“Okay, maybe you don’t think you’re talented in dance. Uh, maybe you’re actually not talented.”
People started to giggle.
“But even if you aren’t, you shouldn’t give up! You should work harder to get what you want. You can learn from your mistakes! Follow your dreams!” I said. Everyone looked at me, smiling. I think I’d pumped them up. Woo hoo! Yeah! I felt really good! But they were still looking at me! I didn’t know what else to say! So . . . “So yeah! Okay!”
I stood up there, not sure what to do next. And the door opened. I was relieved that Megan was walking in. Except it wasn’t Megan. . . .
Beep! Boop!
A small robot wheeled into the room. Huh? I looked at the door and saw Trina holding a remote control. I remembered she said at Robotics Club she’d been building a robot that could dance! Everyone turned and started smiling and pointing at it.
“Heh. Lo,” the robot said robotically. “I am Star the dancing robot. Do you want to see me dance?”
“YES!” everyone yelled. And the robot started dancing! Well, not sure you’d call it dancing, but it moved left and right and spun around. Boop! Beep! Boop!
I ran out to the doorway, where Trina was hiding.
“Is that the robot you made?” I asked.
“Yes!” she said. “I had her in my mom’s car, so I thought she could help distract until Megan got ready!”
“That’s really cool you did that,” I said. “You’re really smart.”
“Oh no, I’m not,” Trina said. “It’s just simple coding and the wiring. . . .”
Yeah, that was over my head. Just then Megan came running down the hall, followed by Lily and Riley. All three of them were out of breath. When Megan got close enough, I could see she was wearing my lavender costume.
“You found it!” I said. “It looks great on you.”
At that moment, I knew what I had to say.
“I want to support you guys, my fellow DanceStarz dancers,” I said, looking squarely at Megan. “We’re all on the same team! We need to be here for each other!”
Beep! Boop! Star made its way offstage.
Megan confidently strutted out to the front of the room. She was in the dance zone as she struck her pose. Then Megan’s mother yelled out her name super loudly. I saw Megan flinch. I ran off to the side of the room and tried to be quiet as the door closed and I was left to wait in the hallway with my other teammates.
CHAPTER
25
We all sat on the floor, silently. Well, not all of us.
Beep! Boop!
The dancing robot explored Studio D, rolling around and occasionally twirling and emitting random noises.
“Can’t you shut that thing up?” Megan grumbled to Trina.
“Don’t hurt her feelings,” Trina said. “She helped you tonight.”
“You programmed her to help,” Riley pointed out.
“Yeah,” Lily said. “Trina helped out Megan and we helped out Megan but mostly Harper helped out Megan by letting her wear her costume.”
We all were in our regular clothes, having quickly changed out of the costumes after Megan had finished her dance. We were waiting for Vanessa. And the big reveal.
Who would get the solo?
“You’re going to get it,” Riley told Megan. “You obviously killed it. I heard a crazy-loud cheer.”
“That was my mother,” Megan said miserably.
There was a pause of silence. Then I couldn’t help it. I cracked up. That set everyone off.
“It’s not that funny,” Megan said.
“Yes, it is.” I couldn’t help laughing.
We all giggled. Even Megan cracked a tiny smile.
“Don’t worry, I thought everyone was cheering my inspiring speech,” I continued, “but it was really for Trina’s robot who rolled in behind us.”
Beep! Boop! the robot responded.
That just set everyone off again.
“How do you think I felt?” Megan said. “I was about to do my big dance and everyone was sad the robot had left.”
“Maybe the robot should get the solo,” I said.
“That robot cannot steal the solo,” Megan said, sounding serious for a second. Then she jumped up, picked up the robot, and put it in a cabinet.
Beep! Boop! the robot chirped faintly.
We were dying laughing when Vanessa walked in the room.
Immediately we all got serious. It was time! Vanessa was going to announce the solo.
“I’m pleased to see you all laughing together,” Vanessa said. “I also was pleased to see how you stepped up to help one another out tonight with your solos.”
We smiled.
“However, I was not pleased with all of the shenanigans.” Vanessa frowned.
We all stopped smiling.
“Dancing a solo is more than being the best dancer,” Vanessa said. “I need someone I can rely on as well as who can deliver.”
“I also can announce that our next competition will be regionals,” Vanessa explained. “We will have one group dance with the Squad, two duets, and one solo.”
We all fidgeted in our seats. This was a little too suspenseful for me!
“Our first duet will be: Trina and Riley.”
Trina squealed happily and tried to high-five Riley, who wasn’t as happy, having realized she was out of the running for the solo.
“Our second duet will be . . .” Vanessa paused.
This was it! This was it. I took a deep, calming breath.
“Harper—”
That was me. I didn’t get the solo. Megan got the solo. Megan got it. After all that, Megan got it.
