“Then we need to run through ag—”
“Oh, look at the time. I have to go to my acro class!” Lily interrupted her. “Yikes, I’m going to be exhausted for it.”
“Fine,” Megan said. “Next priority, apparently, is building stamina. See you all tomorrow. And the next day. And the next—”
“I think we created a monster,” I grumbled to Lily as we walked out the door.
“We didn’t vote for her for captain,” Lily said. “It’s Riley and Trina’s fault.”
“My bad.” Riley was standing outside the door, and had overheard us. “I didn’t know she was going to take away my partner trick with her. And replace me with you.”
“Trust me, I’m not entirely thrilled either,” I said.
“Harper!” Megan stuck her head outside the door. “You can’t go yet! Let’s set up our sessions with Vanessa now! Partner trick, you and me!”
Definitely not thrilled at all.
CHAPTER
9
After meeting up with the other girls, we went to Squad rehearsal, already exhausted from Megan’s rehearsal.
Vanessa stood at the front of the room.
“You’ve all been working hard on your dances,” Vanessa said sternly. “But has it been hard enough?”
Lily and I exchanged glances. Inwardly, I groaned. She was going to make us work even harder? The Bunheads were sitting on the studio floor next to us, looking just as frustrated.
“The answer is yes! You have been working hard enough,” Vanessa said, unexpectedly smiling. “So today we’re going to take a little break and choose your solo costumes!”
COSTUMES!
“Yay!” we all cheered with relief—and excitement.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment!” Riley yelled. Riley wanted to be a fashion designer, and she was always eager to see the costumes. She was probably going to have her own line of dance costumes someday.
Vanessa opened a cupboard door and pointed to a shelf of catalogs.
“Help yourselves,” she said. “Each of you select two or three options, and we’ll review them together.”
We each grabbed some catalogs and spread them out on the floor. Vanessa told us what our budget was and to be sure to pick costumes that fit our category of dance.
“I’ve never gotten to choose my own costume before,” Lily said. Lily had only gone to a ballet school before DanceStarz, so she was particularly excited about having more options. Ballet outfits were so pretty and there were so many choices, but I could tell Lily wanted something totally different from the classic ballet look. She flipped right to the modern, sleek designs that would be great for tumbling.
I could pretty much choose anything for a lyrical routine, but since my song was slower and flowy, I decided I’d pick something flowy too. Hmm.
“How am I going to decide?” Trina said. “There are so many pretty ones!”
“I know,” I said. I looked at all the color names: turquoise, violet, burgundy, evergreen.
“I want them all,” Megan said, then wrinkled her face. “Ew, except that one.”
I looked over her shoulder to see a neon orange–colored dress that did look . . . unfortunate. We all cracked up.
“Your moms were talking about their worst costumes,” I said to Megan and Riley. “I guess they thought one looked like a chicken.”
“The worst costume I ever had was as a flower,” Trina said. “I was really excited until they put a flowerpot on my head as a headpiece.”
We all cracked up.
“I wore a bodysuit that went from my feet to my head,” Riley said. “It looked like I was a pink sausage.”
“I wore a leotard that was supposed to be green but turned out to look like someone puked on me,” I said.
“Now you guys are making me a little happier I only did ballet.” Lily laughed. “Although some of my Nutcracker costumes were a little weird, they weren’t that bad.”
“Every costume looks good on me,” Megan said. We all groaned, and she grinned.
“Okay, I think I found my costume!” Riley announced. She held up a page with a dramatic white dress with a one-shoulder top and a silver sequined skirt.
“Hmm. I was planning to wear white,” Megan said.
“Oh,” Riley said and paused. “Maybe I should wear something brighter for jazz, anyway. Probably like red.”
Megan nodded, satisfied.
Riley lived to please Megan. I sighed. I considered choosing a white dress for myself, but I wasn’t going to be like that. Also, I didn’t want to wear white.
