We were all in the ALDC LA parking lot waiting for Abby. I actually just wanted to go home, I became a nervous wreck the second I woke up. I was literally biting my nails. I just couldn't help it, I saw Maddie do it one day and I started doing it, hopefully I'll stop doing it soon though.

"Thanks for defending us last week." Mom says as we wait.

"That's what a team's about." Holly says.

Sadly, they didn't do the same for her when she needed it.

"Abby crossed the line." Kira adds, "We had to put her on her place."

"Agree." Jess agrees with Kira.

"Something I noticed," Mom looks over to Jill, "You didn't say anything."

"I need to do what's the best for my child." Jill shrugs.

Of course she would.

"And what about the other kids?" Jess asks.

"You never help my kid." Jill snaps.

"We always do!" Kira says, "We always help you and you daughter!"

Before the discussion goes any further, Abby opens the door.

"Hello, hello, hello, ladies." Abby opens the door and I hide behind Maddie, "How is everybody, good?"

She looks at Maddie and I and sighs.

"Come on in." She walks inside and Mom looks at me.

"Be careful, and tell me anything she tells you." Mom tells me, "If it has something to do with last week's incident."

I nod and walk inside with the rest of the girls.

I take my street clothes off, revealing my black and yellow dance clothes, and go to pyramid.

The place was actually pretty nice, it still wasn't finished but it looked pretty good so far. 

"We are here because I wanted you to see the progress." Abby starts, "The word on the street is that we'll be here in three weeks."

"That's you word?" Jill asks, "Or, I mean--"

"That's my general contractor's word." Abby answers, "All right, last week, competition, all those studio kids that were in the audience, they needed to see you be absolutely amazing so that they go home and tell their mom and dad, 'I want to go there'."

"They saw." Jill says, "They saw with their own eyes."

"But they didn't win! They were second!" Abby says, "Okay, Mackenzie has an amazing opportunity this week. She is on set filming a Nickelodeon show. Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn."

At least she looks happy. 

"Mackenzie is the last first place winner we have on this team." Abby mentions.

"But, the duet last week won." Mom tells her.

Abby pretends to be surprised, but it's obvious that she said that on purpose. 

"On the bottom of the pyramid." Abby reveals the bottom three headshots, Maddie, Kenzie, and I, and we all have 'PROBATION', written on front, "You are all on probation for what happened last week. Melanie, you were not careful, you went late onstage, and you dared to talk back--"

"But you did ask her a question." Holly interrupts.

"Shush!" Abby demands, " Mackenzie and Maddie, you didn't stand up to your mother and sister, and you just followed them--"

"But they're my family." Maddie defends herself.

"You're just adding fuel to the fire." Abby tells Maddie, "You need to think what comes first, family or dance."

Maddie rolls her eyes.

Kalani

Nia    JoJo

Kendall Mackenzie  Maddie  Melanie

"This weekend we are attending Believe National Talent Competition." Abby announces, "We have three solos and one group routine. Kendall you're doing a solo this week."

Guess the silence and sitting around to watch the chaos has paid off.

"The name of your solo is 'Burn'. My next solo is going to Nia." Abby continues, "Your solo is entitled 'Can I Do This?'. It's kind of a blues, alright? My third solo is going to Maddie. The name is 'Loose Canon'. You went to a competition and you were second, to your sister."

Huh, again. It's happening again.

"The group routine is a 50's-inspired musical theater piece--"

"That's gonna be great!" Mom exclaims, "I love that!"

"The name of the piece is 'Dance Bop'." Abby says, "So grab your bags, grab your stuff, you're gonna go to rehearsal with me."

Is that supposed to be good? 

We all leave, take our stuff, and go to the other studio to start with rehearsal.

"Maddie go slower." Abby corrects, "Excellent job, Kalani." She looks over to me as we continue dancing, "Watch where you go, Ziegler."

Ziegler? ZIEGLER? I have a name, and that's Melanie. Every single time I feel more like Chloe.

"Kalani, you could be on a Broadway show that takes place on the 50's, come on!" Abby yells.

Love how Kalani ignores Abby's comments and just keeps on dancing, wish I could do the same.

We finish the dance and do the final poses.

