In a town called Skokie, located near Chicago in a state called Illinois, there was a house on Floral Avenue near Cleveland Street that was nearly 5,900 square feet with eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms and it had two levels and on the main level, there was a foyer, living room, family room, dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, laundry room, library, exercise room, a bedroom, sunroom and a indoor pool that had a diving board. On the second level, there were seven bedrooms and there was a basement and in there was a recreation room, dance studio room and a game room and the house had a garage that could hold up to five cars and even a RV with a driveway outside and the driveway was facing the direction of Floral Avenue.

In the foyer, there was a heavyset woman around 44 with green eyes and brown hair named Abby Lee Miller and she's a dance teacher who has a dance company called the Abby Lee Dance Company and with her were two girls, who both had brown hair and brown eyes and were both around 9 named Lauren and Skylar aka Skye and they were adopted by Abby at birth, they walked to the garage and in the garage was a black Chevrolet Suburban SUV, she got in the SUV, opened the garage door and once it opened, she put the key in the ignition.

"Let's go get your older brother from school." Abby commented.

"All right!" Lauren exclaimed.

Six minutes later, Abby was on Lawler Avenue and then she went around the driveway and pulled up to the entrance of a school called Niles North High School and she was waiting to pick up somebody and once the bell rang to dismiss class for the day, students were seen exiting and one of them was a young man around 15 with green eyes identical to Abby's green eyes and chest length hair and his name is Shane Miller and he's the son of Abby. Abby smiled seeing her son approach her and then he got into the vehicle and sat in the front seat.

"Hi, mom." Shane greeted his mom.

"Hi, sweetie." Abby responded, giving her son a hug.

"Hey, Lauren. Hey, Skye." Shane greeted his sisters.

"Hey, bro." Skye replied.

"How was your day?" Lauren asked.

"It was good. I'm ready to head to the studio."

"Agreed and since this is your last season as a competition, hopefully you get that ride off into the sunset." Abby commented as she began driving, heading in the south direction and the season was also going to be Shane's last as a competition dancer, he had been competing he had been competing since he was four.

Nine minutes later, they arrived at a building that was on the northeast corner of Floral Avenue and Oakton Street and there, there was a building that said "Abby Lee Dance Company", a dance studio that Abby owned and it had a front desk at the entrance, a hallway that led to an office, bathrooms and a storage room, the door straight past the front desk where three doors that led to two of the three studio rooms and the dancer's den, with Studio A being the biggest one, Studio B being the second biggest and Studio C was the smallest and the door on the right led to Studio A, the door on the left led to Studio. There was a stairway that led to the observation deck that oversaw Studios A and B. The doorway on the right of the stairway led to the dancer's den had doorways that led to all three of the studios and Shane went into the dancer's den to change into a Tanktop and shorts and put his hair into a ponytail as Skye and Lauren went into Studio C to help with a class. He then walked into Studio A and in there was a lady around 21 with hair and aqua eyes named Gianna Martello.

"Hello, Gia." Shane greeted.

"Hey, Shane-o." Gianna responded.

Minutes later, there was a GMC Yukon pulling in the parking lot and parked in a parking space getting out of the vehicle was a woman around 42 with ash blonde hair named Melissa Ziegler and with her were two girls, one was eight and her name was Maddie and the other was six and her name was Mackenzie, the two girls are Melissa's daughters.

Shortly thereafter, there was a parked next to the Yukon and getting out was a woman around 39 with short ash blonde hair named Kelly Hyland and with her were two girls, who are her daughters, one had brown hair and she was around 13 named Brooke and with her was a girl around with blonde hair named Paige and they went in the ALDC.

A Mercury Mountain SUV was seen arriving and after parking, two individuals got out of the vehicle, one was a blonde haired 34 year old woman named Christi Lukasiak and with her was an 9 year old girl named Chloe, who is Christi's daughter and they entered the building.

And pulling in was a Ford Econoline van and exiting the vehicle was a woman around 40 with brown hair named Holly Frazier and with her was a girl around 9 named Nia, who is Holly's daughter and they walked in the studio and minutes later, they were in Studio A with Abby and Shane.

