by Jake Maddox
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: A NEW ROUTINE
CHAPTER 2: TRYOUTS
CHAPTER 3: FIRST PRACTICE
CHAPTER 4: PULLED IN TWO DIRECTIONS
CHAPTER 5: SOLO SPOTS
CHAPTER 6: A LONG AFTERNOON
CHAPTER 7: NEW FRIENDS
CHAPTER 8: PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
CHAPTER 9: MAKING A CHOICE
CHAPTER 10: IN THE SPOTLIGHT
CHAPTER 11: FRIENDS AGAIN
Chapter 1
A NEW ROUTINE
As Hannah walked out of her English class at Milton Junior High, a poster across the crowded hallway caught her eye. She grabbed her best friend, Caitlin, and dragged her over for a closer look.
“Cool! Dance squad tryouts!” Hannah said. “We have to do this! Last year they won the regional championships with that ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ routine, remember?”
“That was awesome!” Caitlin agreed.
The girls studied the poster. It was covered with photos of the dance squad performing at competitions and events.
“That looks awesome,” Caitlin said. “Count me in!”
“Auditions are in two weeks,” Hannah read from the poster. “Want to come over tonight and practice at my house?”
“Sure! Do you think they’ll let us audition together?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t know,” Caitlin said. “But we can at least practice together. Maybe we can look at some videos online for ideas tonight and pick a routine to copy.”
“That’s a great idea,” Hannah said. “I can’t wait! This is going to be so much fun!”
* * *
After school, Hannah and Caitlin rode their bikes to Hannah’s house. Hannah rushed inside and told her mom about the upcoming dance team tryouts.
“That sounds like a great idea, girls,” Hannah’s mom said. “Let me know if you need any help. I did a little bit of dancing in college, you know.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Hannah said. “We’ll let you know. We’re going to go find a song for our routine.” She grabbed Caitlin’s arm, and they rushed to Hannah’s room to get started.
Hannah searched online and found hundreds of videos of dance teams performing. Some of them were really fast and complicated. Luckily, they found several routines that didn’t look too hard for beginners.
Caitlin and Hannah decided on a routine that was set to a popular hip-hop song. They watched the first few moves over and over online.
“Okay, let’s try running through the beginning,” Hannah suggested.
She and Caitlin pushed her bed against the wall to create an open space. They tried to copy what they’d seen in the video, starting with a high kick followed by a spin. Then they criss-crossed their legs and spun in the other direction before windmilling their arms and spinning to the ground.
“That was easy!” Caitlin said. She reached out to hit play on the video.
“I don’t know,” Hannah said, frowning. “Does it look right when I do the spin? It feels kind of awkward.”
“You look fine,” Caitlin said. “Let’s watch the next part.”
The girls spent the next hour going over the routine. Caitlin seemed to pick all the moves up easily. But Hannah wasn’t so sure. She still felt like she was having trouble keeping up.
Good thing I have two weeks before tryouts, Hannah thought. I’m going to need it.
Chapter 2
TRYOUTS
Hannah and Caitlin practiced together almost every day for the next two weeks. Caitlin seemed totally confident, but Hannah was still a little nervous.
Finally the day of the tryouts arrived. Hannah and Caitlin went to the gym after school and took seats on the bleachers with some other girls. After they waited for a few minutes, a woman walked in wearing a Milton Junior High Dance Squad T-shirt.
“Hi, everyone. I’m Erica, the dance squad coach,” she began. “First of all, I want to thank you all for coming today. I’m excited to see so many new faces at tryouts.”
Erica held up a piece of paper. “I need everyone who’s trying out to put their name on this sign-up sheet,” she instructed. “We’ll start off by running through some basic warm-ups together. Then I’ll call you up for individual auditions.”
She motioned to a young guy standing near the speaker system. “Give your music to Josh when it’s your turn,” she said.
All the dancers jumped up from their spots on the bleachers and ran over to sign up. Caitlin was third on the sign-up sheet. Since they’d be trying out individually, Hannah was fourth.
Coach Erica had everyone practice some basic dance techniques like toe touches, turns, and leaps as a group. When they’d finished warming up, the first girl took her place in the center of the floor. The rest of the dancers sat on the bleachers to watch.
It was exciting to watch the other girls perform. Everyone seemed like they really knew their routines. When it was Caitlin’s turn, she performed flawlessly. Hannah clapped loudly for her friend when she finished.
The coach looked down at the sign-up sheet. “Hannah, you’re up next,” she called loudly.
Hannah’s stomach did a nervous flip-flop. Oh, no, she thought. What if I screw this up?
Hannah stood up and handed her CD to the boy running the music. Then she took her place in front of the judging table. Coach Erica sat there with two other girls. Hannah recognized them as senior members of the dance team.
As the music started, Hannah crossed her left leg behind her right. Then she realized she had started on the wrong foot! It took her a few beats to get her routine back on track. She spent the rest of the routine trying not to let the mistake throw her off. But it was hard. She was a beat behind the music and felt embarassed.
