Bevan vs. Evan

by Zoe Evans

  “Hey, what’s the matter? You look like you ate the mystery meat loaf at lunch,” said Katie, registering the look on my face. (I’m so bad at hiding my emotions.)

  “You’re gonna kill me,” I said.

  “No, I won’t. What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know how to say this, Katie. I’m so grateful for everything you did for me. I mean, you are amazing. I’m so honored to have made the cut for the Titans, but . . . I just am not ready to leave the Grizzlies. I’m really sorry,” I said, covering my face in shame.

  Katie reached out to peel my fingers away from my eyes. “Whoa, hey. Calm down, Mads. It’s okay.”

  I looked at her hopefully. “It is? You’re not mad?”

  Katie shook her head. “Not at all. Listen, I know a thing or two about feeling torn. Remember how I didn’t know if I was ready to leave the Titans for dance school?”

  I nodded.

  “See? It’s the same. Except in your case, the choice was yours to make. It didn’t work out that way for me. I heard back from the school in New York, and I didn’t get in.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry, Katie.”

  “It’s cool. The truth is, I don’t think I would have gone, after all. I still love where I’m at. Just like you do.”

  I felt a huge wave of relief wash over me. For the first time in days, my shoulders released from their Hunchback of Notre Dame position.

  “It was fun training you,” said Katie. “I don’t care what the outcome was. Though it would have been great to have you on the team.”

  “Oh, I have a feeling Clementine and Hilary will be more than happy to hear my news.”

  “Ah, they’re not that bad,” she said. “They were actually psyched to see how far you’ve come. You’ve got skills, like I said.”

  “Really? Psyched?”

  Katie smiled. “Fine, maybe not psyched. But they were impressed. You saw them at tryouts, I know you did. Their faces hardly moved!”

  “True, I did notice. It was totally weird.”

  “Well, don’t worry. I’m sure they’ll go back to rolling their eyes and giving you the stink eye once I tell them you’re turning us down,” she replied with a wink.

  OMG she’s totally right. I’m doomed. DOUBLE UGH.

  I watched her ponytail swing back and forth as she sashayed out of the classroom. I thought about how back in the day I would have killed to walk arm in arm with the Triumvirate, our ponytails swinging in synchronized motion. But that was then, and this is now. Looks like I’m not going to be a Titan after all, and I’m more than OKAY with it. In fact, I’m thrilled to be a Grizzly. ROAR!

  LATER THAT DAY, POST PRACTICE

  At practice, I pretended like nothing had happened. I decided that since I’d opted to stick with the Grizzlies, there wasn’t really a point in telling them the whole saga. I didn’t want to ruin how great everyone’s been performing as a team lately—especially on our routine for the dance. I knew Jacqui would be cool when she saw me appear at practice—and I was right.

  I walked over to the mat where she was stretching with Tabitha Sue. “Hey, lady,” she said with a wink.

  “Yo, yo,” I said.

  When the rest of the team finally trickled in, we had everyone run some laps to warm up. Diane kept jogging up to where I was and throwing me puzzled looks. I think she would have said something, but Tabitha Sue was right behind us. I know she was wondering what I was still doing at Grizzly practice. I figured we could chat after practice.

  “All right, we only have a couple more days to nail this routine!” Jacqui announced, when the warm-up was over.

  Everyone could practically do the routine in their sleep at this point. It was kind of weird how obsessive we were about getting it perfect—almost like we were more worried about this routine than anything we ever had to prepare for a game. Maybe because performing it at the dance was such a risk. A risk to one’s social life, that is.

  Mom clapped from her seat on the bleachers. “Nice job, Grizzlies!” She’d shown up a little late today (she was probably off flirting with Ed Phys Ed, tsk, tsk), so I didn’t have the chance to tell her that I made the team—or that I decided to turn them down.

  “Since you all are so comfortable with this routine, I was thinking we could even kick it up a notch,” suggested Jacqui.

  I looked over at her, wondering what she had in mind.

  “Let’s incorporate three toe touches in a row, and some backflips from a standing position.”

  A couple of people groaned.

  “You can do it, guys!” I shouted.

