We were up next. The Great Eleanor Irvin and Paige Montreal, in the Biggest Dancing Disaster Silver Shoes had ever seen.
‘All right, guys, get on up,’ Ellie called out to the Juniors from where she was sitting at the back of the hall. ‘Into your starting positions.’
‘But Paige said …’ Gaia started to say.
Ellie silenced her with a clap. ‘Starting positions for “Applause”,’ she repeated.
The Juniors swapped glances, muttering among themselves. I knew why. I’d told them we were starting with my song. And so we would!
If Ellie thought she could just take over, she didn’t know a thing about her former best friend!
The Juniors shuffled into Ellie’s starting positions but a few, including Gaia, hovered in the middle, unsure of which song they were meant to be preparing for.
I groaned and scrubbed at my face with my hands. ‘Put the music on,’ I whispered to Jay before it could get any worse. ‘The “Candyman” song.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Jay said, swinging his long legs around in the chair to check the connection before he pressed play on the iPod.
‘Candyman’ came blaring out of the speakers. I peeked over the top of the booth, holding my breath, nervous of what I’d see on stage. But when the Juniors realised the song wasn’t ‘Applause’, they hurried into the starting positions for my part.
And then they began to dance. To my song. My choreography. My work. And they were smiling and having fun, and hitting everything like I’d showed them. Even though it was a bad situation, I couldn’t help but feel a little proud.
Until I noticed Ellie had swivelled around in her seat and was watching the booth with a look that could have wilted flowers.
Uh oh.
Chapter Sixteen
Ellie was not a happy teacher.
She got up out of her seat and stomped over to the booth.
‘Hi Jay,’ she said sweetly, sliding into the empty seat on the other side of him. ‘This is the wrong song. It’s meant to be “Applause”.’
‘But Paige-o here said …’ Jay began to say, but Ellie shook her head.
‘No, it’s a mistake,’ she said. ‘The song should be “Applause”. Can you change it please?’
Jay looked from her to me, but I was so shocked that she’d deliberately come over to mess things up that I didn’t know what to say. Finally Jay threw up his hands. ‘Yes, boss,’ he sighed, and switched the iPod to Ellie’s song. ‘Always at the mercy of the ladies,’ he muttered.
So suddenly Ellie’s song came blaring over the speakers, right in the middle of my choreography. The Juniors froze mid-movement and glanced around uneasily.
‘What’s going on?’ I heard Sotarah say.
When they realised the music wasn’t going to magically transform into my song again, they hurried back into Ellie’s starting positions.
But they weren’t smiling now. They looked confused and unhappy. And when they began Ellie’s choreography, they didn’t have any energy because of it.
That wouldn’t do. They needed something bright and peppy. They needed my jive!
‘Jay,’ I whispered to him, trying to angle my voice so Ellie wouldn’t hear. ‘Jay!’
He turned his head to look at me.
‘It’s the other song!’ I whispered to him. ‘The first song! That’s the right one! Can you change it back?’
Jay stared at me for a moment. Then he started chuckling. ‘Whatever you say,’ he said, pulling his cap low over his head. He changed the iPod back to ‘Candyman’, and then rolled himself back in the chair. ‘I’m out,’ he said. ‘You two ladies take it from here.’
Once again the Juniors had to stop mid-dance. A few tried to keep going with Ellie’s routine to my music, but most of them just stopped on the stage and shielded their eyes as they peered towards the back of the hall, wanting to know what was going on.
Ellie was so furious her cheeks were shining like a red strobe light. ‘Excuse me,’ she snapped, and grabbed the iPod from in front of me, shuffling it until she found her song again. Then she turned the volume up.
The opening bars of ‘Applause’ blasted out. This time the few Juniors who’d been dancing totally stopped. Some of them groaned. Tala sat down on the stage.
‘Don’t be so rude!’ I whispered loudly to Ellie, and snatched the iPod back. ‘They were doing my dance!’ I switched it to ‘Candyman’.
This time when the music changed, the Juniors just walked off stage.
‘They’re doing “Applause”,’ Ellie hissed, grabbing for the iPod.
