Remember when last year I said that I wanted to rip the poster off? Well, this year I want to rip my head off.

I don't wanna attend.

I don't wanna dance.

And I don't want any more dirty glances from students in the studio.

My space between Maddie and Chloe was still apparently unavailable, so today I stood next to Asia, who greeted me with a hug.

At least someone looks happy about seeing me.

Today, Abby didn't say much before starting with the pyramid. The first one at the bottom was Paige, followed by Brooke, Giselle, Kendall, and Nia.

She revealed the last headshot of the middle row. "Asia, you were not here last week to perform, because you were rehearsing for a charity event,"

"Yes." The girl agreed.

"I think it's wonderful for you to do charity events, however, charity begins at home, and this is now your home." Abby continued.

Asia nodded in response when Jill interrupted. "Really? Asia shouldn't be higher than any of the kids who performed in the group dance."

Oh boy, here we go again. Jealous mothers 2.0.

"Why does she get a spot above all these kids who were here over the break, every day that they could be, and performed for you." Jill continued arguing, seemingly with herself. "That makes no sense."

"And she was training with a- with another teacher." Kelly joined Jill in the madness. "She was--"

"She was doing an event--" Kristie jumped in to defend her daughter.

Then the two started to talk over each other. For the first time in forever, I shared a look with someone. Asia and I shared a shocked look before turning back to look at the squabbling mothers. It wasn't even Kelly's fight, however, she was more than ready to go down with the ship while Jill jumped into the last lifeboat available.

Kristie scoffed. "Let me get this straight. Let me get this straight. My daughter, whether she's here, whether she's in a different country, she's gonna train with choreogra--"

And Kelly interrupted her again. "Okay, so she shouldn't be a part of our team. I would like taking my kids to train somewhere else."

Abby's head snapped back to us in shock as Kristie got even more annoyed with the Hyland mother. "Then go take them to a choreographer instead of doing--"

Jill turned over to Kristie, pretending as if she didn't start the argument. "You don't understand, we're not allowed."

"We're not allowed." Kelly and Jill said in unison as Kristie continued rambling.

Asia was shocked, but not bothered at all. She started making gestures, obviously making fun of the mothers as they continued arguing. Maddie and Kenzie chuckled at her actions while I smiled while shaking my head. By some miracle, the three of them finally shut up, not before Kristie had the last word.

Abby moved on from the argument. "Chloe, you were challenged with hip-hop. You were fourth overall high score, but you need to put more effort in. You need to be the best you can be, and I don't see that." Chloe nodded as she grimaced. "Maddie. I thought your solo was outstanding, and I was glad to see you tapping again, but you still got third." Abby revealed the next headshot. "Mackenzie. You had a clean win. You went out on stage and did what you were supposed to do." Kenzie beamed proudly. "And on top of the pyramid is, once again, Evie."

She revealed my headshot and Asia hugged me while I heard someone clap. I turned to the source of the clapping, and it was Kristie. Of course, the two who weren't here last week are the ones who support me. Wish they would've got here sooner. Mom also clapped, of course, but let's say that it was a little expected. The silence from everyone else was also expected.

"You went out there and proved to everyone what you could do. You did what no one else had done: singing and dancing at the same time." Abby explained. "You beat Maddie and Chloe and were first place overall. Now, remember, it's tough getting to the top, but it's even tougher staying there. But in your case, you've already been on the top twice in the two weeks you've been back."

Genevieve

Mackenzie    Maddie    Chloe   Asia

Nia   Kendall   Giselle   Brooke   Paige

"This week, we are not traveling anywhere. We will be performing at the annual dance concert. Now, this is a rough week for all involved. You're gonna have quick changes. You're gonna have numbers back to back. You're used to lounging around all day and getting up there for one number. Well, that ain't it-- that ain't it." Abby announced. "Let's get to the assignments. Everybody will be doing a solo, however, most of you will be doing old solos. Paige, you have a new solo, so the pressure is on." Paige nodded. "Brooke, I am giving you an amazing opportunity. You are going to sing your big hit song, "Summer Love Song" live. The group routine is called "Sugar Babies". I need you to hit it hard. Just in case we don't have enough work to do, the week of our big show, we're gonna throw in a photoshoot. You are doing an editorial campaign for the magazine Dance Track. This is the first time that Dance Track magazine had interviewed kids, and one is going to be chosen for the cover of the magazine."

I am not liking the sound of this.

The group dance was based on a Broadway show, so guess who was front and center again?

After a million rehearsals and lots of whispers, I collapsed on top of one of the benches in the dancer's den. The room was entirely empty, and I hoped it would stay that way. I was sick of people pointing and whispering.

