Chapter Two

                                    

                                          
Maddie POV:
                          
After my big win at the competition, Miss Abby was very giddy and excited that I’d beaten my former “rival” Chloe just like the olden days. While it was nice to be on her good side again after the rocky few years we’d had since I became a teenager, I felt bad for Chloe. She deserved to win more than I did. She was a fantastic dancer and I felt like she never got credit for it.
                          
Dance had never been the same since our original competition team fell apart. Brooke and Paige left after their mom’s altercation with Abby, Chloe left and then within the next few seasons, the rest of the team disintegrated. Kendall’s dad got a job in Nebraska, forcing them to move out of state and shortly after, Holly and Nia finally had enough of Abby’s attitude and went elsewhere. Even my own little sister didn’t dance at ALDC anymore. When she turned thirteen, she decided she was going to “throw everything away” to become a singer as Abby had claimed. However, since she started public high school this year, her career had been at a standstill. She was just an average cookie in the bunch, a completely normal kid.
                          
While all of my former teammates had gone on to pursue other ventures, I was still at the studio, by no choice of my own. After Mackenzie quit dance, my mom took it really hard and locked herself in her bedroom for three days crying. If I ever told her I wanted to quit, it would completely break her heart. Not to mention, Miss Abby would completely blackmail me for the rest of my life.
                          
Nothing truly horrible had happened between her and I but after she kept pushing everyone out the door, I started getting tired of her shenanigans. Her favoritism towards me had severed my friendships and turned the world against me. I got death threats on Twitter and Instagram. Being “famous” wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
                          
“Congrats to Maddie for smothering that blonde girl this weekend!” Abby congratulated as she revealed me at the top of the pyramid on Tuesday. Though the show had gotten cancelled after season five, she still did the pyramid because it supposedly motivated us to be better. Everyone clapped for me though I didn’t think it was fair that she was still belittling Chloe over four years later. She needed to let all of that go and move on. I’d beaten her by four points. I wouldn’t call that smothering.
                          
Rehearsal went by so slowly that night. She decided to feature a younger girl named Beth instead of me, so I got bored easily. Now that I was sixteen and had my driver’s license, I could drive myself to and from dance and not rely on my mom to take me everywhere. She’d gotten less involved in my dance life after Mackenzie quit. Abby had gotten really furious with her and screamed in her face about how she needed to keep bringing her to dance and things were really awkward between the two of them now. As I drove home in my jeep that night, my mind pondered on what would happen if I just stopped showing up to dance class. I didn’t know who I could confide in to all my frustrations. I couldn’t talk to Mom, because she’d only get upset and if I told Mackenzie, she’d probably tattle on me. After I got out of the shower, I decided to text Chloe. Surely she would understand what I was going through since she’d been to hell and back with Abby herself.