Okay, okay, regroup. Think of the bright side, I thought. Hopefully, that meant I’d have my first duet with Lily! Lily mouthed Sorry to me. She knew I was disappointed. We both went in for a hug.
“—and Megan,” Vanessa said.
Lily and I both froze, arms out. Wait, what?
“WHAT?” Megan blurted out.
“Harper and Megan, you’ll be our second duet,” Vanessa said calmly. “And our first DanceStarz soloist is . . . LILY!”
Lily?
I could see the entire Squad in the mirror, and we all had the same look on our faces. Shock. Especially Lily.
“Lily!” I yelled, the happiness bubbling over my disappointment. “You got the solo!”
I leaned over and gave her a huge hug. Trina did the same.
“Vanessa!” Megan looked like she hadn’t processed it yet. “I’m . . . Wait, what?”
“I don’t need to explain myself,” Vanessa said sternly. “However, I would like to share some reasons why Lily will be representing DanceStarz in our first solo. Lily has been consistent. She has taken on extra practices and worked extremely hard to improve her skills. This shows me responsibility and reliability. She also took on a challenge outside her comfort zone by doing tumbling instead of ballet.”
“BUT—” Megan started to protest.
“And she doesn’t complain about things,” Vanessa added pointedly.
Megan snapped her mouth shut.
Wow. Lily!
“Go, Lily!” I cheered and began clapping for her. I was so happy! Everyone, even Megan, began clapping too.
Beep! Boop! Robot chirped again from the closet.
“Even the robot is cheering for you!” Trina said happily.
Vanessa looked around, confused, and then sighed and shook her head.
“Um,” Lily said shyly. “Thank you, Vanessa. Thanks, Squad. I definitely wasn’t expecting this, but I promise to represent DanceStarz and the Squad best I can.”
Lily’s face was shining. I thought about all the times she’d been rehearsing and overlooked so far. Now she finally had her big moment! I reached out and grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“Excellent,” Vanessa said.
“My mother is going to kill me,” Megan muttered under her breath.
“Your mother . . .” Vanessa had heard the comment. M
egan flinched. “. . . is going to be quite busy, as I’ve asked her to assist me.”
I couldn’t tell from the look on Megan’s face if that was a good or bad thing. Probably bad.
“Which brings me to my next announcement,” Vanessa continued.
Another big announcement?
“After regionals, we will head to another competition,” Vanessa said. “Our first nationals. And nationals will be in New York City!”
NEW YORK?! Now we all cheered! Nationals! And we got to travel! Traveling competitions were so much fun—staying overnight in a hotel together and seeing the city between the competition events. And New York! It was like going home for me!
“That’s why Megan’s mother—and a few others who I’m waiting to hear from—will be coming on the trip to help. And by the way, I’ll be picking a soloist for that one too,” Vanessa said.
“Yessss!” Megan pumped her hand. More solos! Solos in the big league this time.
“So let’s learn from today and get ready to work harder than you’ve worked so far,” Vanessa said.
I knew I’d be ready. NYC, here I come!
“Now go get some rest,” Vanessa said. “See you all tomorrow at Squad rehearsal.”
The door shut.
“Wow,” Riley said. “That was a lot.”
Yeah. That was a lot.
“I, uh, yeah,” Lily said, still in shock. “I think I need some time to process this. Sorry?”
“Don’t apologize,” I said. “You earned it, and you deserve it.”
“Plus, I’m going to get the solo for nationals,” Megan said. “So, haters, back off.”
We all looked at her.
“I’m kidding!’ ” she said. “Kind of.”
“Nationals!” I said. “You guys, we get to travel together! We get to go to New York City together! This is going to be amazing.”
We all jumped around, excited. The Squad was going to NYC!
“All right, I’m tired of you people.” Megan yawned. “I’m out.”
We all went to get our stuff from the cubbies. I noticed my lavender dress was placed very neatly on my duffel.
Megan said what I was thinking: “I have so many alerts my phone is beeping more than Trina’s robot.” Then she paused. “OH, GREAT. OH, JUST GREAT.”
“What?”
“Guess who also is going to nationals?” Megan said. “The BELLS.”
“Oh, noooo,” we all groaned.
“We have to beat the Bells!” Megan said fiercely. “We’re not going to sleep! We are going to practice every single day, every spare minute! Maybe we should start now—”
“Can we elect somebody else team captain?” I yelled out.
“How about Trina’s robot?” Lily said. “All in favor, raise your hand.”
Everyone except for Megan’s hand shot up.
“Seriously?” Megan said. “Fine. You get the night off. But tomorrow—”
“Tomorrow I have plans!” I said. I needed a break! But also, I wanted to spend some time with Lily. FUN time. Maybe swimming, or if she had to work, I’d help her out at Sugar Plums. But I got what Megan was saying. “Tuesday, though, for sure.”
