Step It Up (3 page)

Scarlett sighed. “Gracie, there is no bathtub. It's set on the beach.”

“In hideously ugly costumes with bloomers,” Liberty piped up from the corner. “As if the monkey suit wasn't bad enough.”

Miss Toni ignored the chatter. “I've found real vintage bathing suits for all of you—and parasols and bathing caps.”

She held up a black-and-white photo of a woman in a navy-and-white striped skirted bathing suit
with baggy white bloomers peeking out from underneath.

Gracie stared at the image. “I don't get it. How's she gonna swim in that? Can't we just wear bikinis?”

Liberty's hand shot up. “I second bikinis!”

Scarlett actually thought she heard Toni growl. “I have had enough of all of you today,” she said firmly. “The only voice I want to hear now is my own. Is that clear?”

Six heads nodded in unison. Toni meant business.

“I want two lines of three. Scarlett, Gracie, Rochelle. You're up front. Anya, Bria, you're in the back. And Liberty, too … if you care to grace us with your presence?”

Liberty stood up and took her place in line.

“This number is nostalgic. It will be light and lively with lots of kicks and tricks. I want the judges to be wowed from the minute you set foot onstage.”

She motioned for Scarlett to toss her the
beach ball. “This is going to be in constant motion during the routine, passing from hand to hand.” She tossed it at Rochelle, who was caught off guard and nearly dropped it.

“Anyone who is not on the ball for this group number will have me to deal with.”

Rochelle wasn't sure that Liberty would show up for their duet rehearsal the next day. She could have kissed Miss Toni for making Liberty the monkey instead of her. How funny would she look jumping around onstage and shaking her tail?

When Liberty walked into the studio, Rock had to try her hardest not to crack up. She knew Toni wouldn't tolerate it.

“Oh, so you've decided to join us?” Toni asked Liberty. “If you're going to do this duet, I don't want any complaining—not about your dance, not about your costume, and not about this …” She put a pair of monkey ears on top of Liberty's bun. Rochelle burst out laughing. This was payback
for her soaked shoes and every snarky comment Liberty had ever made!

“This is ridiculous!” Liberty cried. “We're going to be the laughingstocks of Dance Fusion!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Toni assured her. “You're going to stop the show.”

She demonstrated what she wanted them to do: Rochelle would roll across the stage and Liberty would leap and flip over her. The timing had to be perfectly synchronized. There was not a split second to hesitate or make a mistake. It was some of the most complicated choreography Toni had ever created for them.

“You gotta admit it's a pretty cool dance,” Rochelle said to Liberty as they tossed their bags on a bench in the dressing room. Gracie was already there, getting ready to run through the group routine.

Liberty shrugged. “Whatevs. It's not any cooler than what my mom just choreographed for a hot, new pop star.”

“Toni knows what she's doing.” Rochelle
couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. Wasn't she the one who was always questioning her coach's out-of-the-box ideas? Amazingly, she was learning to trust her; they all were. Except maybe Liberty.

“I would have gone for sequins—chocolate-brown velvet with gold sequins,” she said. “Not fuzz.”

“Fuzz is fun,” Gracie piped up. “My cat, Mr. Mustard, is fuzzy.”

Liberty continued to fume. “Please do not compare me to your raggedy feline,” she said. “If you're going to call me an animal, at least make it a mink … or a chinchilla.”

Oh, great
, Rochelle thought to herself,
that's just what we need: for Liberty to turn this dance number into a chinchilla chasing a banana!

“Don't pick on my kitty,” Gracie said, pointing her finger in Liberty's face. “You take that back.”

Liberty smirked. “Take what back?”

“What you called Mr. Mustard. A Raggedy Ann sea lion.”

Rochelle couldn't help but giggle. Gracie had quite a way with words.

“And don't laugh at me, Rock!” the little girl shouted at her. “It's not funny!”

She ran out of the dressing room, practically knocking Bria over on her way in.

“What was that about?” she asked.

Liberty shrugged. “Grace Face tantrum. Nothing new.”

“Because you insulted her kitten,” Rochelle reminded her. “You can't just tell everybody off because you feel like it. Right, Bria?”

Bria looked up, startled. She hated to take sides. “Um, I guess?”

“All I said was my costume could be a little more stylish,” Liberty explained.

Bria bit her lip. “Maybe Liberty has a point? I'm kinda partial to sequins and BeDazzling myself.”

Anya walked in and overheard them. “Tell me about it. My costume looks like the Milky Way exploded.” She held up the leotard that Bria and
her mom had adorned. Every inch was covered in silver and gold stars. “Bria, this is hideous.”

“It's gorgeous!” Bria insisted. “We're supposed to sparkle and shine.”

“Sparkle and shine, yes. Blind the audience, not so much.”

“There's no such thing as too much sparkle,” Liberty interrupted. “You just have to be dazzling enough to carry it off. A plain Jane can't handle it.”

Anya's eyes narrowed. “Did you just call me a plain Jane?”

