“Miss Elliott said I could rehearse when I don’t have dance,” I said. “And during lunch or study hall if I want.”
“Woo! My sister’s the star of the school play!” Hailey said. “Can I have your autograph, please?”
“I’m not the star.” I laughed, leaning back on the headrest so Hailey could reach the top of my head and tie off the braid. “I’m not playing Ariel.”
“Who are you going to be?” Hailey asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “All I know is . . . I’m dancing. I might just be a random fish.”
“HarperFish!” Hailey started laughing. I could see her in my side mirror making fish faces at me.
“Hailey, enough. Harper, I don’t know that it’s a great idea to take anything else on right now,” Mom started. She paused a minute and pulled the car up in front of the dance studio. “But . . .”
I grabbed my dance duffel and waited for the verdict.
“Your father and I do want you to be more involved in your school. Since it was your teacher who asked . . .” She sighed. “If you think you can handle it, I’ll give my permission.”
“Awesome!” I said, jumping out of the car. “Thanks, Mom!”
“We’re going to the grocery store,” Mom called out the window. “We’ll be back before you’re finished!”
I waved good-bye and ran into the studio, before Mom could change her mind about the school play. Harper had her face pressed up to the window, making fish faces at me, and I was in such a good mood I squished my lips into a fish face right back at her.
Yay! I would be in The Little Mermaid, dancing a solo, and I didn’t even have to audition! Double yay! I was smiling as I pushed the door open to the studio.
However, as soon as I entered the studio, all of my thoughts of a school musical solo were replaced by thoughts of a DANCESTARZ SOLO. That was the one I really wanted.
“Hi, Harper!” the assistant who was working the front desk called out to me. The DanceStarz logo blinked over the top of the reception desk as if it were also saying hello to me.
“Hi!” I said back. I needed to get my focus back on the most important solo I could be dancing: the competition solo.
The studio was already busy, with dancers stretching on the floor, a few little toddlers bopping around the kiddie play area, and moms chatting away. DanceStarz Academy was really cool. I was still getting used to the differences from my studio back in Connecticut where I’d been going to since I was three. Like a lot of things in Florida, DanceStarz was a lot brighter than my old studio with huge floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking palm trees that let the blazing sun shine through.
“Hi, Harper!” some of the Tiny Team girls called out to me. The Tiny Team was our youngest team for girls under six. They were so cute! Being on the Squad felt a teeny bit like being famous. Not famous-famous, obviously, but famous in the dance studio. I knew a lot of the younger girls looked up to us. I stopped and said hi to them and admired one little girl’s new tutu.
“I like your hair,” one of the little girls said.
“Oh, thanks!” I said. I’d forgotten Hailey had done my braid. She must have done a good job.
“I have to go to rehearsal now!” I told them. “Make sure you practice too.”
I went into the changing room. A couple people were in it, getting ready. I had already slid on my leotard underneath in the car: a violet-colored cami one. I pulled my olive T-shirt dress over my head and kicked off my sneakers. I stuffed the dress and sneakers in one of the compartments of my dance duffel bag. I went down the hallway to Studio B, where we had Squad rehearsals. The Bunheads were waiting outside the closed door for the class in it to be let out.
At first, they didn’t see me. Megan was whispering something to Trina and Riley. Megan was kind of the leader of the Bunheads. She had her curly brown hair back in a low ponytail, and was wearing a black lace back crop top with dance shorts. Riley had her strawberry blond hair in two pigtails and was wearing a red draped tank top and black cropped leggings. Trina had her black hair up in a bun and was wearing a classic pale pink leotard.
“Hi!” I said to the girls.
Megan, Riley, and Trina turned to me and all started giggling. At me.
“What’s so funny?” I challenged them.
When I’d started at the studio, I’d been really intimidated by Megan, Riley, and Trina. Now that I’d gotten to know them better, I was . . . well, I was still a little intimidated by Megan, actually. But I was much better at standing up for myself. Like now. Maybe Riley had told them about my falling asleep in class today and that’s why they were laughing. Well, I was going to refuse to let them embarrass me about that.
