A/N
Hey, so just to say, I haven't watched The Next Step in a while, so sorry if I get a few details wrong. This is set while the group is preparing for internationals just after Gaselle becomes dance captain. It's mainly focussed round Jiley, but if you want me to include any more story lines then let me know. I hope it's okay, and that you enjoy! :)
West's POV
Me and Riley are just walking into studio A when Emily pops up.
"Hey! Long time no see!" She chirps, throwing her arms round a startled Riley and hugging her tightly,
"Emily, hey!" mumbles Riley from Emily's jacket, "What are you doing here?"
As Emily thrusts Riley forward, I notice an odd look on Riley's face. She looks slightly uncomfortable and her cheeks have lost their usual rosiness, I decide not to mention it when Emily approaches me, still talking to Riley.
"I just thought I'd come see how everyone is doing without me, how are things going for internationals?"
Emily then goes to engulf me in a hug before stopping and wrinkling her nose,
"Maybe not," she sighs, turning back to Riley.
"Oh, yeah. Things are good. We have a British exchange dancer, Amanda's gone to Sweden for the exchange, and yeah! Things are good."
Emily nods, "Sounds like a lots going on, can I meet this British dancer?"
I notice Riley hesitate, she seems a little unsteady on her feet, and slightly reserved, I guess she just has mixed feelings about Emily turning up out of the blue.
"Err, sure. Her names Ella, I think she's just in studio B at the moment. You coming West?"
I smile at the slightly desperate look in Riley's eyes.
"Sure. Just let me grab my bag,"
We walk into studio B, and Ella is free styling, moving carelessly to a British song I've never heard.
I can tell, just from the airs both Emily and Ella are giving off, that they are going to get on.
"Hey Riley, hey West. Who's this?" Ella asks, turning off her music with a sickly smile.
"Err, this is Emily. My sister, she used to be dance captain here." Riley explains, flopping down onto the bench and blinking a few times, as if trying to focus her vision.
"Oh hi! Riley told me a bit about you. Do you wanna grab a juice? I have so much to ask!"
Emily seems a bit taken aback by Ella's fondness, but she's never one to shy away from the spotlight.
"Sure, I'd love to tell you all about the Next Step."
And with that, Emily and Ella are gone.
I look at Riley, she is sat, flopped on the bench, her gaze unfocused, looking slightly pale.
"Hey Riley, are you okay?" I ask, taking a seat next to her.
She looks at me, as if seeing me for the first time.
"Err, yeah I'm good. Just got a bit of a headache. I think I'm gonna head home."
"Kay. Do you want me to call James?"
She frowns, "How come?"
"Well, weren't you meant to be going to his band rehearsal tonight?"
Riley sighs, "Yeah. Don't worry about it, I'll go."
"You sure? You don't look great."
She chews her lip, closing her eyes for a minute.
"Yep. I promised James."
I get properly concerned when Riley stands, and then falls, resulting in me having to catch her and Eldon walking in, confusion written all over his face.
"Are you two...?"
"No!" I shoot back, nearly dropping Riley.
"Yeah, I just lost my footing, West stopped me from falling over."
"Okaaay." Eldon frowns.
"Seriously Eldon. I love James, you know I would never do this to him." Riley sighs, I can feel her shivering slightly in my grip.
"At least let me drive you to James's." I say, standing Riley up and looking right at her. She really does look pale.
She sighs, "Fine. But, don't tell James-"
"So there is something going on!" Eldon butts in, I glare at him.
"No, Eldon there isn't. Look man, I love you, but you really can be clueless sometimes."
"Let's go West," breaths Riley, her breathing shallower than it should be.
"See ya Eldon." I call.
"See you man." He replies, still looking slightly confused. That's Eldon for you.
James's POV
Riley is extremely quiet as I drive her back from band. She is pale and I notice her shivering, even though she's wearing her duffel coat.
"You sure you're okay?" I ask again, not wanting to leave Riley home alone.
"James, I'm fine I just need some sleep, don't worry."
I sigh. "Love you,"
And I drop her off right by her door after kissing her softly on the forehead.
