Bust a Move (12 page)

He bounced the ball once. Twice. For a second, Sammi could see him on a court, surrounded by fans.
He must miss it so much.

Ky's face went serious. She wondered if he was thinking about how it used to be for him—before he wrecked his wrist. Was that why he looked so solemn all of a sudden?

Sammi started stomping her feet, getting into cheerleader mode. “It won't, it won't, it won't go in.” Ky's usual grin reappeared. Sammi kept on going, clapping rhythmically. “It'll roll around the rim, but it won't go in!”

Ky shot.
Clang!
The ball hit the metal rim and bounced off. “That's right!” Sammi yelled, finishing the cheer. She was actually impressed he'd even been able to hit the rim from all the way back there. “And that's an ‘H' for you, my friend.”

“Let's see what you can do.” Ky retrieved the ball and brought it over to her.

Sammi bounced the ball once. Twice. She locked her eyes on the hoop.

Ky started stomping his feet. “Oh, you think you're cute. And I guess you are. But—” He hesitated. “Wait. I'm thinking.” He snapped his fingers. “You aren't gonna hit it from that far.”

Sammi laughed so hard, she dropped the ball. He was so goofy. And he was pretty cute himself. And nice.

I should like him,
she told herself.
I should be asking him out.

But she'd miss the zing-zap. And she only got that around ill papi.

“I never had my parents' permission to join the group,” Emerson told Maddy and Gina. She looked back and forth between the two of them as they sat on the small sofa in Maddy's office. She definitely didn't want to look at her mother.

“I'm sorry I lied to you. To both of you.” She could almost feel the tension—tension and anger—in her mother's body, even though they sat in separate chairs. “To
all
of you,” she added. She hadn't meant to leave her mom out. It's just that she'd already apologized to her parents so many times—and it hadn't seemed to make any difference. They still looked at her like she was a worm or some other icky thing that had crawled into their perfect home.

“But I talked to you on the phone,” Maddy protested, turning to Emerson's mom.

“Oh, I—Mom, I forgot to tell you that part.” Her mother probably didn't believe that. Why would she believe anything Emerson said ever again? But Emerson really had forgotten. It was getting hard to keep track of all the little lies. “It was me on the phone,” she explained to Maddy.

Another lie. Sophie had asked Sammi to make the call to Maddy because Sammi sounded older—and because Sammi wasn't in Hip Hop Kidz back then, so Maddy wouldn't recognize Sammi's voice. But Emerson wasn't going to bring Sophie and Sammi into this. They'd only been trying to help her.

“I tried to change my voice so I'd sound older and so you wouldn't know it was me,” Emerson continued. “I wanted to be in the group so badly. I just love it so much.” Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked quickly to make them disappear. Crying in Maddy's office was only going to make Emerson feel worse. She hated to cry in front of people. It made her feel like a layer of her skin had been peeled away. Everything just hurt more.

“Emerson also signed the permission form for the Performance Group,” Emerson's mother told Gina and Maddy. “So you can understand why—even if we'd agreed that she could be in the group in the first place—it would be impossible now.”

“Of course,” Maddy said.

“We hate to lose Emerson. She's a talented dancer. And a great teammate,” Gina told Emerson's mom. “But we completely understand.”

Emerson's mother stood up. Emerson pulled in a deep, quavering breath and stood up beside her.

“We really appreciate you both coming in to talk to us in person,” Maddy said.

“It was the right thing to do,” Emerson's mother answered. Emerson knew her mom was really talking to her, not Maddy. “Thank you for making time to see us.”

This was like one of her mother's committee meetings. So formal. So calm. All business. She didn't get that she was talking about Emerson's
life
here. That Hip Hop Kidz meant something to Emerson. Something huge.

Emerson had been pretty much perfect since her birth. This whole lying, sneaking-out, disobeying-her-parents behavior was new. So why didn't they understand that her reason for doing all that bad stuff was important? She'd tried and tried to make them comprehend that, but they couldn't get it through their heads. Or they just didn't care.

Maddy opened the door to her office. She smiled at Emerson as she and her mother walked through. “Good-bye,” Gina called.

Emerson nodded. She didn't think she could talk right then.

Her mother started for the main exit, high heels tapping on the linoleum. “Mom,” Emerson managed to say. “I want to—” She began again. “I'd like to go to the locker room for one minute. I'd like to say good-bye to my friend Sophie in person. Would that be all right?”

“Five minutes,” her mother answered. “I'll be waiting in the car.”

“Thank you.” Emerson turned around and hurried into the girls' locker room. Sophie was already at her locker. Max and Chloe were getting ready a few benches away from her.

“You didn't see ill papi out there, did you?” Sophie asked when Emerson reached her. “I have something I need to talk to him about and—” She stopped suddenly and put her hand on Emerson's shoulder. “Hey, what's wrong?”

“I have to quit the group,” Emerson said.

“What? What are you talking about?” Sophie cried.

“I got caught. My parents found out everything. So they're making me quit. I can't even take classes here anymore.” Emerson couldn't stop the tears this time. They came too fast, spilling down her cheeks, wet and burning. “I'm grounded forever. They didn't even let me call and tell you what happened.”