Something big had happened and I hadn't been told of it.

"Hey." Someone said rather harshly.

I sat up on the bench, noticing Maddie as she stood next to the door that takes to the front desk. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as I let out a sigh. "I'm not in the mood to get berated at again."

"Bathroom." She simply said. "Now."

A groaned as I stood up and followed her outside. I entered the bathroom and she locked the door as I turned around. When she finished, she turned to look at me as she crossed her arms over her chest and seemingly tried her best to frown.

"Please tell me you're not going to dunk my head into the toilet." I sighed. "Who knows when was the last time they cleaned those."

"Tell me that you didn't mean it." She completely ignored my previous comment.

"I didn't mean what?" I asked.

"The voicemail." She answered. "Tell me you didn't mean what you said so we can move on from it."

"Look, I don't know what voicemail you're talking about," I told her. "But if it's the reason everyone's so mad at me, then I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the voicemail I didn't even know I made."

"The bad thing is that I'm the only one who believed it was false," Maddie said in a small voice as she let her arms fall. "I'm the only one who believed there was an explanation." She let out a sigh. "You can't apologize to me for everyone. You need to apologize to them individually."

"They won't even look my way." I let out a dry chuckle. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know, Eves." She admitted. "They're going to get mad at me too if they know I forgave you, so we'll have to keep it low while we find a way."

I let out another sigh as I looked back at her. "Can I at least hug you?"

Without responding, she quickly wrapped her arms around me. I did the same, and for a moment, it felt good.

Maddie was back. Maddie believed me. But what about that voicemail? What voicemail are they talking about and what did I say there that made everyone so mad? And if it's about the girls, then why is everyone else mad at something they don't even have anything to do with?

The days passed by, and we tried our best to not let the other girls know about her "forgiving" me for something I don't recall doing. The day of the tech rehearsal came, and for the first time, I didn't feel tired of the quick changes and numbers back to back. I'd have to thank my time on Broadway for that skill. Within two minutes, I was ready for a whole different number. After we finished performing the new group dance, we were told to go back to the stage with our mothers as Abby arrived.

"Paige was chosen at pyramid to do a new solo. She would prefer not to do a new solo." Abby spoke into the microphone. "So, I am offering it to somebody else. Would anybody else like to do a new number?"

Everything went silent and no one moved as Abby looked around the group. While that happened, Melissa whispered. "Someone raise their hand."

"Maddie, you have your "Survivor" number that you learned?" Abby asked the girl.

For a moment, she didn't seem to remember what the teacher was talking about. Then she remember, letting out an "oh" as she remembered.

"I love how you volunteered her," Kelly spoke up. "But do you notice whenever you ask people, nobody volunteered-- she did not volunteer." She pointed at Abby. "You volunteered her. When any one of these kids were asked to do a new solo, none of them chose to. It's all I have to say."

"Right, They didn't." She turned to Maddie. "So let's do it again. I'll ask and then you'll say: "Me, I'll do 'Survivor'"." She turned back to the rest of the group. "Would anyone like to take the place and do a solo? Anybody?" Maddie slowly raised her hand shakily. "Maddie? What?"

"I'll do "Survivor"," She almost whispered.

"Never, in forty years of being in the Abby Lee Dance Company has anyone been given the solo the day of the goddamn recital," Kelly yelled angrily. "Ever!"

"You're out, you're out!" Abby turned around. "Go away, please. Get her out of here."

