Two to Tango (7 page)

“You do?” Gracie asked. “I wanna know, too!”

Scarlett shook her head. “Rock doesn't know who won. She's just feeling defeated.”

Gracie looked puzzled. “Da feeted? What's wrong with da feet?” she asked Rochelle, staring at her toes. “Are they hurting you? Maybe you should stretch?”

Rochelle laughed and gave Gracie a hug. “What would I do without you, Gracie?”

“You'd have a ketchup-less life, that's for sure,” Scarlett said, and chuckled.

The Divas waited anxiously as Rochelle's mom tallied the votes. She double-checked everything before writing a name down on a slip of paper.

“Who got the solo?” Gracie asked, bouncing up and down. “I hope it was me!”

“You were all absolutely brilliant,” Mrs. Hayes said. “But I am sworn to secrecy.” She handed a sealed envelope to Rochelle. “Go ahead, honey. Read the results onstage before Gracie turns into a human pogo stick!”

Rochelle stepped nervously out into the spotlight once again. She adjusted the microphone
stand and summoned everyone to attention. “Excuse me! Can we have everyone take their seats? We have the winner of the dance-off.”

She gently tore open the envelope and pulled out the folded slip of paper inside. “And the winner of the solo at Leaps and Bounds is . . .” She opened the paper and saw the name. It couldn't be!

“Hayden Finley.”

Hayden bounded onto the stage, pumping his fist in the air. “Yes! I won!” he exclaimed as the audience applauded wildly.

“Encore! Encore!” they called.

“Well, you should give them what they want,” Rochelle said.

“Only if we do our duet,” Hayden replied. “Come on. Let's give them a sneak peek. We have the smoke machine backstage.”

Rochelle panicked. “Wait! I can't! We're not ready! We don't have our music.”

Scarlett handed her the CD Toni had given Rochelle for practice. “You're as ready as you'll
ever be. Go ahead, Rock. Show 'em what you got.”

“But I don't have my skirt,” Rochelle said nervously.

“Here, improvise,” Bria said, tying a ballet wrap sweater around her waist.

“But, but . . .,” Rochelle said, trying to think of another excuse, just one more reason why she couldn't go out onstage and dance with Hayden.

He held his hand out to her. “You coming?” He smiled and Rochelle's hesitation melted away.

As their music started, Rochelle dashed out onto the stage, lunging at Hayden as he did his best to catch her in his arms. A white smoke billowed out of the machine, making it hard to see. Rochelle could barely find Hayden in all that fog, but she trusted he would be there beside her. Every time he moved forward, she stepped back; it was thrilling choreography that had the audience on the edge of their seats.

As she broke away into her
piqué
turns, she heard her fellow Divas cheering from the wings.
She remembered everything Toni taught her. She pointed her right leg straight out into the floor and came up into a
passé
with her left. Then she spun, trying to keep her eyes focused on a spot on the back wall of the theater. But the smoke was stinging her eyes. She was concentrating so hard as she traveled across the stage that she didn't notice the sweater coming loose around her hips. It fell to the floor, and she didn't see it beneath her feet. She tripped and fell, landing on the stage with a hard
thud.

“Oh, no!” Scarlett yelled. “Stop the music!” As Bria raced for the sound system, Scarlett ran out to her best friend.

“Are you okay, Rock?” she asked, worried. She knew how embarrassing it was to fall during a routine. She'd done it herself in competition.

“It hurts really bad,” Rochelle said, holding her ankle.

In seconds, Toni was up on the stage beside her, along with Rochelle's mom.

Toni kneeled down to examine her. “It looks
swollen. Can you put any pressure on it?” Rochelle tried to stand and winced in pain.

“I'm so sorry, Rock,” Hayden said. “It was my dumb idea to have you do our duet.” His blue eyes looked worried and sincere.

“I'm the one who told you to tie the sweater around your waist,” Bria said. “I'm sorry!”

“I think we should get you to the emergency room to make sure it's not broken,” Toni said. She too looked concerned.

“A hospital?” Rochelle gulped. She'd never been in a hospital, and the thought of all those lights and machines and doctors terrified her.

“Don't worry, honey. It'll be okay,” her mom said, holding her hand.

Rochelle limped out of the studio, leaning on Hayden. It made her feel a tiny bit better to have his arms around her. But right now, all she could think about was one thing: What if her ankle was broken? What if she could never dance again?

After waiting for hours in the emergency room of the Scotch Plains Medical Center, Rochelle was finally taken in for X-rays.

The doctor studied her chart and examined her ankle. “Does this hurt?” he asked.

“Ouch! Yes!” Rochelle answered, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Well, the good news is, there's no break. The bad news is, you have a bad sprain and you have to be off your feet and on crutches.”

“For how long?” Rochelle asked.

“A little while,” the doctor replied. “Four weeks.”

Four weeks! That meant no competing in Leaps and Bounds this weekend! That meant no duet with Hayden! That meant no Divas for a month!