“Oh, Em . . .” Sophie's own eyes were glistening.

“You really have to leave?” Max asked. For once, she was standing completely still.

“Yeah,” Emerson answered.

Chloe walked over and handed her a Kleenex. “Thanks,” Emerson said.

“So what actually happened?” Chloe asked.

“My parents never wanted me in the group. So basically, I've been lying to them about it the whole time and they found out.” Emerson wiped her eyes, the tissue turning to a soggy mass in her fingers. “I just had to go tell Gina and Maddy that I'm quitting. My mom made me tell them the whole thing.”

Devane walked around the corner of the row of lockers and dropped her backpack. “Looks like I'm missing out on some drama,” she commented.

“This isn't for your entertainment,” Sophie snapped.

Devane raised her eyebrows. “Am I holding any popcorn?”

Emerson stood up. “My mom only gave me five minutes. And she means it. Say bye for me to everyone.”

“Bye? Where are you going?” Devane asked.

“Emerson has to quit,” Max explained as Sophie gave Emerson a long, hard hug. “She got in trouble with her parents.”

“Call me, okay?” Sophie said.

“If I'm ever allowed to use the phone again,” Emerson promised. She gave a little wave to Max and Chloe. “Bye, you guys.” They hugged her, too. A double hug.

They released her. And that just left Devane. “Maybe this will get you that solo you wanted,” Emerson tried to joke. Devane's eyes widened, and Emerson was afraid she'd hurt the other girl. “You deserve one,” she added.

“You deserved it, too,” Devane said. “You're good, Ballerina.”

Emerson snorted. “Ballet is all I'm going to be doing from now on. My parents are only allowing me out of the house for ballet lessons. That's it.”

“You gonna give up that easy?” Devane asked. “Lots of people do hip-hop without lessons. At least people where I come from. I know I'd dance no matter what. No legs? I'd still bring it.”

Emerson smiled a little. Her first smile in days. “Good point,” she told Devane. “Okay, I really have to go. You don't want to see my mother come in here and get me.” She started for the door, and Sophie went with her. “No, you stay here, okay?” Emerson told her. “I don't want to lose it again.”

And she walked out of the locker room, down the hall, and out of the Hip Hop Kidz building.

For the very last time.

“I can't believe Emerson's not going to be in the group anymore,” Becca said as they waited for class to start up. She twisted her long red hair into a knot at the back of her head.

Sophie couldn't believe it, either. Maybe she shouldn't have helped Em come up with a way to sneak out for the competition. Except if Emerson couldn't perform with the group—she wouldn't have been able to be
in
the group.

What was Emerson's parents' deal? Didn't they get how awesome Emerson was at hip-hop?

Duh. They'd never seen her do her stuff. Even when Emerson had had permission to take classes here, her parents had never checked out one of the lessons through the observation window. Sophie's dad liked to watch class sometimes when he was early to pick Sophie and Sammi up. A lot of the parents did.

“I keep thinking about what J-Bang said when he was talking about the different crews,” Rachel commented. “He mentioned ballet, remember? He said he and Joe O'Neal liked the ballet flavor. That was Emerson he was talking about. And we're not going to have that ballet flavor to bring with us to the nationals.”

She covered her mouth with her hands. “That sounded like I don't care about Em at all. Only about winning. Which isn't true. But if the ballet thing was something the judges liked—how much is it going to hurt us to lose it?”

“Devane did kind of a ballet thing with Emerson that one time,” Max offered.

“That time I took a bite of her solo, you mean,” Devane said.

“Still,” M.J. said. “You two were on fire.”

“I hardly know any of Emerson's ballet stuff, though. And I did it krumping style, not locking, so I didn't have to be so precise with the moves. Maybe I could learn to do some of them Emerson-style. But she's been doing ballet since birth.” Devane pulled in a deep breath. “And anyway, I'm still on probation.”

“Aren't you pretty much off now?” Rachel asked. “You performed with the group at the regionals. You helped us win.”

Devane shook her head. “I only got to go on because ill papi was a no-show. Gina didn't have any notice, so there wasn't time for her to make any other kind of plan. It wasn't an official thing.”

“No way!” M.J. burst out. “Gina and Maddy can't be planning on sending us to the nationals without you.”

Devane shrugged.

Sophie noticed that Devane had lost most of her usual 'tude. She had been working really hard to get off probation. It had to be discouraging to be getting nowhere.

“So let me get this through my head. We might have to face down the other crews at the nationals without Emerson or
you
?” Max asked Devane.

“It's up to Gina and Maddy when I get off probation,” Devane answered. “But it's the middle of September. The nationals are in October. I don't think you should count on me.”

“If we don't have Devane or Emerson, then we gotta have ill papi,” Fridge said. “Where is the illin'? Has he called anybody or what?”

Sophie glanced around the room. Only “no's” and head shakes.

“If he hasn't called Gina by now, he's going to be on probation for sure,” Chloe commented. She sat on the floor, the soles of her feet together. She pressed down on her knees with her elbows as she talked, stretching out her thighs.