Step It Up (8 page)

“What about breakfast?” Gracie piped up. It was her favorite meal of the day, and she couldn't imagine it without a heaping pile of pancakes or her mom's apple-cinnamon oatmeal.

“Glad you asked!” Toni replied. She handed her a dry box of bran cereal. “Help yourself. There's no milk, of course.”

Bria rifled through the bag. There was absolutely nothing appetizing and her stomach was growling. “Maybe we can make a campfire and roast some s'mores,” she suggested.

“That would be nice,” Toni answered, “if you had any marshmallows and knew how to light a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Good luck with that!” She walked over to Ranger Sam. “You guys should definitely hit the trail right away. It'll take you several hours to reach the bottom, and you don't want to lose the daylight.”

Bria gulped. “You mean, we'll have to walk
through the woods in the dark?” She tugged on Rochelle's sleeve and whispered, “Werewolves!”

Scarlett held up her lantern. “I guess that's why we have this.” She looked at Miss Toni. “What happens if we get lost or in trouble?”

Ranger Sam handed her a whistle. “We won't be far behind, and I'll be keeping an eye on you. But you girls are leading
us
, not the other way around.” He held up a pair of binoculars. “If you get into a bind, just toot for help.”

Toni crossed her arms over her chest. She was not about to change her mind and let them all just go home. “Tick tock,” she said. “Time to hit the trail.”

Scarlett looked around, trying to get her bearings and figure out where they were on the map. “You'd think they would have marked it with an ‘X' …,” she said. “You think we're here?” She held up the map so Rochelle could see it.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Rochelle replied.

“Let me see,” Liberty said as she pulled it out of Scarlett's hands.

“Why? You think you're Dora the Explorer?” Rock teased.

“No, but I can find my way expertly around the Riverside Square Mall floor plan. This can't
be much harder.” She pointed to a spot at the top of the map. “Here. This is where we are.”

Scarlett shrugged. “Okay. I'll buy that. We're clearly way up high and the campsite is way down low.”

“I want to snap a picture of us to post on Instagram!” Bria said, digging her phone out of her pocket.

“Great. Take a picture before we're eaten alive by wild animals,” Anya said.

“Don't say that!” Bria hushed her. “Seriously! The wild animals might hear you. Don't give them any ideas!”

Liberty struck a pose. “Okay, everyone behind me and say cheese.”

Rochelle frowned. “Behind you? Why do you get to be front and center?” She gave her teammate a shove so she could stand next to her. “Scarlett, over here next to me.”

Bria rested her phone on a rock and set the auto-timer. “Okay, everyone get in. On the count of three, say ‘DIVAS!' ONE TWO THREE …”

The flash went off before they could open their mouths.

Bria looked at the picture. The only person you could see was Gracie. Everyone else was cut off at the shoulders.

“I guess we have to scooch down to Gracie's height,” Bria suggested.

“Scooch? You want me to scooch in my designer jeans?” Liberty groaned. “I am not getting all filthy so you can get a photo.”

“Aw, come on,” Rochelle taunted her. “You're not afraid of a little dirt, are ya?” She took a handful of soil and rubbed it into Liberty's studded leather jacket. “Oops! Looks like you'll have to send this to the dry cleaners!”

Liberty's face got bright red. “Do you have any idea how expensive this jacket is?” she screamed.

“Nope, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me,” Rochelle replied.

“It's one-of-a-kind! It was a gift from Gaga!”

“Gaga gave you a jacket?” Bria gasped.

“No. She gave it to my mom and I kind of borrowed it from her closet … She's gonna kill me!”

Anya giggled. “It's a Gaga-tastrophe.”

“It isn't funny,” Liberty said, trying desperately to rub the stains out. “None of you are funny.”

“I'm funny,” Gracie piped up. “You wanna hear a joke?” She didn't wait for Liberty's answer. “Why did the lion lose at Monopoly? Because he was playing with a cheetah!” She cracked herself up. “Get it? A cheet-ah?”

“I still need a photo for Instagram,” Bria reminded them. “Can we all just maybe sit over there on those rocks?” She pointed to a spot a few feet away. “Look, there's even a pretty backdrop.”

Rochelle looked over. “Pretty backdrop? All I see are trees, trees, and more trees.”

“Exactly,” Bria said, pushing her into position. “It's very rustic.”

“THREE TWO ONE … SAY ‘DIVA!' ”

This time when the camera flashed, they were all in the photo—but none of them were smiling and Gracie blinked.

“I give up,” Bria said, sighing.

“This isn't a photo shoot. It's a do-or-die challenge,” Anya reminded her.

“I think we should stop posing and get moving,” Scarlett said, taking the map up again. “There'll be plenty of time for pics once we make our way down.”

“Toni's totally enjoying torturing us,” Liberty grumped. She could barely walk with the backpack over her shoulders and the bulky sleeping bag duffel in her arms.

Scarlett led the way, clutching the map, and tentatively making her way down the steep path. “This map has so many trails. I don't know which one to choose,” she said.

Liberty peered over her shoulder. “Choose a short one. One that goes straight down and gets us out of here.”

“There aren't any straight ones.” Scarlett sighed.
“And they all have these weird names. Like Sleeping Bear Dunes and Biscuit Basin.”

Gracie still had breakfast on the brain. “Go for the biscuit one. Maybe there's a pancake house on the way.”

