Bust a Move (2 page)

“It is and it isn't,” Emerson answered. “It's interesting to see the SpectroMagic floats up close. But it kind of makes it less magic. You know, Cinderella's carriage without the lights . . .” She blushed. For real. “I guess that sounds stupid.”

“No. It's sweet,” Sophie said.

Devane rolled her eyes as she climbed into the minibus. She sat down next to M.J. She could use a little boy energy. Getting gooey over Cinderella? Please.

“Are you going to finally step up and ask Gina and Maddy what's up with the probation?” M.J. immediately asked her. “It should be done by now.”

Devane glanced around. Gina was sitting eight rows away. Not close enough to hear. “I don't think I can push it. I don't want to heat them up again,” she told M.J.

M.J. raised his eyebrows. “You're not exactly timid.” The minibus started down one of the roads that ran through the nonpublic part of the park.

“Truth. But—”

“No buts. One of my boys is in the Storm Lords. You know that crew?” M.J. asked.

“I saw them perform at Kissimmee once,” Sophie said from the row behind them. “They had some killer moves.”

“They're already signed up for the Southeast Regional Hip-Hop Championship in Orlando,” M.J. continued.

Fridge leaned over from the seat across the aisle. “If we want to make it to the nationals, we have to win the regionals. And we have to win the nationals to have a shot at the world championship.”

“That's what I'm sayin',” M.J. answered. “And to win, we need Devane off probation.”

“But wait. Are we even signed up for the regionals?” Sophie asked. “You said the Storm Lords were already signed up.”

“If we are, nobody told us,” Fridge said.

Max crawled over the back of Fridge's seat and squeezed in next to him. “Nobody told us what?”

“If we're going—” Allan said from the seat in front of Fridge.

“To the Southeast regionals or not,” Adam, his twin, finished for him from the seat beside him. A lot of the time talking to them was like having a conversation with one person. Freaky.

“It's more than that. It's if we're going to have a shot at the world championship or not,” Devane added.

Doing a two-minute routine at the World Hip-Hop Championship—and winning—could change everything. Change bus to car. Kmart to Abercrombie. Mom with three jobs to Mom with early retirement. One-bedroom apartment in Overtown to mansion on Hibiscus Island.

Okay, it wouldn't change anything for Emerson. She already had the mansion on Hibiscus Island and all the rest of the bling. But that wasn't true for everybody in Hip Hop Kidz. Na-nay-no.

“Do the Hip Hop Kidz usually go to the regionals?” Emerson asked.

“Maddy and whoever is the teacher for the Performance Group decide,” Max said, tapping her toes against the back of Allan's seat. “If they don't think the group's ready, they don't put the group in the competition. If the Kidz are in, they want us to
represent
.”

“Maybe they think with Devane on probation, we can't bring it hard enough,” M.J. said. “But ill papi was showing me some moves he picked up from J-Bang. And you know ill papi's pops still has it going on. Those moves would destroy in the regionals.”

“Do you think one person—any one person—would be enough to keep us out of the competition?” Sophie asked. “No offense, Devane. You know I bow down to your cross-legged flare. But the group has a lot of amazing dancers.”

Truth. Devane didn't like to say it—even to herself—but she thought her crew could get through the regionals even if she wasn't off probation and couldn't perform with them. They'd need her in place for the nationals and the world championship, though. They'd need all their best dancers to battle first the best crews in the entire country—and then the whole planet!

“Maybe it's Gina's whole teamwork thing,” Max suggested. She cracked her knuckles. “I thought the moves you added to Emerson's were smokin', but Gina—”

“Put
me
on probation for not being a team player,” Devane said. “You don't think she has it in her head that the whole group has a problem with teamwork because of that?”

Her face felt hot. This was coming out to be her fault, no matter how you looked at it. No one was saying it. Not exactly. But there it was.

“Things are fine between me and Devane now, anyway,” Emerson added. “Right?”

“Yeah,” Devane answered. She really didn't have any problem with the ballerina anymore.

“Gina's seen us talking before class and everything. So the teamwork issue shouldn't be an issue.” Emerson sounded tense. Like she was thinking it was
her
fault or something. Didn't she know it was Devane's? Didn't everybody?

“Yeah,” Devane answered. “You're perfect. Don't worry about it.” The words came out a little harsh. She forced herself to turn around and smile at Emerson. It really wasn't her fault.

“All I know is that the Southeast regionals are in less than three weeks. Other crews are signed up. And we aren't,” M.J. said.

“This is crazy cool.” Sophie Qian peeked around the edge of the arched side of the Galaxy Palace theater. All the metal benches were almost full.

Sophie's older sister, Sammi, grabbed her hands and squeezed. “Crazy, crazy. Cool, cool,” she agreed. “Do you see Mom and Dad out there?”

Sophie glanced around, her eyes catching on the spiky dome of Space Mountain, then returning to the audience. “How can we have missed them?” she exclaimed. “Front row center.”

“Do you think they brought enough cameras?” Sammi asked.

Suddenly it hit Sophie that the crazy, crazier, craziest thing about this moment was that their parents were front and center to see
her
. Not Sammi. The Qian family calendar was filled with Sammi events. Sophie had gone with her parents to see Sammi cheer at games and cheer in competitions. To see Sammi sing in the school choir, see Sammi speechify with the school debate team. Sammi seemed to add a new achievement to her list of accomplishments every few days.

Like about a month ago, she started taking one of the basic classes at the Hip Hop Kidz dance center. And not even two weeks later—hey, ho!—Sammi was rehearsing with the Performance Group, clearly being groomed to be a member.

But she wasn't one yet. And Sophie was. And Sammi was the older sister. She was about to go into ninth grade. Sophie was only about to start sixth.
And
Sammi was the pretty sister. Sophie was only the cute one. “Cute” meaning she had the same black hair and dark eyes and creamy olive skin as Sammi and would be as pretty if she wasn't a bit of a chubster.

“Are you going to watch from back here?” Sophie asked.

Sammi leaned out a little farther. “Mom and Dad are saving me a seat. I'll head out there. I'll just tell people good luck first.”

People. Right. Translation: ill papi,
Sophie thought as she watched her sister walk away, her long black hair fluttering behind her.

Her sister had been crushing on ill papi since the second she saw him. The weird thing was, ill papi seemed oblivious. No, he actually seemed uninterested. And that was completely against the laws of science. The big ones, like gravity. Boys were always turning up at the apartment with lame excuses. Hitting Sophie up for Sammi's phone number. Trying to contort themselves into Sammi's perfect guy.

“Okay, guys! Opening spots,” Gina called, clapping.

“We're performing at Disney World! Can you believe it?” Sophie cried as she lined up behind Chloe. “Or wait. Is this place too wholesome for you?” Chloe went for the whole multiple-piercing, dyed-black-hair, vampire-pale skin, lots-of-black-clothes look. But Gina made her keep it down to one pair of earrings during performances.

“Are you kidding? I love it!” Chloe answered. “I know everything about it. Did you know that there are hidden Mickey heads all over the park? Like in the treasure room in the Pirates of the Caribbean, there are three gold plates that make Mickey's head and ears. And there's this one lamppost in Tomorrowland, where we are now, that makes a Mickey head shadow, but only at a certain time of day. No one knows exactly how many total Mickey heads there are, but—”

The Kanye track started up. Ill papi and M.J. kicked things off, moving onto the stage from opposite sides. Sophie bobbed her head, counting. She couldn't wait to get out there.

And here it came. Her cue. Well, hers and the rest of the group's.

Colored lights above. Florida sunlight out front. Pure dazzlement. Sophie felt like she was shining
inside
as she worked the moves. Somehow time had sped up. It was going too fast. She wanted to remember every juicy second.

The group spun to face the back of the stage as Sophie and Chloe moved forward and into side-by-side handstands. They moved into baby suicides—handsprings where they landed on their backs.

The crowd let out whoops as Sophie and Chloe immediately launched into backspins, then hit their feet with pop outs.

Now feet wide, lean left, roll head, and follow it around,
Sophie coached herself. The rest of the group faced forward along with her and Chloe. For one moment, one beautiful moment, Sophie caught sight of her parents and Sammi clapping their hands off.

For Sophie. For Sophie's sort-of solo.

She grinned as another pair of hands caught her attention. Giant hands. Four fingers on each. White gloves.

Even Mickey Mouse was giving it up for the Sophstress!

Hey, when the Mouse applauds you, you know you're a superstar,
Sophie thought. And for that moment, she felt like one. A full-out, tabloid-headlines-getting, red-carpet-walking, flashbulbs-popping superstar.

And it felt
goood
.

 

 

 

“All right, who's going again?” ill papi asked.

“Me!” Sophie yelped as she climbed out of her Space Mountain rocket ship. She, ill papi, Sammi, and Becca—the Performance Group's other big girl, not that Sophie was counting, but it
was
nice not to be the only one—had already gone on Space Mountain three times. Sophie couldn't believe Sammi hadn't puked yet. She hated roller coasters. They made her sick.

“Ride three was the best so far. I gotta see how four will feel,” Sophie added. Even though nothing could beat the feeling of dancing on the Galaxy stage with her parents and Sammi—and Mickey—applauding.

“No way am I giving up my Fastpass for the Pirates of the Caribbean,” Becca answered. “It's just going to be me and Orlando in the dark.”

“That's one step above riding the pony in front of the grocery store,” ill papi said. “And you can do that for a quarter anytime.”

“Plus I don't think Orlando Bloom actually comes with the Fastpass,” Sammi added.

“This is supposed to be the happiest place on earth,” Becca said. “If that's true, he'll be there.” She giggled as she smoothed her long red hair. “Y'all got Fastpasses for it, too. We've got to boogie or we won't be able to use them. They're only good for an hour.”

Ill papi handed over his Fastpass for Pirates. “I need my Mountain.”

Sophie handed her pass to Becca, too. “Maybe you'll make it through a couple of times.” She looked over at her sister. What was Sammi going to do?

“I'm going with Becca,” Sammi announced as they stepped back out into the bright sunlight.

Maybe she's afraid she'll puke on ill papi if she keeps as close as she wants to,
Sophie thought, trying not to smile. Because it wasn't funny. Not at all.

“Guess we'll see you over at the Haunted Mansion,” Becca said. The whole group had agreed to meet up there at eight thirty.

“Let's get back in line, Soph,” ill papi urged.

“Bye, guys,” Sophie called over her shoulder as she and ill papi took off for the other side of Space Mountain, where the twisty, turny line started again.

“Forty-five-minute wait time,” ill papi complained, checking the clock on the sign posted at the front of the line.

“Worth it?” Sophie asked.

Ill papi smiled, deepening the dimple he had on one side of his mouth. “Worth it.”

“Okay. So. Would you rather be able to fly or breathe underwater?”

Ill papi stared at her.

“It's the ‘would you rather' game,” Sophie explained. “Would you rather be able to fly or breathe underwater?”

“That's not how you play. It has to be, like, would you rather swim in a pool of snot or drink a glass of diarrhea?”