Showtime! (9 page)

“They really deserve to win first place, don't they?” Rochelle asked Scarlett. “That Bizarre-o girl is
gooood.
”

“Probably. But we're going to give them a run for it.”

When it was the Divas' turn, the girls strutted out to center stage in their brightly colored costumes covered in real candy. Liberty was pink bubble gum, Rochelle was blue starlight mints,
Bria was green gumballs, and Scarlett was red licorice. Gracie was the cutest of all: a rainbow-swirled lollipop. This time nothing melted or fell off (thanks to a ton of Super Glue!), and the number was light and fun and showed off little Gracie's tumbling. Every time she did a cartwheel, her face lit up, and the judges seemed delighted. She didn't even wobble as the girls lifted her high in the air.

“That was flawless!” Liberty's mom told them as they exited the stage. “Not a step out of place.”

“I saw a few,” Miss Toni said. “But good job, ladies. Really good job.”

At least, Scarlett thought, their coach was proud of their performance. Maybe she'd let the whole spying incident slip? Nonetheless, she felt like there was something she still had to do. She saw Mandy walking back to her dressing room and stopped her.

“I just wanted to say I'm sorry,” she told Mandy. “What we did to you . . . it was wrong. It was mean.”

Mandy stared. She wasn't expecting an apology. “Why did you do it?” she asked.

“I guess because we were afraid you were going to beat us again.”

Mandy smirked. “We
are
going to beat you.”

Scarlett nodded. “Then you'll beat us fair and square. No tricks. My mom always says a win when you cheat doesn't feel like a win at all.”

As she walked away, Scarlett saw Miss Toni standing at the end of the hall. That was all she needed: another lecture about talking to the competing team and sticking her nose where it didn't belong. She braced herself.

“I'm proud of you,” Miss Toni said instead. “I was eavesdropping. Some girls I know taught me how.”

“I'm not sure Mandy really cared what I had to say,” Scarlett told her. “But at least I apologized.”

Toni nodded. “I know it's hard to do the right thing when you want something so badly. But when you do the wrong thing, you have to live with yourself.”

Scarlett wasn't exactly sure what Toni was talking about. It sounded personal. Had she made a mistake in the past? Done something wrong that she now regretted? At least she knew her teacher wasn't furious with her—or planning to cut her from the team.

“They're about to announce the winners. You'd better get out there,” Toni said. The stage was already packed with contestants eager to hear the results.

When it came time to announce the group awards, the emcee held up his hand and asked for everyone's attention.

“Judges, we have a protest regarding a contestant's age.”

Liberty looked at Scarlett. “You don't think Toni went to the judges, do you?”

Scarlett couldn't imagine it—not after her lecture about minding your own business. But when she saw Justine and Anya standing before the judges' table with a stack of papers, she realized it was a definite possibility.

They debated for a while before handing down a verdict: Anya had lied about her age. She was thirteen—which put her in the Teen division. And because she had exhibited “unsportsmanlike behavior” by fudging her paperwork, she would be disqualified from her solo. To be fair, points would also be deducted from City Feet's group number.

“Take that, City Feet!” Liberty cheered. “That'll show you not to mess with the Divas.”

“Zip it!” Rochelle hushed her. “They're announcing the top three groups.”

The third and second spots went to Toes and Bows from Connecticut and InSync Dance from Staten Island.

Scarlett took a deep breath and waited for the announcer to open the last envelope. “Well, no surprise here,” he ad-libbed. “This group had some
sweet
moves today! Congratulations to . . . the Dance Divas Studio!”

Scarlett wasn't sure who was screaming the loudest, Liberty or Gracie. “We won! We won!”
They held hands and jumped up and down. The girls all rushed toward the announcer to collect their trophy and pose for pictures. As the flashes popped, Scarlett couldn't stop smiling. It felt amazing to be back on top.

Then she saw Justine walking toward them.

“Congrats, Toni,” she said, extending a hand for her to shake. “I guess I underestimated your team.”

“They're good girls,” Toni replied. She kept her hands firmly in her pockets.

“There's no rule against recruiting a gifted young dancer from L.A.,” Justine said.

“No, but there is a rule about faking your age on an application. She's a gifted
thirteen-year-old
dancer—which makes her a Teen, not a Junior.”

“And you just had to go and blab to the judges, didn't you?” Justine asked.

“I didn't tell anyone,” Toni said calmly.

“I did,” said a small voice. It was Mandy.

Scarlett gasped. As much as she didn't like Mandy, she wanted to run up to her at this moment and hug her!

“But why?” Justine demanded. “Why would you do that to your team?”

Mandy repeated what Scarlett had told her: “Because a win when you cheat doesn't feel like a win at all.”

Justine looked Toni in the eyes. “I didn't know Anya lied about her age,” she said.

Toni raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that? As I recall from our ABC days, lies were your specialty.”

“Are you ever going to get over it?” Justine sighed. “It's been twenty years.”

Toni shook her head. “Some things you never forget . . . like a best friend who stabs you in the back.”

All week long after the Feet on Fire win, Scarlett kept playing the Toni-Justine conversation over and over in her head.

“She said they were best friends,” she told Rochelle while they were getting ready for stretch class. “Like how we're best friends. How weird is that?”