“Okay, I got mine!” Megan announced. We all turned to her, but then she said, “No, no, maybe not good enough.”
I flipped through the dresses. I thought about what Vanessa had said, about choosing the outfit to match your song.
“So hard to choose,” I said.
“Well, what’s the name of your song, again?” Trina asked.
“ ‘Taking the Leap,’ ” I said.
“I found one for you,” Megan said. She slid a catalog over to me. “Number three.”
“The green one?” I grimaced. It was dark green with neon green stripes.
“Yeah, taking the leap,” Megan said, and laughed. “Like a frog.”
I tossed the catalog back at her.
“I found my choices,” Trina said. “I always get put in pretty light pink costumes. SO, for my tap I’m going with my signature pink costume, but . . . here’s my favorite.”
She held up a page with a fuschia sequined tuxedo-style jacket, over a black leotard. With black tap shoes, it would look really striking.
“I like that!” I said.
“Riley?” Trina turned toward Riley, who perked up. Riley liked that we knew she was our fashion person. “What do you think?”
“This is a bold choice, and you know I like that,” Riley said. “It will pop onstage.”
“You should wear these tights with it,” added Megan.
“Oh, I think that would make it too costumey,” Riley said. “I think just simple black.”
“Riley, can you help me with my outfit?” Lily asked.
Riley beamed and Megan scowled. I knew Megan liked to be the expert in everything. She was super stylish herself, but Riley just had a way of being trendy and a little unique at the same time. I actually admired both of their styles, although they were different from mine.
Riley leaned over Lily’s catalogs and poked her finger at a page.
“Do you like that?” Riley asked.
“ ‘Copper,’ ” Lily read. “Huh, I never thought of that color.”
Riley showed us the page. It was a shimmery copper crop top with copper-and-white striped briefs.
“I think a metallic would look sharp!” Riley said enthusiastically. “Like a flame, whipping around the stage. With a high pony and a cool hair clip!”
She flipped through another catalog and found what she was looking for.
“That’s really cool,” I agreed.
“And totally different from a ballet costume,” Lily said happily. “I like it! Thanks, Riley! I’ll look for something for my hair.”
“Okay, okay, I think I have mine,” Megan said. Everyone turned their attention toward her. “No, wait, it’s not good enough.”
We all went back to our catalogs. Riley announced she had made her top choice. It was a multicolored dress in deep red, purple, and emerald jewel tones, covered in sequins. We all told her that would be perfect for jazz.
Megan and I were still flipping through pages, with nothing to show.
“Why is this so hard?” I complained. I felt overwhelmed. I wanted to find the perfect one.
“I know,” Megan said quietly. I nodded in solidarity with her. Flip, flip, flip.
Yellow? Gray? Floral? I kind of liked a floral leotard, but it wasn’t really me.
Megan scooted a little closer to Riley and paused on a page. Riley looked over her shoulder and gasped.
“That’s g
orgeous,” Riley had barely said when Megan grabbed it back and held it up.
“Here’s mine!”
It was a white cold-shoulder turtleneck with lace blocking on the waist, which flowed out into a mesh skirt. The entire thing was covered in shining white sequins, small and large.
“Wow,” we all said. It was gorgeous.
“That’s not in the budget,” Riley noticed.
“My mother will take care of it,” Megan snapped the catalog shut confidently.
It was gorgeous. I knew my parents would never let me go over budget, so I wouldn’t have as many luxury options. But seriously, there were still so many I could pick that I liked! I sighed. I was the only one who hadn’t picked one. I had found some ideas—about fifteen of them. They were all lighter-colored with dresses or skirts. I was surrounded by open catalogs, each dress pretty but not feeling exactly right.
“I need help,” I announced. Everyone scrambled around me. “I like this look, but nothing stands out.”
“Okay, that gives a good overview. How do you want to feel when you’re dancing?” Riley asked.
“Like you’re about to lose to me,” Megan snarked. Everyone looked to see my reaction, but it was kind of funny, so I just laughed.
