Step It Up

by Sheryl Berk

  Chapter 6

  Let the Games Begin!

  Addison stepped out on the stage carrying a stool. She placed it in the corner and took a seat, crossing her legs and pretending to take notes in an imaginary notebook. The rest of the girls filed in and took their place in a straight line in front of her. As the music started, they marched around the room like soldiers in perfect synchronization, with their arms and legs straight.

  “Okay, this is creeping me out,” Bria said, peeking out from the wings to watch them.

  One by one, each of the girls shed her jacket to reveal a hot pink sequined crop top.

  “I told you,” Liberty said. “Sequins!”

  Then they unpinned their buns and let their hair flow free. Mandy did a perfect roundoff back handspring while Phoebe and Regan did fouettés around her. Finally, Addison—who was clearly playing the part of Toni—clapped her hands together and the music came to an abrupt stop. She pointed to each of the girls, and they became “soldiers” once again. She gave the audience an intimidating stare before the lights onstage went black.

  “I don’t get it,” Gracie said. “Was she trying to be a mean Toni?” The audience and the judges didn’t quite know what to make of the whole thing. There was a long pause before they applauded.

  “Where is Toni?” Scarlett asked Bria. “Is she freaking out?”

  Bria scanned the audience for her teacher’s face. “I don’t see her.”

  “Oh my gosh, she was probably so embarrassed that she left!” Scarlett exclaimed. “That was the meanest thing I’ve ever seen. That was even mean for Justine.”

  “And that was just our first number,” Mandy said, suddenly appearing behind them. “Wait till you see my duet with Phoebe.” She wiggled her pointer finger in Liberty’s face. “You are so going down.”

  Rochelle waited for Liberty to say something—anything—to zing Mandy back. But Liberty had nothing! Mandy skipped away, gloating.

  “You’re unbelievable!” Rochelle shouted at Liberty. “You insult me and everyone else on this team, and now—when we could actually use that big mouth to defend our team and Miss Toni, you zip it?”

  “I agree with them,” Liberty said. “Our costumes are lame; our dances are lame. I mean, come on, have you seen Bria and Anya’s star dance?”

  “Hey!” Anya piped up. “I know the costumes are ridiculous, but the dance is pretty good.”

  “Excuse me?” Bria shouted. “My mom and I worked for hours on these costumes. They are not ridiculous.”

  “Maybe ridiculous is a strong word,” Scarlett said, trying to calm them down. “Maybe what Anya meant to say is that they’re a little loud.”

  “Loud?” Bria bristled. “You think my costumes are loud, Scarlett? I thought you were on my side.”

  “Look, your dance is no worse than our monkey routine,” Rochelle offered.

  “I like monkeys.” Gracie tried to put her two cents in.

  “Stay out of this, Grace Face,” Liberty shot back.

  “Hey, don’t call my little sister that,” Scarlett said, stepping between them.

  “You do!” Liberty said. “On the bus this morning, you said she was an annoying baby.”

  Gracie’s lower lip started to quiver. “I am not a baby!” She burst into tears.

  “Gracie, cut it out,” Scarlett said, frustrated. “If you don’t want anyone to call you a baby, then don’t act like one.”

  Just then, a voice boomed over the loudspeaker. “Next up in Junior Group Dance, Dance Divas with ‘By the Beautiful Sea.’ ” The girls were too busy arguing to even hear their team being announced.

  “Yoo-hoo,” Mandy said, waving at them. She and her teammates were watching all the fireworks they’d caused. “I think that was your cue, Dance Dummies. Oopsies!”

  Scarlett froze. “What? Did we just miss our entrance?”

  “You did,” said a stern voice. Miss Toni had come backstage to see what was holding up her team’s performance. She looked furious. “Get out there this instant!” She tossed the beach ball at Rochelle.

  The music was already playing and they were a beat behind and had to fight to catch up. Gracie was standing a foot too far to the left.

  “What are you doing?” Scarlett said, grabbing on to the back of her bloomers and trying to pull her into line with the others.

  Gracie tugged and Scarlett felt the fabric rip in her hands. The bloomers tore in half, and peeking out from under Gracie’s costume was a pair of pink pig undies!

