Chapter 1
>Chapter 1: The Newest Edition
In a world full of normal people living out normal childhoods and going to school every day like a normal person, Kori decided from a young age that doing so is too drab for her. So much so that when she started dancing, she made it her first priority. Just imagine it: a little four-year-old Korinne walking past Ms Lexi Loves Studio For Dance and being mesmerized by the fact that it is a dance studio and that she finally figured out the words on the flashy sign. As the little girl walked with her mom, she immediately stopped and yelled, "Mommy! I wanna be a ballerina!".
And so, Kori's mom had no other choice but to let her daughter start dancing at one of the most prestigious dance schools in the country where it would be more than likely that she would have to start being homeschooled due to how strict the studio is with scheduling. Kori's mom didn't expect Kori to stay at dance for more than five years, she expected it to be a hobby that dies out, just like all the other ones.
Soccer? It was fun while it lasted, but she quit after 5 weeks due to boredom.
Basketball? It only looked appealing because Kori was taller than everyone.
Musical Theatre? Kori thought everyone there was a snobby, ungrateful brat. Nothing special,
But dance just stuck, and the moment Korinne walked into Ms Lexi's studio, she felt at home. When Kori danced, she never got bored because everything she did was different, and it was the only thing she felt herself constantly improving on. She also learned a lot about herself, like how much she actually hates ballet because of how boring and slow paced it was, how she thought tap was super fun, plus she met her best friend Suzie through their tap duet, or how Modern/Contemporary are interchangeable, and a more fun version of Ballet, and Jazz is the most fun. So when Kori was invited to Ms Lexi's elite all-star competition team, Kori was ecstatic; all of that hard work finally paid off.
INT - The Dance Studio 1 - Afternoon
Monday: First Week of Competition Season
The first week of competition season was always a hoot. After weeks of learning a new dance routine every week to get ready for Ms Lexi’s unpredictable nature and for the unpredictability of the competition, the elite all-star team would finally learn what group dance they’d be competing in. At least for this week.
Kori walks into the studio and gently closes the door. She then walks past the front desk, greeting Front Desk Lady Lisa. The nickname was coined by Kori, she loved the nickname so much that Front Desk Lady Lisa got a plaque with the nickname on it.
As Kori opened the door to the correct dance studio, she heard a faint, “Bitch, wait for me!”, she immediately recognized the voice. Jeulianne, who everyone calls Jewels because it’s simply hard to fathom Jewels being called Jeulianne. As Kori watches Jewels run to the door, she shrugs and walks into the studio without closing the door. The door slightly slams in Jewels’ face,
“Fucking Bitch!”
Kori walks into the dance studio where she is greeted by 5 of the other members of the team, The door is then kicked open, revealing an angry Jewels.
“Korinne King you goddamn BITCH” Jewels screamed, Suzie, the ginger winced at Jewels’ scream, Kori laughed at this, “Oh chill Suzie, you'll get over it!”. Suzie ignored Kori, looking at Jewels. Crystal, or in Kori’s words, “Captain Diva Crystal,” claps her hand, preventing an argument before it starts.
“Alright,” She declared, “Right, right right. Kori slammed the door on Jewels, so what?”. The rest of the girls looked to the captain, except for Arrietty and Acacia, a bad idea… “Acaciaaaaa Arriannaaaaaaa”
“What?!” Acacia's voice cracks. Crystal just sighed, “Ms Lexi should be in here any minute now, we should-”
“Cmon Crystal! We don't really have any dance to DO! Lexi is GONNA teach us a new dance this week!” Arrietty very boldly interrupted. Crystal snaps her fingers at Arrietty before continuing, “What I was GONNA say before Arrianna kindly interrupted me.”
“You can call me Arrietty, you know!”
When everyone was expecting Crystal to absolutely go off, she just sighed, “Is that you all should be stretching, so should I, I will admit that much.” All of the girls talked amongst themselves before Jewels spoke up, “We could listen to Lana J’arae's new song while we wait for Ms Lexi!” The girls all respond in agreement. Crystal nods her head, “I don't care, as long as you're stretching”.