The two of them continued with their argument as Kelly left with her daughters. As soon as Abby left, I shook my head as I ran backstage and continued with my schedule and the million glares.

~~~

It wasn't all that surprising that Kelly wouldn't show up the following day. On the bright side, it meant that I wouldn't have to worry about Brooke and Paige being Kendall and Giselle 2.0. We were first at the studio, rehearsing as usual. Later, we went to a local high school for the photoshoot Abby had talked about. When we started working, we were each assigned a character. If I didn't want them to hate me even more, I had to get the Prom Queen. That meant beautiful dressed and huge crowns. It also meant coats of makeup and glares that shot daggers.

There was one photo that stood out the most. It was a group photo. I stood in the middle, holding a bouquet of roses as I fake-grinned. Asia stood a little closer to the camera, looking at me and clapping. Maddie and Kenzie stood to my far left, but as far as other people. The sisters looked at me shocked, almost as if they couldn't believe it. Chloe stood close to the camera ― just like Asia, but to the right ― and shot me a thumbs-up. Nia stood to my far right ― like the Zieglers ― and smiled. Finally, Kendall and Giselle stood to the far right, and with this one I mean far. In the corner of the room, they both looked at me with disgusted looks on their faces. I mean, the mean girl and the cheerleader, what more could you expect?

When we were packing to leave, I noticed Jeff Collins leaving with a bunch of people ― the producers of the show ― and I frowned. What were they doing here?

On the day of the concert, the only thing I wished would happen was that the electricity would go out and that most of the dancers would sprain their ankles. That meant that the show wouldn't be able to go on, but it was all a fantasy.

After rolling my eyes at a pity glance from Payton, I pushed the door open to walk into the dressing room. I wore my "So Much Better" due to having performed the dance less than five minutes ago. I stopped in my tracks when I found everyone looking at a huge poster of a girl-- Oh God.

Not again.

Wearing one of my famous fake smiles, I held the bouquet of roses with my right arm as I waved with my left. The Prom Queen had won, and no one was happy about it.

The editor of the magazine, Sandra, turned over to me. "Oh, just in time." She smiled. "We want to interview you for the magazine." She turned over to Mom. "Would you guys be available next Tuesday?"

"Yeah, we are." Mom answered.

The camera was pointed towards me, so I fake-smiled again. "Thank you so much."

After a bunch of thank you's and your welcome's, Sandra finally left.

"Are we surprised?" Christi spoke up. "At this point, it's rigged."

"Are you going to start again?" Mom asked, looking pretty tired of Christi's attitude.

"Nicole, Genevieve keeps on winning everything." Jill jumped in. "Don't you think it's a little weird that it's always her? And why don't you care that Giselle didn't get it?"

"Yeah." Giselle stood up from her chair and my eyes widened. "Why is it always her over me?"

Okay okay-- what?

Before a big argument could take place, I turned around to leave, but someone grabbed my shoulder. I looked up to see one of the camera crew people and frowned. I turned back to the mothers, who were now full-on arguing. Giselle had sat back down, high-fiving Kendall and telling her something.

"It all goes back to the other day?" Jill yelled at the top of her lungs. "Remember?! The argument at the ice rink?!"

"What ice rink?" Abby asked.

"Oh, because Abby doesn't know!" Christi smiled. "Well, Nicole has forgotten that she has two daughters and that she has to pick only one of them."

"It happened after the competition," Holly added, ignoring the argument as she reorganized Nia's vanity.

"You went to the ice rink even after I told you not to?" Abby was starting to get mad.

"And Asia skated!" Kendall piped up.

"I did not!" Asia denied.

"Yes, you did," Giselle said, looking at the younger girl as if she was crazy. "You were with Kenzie the whole time!"

"Wait," I spoke up. "You were at the ice rink?!"

"Yeah, and then your mom started talking about how she would choose Giselle over you." Kendall snapped at me.

"She did not say that." Asia furrowed her eyebrows.

"Then you heard wrong, little Asia." Giselle gave her a stupid grin.

"Don't talk to my daughter like that." Kristie raised her tone.

"Don't you talk to my daughter that way!" Mom yelled, standing in front of Kendall and Giselle, who was still sitting down.

"Then tell your daughter to stop!" Kristie yelled back.

"Nicole, you can't play both fields!" Christi yelled. "It's either Giselle or Genevieve!"

"It's always Genevieve," Giselle muttered under her breath.

"Stop being ridiculous," Abby told the mother. "And why wouldn't you listen to me? What if anyone got hurt? Did you think about that, huh?"

"Well, after a whole day of only your favorites winning, the girls needed to calm down," Jill argued.

"If you start again with the shit about Maddie not deserving to win--" Melissa stood up from her seat, losing her cool.

"Oh, shut up, Melissa." Christi rolled her eyes.

"Why are you always mad about everything?" Asia asked the mothers.

"Because not everyone gets the golden girl treatment like you," Kendall told the girl. "And Maddie and the one I can't even say her name."

"My name is Genevieve, you idiot." I snapped. "Pretty easy to--"

"WHY ARE YOU CALLING MY DAUGHTER LIKE THAT?!" Jill turned over to me. "YOU BRAT!"

"STOP CALLING MY DAUGHTER NAMES!" Mom yelled back.

"WHY DOES IT ALWAYS GO BACK TO GENEVIEVE?!" Christi continued. "THAT KID IS THE REASON WE ALWAYS HAVE TROUBLE AROUND HERE!"

"She shouldn't have come back," Giselle commented. "Just saying."

The whole room went silent as they turned to look at the blonde. She shrugged before going back to focus on her phone.

"This group dance is my last number." I grabbed my bag from the seat. "So can we please get over with it?"

Not waiting for a response, I stormed out of the dressing room.

I had seen them at the ice rink. I heard them arguing and what they argued about. I just didn't think it was that serious. I thought it was a one-time thing. And why would they argue exactly where I was?

When did this place become such a nightmare?