Showstopper (10 page)

“I'm supposed to be rolling the dice,” she said, demonstrating a graceful turn.

“Make sure you extend those arms,” Toni instructed her. “And keep the movements flowing. No breaks between.”

Finally, the announcer summoned her to the stage: “Performing a modern routine, here is Scarlett dancing ‘Superstition.'”

As she took her place on the stage, lying on her back and staring up at the ceiling, waiting for her music to begin, Scarlett couldn't help thinking about Anya. She saw her sitting in a cold hospital waiting room, ringing her hands and worrying about Alexei. Scarlett knew how worried she'd be if Gracie was ever hurt. Her
mind wandered off, and before she realized it, she had missed her opening cue.

She quickly rolled on her stomach and stretched her hands out to the audience. Maybe the judges wouldn't notice she was a few beats behind. The music was slightly haunting, with whispers of wind and hints of chimes in the distance. She got on her knees and stretched backward, twisting from side to side in one graceful, fluid motion. She poured her heart and soul into the dance, letting all the sadness about Anya leaving pour out of her.

“Whoa, she's killin' it!” Rochelle said, watching from the wings.

For her last move, Miss Toni had told her to “be a wave crashing across the sand.” So she rolled across the stage, letting the layers of her skirt fall around her like the foamy water. The judges were mesmerized. Finally, she kneeled, hugged her arms around her shoulders, and bowed her head as the lights dimmed to black. It was a good thing the audience couldn't see her
face—there were tears streaming down her cheeks and her bottom lip was quivering.

“Good job,” Toni said as Scarlett raced backstage and dabbed her eyes with a layer of her skirt. “You were in the moment, and it showed.”

Scarlett nodded. “I just can't stop thinking about Anya,” she said. “I feel like there's a big hole in my heart.”

“I know,” Toni whispered to her. “We all feel that way. And you did the right thing. You found a way to channel the emotion into your dance.”

Next up was Rochelle with her rechoreographed routine without Anya. Toni handed her a top hat. “Keep it together,” she warned her. “Smooth and controlled.”

Rochelle checked her pockets and her jacket sleeves to make sure all her props were in place. “I'll do my part,” she assured Toni. “But I make no promises for your little feathered friends.”

“Performing a Broadway-style routine to
Pippin
's ‘Magic to Do,' please put your hands together for Rochelle!” the announcer said.

“Here goes nothing,” Rochelle whispered into her collar. “Doves, do your best!”

She shimmied across the stage dressed as Leading Player in a top hat, black leotard, and tuxedo jacket with tails. As the voices on the track crooned, “Ooh, ooh, oooh,” she wiggled her hips and twirled a magic wand in her hand. With a wave, it suddenly sprouted a bouquet of flowers. The audience applauded as she tossed it to the front row. Next, she did a series of
fouetté
turns and the doves flew out of her hidden jacket pockets. Another dove popped out of her hat as she took it off and tipped it at the judges.

“OMG! That is sick!” Bria cheered from the wings. “Go, Rock!”

Suddenly, she reached above her head and grabbed a trapeze that appeared from the ceiling. She flipped upside down and twirled high
above the stage, hanging upside down by her knees.

As the trapeze lowered, she descended into a split and ended her routine by waving her wand at the judges. In the blink of an eye, the wand vanished in thin air. The audience jumped to their feet and applauded wildly.

“That was amazing!” Scarlett said, hugging her friend as she came off the stage. “I'm calling you the Wizard of Rock from now on!”

Phoebe was waiting for her turn and overheard them. “Don't you mean the Wizard of Pathetic?” she asked, smirking. “I have a Broadway dance solo, too. And it's gonna blow yours away—literally.” She strutted out onstage as the announcer read, “Please welcome Phoebe, performing ‘Let's Go Fly a Kite' from
Mary Poppins
. . .”

Rochelle stuck her head out from behind the curtain to watch. Phoebe's costume was an intricate dress made of individual handkerchiefs in shades of blue, white, and silver. She
twirled and swirled around the stage, holding a kite magically suspended by an invisible wire.

“She's
gooood
,” Bria said. “Really good.”

“Please, don't rub it in!” Rochelle said, covering her eyes with her hand. “If she flies up in the air like a kite, I'm gonna lose it.”

Phoebe did a graceful
arabesque
, then—just as Rochelle had feared—flew up, up, up to the ceiling where she performed an aerial ballet thirty feet above the ground. The judges craned their heads to watch.

“It's Vegas. Justine is pulling out all the stops,” Toni said with a sigh. “Hopefully the judges will see past all the smoke and mirrors and appreciate our technique.”

“Or not,” Liberty said, motioning to the panel, who was applauding every move enthusiastically. “We're doomed.”

“Not yet we're not,” said a voice behind them.

“Anya!” Gracie squealed, running to hug her teammate around the waist. “You're back!”

All the girls gathered around her.

“How's your bro?” Rochelle asked. “Is he okay?”

“Alex is fine, thank goodness,” Anya replied. “Just some bumps and bruises and two broken ribs. But he'll be good as new.”

“Which is why I let Anya come back,” Mrs. Bazarov said. “We caught an early flight this morning from L.A. She didn't want to leave her Diva family when they needed her.”

“I brought my costume,” she told Toni. “Can I still be in the group dance?”

Toni tapped her finger to her lips. “I'm not sure . . .”

“What? Are you nuts? City Feet is creaming us!” Liberty shouted.

“What she means is we have a much stronger routine with Anya in it,” Scarlett said, putting her arm around Anya. “Wasn't that what you were trying to tell Miss Toni, Liberty?”

