Bring It On

by Jasmine Beller

  “Hey, ill papi.” Sammi didn’t do a hair flip of any degree. Her nightmare had freaked her out too much. “The new Will Ferrell movie is opening this weekend. I can’t wait to see it. Do you want to go with me?”

  “I don’t really like Will Ferrell,” Sophie said.

  Good. She was giving Sammi a chance to rehearse some possible negative responses.

  “Oh, well, there’s lots of other fun stuff out,” Sammi told Sophie slash ill papi. “Are you into action movies? Or horror? I like horror. To me it’s like a roller coaster. I like to get all scared but be totally safe.” She did a quick arm touch. She hadn’t done an arm touch with ill papi before, but they were good for telling a boy, “I like you.”

  Sophie didn’t reply. “Come on,” Sammi urged.

  “I can’t do this,” Sophie said. “I don’t know how to think like him. I’ll see you in the locker room.”

  “Okay.” At least Sophie had helped her get warmed up, Sammi thought. She did an ill papi scan and spotted him heading for the main exit. “Ill papi, wait up!” she cried.

  He turned around, and Sammi got to him as fast as she could without breaking out of a walk. “Hey, that new Will Ferrell movie is coming out this weekend. Do you want to go with me?”

  “No.”

  That was it. Just no.

  And ill papi had left the building.

  Sammi hadn’t even considered that possibility in the bathtub.

  Sophie sat in the locker room waiting for Sammi. She used the time to practice her I’m-so-happy-for-you smile. She practiced it so many times that her lips and jaw were starting to ache. Even her teeth hurt. But when Sammi came prancing in there, talking about the big plans she and ill papi had made, Sophie wanted to be able to smile. Sammi was her sister, and Sophie was going to be happy for her. Even if it felt like someone was pulling her fingernails out.

  The locker room door swung open. There went a fingernail. Sophie braced herself.

  But Sammi had tears in her eyes when she threw herself down on the bench opposite her sister. “What happened?” Sophie cried.

  “He said no! Ill papi said no!” Sammi burst out, getting curious looks from some of the other girls. “That’s all. Just no. I got one word from him, Soph.”

  “That’s harsh,” Sophie said. She reached over and grabbed Sammi’s hand. But she felt a smile pulling at her lips. Probably just because she’d been doing so much smile practice.

  Or maybe because it felt kind of fair somehow. Sammi already had the Hip Hop Kidz Performance Group—at least she was getting really close, with Devane not being able to perform right now. Did she have to have everything Sophie wanted?

  Emerson leaned over and let her hair fall over her face, then started to brush it out. The simple motion felt good after the hard workout of class.

  “Hey, Blondie.”

  Emerson straightened up, flipping back her hair. She found Devane standing in front of her. No surprise. No one else called her Blondie. Or Ballerina.

  “I’m glad it worked out with Gina,” Emerson said. And she was. Sort of. But class would always have more tension in it with Devane around.

  “I wanted to give you a separate apology,” Devane said in a rush.

  “That’s okay. You kind of already did,” Emerson told her.

  “Not about the solo thing. About what I said to you that first day. That you weren’t in the right place,” Devane explained. “Remember?”

  Emerson definitely remembered. She’d been feeling out of place anyway. She’d only been in class a few months. She hardly talked to anyone—just Sophie—and back then she hardly even knew Sophie. And she was much more a ballet dancer than a b-girl. What Devane had said had been like a slap. “I remember,” was all she said.

  “I remember, too!” Sophie came around the corner and joined in the conversation. “I figured you were just trying to psych out the competition before the non-audition audition. I kept waiting for you to tell me my puppy had just died or something. But you didn’t say anything to me. I was insulted. I guess you didn’t think I was good enough to bother playing head games with.”

  Devane and Emerson laughed.

  “Well, anyway, I was wrong,” Devane told Emerson. “You pretty much kept up with me at the show. And if you didn’t belong here, you wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

  Emerson smiled. Devane was definitely still a little bit of a diva. “Thanks, I guess.”

  Max’s head appeared over the top of the row of lockers. She had to be part spider. She could climb anything. “Hey, you guys, we’re meeting for pizza on the corner.” Her head disappeared.

  “Do you think that means I’m invited?” Emerson asked Sophie.

  “Absolutely,” Sophie said.

  “Do you want to go, Soph?” Sammi called from the bathroom. “Dad’s going to be a little late picking us up anyway.”

  “Sure.” She looked at Devane. “You coming?”

  “You should come,” Emerson said.

  “I could eat a slice.” Devane held up one finger. “But know this. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get off probation. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to get myself a solo in the Disney World show.”

  “Whatever it takes?” Emerson repeated. Had she been wrong about Devane actually getting it?

  “Not like that,” Devane said. “I just mean that I’m going to work my butt off. Every class I’m going to bring it. So I’m warning you now, both of you—and everybody else in this locker room—you better bring it, too, if you don’t want to end up as one of Divine Devane’s backup dancers.”

  Emerson nodded. “Consider it brought.”

  DEF-INITIONS

  1990: A rotating handstand.

  Bronco: A move where the dancer falls to his/her hands, kicks up the feet, then jumps back up to a standing position.

  Clowning: A mix of popping, locking, break dancing, and African tribal dance.

  Cross-legged flare: A more difficult version of a flare done with crossed legs.

  Eggbeater: A sustained backspin with legs in the air and hands high on the hips.

  Flare: A move where the dancer is on the floor with the weight on his/her hands and swings the legs in big circles in front of and behind the arms.

  Float: The dancer balances on his/her hands with the body horizontal (legs sometimes bent).

  Kip up: A move where the dancer is flat on his/her back, rolls backward, kicks out the feet, and lands upright.

  Locking: A jerky style where dancers move through a series of ultra-quick poses.

  Popping: A style where dancers move through poses in a more fluid way than in locking.

  Slide: Sliding across the floor on some part of the body.

  HIP HOP KIDZ®

  Wassup, Peeps?

  I’ve been in Hip Hop Kidz for about 4 years now. I’m currently 17 years old. Thinking back, I have had some awesome times with HHK, like the time we went to Connecticut to perform in their annual parade, or when we were invited to be in the Miami segment of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and all those trips to New York. Even the local events are cool because I enjoy what I do and I get to do it with people I love.

  When I first started with HHK I was about 13 years old and I was an okay dancer . . . okay, let me stop lying . . . I was bad (haha). I felt very self-conscious about it—kind of the way a lot of the kids in the book feel about certain things. Like the way Sophie feels about her weight, Emerson feels about being rich, and Devane feels about being poor. I guess it’s natural to feel like you’re different from everyone else in the beginning. But my instructors, Dee and Suzy, encouraged me to stay with HHK because they saw that I had potential.That was around the same time that my family wasn’t doing its best financially. But Suzy believed in me and allowed me to be on a full scholarship. Through the years, I worked really hard and got better and better and moved up the ladder until I reached where I am now—“The Professionals.” (Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?) One thing that I can
say for sure is that if it wasn’t for Suzy’s encouragement, I would not be doing the things I do today.

  Besides everything I do with HHK, I have also branched off to do other stuff with the entertainment “ biz.” I have performed in many live music award shows, modeled and acted in commercials, and been in some music videos. And it all started because I was looking for a chance to make friends, get some exercise, and just be able to perform. I found all that and more through HHK. I have grown in my abilities, I make nice money for a teenager in “the biz,” and my mom, sister, and I live comfortably. I’m so glad I stuck with HHK, even though it was hard in the beginning. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t let feeling different get in the way of doing what you love.

  Sean, age 17