Taking Care of Business The Next Step

Previously on The Next Step...

Meet me at the airport.

Bring your passport and pack for a couple of days.

Going away with Alfie is a big step...

huge.

I'm really sorry, Your Highness.

She's not coming, is she? How could she do this to me?

I don't know how Riley got here, and I don't care.

And now I know I can win this thing.

The winner is...

The Next Step!

We won Bangers and Mashups, the international hip-hop competition!

That is insane!

I had no idea I was going end up in England when I woke up yesterday.

But I followed my heart, and it led me to James.

After Riley and I broke up, I never thought I'd see her again,

until she showed up in London.

And you know what? It was perfect.

I can't believe I ever doubted my love for James.

Dancing with him right now,

it's clear how much I love him and he loves me.

There's so much I want to say to you.

Stop.

You're here, that's enough.

OK, just one thing. I love you.

I know.

I love you, too.

One, three, five, seven, fast.

Right now, I'm leading A-Troupe in some conditioning exercises.

Michelle and I have kinda been in charge since Riley went on her trip.

PHONE BUZZES

-Three.

-Looks like Amanda and I won't be

holding down the fort for much longer.

I can't wait to see the look on people's faces

when they see who's back.

OK. No, they're not.

Hey guys, um, come on.

What's going on?

Sorry that I left, but I had some business to take care of.

Good to see you guys back together.

I was a little nervous to see how

everyone would react,

but they're all happy for us.

Except for one person.

Who's not here.

Um, where's, where's Alfie?

Is there something you're not telling me, Michelle?

Well, he hasn't been here in a couple of days.

Maybe he's sick or something.

Alfie picked a good day to be sick.

If he saw Riley and James holding hands, it would break his heart.

OK. Um, I'll call him later and deal with that, but for now, Piper,

could I talk to you in my office alone?

Now that James and I are back together,

I need to fix all the problems I made along the way,

starting with Piper.

I owe her an apology.

You can sit.

I just wanted to apologise.

I know I ruined our relationship.

You have every right to be mad at me.

You trusted me, and I let you down.

And I am so sorry for that.

What I did to James was not fair.

Can I interrupt you for a minute?

Yes.

You don't have to say any of this.

I forgive you.

As long as James is happy, I'm happy,

and James is always happiest when he's with you.

You and me, we're like sisters, and we always will be.

I'm really happy to hear you say that.

Can I have a hug?

I would feel terrible if Piper hadn't forgiven me.

She's my little sister and I'm glad to have her back.

Eyes on me, eyes on me.

OK, that was better, man, that was better. Peace, bro.

Right now, we're supposed to be rehearsing our small group

routine for regionals, but that's a little hard to do without Alfie.

That was good, that was good.

Hey, guys, so I have a bit of a surprise for you.

I thought I'd bring in some choreographers

to help you with your routine.

-Cool. Who?

-Well...

HE IMITATES FANFARE

Hey!

These guys just won basically the

biggest hip-hop competition in the entire world.

We couldn't ask for better choreographers.

Oh, and the pose.

This isn't just any trophy.

This is a British trophy, and it deserves a grand entrance.

Yeah, it's pretty sweet, isn't it?

-Whoa! Oh, my...

-I almost had a heart attack.

OK, no touching or breathing around the trophy.

As a matter of fact, back it up.

-Back it up.

-Back it up.

I thought West and Eldon helping with this routine was a no-brainer,

but that was before they won that trophy

and it went straight to their heads.

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

-Have fun.

-All right.

-OK.

-It's gonna be awesome.

-OK, so I want to know what...

Ah! Oh, my...

She just took the trophy.

You know what? It was distracting us anyway,

it's probably better that she takes it.

Eldon and I are here to see what these newbies got.

If these guys are on A-Troupe, that means they're good.

I'm pretty sure whatever choreo they put together

is already really strong.

DANCE MUSIC

Woo!

# Some people get famous. #

We're a little off balance without Alfie right now,

but West and Eldon are professionals.

They'll be able to see past that.

# Sometimes in the spotlight... #

See, their choreography's good,

but I don't know if it's ready for regionals.

Yeah, they're not maximising their talents.

Yeah, that's where we come in.

Yeah, bro.

They're in sync, but they're not really gelling.

If they want to be a regionals-winning team,

they're going to have to learn how to be more connected.

MUSIC CONTINUES

Oh!

OK. That was really good, guys.

-Yeah, good job.

-Really good.

But you have a lot of hard work ahead of you.

Yeah, the choreography's good,

but I don't think everything is at the level for regionals yet.

And that's where we come in.

