6x12

The end of the Absolute Wild Stylz Dance Convention left Piper with a strange mix of emotions. She was happy for Amy and AcroNation on their qualification for Regionals, but there had been a bundle of nerves in the pit of her stomach that wouldn't go away since the encounter with Miss Angela at the info table. Finn had told her not to let Miss Angela get into her head, and she knew he'd meant well, but that was so much easier said than done.

Despite it all, as the convention attendees began to disperse for the day, Piper hurried over to Amy to give her a hug. "You were amazing!" she exclaimed as Amy happily hugged her back.

"Thanks!" Amy let out a big exhale once they had pulled away, shaking her hands out and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "I was so nervous that my decision to switch studios was going to be for nothing."

Piper's smile faltered as she nodded and said weakly, "Yeah, I bet."

"I'm so excited to compete at Regionals!"

One of the AcroNation girls calling for Amy interrupted their conversation, and Amy nodded at her before looking back to Piper. "I've got to go. We're going to dinner to celebrate. I'll see you later?"

Piper nodded, giving a half-hearted wave as she watched Amy skip away to join her new teammates. Perhaps a small part of her had been hoping that AcroNation wouldn't qualify for Regionals, and Amy would have no choice but to come back to The Next Step, but clearly that wasn't going to happen now.

Amy was really gone for good.

Feeling lonelier than ever in a room full of people, Piper glanced around Studio A. Miss Angela was off to the side of the room, watching AcroNation filing out of the studio. She caught Piper's eye and smirked, and Piper immediately looked away, biting down on the inside of her cheek harshly, her nails digging into her palms as her hands clenched into fists.

Glancing around for Finn, she spotted him talking with Henry and Summer by the office and quickly made her way over to him. Henry was enthusing about the Dytto workshop he'd attended that afternoon as Piper approached them.

"Bro, she took selfies with me! Look!"

Henry whipped his phone out to show an awestruck Finn his selfies with the tutting sensation while Summer caught Piper's eye and rolled her eyes. Piper forced a tense smile and tried to look impressed when Henry shoved his phone in her face, but her heart wasn't quite in it. She was starting to feel sick to her stomach, but she wasn't quite sure why.

"So you're basically best friends with her now, right?" Summer asked Henry with a teasing note in her voice.

He grinned and exclaimed, "I impressed her! She was impressed by me!"

"That's sick, bro," Finn enthused, putting an excited hand on his shoulder.

"Henry!" Jacquie interrupted their conversation, a determined look in her eye. "I need your help setting up the party."

Not only had today been the Wild Stylz Convention and the Dytto workshop, but it was also Noah's birthday. Jacquie had been planning a surprise party for him for the last two weeks, but with everything going on today, Piper had completely forgotten about it.

"Get Richelle to help you," Henry grumbled as his ex crossed her arms, staring him down.

"Richelle is on cake duty. I need your help with set-up."

"What is there to set up? It's just Shakes and Ladders. Put up some balloons and call it good."

"Great idea. You can blow up the balloons. Let's go."

Jacquie grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the studio while Henry continued coming up with excuses to get out of the party set-up. Summer raised her eyebrows, smiling in amusement as she turned to Piper and Finn. "Are you guys going to Noah's party later?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, for sure," Finn answered as Piper simply nodded.

Summer gave her an understanding look as she said, "Weird watching Amy with another team, huh?"

Swallowing thickly, Piper nodded again. "Yeah. It's really weird." Quickly changing the subject, she added, "But you did really great today, Summer."

"Thanks Piper," Summer said, "I hope tomorrow goes just as well."

Summer was representing The Next Step in the solo competition the next day for a chance to win five extra points for Regionals. Most of the team, including Piper, had full faith in her, but from the way she had taken to scratching her arm nervously, it didn't seem that Summer had that same confidence in herself.

"You'll totally kill it. You've got nothing to worry about," Finn assured her.

Giving him a small smile, Summer nodded. "Yeah, I hope so. I should probably get some practice in before Noah's party actually, so I'll see you guys later."

They watched Summer leave then Finn turned to Piper. "Are you okay?" he asked as soon as Summer was gone.

"Yeah, why?" Piper answered instinctively. It was technically a lie, but Finn wouldn't really notice, would he?

Evidently, he would.

"You just seem kind of down," he said, his eyebrows knitting together as he studied her with slightly narrowed eyes.

