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I carefully pulled my hair into a tight ponytail and set the bun donut at the end. Slowly rolling it down while turning it, I hold it down against the back of my head as I pin it down. I quickly put the matching net above it and then secured it with the pins. With a quick spritz of strong ass hairspray, I was ready. 

I had light makeup on with my black leotard. I was nervous to say the least. The studio I had chosen was the best in the city and clearly, it had high standards. I heard a lot of people were coming to audition for the competition team and I don't think I was up to par with their standards just like in academics.

Speaking of academics, the test was today morning. The test was okay, I did know the answer to some of it but answers to most of the paper, I was in doubt. I was scared to even go to school for the next few days because I didn't want to see my results. 

I looked at the mirror and then satisfied with my appearance,I walked out of the room and put my sweat pants on. I quickly slide on the hoodie as well before slipping into my thin jacket.

The temperature had considerably dropped over the last couple of days. It felt like it would start snowing every morning, it was that cold. And not surprisingly, the weather channels predict a snow storm next Saturday. I knew that if I needed to survive that, I would have to layer my hoodies underneath my thin ass jacket. 

A knock sounded on my door and I asked them to come in. Moments later, Gwen's head popped in as she smiled ,"Mr. Zion is ready and wants to inform you that if you don't leave in the next five minutes, you might be late," She said in a soft voice. 

"I'll be down in a few minutes, thank you," I muttered as she nodded and left, closing the door behind her. Giving myself a final look once, I picked up my bag and walked out of my room. Sky followed me, right at my heels as I walked down the stairs and to the lobby area. 

Zion was waiting there dressed in a black turtleneck and beige pants. A long beige trench coat to protect him from the cold and black chunky sneakers. His hair was a mess but it matched with his outfit so it's possible that he did that on purpose. 

His eyes followed me down the stairs and as soon as I reached the landing he came forward and took my humongous heavy bag from my hand. I protested but he held his ground and with a defeated look, I followed him outside. 

The car ride was silent as we drove to the studio and as close we would get, I would feel my nerves rising. Zion kept throwing me side glances with a concerned expression on his face.

We reached a full parking lot and Zion sighed as I fiddled with the end of my hoodie and he took a u-turn and drove back towards the entrance. He drove down another entrance which had scarce cars and he parked there. I looked around and my eyes landed on a sign. I rolled my eyes realizing that this was a parking lot for particular special people.

Before I know it, my door was being opened and my eyes landed on Zion who was standing outside, my bag slung over his shoulder as he held the door open for me. I took in a few deep breaths and focused on the dashboard in front of me. 

Giving myself a little pep talk, I undid the seat belt and stepped out of the car. He leaned against the car and I wiped my sweaty hands against my sweats. I was sweating even though the temperature was so cold that I could be shivering but here I was, breaking out in cold sweat.

"Calm down, Astria. You're a great dancer. You'll be fine, okay?" Zion said in a calm voice and I nodded. He knew that that did not work as did I. The amount of cars and the crowd outside the doors proved how famous this team was in the state. 

His hands landed on my shoulders as he looked right into my eyes, "Take deep breaths, yes? Breathe in. Hold. Now out. Just like that," He muttered, rubbing my shoulders a little, trying to calm me down. I followed his directions and felt my heart rate slow down. 

He took his hands off my shoulders when he confirmed that I had calmed down.

"Now, what do I do?"  He asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

"I'm not sure. You can stay here, come inside with me or just go, have fun and then come back in an hour or two," I muttered, shrugging. Honestly, I didn't have any expectations from him. I've learnt my lesson and I would rather not go down that path again. 

"What do guardians usually do when they're here with the ward?" He asked again. 

"Um, the parents usually go in. The relatives don't usually choose to stay. Parents are the ones who choose to stay. So, yeah, nobody's gonna say anything if you go," I said, with a soft smile. It's not like a grown-ass man would want to stay for a dumb audition. 

"Let's go then," He mutters and starts walking towards the huge building, my bag slung over his shoulder. I ran and caught upto him and he slowed down.

