Chapter 49

       At the beginning of almost every D.A.N.C.E rehearsal, we did our warm up dance to just let loose and get in the mood of dancing. It definitely helped us forget about any other problem going on in our lives.

       It definitely didn't help when my current problem was standing in the dance studio.

       I didn't even know why Yvonne wanted to be on our team. She clearly didn't like any of us, and she hated the dances. She was always going on and on about how we should change the choreography.

       The worst part was how she still acted like a team member when Dad was in the room. When he wasn't she would turn into the most annoying person ever.

       While we were doing the warm up dance, Yvonne was just standing by the side, watching with her arms crossed over her chest. She never bothered to learn the dance, saying that it 'wasn't important'.

       Honestly, it kind of was. While we were never going to perform it at a competition, it helped us get into the mood of dancing and bond together as a team. On those few rehearsals where we didn't do the warm up dance, we didn't work as well as we normally did.

       And while she refused to learn the dance because we weren't going to be performing it, she still wouldn't stop telling us what we were doing wrong and if we were in the wrong spot.

       I was mostly the one she picked on for whatever reason. It was always, "Rhys, your arms are not where they're supposed to be," or "Rhys, you're a step behind everyone."

       I didn't do too well under stress. I could perform perfectly fine because I was always with someone else so I knew the audience's eyes weren't only on me.

       So when Yvonne was picking out every little thing, I started messing up a lot more and kept bumping into everyone.

       When I bumped into my twin brother for the third time, he walked over to the speakers and stopped the music before looking at Yvonne. "What's your problem?" he asked. "This is a warm up dance. We're not dancing for it to be perfect. We're dancing to get in rid of all the stress we have outside of our dance life, but you're just making things a lot more stressful on everyone."

       "It wasn't my fault Rhys was messing up so badly," Yvonne said. "Why is he even on the team?"

       "Who cares if he was messing up during this dance?" Zayden asked. "It's a warm up dance. You should know considering you refuse to learn it because we'll never perform it. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't even have to be in sync. It's just for warm up."

       "If you're not even in sync for a warm up dance, then you're obviously not going to be in sync for any other dance," Yvonne said. "And like I said, why is Rhys even on the team? Oh, right. Because his dad owns the studio."

       "Actually, it's because he's an amazing dancer," Dad suddenly said, standing behind Yvonne. I didn't even notice he was there, but thank goodness he was so he could see I was actually telling the truth about Yvonne. "You know, he hasn't taken a single dance class before being on the team. He learned everything just by sitting in on rehearsals. He's a natural born dancer and he would have been on the team regardless of him being my son or not."

       "Ha ha," Zayden said with a smug smile. Dad gave him a look to tell him not to, but that didn't whip Zayden's smile off of his face.

       Dad looked back at Yvonne. "I want you to pack up and leave."

       "What?" Yvonne asked. "Why?"

       "Because I only want team players on my team," Dad said. "The team doesn't need someone who is undermining everyone else."

       "Fine," Yvonne said. "But your lame team needs me, and you'll regret kicking me off."

       "I doubt it," Dad said as Yvonne walked over to the cubbies, grabbed her belongings, and left.

       "Thank you, Uncle Ryder!" Kingsley said happily. "I was getting really annoyed and I thought I would have had to take matters into my own hands and borrow my dads' shovels so I can... do some gardening."

       Dad sighed. "Well, I'm sorry for letting her stay on the team for so long when Zayden and Rhys told me she was being too unbearable. But she's wrong. We don't need her. You've all done so well without her, so it's not going to make any difference. Now why don't you all start the warm up dance again so she won't be able to mess it up, and then get started on your separate dances?"

       We did the warm up dance one more time, and it felt a lot better without Yvonne's useless commentaries on how I was in the wrong spot or doing the wrong move.

       Afterwards, Echo and I went to one of the smaller studios to work on our duet. "You know, I have a bad feeling about Yvonne being kicked off of the team," Echo said.

       "Why?" I asked. "We didn't need her at all and she was only making things a lot worse."

       "I know," Echo said. "But... I know her, Rhys. I know her a bit too well."

       "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

        "Yvonne won't stop until she gets her way," Echo said. "And if she's mad about being kicked off of this team, she's going to do whatever she can to take D.A.N.C.E down. She could ruin our chances at Internationals."

       "Well, I don't doubt that she will try taking us down," I said. "But the only way she can is if she joins another team. It's too close to Internationals for someone to join a team. She only got lucky because my dad was looking for an alternate. She can't do anything else about it... Right?"

       "Honestly, we can never be too careful," Echo said. "I just have a feeling that things aren't going to go down easily."

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There's one more chapter left. :O

And then my buttface of a baby Zayden gets a book. :D

WOO

(and im waiting for season six of the next step to air in hopes that ozzy and piper will date because i need me my recho gifs) I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH. OOH BUT I HAVE THIS ONE: (kind of. rhys and echo are in the same gif so it counts)(and damn ryder):

I CAN'T WAIT FOR SEASON SIX BECAUSE OZZY LOOKS A LOT MORE GROWN UP AND I FEEL LIKE A PROUD MOM.