Step It Up (10 page)

Gracie clapped. “I love it! It could be a Disney movie!”

Liberty smiled. “And the beautiful ballerina lived happily ever after in a Beverly Hills mansion with her billionaire Prince Charming. The end.”

Scarlett, Anya, and Rochelle all groaned, but Bria was impressed. “I need to do an original short story for my English class,” she said. “Think I can use that?”

“Sorry. Copyright Liberty Montgomery, Inc.,” Liberty replied. “Get your own fairy tale.”

“I have a better idea,” Scarlett suggested. “Let's all sing a song around the fire. How about ‘Home on the Range'?”

“Can we jazz it up or something?” Rochelle suggested. “It needs a little Diva rewrite.” She began drumming on her backpack:
“Home, home, yes, home on the range, where the Divas dance and we don't need a stage …”

“Buffalo? No! Not a deer in sight,”
Bria improvised.
“Merry Divas to all and to all a good night!”

Scarlett laughed. “Well, that wasn't
exactly
what I was thinking, but it works.” She gazed up at the stars. She'd never seen so many before. “Ya know, this isn't so bad. I thought this trip would be awful. But we all pitched in; we're all getting along.”

“And there aren't any werewolves.” Bria breathed a sigh of relief.

But she spoke too soon. A strange howling sound echoed through the woods: “
A-woooooo!
”

“What was that?” Bria said, grabbing Scarlett's arm. She dug her nails in until Scarlett yelped. “Did you hear that?”

“It was probably just the wind whistling through the trees,” Rochelle tried to convince Bria and herself at the same time.

The howl came again—but this time it sounded louder and closer. “
A-woooooo!
”

“It's a werewolf!” Bria screamed. “Everyone, quick! Into the tent!” They grabbed their sleeping bags and piled inside, leaving Liberty still seated at the fire.

“Hey! What about me? Someone help me up!” she called, trying to crawl her way to the tent. “I can't stand up, remember?”

Bria quickly zipped the tent shut, forgetting that her teammate was still outside.

“Let me in!” Liberty screamed. “Quick! The werewolf is coming!”

The girls were panicking when they suddenly realized Liberty was still outside, screaming.

“Hurry up! Let her in!” Scarlett said, pushing Rochelle toward the zipper on the tent.

“Let me think about that for a sec …” Rochelle hesitated. “I mean, she did call me a hideous monster who smells like moldy cheese.”

Scarlett grabbed her around the shoulders. “Rock! This is a life-and-death situation! Open the tent!”

Rochelle unzipped the flap and pulled Liberty inside.

“Oh my gosh! That was so close!” Liberty said,
hugging Rochelle tightly. The tent was dark and she could barely see a thing.

“Take it easy,” Rochelle replied, squirming. “You're okay.”

“Ick! Did I just hug you?” Liberty said. “Let go!” She backed away, and felt something long and slithery fall across her shoulder. “
Eek!
A snake! It's a snake! It's choking me! Help!”

Liberty grabbed Rochelle.

Rochelle grabbed Anya.

Gracie tripped over Bria and landed on top of Scarlett.

Rochelle tried to open the front panel of the tent, but the zipper was jammed. She panicked and pushed with all her might until the tent's poles came apart and the entire thing collapsed on top of them. As they scrambled to escape, Bria found the flashlight app on her phone. She shined it right in Liberty's face. “Is everyone okay?” she asked breathlessly.

“I was attacked by a king cobra!” Liberty cried. “How do you think I am? I'm lucky to be alive!”

Bria held the flashlight up to Liberty's neck. “Is this your snake?” she asked, holding up the shoulder strap of Rochelle's bag.

“Well, it felt like snake skin,” she said, flicking the bag away.

“It's pleather,” Rochelle said, laughing. “Liberty, you are such a wimp!”

Liberty stood up, dusted herself off, and stared Rochelle straight in the eye. “I am not a wimp,” she fumed.

“And you're also not hurt anymore.” Anya pointed to Liberty's bruised knee. “You can stand up!”

Scarlett giggled. “It's a miracle, Liberty.”

Liberty shook her knee out. It did feel much better. Even she had to smile with relief. “Wow. I guess I forgot all about it when the werewolf and snake attacked me. I'm a lot braver than I thought.”

“I don't think it was a werewolf,” Gracie said, pointing to a high tree branch just above the tent.

A small gray owl was perched on it, gazing dreamily into the light of the full moon. “
A-woooo!
” it hooted.

“He's so cute!” Gracie cooed. “Can we take him home as a friend for Mr. Mustard?”

“I guess we overreacted a little.” Bria sighed.

“Ya think?” Rochelle said, laughing. “And what's with the ‘we' business? You were the one who made a beeline for the tent to escape Taylor Lautner's bite.”

“If it was Taylor Lautner, I would not have run away.” Bria giggled. “He's one werewolf I would be okay meeting!”

“Mommy says there's no such thing as werewolves,” Gracie insisted. “She says they are just thinkments of our imagination.”

“You mean figments,” Bria corrected her. “But I get what you're saying, Gracie. I let my imagination run wild.”

Liberty shrugged. “Me, too. But when you're in the wild I guess that's the place to do it.”

“The point is you're all okay and you all
worked together,” said a voice in the darkness. It was no werewolf.

