Dance Team

by Charnan Simon

  She sighed. “But we’re not on the same team. And you’re a better dancer than you think. Of course you’re going to do your best to kick my butt at regionals.” She smiled ruefully. “Just like I’m going to do my best to kick yours. But let’s not fight about it. Southside has a good team. With time and practice and your kind of determination, there’s no reason you can’t win … just maybe not this year!”

  “We’ll see about that,” I said. But I was able to say it with a smile of my own.

  We dumped our plates and went back out to the mall’s main hallway. I think we were both happy to leave the dance conversation behind us.

  We paused at the top of the escalator. “Do you have time for a manicure?” I asked. “The Salsa Spa on the first floor is running a two-for-one special this weekend. Should we see if they have a couple of openings?”

  “Sure,” Leah agreed. “My nails are a mess. I haven’t been biting them lately, but that’s about all I can say.”

  I laughed. Since she was little, Leah’s been famous for chewing her nails when she’s nervous. Over the years we’ve tried everything to get her to stop. The only thing that really works is getting a manicure. After a mani, Leah says she’s so busy admiring her fingernails, she can’t bear to bite them.

  Leah was about to step on the escalator when a group of middle school boys came tearing past us. A redheaded kid bumped right into Leah. He would have knocked her down the escalator if I hadn’t grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Hooting and yelling, the boys raced away without even stopping to see if Leah was all right.

  “Brats!” I spat after them. “Are you okay, Leah?”

  She nodded, her eyes shooting off sparks. “But I wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t grabbed me.” She gave me a big hug. “Thanks, girl! The manicure’s on me!”

  I hugged back but kept my eyes on the group of boys racing across the first floor of the mall. Wasn’t that redheaded boy Camilla’s little brother? I’d seen him a couple of times when he walked over from the middle school to get a ride home with Camilla.

  And if it was Camilla’s brother, was the shove an accident? I couldn’t help remembering what Camilla had said in practice on Thursday. “Maybe you could just give her a little nudge on the escalator!”

  Remembering that conversation took some of the fun out of the afternoon.

  L

  eah and I didn’t stay too late at the mall. We both had to get ready for dance performances at school basketball games that night. Luckily, our teams weren’t playing each other. I didn’t want to wreck our newly mended friendship with that much more competitiveness.

  Southside’s gym looked ready to burst when I got to school. Basketball is a big deal for us, and the team’s doing really well this year. Of course, as Camilla likes to say, at least some of the team’s success is due to the terrific halftime performances we put on. Team spirit is a big part of team success, she stresses—and that’s where we come in.

  “Everyone’s here?” Camilla asked, counting noses. “Okay, listen up. Don’t forget—we’re here to support our team, but every performance is also good practice for regionals. Let’s hit those turns, keep our toes pointed and our leaps big, and work our faces!”

  Olivia made a silly face. “It’s instant energy!” she said, quoting something our adviser once told us. “Don’t just stand there looking smug, give us some expression!”

  Trez laughed. “I always feel silly winking or making a pouty face, but the audiences seem to like it.”

  “More with pom dances than jazz or hip-hop,” Jaci said.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Cate added. “As long as what you’re doing matches the movement, being expressive is always important. Even in ballet or tap.”

  While we talked over our routine for the last time, Southside’s cheerleaders got the crowd warmed up. The dance team and cheer squad help each other stir up team spirit. Cheerleaders work the crowd during the game. Then we keep the excitement high through halftime. Some people say dance team members are just cheerleader wannabes, but not at Southside. We work together.

  For competitions, the dance team always uses recorded music, but the school band plays for our halftime performances. I love dancing to live music—it’s just more fun. I also love our costumes. We have different outfits for different routines, but that night’s were my favorite—little black sequined skirts, black ankle boots, and bright yellow sleeveless tops that showed just enough of our midriffs. We wore big yellow flowers in our hair, pinned really tightly so they wouldn’t shake loose during any of our spins and jumps.

