Two to Tango (4 page)

“Thanks, Gracie,” Rochelle said. “What is this?”

“Waffles à la Gracie,” Scarlett said. “Go ahead . . . have a taste.”

Rochelle sniffed the cup and wrinkled her nose. “Gee, I'm stuffed. Maybe later after rehearsal.”

Scarlett giggled. “I'm sure Rock will work up an appetite and gobble it up.”

“Cool beanbags!” Gracie exclaimed, proud of her culinary talent. “Maybe tomorrow I'll make waffles for all the Divas
and
Miss Toni.”

When they arrived at the studio, Miss Toni was locked in her office.

“She's been in there for a long, long time,” Bria informed them.

“We tried to eavesdrop, but the walls in here are all soundproof.” Liberty sighed. “Bummer.”

“What do you think it is?” Rochelle asked. She remembered the last time Toni acted secretive, the team wound up performing at the New Jersey State County Fair—dressed like ears of corn.

“Let's not panic,” Scarlett said, trying to reassure them. “Maybe it's personal. Maybe she's talking to a friend.”

“Does Toni have friends?” Bria asked.

“Maybe she's planning a pizza party for us,”
Gracie suggested. She still had food on the brain.

“Or maybe she's planning to kick one of us off the team,” Liberty suggested. She glanced over at Rochelle. “Divas does seem to be getting a little crowded.”

Just then, the lock clicked and Toni opened the door. “Is there a reason you're all standing around in the hall instead of warming up at the
barre
?” she bellowed.

Rochelle thought quickly. “We brought you breakfast! Waffles à la Gracie.” She shoved the cup in Toni's face.

“How thoughtful,” Toni replied. But she wasn't fooled. “I'll eat this while I watch you all do fifty push-ups.” She dipped her finger in Gracie's secret sauce and took a lick. Rochelle and Scarlett gasped.

“Delish,” she said, winking at Gracie. “Now hit the studio.”

As they ran through their warm-up—several
pliés, relevés,
and
ronds de jambe
at the
barre
, Bria whispered to Rochelle. “Don't you think it's
strange she hasn't told us who's getting a solo at Leaps and Bounds?”

Rochelle glanced at the calendar on the studio wall. Miss Toni had circled the date and scribbled in “Leaps and Bounds, Wilmington, Delaware” in bright red marker. The thought had crossed her mind. Since she and Liberty were locked in a battle for a duet with Hayden, that probably left Scarlett, Bria, and Gracie. Toni loved Gracie's acrobatic ability, but she knew what happened whenever she had to dance onstage alone. Gracie had terrible stage fright.

“Did she say anything to you?” Rochelle asked Scarlett.

“Nope. You?”

Scarlett shrugged. It wasn't like Toni to leave anything undecided a week before a competition—especially when they were going head to head with City Feet. She raised her hand timidly.

“Yes?” Miss Toni called on her. She was rolling the fountain into place in the center of the studio, preparing to soak them all again.

Scarlett took a deep breath. “I was just wondering if anyone will be doing a solo next weekend?”

“Absolutely,” Toni replied. She went back to tinkering with the fountain.

“Are you going to tell us who?” Rochelle pressed.

“Do I have to tell you everything?” Toni replied. “Just worry about your group number. It's a hot mess. Keep stretching while I find a screwdriver.”

The girls looked at one another, puzzled. What was Toni up to?

“I don't like it,” Rochelle whispered. “First the secret phone call, now this?”

She turned to Liberty. “Do you know anything about this? Did you and your Hollywood hotshot mother scheme your way into a solo?”

“Puh-lease.” Liberty groaned. “If I had a solo, I wouldn't keep it a secret. I'd flaunt it right in your face!”

“She has a point,” Bria said.

“Then who is it?” Rochelle pondered. No one else outside of the group was prepared to be on their competition team. Unless . . .

Hayden bounded into the room. “Hey, Divas!” he said, tossing his bag and cap on the floor. He looked right at Rochelle and grinned. “What's up, Rock?”

Rochelle froze mid–
port de bras
, her hands dangling above her head.

“Snap out of it, Rock.” Scarlett elbowed her. “Speak!”

“Up!” she blurted out. “I mean, nothing. Nothing's up.” She quickly dropped her arms to her sides.

Liberty pushed in between them. “So, we were wondering . . . has Miss Toni talked to you about doing a solo at Leaps and Bounds next weekend?” Leave it to Liberty to get straight to the point.

“A solo? I've got my hands full learning two duets. Now she wants me to do a solo, too?” Hayden scratched his head. “Is your dance coach usually this—”

“Crazy? Definitely!” Bria piped up. “None of us were assigned a solo, so we thought it must be someone new. Like you.”

Hayden shrugged. “She hasn't said anything to me.”

Miss Toni returned to the studio, water hose in hand. “Hayden! Just the person I needed!”

Aha!
Rochelle thought.
He
is
getting a solo!

Instead, Toni handed him the hose. “Stand here and hold this tight. Be right back.”

Hayden twirled the hose in his hand. “Let me guess . . . I'm supposed to be an elephant . . .” He held the hose up to his face, letting it swing in front of him. Suddenly, a blast of water sent the hose flying, whipping around the studio.

“Catch it! Catch it!” Scarlett screamed. But it was out of control, covering the walls and mirrors with a shower of water.

“I've got it!” Rochelle said, trying to tackle the hose as it flew past her. It was as slippery as a snake.

