Hi guys! I hope you had a lovely weekend :D I'm on spring break right now, so it's been amazing to relax these past couple days. It's still been hectic with traveling (I am all time-zone screwed right now) but it's been good. My family just moved cross country this past week, and I got to meet up with them for spring break. Unfortunatly, it's going to be the last time I see my little sisters for a couple months... I'll miss them tons. Now I'm offically an out-of-state college student. Woo. Luckily, I go to a private school so that doesn't matter :D
It's starting... About to go on the wild ride of regionals... the next couple chapters will be that, with maybe some interludes to check up on our beloved Mericup that we left last chapter and our spunky Anna.
Disclaimer: Much planning is happening during my break :D Soon, my friends, soon...
Regionals.
Every small dance crew's dream. And we, out of hundreds of hopefuls, are one of the top twenty-five in the region. Elsa's wide eyes took everything in.
East coast, Midwest, and West coast. Across the country, a total of seventy-five crews are competing to be in the top three of their region, sending nine crews to compete for the three coveted positions in the U.S. and earning themselves a ticket to the world competition in Rome.
Meg nudged Elsa, "Good thing we aren't too far from the convention center, eh? The crowd will be stacked with DDW fans!" Elsa nodded in response.
Their school, located in downtown New York, was three miles away from the East Coast Regionals. Though they all live a short distance away, because of the long hours and many moving parts the crew always stays in the hotel that hast the large convention center. Each crew gets two rooms, one for girls and one for boys.
Riding the elevator to their floor, Meg, Elsa, and Giselle chattered about the different crews and the different events going on.
"Since this is only regionals, there are sometimes different events going on at once," Meg explained.
"That's why there is a big meeting tonight! To hand out the schedules and decide who is doing what. Opening night is always super exciting!" Giselle was practically bouncing.
Elsa nodded, "Makes sense. Aren't there also surprise events that require freestyling?"
"Yea, that's why every night there is an all crew event. Those are the crew dances or surprise events," Meg answered.
The doors slid open and they began to walk down the hallway to their room.
"And do all twenty-five crews stay 'til the end or are there eliminations during the weekend?" Elsa inquired.
"It really varies on the year! Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, sometimes there are surprise eliminations, sometimes the audience picks a crew to save. It's what makes it exciting! And look! Our room!"
Elsa chuckled at Giselle's contagious enthusiasm. Meg slid her card and opened the door to their two bedroom suite. The girls gasped at the spacious living space, lovely mini kitchen, and fantastic view of the New York skyline through the floor to ceiling windows. Unfortunately, Vanessa and Ariel had beaten them and claimed the master bedroom, leaving the room with two queen beds for the other girls.
First thing Meg did was plug her phone into the stereo system and blast some Jason DeRulo, a popular favorite with all the girls. Elsa reached into the cooler they had brought and threw each girl a soda.
Ariel came bounding out of her and Vanessa's room and offered to unpack the rest of the snacks so Elsa could go unpack.
She thanked the red-head and lugged her backpack and suitcase to the room she was sharing with the other two girls. The three giggled and danced around the room as they unpacked their clothes into the closet and some of the drawers. After some time Elsa flopped onto the bed Meg and her had decided to share.
Just as she was closing her eyes, Jack came bounding into their room and attempted to tackle her.
Elsa squealed, surprised. "Where did you come from!?"
Giselle and Meg laughed at the pair and Elsa's peril.
Jack snuggled into Elsa, giving her a hug. "From next door. I came to see you!"
"Oi! Lovebirds! No canoodling on the bed. I have to sleep there these next few nights."
Elsa pushed Jack off her and onto the floor, "Yea Jack. Not for you! Meg's my cuddle buddy these next few nights."
Meg raised an eyebrow, "And he is your cuddle buddy most nights?" Her smirk danced across her face.
Elsa sat up and turned red, stammering.
Jack stood up from the floor, sitting on the side of the bed. "I wish. But her little sister Anna won't let me in Elsa's room past ten. It's stupid because Kristoff is over until like midnight all the time! That's why we just go to my place to canoodle." He winked at Elsa, enjoying the fact that his comments made her embarrassed.
She burst out, "Not most nights though!"
Meg, Giselle, and Jack broke out laughing, causing Puss and Ariel, who had been chatting in the living room, to wander into the room to look for the source of the commotion.
After the story had been shared, much to Elsa's discomfort, the group chased down Simba, Timon, Marty, and Vanessa. Soon they were all gathered in the girl's living room, snacks and drinks passed around. Jack had the groups' packet and Elsa was at his right hand, ready to take notes.
