That was really nice. I thanked her. I’d always looked up to the older girls on the top teams in my old studio, so it was really cool to be the one who kids looked up to now.
Although I wondered what she meant by the Bunheads? Maybe that was our unofficial nickname?
I went over to Lily.
“Sooo,” I said hesitantly. “My mom said yes. Also, the other moms were there and they heard me. Is it okay if the other girls come too?”
“Do they even want to come?” Lily asked.
“I know, right?” I said, relieved. I was a little glad I wasn’t the only one feeling slightly snubbed. “I guess we could ask them and find out.”
“You go first,” Lily said, with a little nervous laugh.
Fabulous.
“Hi,” I said to the trio. They didn’t respond. “Excuse me, hi!”
“Hi!” Trina turned around with a grin.
“I wanted to invite you guys to the frozen yogurt place with Lily and me,” I said. “So we can get to know each other now that we’re all Bunheads.”
The trio looked at each other. Riley started laughing.
“No offense,” Megan said. “But we’re not all Bunheads. Bunheads is just me, Riley, and Trina. Ever since we all started in pre-K ballet.”
“Oh.” I laughed, super uncomfortable. “Ha. I thought it was the nickname for our team.”
“No,” Riley said. “Just the three of us.”
Awkward silence.
“Anyway!” I cleared my throat. “Do you guys want to go to the frozen yogurt place with Lily and me?” Also known as the Not-Bunheads, apparently.
“Ah.” Megan wrinkled her nose. “I’d love to, but I have to go to an appointment at the . . . uh . . .”
Yeah, yeah, I knew where this was going. I considered playing along with it so I could get to know Lily first before trying to break into the Bunhead world. But the mothers were all looking at us.
“Actually, Megan,” I interrupted, “your mother already said yes, so I guess your appointment is canceled.”
Megan rolled her eyes.
“You asked my mother? Fine. We’ll go. But first I need to talk to Miss Vanessa.” Megan went off to the front desk.
“Ooh, I can go.” Trina was looking at her phone. “My sister says she can pick me up later.”
“You have a sister who drives?” I asked.
Trina nodded. “She’s a senior in high school.”
“She’s a cheerleader and she’s really cool,” Riley said. “Trina is so lucky. I only have an annoying little sister.”
“I’ve got one of those and an annoying older brother,” I said. “But he’s at college, so he’s less annoying—except when he comes home for break and I’ll have to move into Hailey’s bedroom.”
“I’m an only child,” Lily said. “So I think you’re all lucky.”
“Well, you’re lucky because your parents own a frozen yogurt place!” I said.
“Your parents own it?” Trina said. “Oh, cool! I’m excited to try it.”
“Yeah, before this, we had nowhere to walk to except, like, a vacuum store,” Riley said.
“I mean, it was sometimes fun to go see the different vacuums,” Trina said. Nobody responded and Trina looked at them. “What? Nobody else likes to look at vacuums? With their cute hoses?”
“Um . . . no. Just no,” Riley told her.
“Oh. Well, I hope there’s cookies-and-cream fro-yo. That’s my favorite!” Trina said, just as Megan returned. Uh-oh. Megan looked furious.
“You okay?” Riley asked her.
“Let’s just go,” Megan said angrily. I had no choice but to follow her out the door. They walked along the sidewalk, the Bunheads in the lead and Lily and me trailing behind.
“Just FYI, I’m not a huge fan of fro-yo,” Megan grumbled as they walked past the vacuum place.
“We also have smoothies,” Lily responded. She did a cartwheel and bounced up.
“Megan loves smoothies!” Trina said.
I glanced over to see if Megan was softening up, but obviously something was still putting her in a bad mood.
“Is everything okay?” I asked her tentatively.
“No, actually it’s not,” Megan spat. “It’s about Isabelle and Bella. The Bells.”
Riley and Trina started making the hand motion of ringing the bells, like they had in their closing ritual in class.
Megan shot them a look and they stopped.
“The Bells made that up,” Trina explained to us.
