Piper's POV:

"Please don't go, James." I said, trying to beg James to stay home. "Sorry, Pipesqueak." He replied as he and Riley laughed.

"Ugh, do you have to go?" I asked, pouting. "Don't give me that look, Pipes. You know I have to go; it's a tour with the band, so I can't just leave them hanging." He said with a smile as I grumbled.

"I know, I know. I'm proud of you, James but I don't want to be left here with them." I responded, gesturing to the living room. "Don't worry, me and Riles talked to them. They promised not to bring it up again." James said as I mentally rolled my eyes.

They were going to bring it up, day and night now that James was going, but I smiled nonetheless because I was grateful that he and Riley were always sticking up for me.

"Bye, P." Riley said, sniffling a bit as she hugged me tightly. I miss Riley already- now we can't have our weekly girl nights. At least I still have A troupe, though.

"Bye, Ri." I mumbled into her hair as I let go. "Bye James." I said as James hugged me and I watched sadly, as they waved and walked out of the front door with their suitcases.

I was going to miss them immensely, especially now that I was stuck with these people.

My name is Piper, and I'm 16. I dance at The Next Step, in A troupe, and I live with my dad and three older brothers.

My mum died when she was giving birth to me but life was good until my 11th birthday. Ever since then, my dad and brothers keep reminding me that I'm the reason why she died and it really hurts but I'm trying to keep my head held high.

James is the best big brother and the only one that sticks up for me and doesn't blame me for our mother's death. My other two brothers, Ethan and Daniel are always cold towards me and I don't really see them or my dad as family; I just see them as random people who live in my house, even though it's not my house.

Sighing to myself, I trudged into the living room to see my dad and brothers watching tv, so I just ignored them and sat down in an armchair.

As soon as I sat down, they all glared at me, got up and went to the kitchen but I stared at my phone intensely, desperately trying to distract myself.

At dinner, I went to the kitchen to see my family eating chicken pie, which was one of my favourite meal. Maybe things were starting looking up.

"Where's my plate?" I asked, quietly, seeing as the table was only set up for the three of them. Ethan pointed at the microwave and I opened it to see cold leftovers from last night.

Jokes on them, I don't mind eating leftover pasta, so I sighed and heated up my food, eating it in the living room. As I was watching tv, Daniel snatched the remote out of my hand and changed the channel.

"Hey, I was watching that!" I exclaimed as he glared at me. "You're lucky you even get to watch tv at all. Most criminals don't have such privileges." He said, taking the seat furthest away from me, as I sighed sadly and went upstairs to my room.

"Just a couple more months and then James and Riley will come home." I reminded myself as I got started with my homework. At least tomorrow, I can spend all day at the studio and not have to face any of them.

》》》

At the studio, most of A troupe were there, stretching, so I put on the most believable smile that I could muster and joined them.

We did a dance to the song, "Work" and when we finished, a rude lady insulted us. I soon learnt that, that was Miss Angela and she had come to our studio to fix it up.

I almost forgot about the fact that Richelle was injured and that Emily and Michelle had gotten fired. Miss Angela picked on me a lot because I couldn't do an aerial.

It was so embarrassing but I still put on a fake smile and continued with my day. I tried once, to stand up to Miss Angela but it backfired and I got benched, A troupe tried to cheer me up but my heart was still aching.

Begrudgingly, I went home after dance and got ignored by everyone once again but I didn't care, I just spent another evening skipping dinner and staying up on my phone.

No one at the studio knew about my home problems but that was fine. If I had to suffer alone then so be it, as long as I look happy and carefree to others.

》》》