“No, that’s not what I’m going for,” I said. I thought about it. “My dance is really soft and dreamy. That’s why I was thinking a dress—”
“And your favorite color is purple,” Riley remembered. She reached over and grabbed a catalog from her own stack. “I might have seen something in this catalog that had some fresh ideas.”
She flipped through the catalog and stopped on a page. Riley handed it to me.
Ooh. I read the description out loud.
“An orchid mesh crop top with mesh insets . . . Oh, I haven’t done mesh before,” I said. “And a mesh skirt. Riley, it’s so different, but I love it.”
I held it closer to Lily for her opinion.
“That’s so pretty!” Lily said.
“It’s going to float around you when you do your turn series,” Riley said. “But it’s light enough it won’t trip you up.”
I glanced at Megan, waiting for another snarky remark about tripping up. But she surprised me.
“Oh, that’s cool,” Megan said. “Yeah, that’s a good one.”
“You guys,” I said. “We are going to look so good.”
Everyone smiled at each other. We had a moment of team bonding. But it didn’t last long.
“Well, don’t get too excited,” Megan said. “Only one of us is going to dance a solo.”
“So does that mean only that person gets to actually get her costume?” Lily asked.
We all froze.
“Vanessa wouldn’t get us all excited to pick a costume for no reason.” Trina worried. “Would she?”
“Yes,” Megan said confidently. “Do you really think she’s going to get us all a costume and only person gets to wear it? She probably had us pick to motivate us to try harder.”
Hmm. We fell silent, as we realized we’d never thought about that strategy. Would Vanessa really do that?
It sounded like she would.
CHAPTER
10
It was already Saturday, and it was time to go to Ariel’s house for our Little Mermaid “rehearsal.” Luckily, Ariel lived close enough for me to ride my bike over. I checked the directions on my phone, grabbed my helmet, and then rolled my bike down the driveway. It felt like forever since I’d ridden my bike, and I actually wobbled when I got on it at first.
I rode down the sidewalks, passing the other one-story houses on my street. I waved to two little kids who were drawing in chalk on a driveway. I turned the corner and rode down a hill. I swerved to the right to avoid running into a boy skating on a longboard. As I passed him, I heard him call out to me.
“Hey, Pearl! I mean, Harper!”
It was Prince Eric! I mean, Drew!
“Hi, Prince Eric! I mean, Drew!” I half skidded to a stop.
“Hey.” He skated up to where I was.
I smiled awkwardly at him. He was wearing a gray T-shirt and black shorts and sneakers.
“Are you going to Ariel’s?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded. Yup. Yes, I was.
“Cool, want to walk together?” he asked me.
“Yeah.” I nodded again. Okay, could I say anything other than yeah?
AUGH! I was acting like a goof. I could feel my face was red, and I pretended to concentrate on wheeling my bike.
“So, is this your first play?” he asked me.
“Yeah,” I said, then caught myself. “Well, first legit play. In second grade I was in a food pyramid skit. I played a potato.”
“A potato?” He laughed.
“My costume was a giant brown paper bag stuffed with . . .” I realized I was sounding weird. “Anyway, have you been in a lot of plays?”
“Literally never,” he said. “I tried out for this one thinking I wouldn’t even get a part. It’s crazy.”
“Wow, and you got the lead,” I said. We walked kind of slowly, me balancing my bike and his carrying his board. I focused on trying not trip over the bike, fall over the bike, or run him over with the bike. “Do you like it?”
“It’s fun,” he said. “But . . . it’s hard. There’s a lot of lines to memorize, and the dancing is really hard. I don’t know how you remember all those steps. That’s really cool.”
“Oh,” I said. “Thanks! Well, I’ve had a million lessons since I was three. So maybe I can help people a little. Anyway, I can’t skateboard at all.”
“It’s awesome once you get the hang of it,” he said. “It’s like you’re flying.”