Good old Crystal- serious one moment, unserious the next, very memeable.
Before Jewels could even connect her phone to the speaker, the door opened. The girls immediately froze and turned to the door. Ms Lexi walks into the room, and behind her, a short girl with pale skin, blue eyes, and long, dark brown hair. This girl was a big deal, one of the most decorated solo dancers in the competition scene. Every single competition she went to, she always swept the scores. She always beat Ms Lexi’s soloists, too. Every single girl in this room, she has beat. Most recently, she beat Acacia! The only thing about Lydia was that she had never done a group dance in her life. But when Kori looked at her, it felt like she had been slapped in the face by a car, just standing there, eyes wide, mouth open, winded, absolutely winded. Whoever this girl is, she must've fallen from heaven because Kori had never seen anyone this beautiful before, until now. And those eyes!
Of course, Ms Lexi didn’t notice this. “Good afternoon, class. I know this is so sudden and out of the blue, but I would like to introduce you to your new teammate. This is Lydia. She is from Pittsburgh, and her studio sent her here to compete in groups.”
“We know who she is!” Arrietty said, bitter venom on her tongue. “She’s beaten every single one of us in solos.”
But what Kori heard was: “Blah Blah Blah, Lydia, proper place, social security number, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense.”
Her zone out session ended when Suzie slapped her arm gently,
“Kori! Focus! No thirsting over new teammates!”
“Yeah yeah” Kori scoffed, “I know you're not talking, you were doing the same shit when Jewels joined the team… speaking on that! How’s that been treating y-”
Kori paused when she looked past Suzie to see Crystal giving her a death glare, staring into Kori’s soul. Kori immediately shut up. By the time she turned back to Ms Lexi, she was done introducing Lydia, “Okay Lydia, you can uhhh, stand next to Kori, yeah, right there.”
Ms Lexi points to the spot in between Kori and Arrietty. Kori’s heart pounds as the beautiful girl walks closer to her. Kori steps a bit to the side, making space for her. When Lydia turned back around to face Ms Lexi, Ms Lexi continued, “Alrighty, I know we’ve been practicing potential group dances, but I looked through everything, and I’m just… not in the creative mood for ANY of them! Therefore, we are learning a new group dance to My Sister Says The Saddest Things by Grimes, 2010 peak!”.
Oh, Ms Lexi, always so absurd sometimes.
The girls just blanked at her. What the hell was she talking about? Lydia must be thinking, 'good god, what have I gotten myself into?'. The girls were all quiet for a good five seconds until good captain diva Crystal finally spoke up,
“I think I speak for everyone when I say… Respectfully… What the fuck is that?”. After that, Crystal was followed by people saying, “Language!” or Kori’s oh so serious, “That's a POTTY WORD”, or Jewels’ random, “I don't even have a sister!”.
“Guys, Guys, Guys!” Ms Lexi eventually shouted, “I need to get through the other dances! I’m sending one solo and one duet this week. Crystal, as my captain, you’ll be competing in a BEAUUUuUTIFUL contemporary piece called Start Line by Irene… Lydia, you won't do a solo because I want you to focus on adjusting to being in a group dance setting… Sorry! And Jewels! Suzie!”
Jewels and Suzie look up from their whisper chain thing or whatever,
“You will be doing a duet to “Take Me Away” by Grimes and Bleachers because you two need to get your shit together” Ms Lexi declared, which was followed by Kori’s, “That's a POTTY WORD!”, and then followed by a flustered Suzie looking away, and Jewels’ being ever so clueless, “What does that even MEAN?!”. Then followed by Crystal facepalming, Lydia looking around the room, Acacia doing whatever the hell she would do at this time, and then FINALLY, Arrietty chimed in, “Jewels are you fine in the head?”, and then Jewels…
“Shut up, Arrietty, you have Minecraft wifi!”
“You have a Minecraft brain!”
“You're a bitch!”
“That's a POTTY WORD.”
