Jeté to Stardom

36. Boys Are Cuties, Girls Have Cooties

"How are you today, Mrs. Florescu," asks Dr. Diaz as he walks into the room with a large grin. "We're here for a potentially sprained ankle?"

Nova giggles as Mamá rolls her eyes. "I'm sure it's not sprained or anything like that. No le ha hecho daño desde que ocurrió. But her dance teacher wants a clean bill of health before she dances this week."

"I'm surprised this isn't Nova. Nova's the clumsy one."

Nova's mouth drops, offended. "Tío Isaac eres malo. I'm not clumsy."

"Oh sí que lo eres," her Uncle chuckles, looking down his clipboard. "I've had to fix you up more times than I can count."

"Leave her alone, Isaac," Mamá orders, with a little smile. "How's Lux?"

"Can I dance?" Lux asks, voice quiet.

Nova glances at her and reaches out her hand to squeeze Lux's. Lux has been completely fine since the competition, but Paige didn't even cry when she broke her foot, and it was broken.

"You can do more than dance. Your X-rays are good. No broken bone, no fractures. Your good to go. I'll write a note, and you're all cleared."

"Yes," Nova high-fives a giddy Lux. It wouldn't feel right to attend a competition without Lux. It wouldn't feel right to go through a week of rehearsal without her sister.

"So we can go?" Lux asks, hopping off the treatment bed.

Uncle Isaac chuckles at her. "You didn't even wait for me to say anything. But yes, you can go."

Mamá stands, tugging her sweater down. "Gracias, Isaac. