Between episodes 6x05 and 6x06

"Great job today, everyone. It's looking good," Michelle told her A-troupers with a smile as rehearsal came to an end.

As the dancers began to disperse, Piper exchanged a brief goodbye with Amy and Henry before heading for the locker room to get her stuff. She had so much to do tonight for school that she didn't have time to stand around and talk with her friends, as much as she might have liked to. Her Renaissance Era history paper that was due tomorrow morning wasn't going to write itself. She would be lucky if she had any time at all tonight to get work in on her aerial after her homework was all said and done.

The first thing she did when she got to the locker room was check her phone for messages. Her sister Julia, whose internship at an advertising company was conveniently just a ten-minute drive from the studio, had texted her to let her know that she was outside, and Piper let out a relieved sigh. She never knew from day to day if Jules would be on time to pick her up from rehearsal or not, and with the pile of homework waiting for her at home, Piper was itching to get home and get to work. The sooner she could get it all done, the sooner she could keep working on her aerial.

"Hey Piper."

Piper glanced up as she slid her phone into the pocket of her dance bag to see Finn striding over to his locker. "Hi," she said shortly to him as she pulled her shoes out of her locker and sat on the bench behind her to pull them on. Finn seemed to be everywhere she went the last couple of days, and that would be fine if he didn't keep prying into her business. It was getting on her nerves.

"Hey, what are you doing tonight?" he asked, leaning against his locker door as he turned to face her.

"I don't know," she told him even though that was a lie. That Renaissance essay was the only thing in her foreseeable future.

She stood back up and stuffed her dance shoes in her dance bag as he spoke again. "Do you want to go check out this new arcade with me? It's supposed to be really cool."

Unconsciously, Piper's shoulders tensed, and she looked over at him, gripping the strap of her dance bag tight as she pulled it out of her locker and slung it over her shoulder. "Like a date?" she asked, eyebrows shooting up. The ever-present knot that had made its home in her stomach since the incident with Miss Angela twisted just at the thought.

"Yeah," he said with a shrug and an easy grin. "Just you, me, and some good ol' Skeeball. Well, if they have it. This one back in Vancouver doesn't, which should be a crime. Skeeball's a classic staple of any arcade. Am I right, or am I right?"

"No."

Finn frowned, caught off guard. "You don't think so?"

Piper shook her head, turning away from him sharply and shutting the door to her locker. "No, I mean, I have homework. I can't."

She glanced at him, afraid this might somehow offend him, but he just shrugged again and turned to his own locker. "Okay." She waited for him to go on, to try to offer up another night to go that she would inevitably turn down because there was no way she was going to an arcade with some guy that she hardly knew, but he simply pulled his own dance bag out of his locker and shut it, giving her another smile. "Good luck with your homework. See you tomorrow."

With a wave, he strolled out of the locker room, completely unperturbed by her rejection and leaving Piper slack-jawed as she tried to process what had just happened.

Why had Finn taken such an interest in her? Between trying to butt into her business in Shakes and Ladders yesterday, watching her dance in Studio One when all she had wanted was to be alone, and now this, he was really testing his luck. Seriously, what was with this guy?

Oh, I know exactly what his deal is, Piper thought as she finally pulled herself out of her reverie and made her way down to the lobby. He's just like James used to be - overconfident boy who thinks he can just walk into the studio and win over all the girls. Well, not me, buddy. Not me.

She rolled her eyes to herself, figuring it was just her luck that Finn had taken an interest in her and not Amy or Richelle or someone else. She didn't know what she had done to draw his attention to her, but whatever it was, she wished she hadn't done it. There was already so much on her plate between her online classes for high school and worrying about Regionals and her lack of ability to do a simple aerial when every other girl on the team could do one. The last thing she needed was to add a boy to the mix.

She didn't even know anything about Finn, and he didn't know anything about her. Why in the world did he think she would want to go on a date with him? Seriously?

Her mind was still reeling with irritated thoughts of Finn as Piper walked outside and down the street to where her sister's car was parked. "Did you know they have yellow watermelon?" Julia asked, her phone clutched in her hand, as Piper climbed into the passenger seat.

"Hi to you too," Piper grumbled, shutting the door and immediately putting on her seatbelt.

"That's freaking wild, dude. Like the inside is literally yellow," her sister said in response, thumbs flying across her screen as she typed out a text message. "Someone brought some to work today. I texted a pic to Riley because, you know, she loves watermelon, and she already knew that, but like, who just knows that kind of thing? Why has no one ever thought to mention this to me in the last twenty-two years?"

Piper was completely uninterested in her sister's rant about fruit, and when a break in her rambling came, she blurted out, "A boy asked me out."

"Ooh, Pipes!" Julia waggled her eyebrows at her suggestively as she dropped her phone into the cup holder, sending a blush up Piper's cheeks. "Is he cute?"

"No," Piper snapped before crossing her arms bitterly and thinking silently, Well, he's not not cute. "He keeps following me around and getting into my business."

"He's following you around? Oh no, that's a red flag. You should report that to Michelle. She's in charge now, right?"

Her sister's immediate concern made Piper pause and reconsider her wording. "No, no, it's not like he's stalking me. He's just being annoying."

"So not a stalker, but clingy. Still a red flag." Piper rolled her eyes at her sister's unhelpful commentary. As Julia pulled out of her parking spot and into the flow of traffic, she asked, "Who is it?"

"Finn."

"Finn..." Julia trailed off, fingers tapping against the steering wheel thoughtfully as she clearly tried to recall who this Finn was, and Piper realized that she'd probably never mentioned him before since he was new to the studio.

Quick to clarify, Piper added, "He's new. He came with the new studio head."

"The one that you all overthrew?"

"Well, I didn't overthrow her." But I wish I had.

Julia shook her head, fingers still tapping against the steering wheel as she slowed to a stop at a red light. "Do you realize how hard it is to keep up with everyone at your studio? Your turnover rate is honestly astounding. It's got to be a miracle that you're an Internationals-winning studio at all."

Piper sighed, gritting her teeth and promptly changing the subject. The rest of the car ride was spent listening to Julia complain about one of her fellow interns. When they got home, Piper pointedly avoided the subject of Finn as they ate dinner with their parents and James and Riley. Her brother and his girlfriend had stopped by claiming that they just wanted to see the family but were more likely there because they had just paid the month's rent on their new apartment together and were, thus, running low on money and putting off going to the grocery store to buy their own food.

After dinner, Piper disappeared up to her room and settled in at her desk for the evening, determined to get her essay done in a timely manner. This assignment had been hanging over her head for weeks, and she was out of time to keep putting it off. Not ten minutes into working on the essay, however, she found herself looking at Instagram instead. She had a new follow request and switched tabs after liking Jacquie's most recent post to see who it was.

@finnyboy1

Oh. Of course.

She stared at the username that could only belong to Finn for a moment before sighing and hitting accept. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she went to his own page and was, somehow, unsurprised to find that it was public. Regardless, he didn't have very many posts – a few videos of him dancing, a couple of "candid" photos of himself, and one of him carrying a little girl that Piper assumed must be a younger sister or relative on his shoulders. She quickly followed him back as a formality then set her phone aside and looked back to her computer.

The Renaissance. Right. She really needed to focus.

...

But why did he ask her out?

They hardly knew each other. She could probably count on one hand the number of times she had spoken directly to him. They weren't even friends. Was he so full of himself that he thought he could compliment her on a solo that she hadn't meant for anyone to see and suddenly she would be in love with him? That must have been it. What other explanation was there?

But at the same time, Finn didn't necessarily give off the overconfident player vibes that James had reeked of when he was their age. Confident? Yes, definitely. But full of himself? She recalled his overenthusiastic rambling about Skeeball of all things and bit her lip. Maybe not...