"So the first meeting is tonight at seven. It looks like we will learn some of the different competitions and get the official schedule there with all the events that are going on. After the meeting tonight, there is a party for all the crews so they can meet each other around nine. Apparently, it's clubbed themed." Jack's eyebrows raised.
Vanessa chimed in, "So let's show off our stuff without giving too much away. Leave some surprise but still inspire fear." The crew nodded, agreeing.
"Ooooh! All the girls should get ready together like we're going to a high school dance!" Giselle was practically bouncing in her seat.
Ariel and Elsa nodded and smiled, and Meg chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm.
Jack laughed, "Sure, that sounds great. Let's plan on reconvening here right after the opening ceremony to decide who is doing what."
Elsa was lost in thought for a moment, "Maybe we could compile mini lists of what everyone is good at, that way it would make it easier when we actually get the list?"
Marty, who was sitting next to her, smiled, "That's a fantastic idea. That way we cut down on time and don't feel rushed to get to the party."
Vanessa smirked, "Though it's better to show up fashionably late."
"I think that's a perfect idea, Elsa!" Jack said. "We can do that in a second. First, we need to check on attire. Everyone know what to wear these next few days?"
The group nodded. Giselle, who was in charge of the "uniforms," jumped out of her seat. "I brought our new gear!" Within moments, the box was opened and the new gear was passed around.
Luckily, because of the crew's successes last year, some of the award money from making it to Nationals, coupling with money from the school for doing so well, went to new 'uniforms.'
Everyone was passed a faux leather jacket with the DDW insignia, the outline of a castle over a crescent moon with DDW printed underneath, stitched in a bright cobalt blue over the black jacket. The girls had a more fitted jacket that kept with the styles; the zipper was not centered and there were flaps at the top that folded down. They guys had they typical badass leather.
Giselle then passed out a bag to each, their name printed in her girly handwriting on the top of each. Elsa giggled at the heart next to her name.
"I planned your outfits based on your personality. So everyone has enough to make three outfits for the next three days. You can mix and match with your own clothes if you want, but these should be enough. Boys, you do have a pair of sweatpants in there for you, but I figured most of you enjoy wearing your own jeans. BUT I have to approve them…" She glared at each of them. "Girls, we can chat later and I can show you what I had in mind. But it's up to you! Elsa, "She turned to the new girl who nodded at her, "You were the only one I didn't know from earlier. Luckily, you're Esmerelda's size. I did change a few things to fit your personality. I have some backups if we need to change things, but I think I nailed you." She grinned.
Elsa opened her bag, like the rest of the crew. She saw a plaid flannel in cobalt blue, grey, and black, some pleather jeggings, some black leggings with cobalt lace strips down the side, exposing some skin, and a pair of cobalt high rise shorts. She tested the material, happy that they were like spandex. Perfect for dancing. Glancing at some of the tops, she was happy to see her usual style, including a couple crop tops with various prints, a corset-style top, and a cute pleather vest and a grey and black plaid vest.
Elsa looked over at Meg's haul, happy to see that she was already sporting a new cobalt blue DDW beanie. Vanessa was holding up a cute black mini skirt and Ariel was squealing over a silver top that had a black outline of a mermaid on it.
She turned to Giselle, "You really did a great job. I love the matching colors, but everyone is dressed to their style. This is amazing!"
Giselle was beaming, "Thanks! I'm so glad that it turned out. Seriously, we are going to be the hottest crew ever."
Meg punched the air, "Hell yea we are! Good thing you're amazing. All the other noobs are gonna be wearing dumb matching t-shirts, and we are gonna be rocking these!"
Marty had an awesome cap on, cobalt blue with a black bill and DDW stitched on it. Jack was grinning at Elsa, holding up a matching plaid flannel to hers.
"Oh! I totally almost forgot! Girls, I think we should all have a hair streak like Elsa's. I brought cobalt blue and black hair chalk, or if you want to get serious, some hair dye. Elsa, if you are willing, you could either cover yours with chalk to match or I'm willing to re-dye it for you tonight."
The girls were all nodding, and Ariel squealed in excitement.
Elsa grinned up at Giselle, "I was actually thinking about going cobalt blue next. I would be honored if you did my streak!"
Meg chimed in, "I want a matching one! Good think you brought the bleach."
