"Three hours of peace left." Kenzie says as we do some homeschool on the kitchen table.

"I don't wanna go." Maddie says, "I mean, Abby called us sore losers, but she's the one that tells us that first place is the only place that matters."

"Yeah and we weren't upset because of that, we were upset of the fact that she just cares about us when we win." I say and close my notebook. 

"Where are you going? Did you finish?" Kenzie asks as I stand up.

"Mhm, I'm going to change." I say and go to my room.

I change into my dancewear and sigh. We are probably going to be the worse brats of America because of the show, and we weren't being brats! That's the problem, the sneaky editing.

We all get ready and go to the studio. There I go to the Dancer's Den and sit beside Emma.

"So you know that literally almost all of the girls left?" Emma asks me and I look at her.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I mean Mia, Zoe, Julie, and Becky, they all left the studio." Emma tells me and my mouth opens in shock.

"And Zoe was the one who called Mia rude for not saying goodbye, does that mean that the only ones left are Klara, you, and I?" I say and she nods.

"But on the bright side, we are going to be now with the other group, that means more people." Emma says.

"Oh, by the way, do you know where Brooke is, I let her borrow my tap shoes because she had left hers at her house, but I haven't seen her lately." I ask her.

"I think she was on either studio B or C, because Abby is on studio A setting the show's pyramid up." Emma tells me and I stand up.

I go check on studio B, there are the seniors, I go to studio C, there she is with Sarah H. and Kenzie. 

"Brooke, do you still have my tap shoes?" I ask.

"Yeah, they're actually on my dance bag." Brooke K says, "It is on the Dancer's Den, so you can go and take them."

"Are they gonna start filming now?" Sarah H asks and I shake my head. 

"Nah they're still working with pyramid, thanks Brooke." I say and leave.

I go back to the Dancer's Den and take my shoes. I start stretching and soon we have to enter to studio A for pyramid.

"You guys are two for two, losing. Two for two to the select team. How did it fell to get beat? Not good. Girls, I wasn't disappointed in your dancing, I wasn't disappointed in your hard work. I was disappointed in your attitude after the competition. You need to suck it up!"

Clearly Abby doesn't understand that we weren't upset because we were second, we were upset because she only cares about us when we are first and slaps her name on our backs and when we lose it is like 'Ooh, I don't even know you' and we're the disappointment.

"All right, let's get to the pyramid. First we have Chloe. The turn section in the end, it just was never in sync. Maddie. You've always been the leader, although you're not the oldest dancer here. That means when things go wrong, people are following your lead. Kendall, you did a nice job. You did great, but you were part of that turn trio. You know it could have been better. Nia. If you are not born with it, you have to just work harder. If you're not flexible, it's gonna take you longer to get the flexibility than somebody that is naturally flexible. Next is Melanie. You were good on the group, not the best, but you weren't the worst. The trio you had the lead in was second, but to be honest, Scarlett rushed the entire routine, which made Mackenzie and you look like if you were late the whole time."

Sarah

Mackenzie Melanie Nia Kendall Maddie Chloe

"This week we will be competing in In10sity Dance Competition in Cleveland, Ohio. We're doing a group routine, it's contemporary ballet aptly titled 'Broken Dolls'. You are my dolls, right? That's what people think. America's sweethearts. But now you're broken and you let everyone see it. We also have two duets, the name of the first one is 'That Girl Has Gotta Be Kissed'. Maddie, you will be the female lead in the duet."

"I'm looking for the boy, I'm looking for the he." Holly says and we laugh.

"And your partner is Gino. Gino from Cathy's former team is here in Pittsburgh and will come later. The name of the second duet is 'Break Free' and Melanie will be the female lead."

"Wait so you're setting my daughters up now?" Mom asks and we laugh.

"I don't wanna be next." Kenzie says.

"I could try to. The male lead is Peter from this studio, they're good friends."

I look at Abby and laugh, now Abby wants to be Cupid, but I do not like him.

After pyramid and the group dance rehearsal I lay on the Dancer's Den floor.

"You look homeless down there." Maddie says and sits down.

"My foot hurts." I say.

"The same one you got injured?" She asks and I nod, "Be careful."

"Are you excited for your duet?" I ask and laugh.

"Ha ha very funny. I really don't know what to expect." Maddie says.

"Mads, prince charming is here!" We hear Kendall say and I keep on laughing.

"Stoooooop!" Maddie says and we enter studio A, where all of the girls were with Abby, Gino, and his dad.