"Ok, girls, it's the very first day of rehearsal for this new competition season and my son Shane is going to help me and Gianna with the choreography whenever he's not rehearsing for one of his dances." Abby said. "Ladies, you all know why you are here, you're the cream of the crop in the age group you're in. I've got a ton of new ideas in store and also, we'll be doing something that no other studio has ever done and that is new routines for every single competition."

The girls all looked at their mothers, but Shane snapped his fingers and they turned their attention to Abby and her son.

"Hey, don't look at your mothers. My mom is the coach and the teacher." Shane told them. "You know she can either make you or break you."

"I sure can." Abby then turned the chalkboard around and there were six photos, the placings looked like a pyramid and on the top was Maddie's headshot, in the middle were the headshots of Chloe and Brooke's as Paige, Nia and Mackenzie's headshots were on the lower level. "Everybody wants to be front and center, we've heard it all of the time. Whoever is in the front and center, they can't make a mistake, they hold that group together so at the top is Maddie because she's dedicated, she must have taken notes from Shanester here."

Everybody laughed as Maddie smiled at Shane before Abby resumed talking.

"And because of the stellar record from last year. Maddie, are you up to the challenge of being front and center? Can you handle the pressure?"

"I'm ready, willing and able." Maddie replied.

"Good, our first competition will be West Coast Dance Explosion, which is gonna be held in Phoenix, Arizona. I chose Phoenix because i want you to experience some of the best competition teams in the country. We'll be doing three new numbers, one is a cute, adorable, high energy group number with Maddie, Chloe, Paige, Brooke and Nia called Party Party Party. Also, we've got a trio with Maddie, Chloe and Paige named "I Want It". Mackenzie, even though you're too young to compete, you'll still come with us regardless and last but not least, i've got a solo that's gonna go to Shane and it's gonna be called Truth Hurts."

The girls and moms all clapped for Shane, they loved seeing him dance at competitions.

"Everybody, we're gonna win in Phoenix, and the next competition that we're gonna win and the next one, which is all gearing up for Nationals, which is in Lake Tahoe and also, this is gonna be Shane's last season as a competitive dancer and hopefully, he'll ride off into the sunset as a champion." Abby added. "So let's begin, let's begin the choreography, moms, you can be dismissed and everybody, let's go to Nationals and bring the winning trophy back home to Skokie."

The moms went upstairs to the observation deck and Abby started off by rehearsing the group dance first and the next day, they did more rehearsals and during the group dance rehearsal, Maddie wasn't feeling well because her stomach was hurting her, but Shane came to the rescue with some pepto-bismol and both Abby and Melissa thanked him for helping out.

It was Three Days Prior to Competition and the dance that was being rehearsed was a trio named "I Want It" and in the trio was Maddie, Chloe and Paige as Abby was watching while Shane was watching too.

"Sharper, Paige!" Abby instructed. "Hit, Hit! You are tall, skinny, a beatiful girl, you can do better than this!"

"Paige, focus on the technique." Shane said. "Have your shoulders down, legs straight and feet pointed. Those are the most important things in a dance."

"You're correct on that, Shane." Abby told him, she knew he was smoother, but he could be tough as well and he inherited that toughness from her and at the end of the rehersal, Abby called Paige over. "Paige, i'd have your head on a platter, man up, get out there."

The moms were still upstairs and they saw Maddie and Chloe bring Paige, who was crying to them and Kelly hugged Paige.

"Don't worry about it." Kelly told her younger daughter.

"Abby was screaming at me." Paige cried.

The next day, Shane was helping Melissa with something as a woman around 52 with short blonde hair came in with a girl around six as Melissa and Shane watched and it was raining outside.

"Looks like we've got a potential new customer, Melle Mel." Shane said to Melissa, who laughed at the nickname he gave her.

"I think it looks like that as well." Melissa agreed, then she turned to the two that just came in. "Hello."

"Hi, my name is Cathy Nesbitt-Stein and this is my daughter, Vivi-Anne." Cathy introduced.

"Hello." Melissa said to Vivi. "My name is Melissa Ziegler and i'm the mother of Maddie and Mackenzie. This young man next to me is Abby Lee Miller's son, Shane."

Vivi waved.

"Hi." Shane stated.

"Nice to meet you, Shane." Cathy told him and then she looked at Melissa. "We'd like to sign up for classes and do competitions please." Cathy said, then Shane escorted the two into Studio A introduced them to Abby, Lauren and Skye as Cathy started talking to Abby as Shane watched.