We feel like we need to add something

to make this a regionals-winning routine,

so we're going to talk that over and figure out what that is,

and then we'll get started. Cool?

-Sounds good.

-Cool. All right, sweet.

OK.

I'm sure whatever West and Eldon add

is going to make the dance that much better.

I'm dreading making this call.

But I stood Alfie up at the airport

and he deserves to know why.

PHONE RINGS

PHONE RINGS

Hello.

'Hey, Alfie.'

Hey, Riley.

I'm so sorry I left you at the airport.

'Are you OK?'

I'm fine.

There's so much I need to say to you, but I want to say it in person.

When are you coming back to the studio? Tomorrow, the day after?

I'm not coming back.

What?

I'm done. I've left for good.

I'm in Switzerland.

I've got to go.

Bye.

Alfie left because of me.

Without him, we might not win regionals.

My personal drama could cost us everything.

Riley asked Eldon and I to help out

with the small group for the regionals routine.

After a little brainstorming, I know exactly what we need to do.

-OK!

-All right, everybody.

-Everybody.

-Everybody.

Everyone, let's sit in a circle.

I'm not sure how sitting on the floor has anything to do with

choreography, but I'm new to being dance captain, so what do I know?

All right, hold hands.

Don't you think this is kind of a

weird starting position for hip-hop routine?

Yeah, see, we're not dancing just yet.

Everybody at regionals is going to be great dancers,

but in order for you guys to win

you have to do something different.

If you want to be the best at regionals,

you've got to be totally connected.

What's the most important part about dance?

It's all about what is going on upstairs.

You are going to need to know how to read each other's minds.

West is talking next level stuff here and I absolutely love it.

That's impossible. Nobody can read minds like that.

Really? Then how do I know that Eldon is hungry?

-That's easy. Eldon is hungry all the time.

-True.

How do I know that he is hungry for a tuna salad and some fr...

No, no, curly fries?

-Right on the money.

-See?

I've never seen anything like it.

It's like West and Eldon are the same person.

And this connection, it doesn't only

apply to your best friends, all right?

Noah, how do I know that you are thinking about kissing Amanda?

And Sloan,

you are thinking about that recent video that you just filmed with Jude

-that just went viral.

-Nice!

-Hey, congratulations!

-Thanks.

Skylar, you are thinking about a... rogue bee?

-It was rugby, but still amazing.

-Rugby, all right.

Henry.

Henry, you are thinking about what I'm thinking about.

It's kind of like a thought loop, it's really freaky.

OK, so you mean we're going to be able to do that?

One day. One day, young grasshopper.

-OK.

-Now, let's get to work.

We don't have enough time to teach these guys how to read minds today,

but being aware of the connection is the first step.

Alfie's gone, Amanda, gone.

-He moved back to Switzerland.

-He didn't really move back.

He has a castle there.

I only told three people about Alfie being a prince,

and Amanda is one of them.

So I know I can trust her with this.

Whatever, that's beside the point.

The point is he's not going to be here with us for regionals.

And it's all my fault. I messed everything up.

OK. Whoa, whoa! We still have time to figure things out.

Alfie was our featured dancer in the regional routine, Amanda.

The whole dance is structured around him,

and even if that wasn't an issue,

we are still down one dancer without him.

OK, Riley, we can just adjust the regionals dance

to fit the dancers that we have left.

And even without him we still have enough dancers to go to regionals.

Don't worry about it, we'll be fine.

I know what Amanda is saying makes sense,

but it's not making me feel any better.

I'm sorry to burden you with this.

Normally I'd talk to James about it.

You did not just say that.

Never in a million years could you ever talk to James about this.

Do you think James wants to sit here and listen to you blab on

about Prince Alfie? No.

I would never ever talk to Noah about one of my ex-boyfriends.

Keeping this from James feels like a lie,

and I don't want to restart our relationship on a lie.

Now that you guys have a connection,

it's good to now carve out the story.

Exactly. What can you bring from

your personal lives in to the dance to make it better?

A dance routine is like a lasagne.

Dancers, music, choreo, energy.

But see, this last layer, the top layer is the most important layer.

That's the story and that makes a lasagne.

I'm dating Amanda.

Well I'm not dating anybody, I'm just not feeling it.

I have feelings for someone,

but I had to put them aside for the sake of our friendship.

I have a boyfriend.

-What?

-What? Since when?

-You have a boyfriend?

-Whoa!

I never brought up my boyfriend

because some of us leave our relationship drama

outside of the studio.

What's with all this relationship talk?

Is that all you guys are thinking about?

I'm dating Talia.

Eldon, you're not helping.

