Hello people!
Still the anonymous writer here, and I'm glad to publice another chapter on this story.
Thanks for the support on this story! Blizzard20 and I appreciate every reader on this story! 3
So for this chapter I wanted to bring some characters onto the stages who haven't played a huge part in the story yet.
And I added something into this chapter which may affect the rest of the story a little, I wasn't sure whether I should put it in or not, but after I discussed it with Blizzard20, we finally decided to put it in the story anyway.
However, I hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter
Chapter 11
2 weeks later, 56 days until Internationals
It was a rainy and windy afternoon in Toronto and in the rest of the country. People on the streets rushed to their destination as fast as possible while wearing their rain coats and carrying their umbrellas.
One of these people was Amanda, she was heading to the nearest bus stop from the dance studio, where she just exprienced an intense and long day of dancing.
As the rain came pouring down even harder Amanda paced her walking. The bus stop was only two blocks away when she suddenly got stopped by someone.
"So Amanda."The person said. "Long time no see huh?"
Amanda recognized that voice immediately, it was one of her former teammates from the Elite Dance Academy.
"Courtney?" Amanda wondered confused. (Quick note; I made up the names for the Elite-members since I don't know any of their names.) "What the heck are you doing here?" Courtney chuckled.
"I'm hear to tell you something Amanda." Courtney said in a kind of low voice. "We haven't forgotten what you have done to us."
"I really have no clue what you are talking about." Amanda said. "Now if you excuse me, I have a bus to catch." She said while she wanted to walk around the girl, but got stopped by Courtney again.
"Oh you ain't going anywhere Amanda." She said with a short chuckle in between. Amanda was now confused as never before.
"You are talking crap right now, please let me go." Amanda said in a slightly angered tone.
"You've heard her Amanda." Another familiar voice was heard behind Amanda. "You aren't going anywhere."
"Skylar?" Amanda wondered confused again. "Why the heck are you here and want from me?"
"We don't want anything from you." Courtney said. "We actually want to give you something."
"Revenge." Skylar said. "We will always remember how you betrayed us during Nationals."
"You left us hanging, helped and joined our bitter rivals... You're going to pay for that Amanda."
"You guys are still butt hurt about?" Amanda asked. "Listen you two, I did the right thing joining The Next Step. I don't regret any second of decision."
"We really don't care about that." Courtney said. "You remember the things you said to us while you were still at Elite?"
"You said we were as one big family." Skylar said.
"You said also said that we were going to bring Elite to the top as one big family." Courtney added.
"Oh, and didn't you say that you wanted to destroy any competition of Elite no matter what, including The Next Step?" Skylar finalized as she and Courtney stepped closer towards Amanda. Amanda slowly took a step back.
"Listen, I know I said all that stuff, but I don't want to rise to the top the way we did. A couple weeks after I joined The Next Step after Regionals I realized that I was getting tired of cheating and all the horrible stuff we did. I just wanted to dance, and The Next Step could offer me that."
"You still left us hanging." Skylar said. "You gave us false hope and you're going to pay for that." And again the two girl made the distance between them and Amanda smaller. Amanda was trapped, she couldn't move an inch. As she was about to shout for help, again another familiar voice heard.
"Leave her alone." The person said. Skylar and Courtney turned around so they could face the person.
"And what do you want?" Courtney asked in a clearly annoyed tone.
"Not that much actually, just let go of her and leave her alone." The person said.
"And why would we do that?" Courtney asked. The unknown person chuckled.
"Come on Courtney, you really want to try me? Go ahead."
Courtney sighed. "Fine." She said as she and Skyler let go of Amanda. "Come Skylar, lets go." Before they were about to go Courtney faced Amanda one final time. "You're lucky she's around this time. But we'll get you and that miserable little studio of yours. Mark my words Amanda." With that she headed off.
The unknown person walked up towards Amanda.
"Are you okay?" The person asked slightly concerned.
"Yes, I'm alright." Amanda said. "Thanks a lot Tiffany." Tiffany smiled.
"Aye no problem Amanda." Tiffany said. "I know how annoying those two can be, especially Courtney."
"Yeah, haven't realized until now actually." Amanda said. "How do you know them anyway?"
"Believe it or not, we're step sisters." Tiffany sighed.
"Wauw, I feel sorry for you." Amanda said. Tifanny chuckled.
"Don't be, I got everything under control." Tiffany smiled. "Anyway, my mother and her dad got married together last month, and now since I'm back in Toronto I have to share a house with her, along with her dad and my mom of course."
"And what about Skylar?"
