The Competition

by Maddie Ziegler

  “Thank you both!” I hugged Megan and Eliza with all that I had left.

  “Riley warned you that you’d eventually be blinded by Trey’s charm,” Megan joked.

  “That she did.” I laughed with Eliza.

  “Harper, I wasn’t mad that you didn’t take the photo with me,” Eliza explained. “Well, I was a little annoyed maybe, but I knew you had your team. And I really forgot to text you!”

  Phew! I was so glad nothing was really wrong there. And then something else that was wonderful occurred to me as I looked at Harper and Megan. “Hey, who would’ve thought I’d see you two join forces?”

  “We’re all on the same team today,” said Eliza. “Team Harper!”

  “Team Harper on three!” Megan shouted, her hand held out palm down. We gladly stacked our hands. “One… two… three…”

  “TEAM HARPER!” we shouted together, cheering and high-fiving each other.

  “Now how about that photo?” Eliza asked me.

  “Let’s do it!” I smile from ear to ear.

  After the show was over, and the audience spilled out the ballroom, the dancers were told to wait together.

  “Eliza, there’s someone who wants to talk to you.” Eliza’s coach came over toward a man who wore a jacket that said MIAMI DANCE. While they spoke off to the side, Eliza’s beaming smile and frequent head nods told me all I needed to know. I was so happy for her.

  As I waited patiently, eager to hear her details, Vanessa walked over to me, smiling with her eyes. There was a woman I didn’t recognize at Vanessa’s side.

  “Harper, this is Ms. Irving, a recruiter from Dance New York.”

  My stomach flip-flopped like a pancake, and I froze. DANCE NEW YORK?

  “So nice to meet you,” I said, trying to hold it together.

  Ms. Irving shook my hand. “Harper, it is nice to meet you and to see you perform.”

  Gasp! Were her colleagues impressed with my deer-in-headlights routine too? I was simultaneously panicking and celebrating that Dance New York saw me perform. And choke. They saw me choke.

  She smiled at Vanessa.

  “She saw all your performances,” Vanessa said, as if reading my mind. “Not just today.”

  “Yes, I know today’s took an unusual turn,” Ms. Irving said, “but that actually wasn’t a bad thing for us. We are looking for dancers to audition into our program for technique and talent, naturally. But we have students of all ages, and seeing you so engaged with the younger dancers is something that we appreciate. We believe you’d make an exceptional addition to our summer program here in New York City.”

  WUT. Had I really heard that?

  “WUT?!” Oops, had I really said that.

  “Harper?” Vanessa raised an eyebrow.

  “No worries,” Ms. Irving said. “I take it as a compliment.”

  “It is! Thank you!” I finally sputtered. “Thank you so very, very much.”

  “This is for your parents,” said Ms. Irving, handing me a letter with the Dance New York logo on top. It was an invitation, a welcome to join their summer program! “We’ll follow up with more information.”

  I jumped up and down before gaining my composure.

  “We hope to have you join us.” Ms. Irving shook my hand again before walking away.

  “So do I!” I said.

  “Congratulations, Harper.” Vanessa gave me a hug and took a look at the letter. “I am one proud coach. First Megan and now you—today is a good day.”

  “Megan?”

  “Yes! I’ll let her share the good news.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Coming to nationals can really change a dancer’s life.”

  “That it can,” said Vanessa. “It did for me.” She winked and waved my letter in the air. “I’m going to put this is a safe place.”

  I watched Vanessa slip away as Eliza ran up to me with her awesome news.

  “I’m invited to go to Memphis All-Stars!” she said, her eyes shining.

  “Wait, what?” I said. “In Tennessee?”

  “Yup. And Megan got in too… so I’ll be spending the summer with her.” Eliza paused. “Do you think she’ll teach me how she does that leg-hold trick? That was impressive.”

  I smiled. I was a little bummed I didn’t get to Megan first, but I figured I could pretend I hadn’t heard her news yet!

  “And I heard you’re going to be in New York,” Eliza said. “How funny is that I’m going south and you’re coming back here?”