"I own Candy Apples Dance Center. Does that ring a bell?" Cathy told her.

"So....you're the dance teacher." Abby stated.

"I'm the dance teacher."

"Now i get it. So you're here as the mom."

"Yes." Cathy answered. "We just wanted to give my daughter Vivi a boost, i'd like to see her compete with you this weekend."

Abby, Shane, Lauren and Skye all looked perplexed. "This weekend?"

"This weekend. We can do it." Cathy looked at Vivi and gave her a high five.

"Cathy, can you excuse for a quick second?" Shane asked as Cathy nodded as she and Vivi watched him, Lauren, Skye and Abby huddle up.

"Mom, we do not know about this, she's already demanding that Vivi compete with us this weekend and i don't want her to tell you what to do with Vivi." Lauren told Abby.

"Yeah." Skye added.

"Agreed, but how about we give it a chance? If she acts a fool, we'll remove them from the ALDC." Abby told him.

"Ok, we can do that."

Abby and her kids exited their huddle and headed back to Cathy and Vivi.

"Ok, show us what you can do." Shane told Vivi, who did an improv dance sequence as Cathy was watching and then she was done.

"We've got to work with her a lot more before she can compete with us." Shane told Abby.

"Yeah." Abby said." Vivi, here's the thing, there a lot of dancers that want to be in the Abby Lee Dance Company, your mother needs to step out of the picture, so i'm going to be the teacher and my son Shane will be helping me out whenever he's not rehearsing a dance, so look at us, ok?"

Vivi nodded as Shene turned to Cathy.

"We'll take you to the front desk and get you signed up and are you sure we're good on this?"

"Yes." Cathy commented as she high fived Vivi. "Go give them a hug."

Vivi went up and hugged both Abby and Shane and once Cathy and Vivi left Studio A Abby looked at her son and two daughters with an exasperated look on her face.

"What did we get ourselves in to?" Abby griped to her kids.

Shane also had an exasperated look on his face and so did his sisters. "I don't know, mom. But i predict that they won't last on this team prior to Nationals."

"You may be right, bro." Lauren said.

The next day, which was the day before the competition, there was a short haired blonde woman in white jeans, gold shirt and black leather jacket coming into the studio and her name was Dawn Check, who is a minister and she has a daughter named Regan, who dances at the ALDC and Dawn was coming in briskly, she passed by the front desk, went into the Dancer's Den before approaching the door that led into Studio A where Abby and Shane were watching the rehearsals.

"Can i talk to you for a minute?" Dawn asked Abby.

"No, we're in rehearsal. We'll talk to you when we're in between rehearsals." Abby responded.

"I want to talk to you, i paid for class and you do not throw my daughter out, she's dressed appropriately!" Dawn exclaimed as Abby and Shane rolled their eyes in annoyance over rehearsal being interrupted.

"Ma'am, here's the thing, Regan's not dressed appropriately." Shane informed her as the girls were looking on. "She needed to be in tights or a leotard and in bare feet when it comes to acro because we're doing a lot on our knees and have to be in their bare feet. She was in socks and a t-shirt and that isn't acceptable for acro, being in bare feet and either tights or a leotard is acceptable."

"This is likely not going to end well." Maddie said.

"You might be correct, Mads." Paige agreed.

"I'm looking at every kid out here!" Dawn exclaimed. "They look like children! Isn't that nuts, that children look like children! Regan's dressed appropriately!"

"You're a mother, act like one." Abby retorted as Dawn continued screaming at her and her nephew and they both had enough of Dawn griping as they both had mad looks on their faces as they got up and approached her.

"Out, out of the room!" Abby told Dawn, then she looked over at Regan. "Regan, we're sorry, but your mother's actions just got you thrown out!"

"You aren't throwing Regan out!"

"Oh, yes we are and you with her, we take the trash out every week, scram!" Shane ordered as the dancers in the dancers den watched Abby and her 15 year old son verbally letting Dawn have it.

"Well, how about you and your mother take yourselves out because i bet you're a bigger piece of trash than she is!" Dawn screamed at Shane.

"Hey!" Abby snapped. "Don't you ever call my son a piece of trash! I bet he'd beat Regan even on his worst day!"

"Whatever!" Dawn said and then the verbal fight continued to the front desk where Regan was standing.