  “Oh my gooshness!” Gracie yelped when she felt a draft and realized half of her costume was missing. She ran offstage in a hurry.

  As the rest of the girls struggled to continue the dance, the ball soared over their heads. Each Diva was supposed to catch it midair and pass it on.

  It was Scarlett’s job to hold the ball as she did a side aerial. “Watch it, Anya!” She tried to warn her teammate as she accidentally kicked it out of her hands doing her fouetté turn.

  “I got it!” Rochelle whispered as she did a graceful split and stretched forward to retrieve the ball. It rolled away from her fingertips and wound up under Bria’s feet.

  “Whoa!” Bria exclaimed, as she started her reverse leg hold turn. The ball rolled under her foot, and she lost her hold and toppled over. Still, she managed to pick it up and throw it at Liberty, who wasn’t about to let anything detract from her grand jeté. Instead of catching it, she kicked the ball out of her way with all her might.

  This time, the ball flew off the stage and bounced right off the lead judge’s head. Scarlett couldn’t look—not at the audience, not at the judges—as the Divas took their bows and walked back to the wings.

  “That was a complete train wreck!” Rochelle said. “The audience was laughing at us.”

  Scarlett rubbed her temples. “There wasn’t one thing that went right. Miss Toni is going to kill us.”

  “You’re right about that,” Toni said, glaring at them. “I have never been so humiliated in my life.”

  “Not even after City Feet made fun of you? ’Cause I thought that was more humiliating,” Liberty pointed out.

  “My own team, making a fool of me onstage by botching the choreography, running offstage, falling on their butts, and assaulting a judge was much worse,” their teacher said, scolding them. “I don’t know what to do with you girls.”

  “We still have our duets,” Bria said. “We’ll do better, Miss Toni, we promise.”

  Toni didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t look angry anymore either. Just sad and tired. She went back to her seat in the audience.

  “I think we really disappointed her.” Scarlett sighed. “I feel bad.” She turned to Liberty and Rochelle. “The only thing we can do is pull out a win in the Duets. We’re counting on you guys.” Their monkey routine was fourth up in the category, and they had only a few minutes to change into their costumes.

  Rochelle nodded. “I’ll do my best banana split,” she said. “Get it? Split? That’s dance humor.”

  Scarlett tried to smile but she had a sinking feeling the day’s drama was far from over.

  Chapter 7

  Roll with It

  “Just remember to keep the count,” Rochelle reminded Liberty as they warmed up and waited their turn backstage. “One and roll and two and roll and three and …”

  “Roll! I get it!” Liberty snapped. “Let’s just get this over with it.” She scratched at the fur on her monkey suit. “This thing smells like it’s been in a litter box. Eww.”

  “Shhh,” Scarlett hushed her. She pointed to Gracie, who was sniffling in the corner. “Let’s cut the kitty talk, okay? Someone is really upset.”

  Liberty rolled her eyes. “I’m not the one who tore her costume, Big Sister Scoot.”

  “It was an accident,” Scarlett insisted. “And I pinned it back so you can’t see her undies anymore.” But she doubted she could convince Gracie that the tear had been unintentional. Gracie refused to speak to Scarlett or even look in her directio
n. As far as Gracie was concerned, Scarlett did it on purpose to get even with her for ruining her leotard and tights. There was no convincing her otherwise.

  “The first duo is up,” Bria reported. “Sweet Peaches Dance Company from Marietta, Georgia. Their dance is called ‘Lion Queens.’ ” She peeked out through the curtains and saw two girls dressed in fiery orange leotards with yellow sequins. One girl was swinging from a vine across the stage.

  “Great,” replied Rochelle, “more jungle acts. Just what we need to compete with our monkey routine.”

  “They’re pretty fierce,” Bria added, observing the duet’s explosive acro moves. “One of them just did an amazing back layout with a half twist!”

  Rochelle shook her head. “I can’t watch. It’s only making me more depressed.”

  “Next up,” the announcer said into the microphone, “we have Explosion DC from Washington, DC, dancing a lyrical duet to ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen.” Two girls emerged onstage wearing silver wigs and white dresses covered with dangling icicles. “You see that?” Bria pointed out to Anya. “That’s a costume. You don’t hear them complaining about too many icicles, do you?”

