by Rachel Shane
I hated the way my breath stopped as it waited for his response.
He flinched, then shifted toward me. “The dance team girls always do.” He met my eyes. “Did.”
Now, I flinched. The first beat of the music punctured the silence and the blood in my body ran cold. A few notes later and the audience caught on. I heard Lara’s name pop up from people around us. Laughter came in waves as students caught on to the joke. The Katy Perry song from the cruise pulsed its happy beats throughout the room.
Lonnie leaned into my ear. “Oh, this is cruel.”
“How did they even know? I only posted about the talent show last night.” This was just a coincidence, that was all, like with Lara. After all, the dance team had learned this routine last year. It was the song we’d used to win Regionals and kick our legs into Nationals.
The answer to my question became obvious when Denise broke out of the synchronized hip thrusting and twirled toward Ali. On perfect beat, Ali lifted her arms in the air and hopped off the ground. She curled her body in an aerial that landed on her hands right in front of Denise. Denise grabbed her ankles and swung Ali around one side of her body, then the other. The other girls in the line paired up and did the same.
The crowd went wild at the girl-on-girl swing dancing, by far the riskiest of our routines. Even Principal Somers clapped proudly at her protégés of students.
Lonnie tilted his neck at me. “They stole your moves.”
And the worst part was, they were better than me. I glanced down at my lap.
Lonnie tapped my arm. “Speaking of, you never said who won the talent show. It was you right?”
I gave him a tight smile. I knew he was just trying to do what he did best. Distract me again. I dragged my eyes away from the stage and the way my chest ached at the sight of the girls on it. “Nope. A ten-year-old girl with an amazing voice won. She deserved it.” I jutted my chin toward the stage as if my sister belonged there. “But so did Lara.”
He nudged me with his shoulder. “And you. You deserved it too.”
The music winded down as the girls shimmied one last time before jutting out their hips and freezing in their final pose. The audience erupted in clapping. I couldn’t bring myself to join my hands together. Lonnie offered the girls a single clap.
Ali shimmied to the center of stage and grabbed the mic again. Her smirk was directed at me. “I want to thank you all, our dear fans.” She swept her hand toward the crowd. “For your support. We couldn’t have made Nationals without you.” She leaned toward the audience conspiratorially. “And by that I mean the money you donated during our spring bake sale to get us to Regionals.”
I shifted in my seat. As if the swing dancing wasn’t enough already, the way she spoke and jabbed at the crowd reminded me way too much of the talent show, my debut—and final—improv performance. Lonnie must have realized it too because he met my eye.
“But more importantly, we couldn’t have made Nationals without us.” She gestured back at the girls, who all strode forward to join her at the edge of the stage.
Denise hesitated for a moment, before coming forward just enough to be visible despite breaking the tight formation and standing behind everyone a step.
“Our team is so talented this year with no weak links,” Ali continued. Students in the front two rows swiveled in their seats to look at me. Lonnie waved at them until they turned around. “We threw our routine together in just one hour before school today. That’s how polished we are. We don’t even need to practice all day long.” Her eyes zoomed right to me.
I forced my lips into a straight line. They wanted a reaction from me. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. Still, I dug my fingers into the edges of my seat.
“But I also must acknowledge that we wouldn’t be on our way to Nationals in Texas or as perfect as we are today if it weren’t for Lara Fishbein.” She paused to let that sink in. My pulse thumped audibly in my ear. “The loss of her talents was such a detriment to the team, and she is surely missed.” She took a deep breath into the microphone. “So please join me in a moment of silence as we remember her.”
The whispering in the crowd ceased. Ali closed her eyes. The other dancers followed suit. Denise tapped Ali on the shoulder but I didn’t pay attention to the result. I frantically looked around as student after student dipped their head to their chest and reflected on my sister.
“Holy crap,” Lonnie said.
I jumped out of my chair and rose to my feet. “She’s not dead!” I shouted before I could stop myself, my voice carrying across the auditorium.