  We spent the rest of practice working on the new moves. Everyone was out of breath by the end, so we did an extra-long cooldown.

  I noticed that Diane had taken a seat next to me, and wondered how long it would be before she said something. (Answer: not long.) As soon as we were done stretching, and everyone started walking off, she leaned over to me.

  “What’s going on? I thought you were going to announce your resignation from the team today.”

  I shook my head. “Nope. Once a Grizzly, always a Grizzly. At least for me.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “Are you serious?”

  “I can’t help it,” I continued. “The Grizzlies are family. But hey, congrats. You’re not an alternate anymore.”

  Diane looked shocked at first, then overjoyed. “Ohmigod! Really?” she squealed.

  I noticed Clementine, Hilary, and Katie walking toward their area of the gym for practice. “Yep, really,” I said, motioning toward them. “And I think they’re just about to find out. You should go talk to them.”

  “Maddy, I really owe you one.” Diane sprinted over to the Titan Triumvirate. The second they saw Diane coming instead of me, Clementine and Hilary shot Katie a look of surprise, and I saw Katie launch into the explanation.

  As they walked past me, Clementine gave me the meanest look and coughed “Loser!” under her breath. Well, there goes my brief moment with “nice Clementine.” I don’t exactly blame her. No one has ever made it to the Titan level and rejected them.

  “Oh, grow up, Clem,” said Katie.

  I heart that girl so much.

  When Diane was finally gone, Mom came running over to me. “Madington, you did it!” she practically screamed. “I saw the list outside Coach Whipley’s office. I’m so proud of you, sweetie. How do you feel?”

  “I feel great,” I told her. And I really meant it. “Getting chosen for the Titans is an amazing feeling. But you want to know what’s an even better feeling?”

  “What’s that, hon?”

  “Choosing the Grizzlies over the Titans. I’m not switching teams, Mom. I’m sticking with my team. I’m going to be the best co-captain ever, and we’re going to kill it at Get Up and Cheer! this spring.”

  Mom smiled her thousand-watt smile and pulled me into a mama bear hug. “Madison, I have never been prouder of you than I am right now.”

  “Let’s go home and celebrate.”

  You know what? Sometimes Mom is all right.

  Friday, March 11

  Post-dance, swooning in my room

  Song Level:

  Grizzlies Got the Beat

  The night of the BIG DANCE started out on the less-than-stellar side. I had just finished making myself look positively fantastic. I did my nails in hot pink, used a curling iron in my hair, and cracked open a bunch of makeup that hadn’t seen the light of day since my days of playing dress-up (long, long ago). I hoped it wasn’t tainted or anything. I could just see myself breaking out in hives in the middle of the dance floor. That would SO be my luck. When I was done getting ready, I looked in the mirror. And you know what? I looked FIERCE.

  And then Mom knocked on my door. “You ready, honey? Picture time!”

  “Come in!”

  OF COURSE, Mom looked way fiercer than me. She looked like Gwyneth Paltrow at the Oscars. Her hair was stick straight and extra luminous. Her makeup was natural-looking and flawless. And her figure was RO
CKING in that “conservative” dress we’d both decided on. Oh well, I figured. I’m already going alone to this thing. Who cares if my mom looks as good as a celebrity? Can the night really get worse?

  Answer: Oh yes. Yes, it most definitely could. See, when Mom had said picture time, I assumed she wanted me to take pics of her and Mr. Datner. But no, Mom wanted me to pose on our front steps ALL BY MYSELF!

  “Mom, I’m, like, the biggest loser at school, going to this dance by myself. Can we please not photograph the evidence?”

  Mom brushed a hair out of my eye. “But you look so pretty. You have no idea, Madington. And we can’t have this dress of yours go undocumented.”

  Just then the doorbell rang. I assumed it was Mr. Datner and stepped out of the way so that Mom could open the door. I REALLY didn’t want to be there for that moment when he saw her and got all gross and googly-eyed.

  But it wasn’t Mr. Datner.

  “Honey, I think it’s for you,” Mom said, with a giant grin on her face.

