There will be some drama in this chapter—be warned 0:)

…

Teddy's POV

We're standing backstage, waiting for our turn to go onstage. Piper insisted that rehearsing steps in the lead-up to the performance will only make us more nervous, so we're hanging out, calming ourselves down before the show. Coincidentally, we're just after Madeline and her trampet act. We watch her from the wings. She's good. Even Piper admits that.

When she comes off and we go on, I see Mom, Dad, Hazel, Pearl, and my new sister in the audience. Quinn. She's only seven hours old, and yet she already looks like Mom.

Piper and I get into position. As soon as the music starts, we begin our dance. I forget my nerves and get lost in the music. With Piper's arms around me, I soon find that I am doing the steps automatically. I don't need to think about them anymore. The two minute slot flies by, and before I know it, Piper and I are met with thunderous applause. The four judges—Major Monogram, Carl, Artemis, and Apollo—are almost all crying. I bet you can guess which one of them isn't.

As we go offstage to make room for the next act, I swing Piper round with joy while she laughs. "That was amazing!" she gasps.

"Yes, yes it was," says a voice from behind us.

I put Piper down and we turn. "Madeline," Piper says frostily. She still doesn't like Madeline, despite the fact that Piper and I are now together.

"Chill, Platypus Girl," Madeline says coolly. "I just wanted to say your performance was great."

"Thank you and that's not my name."

She rather possessively takes my hand, interlocking our fingers. Madeline sees this and raises an eyebrow, but we're distracted by the host of OWCA's Got Talent going onstage and saying, "Thank you, all contestants."

All the acts come onstage to stand by Ravi the Rabbit, the host. "The judges have made their decision. In third place…" He pauses for dramatic effect, though only for about five seconds. "Cassie!"

Cassie the Cat smiles at the audience as she goes up to collect her prize: a bottle of champagne. She briefly kisses Ravi, who is her mate, and comes back to stand in line.

"In second place…" The pause is a little longer than last time. "Madeline!"

Madeline smirks at Piper, who narrows her eyes back, and collects her own prize: a gift voucher for a popular restaurant.

"And in first place…" This time, the pause is nearly twenty seconds long. "TEDDY AND PIPER!"

The applause is deafening. I can hear Pearl and Hazel cheering their heads off as we collect our tickets to the water park. I look inside the envelope. We've been given five ticket: two for us, and we can invite three of our friends. I feel grateful that's it's three friends and not two.

…

Piper's POV

At the after party, we get lots of people coming up to us and congratulating us on both winning and our dance. Teddy and I mostly hang out on the window seat, looking out at the stars, eating and drinking, and listening to the music.

We decide to head outside and get some fresh air. We go outside and take a walk down to the lake. We can still just about hear the music. Just as we prepare to go back inside, Mayfair arrives. "That was awesome, guys!" Mayfair enthuses. "Congratulations!"

She looks like she's about to throw herself at Teddy, but then she catches sight of the fact that Teddy and I are holding hands. Her face pales. "You two…?" she mutters.

I feel sympathetic towards her. "May, I know you really like Teddy, but-."

"Really like?" snaps Mayfair. "You know how I feel about Teddy!"

"You're being selfish, May," I say firmly.

"No, you're being selfish!" snarls Mayfair. "And don't call me May! You know how long I've loved Teddy! How can you abuse me like that?"

Teddy tries to appease the angry cat. "May-," he begins.

She only turns on him. "Don't "May" me!" she snaps at him. "I thought we were getting closer! How many times has Piper stopped speaking to you? How many arguments have you two had? And how many arguments have we had? None!"

"That's irrelevant," I say, trying to gain control of the situation.

"No it isn't!" Mayfair's tone of voice raises to a shrill hysteria. "We've been getting closer while you were growing apart!"

"We were never growing apart," Teddy tells her.

I can tell he's trying to defend me and our relationship but without further angering Mayfair. Unfortunately, it's not working terribly well.

"Oh, well, you could have fooled me!" Mayfair barked. "Every time some other girl even shows the slightest interest in Teddy, you get cold and frosty and you don't talk to anybody! I know what this is—it's jealousy. You were jealous when Madeline started flirting with Teddy, and now you can't stand the thought of Teddy and I being together so you stole him from me! It's pure jealousy and spite, that's what this relationship is!"

Teddy's POV

Piper gasps loudly. I quickly say, "Mayfair, this isn't like you. You're just upset. Why don't we all take a deep breath, and-." I break off as Piper punches Mayfair in the face. "-or we can just hit each other," I finish sarcastically. "How can that possibly make the situation worse than it already is?" I let out a squawk and jump backwards as Piper launches herself at Mayfair and knocks the cat over. "Oh, and now we're actually fighting. Great. That's the best kind of discussing problems. There's no way this can backfire."

The fact that we're quite far away from the others coupled with the loud music, nobody hears my friends' loud fight. I try and intervene several times but for some reason Piper and Mayfair seem to have got it into their heads that whoever wins the fight gets to go out with me because they're yelling things like, "Teddy's mine!" and, "fight me for him!"

Eventually, I take hold of Piper around the waist and throw her into the lake. Call me cruel, but she's told me before that the water calms her down. Besides, she's semi-aquatic, like me. I turn to face Mayfair, who has visible injuries on her face and body. "So you've chosen me," she slurs.

"Just because I didn't throw you in the lake, doesn't mean I didn't want to," I say.

With hindsight, that was rather harsh. Mayfair blanches, but I'm more focused on Piper, who's crawling out of the lake. She stands up with no help, takes a deep breath, and very calmly says, "Thank you, Teddy. I needed that."

Relieved that she isn't angry, I take Piper into a hug. When we turn back, Mayfair is gone.

Mayfair's POV

I run to the nearest tree and climb up it all the way to nearly the very top. I can't believe it. He's chosen to be with someone else. After everything, he's with Piper. He didn't so much as give me a second thought. How dare she! I've loved Teddy for a lot longer than she has. Sure, she's known him longer, but that's irrelevant. Like I told Teddy, we get along better. Piper's often mean to Teddy and she ignores him when he does something wrong. I thought Piper was my friend, but it turns out she doesn't care about my feelings. I love Teddy much more than Piper does!

I cry and cry and cry. My heart feels like it's cracked in two pieces. My chest hurts like fire. I never want to stop crying. I never want to come down from this tree.

Then something snaps inside my head. My feelings are replaced with one mission: Piper needs to be dealt with.

…

How's that for a cliffhanger? :) what do you think Mayfair's going to do? Also, on advice from Nightflame203, I did give Cassie a mate :) taking ideas on children's names