The four of us were on our way to the studio. Maddie sat on front, as usual, while Kenzie and I sat in the back. I was talking with the guys when Mom decided to start talking, especially since we have to film something for the show.

Melie: Heeeeeelp, mom's attempting to talk rn

Emmie: RIP you

Melie: Emma! Pls someone help, I don't wanna talk

Klara: Call me!

Melie: Okay!

"I just got mad that the moms said it was rigged." Kenzie says and I look at her, then back to my phone.

Melie: Change of plans, I wanna talk with them

"I agree." I say, "It was pretty unfair, they won fair and square." I shot Mom a glare, "No one had to say it was rigged."

"We're not saying that word, and we're not talking about that." Mom scolds us, "That's over."

"Well, that's what happened." Kenzie murmurs.

"Okay, but that's not what we're talking about." Mom says.

"Just shush." Maddie adds.

I kick the back of her seat.

"Melanie!" She yells.

"Oops, my bad." I roll my eyes, "It was an accident. And don't talk so loud, just shush."

Kenzie and I high-five as Maddie groans.

"This team is really too stressful." Maddie comments.

"Aren't you happy that you get to do other things besides being on the team?" Mom asks, "I mean, that you get to, you know, you get to do other opportunities."

"Of course." Maddie answers, "Like, not to be rude, but am I gonna choose a movie or a competition? Obviously, I'm gonna chose a movie."

"Right."

"But my team is always what I'm gonna go back to-- I mean, they're my best friends, and I love dancing with them. I'm always going to be an ALDC dancer."

"Right."

"It's not like after I'm done dancing there, because I'm older or I get another job, it's not like I just, like, forget about it. Like, I will never forget about it. It is probably the craziest studio ever--"

"You just went through a red light." I interrupt.

"It was yellow." Mom says.

We get to the studio and Kenzie runs off. Maddie and I follow her inside and get ready for pyramid.

"Welcome back." Abby starts, "We were at Expressions Dance Competition and you guys did really well. We did something that was completely unexpected by the crowd and by the competition, and we were the overall high-score winning group." We all clap, "All right, let's talk about our duet and our trios. First, Nia and Melanie, even though you were second, you guys did a good job, you were just overshadowed by the stuff going on between the trios."

I look over to Nia and we high-five.

"Second of all, Brynn, congratulations. She led her team to victory. You were the highest duet-trio of the event. I thought you were outstanding. From where I was sitting, I loved the number." Abby continues, "Now, you are a member of this team."

"Abby, how do you really feel about moms who don't necessarily agree with the way results went." Ashlee says, "Automatically questioning--"

"Why don't you just stop-- All you want is drama here." Mom says, "Why don't we just go on with the pyramid."

"Okay, I know what you think." Ashlee tells her, "I wasn't talking to you. I was asking Abby."

"Why are we bringing this up?" Holly asks.

"We're talking about the trio--"

"I don't care!" Mom argues.

"You guys never once put and take into account that this kid has feelings, too, ever." Ashlee tells them.

"Because everything out of your mouth is mean and hurtful." Jill argues.

"You're just jealous that Brynn has had a better season than Kendall." Ashlee argues back and everything goes silent, "It's all over social media. It doesn't--"

"Kendall, don't listen to her." Jill tells her daughter, "It's not all social media--"

"I said that I wanted a week with no drama." Kenzie whispers.

"Dreams do not come true in here, Kenz." I whisper back as I cross my arms.

The adults keep on arguing and we just listen and look at them.

"You know what? Why don't we just focus on the pyramid, get movie on to this." Holly says, "Because this is not conductive to the girls."

"This is what it's come down to." Jill says, "Every frickin' day, thanks to that one." She looks over to Ashlee, "You are not allowed to speak or look at my child."

"I wasn't talking to either of you." Ashlee argues, "I was talking to Abby."

"Then don't speak when she's around."

"You know, it just amazes me that she won, you said it was not even the real scores--"

"I'm not dealing with this." Mom storms out.

"I care about her feelings--"

"But--" Abby tries to say.

"So much that she has to tear down every kid to make hers feel good." Jill interrupts both of them.

"I have not torn down kids, Jill."

"Yes, you do. Yes, you do."

"You're the one who tears down kids every day. You guys say crap about my kid all the time!"

"All right!" Abby interrupts and claps her hands.

"No, I'm sorry, she doesn't do that." Kendall says.

"Uh, you're not out there, Kendall, so you don't know." Ashlee tells Kendall.

"Excuse me!" Abby yells as she walks over to Ashlee, "Abby, I am not allowing this woman to--"

Why are you so mean?!" Kendall yells and storms out.

"--Talk about my child like that!"

We all watch Kendall leave.

"Grow the f*** up!" Jill yells at Ashlee, "I'm done. I'm leaving. Good-bye."

"Jill!" Abby yells, "Jill!"

JoJo runs out, followed by Brynn, Kalani and Kenzie.

"Guess that's our cue." Maddie says as the two of us and Nia run out.

Outside, it was worse. All the moms were arguing with one another as they followed Abby around. Brynn was crying her eyes out in Nia's arms, Kendall was nowhere to be found, and Maddie and I were always somehow in the way. So Maddie, JoJo, Kalani, Nia, Kenzie, and I all decided to get into the bathroom where Kendall was. Kenzie was the only one crying, besides Kendall. Jill, Jess and Mom came in later.

"Mackenzie's afraid of you, Ashlee!" Jill yells.

"I don't want to tell her that." Kenzie cries.

"I just want to leave." Kendall adds and Abby comes.

