Maddie and Sammy were huddled in the corner of Abby Lee Miller's dance studio. The dancers were taking a break and everybody was chatting and running around the room. Maddie looked over at Samantha with sad eyes.
"I want to get out of here so badly," Maddie said.
"So do I," Sammy agreed.
Two weeks prior, Maddie had forgotten her dance in front of hundreds of people. She was traumatized and could not recover.
"Sammy. Are we really going to do it? I don't feel confident"
"Girls!" Abby screamed. "Get back in line. Play time is over! Straighten those feet Paige!"
"But I am" Paige responded meekly.
Abby lowered her head to Paige's level.
"Are you questioning me?" she snarled.
Meanwhile, Maddie's head was somewhere else. She could not focus on dance. She and Sammy had been planning their escape from the dance studio for the past 2 days. Sammy's studio, Stars Dance Studio had sent their dancers to Abby Lee Dance Studio to train for a week. Maddie's head spun with questions. How would they do it? Where would they go?
"Maddie, stop falling out of your turns! You're better than this!" Abby yelled.
That was exactly it. She wasn't better than this. She was a failure. Her technique was not as good as Chloe's and it seemed like Miss Abby was starting to favor her over Maddie. Maddie was jealous but she would never admit it. Nothing she did was ever good enough. "I hate being a perfectionist" Maddie thought as she sighed.
The next morning, Maddie woke up to the sound her her iphone vibrating. It was Sammy calling.
"Maddie, I'm outside your window. Hurry up. We have to go."
Maddie pulled on a pink cardigan and jeans. She combed her hair as fast as she could, yanking out locks of her brown, highlighted hair. She paced her room frantically. Sammy was waiting for her. "What do I need? What do I need?" she chanted to herself. She pulled out her pink suitcase and filled it was camis, underwear, T-shirts, and sweats. She pulled her suitcase and hoisted herself over the ledge of the window and landed on the patch of grass on the side of her house.
Sammy handed Maddie her train ticket.
"You're going to need this" she said. Maddie and Sammy ran to the train station and boarded as fast as they could.
"Slow down, girls! Where are your parents?" The ticket collector announced. Maddie and Sammy ignored him and continued running until their found their seats. They panted as they sat down and began to relax.
Sammy smiled at Maddie.
"We made it,"