Scarlett studied the map from every angle. “I think we should take the Full Moon Trail,” she said. “It winds around a big lake at the bottom, so we can wash up there, and it looks like there are some little rest stops along the way.” She pointed to several brown triangles dotting the path.

Anya looked closely at the key. “Those aren't rest stops. They're bird-watching points. The only reason to stop there is if you want to get a look at the yellow-bellied sapsucker!”

“Oh,” Scarlett replied. It had been a good guess.

“I think we should take this one. It seems the shortest,” Bria suggested. She pointed to a curvy black line labeled ‘OVERLOOK TRAIL.'

“As if I'd ever trust you—with trails or with costumes,” Anya said.

“Guys, come on,” Scarlett pleaded. “We have to make a decision, and Bria's path is just as good as any.” She pointed to the left. “We go that way.”

The path at the beginning of the trail was steep and narrow. “How are we supposed to walk on this and not break our necks?” Rochelle asked.

“Tippy-toes,” Gracie suggested. She rose up in her hiking books on
relevé
.

“She means like we do in pointe class—and it's a great idea!” Scarlett said, taking tiny, quick, even steps down the path. “Everyone,
pas de bourrée
, one foot in front of the other.” The girls formed a single, straight line and made their way down about twenty feet.

“Nice job,” Scarlett said when they got to a more open area of the trail. She pointed to the map. “Now we can take a shortcut across this little trickling stream.” But when they arrived at the spot, it was bigger and wetter than anticipated.

“That's no trickle!” Liberty exclaimed. “My shirt is one hundred percent silk, and I am not getting it soaking wet and ruined.”

“It's so hard to tell from the map,” Scarlett apologized. “I guess we could go back …”

“No, that's a huge waste of time,” Anya said. “There's a stone path through the stream. We just have to skip between the stones.”

Bria looked across the water. “That is no hop, skip, and jump. Those stones are really far apart.”

“Bri, you have an amazing
grand jeté
. You can do it!” Scarlett cheered her on. “We all can.”

She demonstrated by leaping from the shore to the first flat stone in the middle of the stream. “See? As Gracie would say, ‘Easy-peasy!' ”

“Easy-peasy for you to say,” Rochelle groaned. “Okay. Everybody
jeté
! And make it as grand as you can.”

They each followed behind Scarlett, leaping gracefully from stone to stone. Gracie wobbled on the last one, but Scarlett caught her arm and pulled her ashore.

“Good job,” she told her little sister. “You're as good a leaper as Mr. Mustard.”

Gracie smiled. “Ya think?”

“I think we're all in trouble,” Bria said, studying the map over Scarlett's shoulder. “Does that say what I think it says? Did you just lead us to Nowhere Man's Path?”

Scarlett squinted at the tiny print. The trail they were standing on did have a pretty ominous name. “Well, lucky for us we're not men—we're Divas,” she said. “Onward!”

When Scarlett glanced at her watch, she couldn't believe it was only 10:00 a.m. It felt like they'd been walking for days, not just two hours.

“I'm starving,” Anya said, sitting down on a rock to rest her aching feet. “Gracie, give me some of that cereal.” Gracie shook the box; it was empty.

“You ate it
all
?” Liberty exclaimed. “That was supposed to be for all of us to share!”

“I couldn't help it,” Gracie replied. “I was really hungry.”

Scarlett took the tote of food out of her hands. “I'm sure there's a lot of other stuff in here.” She
pulled out a crumpled granola-bar wrapper, a near empty sports drink, and a bag of pretzels that had only crumbs left. “Gracie, how much did you eat?”

Her little sister shrugged. “I dunno. You can have these.” She handed Anya a bag of freezedried green beans.

“
Eww!
” Anya said. “How am I supposed to eat this?”

Gracie held up a bean and smiled. “With your mouth?”

The next few hours didn't go much smoother. Bria was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, and Rochelle's hay fever was acting up.

“My eyes are so itchy I can barely see,” she said. She sneezed into the sleeve of her hoodie.

“Gross!” Liberty pushed past her. “Keep your boogers to yourself.”

“I can't help it,” Rochelle said. “I'm allergic to something.” She bent over to examine the tiny yellow flowers lining their path. “Maybe it's these guys.” One whiff sent her into a sneezing fit.

“Hey! Quit it!” Liberty yelled. But Rochelle couldn't stop. Her last sneeze sent her colliding into Liberty, who bumped into a tree, then slipped and fell. When she looked down, there was a huge gash in one of the knees of her leggings.

“Oh my gosh! I'm bleeding!” Liberty screamed. Her knee was scraped and covered with dirt and gravel. “Ow, it hurts! It really hurts!”

Scarlett kneeled over her. “It doesn't look too bad. We just need to clean it. Someone hand me a canteen of water.” Anya obliged, and they flushed out the wound. “We need to cover it with something. Anyone have a Band-Aid?”

Rochelle held up a clean tissue. “This is all I've got. Any idea how we can hold it in place?”

“Silly Putty!” Gracie suggested. “If I had any with me …”

“There's a roll of pink leopard-print duct tape in my backpack,” Liberty said, choking back tears.

“Really? You didn't bring a first-aid kit but you brought duct tape?” Rock asked in disbelief.

“I thought if I got bored, I would make a cool
bracelet or a headband,” she answered. “Instaglamour.”

It turned out it was also insta–first aid. Scarlett secured the tissue over the wound with the tape. It matched Liberty's pink sneakers. “I think it'll stay put for a while,” Scarlett said. “Can you stand on it?” She helped Liberty to her feet.