“You do you, Harper.” Megan was still cracking up.
The door opened, and while the previous class was filing out, I went inside the studio. As I entered the three-sided mirrored room I realized what they were laughing about. They weren’t laughing about my falling asleep in class. They were laughing at my hair.
The braid was literally sticking straight on the top of my head like an antenna. Agh! I’d walked through the whole studio like this! I felt my face turn pink. I turned my head from side to side.
Okay, maybe it was a little funny.
“All right, now I see,” I rushed to explain to the other girls, who were putting their stuff in their cubbies. “Hailey did my hair! Hailey is practicing braiding.”
“I’m thinking she needs more practice.” Riley snorted.
“True,” I said. “It’s a little funny.”
“Harper is so sweet!” Trina said. “You let your sister do your hair, and you’re so proud of her that you even wore it so you didn’t hurt her feelings.”
“Yeah!” I said. Well, that wasn’t exactly what happened, but it was a good spin on it. “Yeah, that’s what I was doing.”
“You’re a good big sister,” Trina said.
“Thanks,” I said.
“You still look ridiculous,” Megan pointed out.
“I think it’s cute,” I lied. “Maybe I’ll ask Vanessa if we can wear our hair like this for the competition!”
Everyone immediately yelled, “NO!” Even Trina couldn’t be that nice.
“I’m kidding,” I said, and laughed. “It does look ridiculous.”
I swung my head around in circles, and the braid was so still it didn’t even move. Trina and Riley laughed out loud, and even Megan cracked a smile. I smiled a little too. I was proud of myself for not backing down from embarrassment.
I did wish I hadn’t walked through the lobby like this, but . . . Anyway, I needed to get my hair dance-ready ASAP, before Vanessa arrived!
“I’d better make my hair look normal,” I said, and ran over to my dance bag. I reached up and pulled the elastics out of my hair. Hailey had put them in so tightly it was a challenge to free my hair, and one of the bands broke. I opened up my dance bag again.
I sorted through my dance necessities:
Hairspray
Extra leo
Bobby pins
Tights
Hairbrush
Bandages
Tape for my feet
Toe pads for my pointe shoes
Water bottle
A chewy cranberry granola bar
Towel
Deodorant
Stretch band
I found my hair elastics! I quickly swept my hair up into a high ponytail and started wrapping it into a topknot. Lily came in through the door, breathless. She whipped off her tank top and wiggled out of her shorts, so she was in a teal mock-turtleneck leotard. Her long black hair was up in a bun like Trina’s.
“Whew!” she said. “I thought I’d be late. What’d I miss?”
“Nothing. Everyone’s just stretching,” I said. “And making fun of my hair. Don’t ask.”
“Okay.” She slid her bag into the cubby. “I think your topknot looks nice.”
“Long story. Hey, guess what?” I lowered my voice. “My mom said I could be
in the play. Now I just have to get the nerve up to tell Vanessa. I hope she doesn’t think I’m not dedicated to the Squad.”
What if Vanessa got mad that I was taking on another dance? What if she thought I wasn’t going to be serious about doing a solo in the competition? How should I ask her? Lily and I sat down on the floor and did leg stretches in silence as I thought about these things.
When Vanessa walked in the room, I jumped up.
“Vanessa—”
“Vanessa!” Megan jumped up faster and ran up to our teacher. I sighed and stood back to give her some privacy, while I waited my turn. Megan spoke animatedly, and Vanessa nodded and Megan grinned. When they were finished, Vanessa turned to me.
“Harper?” she asked. Megan went back to the Bunheads on the other side of the room.
“Vanessa, I have a question about . . . um . . .” I hesitated nervously. “A solo—”
“Yes! The answer is yes,” Vanessa said.
Oh! Huh? Did I even ask my question? Did she read my mind?
“Megan just asked the same question,” Vanessa said.
