It was finally time to register for Internationals.
Finally.
And, since Orla was dance captain, she was there with Miss Kate when going to the desk.
Everyone else got another day off.
But it was fun to be in the theatre, looking around and scouting out other teams that might be threats.
"Wow, this is incredible," she said to a smiling Miss Kate. "It's so weird to be here before the competition even starts."
She had facetimed Emily last night, showing her round the hotel and telling her all about Internationals, the dances they were doing and who was in them. She had ended up staying up until around four in the morning, gossiping with her best friend and wishing so hard that she was in Miami with her.
But anyway, right then, she couldn't think about that, as Kate and Orla walked up to the desk, the former saying. "Hello, we're here to register for The Next Step?"
The woman nodded, smiling and looking down her list.
Orla waited with a smile on her face.
Then the woman said. "Are you sure you're in the right place?"
"Yes," Orla answered instantly, worry setting in. "See? TNS, The Next Step," she pointed to the logo on her team tracksuit.
"Your team is not listed," the woman then said.
For a brief second, Orla couldn't breathe.
"Um, I think you should check again," said Kate.
But when the woman did, she just shook her head.
"I have checked twice now. It's not there."
Orla was shocked.
"It could never just be easy, could it?"
♥︎♥︎♥︎
Whilst Kate phoned Phoebe, who had been put in charge of the studio whilst A-Troupe and Kate were away, Orla stayed with the register woman, trying desperately to find TNS on some sort of form.
Finally, she did.
"Look, there! There!" She said determinedly, having found a sheet on which The Next Step Studio was written. "This is us!"
"This is an incomplete list," the woman told her.
"Incomplete?" Orla frowned.
"Because you needed twelve signatures," the woman shrugged. "You only have eleven on there."
Orla looked down at the list. "Only eleven? Who are we miss-?"
Of course.
Of. Course.
"I am not even surprised," Orla gave an irritated sarcastic smile. "It's always James."
"Um, if I get my idiot of a boyfriend to give you his signature today, is that alright?" Orla checked with the woman, who nodded.
"Yeah, you have until the end of the day."
"Okay."
Running back over to her studio head, she got Miss Kate off the phone saying. "Miss Kate! Miss Kate! James didn't sign his form! That's why we're not on the list!"
"Wait, James didn't sign?" Kate checked.
"No, and when I get my hands on him-"
"Okay, okay, Pheobe," Kate went back to the phone. "I need you to listen carefully to me. James didn't sign his form. There's an extra copy in the filing cabinet, so I need you to scan that and send it to me ASAP."
"Got it," Orla heard Phoebe's voice through the phone.
"Good," Kate said, hanging up the phone.
Orla tried to breathe again.
♥︎♥︎♥︎
"Okay! Here we go! Here we go!" Kate said as her phone rang a few minutes later, a scan of the form no doubt there.
"Okay, hi, we're back! There you go," Kate said as they ran to the register woman who took the phone.
But she just said. "We need an original. Not scanned."
"But this is an original that's been scanned," said Orla. "So-"
"Doesn't matter. Doesn't work that way."
Orla rolled her eyes. Does this woman not want us to compete or something?
But then she realised that that meant that they had to get her boyfriend here to sign it.
Great, I can't kill him as soon as I see him, then.
♥︎♥︎♥︎
But the problem was: where was James?
"No one is answering their phones!" Orla growled angrily as she tried for the fifth time to get James<3 to pick up.
"Look, are you sure he didn't say anything about where he was going today?" Kate asked Orla urgently for about the tenth time.
"No, I saw him last night at the hotel when I was facetiming Ems but I don't remember him saying anything-" Orla shook her head.
"Okay, well, keep thinking, we have to find him!" Kate said worriedly, making Orla call Eldon in frustration.
Again, it didn't pick up.
In absolute madness, she decided to look through her and James' text messages.
And there it was. Right there.
A message she hadn't answered that had been sent this morning.
Going to the Everglades today, do u want me to get u anything? x
"Oh damn it."
That was all Orla could say as Miss Kate said. "What? What is it?"
She looked up. "They went to the swamp. The Everglades."
The look on Kate's face, she was sure, mirrored her own.
"I have no idea what we're gonna do because there is no way we're getting ahold of them out there," Kate shook her head.
"They drive me crazy! They drive me crazy!" Kate yelled.
"I know!"
"Why would you go to the Everglades?!"
"Because they're boys!" Orla shouted back, completely agreeing.
"I'm not worried that James is lost at sea," Orla shrugged. "I'm not worried if James got eaten by an alligator. I'm worried for his life when he sees me."
♥︎♥︎♥︎
That was it.
They were going home.
After a failed last ditch attempt to steal the woman's stuff so she stayed open longer, Orla and Kate gave up hope.
"Great. We've spent all year preparing for this. We've battled with Elite, fought for dance captain, replaced people, put up with Ella and her stupid tricks, fought, worked, and had to pull together so much. And now, because of James, it's all for nothing."
"So now what?" Orla asked the studio head.
"I guess we go home," said Kate hopelessly.
"Ugh-"
"Come on-"
"Let's go-"
"We need to-"
With a load of stutters, many shouts and a lot of trip ups, James, West and Eldon ran into the theatre.
"Right, sign the form and then I can kill you!" Orla shouted at James, who had clearly now heard how much he was being hunted by one of the others Orla had phoned.
She basically shoved her boyfriend into the table as, with a shaking hand, he signed the form.
"Does that still count?" Orla asked, practically feeling her heart beating.
The woman at the desk nodded. "Yes-"
"Yesssssssss!"
Her word was drowned out by Orla and Kate, both of whom practically fainted in relief.
"I don't know what I just did, but I did it," James smirked round at them.
"I wouldn't get above yourself," Orla told him with a straight face. Then it broke. "Nah, just joking, come here!"
She brought her boyfriend in for a hug, which he chuckled before returning.
There, in James' arms, Orla smiled warmly.
If only it could stay like this forever.