"Overall high-score winners once again at Starbound." Abby starts and we all clap. "Those judges definitely know who the Abby Lee Dance Company is. I want to keep this winning streak going."

Almost all of the dances were first last week, except for Kenzie's solo, which was second. Abby seemed pleased by the results, and that meant that everyone could calm down and enjoy the long-awaited victory. As Abby revealed the bottom headshot, I kept on smiling. I had no idea who could be at the top, but I was starting to think that everyone could be on it, except for me.

I didn't exactly feel like I deserved it again. I was the liar of the group and the one who was a part of Abby's plans. The other girls had no idea and could enjoy the normalcy in their lives. I was the one who had to pretend everything was fair for everyone, but I knew the truth.

And that made me just as bad as the mothers.

The first two girls on the bottom were the Hyland sisters, and they were both related to injuries. The next girl on the pyramid was Kenzie.

"You had a solo. I thought you did a good job. I thought your solo was great." Abby explains. "But crying, having a little meltdown? Am I disappointed in second? Absolutely, but you can't do that 'cause it looks like you're ungrateful that you were second."

I looked over at Kenzie, who looked sadder and sadder by the second.

"You're eight now. You're not a baby anymore. Save your tears for the pillow." Abby finishes. "Understood?"

Kenzie nodded in response, still looking pretty upset. Abby revealed the last headshot at the bottom.

"Giselle. You performed in the group dance and it was first." She explains. "It was good, but you have to be better."

I never thought I'd say this, but I was glad Giselle was back to her old, carefree, weirdo self. Her response to Abby's critique was just rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. It looked like it felt good doing it.

"Evie," Abby announces. "Same as your sister. Performed in the group dance and it was first. You also filmed Drop Dead Diva and still managed to catch up with the rest of the girls."

Nia

Chloe    Maddie   Genevieve

Giselle    Mackenzie    Paige    Brooke

"This weekend, we're going to Starbound, and we will be going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina," Abby says, clapping her hands together. "Kendall? This week, you're gonna do a duet with Mackenzie. Chloe, you have a solo." She looked over to Maddie, who seemed a tad confused. "Maddie, no solo this week."

After a moment of silence, in which I think the moms were silently celebrating Maddie's loss, Abby spoke up again, this time taking a glance at me.

"Evie, I want you to bring your crowns tomorrow." She tells me. "We're gonna show everyone what a winner looks like."

Cue everyone's eyes on me. I stared at Abby, feeling a burning sensation in my eyes, for some reason. The burning then moved to my chest as I avoided making eye contact with anyone. Luckily, Abby soon dismissed the mothers and we started stretching.

What doe she mean by "show everyone what a winner looks like"? We all won last week. We're all winners. It doesn't matter if I have more crowns and titles, we were all winners last week.

Starting with the group dance, I started to think that Abby may have taken the life imitates art comment too seriously. The group dance is entitled "Taken" and it's basically about girls that are jealous of another one, so they want to be like her. Like they know they can't do that, they try to get her to be like them. And I just so happened to be that girl that everybody wants to be. That meant extra attention, and it was something I was starting to despise.

Abby then told us to stop and line up in front of her. I wondered what she wanted to talk about, hoping that it wouldn't be about the crowns. I wished she'd just forget about that once and for all.

"All right, girls, let me talk you a little bit about this number. This is a very deep number, and it's going to be difficult to get across to the judges in two minutes and thirty seconds." Abby tells us. "So, Evie is the one that I've chosen to do her own choreography." My eyes widened as she turned over to me. "You come out, you're a free spirit, you have all the privileges, you're allowed to do anything."

Breathe, breathe, breathe.

The room started feeling a bit hot, but I wasn't in the right state of mind to have a full-out panic attack in front of them. Especially since they don't even know about it. Or, at least, I thought it could be a panic attack. My chest had started burning again and I couldn't breathe that well. I tried controlling my breath without making it too noticeable, and it was working. I just hoped I'd be out of the room and I could drink some water before something bad happened.

"You guys, you don't have any of those pleasures of life that she has," Abby tells the rest. "She's different. You're going to make her want to be like you."

Going back to rehearsing after that, it was starting to get annoying. It was the same thing every week, and I knew the moms were going crazy up in the viewing room.

I just wanted them to leave me alone for once.

The music for the dance was starting to have some familiar voices, like Christi's and Melissa's. It was weird, but it wasn't until Abby told us to stop and I followed Chloe's gaze up to the viewing room that I realized what was happening. Melissa and Christi were having a full-blown argument, and the rest of the mothers were ignoring them. We could hear parts of the argument, and it was about Melissa talking about Chloe and Melissa saying that Christi also talked about Maddie, but it all changed once I could clearly hear the words about an affair with a married man.

Christi seemingly didn't have anything to defend herself with for her to bring up Melissa's supposed affair. I also knew that it was one of the topics that Maddie avoided. My instinct made me turn to look at the Ziegler sister, and while Maddie only looked shocked, Kenzie was straight-up crying. Both Giselle and Brooke were trying to comfort her as I walked over to them and wrapped Kenzie into a hug.

However, Kenzie ran out of the room, not saying another word. The three of us shared a confused and worried look as we went back to watch the remaining mothers. As soon as everything calmed down, Abby left the room, and everyone knew where they were going. It was probably the reason I was sent outside with Giselle and Nia and soon left the studio for the day.

Also, I didn't seem to have any communication with Maddie after that, which was weird. The next day, we went back into the studio, still thinking about the argument. To distract us from the topic, Giselle started talking about how she didn't feel ready to start seventh grade, or that was until I reminded her that we were starting homeschooling.

She continued complaining.

I also couldn't catch a break; I had to carry my box full of crowns into the studio, and I felt embarrassed. Everyone asked what I had inside of it, but I just smiled and said stuff. I didn't get why I got so embarrassed about crowns, but I was.

I placed the box on the floor as I stretched, listening to the moms' conversation about Melissa being missing.

God, I wish I was Melissa at this moment.

~~~

I still wished I was Melissa.

With no Melissa meant no Maddie or Kenzie, but that wasn't the biggest of my worries. My biggest worry was the table right in front of me, which had all of my crowns carefully placed by Abby. She rambled over me winning my first title when I was five, but the looks on the other girls' faces made it even worse. They didn't look bored, but they looked upset. Upset at how Abby kept talking about me winning and winning over and over again. Upset at how she wouldn't talk the same way about them. Upset at how they had to fight so hard to be barely recognized. But, I felt as if they were upset with me. Upset with me because I let Abby do this. Upset at me because I brought the crowns. Upset with me because I seem to be the topic of conversation every week. Upset at me because I was her favorite and there was nothing they could do about that.

Upset at me because I was me.

As if I wasn't upset enough with myself.

As she continued talking, I just nodded along, occasionally fake laughing every now and then. In fact, I was counting the minutes down. I hoped something interesting would happen. Heck, I hoped the moms would fight again so that I could get out of there, but nothing. After an hour and a half of Abby bragging about me as if I was an object, we went back to rehearse the group routine without Maddie. She kept telling the girls to "do better" or "do it like Evie".

Even when Maddie finally showed up with a huge grin on her face, Abby continued saying the same things.

So imagine her surprise when she found out that Candy Apples was going to the competition.

Imagine her surprise when Maddie turned down a solo.

Imagine her surprise when Justice beat Chloe.

Imagine her surprise when we didn't get a clean sweep.