“Fine, what she said,” Liberty said grumpily.

“I wish you had been honest with me, Anya,” Toni said firmly. “I don't like surprises.”

“I wasn't trying to surprise anyone,” Anya insisted. “I just didn't know how to tell you all that I was moving back to L.A.”

“Honesty is always the best policy,” Toni replied. “But there's no sense in discussing that now. Get into your costume. We have thirty minutes before Junior Group dance is up.”

“Hooray!” Gracie cheered. “Anya's back!”

The Divas were up fourth, right after Razzmatazz, Pink Ladies Rock, and City Feet.

“I don't get it—what's with the leopard-skin togas and the clubs?” Bria asked, watching the Razzmatazz boys race past her onto the stage. The tallest one was pounding his chest and yelling, “Yabba dabba doo!”

“They're doing a routine to
The Flintstones
theme,” Rochelle explained. “Though why, I have no idea.” The choreography was certainly primitive, with each of the boys walking on their hands and hopping around the stage barefoot. The last part of the routine
consisted of them hoisting a giant rock over their heads.

“That was certainly interesting,” Bria commented.

“Remember what Miss Toni always says,” Anya reminded them. “The judges always give high points to boy dance teams.”

Next up was Pink Ladies Rock performing an acro routine dressed in pajamas to Katy Perry's “Waking Up in Vegas.”

“Yawn,” Liberty quipped. “This number's putting me to sleep.”

“That was a pretty impressive back handspring,” Bria noted. Just then, all six girls ripped off their pj's onstage to reveal Vegas showgirl costumes in vibrant shades of red, orange, and gold. They
pirouetted
around the stage effortlessly, and the lead dancer did an impressive twenty
fouettés
in a row.

“Whoa! That was amazing!” Anya commented. “I thought we had just City Feet
to worry about today, but all the teams are bringing it.”

When it was time for City Feet's group number, only Mandy was waiting in the wings.

“Where's the rest of your team?” Rochelle asked her. “Did the rest of Stinky Feet chicken out?”

Mandy kept her mouth shut and ignored her taunting. She was wearing a silver leotard and a long platinum wig.

“Performing a contemporary acro routine to Lady Gaga's ‘Poker Face,' please welcome City Feet!” the announcer boomed over the microphone.

“Gaga? Did he say Gaga?” Liberty whined. “I told you people we should have used her costume designer!”

Mandy tumbled out onstage as the rest of her teammates appeared in a cloud of smoke. They each wore a crazy costume inspired by Lady Gaga: Phoebe was in a green unitard with a boa made from furry stuffed frogs; Addison
wore a red lace bodysuit and a crown covering her face; Regan was in a black-and-white triangular mask and a white leotard covered in plastic bubbles.

“What's next? A flying saucer landing in the middle of the convention center, carrying Elvis?” Rochelle groaned.

“Awesome! Where?” Gracie asked.

“Guys! Am I seeing this?” Scarlett directed their attention back to the stage. “Is Phoebe carrying a baseball bat?”

“They all are!” Bria chimed in. “They must have believed what Mandy told them.”

Each of the Feet paraded around the stage, swinging baseball bats in the air. Addison and Regan even tossed a ball between them while Mandy did a cartwheel around third base.

“But we said Batgirl, not baseball bat!” Anya said. “Where did they get that idea?”

“I dunno, but it's a hoot!” Rochelle burst out laughing. “Lady Gaga sliding into home plate. It's so wrong!”

“You can say that again,” Toni said, finding her team in a fit of hysterical laughter. “It's a very disjointed routine. I understand the Gaga-esque costumes, but what's with the baseball diamond? Do you have any idea
what
Justine might be trying to say?”

“She's saying, ‘Someone gave me some wrong 411!'” Rochelle roared. “OMG, this is a riot!”

Gracie raised her hand. “I let the bat out of the bag.”

“You did what?” Toni replied. “Who put you up to this?”

“We didn't
tell
them to do it,” Liberty said, defending the Divas' actions. “We just sort of whispered in Mandy's ear.”

“And what's in her ear is outta her mouth,” Rochelle added. “But I guess something got lost in translation. When Gracie accidentally told all the Feet she was wearing a Joker costume, we had to cover our tracks. So we kinda told her to
tell Mandy we were doing a Batman-themed routine.”

“Bat as in creepy black-winged thing that turns into a vampire,” Liberty pointed out to her youngest teammate. “Not let's play ball!”

“I see,” Toni replied. “So you lied to them and they took the bait?”

“Exactly!” Liberty exclaimed. “It's not our fault at all.”

Anya braced herself. She could feel a long lecture coming on from their dance coach. “We were just trying to save our number,” she said.

Toni clasped her hands behind her back. “Did I not tell all of you to stay away from the competition and not speak a word to them?”

“Liberty talked first,” Gracie said. “Then Rock, then me.”

“I'm sure they did,” their teacher said. “But you're all just as guilty. I have to go find Justine now and apologize to her—which is something I
hate
doing.”

“Could it maybe wait till
after
we beat them?” Scarlett asked. “Like a ‘no hard feelings' kind of thing?”

“Cheaters never win,” Toni answered. “But I suppose Justine cheated in changing her routine to copy ours.”

“We all know Justine's batty anyway,” Liberty quipped. “I say we forget it ever happened.”

“I say you go out there and win us first place,” Toni insisted. “Then I'll decide how to handle your fibbing to the Feet.”

House of Cards