“I thought Isabelle and Bella would be here on our team,” Megan continued. “Vanessa just said the five we have are the right fit. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We always fit together.” Riley frowned. “They’re the Bells; we’re the Bunheads!”
“We’ve always been on the same team, since we were all minis!” Trina looked puzzled.
“My trios with them won first place last year.” Megan looked upset. “I finally got to do trios with them instead of just them doing duos. And now they’re gone.”
“Oh my gosh.” Trina gasped. “Do you think they didn’t make the team?”
“Wait just one second,” Riley said. “Do you think Vanessa replaced them with . . .”
The Bunheads all turned slowly and looked at Lily and me. And none of them looked happy. Lily shot me a panicked look. Were these girls going to hold us responsible for their friends not being on the team?
Megan’s phone made an alert noise.
“Well, maybe we’ll get some answers. Isabelle just posted a video.” Megan looked at her phone. Then she gasped and stopped walking.
“What?” Riley asked her.
Megan stuck her hand out so Riley could see her phone. Trina peeked over her shoulder. I casually tried to get a look too, but my view was blocked. Riley and Trina both literally screamed.
I needed to know.
“What is it?” I asked.
If Megan looked furious before, she looked even more so now.
“Isabelle and Bella joined Energii,” she practically hissed.
“WHAT?” Riley looked like she was going to throw up.
“What’s Energii?” Lily asked.
Megan held out her phone to us. There was an image of two girls wearing white leotards with orange and yellow starbursts on them. The caption said:
Welcome to Energii, Isabelle James and Bella Martinez!
I’d heard of Energii. When my mom was looking at dance studios to join, she had mentioned it. She’d said it was too far to be convenient and too big.
“They’ve been around forever,” Riley told us. “They’re way bigger than DanceStarz.”
“They win all the time,” Trina added glumly. “Look how many ‘likes’ they have too.”
“And they’re our major rivals,” Megan said. She looked really upset.
Ouch. I understood how hard that was. It was bad enough to compete against your friends. But to have them at a rival studio—now, that was really going to be hard.
“Sorry,” I said. “That’s a shocker.”
“Those traitors,” Megan said. “How could they join Energii?”
“They probably signed up,” Trina said knowingly.
“I know they signed up,” Megan said to her. “I mean why? How could they join our rivals?”
“Well, if they didn’t make our select team, they were probably upset,” Riley said.
“That’s it,” Megan nodded. “They joined for revenge.”
“And now we have to try to beat them,” Riley said.
“We beat them by training hard now and doing things they can’t do!” I gave a pep talk. The Bunheads were nodding.
“Yes,” Trina nodded solemnly.
“Do you think they’re mad at us?” Riley asked Megan. “Are they mad at you?”
Megan stuck her phone in her pocket and looked at Riley. “Let’s talk about this later. In private.”
I guessed this wasn’t going to be the last I would hear about I
sabelle and Bella. But for now, I was glad to change the subject. “Maybe frozen yogurt will help your mood.” I started walking again and, fortunately, they followed me to the fro-yo store.
“Okay!” Lily perked up. “This is my family’s new store.”
She pushed open the door, which said:
SUGAR PLUMS
“Oh, it’s so cute!” Trina clapped her hands.
It was!
The walls were seafoam and ice blue, and colored stools were set at white round tables and long high-top tables. There were two other customers at a round table, and a man and a woman behind the counter. Along the back wall were lots of stations where you could choose your own fro-yo flavor—my favorite, since I like being able to mix up the flavors I want!
“Welcome to Sugar Plums!” the man behind the counter said.
“Dad, this is my new dance team.” Lily introduced us all.
“Very happy to meet everyone.” Lily’s father smiled widely. “Your first treat is on the house!”
“Thank you!” we all said. Awesome!
Megan leaned into the counter, nudging me out of the way.
“Are the mangos very fresh?” Megan asked. When Lily’s father said they were, Megan ordered a large mango smoothie.