But she’d barely begun to change back to her song when I clasped my hands around the iPod and tugged it towards me. ‘Ellie!’ I said.
‘Paige,’ she said back.
‘Stop being a princess!’
‘Stop being a goody goody!’
And then we were both struggling for the iPod, pulling it back and forth, and in between all that the iPod got changed to a completely random song.
‘What, they’re DJs now?’ I heard Jasmine laugh to Tove.
Eventually Ellie and I were fighting over the iPod so hard that we pulled it out of the speakers.
The iPod clattered onto the floor and the whole hall was silent. Slowly, everyone turned around to look at us.
Everyone seemed amused, or confused. But there was one face that looked terribly angry and disappointed, and that stood out over all.
Miss Caroline.
Chapter Seventeen
‘Well, girls, that was certainly an interesting take on “choreographing” a routine.’ Miss Caroline grabbed the kettle from where it had just boiled and slowly poured the water into her teacup.
The smell of Earl Grey wafted over to where Ellie and I were sitting opposite each other on two couches in the teachers’ room. It was like being in the naughty corner.
‘Would either of you care to explain to me what that was all about?’ Miss Caroline added a dash of milk to her tea and turned around, her eyebrows raised.
Ellie and I glared across at each other before Ellie flung herself back on the couch, crossing her arms. I picked up the cushion next to me and stared at it.
‘Girls?’ Miss Caroline prompted. Her teaspoon hit the side of the cup as she stirred.
Clink, clink, clink.
Still, neither of us said anything.
Miss Caroline sighed. ‘I chose you two girls to choreograph a routine because I’ve been so impressed when you’ve helped me out with your duos. I know you love dancing together and I know you’re best friends, so I’m pretty surprised to find that you two haven’t been working well at all. Why didn’t you say something to me? Why haven’t you sorted it out?’
‘Because Ellie took over the dance and didn’t even listen to my ideas!’ I blurted.
I couldn’t help it. I hated fighting with Ellie and I wanted it over, but I also felt like I needed to stand up for myself and let her know that teamwork meant working together, and just because I wasn’t as obsessed with dancing as Ellie was and didn’t want to become a rich and famous celebrity from it, like her, it didn’t mean that my opinion didn’t matter.
Ellie sat up straighter and leaned forward so far she almost fell off her couch and onto mine. ‘Well, you should have spoken up sooner!’ she shouted back. ‘By the time you’d told me, it was too late and I was upset because I thought you hated my dance so I didn’t want to do yours!’
‘You don’t get to decide everything in our friendship!’ I said. ‘Being best friends means we’re equal, not that one is better than the other!’ And then I was so upset that I threw the cushion at her.
Ellie ducked it and looked at me in surprise. I swear a tiny smile crept onto her mouth but it was quickly replaced by angry Ellie. She picked up the cushion and threw it back. Her aim was really off, though, and it flew over the top of the couch.
‘You called me a princess!’ she yelled. ‘I don’t know why you’d want to dance with me anyway if you think I’m such hard work!’
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‘Well, you didn’t even come to my show on Sunday!’ I said, and then I started crying, because that was what hurt the most. ‘You said you’d be there and you didn’t show up. And we won! Benji and I won, the first time we’ve won anything together, and it would have been nice if my best friend was there to share it with me!’ Then, because the first cushion had sailed out of reach behind the couch, I picked up the smaller, shabbier one that had been underneath it and threw that. ‘You’re a bad friend!’
Miss Caroline stepped away from the bench. I blinked; I’d forgotten she was there.
‘I think I’m going to leave you two to sort this out by yourselves,’ she said. ‘It seems you have a lot to talk about.’ She walked towards us and stopped at the end of the couch. ‘When you do – and I know you will – come and find me and we can have a chat about how we can put your two dances together. I actually think they were both quite brilliant from what I saw of them. Imagine how much better they’ll be when they’re put together.’ Miss Caroline gave us both a big look over the top of her teacup and walked out of the room. At the last minute she poked her head back through the doorway. ‘Oh, and go to town on the cushions, girls. I’ve wanted to replace them for ages. I really just needed an excuse.’ She gave us a wink and left.