Half an hour later, the crew had a detailed list of the different styles people could do, some great pairings, and some fantastic solos or duets people had prepared. During that time, Giselle had been buzzing around, getting the bleach started on a strand of Meg's hair and the color stripped from Elsa's. People had taken pictures and Jack had posted them to the crew's twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. He had officially introduced Elsa to the social media cites last night, finally giving the people who had been asking about the "hot new blonde" an answer.
He had used this collage of amazing pictures he had taken after a crew practice on the stage. In one, Elsa had her point shoes on and was on her toes, dancing. Another had her dancing contemporary, doing this amazing leap, practically doing the splits with her right leg above her head in the air and her arms following the curve of her legs. There were a couple other amazing images. Jack had kinda just taken pictures of her dancing and there were some amazing images. One had her looking at the camera, her hair down and eyes flashing. The people following the DDW crew had eaten them up, saying how amazing she was and that they were super excited to see her dance more.
The meeting adjourned, Timon, Simba, and Puss ventured downstairs to find some food for everyone for dinner. Coming back with a couple pizzas, the crew continued to chat and joke. There was dancing going on, things added to the 'to choreo list,' and they were having fun. Giselle finished dying Elsa's and Meg's hair and put a matching of the blue with chalk in Vanessa's hair and that of black in Ariel's red locks and her own strawberry blonde.
At seven, they ventured down to the theater in the hotel where the opening ceremony was being held. Elsa smiled nervously at Meg as she flipped her French braid over her shoulder, the new cobalt streak flashing through. Meg's was peeping through her high pony tail.
Elsa brushed the creases out of her black high-waisted pants and adjusted her cobalt blue, off the shoulder crop top. She had tried to pack clothes that matched the crew's colors so that she always matched. She put on her game face.
She followed her friends through the theater doors. Ready for anything.
Hopefully I'll have some time this break to plan and write ahead. I have TONS of cool ideas for competitions and songs, but I'll take some suggestions. The competitions are going to be things like "Contemporary Duet," "Hip-hop freestyle," or a trigger word in a song of any style. I might use the song suggestions for our beloved crew or for other crews. BUT if you have an idea, just PM me or leave it in a review, and I'll consider it. Please state the song and if you have a suggestion for a competition or who you want to see dance to it. I can't guarentee anything, but I'll look at it. For Example, if you say that you want Jack and Elsa to dance to something, it may end up being someone else because I have most of their things planned out already :D
I'm super stoked guys. Regionals are gonna be great.
Review time: Thank you all again for your lovely reviews :D I love love love reading them! Please drop me a line and let me know what you think. You know how on Facebook where you can like or comment? I feel like fanfiction should have a "like" button so the people who don't like to review (Guilty as charged) can just hit the "like" button to let the author know that they have read it and enjoyed it. Yea? What do you think? ANYWAYS...
OoPoPcAnDy: :D There are some similarities, but there will be many differences in their relationship... Wait to see!
Countrygal15: I like "project get Jelsa a movie" :D but I think we need a more subtle name... "Project Snowflake?" "Project Blue?" I dunno! Thank you for the offer, I'll let you know :D
SureSnowflake: Thank you :D
disneyobsessionist: You have your head on right :D Don't be in a rush to date. But guys make wonderful friends :D And I know, right?! I love all his videos. Super cool! I've learned or modified a couple and they are fun.
Randomperson: I know, I can't figure out where to put the Anna-Jack conversation! Like it hasn't shown itself... You might have to wait a little longer, because now they are at regionals... Maybe I can sneak it in somewhere... :D And I actually don't drink coffee at all. I drink Chai tea. Lots and lots of it :D I would love to suggest some songs for your oneshots! Do you have a fanfic account so I can PM you? You always review as a guest :P Otherwise, I can pull together a list and put them up with next week's chapter. Something to tide you over though: Any Alex and Sierra song (just look up their whole album), Stay by Rhianna, Say something by Great Big World Ft. Christina Aguilara. Hope this helps!
MashiroAzuki: Thank you! Honestly, I love Hiccup and Astrid together just as much as I love Hiccup and Merida. The reason I picked Merida for this fic is partly because Merida has a similar personality to one of my best friends and it's easier to write dialogue for her and partly because people today tend to prefer it. I wanted an even match up between the guy group and the girl group. I could see Astrid being friends with Elsa, but not really with Punzie and Anna, and I needed them to all be best friends. The reason people ship Merida and Hiccup is because, like Astrid and Hiccup, Merida is an independent woman and almost the opposite of Hiccup. Opposites attract ;) I hope this answered your question!
I hope you all have a lovely week, and until the next chapter!
xoxoxoxo,
Siren