“And I’ll have a smoothie too,” Riley said. “Banana berry blast, please.”
As the blender buzzed with the smoothies, I took one of the yogurt cups. Lily and Trina and I went over to the handles in the wall.
“Chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate mint,” Lily announced. “Yes, I’m chocolate obsessed.”
“I’m going to get half cheesecake and half birthday cake,” Trina said.
“A cake theme! Very festive,” I said. I decided on original tart and the July flavor of the month, blueberry. I loved blueberries. I pulled the handle slowly and filled my cup with two-thirds original and one-third blueberry.
“AH!” Trina yelped. “I’m out of control!”
Trina’s cup was practically overflowing.
“Push the handle!” Lily said to her, laughing.
“Good thing I really like cheesecake,” Trina said, looking at her giant yogurt.
“Don’t worry, that happens until you get the hang of it,” Lily’s father called over to us.
Trina basically stuck her face in her cup and bit off the top of the yogurt swirl, saving the yogurt from toppling over.
“AH! Brain freeze!” she yelped again.
Everyone in the store was cracking up, even Megan and Riley. I hoped everyone would stay in this happier mood. I took my yogurt up to the counter, and Lily’s mom topped it at my request with blueberries and whipped cream. Lily got hers topped with hot fudge sauce and cookie crumbles. Trina got sprinkles in her “favorite color”—rainbow.
We all sat down on stools at a high-top table. Lily’s father came over to check on us.
“My smoothie is very good, Lily’s Dad!” Megan called out.
Lily’s father smiled back at her. I had a feeling Megan was very good at charming parents.
“Tell your friends about us,” he said. “We hope to have Sugar Plums dancing all over Florida.”
“Ohhh,” I said. “Did you name the shop after the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker?”
“Yes!” Lily’s father answered. “We named it after our dancer: Lily was the Sugar Plum Fairy in her last ballet performance. Well, enjoy!”
Lily looked embarrassed as her father beamed with pride. He went back behind the counter.
“I love the Sugar Plum Fairy,” Trina said. “It’s such a beautiful role.”
“You must be really good,” I added. The Sugar Plum Fairy’s solo is one of the most famous solos for a ballerina. “How long have you been dancing?”
“I’ve danced ballet since I was three,” Lily said. “My studio was ballet-focused and not competitive, so this is really different for me. My parents are really into ballet.”
“Why didn’t you go to the ballet studio, then?” Riley asked.
“I actually like tumbling best, and competitions sound fun,” Lily said. “And when my parents bought the store here, they had to admit it made sense for me to try DanceStarz.”
“How long have you all been at DanceStarz?” I asked the other girls.
“Well, it’s only been open for three years. But I was the very first person to sign up,” Megan said. “I’m the original.”
“I was second!” Riley interjected. “My mom was with her mom.”
“We’ve been dancing at Miss Lucille’s since we were three,” Megan said. “But DanceStarz opened up right here, so my mother made us switch. So it’s cool. I’ve won two national titles and have been top five, top ten, so many times.”
“And a lot of photogenic awards,” Riley added.
Megan flashed us a winning smile.
“What about you?” Trina asked.
“I’ve been at the same studio in Connecticut since I was four,” I told her.
“Near New York City, right?” Megan asked.
“Yeah, we’d take the train into the city sometimes.” I smiled just thinking about some of the great memories I had with my team. “Our team went on field trips to Broadway shows, we saw the Rockettes, did a workshop with American Ballet Company—”
“Wow, you’re in for major disappointment here,” Megan interrupted, and rolled her eyes.
“Oh, no! I didn’t mean that,” I protested. “I heard Florida has an incredible dance culture. Also, you guys have fun stuff here I didn’t have at home. Like all the pools. Our neighborhood has a pool, if you guys want to come over.”
“Oh my gosh, Trina has the best pool at her house,” Riley said. “It’s an infinity pool with a diving board and a slide. We practice our leaps off the diving board. Remember that time . . . ?”