"Love you too," she mumbles, before slipping inside and closing the door with a weak thud.
Ella's POV
Riley's sister is awesome. Why can't Riley be more like Emily? Emily is fun, she loves to gossip and she's really pretty. We talked for ages at the juice bar yesterday, and are planning on meeting up after dance and her school if all goes well.
"Gather round dancers!" Calls Miss Kate, walking into the studio, clipboard in hand.
"Okay, so today, just to refresh and have a bit off fun, I thought we'd have a break from international's routines and just have some fun with our dances. You all up for that?"
The troupe gives a communal whoop and as everyone is chatting and laughing about what they want to do, I notice James standing at the back of the group, hugging a weak looking Riley to his chest.
"Hey Riley, you okay?" I ask, clapping my hand on her shoulder. Her body is quite hot, and I feel her trembling under my fingers, but I think nothing of it.
Before Riley can reply, Miss Kate carries on.
"Alright! So for the first exercise, you will be in threes-" a bubble of noise starts to build up as everyone gets ready to dive for their preferred partners, but Miss Kate bursts that bubble before it can get too big. "-I have already decided the groups, before you get too excited, so please everyone calm down. Okay. So group one will be Michelle, Noah and Cierra. Group 2 will be Ella, James and Thalia. Group 3 will be Eldon, Riley and Max and group 4 will be West, Amanda and Gazelle. Everyone got that?"
Everyone mumbles, "Got it," and Miss Kate then explains the task.
"Alright, so for this exercise I simply want you to choreograph a trio and perform it. However, one of your group must be blind-folded. I don't care who, but one of you must. You have an hour and a half, off you go!"
Everyone then rushes off to bagsy the best studios, me, James and Thalia manage to get studio A.
"Okay, so who wants to be blindfolded?" I start, smiling sweetly at Thalia, who attempts to smile back. James doesn't reply, he is watching Riley leave the room.
"James? Hello?"
He snaps back into reality, "Hm? Oh yeah. So who wants to be blindfolded?" he says, I roll my eyes, Thalia just laughs.
"I don't mind, I've got alright spacial awareness, and it can't be James cos he needs to do all the lifts and stuff, so I guess it could be me." Thalia suggests.
I nod, not really a fan of being blindfolded, so relieved Thalia volunteered.
At the end of the hour and a half, our trio is actually quite good. Occasionally, Thalia will lose her placing, but James and I are always there to set her right, I'm pretty confident about performing this dance.
Eldon'S POV
Our trio is not the best. At first, I was really pumped to work with Max and Riley; they're two of the best dancers in the studio. But now, I would trade anyone. Max is the one blindfolded but to be honest, it's not Max who the problem is, it's Riley. She's just not focused, and she's lost all her usual energy, I think something must be up. Miss Kate pops her head round the door just as I'm about to confront Riley.
"You three ready to come back and perform?" she asks,
"Er, yeah sure. Just a sec." I nod.
Miss Kate then disappears back round the corner.
"Riley... are you alright?" I ask, collecting up my bag and my shoes. She looks up, her breathing sounds kind of shallow, and her eyes look cloudy.
"Yeah, I just didn't sleep well last night. It's all good."
I look at Max who shrugs and raises his eyebrows at me.
"Kay then, lets go."
Miss Kate's POV
As I watch the dancers perform, I can tell there's definitely something up with Riley. Recently, she's become one of the best dancers in the studio, but today, her dancing is really off. She's marking all the big acro moves, and the rest of her dancing is quite weak. I can see James giving her worried looks and I decide to pull her into the office when her trio finishes and the next trio get ready to dance.
"Riley, are you alright?"
She sighs, "I'm fine, everyone needs to stop asking." I notice her shaking slightly and I frown.
"Riley, you don't look well."
She looks at me, her eyes dazed.
"I'm fine, I swear."
I sigh, "If you say so."
But as she leaves, I put my hand on her forehead, she's burning up.
"I'm gonna call your mom, ask her to come pick you up,"
"She's away in Seattle on a business trip. My dad's in Japan and Emily has a ton of exams today. Just let me stay here."