  Anya watched the girls pirouette across the stage. “Are they supposed to be abominable snowmen … or porcupines? I can’t tell,” she replied.

  “Nah, definitely chandeliers,” Rochelle piped up. “But they are pretty good.” She watched as one girl did a lively series of chaînés from one end of the stage to the other.

  “Oh, I love this song!” Gracie clapped her hands. “It’s from my favorite movie. But they need a snowman that talks.”

  “How about snow?” Scarlett asked. White snowflakes suddenly floated to the stage. The whole auditorium was a blizzard!

  “Oh my gooshness!” Gracie squealed. “I wanna make a snow angel!”

  Scarlett caught her just in time before she raced out in the middle of Explosion DC’s duet. “Chill out, Gracie!” Scarlett reminded her. “It’s not real snow, and it’s not your duet!”

  Gracie wrestled free of her grip. “You are the meanest sister in the world, Scoot!” she shouted, then stomped back to the dressing room.

  “That was a close one,” Bria whispered to Scarlett. “That Gracie is a handful. We could have been disqualified for sabotaging another team’s routine.”

  “Tell me about it!” Scarlett sighed. “Sometimes Gracie just leaps before she looks.”

  The icicle-clad girls took their bows, then strutted past them. Rochelle peeked out to see the judges’ reaction. “They seem a little icy,” she reported to her fellow Divas. “That’s good news for us.”

  The announcer stepped up to the microphone once again. “There will be a brief pause while we clean up this snowstorm,” he said. “Then we will have City Feet performing ‘Rock and Roll.’ ”

  “Oh, goodie.” Liberty smirked. “Stinky Feet get to follow the slushy sisters.”

  Mandy suddenly zipped by them on a pair of red sequined roller skates. “Make way, losers.” She giggled.

  “Seriously? A contemporary dance on wheels? Is that even allowed?” Anya asked.

  “Oh yes, it’s allowed,” Regan said, watching her teammates take the stage. “It’s never been done before—so I guess you could say we’re making history here at Dance Fusion.”

  “Did you say history—or mystery? Because the judges look pretty confused as to why Mandy is spinning in circles like some circus act,” Liberty said.

  “Attagirl,” Rochelle told her fellow Diva. “That’s the loudmouth Liberty we know and love.”

  Regan looked out at the audience. They did seem a bit dizzy. The judges were also whispering among themselves. As Addison played an air guitar, Mandy continued whipping around the stage, faster and faster. “I don’t think she’s supposed to do that,” she said. “She’s going too fast.”

  “Ya think?” Liberty said. “Maybe Mandy’s a little confused. She thinks this is a roller derby, not a dance competition.”

  Suddenly, a little voice screamed from the stage. “Help! I can’t stop!”

  Phoebe raced over to see what was going on. “OMG! I told Miss Justine this was a bad idea! That wood floor is really slippery after that snow number.”

  Addison grabbed on to Mandy’s elbow, trying to anchor her. But she was going too fast.

  “It’s Newton’s First Law of Motion,” Bria said, recalling the last physics test she had crammed for. “A body in motion stays in motion …”

  “Until it goes splat!” Liberty smirked. “Which is what Mandy just did right in front of the judges.”

  The Tiny Terror was lying on her back with her feet in the air, wheels still spinning, moaning in agony.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll take a short break,” the announcer’s voice broke through the last chords of the music. “Can someone please call a medic?”

  Mandy slowly got to her feet. “No, wait. I’m fine! The show must go on!” She smiled sweetly and winked at the judges. She did an elegant arabesque on her roller skates, then faced the crowd and curtsied. The audience applauded wildly and gave her a standing ovation.

  “I’m going to be sick,” Bria said in disbelief. “She just wiped out and they love her!”

  “She wiped out on purpose,” Rochelle said, gritting her teeth. “She’s trying to get the sympathy vote.”

  “We wiped out a dozen times in our group routine. You think we’ll get the sympathy vote?” Anya asked.

  “No, because we didn’t fake an injury. Look at her!” Liberty said. Addison was holding Mandy around the waist as she rolled her gently off the stage.