What was she doing? She really didn't have time to be thinking about this.

Piper shook her head at herself and heaved a sigh, forcing herself to return her attention back to her essay. She had only written one full paragraph so far. She quite literally didn't have time to be worrying about Finn...

Yet another twenty minutes and two more paragraphs later, she had pulled Facebook up on her laptop and was scrolling through her newsfeed mindlessly. Amy's grandmother's dentist appointment couldn't have gone better – no cavities! Heather was having a great time at college. Zara's math team had won their quarterfinal competition and was moving on to the semifinals next weekend. Josh apparently had a new girlfriend.

Wait, what?

Piper scrolled back up, her eyes widening as she stared at the picture on her newsfeed. That was definitely a picture of Josh with a girl. Her eyes were not deceiving her. She sighed and rested her chin against her fist, still staring at the picture and scrolling her mouse over the girl's name. It didn't ring a bell. She didn't know why she thought it would. Josh had moved away with his family after the team qualified for Regionals when his dad's job unexpectedly relocated him. Whoever this new girl was, Josh must have met her at his new school or even his new dance studio.

It stung a little, seeing him with someone else, and so soon after he had moved away. He really hadn't felt anything for her after all.

Piper squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her palms against them and rubbing in circles as if doing so could somehow ward off the horrible memory of admitting her feelings to Josh in Studio A and the gut-wrenching feeling that had surged through her when he'd told her he only liked her as a friend. Filming the Regionals Qualifier video after that had been torture.

Josh had been her first real crush. Sure, she'd had little crushes before him. Heck, she'd even had a little crush on Alfie of all people until that had gone down the drain the moment she walked in on him and Riley kissing in Studio A (another memory Piper buried deep in the recesses of her memory). The point was - Josh was the first boy she had ever felt like she had a real chance with, the first boy she had thought actually liked her back.

Had it all been in her head? Apparently so. But after choreographing a duet together, and their (admittedly limited) conversations in Neutral Grounds, and that moment where had they had been lying on the floor of Studio One together and talking about the stars, and Piper had tried imagining them with her eyes closed and said that they were beautiful, and Josh had agreed and been starting right at her when she opened her eyes, like they were in a scene straight out of a Rom Com? After all of that, how could she have come to any other conclusion? She had been so certain that he had liked her. What signs had she possibly overlooked that indicated he hadn't felt the same?

She would give absolutely anything to go back in time and stop herself from telling Josh that she liked him. The days following the Qualifier video had been awful – filled with averted gazes and awkward tension and a nervous feeling in the pit of Piper's stomach that wouldn't go away. In that one moment, she had single-handedly destroyed their friendship (which her oldest sister Lauren had ever-so-kindly pointed out must not have been very strong if it had been decimated by one bad conversation).

Noah had been the one to tell Piper that Josh had left the studio because his family was moving just a week after the team had qualified for Regionals. Piper never said goodbye to him. Their last conversation would forever be the one that Piper wished she could forget the most.

Honestly, it had been a relief when Josh left the studio because it meant that Piper didn't have to worry about the awkward tension between the two of them anymore. At the same time, however, she missed him. Or perhaps more accurately, she missed having another friend. She always had Amy, of course, but Amy was often busy with other things or people. Piper sorely missed Sloane and Cassie, and it had been nice to have another friend to hang out with when Amy was busy. Josh had been that for her, and now that she had lost him, she couldn't help wondering if she would ever find another friend like that. She liked to think she would, but at the rate things were going now, she wasn't sure if she was ever going to have time for friends again between improving her acro, and learning the Regionals routines, and school.

School.

She was never going to finish this essay.

She immediately exited out of Facebook and pulled her essay back up. Turning on some music for background noise, she tried to push aside thoughts of all boys again and focused solely on her essay. How long did it have to be again? Oh right, 5 pages. And she had 11 hours to do it. Okay, that was doable. No more distractions.

Seriously. Boys had to be the least of her concerns right now.