Liberty smirked. “Would you prefer Ordinary Anya?”

“I'd prefer you to zip your lip,” Anya warned her.

“I'd prefer you all to zip your lips,” said a voice at the doorway. It was Toni, and she looked furious. “I could hear you yelling all the way down the hall in studio one with the door shut.”

Gracie peeked out behind her. “I told you,
Miss Toni,” she tattled. “She started it!” She pointed straight at Liberty.

“And I'm finishing it,” Toni fumed. “I don't know what's gotten into all of you, but if I hear any more bickering, I'll start replacing the Divas. Is that clear?”

Scarlett walked into the dressing room just as Miss Toni was storming out.

“Whoa! What did I miss?” she asked Rochelle.

“A major Toni meltdown,” Rock replied. “And a warning: get along or get off the team.”

Dance Fusion was one of the biggest dance competitions in the tristate area and a showcase for the best and brightest studios. As the Divas filed onto the bus, Toni sat in the front seat, reviewing her notes for each number.

“She's going to switch something, I can feel it in my bones,” Rochelle whispered to Scarlett. Her teacher had a bad habit of reworking dances en route to every competition and springing it on them just as they arrived.

“Maybe she's finally come to her senses and recast the duet,” Liberty said, kicking her feet up
on the back of Rock's seat. “Anyone can see you're more of a monkey than I am.”

Scarlett didn't even have to remind her of Miss Toni's warning. “I know, I know,” Rochelle said. “Ignore her.”

Liberty smiled—she loved it when Rock couldn't argue back. “Try not to slip up onstage, Rock,” she added. “That would drive Toni
bananas
.”

Scarlett suspected it would be a long ride, especially with everyone stressed and angry at each other. Bria was barely talking to Anya. Anya was hardly talking to Liberty. And Liberty was furious at Rock. As for her and Gracie, they'd somehow managed to forgive and forget over the kitten's name. But there was still the matter of Gracie getting into her stuff.

“That's funny. I can't find my pink lip gloss,” Scarlett said, searching through her makeup bag.

Rochelle elbowed her. “You mean that one?” Gracie was happily seated two rows behind them, slicking a wand across her lips.

“Gracie, give that back!” Scarlett called to her. “That's mine, not yours!”

Gracie quickly hid the tube behind her back. “I don't have anything,” she fibbed.

“Then why are your lips so pink and shiny?” Scarlett asked. She was about to pounce on her little sister and retrieve her lip gloss when Rock stopped her.

“Remember what Toni said: get along or get off the team.”

When they reached the venue, Miss Toni led them off the bus. “I want to remind everyone to be on their best behavior. City Feet is in the house, and that's never a good thing.”

She'd barely finished her sentence when a second bus pulled up in front of theirs. Justine Chase, the coach of City Feet and Toni's frenemy, waved from the window.

“Oh boy. Here we go,” Rochelle said.

The bus door opened and the girls bounded down the steps. There was Addison, Phoebe, Regan, and Mandy—aka “the Tiny Terror.” Rock
braced herself and waited for their competitors to taunt them with their obnoxious comments. Instead, the team filed past them without a single word. Not even Justine said anything.

“Okay, that was weird,” Liberty remarked. “I was totally prepared to put that mean little munchkin, Mandy, in her place.”

“That is how a team carries itself,” Toni explained. “Strong and united. They don't have to mouth off because they know how good they are.”

“Or Mandy ran out of one-liners from her insult book,” Liberty said.

“Or has a mouth full of peanut butter and her lips are glued shut.” Bria giggled.

“Whatever the reason, City Feet just showed you up with their poise and confidence,” Toni said. “I suggest you all march in and follow their lead.”

The convention center in Bristol, Connecticut, was teeming with dance groups from all over the country. Scarlett spotted a few they'd gone up
against before: the Fab 5 from Philly, the Hippie Chicks from New Hampshire, and the Groovy Boyz from Long Island.

“This competition is fierce,” she whispered to her teammates. “Did you see the Hippie Chicks? They came with a giant neon peace sign!”

“It's just a prop,” Anya assured them. “I'm sure our dance is way cooler.”

“Don't you mean way lamer?” Liberty said. “Bathing beauties. Puh-lease!”

When they found Miss Toni to run their dances by her one last time, she was busy blowing up their giant beach ball with a bicycle pump.

“I know how that beach ball feels,” Liberty said and tugged on her bloomers.

“It's not
so
bad,” Scarlett said, adjusting the white ruffled hat on her head. “I mean, it's comfortable.” The bathing suit itself was a navy belted dress with a white sailor collar and matching navy-and-white striped bloomers.

“Speak for yourself,” Anya complained. Her suit had lacy trim around the puffy sleeves. “This thing is itchy!”

Gracie's costume was the most colorful: a red-and-white polka dot one-piece with white bow trim and a matching red cap. “I don't get it. Why did people used to swim in their pajamas?” she asked.