“Miss Toni!” Gracie ran to her teacher and threw her arms around her waist. “Boy, are we glad to see you!”

“I don't know. You girls looked like you were doing pretty well without my help. Except for the falling-tent episode.”

“But we did need your help when Liberty got hurt,” Scarlett said. “I blew the whistle and you didn't come.”

“We were watching everything. We were never more than a few feet behind you,” Ranger Sam explained. “I'm an expert at camouflage.”

“And I knew Liberty would survive a skinned knee,” Toni said and winked. “But it was fun to see you all take turns carrying her down the trail. And I truly enjoyed the choreography down the path and across the stream. Though the wicked-witch dance-teacher tale I could have lived without …”

Liberty gulped. “You know I was just kidding, right?”

Gracie tugged on her teacher's sleeve. “I built the tent, but it kinda fell down when the werewolf and poison snake showed up,” she told her.

Ranger Sam looked confused. “Werewolves and poisonous snakes? At Black Boulder? I don't think so, girls.”

“Do you need a hand putting it back together?” Toni offered. She bent down to pick up the broken pieces of the tent.

“Nuh-uh,” Gracie insisted. “We can do it.”

Toni looked at her team. They were dirty, battered, and bruised, but they had stuck together. She was proud of them. “I do believe you can. But at least take this.” She tossed Scarlett a bag of marshmallows. “It's not a campfire without a marshmallow roast,” she said. “See you girls in the morning, bright and early.”

“We're going back home?” Bria asked. She'd never missed her mom, dad, and sister so much. She didn't even mind if there were textbooks and homework waiting for her on her desk. All she could picture was her warm, comfy bed and a nice, hot bubble bath.

“I miss Mr. Mustard,” Gracie said. “I can't wait to see his furry little face.”

“I miss my closet,” Liberty added. “I can't wait to get into something that's not wrinkled or stained.”

“We are going home—but we have a short stop to make before we do. We're going to a little dance competition in Millville called Curtains Up, and this time, my bathing beauties are going to take home first place.”

She didn't have to say it—every Diva could read her mind:

“Or else!”

Curtains Up wasn't one of the big, splashy dance competitions that Toni usually chose for her elite team. It was small with only a handful of local studios competing. But it was the perfect place to put to work everything the Divas had learned on their wilderness adventure.

This time, when they took to the stage for the Junior Small Group category, the Divas had a whole new attitude. No one complained about itchy costumes or balloon-like bloomers. They were there to prove to Miss Toni—and to themselves—that they could perform as a team.

Scarlett reviewed the order of who would toss the ball and who would catch it. “Rock, you've got it first, and you hand it off during your
passé
to Bria. Then from Bria it goes down the back row to Anya and she tosses it to Gracie, who is front and center.”

Gracie loved her part. She felt like a seal in the circus. She had to balance the ball on her toes during a chin stand, and Scarlett had to scoop it up for a final pass to Liberty.

“How's your knee feeling, Liberty?” Scarlett asked her teammate.

Liberty seemed shocked that anyone cared. “Um, okay I guess.” Ranger Sam had done a proper dressing, and it felt just a little tender, but not too stiff anymore.

“Do you think you can do the
fouettés
? If not, we can cover for you,” Rochelle offered.

“No! I can do it,” she snapped back. Then her face softened. “I mean, I'm okay—thanks for offering.”

Scarlett wasn't sure how long all this goodwill
and politeness would last, but she hoped it would hang in long enough for them to dance.

When the announcer called them to the stage, they strutted out confidently. The music began to play and Rock twirled around the stage with the beach ball in her hands. Her
grand jeté
was breathtaking—even better than it had been when she leaped across the stream on the camping trip. The ball floated effortlessly through the air—as if it was dancing, too. The last pose called for all the girls to roll into the “waves” and Liberty to hold the ball over her head as she executed a flawless
développé
. The audience was on their feet cheering, but the only person Scarlett saw was Miss Toni. She was smiling, not just one of her usual tight-lipped semismiles, but a full-on grin from ear to ear.

It was no surprise that when the announcer read the first prize for Junior Small Group Dance, it went to the Dance Divas. Gracie ran up to accept it and blew kisses to the crowd. Miss Toni was already waiting for them in the dressing room when they marched in with the trophy.

“I knew you could do it,” she said simply. “I saw a few bobbles here and there, but overall, it was an outstanding performance. And I hope you've all learned something from this experience.”

Anya went over to Bria. “I'm sorry I was so negative about the costumes—and I ruined all the hard work you put into mine.”

“It's okay,” Bria replied. “I guess I went a little overboard.”

Anya dug a blue bow hair clip out of her dance bag. It was studded with stars. “I made you this,” she said. “It's all the stars that were left on my costume.”

“I love it!” Bria cried, hugging her. “You made this? I didn't know you could sew!”

“You didn't ask,” Anya pointed out.

“Sorry. Next time, we make the costumes together—promise!”

Since everyone was apologizing and putting their differences behind them, Scarlett went over to her little sister, who was posing for pictures with the huge gold trophy cup. “Gracie, I've
been thinking,” she began. “It's okay if we name the kitten Mr. Mustard. If it means that much to you, I can live with it.”

“Really?” Gracie asked. “That would be awesome, Scoot. He really loves his name.”