  The night’s performance was stellar. The band was on fire and so were we. Our turns were tight, our leaps were big—we were all in sync with each other and definitely “on.” Olivia’s leg-hold turns were a thing of beauty. And not to brag, but I nailed every one of my triple pirouettes! By the time we hit our perfectly in-sync kick line, the crowd was on its feet, cheering like mad.

  Camilla congratulated me after the performance. “Good job, Izzy! I love how you’re working those turns!”

  I beamed with pleasure. Camilla was being so nice to me!

  The basketball team was hot too, and Southside won 47–34. As the crowd was heading out, Olivia and I started packing up our dance bags.

  “Do you want to call your parents to pick us up, or should I call mine?” I asked.

  “It’s my turn—” Olivia started to say.

  I looked up from my dance bag. Joel and Eli, two of the guys in the band, were standing next to us. Sometimes they joked around with us during games. Joel was cute, and a good trumpet player, too!

  “So what do you think, ladies?” Joel asked, looking right at me. “You’ve been working hard. It’s time to relax a little. Do you want to grab a bite at Taco Shack?”

  Did I want to grab a bite at Taco Shack with Joel? Of course I did! He was good looking, he was funny, he was a junior, and he had a car!

  I could tell from the way Olivia was smiling up at Eli that she wanted to go too.

  “Let me give my parents a call, so they know they don’t have to pick us up,” I said quickly. I knew Mom and Dad wouldn’t mind me going out, as long as I was home by curfew.

  And then we were off.

  “A

  pologies for the mom-van,” Joel said as he held the door open for me. “I’m saving for my own car, but for now, this is the best I can do.”

  “It’s a car!” I said happily. “I can’t wait to get my driver’s license.”

  Taco Shack was crowded after the game, but we lucked out and actually got a booth.

  “You hold the seats and we’ll get the food,” Eli said. “Tacos and sweet tea all around?”

  It was a fun night. Joel and Eli were easy to talk to, and we did a lot of laughing. I couldn’t help noticing some of the other girls at Taco Shack looking at us with envy. Just like I used to watch couples when Olivia and I were there on our own.

  I also couldn’t help noticing how many kids knew Olivia. She seemed to be casual friends with everyone at Southside. Practically anybody who walked by stopped to say hello.

  “You danced really well tonight, Izzy,” Joel said. “Did you take dance lessons before you moved here?”

  Joel had watched me perform! And he knew I had just moved to Southside district. Maybe he’d been paying attention to me for a while, I thought.

  “Thanks,” I said. I was feeling a little shy, but Joel’s warm smile made me relax. “I’ve been dancing since I was a little kid, but I never expected to make dance team. I wouldn’t even have tried out if it weren’t for Olivia!”

  “Well, you both looked great out there tonight,” Eli said.

  When Joel drove us home, he dropped Olivia off first and then walked me up to my door. He didn’t exactly kiss me, but he did give me a goofy hug.

  “We should do this again,” he said.

  “Okay,” I said. I couldn’t help grinning like an idiot. “See you on Monday.” And then I slipped inside the house. My first da
te at Southside was a success!

  E

  veryone was a little groggy at Monday morning’s dance practice. We were out of sorts and out of sync. Finally, even Camilla relented.

  “Okay, fine—this isn’t a good day for any of us,” she said. “Let’s cut practice short. But I want to see everyone here first thing tomorrow, sharp and focused!”

  I was stuffing my dance bag when Camilla came up to me. “Hey, Izzy,” she said in her friendliest voice. “Want to come to Pancake Corral with Jaci and Amelia and some of the rest of us?”

  I blinked in surprise. I knew that Camilla and her friends sometimes went out for breakfast after the early-morning practices, but I’d never been part of that group.

  “We need to do some strategic planning,” Camilla said. “And I think it’s time we got some fresh ideas. Since you’re one of our most promising younger members, we’d like your input.”

  After that, I was really surprised. Flattered, sure, but confused too. Since when was I one of the team’s most promising younger members?

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Would I be back in time for first period?”

  “Not to worry,” Camilla said breezily. “You have English with Ms. Geiger, right? I’ll talk to her if we’re late. She’s the dance team adviser. She understands about these meetings.”