  “Well, maybe we won’t be there at the same time so I can see you when I’m here,” I said. “It’s just sinking in. Wow! We got scouted!”

  “Can you believe we did this?!” Eliza said. We both jumped around in excitement.

  In our final act on the nationals stage, Eliza and I took our position in front of the illuminated city skyline backdrop for our photo. Vanessa was kind enough to snap the pics using both Eliza’s and my cameras. Eliza and I posed, arm in arm, with our knees pointed at each other.

  “Okay, now try something else!” Leave it to Vanessa to comment on the choreography of anything.

  Eliza and I stood back to back with one knee bent and our feet planted sole to sole. And then we got photobombed by the rest of the Squad.

  “Yaaay!” they shouted, jumping in and gathering us in a huddle. We quickly arranged ourselves, arm in arm, in a straight line across the backdrop.

  “I love being in New York with you all!” I shouted.

  “If I can make it there—” Trina started singing.

  And suddenly we were kicking Rockettes style. The official nationals photographer who had taken our group shots with Trey Thompson was now pointing his camera to us too.

  “It’s up to you, New York, NEW YORK!” we all sang. My old and new friends together.

  There was no better way to wrap up our visit to New York City. This was the sweetest send-off I could’ve imagined.

  CHAPTER 19

  I spoke too soon. The sweetest send-off I could’ve imagined was the one that happened next. To make up for not inviting the Squad along the first time, I planned to pull Vanessa and the moms aside and ask if Eliza and I could take them to the famous Cupcake Queen place we went to earlier in the trip.

  We had just come from the final farewell on the nationals stage and were headed to the chill room to grab our things and go. Our heads were still buzzing from the excitement of the past three days. And it was strange knowing that we would be catching a flight back to Florida in about six hours. I was excited to see my family, but of course, I would miss being in New York.

  The memories we made here would always stay with me. The Squad and I had visited so many places we could reminisce about over and over again. I remembered how Trina had said she liked to go to this one cupcake place with her grandmother, and I wanted to do what I could to make a visit happen. First, I had to get the chaperones on board. Eliza was with her mom. She said her mom wanted to come to personally meet the team that would be taking home the nationals champ award.

  A lot of audience members who had exited the ballroom about a half hour ago or more had apparently been hanging out in the lobby. When we exited the backstage door leading to the hall, we hadn’t anticipated this. People recognized us and greeted us. As strange as it sounded, folks even asked to take pictures with us. A few little girls asked us to sign their programs. It was pretty unexpected and incredible.

  In all of the activity, while Megan, Riley, Trina, and Eliza were speaking to moms, little girls, and summer program coaches, I’d managed sneak in quick side conversations with the chaperones.

  “Sure,” said Vanessa without hesitation when I suggested the cupcake place.

  “We’re fine with it if they are,” said Megan’s mom.

  We had an evening flight to catch, but there was plenty of time to hang out. And this was exactly what I told the Squad as we packed up our bags, ready to leave the venue one last time.

  “Are you doing this out of guilt? Because there’s no reason to
still be feeling guilty,” said Lily.

  “I’m doing this because I think you guys would love this place. And yes, I do feel bad for not inviting you to go with us the first time. “

  “I don’t understand why we’re still talking about it,” said Riley. “You had me at ‘cupcakes.’ ”

  “Same!” Trina nods, laughing.

  “And you say Eliza is coming?” Megan asked, arms crossed.

  Uh-oh. Here we go again.

  “I was only asking about Eliza because she said there’s this place she gets cool boots,” Megan said, smiling. “I need to find out where exactly that is.”

  Whew. “Yay! Then it’s settled. Let’s drop our bags upstairs and head over!”

  * * *

  “This place must be magical,” Lily said, her eyes darting across the colorful walls inside the cupcake place.

  “That was exactly what I thought when I first came here!” I said. “Wait until you try the cupcakes.”

  “It’s like we’ve walked into an animated world,” said Trina.

  We jumped in line before it grew any longer.

  “I’ll grab a tray,” I said.

  “Did someone say TRAY?” Riley sighed. “Like Trey Thompson?”