Ali’s eyes snapped open and a slow smile spread over her face. “Her career is.”
I ran out of there, the same way Lara had run out of the talent show: with all eyes on me as I retreated.
That was one way to steal the spotlight.
PIER PRESSURE
Posted by Kasey at 2:23 P.M.
Wednesday, September 10
Past Mood: Restless
SAT Word Of The Day: Altercate. Definition: Our fight definitely altered things between us significantly.
Music I Am Currently NOT Listening To: That Katy Perry song.
Okay people, this is where it gets good. Or from my perspective, bad. FYI, I disabled comments for this post. Yes, I’m a coward.
Despite the fog of sleep, the slam of a door alerted me to my sister fleeing the room. Her covers were twisted in a path toward the door, abandoned like a glass slipper left behind. I ran after her in my pajamas and cut her off by the elevators.
“Lara, please talk to me.”
The redness around her eyes couldn’t be mistaken for sunburn. She tried to edge past me toward the stairs, but I matched her move for move.
“I’m so sorry.”
“No you’re not, you got what you wanted.” Her words were clipped, chopped off at the ends like she’d taken a knife to them. “Mom’s freaking pissed at me. She won’t even let me go to Cancun because she thinks I ‘overexerted’ myself. They’re going out to dinner though. If you go with them, you’ll have them all to yourself, what you’ve always wanted.” She rolled her eyes. “And Hayden stood me up last night. Are you happy?”
A cool blast of air conditioning sent shivers down my body. “Lara, please. Let me make it up to you.”
“You can make it up to me by leaving me alone.” She jammed her finger into the elevator button and kept pressing it.
I softened my voice. “My offer still stands. Tonight, we’ll sneak out to Cancun and find you a new boy, a cuter—”
“I don’t want a new boy. I want Hayden.” The elevator doors opened and she shoved past me into the tight space. “And I don’t need your help. I’ve gotten this far on my own, thank you very much. The only set back happened when you intervened.”
I could have followed her inside. But I let the elevator take her away from me.
I had a different plan now.
I got dressed and headed to the golf simulator where I knew Finn and Hayden would be. Eighteen holes of golf were tucked away into a Wii-style video game. When Hayden swung the club, it looked like he was aiming straight for the ocean except without the wind to mess up his shot.
“Missed you.” Finn put his arm around me.
“Hold that thought.” I shrugged out of his grasped and marched up to Hayden. “I need you to give Lara a second chance.”
Hayden chuckled. I crossed my arms and shot him my fiercest look.
He sighed, tilting his visor. “I’m not looking for anything serious and last night, she really freaked me out.”
“Why? Because she messed up in the talent show? Don’t hold that against her.”
“No.” The golf simulator made a whipping sound as Hayden swung his club. “Because she spent an hour crying to me and saying weird shit, like I was the only thing that mattered to her anymore. Um, I just met her five days ago.”
My eyes flicked to Finn, triggering heart palpitations. Did he feel the same way?
He was to
o busy wiping his sunglasses on his shirt. I stepped closer to Hayden. “She only wants a fling, I swear,” I said, even though I was pretty sure she’d changed her mind since she had told me that.
Hayden concentrated on aligning his next shot.
“Listen, Lara’s going to sneak out tonight to one of the clubs on shore for a little dancing therapy. Please go with her. Just for tonight. I promise after the ship docks, you never have to see her again.” I sucked in a deep breath.
“I’ll pay for your drinks,” Finn offered even though this wasn’t his battle to fight.
Hayden’s head snapped up. “I’ll think about it, dude.”
I pulled Finn aside. “Thanks.”
“We’re going too, you know.” His dimples cast grand shadows on his cheeks.
I let out a strained laugh. “I’ve learned my lesson. I’m not following in my sister’s footsteps any more. And who’s to say we’ll even get in? Not eighteen yet, remember?”
“All the more reason to make it a covert mission. Like real spies. Passbacks might actually work in Mexico.”
His offer was tempting, and I hoped if I could hook Lara back up with Hayden she’d be so grateful, she’d let me tagalong. She’d forgive me.
