Une Fleure Fanée

Week 6 Part 7 (Saturday)

     "Can I please dance?" GiaNina asks, now looking terrified, fidgeting with her fingers.

     "No. Absolutely not," Ms. Abby says.

     "I'll listen to you," GiaNina mutters, losing her confidence.

     "Sweetie, if it backfires and it's horrible, then I'm gonna get blamed," Ms. Abby tells Gia, making her the victim in the process.

     Ms. Joanne starts to speak, but Ms. Abby and Gia shush her. Her own daughter shushed her.

     "But I want you to dance," Ms. Joanne says, now getting all flustered.

     "It's okay," Gia reassures her mom as Ms. Abby continues.

     "No, I just don't want this chaos. All right, so-" Ms. Abby states before Ms. Joanne cuts in.

     "Just let her dance, then," Ms. Joanne suggests.

     Ms. Abby ends this argument, "It's over. It's done. I don't want to hear her mouth anymore today."

     "Fine. I think it's ridiculous-" Ms. Joanne is cut off by Ms. Abby.

     "You rest on your laurels from last week and that's good," Ms. Abby says and GiaNina shakes her head and goes over to Pressley and Hannah's moms, not wanting to face her mother.

     "Other soloists that are actually competing, come up," Ms. Abby orders, and Sarah and Savannah run up.

     "All right, so, out there on stage, Sarah, you have to hit the tricks, all right? So, you have to nail it. The very last cartwheel stamp tuck has to be set up high. Don't go backwards. Go up. Got it?" Ms. Abby asks Sarah.

     She nods.

     "Savannah, you need to act, and use your face. Look like you're having fun and like you're starstruck at the same time. You have that signature spin and back handspring step out that you do. You two are going up against each other. I expect a clean sweep from you two, got it? All right. Let's go, girls, "Ms. Abby orders as we follow her to the auditorium.

     Ms. Abby departs from us to go to the auditorium, but she makes a wrong turn. Huh. GiaNina goes up first. Ms. Abby probably didn't cancel the dance. We wish her good luck before we hear the announcer.

     "All right, we're moving on to the advanced teen jazz solo category. Number 109, GiaNina, is a scratch for today," the announcer says into the microphone.

     Clearly hiding her disappointment, GiaNina steps back and goes to get a water bottle. I give her a small smile to try to comfort her from afar. I don't think she wants any comfort. Sarah steps up next, and we don't have time to wish her good luck before they call her number.

      I hope she sticks the landings. There are so many gymnastics tricks in this routine. "Running With Fire" by James Brett starts playing. She's graceful, her feet are pointed out, she nails all of her tricks. Until her cartwheel stamp back tuck, where she bobbles and doesn't stick. Her back leg is a little low on her grand jeté, but overall she does pretty well. She's a much better gymnast than you, Lilliana. You would fail at that routine within the first eight-count.

     "That was pretty good," I tell her as she joins us.

     "No, it was bad," Sarah says, grabbing a water bottle.

     Suddenly, a man comes up and hugs Sarah. Who is he? She seems comfortable with him. It must be her dad. I don't have a lot of time to celebrate because Savannah is up next. She's already gone back to the other side, and I give her a thumbs up from the other side as the announcer calls her name.