Chapter 7

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Fuck. It's nationals. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I sat, looking in the dressing room mirror, just finishing up curling my hair. Everyone else was calm and having fun but I was nervous.
"Georgia, it's time for your solo." Mrs.Ley called from the door. I took a deep breath, walking out to the stage. If I did fuck up, it's not like anybody I knew would be there to watch me, I thought.
"And now dancing, the first of our senior solos. Dancing 'don't forget me like this' to the song 'ghosts of you' is Georgia Casey."
I walked out onto the stage and took my starting position, not looking at the crowd as it would only make me more nervous. I closed my eyes and took myself back to the dance studio. As the music began to play, I took a deep breath and I let it carry me through the dance.
The song reminded me of so many things. To me, it reflected my life- my mom and grandma's deaths and also the dream I had had when I was little of my dad dancing me around in the kitchen and, now, it really did feel like I was dancing with the ghost of my dad but that, also, now I had Kelly to be there for me.
As the song ended, the audience clapped. I took a deep breath and looked out into the eruption of cheers to see almost the entirety of firehouse 51- all except my dad and chief Boden. They were all on their feet, clapping and cheering, making me blush.
I danced the rest of my dances, occasionally looking for the firehouse members and smiling at them. Especially during the 'Bad love' dance I looked out for Kelly. I was dressed as an angel, wearing a flowing white dress and angel wings, while my partner was dressed as devil. I could see Kelly staring at me, intently the whole time.
"And now, time for the awards. Let's start with the senior solos." The announcer's voice was excited. He counted down to the top five, my name not called. Then the top three, my name still not called. He counted to second place and my hopes sunk- I knew my solo wasn't a winning dance. "And the winner of the senior solos goes to entry number 13, 'don't forget me like this' by Georgia Casey."
Everyone clapped and cheered as I looked on, stunned. I walked up and got my award, in total disbelief. I was presented with a trophy and a sash.
"Now onto Senior duets." Everyone was on the edge of their seat, waiting to see if they placed. I was sat next to Jack, us both still in our costumes as the duets were the last dance group to perform. "And first place is entry number 21 'Bad Love' by Jack Harlem and Georgia Casey." Everyone applauded as I went up to receive me second award of the day. I could hear Kelly cheering from the crowd, making me blush.
    "And the second place for junior solos is entry number 24 'something just like this' by Georgia Casey and Emily Revien." We won second in our junior solo, making it my third award of the day.
    In total I got 5 awards as we won first in junior group dance and second in senior. So I won 3 first place awards and 2 second place awards ( two trophies, a medal and two plaques). And, back in the dressing room, I was engulfed by all my team mates.
    As soon as we were dismissed, I ran out into the crowd where Kelly was sat and hugged him really tightly.
   "Thank you for coming to watch." I squealed at all the guys, excited that there had been somebody to see my most successful nationals ever. "Thank you so much, it means a lot to me." I smiled, hugging each of them.
    "No problem, kiddo. You were amazing!" Mouch exclaimed. Kelly took my bag and everyone watched as I walked out, escorted by a group of firemen.
    "This calls for a celebration! Rainy, you like pizza?" Herrmann asked. Everyone had started to call me Rainy after I danced in front of them and they all teared up.
    We all piled into Kelly's car and we drove off to the nearest pizza places, ordering half the menu, it seemed. It felt amazing that there were people congratulating my dancing- it was just a shame that my dad didn't seem to want to notice. At all.

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