  Olivia raised her eyebrows at me: What’s up?

  I shrugged. Don’t know!

  Then I turned to Camilla. “Sure,” I said. “Pancake Corral sounds good.”

  Breakfast turned out to be a lot of fun. We squeezed into a booth, everyone laughing and joking.

  “Scoot your big butt over,” Jaci said to Amelia. “You’re squishing Izzy.”

  Amelia made a face. “I haven’t had my coffee yet,” she said. “Don’t make me kill you.”

  “That stuff ’ll stunt your growth,” Camilla said. “And you’re short enough already.”

  Ana leaned across the booth to me. “Izzy, you have to try the strawberry granola pancakes,” she said. “They’re the best!”

  The rest of the booth groaned. “You always get those,” Berit said. “Don’t believe her, Izz. Hash browns and the Denver omelet—that’s what you want!”

  I laughed. It had been a long time since I’d felt like part of a group. Moving to Southside hadn’t been as hard as I’d feared. But except for Olivia, I still didn’t have a lot of friends. Sure, I knew people, but not counting for dance team, I didn’t really belong anywhere. By the time high school starts, everyone pretty much has their own crowd. I guess I hadn’t realized how much I missed being one of the girls until breakfast in the crowded booth at Pancake Corral.

  “Okay,” Camilla said once we all had our pancakes and hash browns and eggs. “Here’s the deal, Izzy. Our team is in trouble. Even with our bake sales and car washes, we’re an expensive club for the school to support. And after this year’s budget cuts, Mrs. Nuñez is seriously thinking of cutting off our funding.”

  Camilla took a big bite of hash browns. “But if we win regionals, we create some noise. We make the school look good, give them something to brag about. We might even attract a sponsor.”

  I was confused. What was I supposed to do about that, except practice my pirouettes more? Did they think I had connections to a sponsor?

  Camilla seemed to read my mind. “Here’s where you come in, Izzy. Without Leah Velasco, Northside doesn’t have a chance of beating us. For the last three years I’ve watched Leah steal our trophy from us. This is my last year at Southside, and I’m damned if I’m going to let her do it again.”

  She leaned over and made serious eye contact. “You know Leah. You can help us take her out of the competition.”

  Suddenly I was even more confused. “You mean, talk her out of entering? She’d never do that!”

  “No, no, of course not! Leah would never stay out of regionals by choice. No—you have to make it so she can’t enter.”

  Jaci took up the pitch. “It doesn’t have to be anything too serious, Izzy. Go to the mall again. Jostle Leah when she’s wearing those high platform sandals she likes, so she gets an ankle sprain.” Jaci looked toward Camilla, who gave her a slight nod.

  Amelia leaned in closer to me. “Or remember that ice skater from years ago? The one who cut her competitor’s leg so she couldn’t skate? Maybe you could invite Leah to go to the rink with you, practice turns and leaps, and accidentally graze her. Just enough for a few stitches—and no regionals.”

  I looked around the booth. Everyone was watching me expectantly. I felt sick to my stomach. They wanted me to hurt Leah? These were the friendly girls who made me feel so welcome?

  I didn’t want to lose that feeling of belonging. I needed friends, needed to feel as if I fit in at Southside. But could I really do something so evil to Leah? After all, she was my friend too. But then I recalled our conversation at the mall. We were friends outside of regionals, sure. But during the competition, we’d put that on hold. I looked down at my plate of food, unable to answer.

  “Never mind, Izzy,” Camilla said soothingly. “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to. Leah’s your friend. She’s probably been helping you get ready for competition. I figure she’s the one who’s been coaching you on your pirouettes. You probably feel as loyal to her as she does to you.”

  I felt my cheeks burning. Leah hadn’t been coaching me. In fact, she pretty much refused to help me when I out and out asked her. Instead, she said she was going to do her best to kick my butt. Maybe she wasn’t the friend I wanted her to be?

  Camilla patted my hand. “It really is okay, Izzy,” she said. “We can beat Northside even with Leah Velasco performing. Now, your pancakes are getting cold—eat!”