I needed this plan to work.
I took a deep breath before I pushed open the door to my room. Lara lay on her bed, eyes closed, listening to the fast beats pumping out of her earbuds. I recognized the Katy Perry song from the talent show. A plate of untouched chicken and veggies from the dinner buffet sat on the floor. I ripped the earbud out of her ear.
“Haydenwantstogooutwithyoutonight.” All the words squished together in a rush to get out of my mouth. I tried again. “Hayden wants to take you on a date.” I tugged at her arm. “Come on, get ready. He’ll be here in ten minutes.”
She put her earbud back in her ear. “I told you to stay out of it.”
“So, what?” I shouted over her music. “You’re not into him now?”
She sighed and turned off the music. “What did he say exactly?”
“He said…” I racked my brain for something, anything that might convince her. She was always so good with the boy stuff, but I knew there was one area I was better at than her. Deception. “That he realized what a jerk he was being. And he feels stupid now about standing you up and wants to make it up to you.”
The hint of a smile creased her lips and my shoulders relaxed. She pushed herself off the bed. “Fine, get the green dress from the closet.”
It wasn’t a thank you or even an apology, but I would take it if it meant she was acknowledging my existence again. Sisters were forever. Fights were temporary.
Lara paused with the lip-gloss stick at her mouth, her upper lip shiny while her lower lip showed the cracks of a night of biting. “Wait, how am I going to get off the ship? Mom and Dad are already gone and my passport is in their room.”
My skin went cold. Crap. I’d totally forgotten about that. “Don’t worry about that,” I said. I hoped once Hayden showed up, it wouldn’t matter about the passport, there were plenty of places on the ship to make out.
A knock on the door startled us both. “It’s just me,” Finn said through the door.
Lara frantically swiped eye shadow across her lids.
“One sec,” I called through the door as I threw the green dress to her. She shimmied out of her pajamas and squeezed herself into the tight-fitting dress. It accentuated her toned muscles by following her curves. I’d have to practice a thousand hours a day—and grow a few inches in height—to ever fit into a dress like that. “Lara, you look amazing.”
She traced her hands over the dress, pulling and tugging it in various directions, like she couldn’t quite trust my compliment.
I let Finn inside.
“Where’s Hayden?” Lara asked as she traced her eyes with black charcoal.
“Kase, can I talk to you?” Finn didn’t have to make any covert gestures for me to decipher the coded part of his words. In private. I dragged him into the bathroom.
“I know. I’m not ready yet.” I tugged at the bottom of my denim shorts. “But I waited until the last minute to tell—”
“Bad news.” Finn paced the tiny length of the bathroom. The room was so small he was only able to take one step in either direction before having to turn around. At least it kept him in close proximity to me. “Hayden’s not coming.”
I didn’t need to look in the mirror to know my face had gone white. And that took extra special talent due to the sunburn I’d acquired. “Ugh. Lara’s going to hate me again.” I dragged my fingers over the skin of my face, pulling it taught. “Wait here while I go break my sister’s heart for the second time in twenty-four hours.”
Finn followed me into the room. I shot him a dirty look as I strode toward the balcony. “Lara, can you come outside for a sec?”
She capped her mascara and bounced out of her chair. Her gait could only be classified as skipping as she approached the balcony. I shut the door behind us for privacy.
The wind sent Lara’s hair blowing around her face, a few strands sticking to her lipstick. I dug through my brain to try to find the right words. Words I hoped existed. Words that would let her down gently without putting me in the crossfire once again.
She was the one who spoke first. “Thanks, Kase. I’m still kind of pissed, but I do appreciate what you did for me with Hayden.”
A smile lit her face against the sunset. She was so beautiful when she smiled like that. My heart shattered. As soon as I told her the truth, she’d take her words back. They weren’t mine to keep.
I glanced at her pointy heels where her foot tapped to the faint music coming from the shore. Maybe I didn’t have to break her heart. I just had to give her back the most important thing she’d lost. And that wasn’t Hayden.