“But the competition!” she moaned. “My team!”

“Honey, you'll be fine,” her mother said, trying to comfort her. “The doctor said you'll be good as new in four weeks.”

“If you stay off that foot,” Miss Toni interjected. “And I am not risking you injuring it worse by not listening to the doctor's orders.”

“I'm going to tape it up and splint it, and show you how to use the crutches,” the doctor continued. “I'm afraid you'll be in a boot for a while—not your pretty dance shoes.”

Rochelle couldn't believe what she was hearing. She felt like her whole world was crumbling around her. She had never deserted the Divas before. They needed her! “What about the group routine? What about City Feet?”

“Don't worry about that. I always have a Plan B,” Toni told her. She patted her on the shoulder. “What's important is that you're okay.”

As Rochelle hobbled out of the hospital room on her crutches, all her teammates were gathered in the waiting room. They had balloons, teddy bears, and Gracie was holding a giant Hershey's Kiss.

“Rock!” Scarlett cried, running to hug her. “We were so worried about you! Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Rochelle said. “Just out of commission for a month.”

“What?” Bria gasped. “You can't dance?”

“No, both the doctor and Toni gave me strict orders to stay off my ankle.”

She glanced over at Liberty. “Go ahead. Celebrate. You won the duet with Hayden this weekend after all.”

She expected Liberty to smirk or rub it in her face. But instead she said, “I didn't want to win in that way. It's no fun if I can't kick your butt.”

“We all want you to be back on your feet,” Hayden said, coming forward with a bouquet of red roses. “Especially me.”

Rochelle blushed, but not even Hayden's sweet sentiment could cheer her up. All she
wanted was to go home and curl up in a ball on her bed and cry.

The next day at the Divas studio only made Rochelle feel worse. All the girls were dressed and ready to run the group number while she hobbled in and sat in a chair in the corner.

When Toni walked in the studio, she had a guest with her: Anya.

“Divas, Hayden, I think you all know Anya Bazarov, formerly of City Feet?”

“Formerly?” Liberty asked. “As in, she's not on their team anymore?”

“Precisely,” Toni replied.

“So whose team
is
she on?” Scarlett asked cautiously.

Toni gave Anya a gentle push into the center of the studio floor. “I think I'll let her tell you.”

The girl took a deep breath and started to explain. “What Justine did . . . telling everyone I wasn't thirteen yet just so I could beat you guys in the Junior division . . . that was cheating.”

Liberty nodded. “Yeah. No kidding.”

“Well, my parents and I decided I shouldn't be on a team with people who do that. So I quit City Feet, and we called Miss Toni.”

“You called her?” Rochelle asked. “She didn't steal you away from City Feet?”

Toni frowned. “Do you girls honestly believe I would do that? I'm only trying to help Anya since she has no dance team and wants to stay in New York City. I went all the way to L.A. to talk to her and her parents and they begged me to take her. Frankly, we'd be lucky to have her—especially with Rochelle off her feet.”

“So she's going to be in the group number Saturday?” Scarlett asked.

“Well, since you went through the costume sketches on my desk, you already know that,” Toni said, turning to retrieve the fountain from the back of the studio.

“How did you know we looked in your desk?” Gracie gasped.

Toni pointed to the bun on the back of her head. “I have eyes in here.”

“Whoa. That is greepy!” Gracie said.

“Translation: gross and creepy,” Scarlett whispered to her teammates.

“And I also have robot ears that hear for miles around,” Toni called. A hush fell over the studio. “Which is greepier.”

“So I will teach Anya the choreography, and she will fill in for Rochelle,” their teacher continued. “Where are we with the costumes?”

Rochelle pulled a yellow skirt out of her dance bag. The fabric was torn into shreds. “Our moms helped us make these,” she said.

“They're not bad,” Toni said, fingering the fringe. “But they're too pretty. They need to look like you've been in a hurricane. I need dirty, torn, tattered.” She took the skirt out of Rochelle's hand and threw it on the floor. “Gracie,” she said. “Come jump up and down on this.”

The little girl happily obeyed until the fabric was covered with dark smudges from her worn ballet slippers and wrinkles. “I want each of you to take your skirts home and do the same. Maybe
even run them over with your bikes a couple of times.”

“This is the funnest homework ever,” Gracie said, giggling.

Rochelle sighed. She wouldn't be biking or jumping up and down for four weeks. She'd even miss getting soaking wet in rehearsals.

Toni turned to Liberty. “When I was in L.A., I spoke to your mother about the rain we need for our number. She generously offered to have one of her FX crew help out. We're going to have a rain curtain that falls behind you guys—so you won't be slipping everywhere and getting soaked.”

Liberty beamed. Since her mother was providing the props, that meant Toni owed her a favor.

“And if Rochelle can't do her duet with Hayden this weekend, I can do mine, right?” she asked Toni.