"It's fine, I can take it from here," I said as my hands landed on the bkack bag, "You don't have to go inside."

"Of course I have to," He said, scoffing slightly, "I'm watching that damn audition and watching you ace every fucking part of it."

My heart swelled at his words as I smiled softly, taking long strides to keep up with him.I really did not expect him to stay for the audition but if he is going to stay then I have a lot of pressure on me. I have to show him how good of a dancer I am and I absolutely cannot fail. 

Soon, we reached the building and there were two ways, one for the guardians and the other leading to the dancers room. He handed me the bag and leaned forward to land a kiss on my forehead, "You'll do great so stop worrying," He muttered against my forehead and I nodded. 

With one last glance towards him, I walk the opposite way. The hall was huge but there were numerous students, ready and waiting to be called on. I quietly slipped in and entered one of the bathrooms. I quickly removed my jacket, hoodie and sweats and put on a short flowy skirt. I again gave myself a pep talk and stepped out into the crowd of children. I had my number on as did many other children. Just minutes later we were called inside a humongous hall. It was huge enough to fit like a hundred people at once.

Everyone spread out as an instructor started making groups. A group of about eight children stood on the side, analyzing everything that was happening. I assumed they were the team members I was hoping I could join. My eyes were then drawn to the side where I saw all the parents, sitting, watching their children. Zion was in the first row itself as he looked around. It seemed as if he was the only male here who wasn't a dad and damn did he look proud. 

He gave me an ear-splitting smile as I gave a small one back. Soon, my number was called and I stepped forward. Besides me, just one girl was left, rest everyone was divided into groups of ten. "You two can join them," The instructor said as the team came forward. There were four boys, around 5'7 to 6' tall and five girls. They shot us gentle smiles as they stood beside us.

"So, I want you all to start stretching. I want to see your flexibility till Miss Alexandria gets here. You may start now," The instructor said. The groups formed small circles as they settled down and started with their own routines.

I sat on the floor in a full split as did two of the team members. I started doing the side bend followed by some other stretching exercises.

"Hey, I'm Ellie," A girl to my side whispered as she did the same exercise as me. She had a soft smile on her face, her golden hair pulled back in bun and he clothing indicated that she was a member of the competition team.

"I'm Astria," I replied with a small smile of my own. She seemed friendly and it felt great to make friends after so long. Lydel's friends didn't approve of me. They were in now way mean but they had told Lydel that they didn't want me sitting with them. Apparently it was because I had some beef with one of the oldest teachers and it would ruin their reputation in front of the head of the teachers, Miss Whiple, if they were seen hanging out with me. This was normal to me. I know people don't like me in general. I've gone through this a lot, most people wouldn't willingly hangout with me and I had gotten used to it.

But I haven't gotten used to the hurt of rejection that comes with it. I always try hard, as much as I can, but I always disappoint people. 

And I'm tired of being a fucking disappointment all the time.

"Where did you train before this?" She asked.

"Um, I didn't stay here. I just moved in with my brothers, so I guess it doesn't matter," I replied, shrugging.

"Hey you guys, did you notice that Zion Crawford is here?" One of the girl whispers to Ellie and I looked at her with raised eyebrows, "Rumour is that his sister is back and she is applying for the competition team as well."

"That's Blake," Ellie said to me as she helped me put a name to the dark skinned, afro haired beauty, "One of the strongest dancers on the team and as much of a blabbermouth." She giggled. I slightly rolled my eyes as one of the other girls continued.

"Imagine dancing with her. Jeez, I would love it if she got accepted. Just imagine a Crawford in our team. We will be reaching new heights again," She sighed.

"Now that is Sandra, everyone calls her Sandy," She said, introducing the pretty, fair-skinned brunette girl.

"I just want a duet with her regardless of whether Miss Alex accepts her or not," One of the boys muttered.

"Lucas," Ellie said, nodding towards the tall, brown skinned boy, "Hottest boy on the team," she sighed dreamily, "And the biggest player you'll ever meet," She said, rolling her eyes.