Piper sighed, glancing around the studio before moving to sit down on a nearby bench. He followed her lead, sitting next to her as she admitted, "I guess... Part of me was hoping that maybe AcroNation wouldn't qualify for Regionals, and Amy would come back." She looked down at her lap, muttering, "But she's really gone."

Finn let out a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks as he exhaled. "Well... I'm no replacement for Amy, but I'm not going anywhere anytime soon if it makes you feel any better."

Piper glanced at him, the corners of her lips twitching upwards. Somehow, that assurance did indeed make her feel a little less lonely. But there was still a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't shake away. It almost made her feel sick.

"Let's go find a game to play in Shakes and Ladders until Noah's party," Finn suggested, "It'll take your mind off everything."

He was probably right, but she didn't feel like hanging around a big group of people at the moment. Ever since she'd watched Amy leave, all smiles, with her new team, an overwhelming urge to just go home and be alone had been growing deep inside Piper. Reluctantly, she told him, "Actually, I think I may just go home."

"What?" Finn's face fell, and his shoulders slumped at that. "Pipes, come on."

"No, I'm really not feeling very well."

"Oh. Okay."

The look of disappointment on his face sent a wave of guilt through her, but she had already made up her mind. As she stood up, wiping her hands, which were sweatier than usual this afternoon, on her leggings, she turned back to him, a thought striking her. "Um, will you tell Noah I said happy birthday though?"

"Yeah, for sure."

Piper gave him a tight smile before hurrying out of Studio A. She felt bad missing Noah's party, but she had an incessant need to get away from the studio. Seeing Miss Angela unexpectedly and realizing that Amy was gone for good was too much for her to handle in one day. All she wanted was to go home, change into her most comfortable pajamas, and start rewatching Friends for the eighth time, so that's exactly what she did.

Her parents didn't ask questions when she arrived home earlier than expected, but that was only because her father was preoccupied with cooking dinner and her mother was busy looking at apartment listings online with Julia. Piper was able to escape up to her room unnoticed.

She had thought that having some alone time in the safety of her bedroom would make her feel better, but once she had taken off her make-up and changed into her pajamas, she couldn't stop thinking about her friends having fun together at Noah's party. Noah was one of her best friends, and she had decided on an anxious whim to completely skip his birthday party just because she didn't feel like being around anyone at the time. Had that been selfish?

Maybe she should have sucked it up and stayed with Finn at the studio. But she'd already made her decision. There was nothing she could do about it now except deal with the consequences of it.

Piper ate dinner with her family that evening before returning to her bedroom to curl up in bed and push all thoughts of Amy and Miss Angela out of her head. She was three hours into her mindless Friends marathon when her phone suddenly lit up with two texts from Finn.

She quickly responded that she was indeed at home and that she liked cake well enough then resumed her show, but now she couldn't stop thinking about Finn. Why did he care if she was home? Was he up to something?

He never responded to her texts, and she was left wondering for the next twenty minutes until the doorbell suddenly rang downstairs. A quick glance at the time showed that it was nearing 9:30 p.m. Who would be showing up at her house this late at night?

A minute later, there were footsteps pounding up the stairs then Julia appeared in her doorway, a smirk on her face. "There's a very tall boy downstairs asking for you."

"What?" Piper pushed her laptop aside and immediately climbed out of bed to go meet her unexpected visitor.

A very tall boy? That could only be Finn. But why was he at her house?

Finn was standing in the front sitting room, chatting with Piper's father as if he'd known him for years instead of a couple of minutes. He looked up, his face lighting up with a grin, when she appeared on the stairs. "Hey Pipes!"

Piper's dad pulled a very curious Julia into the other room to give them privacy as Piper reached the bottom of the stairs. "What are you doing here?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest when she remembered that she was in her pajamas and had already taken her make-up off for the night. She must look like a mess.

If he seemed to notice, however, he gave no indication of it. Instead, he simply held out to her a paper plate with a piece of cake on it. "Jacquie made us all take some home with us because she didn't want to take it all with her, but I already had, like, three pieces tonight, so I definitely don't need anymore."

"You came all the way to my house to bring me cake?" Piper asked in disbelief. There was a warm feeling growing in her chest as she looked up at him in awe. No one had ever done anything like that for her before.

"And I wanted to see if you were okay," he admitted, "I know you had kind of a hard day."

