#o15

Brooke huffed, raking her fingers through her recently dyed hair as she stepped into the small room. She glanced around quickly, frowning as memories of Dance Moms confessionals crossed her mind. The room was nearly empty, with only an oversized, white plush chair centered against a a deep indigo wall, and a camera, hooked up and pointed to center the chair. All one really had to do was push the button and the recording would start. However, the small brunette couldn’t bring herself to move. Instead, her feet remained planted firmly in place.

Chewing on her lower lip, Brooke glanced over at the camera. While she had done weekly confessionals on Dance Moms, they were rarely shown, as she never really seemed to show the “Broody Brooke” that the producers wanted to make her out to be. It absolutely aggravated the teenager that she wasn’t allowed to show her carefree side, the happy side of herself. And while she tried her hardest to do so during filming times, the editors would take the split second footage of her looking bored and making it seem like she was never happy with her dancing.

Brooke loved to dance. However, the show seemed to suck all the fun and inspiration right out of her, and while she continued to win, wanting to impress Abby Lee Miller, she always seemed to get the short end of the stick. Despite her straight legs, pointed feet, and impeccable technique, the large woman would always point out the tiniest of flaws, trying to tear down the teen’s win. And Brooke just couldn’t take it anymore. She began to resent going to dance class every day, and debated just skipping it altogether, but once her mom attacked Abby, it was as if she was granted a ‘get out of jail free’ card. She wouldn’t have to step foot into the Abby Lee Dance Company and Brooke felt a huge weight off her shoulders.

Shaking her head, the brunette moved further into the room, but not until she flipped the lock on the door. While she knew the confessionals would most likely be viewed, she didn’t want to run the risk of someone walking in on the middle of her video and ruining the confidence she had spent the majority of the day working up just to go to the room. Confessing something nobody knew about her was a whole other story. While she had figured out what to say, she needed to work up the courage to actually put it into words.

Settling down into the large chair, Brooke brushed out the non-existent wrinkles in her shirt, taking a deep breath before leaning forward and pressing the button that would start the recording.

“Uhh, hi.” She began nervously, waving half-heartedly. “I’m Brooke Hyland, and this is my first confessional video. And of course, it had to be the week where we had to say something no one knows about us.” She sighed, twisting a lock of her curled hair around her index finger. “Well, most people know the majority of my life thanks to Dance Moms, and I usually get tweeted at about my height. But I guess what people don’t know is what happened to me that I won’t grow taller than my current height.”

Brooke paused, biting down on her lower lip. She hadn’t realized how hard she was biting until she licked her lip, a familiar coppery taste hitting her tongue. Talking about her height was always a sensitive topic for the girl, as many fans and haters of the show would poke fun of how her younger siblings were taller than her, and how she would blend right in with the Mini competition team outside the show. Sucking in a slow breath, the teen continued on. “When I first enrolled at the ALDC, I had only joined a tap class to have an extra-curricular activity while my mom took care of my sister, who was only a baby at the time. But Abby had suggested I take an acrobatic class, as I had been having trouble with the element of being precise with my tap shoes. So my mom switched me, and acrobatics was where I was really able to improve. I think my friend Katherine and I were the only ones who were really ahead of our group when it came to picking up the tricks.” Realizing she was babbling, Brooke quickly paused, getting her thoughts back on track before speaking again.

“Well, one day, when I was about eight or nine, Abby had put me in a senior acro class so I could watch the older kids, as inspiration I guess. Well, they were doing this super cool move where they would pull their leg up behind their back in a straight needle, then pull it back and somehow land in a split with their head literally touching their back leg. I thought it looked easy enough, since I knew how to pull a needle, as well as my right split. So after the class let out, I kind of lingered behind and tried it. Well, I realized right then why it was a move for the senior class.”

Rubbing her back self-consciously, Brooke let her mind briefly wander back to the day that her accident happened…

Brooke beamed, tugging at the black leotard that had formed tightly to her body, thanks to the thin layer of sweat that had formed during her junior acrobatic class. The senior class had been working on a move that Brooke had fallen in love with, and it seemed easy enough that the nine-year-old could run with it.

Waiting for the entire class, including Abby, to leave the room, Brooke tightened her ponytail before kicking her left leg up behind her back. “Hm, easy!” Brooke laughed, gripping her leg the same way the seniors had just minutes earlier. Sucking in a breath, Brooke tilted back, but didn’t make it down, as a loud, painful crack sounded from her back. The tiny dancer let out an ear-splitting scream, crumpling down towards the mats, gripping her back for dear life.

“After what felt like years, my teacher Gianna came in and called the ambulance, and the next thing I remembered, I was in a hospital room. My doctor had told me I had broken my growth plate, and while they had been able to reset it, I had been told it was unlikely that I would grow much taller than I already was. Luckily, after sixteen weeks of intense physical therapy, I was able to dance again, but I’ve basically been the size of a ten-year-old ever since.”