Huh? Megan asked about being in her school play?
“Let me make an announcement to everyone.” She clapped her hands. “Squad!”
I was completely confused now. Everyone came over and stood in front of her in a semicircle. Lily stood next to me and squeezed my hand.
“Yes, today is the day,” Vanessa announced. “I’m going to tell you what dances you each will be given for your solos today!”
Oh! That solo. She thought I was asking about the competition solo. Well, that wasn’t the question I was asking, but I suddenly felt really excited. It definitely was a question I wanted answered! All thoughts of my school musical disappeared as I jumped around with everyone else, excited.
“Each of you will be assigned a solo dance, tailored to what I see as your strengths . . .”
Everyone smiled.
“. . . and also including a few skills I think you should work to improve.”
We all looked at each other like, yikes.
“After we have worked on your dances, each of you will perform for me and we’ll determine which one of you will perform your solo at regionals.”
Everyone looked away from one another. We did love being a team now, but we still had the same goal—and we all knew only one of us could get that spot.
“First up, Lily!” Vanessa said.
Lily stepped forward and gave a nervous grin.
“Your solo dance will be an acro routine called ‘Flip it.’ ”
I looked to Lily to see her reaction, but her face didn’t show anything. I thought she’d be happy with that. She’d grown up taking only ballet, but had told us she liked tumbling and gymnastics more now. So acro—short for acrobatics—should be fun for her.
“Thank you,” Lily said, and stepped back in line.
Vanessa said. “Riley, your solo dance will be a jazz piece, called ‘Pizzazz.’ ”
Riley seemed pretty happy with that. She had really good facials and performance skills. Besides hip-hop, jazz would be a good fit for her high-energy dancing. “Trina! Your solo will be a tap dance, titled ‘In Sync.’ ”
“Yay!” She clapped her hands. Everyone laughed a little. A tap dancing solo was totally up Trina’s alley. Her footwork was amazing, and her timing was really good.
Then Vanessa looked at me. I was practically dying of suspense.
“Harper, your dance will be a lyrical piece titled ‘Taking the Leap,’ ” Vanessa said.
Awesome. Lyrical was pretty much my favorite style of dance. It was fluid and flowy from step to step, which was easier for me than focusing on precise, fast movements. Hopefully, with a name like “Taking the Leap,” that meant I’d be able to show off my leaps and turns.
“Thank you!” I said, smiling.
“Megan,” Vanessa continued. “You’ll do a contemporary routine called ‘Me Over You.’ ”
“Yesss,” Megan said, and pumped her fist. She obviously liked that one. Our group routine also was contemporary, but the category had a really wide range. Contemporary did have good focus on technique, and Megan was really technically on point and had some super-impressive tricks.
She was going to be hard to beat.
“I’ll be working with each of you privately to learn your routines,” Vanessa explained. “It’s going to be a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun.”
There were nods all around the room. We were here for the hard work. We were ready!
“Meanwhile, we’ll continue working on our group routine,” Vanessa said. “Along with a solo, we’ll be competing at regionals as a group with our top-three routine, ‘Awaken’!”
We all cheered.
“However, I want to see us place even higher,” Vanessa said, and we all nodded. “So today we’ll work on some basic skills to elevate the routine.”
She had us all go to the barres lining the mirror. I went to stand beside Lily. The Bunheads stood together at the other end.
“What do you think?” I asked Lily.
“You must be excited about getting lyrical,” Lily said, and I nodded.
“And you must be excited you got acro,” I told her. “You’ve been wanting to do more tumbling.”
“Yeah,” she said. “That’s the good part. It could be fun.”
She didn’t look as happy as I thought she would. I frowned. I’d have to talk to her more about that, later. We all put our hands on the barre and went through the ballet positions.
I caught a glimpse of Lily’s face in the mirror. She looked unhappy, but I also knew she wasn’t a big fan of ballet, so maybe she was just focusing really hard. You have to be precise with every single movement. I found it intense, but because I had to focus on my body movements it was a nice break from everyday stress.