“I feel like that when I do leaps and jumps,” I said. I smiled. I felt like this conversation was going way better than I would have thought. He was really easy to talk to.
“I’m just learning jumps on my board,” he said.
“Like what?” I asked him.
He put the board down on the ground and pushed off. He rode for a little bit, then he kicked it so it flew up a little and he landed.
“That was cool!” I called out.
Then he sped up and kicked out again. I opened my mouth to cheer for him, but then the skateboard slid out under his feet. He stumbled and fell on the ground, on his back. His skateboard went flying ahead, up the street.
“Uh,” I coughed. “Are you okay.”
“I’m good, I’m good,” he said. He ran after his skateboard and grabbed it. I hurried to catch up with him. That was awkward. I didn’t want him to be embarrassed, but I didn’t know what to say. I guess he didn’t either. We walked the rest of the way in silence. Fortunately, it was only a couple more minutes until we got to Ariel’s house. While I was pulling my bike up to the garage to park it, he ran ahead to the front door. Ariel opened it, and Drew went in quickly, before I even made it up the front steps.
“Hi!” Ariel waited for me, holding open the door. “Everyone’s downstairs. We’re so happy you’re here. You should have seen us dance at rehearsal last night. We desperately need you.”
“Oh.” She was so nice. “I’m sure you’re fine without me.”
“Mrs. Elliott is great,” Ariel said. “But I think she’s almost given up on our dance.”
I followed Ariel through her kitchen, and she introduced me to her father, who was friendly too. We went downstairs to the basement, where a bunch of people were playing foosball and pool, or hanging out on the big comfy-looking orange and teal couches. There was a long table with a lot of snacks on it. The basement was huge!
“This is great,” I said, looking around.
“Thanks,” she said. “We moved some stuff out of the way so we could rehearse in here. Do you want some food?”
“Get your food and come here, Pearl!” Zora called out from a couch.
I got a paper plate and put some doughnut holes and some popcorn on it. I glanced over to look for Drew, and he was playing foosball with some people. I went
over to sit with Zora, Courtney, and a seaweed, who introduced herself as Marlee.
“So, how did you become such a great dancer, and why haven’t you been in any of our plays?” Zora wasted no time putting me on the hot seat.
“I started taking dance when I was three,” I said. “So I had to at least be decent after all of that time, right?”
Everyone laughed.
“And I just moved here from Connecticut, which is why I haven’t done any of the musicals,” I said. “Plus, I’ve never been in a play before, because I take dance five or six days a week.”
“I take dance!” Marlee said. “Only once a week, though. My parents said it’s expensive.”
“Yeah,” I said. I was lucky and grateful I could take so many dance classes. “Where do you take it?”
“At Energii,” she said.
“With the Bells?” I blurted out, and wasn’t sure if I sounded weird about that. “I mean, we competed against them and that’s who I met from there.”
“Isabella and Bella?” Marlee said. “Yeah, they’re new on the ultimate team. I don’t compete, so they’ve never talked to me. They’re really good, though.”
“I took ballet when I was in preschool,” Frankie said. “My mom says I was the first kid to ever fail out. I just lay on the floor in class every day.”
Everyone laughed.
“She’s the best clarinet in marching band, though,” Zora said. “And she’s in Robotics Club. And Courtney’s on crew.”
“You could join,” Courtney, who played Jetsam, said. “We need coordinated people on the river. You have to get there at six a.m., though. Then in the spring I do field hockey.”
“Wow, you guys do a lot,” I said.
They laughed.
“A lot? You should see what Ariel does,” Seaweed said. “Basketball cheer, model United Nations, and she’s starring in the play!”
“What? Are you talking about me?” Ariel came over, smiling.
“Yeah, about all of your clubs,” Zora said.
“That reminds me, I’m co-starting an Environment Club, and we’re doing a park cleanup Tuesday afternoon if any of you can come,” Ariel said. “But for now, we should practice the dance moves. Harper, are you ready?”
The Callback Page 7