“Fine.” Megan sighed dramatically.
I turned on my phone and saw I had a bunch of messages, too. And then my phone went bllllrp with a video call. I smiled and answered.
“PEARL!” It was Zora! “We wanted you to be part of the cast party! Everyone say hi to Harper!”
Awwwww!
She held the camera over her head so I could see a flash of faces go by. Ariel and Flounder and Courtney and the fish and the humans! Drew flashed me a peace sign!
“HI!” I waved back happily. “Hi!”
“We miss you!” they all yelled. Aw! I was so happy they missed me!
“I’m at the dance studio! Say hi to my musical cast!” I held up the phone toward the Squad.
“Hiii!” They all waved.
“Hi, everyone! Hey, I see you, Flounder!” Trina called out.
“Hi, Prince Eric!” Megan called out.
Hmm. I turned the phone back around quickly.
“Okay, I’ll see you all at school!” I said.
“You did awesome at your solo!” Zora said, just before the video disconnected.
“For the musical, maybe. But not for the dance audition!” Megan said enough. We all gasped. “Oh, chill out. I was just kidding. I didn’t get it either. Lighten up.”
“Well, we all can be proud of our teammate Lily,” I said. “Can we go over quick to Sugar Plums for celebration fro-yo?”
“Ooh, Megan, can we?” Riley needed permission.
“A smoothie does sound kind of good,” Megan admitted. “I’m going to get a scoop of protein in it. I need all the strength I can get to prepare for my solo at nationals.”
“Your solo at nationals?” I raised my eyebrow at her.
“Yup,” Megan said casually. “I may even wear your purple costume for it. It did look good on me. . . .”
Thwap! I tossed my dance towel at her. There was a pause and then thwap! Thwap! The rest of the Squad—even Riley—tossed theirs at her too.
Everyone, especially Megan, was laughing.
“This is all sinking in. Can you believe we’re going to New York City?!” Trina said, grabbing Star from the closet.
“For Harper, it’s like going home again,” Lily said. “Well, close to home.”
“I know, I’m so excited! Maybe I can see some of my old dance . . . team. . . .” My voice trailed off as I realized something. I went to my old dance team’s website and clicked on a link I used to check all the time.
It read:
UPCOMING EVENTS!
Blah, blah, blah . . . and there it was. NATIONALS, NYC.
I’d be competing against my old team. Whoa. What if I got the solo? Can you imagine?
The announcer would say: “Please welcome to the stage, from DanceStarz, Harper!”
I would walk onto the stage, in MY lavender costume, head held high. I’d get into my opening pose as the music began . . . five . . . six . . . seven . . . eight!
And I would dance! And I would win! And—
I opened my eyes and looked at my Squad. Yes. I could imagine it.
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:
• Sia, who shows me how to be the person I want to be
• All of my dance teachers, who have taught me to be the best I can be
• All of the dancers who have ever shared the dance floor and stage with me. You’ve motivated and inspired me!
• • •
This book is about FAMILY, and you know I love my family so much!
• Kenzie!! My
creative and talented sister. You’re my best friend and I love you!!
• Gregga, who has always been there for me, supported me and made sure I have whatever I need with patience and positivity—and no complaints!
• Jane, Lilia, and Jack Buckingham, who make LA feel like my home.
• Michelle Young, for all the sleepovers, loud music in the car, and the laughter that never ends.
And:
Mom!! don’t know how I got so lucky to have you as my mom. Thank you for everything.
• • •
This book is about FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS. To anyone who has ever watched me, come out to meet me, bought my books and cheered me on as I pursue my passions and follow my dreams in dance, acting, fashion design, makeup, the arts—and just living my life . . .
I want you to know I’m cheering you on, too. I love what I do so much, so thank you for sharing the journey with me. I love you!
Maddie
About the Authors
Photo © Glenn Nutley
Madison Nicole Ziegler, born in Pittsburgh, is an award-winning professional dancer, actress, and fashion designer, and is the New York Times bestselling author of The Maddie Diaries. She starred in Lifetime’s Dance Moms for six seasons and has starred in numerous music videos for pop singer/songwriter Sia, including the critically acclaimed “Chandelier” video. Maddie was a judge on So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation, lent her voice to the animated feature Leap! (released internationally as Ballerina), and stars in Focus Features’ The Book of Henry.
Julia DeVillers is a bestselling author of fiction and nonfiction for kids and teens, including the Trading Faces series with her twin sister, Jennifer Roy, and the Liberty Porter, First Daughter series. Her book How My Private Personal Journal Became a Bestseller became the Disney Channel movie Read It and Weep.
ZIEGLER-GIRLS.COM
ALADDIN
Simon & Schuster, New York
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
Authors.simonandschuster.com/Maddie-Ziegler
Also by Maddie Ziegler
The Maddie Diaries
The Audition
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The Callback Page 15