“And pliés!” Vanessa commanded. “Plié combos!”
We went into ronde de jambes, then bent them into fondus.
“Feet look good, Harper!” Vanessa came down the line.
I smiled. I’d been having a hard time keeping up with the quick footwork that DanceStarz had been becoming known for. Fortunately, I was born with good feet for dancing—high arches so I could hyperextend them—so when the moves were slower, my feet at least did what I wanted them to do. Today’s class was turning out great. I was happy that I’d have a lyrical solo. And most important, I’d gotten a compliment from Vanessa!
When class ended, we were all achy in a good way from working hard, and I was in a really good mood.
“I posted a sheet to sign-up for your solo rehearsals,” Vanessa announced. “Everyone please sign up for three.”
Everyone ran over to the wall with the sign-up sheet. Vanessa walked over to the other side of the room. This would be a good time to talk to Vanessa about my commitment to the school musical. Instead of standing in line, I started to go over to Vanessa.
Megan spotted me and came running up beside me.
“What’s up?” she asked. “Are you excited about getting lyrical?”
“Definitely,” I told her. “Excuse me, I need to go to ask Vanessa something.”
“Oh, me too,” Megan said. She then picked up her pace and virtually knocked me out of the way to get to Vanessa first.
“Yes?” Vanessa looked at both of us.
“Vanessa,” Megan jumped right in. “I’m really excited I get to do a contemporary dance solo opportunity. I want to get started right away, so if you think there’s anything in particular I should be working on, please let me know.”
“I’ll let you know in your private lesson,” Vanessa said firmly. “But I appreciate your enthusiasm.”
“Oh, yeah!” Megan nodded vigorously. “I’m devoting every spare minute I have besides homework to rehearsing for this solo! Every. Minute.”
Oh, great.
“And I also appreciate your dedication,” Vanessa said. Then she turned to me. “Harper? Do you need something?”
; Megan hovered, listening nearby. I gave her a look that she ignored. There was no way I could tell Vanessa about my part in the show right now, with Megan eavesdropping and just after Megan’s whole one hundred percent devoted speech. I wracked my brain trying to think of something to say.
“Uh . . . nope. I mean, nope, thank you.”
Smooth, Harper, I thought to myself as I backed away. Urgh. Vanessa gave me a strange look. I ran to the cubbies and basically buried my face in my duffel bag, pretending to look for something until I was sure both Vanessa and the Bunheads had left the room.
Then I went out into the lobby and looked around for Lily. I didn’t see her. I waved at a few dancers I knew and went to find my mom. I spotted Hailey first, sitting on the floor with Riley’s younger sister, looking at her tablet.
Hailey looked up.
“Oh, you took your braid out,” Hailey said. “I was going to show Quinn. I was telling her how good I was getting. Hey, Quinn, want me to do your hair?”
“You know what, I think we have to go!” I interrupted. Quinn was Riley’s sister, and she had a similar personality. I didn’t think she’d be kind about Hailey’s braiding skills. Or lack of skills. “Too bad.”
“You’re right! We do have to go.” Hailey turned to Quinn. “See ya.”
We both went over to the moms.
“Ready!” I said.
“Hello, Harper,” Megan’s mother said. “Megan said you’ve been finally coming along nicely with your footwork.”
“Oh,” I said. “Thanks?”
“Megan’s inside having private lessons now,” Megan’s mother said. “You can’t have enough training! She’s so passionate about it.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. That was true.
“It’s so exciting that you all will be performing at regionals,” Riley’s mother said. “Do you remember our dance regionals, Beth? Our costumes were yellow and black.”
“Oh, I hated those. We looked like chickens,” Megan’s mother groaned.
Hailey let out a snort.
“Oh, I thought they were darling.” Riley’s mother clasped her hands happily. “With the little feather caps? Oh, to be young again! And being on prom court and dating the quarterback!”
The Callback Page 2