  I came into the hallway and there, at my doorstep, were Jacqui, Matt, and Ian dressed to the nines. Both Ian and Matt were wearing black suits with bow ties, and Jacqui looked AMAZING in a kelly-green spaghetti strap chiffon dress with a twirly skirt that stopped just above her knees.

  “What are you guys doing here?” I exclaimed.

  “What, you mean you didn’t order two handsome jocks, a rockin’ co-captain, and one stunning corsage to go?” Jacqui quipped. “Put it on, and let’s go get our groove on.”

  Of course Mom forced us to take a couple of group pics, but we got to cut it short because Jacqui’s mom was waiting for us in the car. I couldn’t wait to get out of there—I wanted to be WAY gone before Mr. D arrived. I mean, people would see them at the dance together anyway, but the longer I could keep it off the front page of the Daily Angeles, the better.

  Mom sighed, then turned to give me a hug. “Okay, I guess I’ll see you there. Have fun!”

  “Yeah, uh, you too.”

  Once we all made it to the parking lot, I started scanning the crowd for Lanie. She and I had agreed she’d walk into the dance with me, and even though I wasn’t alone anymore, I didn’t want to just ditch her. It was hard to find her at first, with all the parents taking pictures and girls clustering together in their little cliques to gossip about what everyone was wearing. Finally, I spotted a girl in a dress that would have made Avril Lavigne proud: It had a black lace top and a huge sash right under the bust, with more black lace below that. And the bottom was an ice gray skirt with pleats. She looked like a gothic fairy-tale princess.

  And she looked super relieved to see me. Guess it’s possible to feel awkward, even when you’re WITH a date at the dance.

  “Maaaaads! Aaaaaah!” she yelled as she went in for a hug. (Why do dances make people so sentimental?) “You look uh-mazing.”

  “I was just about to say the same to you, my friend. Not a safety pin or a skull in sight!”

  Lanie did a twirl. “Thank you. I went outside of my comfort zone. But I like it.”

  I waved hello to Marc, who had definitely snazzed it up in a suit and tie.

  “So, good news,” I told her, as the rest of my party sauntered up behind me. “Jacqui, Matt, and Ian showed up at my door tonight so I wouldn’t have to go to the dance alone!”

  “That’s awesome!” Lanie said with a smile. “Good work,” she directed at Jacqui.

  When we all walked into the gym, our jaws dropped to the floor. This didn’t look like the place where Grizzly practice happens every day. Or the place where Mr. Datner made us do our stamina and endurance drills. Whoever was in charge of decorating took their job REALLY seriously, because this place looked ridiculously cool! There were a bazillion balloons, papier-mâché suns, big rainbows made of streamers, and even some cotton-candy-esque clouds hanging from the ceiling. In a little corner of the gym with a sign that read, “Moonlight Romance,” there was a crescent moon with glittery stars where people could take pics.

  I was still wearing my “stunned” face when I spotted Evan walking into the gym arm in arm with Katie. Of course Katie looked bee-utiful. Her dress was a simple red tank number, but it showed off her killer curves and dance/cheer muscles. Her hair cascaded down her back in big waves, and her heels made her look six feet tall. I was sort of wishing she’d break a heel (which I totally felt guilty about five seconds later and then had to “take it back” like a fourth grader).

  Evan and I locked eyes, and I gave him a small wave. He smiled briefly at me, then turned his attention to something Katie had said. It was going to be a long night. T.G. Jacqui had come to my rescue.

  I went over to where Jacqui was standing. “Hey, thanks for saving me tonight. I was really dreading coming to this thing alone.”

  “Anytime,” she said. “Matt and Ian were all whiny about not having dates, so I told them we’d go with them if they promised to do the routine with us tonight. As you can see, it’s a win-win.”

  “Jacqui, that’s awesome! So, when do you think we should do this thing?”

  “I’ll let you know. I’ve got the perfect moment in mind.”

  Not a lot of people were dancing at this point, but by now Mom and Mr. D had arrived and there they were, boogying down. Watching the old people dance gives me the heebie-jeebies. It’s like they think every song is a salsa or something. And Mr. Datner is hands down the WORST dancer I’ve ever seen. He tried to do a (bad) imitation of the running man, which made Mom laugh, and I hid my head in shame. Everyone was having a good time. Even the cafeteria ladies who were chaperoning the dance were getting jiggy with it.

