for that, I needed to win. I needed to beat Madison and Chloe, but I didn't know how. We all started getting ready in the dressing room and the mothers started talking as usual with Gianna.

"Do we know who's here--" Jill questioned as she organized all of her and Kendall's belongings. "Larkin's here for sure?"

"We know Larkin's here," Christina commented.

Studio Larkin is a really good studio, but I ― personally ― haven't gone up against them many times. The others, however, have done that and lost most of those times, if not all. Juliana Friedman ― the girl Madison and I had to pretend to know and go up against back in season one ― was a member of that studio, and according to the program, she was in the studio's group dance "Tears of an Angel". According to the mothers, they had already beat the ALDC with that same dance back in season three when I wasn't there.

I could be the team's lucky charm or the piece that ends up breaking it.

After I was done with both my hair and my makeup, I changed into my solo costume and started stretching as the moms kept on complaining about one of the many studios we were going up against. Gianna then took all four soloists out to the hallway to go over our dances full-out.

Mackenzie was performing a solo that wouldn't be shown on the show, so it was never talked about on the show as far as I know. Madison, Chloe, and I are all going up against one another for the coveted first-place award.

And this was a performance for Mrs. Miller, so it had to be perfect.

But from the hallway, we could hear the argument going on inside the room. Christina accused Madison of telling Chloe that she wasn't a very good dancer after she and Kalani walked into her room last night for some reason, but my name had to show up because what's an argument without me in it?

The Evie & Maddie & Kalani show, Christina said. Everyone's mean to my daughter, she said.

Everyone talks crap about me all the time and I can't say anything because then I'm a brat. I'm criticized for every single thing I do but I can't complain about it. And Christina is so jealous of Madison, Kalani, and me that she's probably at the point where she's going to make up lies about us to see if something happens.

I don't even know what happened last night because I decided to go to bed early because apparently "bus lag" exists, but the accusation was ridiculous.

But I definitely wasn't the only one who had heard the argument because all four of us were quiet as we walked backstage. Mackenzie performed first and she did really well.

"All right, up next in the junior solo division, we have entry number eighteen." The announcer said. "This is Maddie with "Come to the Cabaret"."

And she was also really good. I'd normally get nervous, but for some reason, I didn't. It wasn't bad that I couldn't, though.

"All right, up next in the junior solo division, we have entry number twenty." The announcer continued. "This is Chloe with "Friday Night".

Chloe always did best with musical theater, and this time wasn't the exception. However, her dance was the bittersweet reminder that Paige was out of our lives for good.

"Next up in the junior solo division, we have entry number twenty-one." I stood on the left wing. "This is Genevieve with "Dancing in the Sky"."

Everyone cheered as I walked out to the stage and got into my starting position.

Tell me, what does it look like in heaven?

Is it peaceful? Is it free like they say?

Does the sun shine bright forever?

Have your fears and your pain gone away?

"Something that keeps on turning. Like a spinning top."

'Cause here on earth, it feels like everything good is missing since you left

And here on earth, everything's different

There's an emptiness

Oh-oh, I

I hope you're dancing in the sky

And I hope you're singing in the angels' choir

And I hope the angels know what they have

I'll bet it's so nice up in heaven since you've arrived

So tell me, what do you do up in