The plot formed in my mind as easily as if it had come from a C.I.A assignment. I’d boost her confidence with compliments before I broke the news about Hayden once we were off the ship. She’d still want to go to the club, this time with me. Once she got on the dance floor, it wouldn’t matter if Hayden wasn’t there because she’d pick dancing instead, like she always did. And I’d take my place on the sidelines where I belonged.
“Well, then let’s get those passports.” I plastered on my brightest smile, but like everything else, it paled in comparison to Lara’s. “Wait here.”
I strode toward the side of the balcony that nearly connected with the one jutting out of my parents’ room. A three-foot-long gap separated the two balconies, and between them, the ocean rippled below. There was no way I could stretch my body across, but I could use the lounge chair like monkey bars and climb across, then get the passports from their room. Of course, I’d first have to stop my hands from shaking uncontrollably.
I yanked the lounge chair in the direction of my parents’ balcony. It made a loud scraping sound that made my face crumple. I grabbed the metal bar underneath the chair and lifted it up. It took all my strength to heave the chair until the edge teetered over the top of the ledge. I braced my hands against the back of the lounge chair and slid it forward. It hovered over the water.
Lara rushed to my side and helped glide it over to the opposite balcony inch by inch until it crested the other ledge, lying parallel to the ocean below. She pressed a hand on my back to stop me. “Let me handle this part. I’ve got better balance than you anyway.”
Even though my face blanched at the thought of crawling over the gap, something about Lara’s tone ignited the long dormant competitive need that had been building inside me.
Lara tossed off her heels, one by one, and they rolled onto our balcony. “Wait, I just realized you said passports. As in plural. You’re not coming to Cancun, right? I think it should just be me and Hayden.”
I sucked in a deep breath that made my nostrils flare. “Hayden’s not coming.” If she wouldn’t go with me, what was the point of her going at all?
Lara lifted her hands from the chair like it had burned
her. “Oh. My. God. You tricked me? All you do is try to sabotage me!” She stretched one leg against the ledge.
“What? No! I’m—I’m sorry you think that.” It wasn’t what I wanted to say. Not by a long shot. I replaced my evil thoughts with a reminder that I loved my sister, no matter how annoying she got. “I know I can’t change what happened, but—”
“But nothing! This meant so much to me, and you didn’t even care. What if this was my big break?” Like a gymnast, she pressed her palms against the ledge and pushed herself up. Her outstretched leg swung over the balcony and her other leg replaced it until she straddled the ledge like she was riding a horse. “Whatever. I’m going myself. Leave me alone. You ruin everything.”
“God, Lara! “ My fingers crushed the metal spine of the chair, straining from the effort of holding it up. “You have everything!” She turned her torso toward my parents’ balcony. I wouldn’t let her stop me from saying all the things I’d wanted to say for years. Our sibling rivalry had finally reached a temperature of 213 Fahrenheit. “You have a support system of friends. You’re ultra talented and on your way to big things. And Mom puts so much effort into helping you succeed, yet she considers my dancing just an extra curricular activity.”
Lara’s eyes narrowed and she climbed onto the lounge chair, swinging her butt in my face. She curled her fingers and toes underneath the vinyl bands. Every muscle in her arms and legs popped to attention, becoming defined as she elongated one arm toward the opposite ledge.
The way the vinyl bands dipped in the center under Lara’s weight resembled a smile, coaxing me to get everything off my chest. “You think I sabotaged you, but don’t you see? You’re the one wrecking things for me. You’re making me feel guilty when you should have been congratulating me.” My voice rattled. “That was my one shot to have it all too.”
It hit me: What I really needed wasn’t her forgiveness over stealing her spotlight. I needed my sister to be proud of me like I’d always been of her.
She paused, not crawling forward but also not jumping back to solid ground where she would face me like a person. Like a rival. I shushed the voice inside my head that wanted to say more, because I knew when Lara spoke again, she would say the words I’d always wanted to hear.