Piper was rehearsing late at the studio again, for the 4th time in a row this week. Three girls around Piper's age walked in, she recognised them immediately....

"Hi Tiana...hello Stella and hi Rose", Piper said nervously. These girls were from her old studio, they bullied and tormented her when she wanted to move to The Next Step after they had just won internationals.

Tiana was the dance captain at Piper's old studio and she was a force to be reckoned with, what Tiana wanted, Tiana got.

She was stunning, with her glowing skin. She had effortlessly long natural hair and when straightened like it was now, it was so silky and shiny black that it looked like a long waterfall full of clear, pure black water, but now she dyed it blonde.

Her girls otherwise known as her sidekicks, backups, her posse... you name it, they were stunningly gorgeous as well but Tiana was this gang's leader. They were all caked in a crap-ton of makeup literally making them look 17 years older than they really were.

She wasn't always so cunning and evil but when she was made dance captain some years ago, she caught Piper, her supposed best friend, talking about how they needed a better dance captain than her, but Piper being Piper, didn't intend to hurt Tiana. Anyways, that's why in pictures of Piper at her old studio, her smile never reached her eyes, as she was exhausted from dancing and practicing so much. That was Tiana's form of punishment for Piper talking about her behind her back.

When she wanted to move to TNS, Tiana felt so betrayed by her that she flung out of control and bullied Piper mercilessly, to scare her into staying, until she finally left, and ever since they really wanted revenge.

"So.. I saw you perform at regionals a couple years back. I'll never forget when you fell during an aerial in one of your dances. It was hilarious, just like you Piper, you're a joke. We were glad when you left our studio. I know you're gonna fall on the nationals stage, but you know what good luck to you and your..... team.." She sniggered as she looked around studio 1 with disdain.

She turned to her girls, Stella and Rose and was about to leave when Piper said, " You're wrong, Tiana, I'm not gonna fall, I'm gonna succeed and win and we're gonna bring your team down. You seriously need to get over yourself, Ti." She paused, thinking over her words, before covering her mouth with her hands in shock as she realised what she had said.

She knew Tiana VERY well and she could have kicked herself inside. She herself knew what Tiana was capable of and she was a fool to momentarily underestimate Tiana.

Tiana turned around with disgust and anger in her eyes. Stella and Rose clenched their fists as they stared Piper down.

"Listen to me, Piper Jade... I will destroy you, even if it's the last thing that I do. You are a loser, Piper, a pathetic little loser. You are stupid and nothing and I will make sure you know it. You were put on this Earth for people to laugh at you, you're a human joke. Get a life and get a backbone you pathetic wimp.

Listen to me carefully, you're gonna fall off of the nationals stage and you're gonna think that the audience will cushion your fall but they won't, you'll fall at least 5 feet onto the cold hard concrete floor. You're gonna cry, like a baby, you'll break your everything, but quite frankly, I don't care what you do to yourself on that stage but what I do know is that you'll never win, you're gonna fall on live TV.

I'm going to make sure that the cameras catch me, Stella and Rose laughing at you, you'll be the talk of the town but not for a good reason." She hissed and almost spat in Piper's face. She turned on her heels with her girls and left via the next steep.

Piper, believing most of the words that came out of Tiana's mouth, ran and got her things and ran out of studio 1 into studio A, tears clouding her vision.

Richelle and Nick were there discussing things about the upcoming nationals when they saw Piper sprinting out of the studio. "Bye Piper!" Richelle and Nick yelled, thinking that she didn't want to miss her bus, as Piper hated missing the bus.

Piper ignored them and kept running, she ran past the bus stop and all the way to James and Riley's house. It was about half an hours walk but Piper was sprinting, her heart leaping with fear, anger and frustration.

She arrived and tried to unlock the door, after dropping the keys twice and cursing under her breath she finally got the door to open.

She chucked her bags and things at the doorway and ran to her room. She was crying really hard now.

She glanced at a picture of her at her old studio with Tiana and some other girls, at a time when she was genuinely happy, and her heart broke at the sight of her ex-best friend.

She picked it up and threw the framed photo at her wall. It shattered into a million pieces but she couldn't hear it. She picked up another photo, not caring who was in it, and smashed it too.

James and Riley both got home together and saw Piper's bags there at the door. "I guess she's finally finished rehearsing." Riley said, jokingly and James laughed at his little sister's determination, as they began stocking their things away.