"So girls, you know Gino. All of you. I'm sure you keep in touch. We are going up against Cathy this week. We're taking one of Cathy's old, solicited students, back. So he has to be better than any of her guys. This is about going and make Cathy, eat applesauce."

I really like applesauce! Oh . . . Right.

•One Day To Competition•

I enter Studio C and meet up with the group, my friend group.

"Melanie, please tell Peter that he isn't automatically going to LA after being on the show once." Emma says and Klara and I laugh.

"Oh Pete." I say.

We take our tap class and then Peter and I have to go get ready to be on camera.

"Come on in!" We hear Abby say and enter studio A. "Okay, the duet is called 'Break Free' and it is jazz gymnastics. Melanie, I scheduled you a gymnastics class with the juniors after rehearsal."

We start practicing.

"Now you try to kiss her cheek but she will push you away, this is kinda like Maddie and Gino's duet." Abby says.

I push him away and then run to do a front aerial. We continue like that for maybe an hour until she dismisses us. Maddie and Gino go in and suddenly the door flies open and Maddie runs out.

We all go follow her to the front desk.

"I kissed Gino." Maddie says.

"You kissed him on the lips?" Chloe asks excitedly.

"Ew, I had to!" Maddie tells her, "It's in the dance!"

"Maddie! You had your first kiss, before me!" Chloe says and we burst out laughing.

"No, it wasn't really." Maddie says and walks away.

"But it was a kiss!" Chloe says.

Oh well, Chloe just won't let it go, just as we won't either.

Competition day, again, and I'm sleeping on the bus, again, until Kenzie wakes me up.

"Are we there yet?" I ask.

"No." She answers.

"So why did you wake me?" I ask again.

"Because I wanted to."

"Ugh."

She laughs as I take my phone and try to turn it on.

"You forgot to charge it." Kenzie says and I look at her.

I groan as the bus stops, we get off at the competition and go to the dressing room. There I get into my costume and start doing my makeup. We all go backstage and do our handshake.

"One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four."

"Next up is entry number 17, this is a mini jazz duet, 'Break Free'." The announcer says and the music starts.

"Come on." Peter says and we run on stage, no we didn't go in late, it was for the dance.

If you want it, take it
I should have said it before
Tried to hide it, fake it
I can't pretend anymore

I only want to die alive
Never by the hands of a broken heart
I don't wanna hear you lie tonight
Now that I've become who I really am

This is the part when I say I don't want ya
I'm stronger than I've been before
This is the part when I break free
'Cause I can't resist it no more

This is the part when I say I don't want ya
I'm stronger than I've been before
This is the part when I break free
'Cause I can't resist it no more

You were better, deeper
I was under your spell
Like a deadly fever, yeah, babe
On the highway to h***

I only want to die alive
Never by the hands of a broken heart
I don't wanna hear you lie tonight
Now that I've become who I really am

This is the part when I say I don't want ya
I'm stronger than I've been before
This is the part when I break free
'Cause I can't resist it no more

This is the part when I say I don't want ya
I'm stronger than I've been before
This is the part when I break free
'Cause I can't resist it no more

Thought of your body, I came alive
It was lethal, it was fatal
In my dreams it felt so right
But I woke up every time
Oh baby

This is the part when I say I don't want ya
I'm stronger than I've been before
This is the part when I break free
'Cause I can't resist it no more

This is the part when I say I don't want ya
I'm stronger than I've been before
This is the part when I break free
'Cause I can't resist it no more

At the end, I pretend to punch him, don't ask, and he lays on the floor as I pose. He stands up and we both leave the stage. We wait for Maddie and Gino's duet and then we go to the dressing room. I change into the group dance costume and Mom starts doing my makeup.

"Let's learn from what happened last week, it's all or nothing. You have an opportunity, two and a half minutes. You go out there, you kill it." Abby continues talking as I start doing my hair and spray it.

We go and dance and then awards start. 

"Next up is your top highest mini duet/trio, third place is entry number 28, 'Goodbyes'. Second place is entry number 12, 'Party Time'. And in first place is entry number 17, 'Break Free'."

Peter and I stand up and go receive the award.

"And what studio are you from?"

"Abby Lee Dance Company."

We go sit down and wait for the group, the duet was second and the CADC duet was first.

"Okay, moving up to our top five highest elite junior small groups. Third overall, act number 17, 'Boys, Boys, Boys'. Second overall is act number 33, 'Conspiracy'. Your first overall, act number 34, 'Broken Dolls'."

We cheer and go receive the award. 

Now we proved to Abby that we aren't broken dolls, we're winners!