“Great job, Hannah,” the coach said when the music ended.
Hannah smiled nervously and took her seat on the bleachers to watch the rest of tryouts.
When everyone finished, Coach Erica stood up and faced the bleachers. “I want to thank you all again for coming out today,” she said. “Everyone did a great job. Please check the bulletin board outside my office for the results tomorrow after school.”
* * *
The next day, Hannah could barely focus in any of her classes. All she could think about was whether or not she’d made the squad.
What if Caitlin made it and I didn’t? Hannah thought.
When the final bell rang, Hannah rushed down to the gym. Caitlin was already there, right in the middle of the crowd of girls gathered around the bulletin board.
Hannah pushed to the center of the group and stood on her toes, trying to see the bulletin board. But before she could finish reading the list, Caitlin grabbed her and hugged her.
“We made it! We both made it!” she heard Caitlin exclaim.
Hannah looked at the list. Sure enough, down near the bottom, there was her name! She jumped up and down, and threw her arms around Caitlin.
“This is going to be the best year ever!” Hannah said.
Chapter 3
FIRST PRACTICE
The dance squad’s first practice was scheduled for Monday after school. Hannah and Caitlin walked to the locker room together after their final class and quickly changed into their practice uniforms. Then they joined the rest of the team on the gym floor.
Coach Erica walked to the center of the floor. She clapped her hands to get the girls’ attention.
“Welcome, girls,” she said. “Take a look around you, and get to know your new family! Some of you are familiar faces, and some are joining us for the very first time. But we’re all going to come together over the next few weeks to for
m a great dance squad. Are you ready?”
“Yeah!” all of the girls shouted. Everyone sounded excited to get started.
“Spread out and take a spot, everyone,” the coach said. “We’ll start with some stretching and warm-ups first.”
The girls all spread out on mats on the gym floor to stretch. Hannah sat down in the middle with the soles of her feet touching and her arms extended straight out in front of her. She leaned forward and arched her back, stretching out the muscles along her spine.
Then she extended her arms and legs straight out in front of her. She reached her arms long toward her ankles. Hannah could feel the stretch along the backs of her legs in her hamstrings.
After they’d finished stretching on the mats, the coach had them work on some cardio exercises to get their heart rates up.
Hannah loved the feeling of getting her body moving and her blood pumping. By the time the coach turned on the music, Hannah couldn’t wait to dance.
The first couple of moves they worked on were simple. Soon everyone was moving in sync. Then the coach showed them a longer sequence with a spin in it. Several of the girls lost their balance. They tried it a few times, but it wasn’t coming together.
“Caitlin,” the coach said, “you have the routine down perfectly. Can you come up here and show us?”
Caitlin walked up to the front of the group and got into position. She easily performed the moves they’d learned so far, starting with the leap across the floor and ending with the spin. She made it look so easy.
“Thank you, Caitlin. That looked great,” the coach said. “Okay, everyone, let’s try it again.”
This time, the whole team made it through the sequence together — except Hannah. She just couldn’t quite manage to spin gracefully. She kept coming out her spin a beat too late and missing the following step.
“Geez,” she heard an older girl mutter. “How’d she make the team?”
“This is only our first practice,” Coach Erica reassured everyone. “You’re all doing great! I want everyone to go home and practice what we’ve learned today. I think we’ll see a great improvement next time. Now go get cleaned up, and I’ll see everyone back here on Thursday.”
Hannah was quiet. It seemed like everyone on the team was a better dancer than she was. If she didn’t improve, she didn’t know how long her time on the dance squad would last.
Chapter 4
PULLED IN TWO DIRECTIONS
After she got dressed, Hannah headed down the hall to talk to Coach Erica in her office. “Coach?” she said tentatively from the doorway. “Do you have a minute?”
“Of course I do. Come in, Hannah,” the coach said, smiling. “What’s on your mind?”
Hannah came in and sat down at the desk. She fidgeted with her skirt a bit, not sure how to begin.
“I’m really excited to be a part of the dance squad,” Hannah finally said. “But I’m worried that I’m going to mess everyone else up. I was having some trouble with the routine today.”
“You’re doing fine, Hannah,” the coach assured her. “It was your first day! You just need to spend some time practicing. Once you get used to the moves they’ll come more naturally.”
“Can you give me some things I can practice at home?” Hannah said.
The coach gave her a couple of videos and an exercise notebook.
“I think you’ll feel much more confident once we go through the routine and you get more comfortable with the steps,” Coach Erica told her.
* * *
Hannah called Caitlin when she got home and told her about meeting with the coach. “Want to come over and practice with me?” Hannah asked.
“Okay, I guess,” Caitlin said. “I’ll be there in an hour.”