I look at her. She is pale, trembling and feverish.
"Okay. But take it easy. Only dance if you really feel you can."
She nods just as Michelle pops her head into the office, "We're ready to dance." She smiles.
"Coming," I say, nodding at Riley and following the girls out the office.
Ella's POV
Our group's trio was obviously the best, and when lunch comes, everyone is congratulating us, that is everyone, except Riley and James. They are sitting on the bench together, Riley's head resting in James's lap.
"Shall we go to hidagos for lunch?" Suggests Cierra.
"Great idea, come on everyone." I say, grabbing Riley's hand and hauling her up, she nearly falls over. Her hand is shaking, and it's really clamy, my instinct is to let go and wipe my hands, but I don't, I just pull her after me, racing down the stairs to hidagos.
Emily's POV
I'm in hidagos during my free period when everyone from the next step bursts in.
"Hey Emily!" Ella smiles, taking a seat next to me, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I just have a free period, so I thought I'd come here for a bit."
"How are your exams going?" Riley asks, leaning against James.
"Good. I had two this morning and they weren't too difficult so yeah."
I'm still quite annoyed at Riley for telling everyone about my knee, but I'm actually really enjoying school. I'm also quite worried about Riley. She was really feverish yesterday, tossing and turning all night, and she is generally not being herself. She's lost all her usual bubbliness, and she looks really weak. I give her a look, silently asking how she is. She just shakes her head, before sitting with Thalia and Gazelle.
Stephanie joins us all at 1pm, and it's really nice to have lunch with everyone and get to know the new elite members, a bit like old times.
James's POV
After lunch, Kate tells us we will be choreographing a duet to perform to everyone, the winners get first choice of pizza in the evening.
"This time you can choose your partners." Kate smiles, stepping back as everyone dives for their partners. I simply squeeze Riley's hand to let her know that we're together, but Ella comes along and wrenches Riley out my arms.
"C'mon Riley, I want to show you something!" Laughs Ella as she pulls Riley from the studio. I blow Riley a kiss as she is dragged out of sight and clap Max on the shoulder.
"Lets go man."
Michelle's POV
Chloe and I are just perfecting our duet when Ella bursts into the room, her eyes wide.
"Riley's passed out!" She cries, grabbing my shoulders. I shake my head as Chloe sighs.
"Great prank Ella. It really is hilarious." I frown. Ella shakes her head.
"No, I'm not joking, I swear. You know she's been off all day, we were just gonna grab some water and she just... fainted. I can't wake her up, I promise I'm not joking. If I am then my team will forfeit internationals I promise you."
Without another word, Chloe, Ella and I rush out the room into studio B.
I immediately see Miss Kate, crouching over an unconscious Riley. Miss Kate looks up when we enter.
"Girls! Does anyone know what's happened to Riley? I just found her here." Miss Kate sounds flustered. Ella rushes forwards.
"Yeah! We were just grabbing some water when she just collapsed. She's burning up, I really think we should call an ambulance, do you have them here in America?"
I nod, pulling out my phone and dialling 911.
"I'll call James, he'll want to be here."
It's all a bit of a blur as James and Max rush in, and the paramedics take Riley out on a stretcher, mumbling with Miss Kate about her condition.
Suddenly, me, Miss Kate, James, Max, Ella and Chloe are left standing in studio B in silence.
"I'm gonna... call Emily, and Riley's mom," James chokes, walking out the door without looking back. He wanted desperately to be in the ambulance with Riley, but the paramedics wouldn't let him, they just took Riley and drove her straight to hospital, trying to get her to wake and assessing her condition.
Miss Kate tells us to go get the others and bring them all into studio A. There she explains to everyone what had had happened and lets us all go home early.
A/N
Sorry the ending wasn't great, the next chapter should be up soon, but I wrote this during my holiday and I'm going back to school so sorry if it's not up straight away. Please review, if you have any criticisms, let me know and also please let me know what you are enjoying, SEE YAAAAA! :)