  “I’m curious, now that you’ve actually met the real-life Trey Thompson,” Lily asked Riley, “did he live up to your high standards?”

  “Are you kidding me? Trey IRL exceeded my expectations!” Riley cooed. “I’m so happy we’ll have pictures for proof. And to enlarge for my wall. And my locker.”

  “I’m happy for you.” I laughed. We moved up in line.

  “Wait until you try the cupcakes,” Eliza said. “I think they, too, will exceed your expectations.”

  I chose a peanut butter cupcake this time, with chocolate icing. Eliza picked chocolate truffle, Lily got tie-dye, Megan got red velvet, Riley got lemon, and Trina got the black-and-white. We put them all on the tray and headed to the two tables next to a window. The chaperones sat at a nearby table with their own cupcakes and treats.

  Eliza and Riley made a figure eight with the tables, and we arranged the chairs around them.

  “Dig in!” I said, placing the tray in between the tables.

  And then silence. The only loud things were everyone’s facial expressions. Closed eyes, sneaky smiles, raised eyebrows. I’d say they were enjoying the treats.

  “I have questions,” said Megan, annoyed and scrolling through her phone. “I want to know why this place has not expanded its cupcake business to Florida.”

  “Just wrong,” scoffed Riley. “And selfish.”

  “Well, I guess you guys are just going to have to all come back to New York.” Eliza smiled.

  “Wait a minute,” Lily said with her mouth full. “Harper will be back here next summer. She’s our in!”

  “I’ll be glad to bring back a case of cupcakes… if you can promise to be super kind and sweet to me,” I said.

  “For the next seven months?!” Megan almost put down her cupcake in shock. Almost.

  “Is that a difficult request?” Eliza looked at us back and forth.

  “Well, hello!” a man’s voice I recognized called out. “Are these our out-of-towners and locals sitting together? In peace and harmony?”

  “Wow, I think the answer for what ails the world is in this here cupcake shop,” the woman with him added.

  “Jackie and Miguel!” we shouted, so happy to see our onetime hip-hop dance instructors.

  “Hey, guys!” They looked so hip, in cool hats and fashionable jackets. Miguel had switched his dancing sneakers for a pair of work boots. And Jackie was wearing a dope pair of lace-up heels.

  “Funny running into you again,” I said, smiling.

  “They say the city is like a small town in many ways,” explained Miguel. “The iced coffee is great here, and I will go far for a good iced coffee.”

  “Music is pretty good too,” Jackie said. “Let’s see what you got,” Jackie challenged Miguel, who was swaying from side to side.

  “Join me, girls—do it like a seat dance,” he instructed.

  We, of course, swayed with him, and Jackie joined in. I took out my cell and started recording our cupcake shop dance. Everyone played up to the camera. We starting cracking up after a few seconds, feeling extra giddy between the sugar rush and the music.

  “Well, back to the studio for us. You all take care! Good seeing you!” Jackie and Miguel gave us big hugs.

  “Bye!”

  “Hi!” Eliza’s mom was at our table just as quickly as the instructors stepped away. “I hate to cut the party short, but we need to be leaving now too.”

  Eliza and I rose out of our seats slowly, as if trying to stall. We stood facing each other, at a loss for words. Until Eliza cleared her throat and spoke.

  “We won’t do long good-byes. Just make sure we stay in touch more often than before.”

  “Weekly video chats?” My voice cracked.

  “Weekly,” she agreed.

  “Perfect,” I said.

  We reached out and clung to each other.

  “See ya,” Eliza said as she pulled back.

  “See ya.”

  I stood there watching Eliza wave back one last time before she left the shop with her mom.

  It wasn’t a great feeling, but I was not carrying it on my own. Lily put an arm around my shoulder, followed by Riley and Trina, and yes, even Megan.

  “Let’s go home,” I told them.

  CHAPTER 20

  I’m so glad to be home,” Megan said, “where it’s warm, and I don’t have to wear a puffy coat, and there aren’t a billion people blocking my way on the sidewalk, and I don’t have to ride in an underground hole where rats are.”

  We all looked at her.