Ellie and I stared at each other. Ellie held the smaller cushion in her hands. She looked down at it. ‘I was at the competition on Sunday, Paige,’ she said. ‘I saw you win. I was really proud of you. You looked beautiful.’
I blinked and shifted on the couch. ‘I didn’t see you there,’ I said. ‘You weren’t sitting with Riley and Ash.’
Ellie gave a little giggle. ‘I was sitting way, way up the back, in the shadows.’ She looked up at me. ‘I was hiding because I didn’t think you’d want me there and I didn’t want to put you off.’
I wiped away the tears on my cheeks and pushed my hair out of my eyes. ‘Of course I wanted you there, Ellie,’ I said. ‘You’re my best friend.’
Ellie sniffed and picked at the frayed edges of the cushion. ‘You called me a princess.’
‘You called me a goody goody,’ I said back.
The same smile tugged away at the corner of Ellie’s mouth. ‘You are, Paigey,’ she said. ‘But in a good way. You’re a good goody goody! You make me act less, well, princessy.’
This time I was the one who smiled. ‘Well, you’re princessy in a good way, too,’ I said. ‘No one wears a crown like you.’
Ellie laughed then got up and sat next to me. ‘I’m sorry, Paige,’ she said. ‘I really am.’
I reached for her hand. ‘I’m sorry, too,’ I said. ‘And I actually think your dance is really amazing.’
Ellie kept laughing. ‘Oh my gosh, I love yours, too! When you do that spin flip? So cool!’ She bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry that I barrelled in and took over without asking you what you wanted to do. That was a bit rude. I was just so excited to get started! My head was bursting with ideas! I didn’t realise that your head was probably bursting with them as well.’
I squeezed her hand. ‘I know. Both of us could have acted a little better about it. We just dug ourselves a grand-jeté-sized hole!’
‘Hmm.’ Ellie leaned forward onto her knees. ‘I don’t know how on earth we’re going to put the two dances together. But I’m sure we can figure it out.’
‘If we can figure out how to ruin a practice rehearsal, I’m pretty sure we can figure out some old dance.’
Ellie giggled again. ‘Did you see everyone’s faces when the iPod dropped?’
‘Yes! And Jay was just sitting back with his head in his hands!’ I squeezed Ellie’s hand again and then stood up. ‘Should we go tell Miss Caroline we’re ready to work together?’
‘Sure.’ Ellie stood up and made to leave. But at the last moment she spun around and whacked me with the pillow. ‘But first I have to get you back!’ Giggling, she jostled me onto the couch and started attacking me with the pillow. I shrieked and gathered up all the cushions, and threw them in her direction.
‘Paige!’ She laughed. ‘That one made my ponytail come out!’
I guess you can say that, after that, Miss Caroline definitely had an excuse to buy new cushions.
Chapter Eighteen
Everyone shuffled down the thickly carpeted steps and spilled out onto the stage, talking and chatting and pushing each other, excited for the show ahead.
The end-of-year performance.
After weeks and weeks of intense rehearsal, the big night had come, and here we were at the Grand Palace Theatre, ready to show our family and friends, and perhaps a few talent scouts, what we’d been working towards all year.
Miss Caroline had just taken warm up out on the stage and given us a pre-show pep talk. Now we were supposed to head to our change rooms and start getting our make-up and costumes ready.
I waited, though, until everyone had disappeared through the dressing room doors.
Then I let myself just sit and appreciate the big, beautiful theatre I was in, with the seats circling all around me, and the shiny, scratched floor where thousands of dancers had stepped before, and the rounded ceiling that seemed to arc up to the heavens and house a million sparkling dust motes, which gave the theatre the old, comfortably musty smell.
I closed my eyes and I let myself feel happy and proud: that I’d made it through another year training at Silver Shoes, and for everything I had achieved in exams, competitions, auditions and, most importantly, in standing up for myself and my own dancing dreams.