Piper was losing it in frustration and despair. She picked up her clock and smashed it to the ground. In the midst of all her rage, she caught a sight of herself in the mirror. She looked so fragile and broken, reminding her of why she was such a disappointment to everyone. With more tears running vigorously down her face, she raised her hands to her reflection in the mirror, turned them into fists and smashed it, causing her hands to split and bleed. She screamed out in pain and sadness and anger.

James and Riley, concerned at the noise, glanced at each other, before putting the little things that were left away, so that they could go and check on Piper and see what all that noise was.

She trashed her neat and tidy room and messed up her desks. She broke smaller mirrors, boxes, tore books and scattered papers and ripped up small photos with her sore hands.

It was all starting to get too much.

Breathing was hard, too hard, and everytime she exhaled it got almost too hard to inhale again.

She had her back to the wall and slid down it trying with all her might to breathe but there was no air. The more she focused on what Tiana said to her, the less Piper thought about breathing.

Her broken clock eerily started to tick, but she was overthinking too much to bring herself to notice it or care.

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

She closed her eyes, replaying Tiana's words, and any cruel words that anyone had said to her.

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

James and Riley walked out of the kitchen and headed towards the stairs, to find out what all the noise was about.

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

Piper stood up and faced her broken mirror. She imagined herself on the stage, she had just attempted an aerial and fell slightly.

She tried to cover it up, but Miss Angela was there yelling at how pathetic she was, Tiana and her minions were laughing at her and insulting her, and her friends and family were looking at her in disgust.

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

Piper curled up into a ball on the stage, ignoring the boos of the crowd.

She wanted to run off but something was compelling her to stay.

She burst into tears, knowing that there was no way of saving this solo- they were all right about her, she didn't deserve this solo, she truly did mess it up.

These thoughts made her cry even harder.

Tick Tock

Tiana and her minions crackled at her with tears of laughter at the corners of their eyes.

They took pictures, just as the rest of the audience did, everyone just kept on laughing at her, like she was a circus act.

Tick Tock

Miss Angela was screaming at her to get up, but Piper just ignored her. She ignored insult after insult and just bawled into her knees.

Her family members looked at her in disgust and walked out, even her siblings including Riley.

The humiliation was intense and unbearable.

Tick Tock

Suddenly, Amy slapped her.

How did she even get onto the stage?

This wasn't her best friend, that she knew and loved. Amy yelled at how pathetic she was to not even be able to do an aerial.

Then there was Finn, who looked ashamed to even be near her. Next thing Pipes knew, Finn told her that they were broken up and Amy told her that they were no longer friends.

Tick

....

Tock

....

Tick

....

Tock

....

The clock strangely stopped ticking, but Piper couldn't care less.

The aching and shattering of her heart at that horrid image began to dull down. Her hysterical cries and shouts had died down too.

She felt nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

She even saw nothing, she was just at peace, in this blacked out state.

》》》》》》

Riley, ahead of James on the stairs, as they sprinted due to Piper's hysterical crying, tried to open her door but it was locked.

"James, it's locked!" She cried out to him in panic. "Stand back, Riles." He said, as she moved and he rammed into the door a couple of times before it busted open.

James and Riley rushed into the room, to see Piper unconscious, in a pile of rubble, with sore bleeding hands.

"Piper... no!" James yelled. "What the hell?!", he cried out, staring at his sister's unmoving form. "Oh my gosh, what do we do, what do we do, what do we do?!!" Riley screamed.

James quickly called an ambulance and then frantically called his mother, explaining the situation to her. Meanwhile, Riley called Finn and Amy and Nick and informed them of what had happened, in case they knew if anything had happened to Piper earlier, to cause such an anxiety attack.

Piper had cuts all over her body from smashing so many items, and she had a couple of small scratches on her face.

Miraculously, she wasn't bleeding in her head, so hopefully that meant that she hadn't cut her head, when she passed out.

The paramedics checked her and to James and Riley's relief, she was still breathing.

Finn and Amy reached their house just in time to see Piper still on the floor with glass scattered around her and paramedics all over her.

"Piper... no...please, don't..d.do this... What happened?" Amy cried, resting her head on Riley's shoulder, as she rubbed her back, also crying.

Tear drops streamed down Amy's face, as she looked at her best friend. She had never seen Piper look so... defeated.

Finn quietly stood there, tears running down his face. "Come on, Pipes, you'll come t..through, you're a warrior. Please wake up. We love you..." He whispered to her broken hearted.

They carried her away in an ambulance with James, Riley, Finn and Amy following behind in James' car, just praying for Piper to be okay...