"Great." Abby says, not showing any emotion at all, "Great work, but Ziegler, you're late and you make the rest look bad." 

Nia nudges my arm.

"My name's Melanie." I tell Abby, "Not Ziegler. Melanie Victoria Ziegler."

"I'll call you Victoria from now on." Abby stands up and leaves the studio.

"If it helps, I think Victoria's a cute name." Kalani says.

"I knew she wouldn't let me off the hook that fast." I add.

I knew that Abby was going to be mad at me for something I didn't do on purpose. But really? Using old Lukasiak tactics? Abby's instruction manual is really old.

I didn't really tell Mom anything, Maddie did. I just was really tired for the day. Once we got home, I took a quick shower and went to sleep, at 8:30 at night, early.

•Two Days To Competition•

Productive days, they call them. I woke up at 6:20 in the morning today. I literally catched up on homeschool, watched three movies, stretched, stretched twice, and stretched thrice. Attempted to make breakfast, let's just say that Maddie ended up making breakfast, pancakes. I wanted to be on a great mood today, I was ready to ingore all of Abby's snarky comments, I had to do it for myself, for no one else.

We were now all at the studio, Abby was talking with the three soloists, and JoJo and I were playing some I spy. 

"I spy with my little eye something that starts with the letter--" I look around the room, "M."

"Mirror." JoJo answers and I nod, "I spy with my little eye something that starts with the letter-- W'." 

"W?" I ask, "Umm."

I spot something and laugh.

"Really JoJo?" I laugh, "Weave." 

"Yes!" She exclaims and we both laugh.

Kalani sits besides me and starts playing with my hair.

"You two do know that I could hear that from the other side of the room, right?" Kalani asks.

"Did Abby hear?" I ask.

"She isn't really listening at all today." Kalani laughs. 

"Like always." JoJo whispers.

Nia starts practicing her solo and JoJo starts using her phone. Kalani starts doing some simple improv and I just stay right where I was. 

After a while and three solo rehearsals, the Moms and Abby start arguing about classes and Abby decides to give us a class. We all start stretching.

"Kendall, look at your front foot." Gianna corrects her, "It's just laying there. Pick your back foot up. Flex it."

"Who are you talking about?" Abby asks Gianna.

"Look at her front foot, not doing anything." Gianna says.

"Okay, she hasn't had a stretch class in how long?" Jill snaps, "That's not true, ladies."

"Listen!" Abby yells standing up, "Why can't your smart kid do it in the bedroom?! Why can't she stretch on her own?" 

"You know what, Abby?" Jill walks over to Abby.

"LA-ZY!" Abby yells.

"You know they have not had a decent stretch class." We all sit on the floor, listening to the argument, "You can't travel around the world, get in here and expect them to be amazing--"

"Then they should stretch everyday." Abby argues, "You don't need a teacher. Don't you want your kid to be better than the rest of the kids?"

"She is! In my mind, she is!" Jill argues back.

"Kendall, you're finished for today." Abby tells Kendall.

And they just keep on arguing.

"Stop!" Kendall cries, "Please!"

"This isn't about you, Kendall." Jill tells Kendall.

History has been made, it isn't about Jill's little Kendall.

"It is about you!"

"No it's not!"

"It is not!"

"It is not!"

"Well, Kendall-- I guess when we were shooting that music video in that airplane hangar you should've been in class, sweetheart." Abby says.

"No, that's not what we said." Jill says.

There's silence for a moment.

"I'm done." Both Holly and Jill say at the same time and the Moms leave.

Interesting day, they made stretch class a hundred times worse and I felt dead when I got back home. Guess who went to bed at 9:30?

•One Day To Competition•

I was on the living room playing some Mario Party 10, but gotta say, it's super boring playing it alone.

"We're leaving." Maddie tells me and turns off the TV.

"I was against Bowser!" I tell her and she chuckles.

"Get moving." We both get in the car with Mom and go to the studio.

We get off the car and start walking towards the building.

"So, you know Abby was on a bad mood yesterday, and she's just taking everything-- Her personal stuff out on everybody." Mom tells us.

"Yeah, and she made me cry." Maddie adds.

Did I lose something yesterday? I don't recall seeing Maddie crying.