"Skylar is basically the only friend Courtney has around, probably the other way around too. It's like they only have each other." Tiffany said.
"That's kinda sad." Amanda said.
"Please don't feel sorry for them, look what they just did to you a couple of minutes ago!"
"I know, I know." Amanda sighed. "Anyway, thanks again for your help. I have no idea what would have happened if you weren't around here."
"It's nothing." Tiffany smiled. "And don't worry about Courtney and Sky, they won't do anything to you or the studio."
"Slightly relieved to hear that." Amanda said. A couple of seconds later lightning was seen in the sky and thunder was heard.
"I think I really need to catch my bus right now." Amanda stated.
"Don't worry about the bus, I'll drive you home."
(-)
"Hunter, I'm so proud of you!" Beth cheered. "I always knew you would pass your exams without any trouble." Beth and Hunter were at Hunter's to celebrate the fact that Hunter has passed his exams.
"Aw, thanks a lot! I couldn't have done it without your and the others support." Hunter said. "And I really want to thank you for helping me the previous month. If it weren't for you I would probably be hopeless, unmotivated and unprepaired."
"It's not a big deal Hunt, just remember that you actually did all the hard work." Beth said as she gave a smile. Hunter smiled back.
"Hey, do you have plans for tonight?" Hunter asked to his girlfriend.
"Uhm, I guess not?" Beth answered. "Why actually?"
"Well, I want to take you out for diner." Hunter said. "If you're okay with it."
"Sure. But tell me why." Beth said.
"Because I want to celebrate passing my exams in a special way with you." Hunter smiled. "And also see this as a small 'thank you'-diner."
"That's sweet of you Hunter, but don't you rather want to celebrate it with your family?" Beth wondered.
"Don't worry about that, I will." Hunter said. "But I want to take you out first. You are the person who actually made it all possible... So I'll pick you up at seven?" Beth quickly thought and finally nodded her head.
"Alright, seven sounds fine." Beth smiled.
"Great!" Hunter said. Beth grabbed her phone to check what time.
"I think I should go, I still have some homework to finish for tommorow, and I want done before our... date." Beth said. Hunter chuckled.
"Sure, no problem. Should I drive you home?" Hunter asked. "Nah, I'm alright. It's just a two minute walk."
"Are you sure, it's raining incredibely hard." Hunter asked one final time.
"Don't you worry Hunty, I have an umbrella along with me." Beth said.
"If you say so." Hunter said. "I will see you tonight I guess."
"You will." Beth smiled as she gave Hunter a quick peck on the lips.
"Send me a message if you get home, alright?"
"I will." After a final goodbye Beth left the house, which left Hunter all alone. A couple of minutes later, he received a message from Beth that she reached home safely, after Hunter sent a reply he got an incoming video call. He scanned the number quickly before accepting the call, it was his father's phone number.
"Hi dad! Hi mum!" Hunter greeted as his parent's faces popped up fully sized on phone screen. "It's great to see you again."
"Hi son! It's great to see you as well!" His dad said.
"Congratulations with your exams honey." His mom added.
"How did you guy knew I passed already? I only told one person so far." Hunter asked curiously with a short chuckle.
"We saw your latest tweet." Dad said.
"What? You guys follow me on Twitter-"
"Anyway... We are so incredibly proud of you Hunter!" Mom quickly said.
"We wish we were in Toronto to celebrate it with you." Dad said. Hunter smiled.
"I wish you were here too. I really miss you. And thanks for the call, it means a lot seeing and hearing you again." Hunter said.
"Anytime Hunter." His mom smiled. "But before you leave, we have some people who would like to say something to you." As his mom turned the camera around Hunter could see a whole group of people in his parent's living room. It weren't just regular people, it were Hunter's old dancemates, old classmates, and friends from Madison. Hunter could heard a bunch of congratulations and 'I miss you's' from the couple.
Hunter simply smiled and waved. "Thanks a lot guys! I miss you a lot!" With that said, Hunter's parents turned the camera again so Hunter could see his parents again.
"We have to go Hunter. It was great speaking you again! We love you!" His mom said.
"I love you two too!" Hunter smiled as he waved them goodbye.
(-)
After A-Troupe dance training, the most dancers go straight home or go to Culture Shock. There are also other that stay at the studio the help the others. Chloe and Thalia were one of these people.
They remained at the studio to give the J-Troupe a short and quick training. J-Troupe had a dance competition coming up this weekend, so they could use some tips and advices from some experience A-Troupe dancers.
"That was great you guys! Very impressive!" Chloe complimented as the young dancers finalized their routine.