Piper's lips turned up into an appreciative half-smile as she stepped forward to take the cake from him. "I'm okay. I just needed time to process I guess." She paused then reluctantly added, "Something about Miss Angela just really sets off my nerves, and I don't know why."

"Miss Angela's just trying to psych you out. It's what she does – messes with people's heads. But you're a really good dancer, Piper. She's wrong about you."

Something about Finn's words- the sincerity of his tone and the earnestness in his eye- was just enough to break through the funk Piper had been in all night. It put her at ease to know that he believed in her so much. Considering she didn't have Amy to lean on anymore, his support meant everything to her in that moment.

It was as she looked down to hide her smile that she finally noticed the piece of cake Finn had brought her and laughed. A pre-pubescent Noah was staring up at her from the icing on the cake.

"What is this?" she asked, her voice lighter than it had been all evening.

"Oh, it's vanilla."

"No, this picture of Noah." Piper tilted the cake towards him, her eyes shining in amusement. "I don't know if I have it in me to eat him."

"You know, everyone else had the same reaction," Finn said thoughtfully as if it was just occurring to him why the piece of cake with Noah's face on it was one of the few that had remained.

Tearing her gaze away from the cake, she looked back to Finn and reluctantly asked, "So how was the party?"

"It was fun. We just chilled in Shakes and Ladders, so you didn't miss much. We missed you though."

Piper's smile faded as she glanced away guiltily. "I should have gone."

"It's okay, Pipes."

"No, it's not." She sighed, moving to lean against the back of the couch with him. "I just have these days where I feel so nervous all the time, and sometimes I don't even know why, but I shouldn't have missed Noah's party because of it. He's one of my best friends."

"He's not mad at you if that's what you're worried about," Finn was quick to assure her.

But it wasn't that she was worried about Noah being mad at her. She was mad at herself for talking herself out of going in the first place, and she told Finn as much. Frowning, he told her, "It's okay to take care of yourself, Pipes. Sometimes you just have to."

Piper glanced up at him and nodded slowly. Finn had his airhead moments sometimes, but she couldn't help thinking that he may be a lot wiser than he seemed.

He shot a glance out the front window then sighed and told her, "I gotta go. My dad's waiting. I'll see ya tomorrow?"

The studio was hosting a hip-hop workshop with Leon Blackwood the next day, and there was no way Piper was going to let her nerves talk her out of going to that. She nodded as she walked him to the front door. "Yeah. I'll be the one showing you up at Leon's choreography."

He grinned and rolled his eyes. "Sure, Pipes."

She watched him walk back down the walkway of her house and waved as he climbed into his stepdad's waiting car. Once Finn was gone, Piper turned around to find her sister leaning against the wall, her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are we not going to talk about what just happened? Piper."

"We're friends, okay? He's allowed to stop by occasionally. That's not weird."

Julia simply shrugged, holding her hands out, unconvinced. "All I'm saying is if a boy stopped by in the middle of the night to bring me cake and check up on me, I would already be planning the wedding."

A wedding? To Finn? Oh no, no, no. That was never happening.

"Then I guess that's the difference between me and you," Piper responded through gritted teeth as she hurried up the stairs to escape the look of exasperation her sister was giving her.

"Wasn't it just last week that you were afraid to walk into prom with him?" Julia called after her, relentless.

"We're just friends," came Piper's agitated response.

Her mind was reeling as she got resettled in bed. It was a humbling thought that Finn had been concerned enough about her that he would make his stepdad stop by her house on their way home just to bring her cake from the party she'd missed and check up on her. That was by far the nicest thing anyone, let alone a boy, had ever done for her.

Now that she was actually getting to know him, Piper couldn't believe that just a couple of weeks ago, his mere presence had been enough to get on her nerves. Finn was a really good guy, and not just because he'd brought her cake. He was a good guy because he'd been patient with her instead of getting mad when she had tried to bail on their duet, and because he had taken the time to check up on her at prom while everyone else had been busy dancing, and because when she'd told him she wasn't interested in dating and asked him to stop asking her out, he had listened and backed off.

She was beginning to see him as a friend. And with Amy gone to AcroNation, she really needed a friend.

With a content smile on her face, Piper hesitated only a moment before digging into her cake and tried not to think too much about the fact that she was literally eating her dance captain's face.

Sorry Noah.