Studio Showdown by Samantha-Ellen Bound

flowers.
    Uh oh.

Chapter Sixteen
    Ellie was not a happy teacher.
    She got up out of her seat and stomped over to the booth.
    â€˜Hi Jay,’ she said sweetly, sliding into the empty seat on the other side of him. ‘This is the wrong song. It’s meant to be “Applause”.’
    â€˜But Paige-o here said …’ Jay began to say, but Ellie shook her head.
    â€˜No, it’s a mistake,’ she said. ‘The song should be “Applause”. Can you change it please?’
    Jay looked from her to me, but I was so shocked that she’d deliberately come over to mess things up that I didn’t know what to say. Finally Jay threw up his hands. ‘Yes, boss,’ he sighed, and switched the iPod to Ellie’s song. ‘Always at the mercy of the ladies,’ he muttered.
    So suddenly Ellie’s song came blaring over the speakers, right in the middle of my choreography. The Juniors froze mid-movement and glanced around uneasily.
    â€˜What’s going on?’ I heard Sotarah say.
    When they realised the music wasn’t going to magically transform into my song again, they hurried back into Ellie’s starting positions.
    But they weren’t smiling now. They looked confused and unhappy. And when they began Ellie’s choreography, they didn’t have any energy because of it.
    That wouldn’t do. They needed something bright and peppy. They needed my jive!
    â€˜Jay,’ I whispered to him, trying to angle my voice so Ellie wouldn’t hear. ‘Jay!’
    He turned his head to look at me.
    â€˜It’s the other song!’ I whispered to him. ‘The first song! That’s the right one! Can you change it back?’
    Jay stared at me for a moment. Then he started chuckling. ‘Whatever you say,’ he said, pulling his cap low over his head. He changed the iPod back to ‘Candyman’, and then rolled himself back in the chair. ‘I’m out,’ he said. ‘You two ladies take it from here.’
    Once again the Juniors had to stop mid-dance. A few tried to keep going with Ellie’s routine to my music, but most of them just stopped on the stage and shielded their eyes as they peered towards the back of the hall, wanting to know what was going on.
    Ellie was so furious her cheeks were shining like a red strobe light. ‘Excuse me,’ she snapped, and grabbed the iPod from in front of me, shuffling it until she found her song again. Then she turned the volume up.
    The opening bars of ‘Applause’ blasted out. This time the few Juniors who’d been dancing totally stopped. Some of them groaned. Tala sat down on the stage.
    â€˜Don’t be so rude!’ I whispered loudly to Ellie, and snatched the iPod back. ‘They were doing my dance!’ I switched it to ‘Candyman’.
    This time when the music changed, the Juniors just walked off stage.
    â€˜ They’re doing “Applause” ,’ Ellie hissed, grabbing for the iPod.
    But she’d barely begun to change back to her song when I clasped my hands around the iPod and tugged it towards me. ‘Ellie!’ I said.
    â€˜Paige,’ she said back.
    â€˜Stop being a princess!’
    â€˜Stop being a goody goody!’
    And then we were both struggling for the iPod, pulling it back and forth, and in between all that the iPod got changed to a completely random song.

    â€˜What, they’re DJs now?’ I heard Jasmine laugh to Tove.
    Eventually Ellie and I were fighting over the iPod so hard that we pulled it out of the speakers.
    The iPod clattered onto the floor and the whole hall was silent. Slowly, everyone turned around to look at us.
    Everyone seemed amused, or confused. But there was one face that looked terribly angry and disappointed, and that stood out over all.
    Miss Caroline.

Chapter Seventeen
    â€˜Well, girls, that was certainly an interesting take on “choreographing” a routine.’ Miss