"Who the heck is she?" Abby asks as she walks inside, "She's nobody to you. You're letting that woman get to you instead of blocking her out like she doesn't exist, and if you let this woman do this, what are you going to do on your next job? There's gonna be ten of her!"

I was about to say that I walked into the wrong studio, but this happens on a daily basis, it's like watching a movie unfold.

~~~

When everything calmed down, I walked into the studio to see the pyramid revealed, I think those were pretty good results.

Brynn

Kalani   Mackenzie

Melanie   Nia

Maddie   Kendall

JoJo

I looked for some music on Gia's open laptop and decided to do some improv.

•One Day To Competition•

"Perfect! Take five!" Gia tells us as we do our ending pose.

Brynn, Kenzie, and I have a trio this week. It is called 'Dangerous Woman', and I learned that I shouldn't listen to the song lyrics anymore. It was mainly jazz, even though Kenzie and Brynn do some acrobatic tricks while I just turn. Yeah, they still haven't moved on from season three.

Back at the trampoline room, some of the girls were doing tumbling while others just sat around. I was neither of them. I was working with the silks. I just watched the others do stuff there, and it was pretty relaxing.

"Who's excited about the Cirque du Soleil event tonight?" Kenzie asks.

"Me."

"Me!"

"Me too!"

Tonight, we were going to watch the Cirque du Soleil's "Michael Jackson: One". It could be a way of finally being able to calm down from all of the chaos.

The night came over sooner than I expected, but I was absolutely glad about it.

•Competition Day•

"All right, you are a new member of the team, and you're standing here with some heavy hitters, yes?" Abby tells Brynn, "Mackenzie has a residency with the Abby Lee Dance Company. She was born into it. You never had a choice, did you? Brynn, will you be a resident of the Abby Lee Dance Company?"

"Welcome to the dark side." Kalani smiles.

"Or just visiting." Mom comments a she hands me my team jacket.

"It's like you're playing Monopoly." JoJo comments.

"Ooh, yes!" I exclaim, "You're either in jail, or you're--"

"Just visiting!" JoJo and I exclaim and jump.

"We're not mentioning jail." Abby tells us.

"Poor choice of words." Holly adds as everyone chuckles.

All of us girls follow Abby and we go check out the stage. She was talking about the soloists and stuff. JoJo and I were just goofing off. Now, while the soloists were performing, we were eating popcorn.

"I've never understood the difference between yellow popcorn and rainbow popcorn." I say as we walk down the hall.

"It looks cute." JoJo says, "But does it taste good?"

"No idea." I answer, "We should try it out."

"Right now?" She asks.

"Yeah, while they finish performing." I tell her and we run off to the cafeteria.

There, we buy a huge bowl of popcorn and start eating it.

"It tastes the same." JoJo says, "This was six dollars!"

"If we eat it, we didn't waste any money." I say and shove a bunch into my mouth.

"What are you guys doing here?" Maddie asks as she walks over to us, "Ooh, can I have some?"

"You can." JoJo tells her, "If you don't tell anyone about this."

"Okay, I promise." Maddie says as she takes a bunch.

After eating our ever so delicious popcorn, we went back to the dressing room and I got ready for the trio. I got changed into my costume and quickly worked with my hair.

Backstage. Again. The three of us waited to go on stage.

"Sooooo, who's excited for this?" Brynn asks and we laugh.

"The three of us." Kenzie answers, "And then we do the group dance, awards, and it's finally over!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, next up is entry number 49, 'Dangerous Woman'." The announcer says and we go on stage.

Don't need permission
Made my decision to test my limits
Cause it's my business, God as my witness
Start what I finished
Don't need no hold up
Taking control of this kind of moment
I'm locked and loaded
Completely focused, my mind is open

All that you got, skin to skin, oh my God
Don't ya stop, boy

Somethin' 'bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you
Makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout

Nothing to prove and I'm bulletproof and
Know what I'm doing
The way we're movin' like introducing
Us to a new thing
I wanna savor, save it for later
The taste of flavor, cause I'm a taker
Cause I'm a giver, it's only nature
I live for danger

All that you got, skin to skin, oh my God
Don't ya stop, boy

Somethin' 'bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you
Makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you

All girls wanna be like that
Bad girls underneath, like that
You know how I'm feeling inside
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout
All girls wanna be like that
Bad girls underneath, like that
You know how I'm feeling inside
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout

Somethin' 'bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you
Makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you

All girls wanna be like that
Bad girls underneath like that
You know how I'm feeling inside
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout
All girls wanna be like that
Bad girls underneath like that
You know how I'm feeling inside
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout

Yeah, there's somethin' 'bout you boy

~~~
"What would we do if the moms were in here right now?" JoJo asks as we get ready for the group dance.

"Probably not talk." Maddie answers.

"They'd be trying to get me ready, and I'd like, 'No, Mom, I can do it'." Brynn answers.

"It's actually nice without the moms." Maddie says, "It's less stressful."

"Couldn't have said it any better." I agree as I spray my hair.

"Like, what's happening with this hairstyle?" Kalani asks.

"It's like a faux hawk." Kendall answers.

"No!" Maddie laughs as she work with Kenzie's hair.

"No." Nia laughs, "That's not it at all."

We all laugh until the door opens and the moms come inside.

"Oh, look at your girls!" Holly smiles, "It's almost like you don't need us."

Who knows Holly, maybe.

~~~

Win win win. Literally. The trio, Brynn's solo, and the group were first. Kenzie and Kalani were second in their categories. After an amazing awards ceremony, we all went back to the dressing room.

After a silly string war, Kenzie chased me all around the parking lot with some on her hand. The rest of the girls were just recording and laughing at us. It felt good to live like a kid.

It's sad that I have to say it like if it was something rare.