"I know, I know." Mom says, "Just, let it go. She has a lot on her plate. She's opening a studio, she's overwhelmed. It's gonna-- Fine, okay? Let's go up and stretch."

After that weird conversation, we waited for the rest and start the group dance rehearsal.

"Straighten your knees on that!" Abby corrects.

We do the final pose.

"JoJo, your feet were flexed on the side aerial." Abby tells JoJo, "You need to learn how to-- Prepare for a grand jeté properly, and land a grand jeté properly."

She rambles on every single detail, but she should. I mean, she's the dance teacher. The same one who made fun of a medical condition, or the same one who kicks everyone out if they don't feel the same way as she does. That dance teacher.

As we're about to run through the dance again, the door opens, and Tessandra Chavez comes in.

"Wanted to stop and say hi." She walks over to Abby, "And also--"

"I have no idea of who you are." Abby interrupts and my mouth opens in shock.

She KNOWS who Tessandra is, why is she acting like that?

"Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition?" Tessandra says, "I'm stopping by because the moms called and asked me to give them a class, and I said I would not do so until I received your blessing and permission, because I'm old school."

"I don't know who brought you here, under what pretenses, but--"

"The moms called me and I was like, 'I want to speak with Abby first because I've worked  for her on a show previously'--"

"I'm sorry. Give me your name again?"

"Tessandra."

"Now she went crazy." Maddie whispers.

"A while ago." I add, "I'll go get some water."

I start walking towards the door.

"Come back quickly, Victoria." Abby calls after me.

"Victoria?" I hear Mom ask but I already left the room.

I'll tell you what happened, Tessandra left, the Moms and Abby argued. Gianna dismissed all of us, and we had to tell everything that happened to Kenzie when we rehearsed at night. What a day.

•Competition Day•

The solos had already been performed, we were supposed to get ready for the group dance, but life had other plans for us.

"What did you think of the critiques?" Jill asks Abby.

"It was fine." Abby answers.

Once again, something's about to go down.

"I just want to know, what's the disconnect?" Holly asks.

"Overstepping your boundary." Abby tells Holly. 

"Abby, we want the same thing you want." Holly says.

"That's why you're here." Abby adds.

"But we also want to have the training that will back that up." Holly finishes.

"And you don't think you have the training to back that up thus far?" Abby asks.

"You taught us." Nia says, "You gave us all the supplies and tools and everything. But I think that we want now--"

"Okay, that's enough." Abby interrupts 

"We need to figure out what to do here." Jess says.

"You don't need to figure out what to do." Abby says, "The girls know what to do."

After even more arguing, Abby starts crying once again.

"Go give her a hug." Holly tells us, "She's hurting right now."

So she accepts Maddie, Kenzie, and Kendall, but rejects JoJo, Nia, Kalani, and I.

"Why would you ask the other girls to walk away from you, they support you just as much." Kira says.

Both Abby and Gianna laugh and stand up.

We all start standing up and leaving.

"Don't point your finger at me." Abby tells Kira.

"Dont you dare try and make my child look like that!" Kira snaps.

"Call MattyB." Abby laughs and we all leave the dressing room.

"Go to h***!" Kira yells and Abby looks at her, "I said, go to h***!"

"Your kid would rather be with any mother than with you!" Abby yells back.

Kalani holds mine and JoJo's hand and run out of the dressing room.

"Here we go again." Kenzie says as soon as we reunite.

They keep on arguing and Kira starts crying, it was hard getting ready to dance after that, but we did. 

"Please welcome next to the Believe stage, number 47-- 'Dance Bop'." The EMCEE says and we all go onstage.

My little girl, sure ain't lazy. She makes me dance till she drives me crazy. Dancin' fools can't keep up...

~~~

"--Maddie with 'Loose Canon'."

Maddie goes receive her award as we clap.

She was third, Nia was fourth, and Kendall was fifth. At least Abby isn't here, she literally just dissapeared after the argument with Kira.

"Our final category is the 12 to 14 small group." The Announcer says, "Third place, 12 to 14 small group regional Believe champion is-- 'Dance Bop'."

I go receive the Award.

Third place.

Abby isn't gonna like this.

But who cares what she thinks?

I used to.

But not anymore.