-Sorry.

-What's going on with all this boyfriend, girlfriend talk?

These guys should know that the only relationship that matters is

the relationship with your fellow dancers.

Henry, Noah, Sloan, Skylar.

You guys aren't now the new bros of A-Troupe, all right?

With you guys being the new bros,

it's important for you guys to learn the rules, OK?

The rules are that bros come first before anything, all right?

Before romance, before video games, even before dance.

-OK, I have a question.

-Yes.

-I'm not a bro.

-Me neither.

Anybody can be bros.

Boys can be bros, girls could be bros, if horses could talk,

horses would be bros too.

Bro-dom is about friendship.

It's kind of like a 0% club.

-Yeah, whatever that is.

-Why don't we make the dance about that?

Being there for your friends when they need you.

No, no. I don't think so.

I think the dance should be about

being there for your friends when they need you.

-What?

-Dude! That's really smart actually.

Brilliant, genius!

My brain is working.

The wheels up here, they're just...

Always. 24/7.

No, no, 24/8.

An extra day in the week for my brain to work.

Extra. Extra work.

Extra! I didn't even know that was possible.

I can tell that they're starting to get it.

Once Eldon and I are done with them,

they're going to be a force to be reckoned with.

# You can disappear. #

Five, six, seven, eight.

Boom... Boom.

Down, and...pose.

Hey, OK!

I know our approach is really out there,

but these guys embraced it.

I'm proud of them. They've come a long way in just one day.

Now that we have handed the bro-torch to you guys,

there is one more thing to this ritual.

What's that?

What is it?

We have to dance.

OK, show us the moves you did at the competition.

-Yes!

-Whoa!

-OK, sweet.

MUSIC STARTS

What?

Hey!

Whoa!

No wonder these guys are two of the best in the world.

Everything they do is on point.

Hey!

West is a crazy inspiration to me.

I'm dying to show him what I've learned.

And, besides, I can't let him have all the fun.

Oh!

Whoa! Hey!

Hey!

I can't believe I'm dancing with these guys again.

It's so cool to have them back.

It's just like old times.

That was great, you guys, but I actually have some bad news.

Alfie was one of the dancers in the small group,

and his team mates deserve to know he's not coming back.

Alfie will not be returning to The Next Step.

-What?

-We've done all this work, what do you mean?

Well, Alfie is not coming back,

because...he's a prince.

-What?

-You've got to be kidding me.

He has royal business in Switzerland.

Wait, what? A prince?

I knew it. He had prince written all over him.

All this time one of my best friends was a prince and he never told me.

How could he keep that a secret for so long?

I was sworn to secrecy while he was in this country, but it's all true.

Well, what are we going to do?

Thanks to West and Eldon, we have a sick piece

and Alfie is supposed to be in it.

Great, now the whole team is panicking.

James would know exactly how to handle this,

but I cannot risk losing him again.

Amanda told me not to talk to James about Alfie,

but it's all I can think about,

so I'm just sitting here trying to pretend like nothing is wrong.

Pretty sure it's not working.

It's definitely not working.

What's wrong with you?

Me? Nothing.

-Nothing is wrong with me.

-OK, Riley, I know you pretty well by now.

Whenever you make that face there's something wrong.

I am totally fine.

And you always make that one to cover it up.

I can't believe Riley has forgotten my powers of persuasion.

She needs a little refresher.

Oh, no! He's giving me the look.

I can never say no to the look.

I can see it.

-See what?

-Whatever's going on with you.

You can tell me.

I really want to tell you because I could really use your advice, but...

But nothing, spill it.

Spill it!

-HIGH PITCHED VOICE:

-Spill it, spill it.

I want to talk to you about Alfie.

Him.

-Yeah.

-You want to talk about Alfie?

Yes.

Well, I did ask.

Look, I know he's the last person you want to talk about right now.

Talking about HIM is not going to be fun,

but Riley needs me there for her, so that's where I'll be.

Let's talk about it.

OK. Well...

..he left us, like for good.

As in, he's not going to be dancing with us at regionals,

but he's our strongest dancer so I have to find someone to replace him,

but what if we can't win without him?

What if we lose regionals,

and it's all because of me and my stupid personal drama?

First off, never blame yourself for hurting the team.

If anyone is hurting the team it's him for leaving.

What are we going to do without him?

Look, everyone on A-Troupe is here because they're great.

Sure, Alfie was good.

So is every other person.

You got this, I know it.

I love you.

Thank you for being there.

I'll always be here.

Just never be afraid to ask.

I should have never doubted that I

could talk to James about whatever is bothering me.

James is the best boyfriend.