  Just then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Evan standing there sheepishly. (PS—He looked soooo cute.) He definitely had scored his suit from a thrift store, or his dad’s closet, but it fit him perfectly. He had even put some hair gel in his hair (but not in a cheesy way).

  “Wanna dance?” he asked.

  I couldn’t believe it. I thought we were fighting, and besides, wouldn’t Katie be mad? “But what about—?”

  Evan pointed to where Bevan and Katie were dancing (quite cozily). Guess what? I wasn’t the tiniest bit jealous.

  “Just so you know,” said Evan, “I had told Katie I was gonna ask you to dance before she went over to Bevan. So this was my idea.”

  “I’ll make sure to log that in this evening’s transcripts,” I said to him with a giggle.

  We weren’t quite sure how to stand at first, but then he placed my hands around his neck and put his hands on my hips. I got a tingly feeling all over. This was real. Evan was dancing with me, and it definitely wasn’t just as friends. I didn’t want the song to end.

  The next song was a Ke$ha song, and everyone in the gym got on the floor. Without even saying anything, we all just ended up dancing as a group, instead of just couples. Me, Jacqui, Lanie, Marc, Ian, Matt, Evan, and Katie. Soon Tabitha Sue and Ricky came over, followed by Katarina and her date, Ethan Tremble, and Jared. The dance turned into just a fun thing and not, like, a gooey romantic thing. Which was totally PERFECT.

  Before we knew it, the Dance Committee was announcing the Sunshine Dance king and queen. Absolutely NO ONE was surprised that it was Clementine and her super-jock-y date, Nolan Brown. Clementine got onstage, wiping away tears, as she accepted her crown and bouquet of flowers. She held the bouquet like she was a bride about to throw it to her bridesmaids. Nolan looked like he had other places he’d rather be than onstage with a weepy date.

  Clementine was attempting a sort of acceptance speech when Jacqui gestured at me from across the room. It was time. THIS was her perfect moment? Ha-ha!

  How can you NOT love Jacqui?!

  “Captain?” Jared asked. “Is it showtime?”

  “Yup,” I replied. “Places, everybody.”

  “Thank God,” said Jared. “This king and queen ceremony is making me vomit in my mouth.”

  Jacqui cued the DJ. Clementine was still up onstage, waving at the crowd, when the
song began. She looked around her like, “Excuse me, I was talking here!,” but no one was paying attention to her anymore. The crowd had slowly realized that the Grizzlies had assembled on the dance floor and were about to knock their socks off.

  “Hey!” shouted Clementine into the microphone. “Everyone should be looking at me! I mean, at us!”

  Jacqui counted for the team. “Two and a three and a . . .”

  She and I led the team through the routine. We danced in perfect synchronization. I could feel everyone hitting their toe touches at exactly the same time. Jared was hamming it up big-time for the crowd, and even Ian and Matt’s football buddies started going “Woot! Woot! Woot!” Ian must have loved the attention from his former teammates, because he did a mini break-dance routine.

  Jacqui leaned in to my ear. “It’s about time they made themselves useful. Remind me to use that in a future routine.”

  Clementine raced off the stage and was yelling at us to stop. Katie was laughing hysterically, and the whole crowd was clapping to the beat.

  The part I was worried about the most, when the girls mock-fall backward and get pulled through the guys’ legs, went off without a hitch. Tabitha Sue and Katarina did their cartwheels without kicking anyone in the head, and our finale backflips were perfectly timed. GO Grizzlies!

  We got a standing ovation from the crowd. “You guys rock!” shouted Katie, as we waved to the audience and ran off to catch our breath.

  The rest of the night, all anyone could talk about was the Grizzlies’ surprise performance. Evan and I didn’t get to dance together again, but no one really split off into couples after that. We all just had a great time. I’m SO happy about the way it all worked out. I’m especially glad that Evan and I are cool now. More than cool, in fact.