Studio Showdown (5 page)

Ashley flopped down next to me from where I was warming up for technique class. ‘Well, Paige-o, word on the street is that your routine was a bit of a hit.' She poked me with her big toe. ‘I'm proud of you.'

I stretched forward towards my own big toe so nobody would see my embarrassment. Compliments make me feel a bit giddy!

‘Thank you,' I said. ‘Yeah, it went really well. Which was good, after all … well, you know …'

After Ellie and I had the biggest fight on the face of the universe.

Riley dropped down to the floor on my other side in a fourth position hip flexor stretch. ‘I heard Benji was a bit of a favourite with the ladies, too.' She grinned at Ashley before tickling me in the side. ‘Look out, Paige, you might have some competition on your hands.'

I giggled and hiccupped and tried to swat her hands away. ‘Too bad,' I tried to joke in between my giggles, ‘I saw him first.'

‘Ah!' Riley sat up out of her stretch. ‘So you admit it! You like him! I knew it!'

‘I didn't admit anything!' I protested. ‘I was joking!'

‘You said you loved Benji!' Ashley laughed, tackling me into a big bear hug while Riley
kept tickling me. ‘You're going to marry him. Love blooms on the dance floor. It brings a tear to my eye!'

‘Stop!' I laughed, trying to squirm away. I saw a pair of dainty little feet covered in sparkly pink slippers stop inches away from where my face was pressed into the ground.

‘What's going on here?' Ellie asked. ‘Did I miss the joke?'

We all sat up, me slower than the others, because I was trying to avoid looking at Ellie.

Ashley brushed a strand of hair off her knees, giving me a quick little look before she answered. ‘Nah, you just missed the declaration of the century: Paige loves Benji.'

‘Oh.' Ellie tapped her toe. ‘Okay.'

Riley, not picking up on the weird vibes, picked a bit of fluff out of my hair. ‘What we were actually saying,' she said, ‘is that the Juniors loved the routine Paige taught them
the other day. Ash and I heard them raving about it in the change room. They said they never thought dorky, old swing dancing could be so cool!'

‘It's actually jive,' I muttered. ‘Not swing. They're different.'

‘Well, that's fabulous news for Paige,' said Ellie, picking at her nails.

Ashley grimaced and looked from me to Paige.

Riley rolled the bit of fluff into a ball and flicked it at her. ‘What are you making faces for, weirdo?'

‘Of course,' Ashley said, very carefully, widening her eyes and nodding her head slightly toward Ellie. ‘We heard them say they loved Ellie's too, didn't we, Riley?'

‘N–' Finally Riley caught on. ‘Oh yeah. 'Course. They said yours was really cool and uh, modern, too, Ellie.'

‘Sure they did,' Ellie said.

A bit of her pink nail polish chipped off and fell onto my leg. I was too afraid to brush it away so I just stared at it, a smudge of fluoro pink against my salmon-coloured tights.

‘I can't wait to see how you guys put the two dances together,' Ashley added.

‘Me either,' said Ellie. At last she sat down, although I noticed it was as far away from me as possible.

There was an awkward silence. Ashley and Riley darted looks at each other.

‘So, um, I can't wait till your ballroom competition on the weekend, Paige,' Ashley blurted. ‘Get to see this jive everyone's talking about, hey?'

‘Yeah,' I said softly. ‘Benji and I have been working really hard on it. We might even place if everything goes perfectly.'

‘Well,' said Ash, ‘I'm staying over at Riley's
on Saturday night, so we'll be there bright and early to get the best seats and shower rose petals on you and fling Maltesers at everyone else and cheer so loudly we'll probably get kicked out.'

‘The things we do for you, Paige,' Riley joked.

I could only smile. Secretly, I wondered if Ellie was still going to come. A few weeks ago she'd been so enthusiastic to watch Benji and me. But that was before our big bust-up and I just couldn't bring myself to ask her now. What if she said no? What if she ignored the question? Either way, I'd be so upset.

So I just sat there staring at the fleck of her pink nail polish, trusting that underneath it all we were still best friends and she'd be there for me when I needed her.

But I'd just have to wait and see.

‘Ouch!' I flinched away from the mirror, where I'd accidentally poked myself in the eye trying to put a fake eyelash on.

They were an enormous fluttery black pair, with green and silver sparkles on the end. I knew they'd look great on stage but putting them on was far from glamorous.

Usually Mum helped me, but she was off somewhere checking me and Benji into the
competition and securing the best spot on the floor for us in the preliminary round.

A jelly snake hit me in the side of the face, and landed in my stage shine powder. I sneezed as the sweet smelling dust flew up.

‘What a shot!'

Benji jumped through the door, pumping his fist like he was on an ad for an action toy.

‘Benji!' I exclaimed, waving the powder away from my face. ‘You're not supposed to be in here!'

Boys and girls aren't allowed to share dressing rooms at competitions once they get over the age of five. Which is good, I guess, as I didn't have to be embarrassed about Benji seeing me in my undies!

But it also means I don't have anyone to talk to. You don't really make friends at ballroom comps. Or even if you try to, the girls' mums will quickly shoo you away. They
see it as ‘making friends with the enemy'. I guess they're worried you might discover all their dancing secrets.

Mum actually hired someone once to watch my costumes at this big comp interstate so no one could ‘sabotage' them while we were out on the dance floor. I thought this was a bit over the top until a girl in another dressing room pulled out of the waltz round because a giant coffee stain had mysteriously shown up on her $3000 dress.

‘I'm just checking up on you, my most wonderful dance partner,' teased Benji, which made me blush so bad I quickly dabbed the spilt powder onto my skin to cover it up. ‘Are you ready to rock and roll, Paige?'

At that moment Mum bustled in with a huge bunch of lilies gathered in her arms.

‘Oh! Whoopsy!' she said, as she stumbled into Benji. ‘Sorry, angel. I couldn't see over
this giant bouquet.' She paused and did a double take. ‘I don't think you're supposed to be in here, superstar,' she said to Benji.

Benji just smiled winningly and held out his arms. ‘Mrs Montreal, you didn't have to bring me flowers!'

‘Haha, Benjamin,' said Mum, ‘aren't you in a great mood? But these aren't for you. They're for my little Paigey. The stage manager just handed them to me.'

For a second, hope flared in my chest as I thought they might be from Ellie. Maybe this was her way of saying sorry, and that she was here to support me, and still be my best friend.

But that was just silly.

‘“To the Ballroom Queen, Paige!”' Mum read. ‘“Rock and roll your way to glory! Love, Bridget, Riley and Ash.”' She set the lilies down next to me and smiled into the mirror. She was wearing almost as much make-up
as me. ‘Isn't that the sweetest?' she said. ‘You have the loveliest friends, Paige.'

‘That's nothing,' joked Benji. ‘Someone delivered me a whole garden once.'

‘I hope it came with a gardener.' Mum chuckled. ‘So are you all ready to go, Benji? Your costumes are fine?' She peered down at my eyes. ‘Come here, sweetheart,' she said, picking up the tiny container of glue. ‘Your eyelash is all crooked.'

‘I think my lipstick needs a touch-up, too,' Benji cheeked my mum, nudging in next to her to smell the flowers.

Mum pursed her lips into a smile. ‘I hope you bring that cheekiness to the dance floor. You know the jive needs that playful quality. Do that with tonnes of energy, and you kids have got it in the bag.'

I knew that Benji and I had energy in the loads – we'd practised really hard until our jive
was perfect. The fun we had together would definitely come across on the dance floor.

What I was worried about was my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about Ellie and hoping she was out there along with Riley and Ash.

Dancing is no fun without your best friend.

‘Competitors number eleven, Benji Coppola and Paige Montreal, from the Silver Shoes Dance Studio, dancing the jive.'

‘Eek!' I nudged in closer to Benji, grabbing his arm. No matter how many times I've been on stage, performing for crowds of people, I still get nervous every single time.

Benji was as cool as one of Jasmine's icy stares, though. ‘Ah stop it,' Paige,' he said,
taking my hand and squeezing it before leading me out onto the ballroom floor. ‘We got this! There have never been two better jivers in the history of the universe.'

I bit back a giggle, transformed my face into a smiling ball of energy, and sashayed out after Benji.

The performance starts the moment you step on stage. Some partners like to adopt a confident, snooty look and strut out, drawing everyone's eyes to them and trying to psych out the other competitors. Benji and I aren't like that. We agreed a long time ago that if we're not having fun, we don't want to do it.

Another reason I'm so lucky to have the perfect partner.

I heard my mum screaming from over in the parents' special section of the auditorium. Normally she's as ladylike and classy as they come, but when it comes to cheering Benji
and me on, she turns into a cheerleading monster. If nobody knew I was her daughter at the start of the competition, everyone is aware by the end.

At least I felt the part of a jiving rock-and-roller. Benji and I had on matching green outfits. He wore a pair of black ankle pants and a white t-shirt, but over that he had this deep green fitted blazer, and chunky socks that his pants tucked into.

I was in this little spangly dress that couldn't have sparkled brighter if a troupe of faeries was nesting on it. It was a mixture of gold and yellow beading, clinched in at the waist with a shiny green sash bowtied at my back, the same colour as Benji's blazer. Then it fluffed out into a rah-rah skirt.

I certainly felt bouncy and happy in it. I only hoped my feet could keep up with my skirt!

From the moment the music started, Benji was sliding me through his legs and jump kicking up into the air, only to turn me around and around in a triple teapot as soon as he hit the ground.

Fleur and Mum don't believe in starting out softly. They want to begin with a bang, every single time.

‘Catch the judges' eyes from the start,' Fleur always tells us. ‘And even if you have nothing else up your sleeve for the rest of the dance, at least the judges will be watching, waiting for you to do something that tops what they first saw. And that is half the struggle, darlings – making them want to watch you.'

And that's just what Benji and I did. Luckily, we had far more up our sleeves than our opening move. There was no basket that had us unbalanced, no stretch of ground we didn't cover, no cross, wrap, or spin that had
us confused. I felt like there was fire in my shoes and I had to stamp, stamp, stamp it out.

And when it came time for us to do our little trick – a move where I ran up and Benji grabbed my hands and turned me into a neat little somersault in the air – I had absolutely no fear. I threw myself onto his hands because I knew Benji would never, ever drop me. And TADA! my skirt came up over my head and I was back on my feet and facing Benji, ready for whatever else he threw at me.

If I drank coffee (which I don't and never will because Mum says it stains your teeth), I imagine how I felt when our jive was over is how you would feel if you drank twenty coffees in a row. It was like an electrical charge was running through my body, as if I was glowing from the inside-out.

Laughing, I hugged Benji, whose hair – normally gelled to perfection, with not a
strand loose – was hanging all about his face in strings, because he'd been dancing so hard.

Gosh. Surely cracking the hold of that gel helmet was worthy of first place in itself!

‘Yay, Paige! Wooooo! Paige-o and little Benjiboy! Was that an earthquake? No, it was Paige and Benji totally killing it! Yeeeeah!'

That was Ashley, of course, much to the embarrassment of her big sister, Bridget. I followed the sound of her voice until I located where she was sitting. Ash and Riley waved at me, Riley whistling through her fingers.

I didn't hear anything from Ellie, though, because she wasn't there.