"Yeah, very cool!" Thalia added. "If I could give one small piece of advice, you're all standing very close next to each other, don't be afraid to use the space you've gotten."
"I've noticed that too." Chloe added. "Let's see... Richelle, if take two steps to the front. Rico stand all the way at the left side. Hailey stand all the way at the right. And uhm... Abby take a step back..." The youngsters followed Chloe's order and went to their assigned places.
"Yeah, this should work!" Thalia said. "Now each of you have enough space to dance."
"Now let's try this again!" Chloe said. "Oh, and think about your facial and body impressions!"
J-Troupe did the routine again with the new positions and the tips they have gotten. The advice really seemed to work, because the routine looked way better than before.
"Great job guys! It looked way better than before." Chloe stated.
"Yeah, great job everyone!" Thalia said. "I think it's time to end this training." Chloe checked the time on her phone and agreed with Thalia.
"It is." Chloe said. "Well, we had fun with you guys. Remember to keep practising every day so you can improve yourselves."
"We wish you all the best of luck coming weekend." Thalia finally said.
As they high-fived every leaving J-Troupe member, Chloe and Thalia noticed a girl sitting all be her on a bench in the studio. The girl stared blankly at the screen of her phone. As Chloe and Thalia walked up to the girl quickly putted her phone away.
"Hey Lily!" Chloe greeted as she took a seat next to the young dancer. "You were very quiet today, what's up?"
"Hey guys." Lily said in a slightly down or sad voice. "I'm just a bit tired that's all."
"Is that all?" Thalia asked with slight concern.
"That's all." Lily said as she showed a quick and small smile. A short second later Lily's phone vibrated, so she grabbed her phone and again stared blankly at her screen for a couple of seconds. While she kept staring at the screen she bit her bottom lip to try to hold back the tears that were forming in her eye corners.
"Uhm... I really need to go guys." Lily quickly said before she stood up grabbed her back and headed out of the studio.
"That was weird." Thalia mentioned. "There surely is something going on that is bothering her."
"Have you seen the way how she looked at her phone?" Chloe asked. "We have to find out what is going on with her."
"Do you really think we should deal with her personal life problems?" Thalia asked unsure.
"She seemed pretty upset." Chloe said. "It won't hurt if we atleast find out what is going on." Thalia quickly thought.
"Alright," Thalia said. "Let's ask her what is going on the next time we see her."
(-)
A couple hours later in a restaurant located in downtown Toronto.
"That lasagne was delicious!" Beth said after she eat the final piece of her lasagne. Hunter smiled.
"Totally agree!" Hunter said. "Best lasagne I had in a while, but my mom makes them better."
"Oh really?" Beth asked. Hunter nodded.
"If you eat my mom's food, you basically don't want anything else." Hunter said with a short chuckle in between. "Can't wait to see your reaction after you taste her food." Beth shortly laughed.
"Hey, now we're talking about family, I really don't know much about your family." Beth mentioned. "Tell me something about them."
"Okay, let's see." Hunter began. "Let's start with my parents. My mom and dad, Laura and Steve, are almost twenty years married. My father was a former hockey player, he retired like fifteen years ago. Since then he became a full time hockey coach."
"Interesting." Beth said.
"My mom was actually a former dancer." Hunter continued. "She Nations four times with her studio, but she never managed to win Internationals."
"Aha, now I know where you got your passion for dancing from." Beth smiled.
"Yup, now you know." Hunter smiled. "My mom is my inspiration for dancing and for like anything else. I really want to win Internationals for her since she couldn't"
"That's so sweet of you." Beth said.
"Yeah..." Hunter reacted shyly. "Anyway, let's move on. Basically a lot of people don't know that I have a little sister."
"You have a sister?" Beth asked surprised. Hunter nodded.
"Yup, her name is Lily, she only a year younger than me. I haven't spoken to her in years since she went to a boarding school in the United States at the age of thirteen."
"Sorry to hear that." Beth said.
"Don't be, we had a fine childhood together, so it was kinda hard to see her leave, but I've moved on." Hunter said. "And further we have my niece Hailey and my aunt Robbin, which you've already met, so that's basically it about my family. Now tell me about yours."
"Sure!" Beth said. "I'm the only child from my parents, Danielle and Chris. Both my parents work a boring office job. I have four cousins in total which aren't that interesting."
"Well, that was short." Hunter said.
"I know, my family isn't that interesting." Beth said. "But can I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Why did your parents named you Hunter? Is there a story behind it or anything?" Beth asked. Hunter chuckled.