The Bunheads started reminiscing about their great times at Trina’s pool, which sounded like it blew our neighborhood pool out of the water. Well, I liked our neighborhood pool. We’d never had one in Connecticut except the town pool, so that was one upgrade. I ate a spoonful of my frozen yogurt quietly.
It was delicious, but I had a sour taste in my mouth. It was going to be a challenge to be on a team made up of BFFs. Maybe we’d bond more after we’d competed. Or been in a parade together. I waited until there was a break in the conversation.
“So, what about this parade?” I jumped in.
“It’s the town anniversary parade,” Riley said. “We march in it every year.”
“So fun,” I said. “My old dance team marched in a couple parades too—”
“In New York City?” Megan asked.
“Actually, yes!” I perked up. “Once. My team marched in a Veterans Day parade down the streets in the middle of Manhattan. It was really exciting.”
“You’re going to be majorly disappointed,” Megan said again. “This is, like, a small parade.”
“I didn’t mean I was comparing,” I backtracked. “I’m sure it’s going to be fun.”
“Meh.” Megan shrugged. “It’s, like, the school marching band, little baseball teams, scout troops. That kind of thing.”
“My sister’s squad is cheering,” Trina added.
“Her sister’s an amazing cheerleader,” Riley said.
Speaking of sisters . . .
“Ha!” Megan suddenly laughed. “Look at that kid.”
I casually looked over and almost choked on my frozen yogurt. My sister had her face pressed up against the window, her nose squashed like a pig’s. She crossed her eyes and made a googly face at us.
I sighed.
Hailey came into the shop and right up to our table.
“Aren’t you precious,” Megan said to her. “How old are you?”
“I’m eight,” Hailey said, and then got distracted by the huge topping bar. “Ooh! They have gummy bears.”
“Go get a yogurt,” I told her. “Be careful when pulling the handle.”
Hailey skipped off toward the cups.
“My sis
ter’s eight too,” Riley said. “Quinn is on the minis team. Is Hailey going to take dance too?”
“Not yet.” I shook my head. “She does take dance sometimes, but usually only once a week. My mom wanted to see if I liked DanceStarz before she had Hailey do anything at the studio.”
“Do you?” Megan leaned in. “Do you like DanceStarz?”
The Bunheads looked at me expectantly.
I suddenly felt like they wanted me to say no, I hated it and was quitting. And that maybe if I quit, one of their old Bell friends would come back and take my place on the team.
“Do I like DanceStarz? Yes,” I said firmly. “And I can’t wait for our team to dance.”
CHAPTER
6
M om and I were looking at dance websites to get some new black shorts for the parade and a few more things for practice. New clothes always cheered me up a little.
I was sitting in the living room with Mom, Hailey, and Mo. Mo was our Yorkie. He was black and brown, fluffy and adorable. Right now, he was sleeping in the patch of sun next to the window. Hailey was on a window seat playing a game on her tablet.
Like the studio, our new house was brighter and airier than our old house. It was all on one floor and had a screened-in porch, floor-to-ceiling windows, and everything in it was white or bleached wood. It was cheerful, although I wasn’t sure I was cheerful about being there. Maybe I just needed to get used to my new home. I liked the vibe, and my mom was letting me help her decorate it slowly (especially with lots of furry pillows).
“Let’s get you some new tops, too,” Mom said. “Buy one, get one free.”
Ooh! I chose one with wide crisscross straps going up and down the back.
“Which color? There’s emerald, hot pink, citron, and eggplant.”
“Eggplant,” I said, even though I noticed the other girls here tended toward bright colors. The bright ones were super cute and fun, but for some reason I gravitated toward wearing black or pretty, low-key colors. Then I chose a flowy black tank top that had strings that tied up the back.
“Thanks, Mom.” I gave her a hug.
“Dad’s home!” Dad called out like he always did when he came home from work. He came in and kissed Mom and me on our heads. “Harper, how was the dance studio?”
“Good? I think?” I wasn’t totally sure yet. “I’ll know more when I start classes.”
The Audition Page 3