“Wait! I've got it!” Hayden called, leaping in the air.

They collided midair, landing with a
thud
on the floor, just as Miss Toni had shut off the valve.
She came into the room to see what all the commotion was about while the hose fell flat to the floor.

“Didn't I say to
hold
it?” she yelled at Hayden. He was sitting in a huge puddle on the floor next to Rochelle. Bria and Liberty had ducked behind a pile of floor mats, and Gracie and Scarlett were hiding under the piano.

“Sorry?” Hayden gulped.

“Look at this studio! It's a disaster area!” Toni fumed. “Get it cleaned up now. And you . . .” She turned to Rochelle. “Stay.”

As the Divas and Hayden hustled to get paper towels and a mop, Rochelle stood dripping wet waiting for Miss Toni to tell her off. She assumed her teacher would blame her for the hose mishap. But instead, Toni handed her a CD.

“I want you and Hayden to practice your routine as much as possible,” she said.

“Really?” Rochelle could hardly believe it. Did this mean she was giving her the duet? Had she actually beaten Liberty? She had a million questions, but all she could manage to say was, “Thanks!” excitedly.

“I think you two have great chemistry,” Toni continued. “But chemistry isn't enough to win. Not against City Feet.”

Rochelle nodded. “Gotcha.”

Just then Toni's phone rang. “Yes, this is Toni . . .,” she said before wandering off to a corner out of earshot.

Rochelle tried to make out a few words. She heard: “need a change,” “flight to L.A.,” and “winning team.”

When she returned, Rochelle didn't let on that she had been listening in on the conversation. “I have to go out of town suddenly for a few days, and I don't want you to lose any rehearsal time,” Toni told her.

“Out of town? But we just learned the choreography! How can we do this without you?”

Toni smiled ever so slightly. “Why, Rochelle. Are you saying you actually need a dance coach? I thought you preferred to do your own thing onstage rather than listen to me.”

“I do. I mean, I don't. I mean, we don't know
the entire dance yet,” Rochelle sputtered. How could Toni actually think of abandoning them now? The duet was all over the place and the group number—in Toni's words—was a hot mess. Even Hayden had said they needed to “smooth out the bumps.” So how would they do that without Toni?

“I suppose I could get another dance instructor to step in for a few days . . .” Toni was talking to herself as she flipped through the contacts on her phone. She dialed a number, tapping her foot anxiously. “Fernando? It's Toni Moore. What are you doing this week? I need someone to come whip my dance team into shape.”

Rochelle pictured a sinister lion tamer cracking a whip as the Divas cowered onstage.

“No? You're too busy. Thanks anyway.”

She heard Miss Toni trying number after number, pleading with someone—anyone—to help the Divas get competition-ready.

“We can do it without a coach,” Rochelle spoke up. “We know what you like and how you like it.”

Toni put her phone down. “You think so, huh?” She gave Rochelle a long, hard stare. “I've never left you girls on your own before.”

“We're not on our own,” Rochelle insisted. “We have one another.”

“Fine,” Toni gave in. “I don't seem to have any other takers. But I expect it to be flawless. And since you're so sure of yourself, Rochelle, you can be in charge of the team till I return.”

She grabbed her tote bag and tossed Rochelle a towel. “This studio better be dry and the group routine better be in great shape.”

With that, she dashed out, ignoring the rest of the Divas as they came in to clean up.

Oh no
, Rochelle thought.
What have I done? Did I just volunteer to take over for Toni?

“Where was Toni going in such a hurry?” Bria asked. “Is she really mad at us for turning the studio into a swamp?”

Rochelle shook her soggy curls. “No, I don't think so. She got a call and then she seemed to be in a big hurry. Something about L.A. and a change of scenery.”

“What?” Scarlett gasped. “She said that? What else did she say?”

Rochelle tried to remember. “All I could make out was ‘winning team' and the fact that she had to leave right away.”

“You don't think . . .,” Bria whispered.

“What? What?” Gracie piped up. “What don't we think?”

Liberty put her hands on her hips. “Hello? Do I need to draw a picture for you guys?” She grabbed a marker and started writing on Miss Toni's dry-erase board. “Let's review,” she began, trying to sound teacherly. Rochelle rolled her eyes.

“Number one, no one has a solo and we are a week away from Leaps and Bounds.” She wrote the word
solo
on the board and drew a big red
X
through it. “Number two, Miss Toni got a mysterious phone call.” She drew a giant question mark.

“Can you get to the point?” Rochelle complained.

“And number three, she's suddenly rushing off to L.A. on a secret mission.” She wrote
L.A.
with a large exclamation point next to it. “Toni is abandoning Divas for a new dance studio in L.A. That's why she hasn't bothered choreographing a solo or even finished teaching us the duets. She doesn't care.”

Everyone was silently mulling over Liberty's diagram. It was a horrible thought, but it did make sense. Toni had been behaving stranger than usual lately—and she had hurried off without any explanation.

“I know Toni can do some crazy, spontaneous things sometimes, but I don't think she would just dump the Divas,” Scarlett piped up. “I think she cares about all of us a lot.”

Rochelle nodded. “There has to be another reason. She's gone, so let's go check out her desk and see if she left any clues.”

They spent a few minutes going through Toni's drawers and notebooks. “I don't see anything in here that says ‘dump the Divas,' ”
Rochelle pointed out. She held up a costume sketch for the “After the Storm” number. “Why would she design costumes if she was going to leave us?”