  She turned the conversation back to dance team and school gossip. I picked at my soggy food, less eager to talk than I had been before.

  I

  couldn’t help worrying about what Camilla and the other girls had said about Leah. But as the week went by, I relaxed a little. Camilla didn’t mention Leah to me again. She seemed totally focused on improving our own team’s performance.

  Anyway, I had plenty to think about with school, my own dancing and, more recently, Joel. We started having lunch and walking to classes together. And since there wasn’t a home basketball game on Saturday, we went with Olivia and Eli to see a movie and grab some pizza. Thinking about a cute guy who was close to being my boyfriend helped distract me from worring so much about Camilla.

  Joel teased me as we stepped out of the theater. “Earth to Izzy. Was the movie that good?”

  I flushed. The movie had been good, but that wasn’t what I was thinking about. At least, not exactly. The movie was about two friends who grew apart, then came together again when one of them got sick. Instead of taking my mind off my problems with Leah and Camilla, the film just made me think about them more. My life seemed to have become much more complicated since I made dance team at Southside. And complicated did not equal fun.

  I looked at Joel, who had a puzzled expression. I didn’t want to spoil this evening, and I tried to shake myself out of my funk. “I’m just deciding what kind of pizza I want,” I said with a laugh.

  “I like a girl who’s always thinking about her stomach,” Joel said. He took my hand and squeezed it—and then didn’t let go.

  The warm pressure of Joel’s hand made me forget about Camilla. A date with a cute boy was a lot more fun than thinking about sabotaging Northside’s dance team!

  – – – – –

  The fun lasted until Monday morning. When we got to school for our early-morning practice, we were stopped cold. One whole side of the gym was covered with graffiti. Really mean graffiti, and it was all about the dance team. Each of us was mentioned by name, and the things we were called made me blush.

  “Northside rocks—Southside sucks,” Olivia read, as we stood there gaping. It was the cleanest thing written.

  By noon, the whole school was talking about the graffiti. Rumors flew, and
most of them were about how Leah Velasco was responsible.

  “They found her student ID card behind the gym,” Ana said. “And I heard people at Northside found paint and receipts from Home Depot in her locker!”

  “She’s going to be disqualified from regionals,” Jaci said smugly. “Disfiguring public property and unsportsmanlike behavior. She’ll probably get kicked off the dance team. Maybe even suspended from school.”

  I couldn’t believe it. Leah would never do anything like that! Or would she? Was she just bluffing with all her talk about how Northside was the stronger team? Did Leah really think Southside was too much of a threat?

  I thought about what she’d said at the mall: Southside has a good team. With time and practice and your kind of determination, there’s no reason you can’t win …

  Could Leah be capable of trashing the Southside gym? I wondered.

  Principal Nuñez and Ms. Geiger both showed up at our after-school practice. They looked grim.

  Mrs. Nuñez got right to the point. “As you know, we had an act of vandalism over the weekend. Someone defaced the gym with some pretty nasty graffiti about the dance team.”

  “I know rumors have been flying,” Ms. Geiger added. “The general understanding seems to be that Northside is responsible, and specifically their dance team captain, Leah Velasco. It’s true that Leah’s student ID was found near the gym. It’s also true that a can of paint and some receipts were found in her locker.”

  “What isn’t true is that Leah had anything to do with the graffiti,” Mrs. Nuñez said. “She was in Austin with her family for the entire weekend. We’ve confirmed this. There’s no way she could have been involved.”

  Ms. Geiger looked even grimmer than before. “Which means the ID card and paint were planted to make Leah look guilty. That sounds like someone at Southside is responsible.”

  A moment of uncomfortable silence followed her words. Camilla didn’t look at anyone.

  “I would hate to think that any of our students could sink this low,” Mrs. Nuñez said sternly. “This is an ugly, ugly act, and we’re going to do our best to get to the bottom of it. To this end, I would like anyone who knows anything—anything—about this to come to me or Ms. Geiger. Whatever you say will be kept confidential.”