"I wish I knew which one she was, like there are one too many people in this studio. How is one supposed to recognize her?" Another boy said, his left leg was stretched up in a straight split held by both of his hands. His skin was a brilliant mocha color and his wild curly hair was held back by a hairband.

"Look for the posh, rich, snobbish girl?"  Another blonde head asked. I looked at her with a discreet glare at the insult. She didn't even know me and here she was judging me. 

"Spare us from your issue projections, Tessa," Blake muttered, rolling her eyes as she stood up, moving on to her next exercise.

"Hey," A girl from my other side whispered, "I'm Tressandra," She introduced herself. Her clothes were different from the other ones so it only meant one thing, that she was competing for that one spot as well. 

"You have a really pretty name," I complimented her and her porcelain skin quickly turned red as I giggled softly, "I'm Astria," I introduced myself.

"Less talking and more stretching," The instructor said from the other side of the room. Her glare was directed towards our group and the members huffed while some rolled their eyes. Tressandra and I gave a sheepish smile to the instructor and each other and went back to our stretching.

 About fifteen minutes later, when everyone was done, a middle-aged strict looking lady walked through the main door in leggings and a full sleeved top. 

Everyone stood up as did I. Her eyes eyes traveled through the crowd of children, observing each and every one of them as we spread out and stood in clean lines ready for the audition stuff. 

"Blake, Tessa and Ellie, come here," She said, her voice loud, clear and hard. The three girls nodded and went to Miss Alexandria from the sidelines where the team was watching everything. 

She then accepted a clipboard from the instructor while muttering something to her selected team members. She then turned to us and said, "Blake, Tessa and Ellie here will demonstrate a sequence and you will follow. As soon as we're done with the sequence, I will have you perform along with these three here. Any number I call will come out and stand on the side," She instructed.

The girl spread out in front of the auditioning children and started instructing us on what to do. Soon the little one minute piece was done and Miss Alexandria came to the front, standing directly in front of the mirror and gesturing something to Lucas.

He nodded in reply and connected a phone to the music system. Soon the music started filtering out of the speakers at an acceptable volume. "Lucas here will replay the song three times only. Practice with the music and the fourth time I will be eliminating some of you so get ready," Miss Alexandria said. The three demonstrators in the front too practiced with us on the soft serene music. From the corner of my eyes I could see a few girls struggling with a couple steps. 

One of the girls looked at me and I discreetly showed her how to do it with the beat. She gave me a smile as a thankyou as did the other girls. I flashed a smile right back at her and secretly looked around. My eyes came in direct contact with Miss Alexandria's narrowed brown eyes. I quickly broke the contact and cleared my throat picking up with the music. 

Lucas gave a little pause between the rehearsal and the audition thing. Miss Alexandria nodded towards him and the demonstrators got ready as did everyone else. The soft serene music started and so did I.

The demonstrators glided around the floor, gracefully, with the softest expressions on their face as did the people behind them. I tired my best to be as graceful as Blake, as precise as Tessa and as soft as Ellie. 

Not even ten seconds into the sequence, the first boy was called out. I ignored all of the dancing people around me, the people being called out and calculating eyes of Miss Alexandria and her instructors. It was just me, the three beautiful girls in front of me and the music flowing through the slippers. I did not tumble out of the turn, I did not miss any beat and neither did I lose my relevé. My expression was set to what I thought the song indicated. 

As the song ended and everybody striked the pose, I noticed that at least half of the people were eliminated. Some of them were in tears, some were just leaving because they got rejected. I sighed and Miss Alexandria went on, "Now that there's half of you, we're going to have you improv on the music played by Lucas again. There will be two rounds of improv. First will be just all of you guys performing at once. For the second round there will be an improv duel among the selected few," She said and gestured Licas to start the music.

The music was soft but powerful at the same time. From the corner of my eyes I could see some boys and girls doing Jazz and it did go well but Lyrical is my strong point so I'm going to go with that. The song did go well with Lyrical but it will be quite complicated but if I nail the choreography that I have in my head then I'm going to make it through this round. 

