They absorb all the cheers and head right toward us as we are on our way to take the stage.
“Real classy, stealing our big move,” I say, being snarky. “That was not cool.” I really feel like pushing that little poison Ivy into the wall, but I keep hearing Gabriella’s voice in my head: Competitors compete….Fighting is for savages. I am so hot right now!
“What?” Ivy says sarcastically. “We didn’t steal anything. The jumping spider was originally a part of our routine. A part someone failed to pull off.” She eyes Sally.
“And Ivy nailed it,” adds Brie as they high-five.
“Well, apparently not, because there’s a lot more where that came from. Right, Sally?” Melissa looks toward Sally, who hesitates for a second but then finds the courage to say…
“Yup.” Sally steps up to Ivy and looks her in the eye. “The best is yet to come.”
“Let’s go, you guys!” yells Tina. “We’re up!”
I give them a once-over and prance away. There’s nothing more I can say or do but pray that we’re about to blow the crowd away. And I don’t even know what that is yet. OMG! Even though I think Sally has completely lost her mind, I am so proud of her for not giving up. Now I wonder what she can possibly have up her sleeve.
As we take the stage at the center of the gym, there’s a bit of snickering and pointing. I am not sure if that’s for our odd-looking squad or because they remember Sally as the girl who made their team look bad.
“You guys,” commands Sally, “let’s just stay focused and stay here.” She points two fingers to our eyes. “Melissa and Tina, just keep your eyes on us and keep the ropes turning. We can do this! Just follow my lead.” Okay? I sure hope she knows what she’s doing. I wasn’t nervous before, but I am now.
We give the DJ the thumbs-up, and we’re set. The lights go dark. The best part is our costumes; they’re glowing in the dark. Tina and Melissa pull the ropes from a dark bag, and they glow too. The ropes look awesome! The crowd murmurs. Sally sets down the skateboard and turns to me.
“Do exactly what I do and meet me in the ropes,” a determined Sally says. Has my cousin lost her mind and I haven’t noticed? But hey, I have nothing else, so I go with it.
“I’m ready,” I say, not knowing what to expect, but I keep my eyes on my li’l cuz.
We both take a deep breath, and we’re off.
Sally rides the skateboard across the floor and leaves the board just in time to jump into the glowing ropes. I follow right behind her. The crowd applauds. The lights come up. And we’re in!
“Let’s do it!” Melissa shouts, and takes control. “One-two-three!”
We do our footwork. Crisscross, pop up, turn front, turn back, then I grab Sally and lift her over my head as the ropes move out. We did it! The crowd jumps to their feet! Yes! The lights come up and I grab the ropes from Tina as she enters to do a salsa step while Melissa and I turn. Sally waves her arms, getting the crowd even more into it, then jumps in with Tina. They are killing the salsa dance as we pull the ropes to the side even without music. Cool! Sally then jumps out. Wait! This is not part of the routine! What is she doing?
“Tina! Keep following the routine!” yells Sally. “Keep turning, you guys!” Tina jumps out and pirouettes around the ropes, then jumps in. Sally sets up at the corner of the gym like she’s an Olympic gymnast. I keep checking over my shoulder, as Melissa and I have no idea what’s about to happen.
“Keep your eyes on her feet and let me guide the ropes!” I yell to Melissa while Tina jumps out and cheers Sally on. Suddenly Sally flies toward us and does a somersault, a back-handspring with a twist into the ropes, then reverses the backhand into the ropes with a split while we spin the ropes behind her.
“Bring the ropes back and turn!” Sally screams. We do. Sally does four jumping splits. It’s crazy! The crowd is going bananas! Yes, Sally! We finish our routine standing proud. The DJ adds a beat blast as if it were a cherry on top of a flawless routine.
Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Larry are going wild in the stands. They are beaming. The Bouncing Belles seem to have lost their bounce. Ivy and her crew actually look nervous. As the judges tally up the points based on all the tricks performed by all the teams, we gather our things to hear the results. We have to win!
—
A judge steps to the center of the gym with a microphone to announce…
“And taking third place in the regional double Dutch competition is”—the man hesitates—“the Hot Nonstop Steppers!” I breathe a sigh of relief. Our team claps, and then we cross our fingers again. I guess it’s safe to say we all feel we deserve to