“Really weird. I didn't think Toni had any friends,” Rochelle said, and giggled.

“Justine must have done something really awful for Miss Toni to hate her so much,” Scarlett continued. “I wonder what it was.”

“Can I just remind you about the no-spying policy Miss Toni made us all swear to,” Bria piped up. “I'm all for cyberdetective work, but I'm scared. Miss Toni said ‘Mind your own beeswax' and she meant it.”

“She meant it about the City Feet team,” Liberty pointed out. “This isn't about them. It's about Miss Toni.”

“And Justine,” Rochelle said. “But I guess they weren't coaches when this all happened, right?”

“Right!” Scarlett typed in the website for American Ballet Company on Bria's laptop and clicked on the tab marked “School Archives.” She scanned through about a dozen pictures, searching for photos of Toni's performances as a young ballerina.

“Aha!” she exclaimed, when she came across a group photo. There, dressed in red fire-bird costumes, were Toni and Justine. Another picture showed them dancing side by side in the
corps de ballet
of
Coppélia
.

“They were always in the front row together,” Bria noted.

“Until this year,” Scarlett said. “Look at all these photos of Justine.” She was Odette in
Swan Lake
, Juliet dancing with her Romeo, Cinderella at the ball.

“No Toni?” Rochelle asked. “That's weird.”

“That's the key,” Scarlett said.

“Do you seriously think this whole Toni-Justine feud is about Toni losing out on leads in ballet school?”

“I know how to find out,” Liberty said. She clicked on the tab marked “Alumni” and found Justine's e-mail.

“What are you going to say?” Scarlett asked, worried. “Miss Toni is going to freak if she finds out you're e-mailing Justine.”

“She won't find out,” Liberty insisted. “I'll create a fake e-mail account.”

Then she typed, “Meet me in the lobby of the Atlantic City Convention Center before Nationals—Toni.” She hit Send before the rest of the girls had a chance to chicken out.

“It might fix things between them,” Bria said hopefully.

“Or it might start World War Three!” Scarlett sighed. Nationals was three months away, and both City Feet and Dance Divas would be competing. Maybe Justine would be way too busy with her team to meet Toni. Maybe she wouldn't even want to.

Bria's laptop suddenly dinged. There was an e-mail.

“See you there. Justine.”

The National Reach for the Stars dance competition in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was never something Miss Toni took lightly. But this year she posted the date three months ahead of time on a huge hot-pink poster on the wall and outlined a schedule of rehearsals, costume fittings, and private lessons that made Scarlett's head spin. To compete, a team needed to place first in at least one regional competition. Which made both Dance Divas
and
City Feet eligible.

“This is in our home state—so it's even more important that we sweep every category,” Toni
began. “People from all over are going to be coming to watch us. Do not embarrass me. But most important, don't embarrass yourselves.”

She posted a list of solos, duos, trios, and three group routines. “You'll learn all of these, and I'll decide which ones are good enough to enter,” she continued. “I thought we'd try out a few of the dances this weekend at the Dance Divas Studio showcase.”

She turned to Gracie. “You're getting your very own solo called ‘Watch Out, World—Here I Come!'”

Scarlett expected her sister to jump for joy. Instead, she looked like she was going to be sick.

“What's wrong, Gracie?” she whispered.

“A solo means you have to be onstage all by yourself. What if I mess up? Everyone will see!”

“You have nothing to worry about,” Scarlett promised her. “We'll all be in the audience.”

“I know. Not on the stage!” Gracie whined. “I like group numbers, not solos.”

The more Scarlett tried to calm her down, the
more nervous Gracie got. By Saturday morning's recital, she was a bundle of nerves.

“You look so cute!” her mom said, adjusting the bow tie around her neck. It was Toni's idea to have her wear a black velvet leotard that looked like a tux. Even Scarlett had to admit she looked downright adorable in her pigtails and black fishnet stockings.

“Just remember not to rush the back walkover,” Scarlett reminded her. “And tuck your head when you do your rolls. Don't pop it up like a turtle.”

Scarlett heard Miss Toni introducing her dance once, twice, then a third time. “Go on!” Scarlett whispered, giving her sister a little shove. Gracie slowly walked to the center of the stage. She looked out at the audience, filled with faces she recognized: her parents, her grandparents, and her friends from school, gymnastics, and the dance studio. There were also dozens of strangers—and
everyone
was looking at her. She stood frozen.

“Oh no . . . she has stage fright!” Bria said. “You have to do something, Scarlett. You're her big sis.”

Scarlett remembered how Gracie's cheers of “Go, Scoot!” after the disastrous “Cyberbully” number had made her feel better. “Go, Gracie!” she yelled from the wings. “You can do it!” The rest of the team joined in: “Go, Gracie! Go, Gracie!” and the audience began to clap.

But Gracie's feet remained stuck to the stage. She didn't do a handspring or a cartwheel or even a somersault. Instead, she slowly backed away from the front of the stage. Then she turned and made a run for it.

Toni dropped the curtain, and Scarlett caught Gracie in her arms. She was crying just like the time her favorite Barbie broke.

“Gracie, it's okay.” Scarlett tried to comfort her. “You just got a little scared. It's your first solo.”