I let myself feel excited about the upcoming performance, and grateful that Ellie and I – with Miss Caroline’s help, and a superb remix that Jay had made of our two songs – had managed to work as a team and choreograph our two ideas into a fabulous modern jazz, jiving, rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza.
We had decided that the modern jazz dancers (Ellie) would come and crash the old-school Hollywood party that was going on (me), and the two groups of girls would then try to wow and win over the boys with their two styles of dance – the old versus the new. By the end, of course, they find that mixing their two styles creates a dynamic new one that everyone enjoys better than either of the original two. Perfect.
I sighed happily and opened my eyes, blinking as they adjusted to the murky light.
That’s when I saw Benji sitting in the row of seats below.
‘Ooh!’ I squealed, when I saw his eyes glinting at me in the dark. ‘Were you sitting there all along?’
He smiled and his teeth shone out at me too. ‘Yep. I guess we had the same idea, hey?’ He swung around in his seat and stared out at the empty stage. ‘It’s kinda beautiful, huh?’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘It is.’
There was silence between us, but it wasn’t awkward or anything. I actually felt like I could have sat there with him forever, in our own little world of dust motes and humming stage lights and the soft, lovely atmosphere that felt like I was holding my breath, waiting for something great.
‘Paige?’ Benji said, still looking out at the stage.
‘Mmmhmm?’ I felt almost sleepy, like the theatre was lulling me into a dream.
‘I think it’s really cool, everything you’ve achieved this year. I’m kinda, you know, proud to be your dance partner. I wouldn’t want to dance with any other girl but you.’
I smiled and hugged my arms into myself so all my happiness wouldn’t spill out. ‘Thank you, Benji,’ I said softly. ‘It’s made me really happy learning ballroom with you. You make me feel super special, even when I’m falling over your feet or headbutting you when you try to spin me.’
Benji didn’t look at me, but I saw the glint of his teeth in the dark as he smiled. ‘Also, Paige …’ he said.
‘Yes?’ My chest was rising up and down only the slightest bit.
Benji stood up. He moved towards me, his shape only a shadow. He stopped below me and knelt forward on the seat so we could see each other better.
Then, with a cheeky smile on his face – the same
smile that had calmed all my nerves before a competition, or cheered me up when I was fighting with my friends, or when I’d been miserable because I couldn’t get a ballroom hold right – he craned forward and kissed me, right on the lips!
‘That’s all,’ he said, and then he moved away down the aisle and off into the darkness of the seats.
It felt like my heart was about to fly right out of my chest! I started giggling, and once I started, I couldn’t stop. I was still at it when Ellie, Riley and Ash poked their way through the dining tables and chairs in the dinner area.
‘Paige!’ Riley called. She strained her eyes in my direction. ‘What are you doing, sitting there giggling to yourself?’
‘I have a good idea,’ said Ash, jumping out onto the stage and wriggling around. ‘Oooooh, Benji!’
I covered my mouth with my hands but the giggles still hiccupped out.
‘It’s the giggle of love,’ Ash joked. She bounded up the steps towards me, leaping over the seats to crash tackle me in a hug.
‘Ashley!’ I protested. ‘You’ll get in trouble for climbing on the seats!’
‘You’ll get in trouble for romancing Benji here in the dark,’ she teased.
‘I wasn’t romancing him!’ I squeaked out. ‘He kissed me!’
‘WHAT?’
Ellie stopped in the middle of the stage where she was dancing around, no doubt imagining her hordes and hordes of fans. ‘Benji did WHAT! Oh my gosh! Paige!’ In an instant she was up the steps and she plonked herself down on the other side of me. ‘Paige, are you for real? That’s so romantic! Tell me all about it!’
‘Oh great,’ said Riley, rolling her eyes as she came up the steps too, although she was smiling. ‘I suppose I have to listen, too.’ She curled up on the same seat Benji had knelt on to kiss me. ‘Come on, you little lip locker.’
I told them, of course, and we all giggled into our hands in the darkened theatre until Jay came looking for us, saying we needed to ‘hustle’.
Studio Showdown Page 5