  “You didn’t like New York?” Riley looked at her. “Does that mean we’re not going to be roommates in a penthouse overlooking Central Park?”

  “Let’s just say I’m glad I got picked for Memphis,” Megan said. “No subways.”

  It did feel good to be back in Florida—and I was not going to complain about the sunshine warming me up. I did like pom-pom hats, though. Maybe I could make them a thing down here. I felt like I had the best of both worlds—summer in New York City and then Florida the rest of the time.

  Life was good!

  “That’s weird,” Lily said, looking out the window of the passenger van that shuttled us from the airport. We had just pulled up to the palm-tree-lined plaza where Sugar Plums, Lily’s parents’ fro-yo shop, and DanceStarz Academy were located.

  “Weren’t our parents supposed to be picking us up out front of the dance studio?” asked Lily.

  “Oh, yeah. Where is everyone?” I asked, concerned at how deserted the parking lot was.

  “Was this weekend daylight savings or something?” Trina asked. “I never get that right.”

  “No,” Megan said.

  “Maybe when we changed time zones from east to west, it messed up their hours?” Trina suggested.

  “Trina, we didn’t change time zones.” Megan shook her head. “Mom! Where are the other parents? I don’t want all these people coming home with us. I’m tired of them.”

  “Hey!” Riley swatted her.

  “It is weird,” I said. I fired off texts to my parents. This wasn’t like my mom to not be somewhere at the assigned time.

  “Did they forget?” Lily asked the unthinkable question everyone was afraid to utter.

  “Let’s just go inside and I’ll start making calls,” said Vanessa.

  “Don’t worry, girls,” said Riley’s mom. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

  We followed Vanessa inside the dark studio. What an anticlimactic return to Florida. The air was heavier, not only because of the humidity, but now because of the swirling emotions weighing us down. Vanessa reached behind the front desk and switched on the lights, and…

  “SURPRISE!”

  We all nearly jumped out of our skin. Well, all of us except Vanessa and
the moms, who were clearly in on this. CONGRATULATIONS, DANCESTARZ SQUAD! read a banner overhead with balloons dangling from it.

  All of our families were here! Mom, Dad, and Hailey rushed at me, congratulating and hugging me at the same time. Congratu-hugging? I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of their loving, welcoming arms around me. And the feeling of… wet slobber?

  “Hi, Mo!” I squealed and leaned down to pick up my pup. Then I reached into my backpack and pulled out presents. Bagels for Mom and Dad. And a stuffed animal wearing an I heart NY T-shirt for Hailey.

  “It’s a Timothy the squirrel!” Hailey squealed, hugging him hard.

  I looked around and exchanged glances with Lily, Trina, Megan, and Riley. They looked just as happy as I felt.

  “Are you missing New York already?” my dad asked.

  “You know what?” I said. “It’s good to be home.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book is about TEAMWORK, so first I want to thank the team who helped bring this book to life:

  • The WME|IMG team: Sharon Jackson, Mel Berger, Jenni Levine, Erin O’Brien, Joe Izzi, Matilda Forbes Watson, Josh Otten, Lisa DiRuocco, and everyone at WME|IMG for your support and encouragement.

  • The Aladdin team: Starting with Alyson Heller, the driving force behind this book—thank you so much! And to Mara Anastas, Laura DiSiena, Jodie Hockensmith, Nicole Russo, and everyone at Simon and Schuster Children’s/Aladdin for your hard work and dedication.

  • Rachel Rothman, who has believed in me from the very beginning and was invaluable making this book so awesome!

  • Katie Greenthal, Marisa Martins, and everyone at the Lede Company for being such awesome publicists and helping bring my voice out to the world.

  • Scott Whitehead and everyone at McKuin, Frankel, Whitehead for all of your wise legal advice.

  And:

  • Julia DeVillers!! You gave Harper (and the rest of the DanceStarz) an amazing voice and it has been so fun to see these characters come to life. A million thank yous for being such a smart, savvy, and fun partner on this project!

  This book is about DANCE, so of course I want to thank all of my friends who have supported me every dance step of the way: