Kasey Screws Up the World (32 page)

Just in case there are still people reading this blog…

COME SUPPORT THE DANCE TEAM:

What:
ManPrep Talent Show Fundraiser

When:
Saturday, October 3rd

Time:
7pm

Price:
$10 per ticket. But it goes to a good cause!

Special Surprise:
Well, I can’t tell you that without spoiling it. But it will be EPIC.

See you there!

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DESPITE MY THROBBING NERVES and the way my stomach writhed all day long, I managed to attend classes and wait the two hours in an empty hallway after school for dance practice to end. Denise had already asked the team to stay late for a special surprise. But that special surprise required Lara.

And she was now two hours late.

All that hard work I’d done to get her here, gone. Mom’s lack of enthusiasm wrecked her. And then she must have decided not to forgive me after reading the blog. The dance team didn’t even know about my involvement in their fundraiser surprise and now I had to go break the news to them.

Ugh. There weren’t enough deep breaths in the world to give me the amount of courage I needed.

I squared my shoulders and entered the gym. The dance team girls were spread out, some chatting in a circle in the center, others stretching on the floor, and a few were lounging in the bleachers checking their phones. It reminded me way too much of the first day of school when the girls had ganged up on me and were ready to kick me off the team before I even had a chance to quit. Denise stood in the group with Ali and by the way their arms were flailing in an interpretive dance all their own, I knew they were arguing about something.

My stomach gurgled. Down, boy.

The squeak my sneakers made on the shiny gym floor set off an alarm. One by one heads turned in my direction until all eyes were on me as I walked what felt like a plank toward Denise and Ali. Step by careful step, I teetered on the edge, knowing once I reached them, I’d have to jump. I jammed my hands into the pockets of my hoodie to stop them from shaking.

Denise spun around, looking all over the gym, probably trying to find the absent Lara.

The smirk that appeared on Ali’s face told me she was ready with a snarky comment. It was her best talent, after all. “Forget you’re not on the team anymore?”

I was about to ignore her, but I’d let her win too many times already. “You know, I don’t care what you do to bully me at school, but getting my parents involved was extremely lame. Don’t you have a life?” I rolled my eyes at her. It felt great.

She squinted at me, confused. “What are you talking about? Why would I care about your parents?”

“You sent them the link to my blog.”

She let out a loud laugh and clapped once. “Someone did that? That’s awesome! Props to them.”

Either she suddenly gained an Oscar-winning acting talent, or she hadn’t sent the link. My pulse raced…then who did?

“Ha, I bet they hate you even more!”

I ignored her and focused on Denise. My voice came out meeker than I wanted. “Lara’s not coming.”

Ali laughed. “Oh my God, you really do have amnesia!”

Denise put her hands on her hip. “I was afraid of that. But you know the routine, right? We can still tout it as Lara’s—”

I shook my head. “I don’t feel comfortable teaching it without her involvement.”

Ali circled the two of us like a shark. “Wait, this is what you made us all stay after for? To help
her
?” She pointed at me as if I was road kill that someone was dangling in her face.

“To help Lara,” I corrected. Wasn’t she supposed to be Lara’s friend?

Just then, the doors swung open. Lara hobbled toward us. She was back on her crutches, which she hadn’t used in months. Everyone turned to stare at her with confused expressions on their faces.

Ali dropped her bitchface and replaced it with a fake smile as she rushed over to my sister. “Oh no! Are you okay? Did Kasey push you off a bridge this time?”

“Tripped this morning when trying to practice.” She swiveled on her crutches toward me. “Guess I really should stick with choreography from now on.”

“What the hell is going on?” Ali crossed her arms and divided her gaze between Lara, Denise, and me. “I thought this was about figuring out what we were going to perform for the Talent Show fundraiser next weekend? I’m already working on something.”

“And I guarantee my routine is better,” Lara said.

Denise didn’t just tell them about
my
involvement. She hadn’t told them anything. I bit my lip and explained. “I’m going to teach it to you.”

Ali stormed up to me, getting right in my face. For someone so petite, she could be pretty menacing. “You better not be performing with us.”

I swallowed and stepped backward from her. “I’m not on the team, am I?”

The school was allowing former alumni to perform with school groups for the Talent Show as well, but that still didn’t qualify me. College recruitment staff, talent agencies, and various other scouts were coming to watch. They might be impressed by the orchestra or the fine art gallery, but I hoped Lara’s choreography would impress them enough to get her a future.

As for me, I hoped I would be brave enough to watch the performances without getting jealous.

Ali turned to Lara. “Lar, it’s great that you showed up here, I’ve missed you since you moved out, and I know alumni are encouraged to enter as well. But I’ve already been working on something. I think it’ll really impress the talent agents coming. I’ve emailed them to entice them and everything!” She wheeled until she faced me and smoothed down her brown hair. It was straighter than her hips. “And Kasey, what the fuck? You’ve already hijacked one talent show. Leave this one alone.”

My hands balled into fists at my sides. In another life, I’d zip my lips and retreat out the door. But I wouldn’t let Ali take this away from my sister. “There wouldn’t be a talent show if it not for me. It was my idea. I got Principal Somers’s approval and I worked with the guidance counselor to plan it. I even made it so the winning school group gets all the proceeds. And with Lara’s choreography, you’ll win.”

The other girls inched toward us, gathering around. Lara wobbled on her crutches. I wanted her to sit down on the bleachers but I knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t leave a spotlight. All eyes hadn’t been on her in a positive way in a long time.

“We don’t need the freaking proceeds. We can raise enough ourselves to get to Nationals. We’re almost there and your train wreck ass provides plenty of fodder material to sell loads of useless crap to make fun of you with.” Ali laughed at her own joke. “Besides, we’ll win either way, just like we won Regionals. Because we did that based on talent.” She shook her head at me. “Something you don’t have.”

“Last year’s talent,” I reminded her. “When Lara was on the team.”

“When we all were.” Ali swept a finger over the circle of girls surrounding us. “And we’re all still on the team. Unlike you and Lara.” She snapped her fingers. “We’re performing my routine. Practice is over for today. We’ll figure this out tomorrow.” She shooed the girls toward the door.

Denise stomped between Ali and me, forcing us to separate. “I’m co-captain too. And I say we’re doing Lara’s routine.”

Ali and Denise stared each other down for a moment. Blood whooshed in my ears. I couldn’t bring myself to look at my sister. I didn’t want to see her disappointed once again.

“A vote.” Ali whipped her arm in the air. “Those with me, over to that corner.” She stomped so hard past me that her shoulder knocked into mine. Even though she wore sneakers, every step she took echoed throughout the hollow gym.

“Those with Lara, stay here.” Denise raised her arm.

I gave her a tiny smile. I loved how she said Lara and not her.

At first no one moved. I didn’t dare let out a relieved breath. It wasn’t over yet.

“Come on!” Ali gave two sharp claps.

Crista rushed over to her as if she might miss a speeding train. I waited for the barrage of girls to join her. But she was the lone traitor to the rest of the team.

“Fuck that. We’ll perform with the JV team. And we’ll kick your asses.” Ali swung the doors to the gym open so hard, they smacked into the concrete wall. When they whooshed back shut, it sounded as loud as my breath leaving my throat.

Silence passed over the group for several seconds until Lara took hold of the spotlight. “Well, what are we waiting for?” She lifted a crutch and pointed at the bleachers. “Over there. Kasey’s going to run through the routine.”

The other girls rushed toward the metal tiers, all giddy and excited.

I mouthed “thanks” to Denise and she nodded in response. I hoped when Lonnie showed up with his band in a half hour to perform the routine with music, she’d thank me in return.

“So did you read it?” one of the girls yelled into the silence. Everyone leaned forward, as if bringing their ears a few inches closer to Lara would make her answer.

I stared at my sister, wanting her to say something to me. I hoped it would be in the form of the words, “I forgive you.” But I would settle simply for, “I don’t hate you.”

Lara sighed. “Yes. I read it.” She didn’t make eye contact with me; she looked at the other girls. A bad sign. “It was nice to see Kasey’s side of things. I hadn’t seen things from her perspective and it makes sense. That’s all I’ll say. I’d like to talk to her about this first.” Her brows arched on her forehead. “So, uh, be patient?”

A few people chuckled. Finn. She was referring to Finn. A pang settled into my stomach at the thought of him. He hadn’t written back to any of my questions. I had to stop kidding myself that he would. The coded note in my pocket wouldn’t help me. I finally knew what the right question was. Not “Are you over me?” like I last tried, though that one was close. That one asked Finn if he was over me.

The right question wasn’t for him. It was for me.

Shouldn’t I be over him by now?

I swallowed hard. I had to take a lesson from Lara. She was moving on and I should too. And this time not with Lonnie.

Lara nodded at me. She was ready for me to begin.

I peeled off my gym clothes, revealing the dance leotard-turned swimsuit she had given me on the cruise. The uniform forged together Lara’s talents and mine, just like we’d be doing for this Talent Show. The one we were always meant to win.

Lara averted her eyes when she saw it. “Oh. That one,” she said. “It reminds me of bad things, Kasey.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m hoping I can change your perspective. Maybe from now on, it’ll remind you of better things.”

She sucked on her lower lip, then nodded.

When I showed the team the routine, the steps came easy. Even though my kicks were seriously lacking in oomph because of my height, the moves flowed through me and took over my body. It would be even better when set to music.

And when I wasn’t the one performing it.

By the time Lonnie’s band arrived and set up, almost everyone on the dance team had picked up the entire routine. They were professionals. I strutted over to him. “Your mojo is broken,” I said.

He unzipped his guitar case and looped his pink guitar around his shoulder. The guitar glittered in the light. “First your blog, now my mojo? It’s an epidemic!”

“Go talk to her.” I jutted my chin back in the direction of the dancers.

He strummed a single chord on the guitar. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Bullshit.” I raised my brows at him. He always knew exactly what to say to me. He continued strumming the guitar, avoiding my eye. “Here’s the part where I give you really sappy advice.”

“Oh no. You’re going to tell me to be myself, aren’t you?” He crinkled his nose. “I’ve tried that strategy. It failed before.”

This time I avoided his eyes. “Nope. I’m going to give you the same advice that Lara gave me. Be mysterious.” Across the gym, Denise turned her head in our direction, then whipped it away. “She just looked over. Now’s your chance. Quick. Before you can come up with a witty comeback to my ‘mysterious’ comment.”

He sighed and lifted the guitar over his head.