  “Aw, Mandy go boom?” Liberty asked as she skated by, cradling her elbow.

  “For your information, she’s really hurt!” Addison said. She pointed to a small purple bruise on Mandy’s elbow. “Can someone please get us an ice pack? A doctor?”

  “An Academy Award for Best Actress?” Rochelle offered. “ ’Cause that was the fakest fall I have ever seen.”

  Justine pushed past the Divas to check on Mandy. “Are you okay, sweetie?” she asked. “Does it hurt?”

  Mandy nodded her head. “Uh-huh. Addison pulled it really hard.”

  “It was an accident,” her teammate insisted. “I was trying to help you brake—not break—your arm.”

  “I’m sure the judges appreciate how you kept going, even in the face of a painful injury,” Justine said. “That’s what a professional does.”

  “And that’s what a liar does,” Liberty said, challenging her. “Did you see how she played those judges? Just so they’d feel bad for her?”

  “I feel bad for you—for all of you,” Justine said. “I think the whole Diva ’tude has gone to your heads. Yours, too.” She motioned to Toni, who came to see what was going on.

  “Roller skates? Really, Justine?” Toni smirked. “So predictable.”

  Rochelle elbowed Scarlett. “What does she mean?”

  “Just like at ABC when Melissa Donovan threw her Sweet Sixteen party at RollerJam USA,” Toni continued. “Remember?”

  Scarlett shrugged. “She’s lost me. Some ballet school drama from back in the day.”

  “She’s lost me, too,” Justine replied. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Toni.”

  “Really? You don’t remember how you pretended to fall on your roller blades right in front of Marcus Sanzobar so he’d come to your rescue?”

  “Now, Marcus I do remember—he dumped you for me.” Justine smiled maliciously.

  “You weren’t hurt back then, and I seriously doubt Mandy is hurt now,” Toni said. “At least, I hope not. Because if you purposely did anything to put one of your pupils at risk …”

  Justine cut her off. “Nonsense! Mandy is an expert skater. The floor was just a little too slick. She’ll be fine.” She ushered Mandy back to the dressing rooms.

  “Do you believe her?” Rochelle asked their coach.

  Toni sighed. “It doesn’t matter if I believe her or not. What matters is what the judges
think. And there’s nothing we can do about that, is there?”

  She adjusted the yellow banana headdress on Rock. “I want it clean, precise, flawless. Clear?” she said.

  “Clear!” Rochelle and Liberty replied.

  Toni nodded. “Then get out there and show them what the Divas are made of.”

  Chapter 8

  It’s a Jungle out There

  The sounds of wild animals filled the auditorium: lions, tigers, and monkeys, oh my! Liberty and Rochelle took their places on opposite sides of the stage. As the music began to play, Rochelle performed a series of split rolls while Liberty did a chest stand, kicking her feet high above her head.

  “So far, so good,” Anya commented. “They look great out there.”

  The next part of the duet was the hardest: Rock had to roll across the floor as Liberty “dove” over her. On the last dive, her monkey tail got caught in the zipper of her costume. As she and Rock stood up to do their simultaneous fouettés, the tail was wrapped so tightly around her chest that she could barely move her legs. She looked like a monkey mummy.

  She turned her back to the audience and tried to fix it. “I’m stuck,” she whispered to Rochelle. “I can’t move in this stupid costume!”

  No matter how hard she tugged, the tail wouldn’t come free. “Help me!” she said. Rochelle pulled on the tail while Liberty yanked on the zipper.

  “What are they doing?” Bria asked. “Playing tug-of-war?”

  All of a sudden, the tail released, and Rochelle fell backward, pulling Liberty down on top of her. “Get off of me!” she screamed. “You’re ruining the dance!”

  “I’m ruining it? Who just knocked me over?” Liberty shouted. They began wrestling on the floor, completely forgetting they were in the middle of Dance Fusion!

  “Rock! No!” Scarlett called from the wings. But it was too late. The music had stopped, and they were brawling on the floor. Liberty peeled all of Rock’s bananas off her headpiece, and Rock tied her tail in a huge knot. Toni raced to the stage to break them up.