“I know Mia didn’t do it. She can’t even do such a thing so it has to be one of you” Lakshmi pointed her finger at both of them.
” Now you’re just taking sides, we have been working our asses off, trying to master the dance while she just sat there, watching us and pointing out our mistakes and you are here accusing us. How nice” grace had also begun to argue with Lakshmi.
“Well yes” Lakshmi folded her hands and rolled her eyes.
“All of you should just stop it, your arguing is making me confused” Mia yelled and blocked her eyes.
Mia could sense that someone was listening to their conversation from outside so she opened the bathroom door only to find Bella who was leaning on the door with her glued to the door, suddenly fell inside the bathroom once the door was opened.
She was so embarrassed when she was caught that she ran away. Mia shut the door properly and made the girls move further into the bathroom.
“We should discuss this at your house this weekend” Mia spoke to Lakshmi directly.
“There is nothing to discuss, we quit” Juliet blurted out.
“You can’t quit,” Mia said slowly.
“And why?” Grace was in support of Juliet’s decision.
“Because that is exactly what Bella wants. She wants you to quit so that Lakshmi won’t be able to perform and you will lose even before you partake in the competition.
She was the one that had cameras installed in the gym hall so she could copy your dance. So if you girls quit now, she will win and you even before the competition” Mia explained slowly as she kept on twisting her right index finger with her left fingers.
“I’m sorry” Lakshmi was the first person to apologize.
“We are sorry too but we just can’t let Bella get away with this. I think we should do something about this and we should do it fast before we run out of time to rehearse a new dance, ” Grace suggested.
“You would still dance with me even after I had accused you” Lakshmi was almost in tears.
“Of course we will,” Juliet hugged Lakshmi.
“If you guys are done with your reconciliation, then I have an idea to teach Bella a lesson” Mia was on her toes, slowly touching the ground with the sole of her feet at time intervals like a motion as she twisted her finger.
“And what could sweet Mia think of” Lakshmi tried a friendly mockery.
“We will deceive Bella and her friends. We would make her think that you girls will no longer be dancing together again and that you have separated” Mia explained.
“But she will find out later” Juliet was stating the obvious.
“Yes but by then you girls would have been done practicing and there would be no time left for her to copy your new dance” Mia said.
“That’s true, that’s so smart of you Mia, way to go” Lakshmi praised Mia and handed her a high five.
The girls immediately worked on the first face of their plan, they all came outside the bathroom yelling and screaming at each other.
“That’s it. I am done with you Lakshmi, you are a horrible person. You don’t even have what it takes to win a dance competition and you have the guts to talk to me the way it pleases you” Juliet yelled at Lakshmi.
“Oh please just shut up, you should be grateful to me as a matter of fact you are meant to be kissing my feet right now because I trained you. You were the worst dancer I had ever seen. In fact even a horse danced better than you before I brushed you up” Lakshmi fired back.
To a point the girls began to pull each other’s hair but Mia seperated and whispered that they were taking the fight too far.
Bella was smiling inwardly to herself that he had somehow managed to separate the girls, she had torn them apart and she was sure nothing would be able to stop her from winning the competition with Lakshmi and her team out of the way.
She had always been so scared of Lakshmi, she knew how good she was at dancing and singing, it was her talent, inwardly she was aware of the fact that if Lakshmi was to perform then she would have no chance at winning the competition or so she thought.
Throughout the school period, Bella had been monitoring the girls and after seeing the negative energy they were giving each other and the way they were trying to avoid each other the whole day, she was satisfied and convinced.
Lakshmi watched as Bella’s driver came to pick her up, her friends had also left after school hours.
“Well that went as planned” Lakshmi high fived everyone.
“Yes,” Juliet and Grace said at the same time. They were so happy they had managed to deceive Bella and her friends.
“But don’t you think you were a bit too harsh to me Juliet?” Lakshmi raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe, I have always wanted to tell you off for bullying me back then but that was then. Sorry if I overreacted” Juliet was remorseful.
“The apology wasn’t necessary, jeez, we both barked at each other like dogs” Lakshmi laughed and soon laughter filled the air.
All three girls spent the weekend at Lakshmi’s house, they kept on rehearsing non stop but this time they added a twist to the dance. They wanted to tell a story through their dance and be unique amongst other contestants.
The plan was to combine both India’s music and dance with that of America. They wanted to merge the two countries and merge two different continents together. It really
wasn’t a walk in the park as they kept on failing and it didn’t make any sense in the beginning but the more they tried the more they got better.
Lakshmi had two Indian costumes made, she made the two for herself. she was to put on one and keep one in case something happened to the other one.
When Juliet and Grace put on their American costumes, they were to look like American rappers and where to also dress up like boys. The most challenging part of it was that they had to rehearse in secret and had to stay in lakshmi’s house throughout the week, convincing their parents was also a very difficult task.
But they managed to scale their way through it. Their whole plan flopped when Bella finally found out about their secret rehearsals. She didn’t really find out about the rehearsals though, she just found out that the girls were staying with Lakshmi so she put two and two together.