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Richelle glared into the eyes of the girl who had just walked into Studio-A.
"What are you doing here, Lola?" She demanded of her.
Lola jumped back at this. She bit her lip and brought her hands together to calm herself down. "Well my mum got transferred back here, so I'm auditioning for A-Troupe.
She was what?!
"This can't be happening. My life has been so good right and I don't need her coming back and ruining it," Richelle balled her hands into fists.
Lola noticed this.
"You really think you can waltz back in here and be welcomed with open arms, after you left us." She shouted at her.
Lola flinched.
"After you left me."
~~~
A-troupe had just finished the video to qualify for Regionals. But Richelle knew her hip was getting even worse. She was on the phone with her mother.
Suddenly she heard a voice behind her.
"Richelle, can we talk."
Lola
"Uh how about no?" She answered back with her usual sass.
She began to hobble away but was stopped by Lola grabbing her wrist.
"Please Richelle. You have to understand that I was trying to protect you."
The shorter girl scoffed at her. She yanked her arm out of Lola's grasp.
"Protect me. If you were trying to protect me, you wouldn't have broken my pointe shoe. That was the only support I had for my hip, so if anything you put me in even more danger."
Lola was beginning to feel a pinch of anger.
"Well if you didn't dance in the qualifying video than you wouldn't have been in any danger." She answered back.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm fine."
That was one of the biggest lies she had ever told. Her hip was in excruciating pain, but she was able to hide it. She was Richelle after all.
Her phone pinged in her hand. It was a text from her dad. They were outside waiting for her.
Richelle gave Lola a fake smile. "As much as this chit-chat, my parents are her. She you never, Lola."
She walked past the older girl, bumping her shoulder in the process.
Once outside, she got in the car and greeted her parents.
"So how was it." Her mother asked her.
"It was fun I guess."
Her father, who was in the driver's seat, turned around to look at her. "You sure you okay sweety."
Richelle sighed. She knew she had to tell them.
"No I'm not. I need to tell you guys something."
Here goes nothing.
She told them all about her injury. They were slightly mad that she hadn't told them sooner, but they still drove her to the hospital.
Richelle knew that it was one of the best decisions she had made in her life.
Two days later, she was in her hospital bed on her phone. Piper had texted her to say that they had qualified fore Regionals. Richelle was ecstatic. Her doctor said that her hip would be ready in time. It would only take a few weeks to heal.
During one of the days there, there was a knock on the door. She looked up to see the nurse. "Miss Addams you have a visitor. Will I send them in?"
"Sure" She told her, unsure to who it could be.
The nurse went back out the door and Noah walked in.
He greeted his friend and took one of the seats beside her bed.
She was happy to see him and not...a certain someone.
"How you feeling?"
"I'm feeling a bit better. The doctor said I can leave tomorrow.
This made him smile. "That's good. I was really worried."
"Why?" She questioned.
"You're my best friend, of-course I'm going to be worried."
"Oh...Thanks" Her heart both warmed and hurt a little.
Noah leaned over and gave her a hug. Richelle smiled at the embrace. She wrapped her small arms around his neck.
"Everyone's been asking about you." He said.
"Really?" She wasn't particularly friendly with anyone one A-Troupe besides Noah, so she was more than shocked.
He stopped looking at Richelle and focused looked at his hands.
The brunette was hiding something and Richelle could tell.
"What happened, Noah?"
Noah gulped. He turned to Richelle with a sympathetic expression on his face.
"Well, not everyone asked about you."
Richelle rolled her eyes. She knew who he was referring to.
"Lola"
He gave her a subtle nod.
"Of-course"
This evidently confused him and He raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?"
Richelle shook her head at the question. "It doesn't matter."
"Okay" Noah replied in a baffled tone.
"So who else has visited?" He asked instead, trying to change the subject.
"My parents, Nat, obviously Ozzy, and Elliot."
Noah scrunched up her face in disgust. "Elliot? I didn't know you two were close."
Richelle almost laughed on the look Noah gave her. "We are. Apparently I'm the only one that can keep up with him."
Noah raised his eyes to the ceiling "Talk about an ego maniac."
"Hey" Richelle slapped him on the arm.
"I was talking about Elliot, not you."
"Oh" she said retreating her arm.
"So...why hasn't Lola visited?" Noah asked with a bit of caution.
The blonde clenched her teeth at another mention of her name. Noah gulped nervously. He brought his hands up to his quivering face to protect himself from any upcoming punches.
They never came, though he could tell that Richelle was burning with anger when she responded with: "I want nothing to do with her. Got it?!"
He vigorously nodded his head as her retreated from his defence. "Okay. I just thought that you'd want to say goodbye before she leaves."
"What?!"
~~~
Richelle had not taken the news lightly. After she had gotten out of hospital, she didn't talk to any of the other A-Troupers. It was blatantly obvious that she was hurting but she didn't care to admit it.
Why would she want people knowing that she was wasting her time thinking about someone who broke her heart?
Lola held back the urge to roll her eyes. "Emily already knows that I am here. My mom talked to her and she said that she really wanted me to audition. She and the A-Troupers from last year know that I am a good dancer. So I think I will be fine."
Richelle drew her head back at her ex-bestfriend's words.
Since when had Lola grown that big of a backbone, especially since she talked back to Richelle? Most people knew that if you do that you would not see the light of day.
"Well I'm still here. So don't act like your time on A-Troupe is going to be easy. Considering what you did to my point shoes."
Lola growled at this. "How many times do I have to tell you that I was trying to protect you?"
"And how many times do I have to tell you that I was, and still, am fine?"
Richelle took a big step forward and glared right into Lola's soul. "You know what? I bet you were just trying to sabotage me, because I was a better dancer than you then and I always will be! Some horrible friend you turned out to be."
Richelle could only get a glance of Lola's hand before it struck her in the face.
Awestruck, she brought her own hand up to the red mark that it had left.
"I'm the horrible friend?!" Lola shouted. "I did so much for you and got treated like rubbish!
"I was the only one that talked to you because I thought you could use a friend, even after Noah told me you push people away.
!I helped you run for Dance Captain after the merge, and what do I get? Blamed for you not winning!
"I kept your secret or so long, even missing a day of practice just to get your stupid clean bill of health. I snapped your pointe shoes so that you wouldn't get hurt!
"You have been the horrible friend in this relationship, and I am not going to take it anymore!" Lola roared.
She took off in a sprint to retrieve her bag.
"Lola wait!" Richelle called after her.
Her old friend just glanced at her with so much rage written on her face that she barely recognised her.
Without any more words, she turned on her heel and left to the halls