My eyes remained on the mirror the whole time. From the corner of my eyes I could see Lucas and Blake staring at me, I could also see some amazing turn sequences the dancers added to their sequence. I sighed as I striked a pose when the music ended. A light round of applause was heard from the parents, the instructors and the team. There were just nine of us remaining now, Tressandra was standing beside me, smiling widely while I tried to as well. But my nerves were getting the best of me. 

"Now, this round will be an improv duel. I will call two dancers who will go face to face. Each one will get 30 seconds. This will be a quick elimination, last one standing will be my last team member," Miss Alexandria said as the remaining dancers nodded. We moved to the side and joined the team members as she selected two boys to go against each other. 

Tessa stood on my right while Blake on my left, "Fuck the Crawford, I need you on our. I don't care if she gets selected or not, I'm rooting for you," She muttered softly to me. A soft smile rose on my face as I thanked her. Even though she basically asked me to fuck myself over, she complimented me. A weird compliment but a compliment nonetheless.

"I agree," Tessa nodded from my other side, "I'm like 90% sure it's you. The ten percent is that you tumble on your turns or you don't know your terminology." She said. 

"I'm glad you got your head out of your ass, Tessa," Blake muttered, a small smirk on her face as she watched the brunette boy basically trash the blonde one. The result was clear. A girl was called on to battle the brunette next and I watched him closely. 

"Shut the fuck up Blake before I knock you out cold," Tessa replied rolling her eyes. My eyes widened as I turned to Blake. She just scoffed and looked away from Tessa.

"Don't worry," She said when she looked at my alarmed face, "This is an everyday thing. She never hurts anyone. She's harmless."

Tessa chose not to comment on it as she just turned to the battle. The brunette won another round and now he was starting to concern me. I was scared that if I went against him, I would lose and I'm not ready for that. 

I sighed when he won his third round and Miss Alexandria called him to the side. He wasn't eliminated but he was called to the side, I'm not sure if that's good or not. I was called on next along with a blonde guy. I took a deep breath and the guy's turn was first. 

I tried to look as unbothered as I could as the crowd cheered him on. He ended in thirty second and it was my turn. I chose jazz this time. The music went perfectly with the steps I chose and even though Lyrical is my strong point, I can't do that everytime. I wanted to show the instructors that I could a lot of other styles than just Lyrical.

I put on my sassiest expression as I danced to the beat. I could see the boy's expression fall and in that moment I knew I had won this one. Next one against me was Tressandra. I didn't want her to lose but if she wins then I'll be disappointing my brothers and that scared me so much more. 

I know I'm going to disappoint them in academics and sports, dance is the only thing I can do good and I want them to be proud of me. I put up a hard front as she turned and leaped and moved with the flow of the music. As soon as it was my turn, I danced to the best of my ability.

The next person against me was a girl, a short one, petite and young. She did well. Compared, to the others she looked quite young but she was an amazing dancer with technique on point and perfect turns. 

As soon as it ended, we turned to Miss Alexandria who looked deep in thought, "Now you," She said to the young girl, "You're a good dancer and your technique is great but I don't think you're the best person for this team. I don't think you would fit well with this team," She said and dismissed the girl.

"Next, the two of you," She said to me and the boy, "Now, it's between you two. You are great at improv in general," She referred to the boy, "But I really admire your technique and how quick you pick up the choreography. So, this is it," She said, as Lucas turned up the music.

I went first this time. I had observed the boy very closely and I knew where he made miniscule mistakes. As said by Miss Alex, I discreetly incorporated the steps in which he was wrong and showed off my technique as I nail each and every one of them. 

He went next. His steps were more precise this time as he looked me in the eyes and nailed every step he did. Before, he was risking it, trying new steps, this time, he came stronger than ever and I couldn't help but worry that I wasn't going to win this one. 

When the music stopped, we both smiled and shook hands, complimenting each other as we turned to Miss Alex. She looked troubled as she sighed and turned to the two instructors standing beside her.

