centerstage6

Chapter 6:

"There ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from
getting to you....!" Vegas sang to herself as she got ready for the show. "Let's give that Raygn a taste of her
own medicine." She thought to herself as she put the finishing touches on her makeup.

"Hey Lucky... you ready yet?" Melissa called to her from the other room. "Yeah, I'm coming. You have the stuff?" Vegas asked as she came out of the bathroom. "Got it!" Melly smiled. "All right, let's go then." Vegas smiled her evily bitchy grin. Melissa smiled along with her.

~Raygn and the others~

"So you all know the plan right?" I asked the others as we arrived at the arena. They all nodded in agreement.
We got out of the van, carrying no luggage, no costumes, just our confidence that this plan wouldn't fall through.

~Melissa and Vegas~

"That Raygn will never know what hit her! Let's put her in her place!" Melissa took the bag out of the car and
followed Vegas into the backstage area.

~~Everyone~~

"As we prepare for our show, let God watch over us. As we perform the show, let God watch over us. And most of all God bless each one of us and all of our fans in the audience tonight." Howie led the backstage pre-show prayer. "All right, here we go!" Imajin said stoked. Melissa and Vegas hadn't come to the prayer with the rest of the group.

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"See, we'll just put this on her dance shoes......" Vegas trailed off as she showed Melissa the plan. "Yeah, and that way she won't be able to stay on her feet." Melissa laughed along with Vegas.
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"I sure hope this will get the message through her head." Imajin said to herself as she and the rest of the dancers stood off to the side of the stage awaiting the start of the show. Krystal had already performed her set and said her words of encouragement to the group.

The lights went down, the crowd wild, "Ready?" Vegas asked as she struted on stage in front of everyone else.
It was pitch black backstage so we could hardly make out who was who. Melissa followed behind her with her nose in the air. The rest of us walked on with smiles on our faces.

The first light cue went up, we danced our first step. Vegas had realized what the rest of us did. While her and
Melissa stood in their glittery dance costumes, Madison, Ima, Faye and I stood in jeans and cut off t-shirts. "What do you think you are doing?" Vegas whispered to us. "Dancing...." Faye said as she spun around. "Oh, I guess you didn't get the memo... we're doing a casual look tonight."

"How.. How dare you embarrass me this way. And why don't you have shoes on?" Vegas screamed. "All part of the look." I said beginning the dance routine. "Argh!" Vegas stormed off. Melissa walked off behind her. The rest of us dancers had large smiles as we danced through the rest of the song.

The next song was a slow one so no dancers were needed. We took a break backstage as we drank our water,
we all laughed at how well our plan had worked. "Excuse me... Raygn is it? Can I talk to you for a sec?" Vegas
stood with her arms crossed. "Sure, what's up?" I asked casually as we walked off to the corner. "What the hell was that out there?" Vegas stared at me. "You know, I didn't even want to join this tour, I did it for my best friend, Fatima. I was friendly, and willing to be. You're the one with the bad attitude. The other dancers and I did this to show you and Melissa how concieted you two are and that you don't even care. All you want is the spotlight. But honey, with an attitude like that, you're standing outside the circle, just like you were on stage tonight. Sorry if we embarrassed you, but it was for your own good, to teach you guys a lesson."

Vegas stood in silence for a couple minutes just staring blankly. "Am I that much of a bitch?" She finally asked
very quietly. I simply nodded and said "and Melissa." A tear dropped from her eye. I just wanted to make it
somewhere, to make my dad proud of me. He never approved of my dancing, but I thought if I made it in the biz, that he'd accept it and be happy for me. I guess I was just trying to hard." Vegas broke out into tears streaming down her pale face.

"Look who's having an emotional breakdown!" Ima laughed. "You guys, I don't think that's it, I think our plan
actually worked!" Faye stated stunned.

It wasn't a breakdown, more of a realization, that the spotlight wasn't the best part of being a Backstreet Dancer, it was the fun, family and most of all the friends and fans you meet out on the road.

~~~END~~~~