“And you're slower than a 1980s computer! No wonder Suzie likes you so much”,
After hearing her name, Suzie immediately chimed in,
“Guys, guys! Stop that!”
“Shut up, Suzie. your hair is redder than anger from inside out.”
“Wait, WHAT?!”
The three girls continued to bicker until finally Crystal stopped it
“Oh my GOD! Please SHUT UP! First of all, Jewels stop being oblivious, Arrietty, stop being evil, Suzie, stop taking things personally, Kori I don't care who said a goddamn potty word… We have a new person on this team, and we cannot scare her away because the song Ms Lexi chose for the group dance definitely has potential to!”
Right! Group dance rehearsal! It's probably some insane random Grimes song probably recorded in her basement about a sister saying the saddest things (not Art Angels at all). That is sure to win the group dance category, and depending on how goofy Ms Lexi feels, it will DEFINITELY give some judges PTSD. If that’s the synopsis, Kori is definitely in. The troll in Kori says this idea is great, but the rational Korinne says, “Terrible idea”.
So this idea is great, who the fuck is Korinne anyway?
—
Rehearsal today ended at 8 pm, at least for the girls only in the group dance. god bless the other three.
Or maybe not; Crystal has center disease (self-aware), and she enjoys doing solos more than group dances. She is so focused on herself during a group dance that she never sees if anything else happens besides her doing the moves right. When Jewels told Crystal once that she fell and hurt her knee during a run-through of a dance, Crystal blinked and said, “I didn't see that”. Of course, Crystal felt worried, but she didn't see it happen in the first place.
And definitely not god bless to the other two, the two girls who have been pining for each other since before Jewels was even put on the team. Even then, everyone noticed the glances they always gave each other when Jewels was helping her Auntie Sam at the front desk, even if they didn't notice each other. This duet will hopefully get them to come through.
Kori sat on the bench outside the studio, waiting for Crystal to be done with rehearsal. Crystal was supposed to give Kori a ride home today, but this week, Kori would have to think of solutions to get home without bothering her mother. but as Kori sat on the bench and went through her phone, Lydia sat next to her.
Out of anybody, it just had to be Lydia, Ms. Lydia Kollins.
The girl who just finished her first day here, yet is out here giving Kori a heart attack.
“Hi, Kori, was it?” Kori nodded her head, and Lydia smiled. “What are you doing on the bench?
“Crystal gives me a ride home,” She told Lydia, “But she’s rehearsing til nine this week, I guess.”
Lydia looked away from Kori with a nod, She said nothing for a bit,
“I can give you a ride home”, she smiles back at Kori,
“Oh no, no, no, you don’t need to do that!” Kori refuses, as kind as she possibly can, “You don't need to, that's really nice of you but you barely know me!” to which Lydia just smiled,
“But what if I want to know you?” She asked, as if it were a proposal. Kori felt herself blushing. She grabbed a strand of her blonde hair and held it in front of her face,
“Are you sure?” Kori muttered, the quietest she had ever been in her entire life. Lydia, on the other hand, was still her usual quiet self, but the act she put on in class was nothing compared to her now. Lydia was shy and reserved in class, barely uttering a single word; she just learned the choreography and did it, which often caused Kori to think she was a ghost. Here now, Lydias just soft-spoken, soft-spoken but taking all of the decibels from Koris mouth. Something Kori was unsure on whether or not to forgive her for.
When Lydia gave Kori those puppy dog eyes, and her bright blue eyes stared into her soul for the first time, it felt as if she was being hypnotized, as if Lydia was silently telling her to let her bring Kori home.
“Fine, I’ll text Suzie, and then we’ll go,” Kori said. She texted Crystal and stood up, walking away from her dance bag. “Tell me where your car is!”
“Kori! Your dance bag!” Lydia shouted. Kori turned around, and Lydia started to laugh at this
“Fuck! Lydia, you did not see that.” Kori demanded secrecy, Lydia just continued to laugh,
“Do you always forget your belongings?” Lydia sneered,
“Well, yes!”
—