"Let me give you a short version of the story." Hunter started. "So my dad's dad, so my grand father, was a hunter. He passed away when my died was still quite young. So when I was born, my father named me after his father's job, Hunter. I actually got bullied a bit at school due my name, I actually kinda disliked my name as well, but ever since my dad told me this story, I'm feeling proud to carry this name."
"That's beautiful." Beth simply said.
"I know." Hunter smiled. "Anyway, should we order a dessert?"
"Sure! I would like to have a-"
Just as Beth was about to make a decission, Hunter's phone rang, without even watching at his screen he rejected the call.
"Sorry about that... What would you like?" Hunter smiled.
"I would like to have-" And again Hunter's phone interrupted Beth's order. He looked at his screen and saw it was Hailey.
"Sorry about that again. Let me pick up the call."
"Sure, go ahead." Beth smiled. With that Hunter walked away from the table and answered the call.
"Hello?" Hunter started.
"Hunter, it's me." The person on the other side of the line answered in a rushed way.
"Hailey? What's going on?" Hunter asked slightly comcerned.
"You need to come home as quickly as possible!" Hailey said as she started crying through the phone.
"Hailey, you're making me scared. Tell me what's going on."
"I can't Hunter. Just please come home, please..." With that Hailey ended the call.
"That was weird." Hunter said as he putted his phone away.
"What's going on? You seem worried." Beth asked concerned.
"I just got a call from a crying Hailey, who told me that I should come home as quickly as possible." Hunter said. "As much as I love to stay, I think I should check on Hailey."
"You should, I totally understand." Beth said. "You go, I'll cover this dinner up"
"Are you sure?" Hunter asked
"Don't worry, I got this. You should go!"
"You're the best." Hunter quickly said before he stood up from his chair, gave Beth a kiss on the cheek and headed out of the restaurant.
(-)
A short fifteen minutes later Hunter reached his aunt's and cousin's house. After he unlocked the front door, Hunter rushed to the living room where he find his aunt crying on the couch, sitting right next to here was Hailey, with tears in her eyes, who was trying to comfort his aunt.
"Robbin, Hailey? What's going on?" Hunter asked extremely worried. Hunter's aunt even started crying more. Hunter faced at his younger cousin, giving her a very puzzled yet worried look. "Hailey? Please tell me whats going on."
Hailey started crying, but she managed calm herself a little by taking a couple of deep breaths.
"Hunter." She started softly. "I'm not sure how to tell you this..."
"Just tell me Hailey." Hunter said. Hailey took another deep breath before telling her cousin what happened.
"Well, my mom and I thought it would be a nice idea to organize a small party with a couple of friends from the studio to celebrate you passing your exams." Hailey began.
"Okay... Please continue."
"So to surprise you even more, we managed to get your parents to come here to Toronto." Hailey continued as tears started to form in her eyes.
"Mom and dad? What happened to them?" Hunter asked confused and concerned at the same time.
"Twenty-five minutes ago we received a call from the police."
"They got arrested?" Hunter asked. Hailey shook her head and continued her story.
"No. The police told us that your parents drove on a road right next to a lake. It was very dark and it was raining hard, so the road was extremely slippery... So... They wanted to take a corner but instead the car slipped of the road and flipped a couple of times before it landed in the lake." Hailey said as she looked down sadly while letting a couple of tears drop from her eyes.
"Oh my God! Are they okay?! Where are they?" Hunter exclaimed with disbelieve.
"Your dad is transported to an hospital. He's..." Hailey took a deep breath in before finishing her sentence. "He's in a coma."
"A coma?" Hunter wondered with shock as his face expression changed and could not manage to hold his tears. "Oh my God... And what about mom?"
"Hunter. I don't know how to tell you this." Hailey said as she walked up to Hunter and hold both of his in a comfortable way. Right before she wants to say it Hailey started crying.
"Tell me Hailey." Hunter said softly.
"Hunter, I'm so sorry to tell you this." Hailey started. "Your mother passed away during the accident."
End Chapter 11
I think this a great moment to give this story a break and post a chapter in like three months or so...
Just kidding, I will upload one more chapter in the month August.
A fun fact about this chapter: The scene with Amanda facing her former teammates and the scene with Chloe and Thalia were actually parts of unreleased two-shots I wanted to post soonly, but since I didn't got a lot of idea's for this chapter, I decided to chop of parts of my stories and paste it on here.
Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter. I would like to know what you thought of it. Also any idea, advice, tip is appreciated.
Oh, and sorry about the length of this chapter, I know it's shorter than usual. I will try to make the next one longer.
Until next time!
~Anonymous writer