They discussed some things amongst themselves and she turned to us. "I want you show me your best turn sequence. Go all out," She said.

The brunette went first. His did at least fourteen fouettes and ended with like seven pirouettes followed by more fouettes and pirouettes. It was really pleasing to the eyes to watch him do fancy hand work accompanied with almost perfect turns.

It was my turn next and I decided to show off my flexibility along with my preciseness. I got ready as Lucas started the music. I started with fouettes, my left leg gradually raised until it was held up in a straight split by my left arm as I turned. I then slowly lowered it and did a couple fouettes before ending with the maximum amount of pirouettes I could do and stopped with a split where I bent, waist down, careful not to touch the floor as my left leg went straight up. As soon as I stopped, I could hear cheers from the team as well as the crowd of the parents. The instructors and Miss Alex were clearly criticizing my moves as they discussed among themselves as the cheering slowed. Except for the sound of one person clapping, everyone was silent. 

I looked beside me to see Zion standing, clapping, his eyes shining with pride as he shot me a small smile. Heat rose up my cheeks as Miss Alex sent him a small smirk before going back to her work. I looked at my feet, my face red as a tomato. It was embarrassing but I also felt the unconditional amount if pride and love flowing off of him and I've never wanted anything more than to hug him there but I held myself back. 

"How old are you?" Miss Alex asked me.

"Fifteen," I replied softly, short pants escaping me as the adrenaline wore off.

"And when is your birthday?" She asked again, scribbling something down.

"In January," I replied.

"And you're here for just one competition season?" She asked and I nodded. This is what I feared, I wasn't sure if she would want someone on her team who would be just on the team for a year.

"And you?" She pointed to the boy who was standing beside me.

"Eighteen, birthday in the next month," He replied confidently and she scribbled something again on the clipboard.

She finally looked up and started, "So, the registration this time is a little late. If we apply, you will be nineteen by then and you will pull our age up. We compete in the 15-18 category while you will drag us up to the 19 and above. None of my team members are over 17. They will be eighteen during the competition season. So, you're an amazing dancer but this team is not for you. You'll be better off applying for the senior team when there's an audition," She finalized as a smile blossomed on my lips. The boy nodded and left the floor as I looked at Miss Alex in anticipation.

"So, congratulations!" She said to me as a slight smile curled her lips, "You made it to the team. You will be on probationary period for the next two weeks. Try to be your best, rest of the information will be given tomorrow," She said and I nodded. The instructors and Miss Alex then exited the room and I turned to look at everyone standing up and stretching. 

I fast walked towards Zion with the biggest smile on my face. As soon as I was within an arm's reach he pulled me in an embrace. I smiled against his chest as his strong arms encircled me. 

"I did it," I exclaimed softly as he kissed the crown of my head.

"You were amazing," He whispered as I pulled away. The pride shining in his eyes along with adoration was too overwhelming but at the same time, I couldn't look away.

It was a great day. First with Octavian and how he agreed with me and now with Zion. The only worst thing was the test. But it didn't matter.

Three down, one to go. 

One that will probably take a whole of six months.

***

Thirteenth chapter peeps, I hope you liked it. To anyonr and everyone who was bored because of the amount of dance things in this chapter, I'm sorry. I just really wanted to incoeporate some dance things!!!

Anyways, who is your faviourite brother and do you like her friends (ellie, Lydel, Jesper, etc.)??

Also, this chapter was like 4000 so.ething words. I think I really outdid myself today 🥲🥲🥲.

So, if you liked the chapter, please vote and share!! Comment and tell me about your faviourite part of this chapter!!

A lil sneak peak into the next chapter:

When I finally felt alright, I walked over to the nearest girl's washroom. Leaning against the counter, I took deep gulps of breath and fished out my phone. My finger hovered above Octavian's contact. I was scared and didn't know what was happening. And my first instinct was to call him. The level headed, calm, smart brother.

So yeah, stay tuned for the drama!!

QOTD: Faviourite month???
AOTD: December or January!!

A random sibling meme

Toodles

~Ash