"Regan, you cannot be in socks or a t-shirt in acrobatic class!" Abby firmly told Regan as Melissa and the other moms could hear Abby and Shane verbally fighting Dawn. "We told you that you were to have tights or a leotard and here's what we'd like to know, How can you remember that, but not remember to turn your feet out?! That is ridiculous, Dawn, how about you take your money, kid and socks and find another school!"

"Do you two not get the memo, that maybe you're both wrong?"

"No, we know we're right."

"Why are you right?

"It's my mother's building, her name is on the front of it!" Shane shouted.

"What he said!" Abby added as she and her son started to walk away, but Dawn kept following them.

"You keep telling her how stupid she is!" Dawn yelled.

"She isn't stupid, she just cannot read. The apple doesn't fall far fom the tree."

"Oh, so you two are saying i'm stupid? At least i've got more education than the both of you! Than you two will ever have!"

"My son is going to graduate from high school two years from now, so how about that?!" Abby screamed back as Lauren and Skye looked on seeing their mother and brother yelling at Dawn.

"So what?!" Dawn turned to Shane. "Shane, i went to school, but your psycho blimp of an mother didn't!"

"Don't call my mother a blimp or a psycho! At least she looks great!"Shane growled. "So how about you take your dumb behind and get out of the studio, because if anyone's the blimp or a psycho, it's you, so stop insulting my mother!"

Dawn looked very livid at what he said, then she raised her hand to slap him as Lauren and Skye gasped, not wanting to see their brother get slapped by Dawn, but before she could make contact, Abby grabbed Dawn's wrist.

"Whew." Skye wiped her brow.

"Thank goodness Mom put a stop to it."

"If you ever lay one finger on my son or even my daughters..." Abby snarled, venom in her voice, because it was one thing to verbally assault one of her kids, but when someone tries to do physical harm against them, that is where Abby drew the line. "Shane, can i use your phone?"

"Yes, mom." Shane said, briskly as he gave Abby his phone and Abby called the police, who then arrived and made Dawn and Regan leave and they did and later on, Abby saw her son calming down from the confrontation they had with Dawn and hugged him and so did Lauren and Skye.

"You ok?" Abby asked.

"Yeah." Shane responded, taking a deep breath. "A little shaky, but getting myself together and resume rehearsal."

"Glad to know." Lauren and Skye told him.

"I'm proud you stood up against that crazy mother, that took guts for a 15 year old." Abby complimented.

"You taught me how to stand up to crazy mothers like Dawn, mom."

"I sure did. Now let's resume rehearsing and hopefully when this season ends, you'll be riding off into the sunset with a national title at Nationals." Abby wrapped an arm around her son and they went into Studio A and resumed rehearsals.

(Shane's costume for Truth Hurts: Foil lycra and lined zebra sequin vest with spandex trim, front pockets, front zipper with pants.)

That saturday, the Abby Lee Dance Company was in Phoenix, a city in the state of Arizona as they were in a van approaching the Radisson Fort McDowell Resort, which is where West Coast Dance Explosion was going to be held at and they all began getting out of the van.

"All righty, let's get the luggage moving." Abby instructed as Shane, Lauren, Skye, the girls and the moms got their bags from the back of the van and they began walking to the building. "Remember, the minute you walk into this building, the competition will start. Do you get the message? Let's go."

They went into the building and Abby got them checked in as Christi and Kelly were laughing about something, but Shane gave a piercing glare to them and that shut them up.

"Library voices, got it?" Shane warned. "Keep it down."

"Thanks, Shane." Abby told her son, who gave her the thumbs up as to say "No problem". "All right, listen, i do not want any flip flops, booty shorts walking around here. Make sure you're covered and dressed appropriately, got it?"

"Got it."

"Mom, what's gonna be first?" Shane asked.

"Well, the group's gonna be first, then the trio and then your solo." Abby answered her son as they walked to the dressing room and Shane opened the door and let his mother, the girls and their moms in first. The makeup tables were ready and as the girls got ready, Shane wrapped his long hair in a ponytail, which is what he usually did when he danced. "I hate this last minute thing, ladies. Where are the hats?"

The moms all pulled out ailver party hats.

"Mom, do you want me to help?" Shane asked.

"Sure, sweetie."