Hannah changed into her workout clothes and waited for Caitlin to arrive. When the doorbell rang, she hurried to the door to open it. Caitlin stood on the porch, wearing her normal clothes.
“Hey,” Hannah said. “You’re going to dance in that?”
“Well, Becca texted me, and she’s going to see a movie tonight,” Caitlin explained. “I thought maybe we could do that instead. I mean, we just had practice today.”
“Yeah, but I really need more practice,” Hannah said. She led Caitlin to her bedroom. “Did you see me trying to do the spin sequence? It was so embarrassing! I need to get it right before Thursday. You had it perfect. Can you help me?”
“Sure,” Caitlin said. “It’s simple. Here, watch.” She quickly ran through the steps.
But when Hannah tried to do the spin, she almost fell over.
“Try it again, and when you spin, look at one spot so you don’t get dizzy,” Caitlin said. “That’s what they do in ballet.”
Hannah tried again, fixing her eyes on the window as she spun. This time she hit the next step right on target.
“Hey!” she said. “Thanks! That helped a lot!” She ran through the steps again.
“Awesome,” Caitlin said. “You look way better. Now can we go to the movies?”
“Well, I just figured this out,” Hannah said. “I want to run through it some more and really get it down. Plus I have these tapes Coach Erica gave me. I wanted to watch them.”
Caitlin sighed and stood up. “Well, I told Becca that I’d go to the movies with her,” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
“No,” Hannah said. “I really want to get this perfect.”
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, then, I guess,” Caitlin said. She shrugged as she walked out the door.
Chapter 5
SOLO SPOTS
Hannah made sure to get to practice extra early. She wanted to make sure she had time to warm up before everyone else arrived. She was already out on the gym floor, stretching, when the coach walked in.
“Hey there, early bird,” Coach Erica called from the doorway. “How have those practice videos been working out for you?”
“Great!” Hannah said. “They’re really helping. I feel a lot better now.”
“Keep up the good work!” the coach told her. “I can’t wait to see what you’ve learned at practice today.”
The other girls trailed in and took their spots on the floor. Caitlin gave Hannah’s ponytail a friendly tug as she walked over and sat down beside her to stretch.
“Everyone take a seat,” Coach Erica called. “I have a couple of announcements to make before we get started.”
She held up a slip of paper. “Our invitation to the regional competition just came,” she said. “We’re going to spend the next two weeks practicing our routine with rotating positions. At the end of those two weeks, we’ll hold tryouts for three solo spots. That way, you’ll all have a chance to learn all the moves and prepare if you decide to go for a solo. Any questions?”
Hannah raised her hand. “Do we need to come up with a performance for the tryouts?” she asked.
“Good question,” Coach Erica said. “I’ll have you all run through the solo spots for the competition routine. No one needs to come up with anything new. I want everyone to be focused on learning the competition routine.”
There was lots of excited chatter as the coach walked over to her MP3 player and started the music. An upbeat medley of ‘80s music came on.
Coach Erica did a quick run-through of the performance. She started crouched on the ground before slowly rolling her body up to a standing position. When she reached the top, she stuck her left leg out to the side and pirouetted across the gym floor.
She makes it look so easy, Hannah thought as she watched Coach Erica demonstrate the routine.
When the coach was done, the girls took positions and started working. A lot of the steps were harder than the stuff they’d been working on so far.
Hannah could tell that the routine was going to look awesome. But the changes in tempo between the songs were going to
take some getting used to.
As they practiced, Hannah looked around at her team members. I wonder who’s thinking of trying out for a solo, she thought. I wonder if I could get one.
Hannah wasn’t sure she could compete with some of the more experienced dancers. Was it worth trying?
Chapter 6
A LONG AFTERNOON
In the locker room after practice, one of the other dancers, a girl named Emily, came up to Hannah.
“You looked great out there, Hannah,” Emily said. “Are you going to try out for one of the solos?”
“Maybe,” Hannah replied. “Are you?”
“I don’t know,” Emily replied. “I’m thinking about it. I just wonder how many people are going to be trying out.”
Just then Caitlin walked up. “Want to come to the mall with me?” she asked. “I finally saved enough to buy those red boots!”
Hannah glanced over at Emily. “I don’t know,” she began. “I have to write an English paper tonight. And I really wanted to have time to get some extra practice in, so . . .”
“Please?” Caitlin said. “We haven’t been to the mall together in forever! It won’t kill you to have some fun too, you know.”
Caitlin looked so hopeful that Hannah couldn’t refuse. “Okay,” she said finally. “Just let me call my mom.”
“Yay!” Caitlin said happily. She linked arms with Hannah and pulled her out the door.
* * *
As soon as they got to the mall, Caitlin made a beeline for her favorite store and bought the red boots. She ran over to a bench and immediately put them on.
“They look awesome,” Hannah said.
“Thanks! Hey, let’s go see who’s at the arcade,” Caitlin suggested. She walked off toward the gaming area.
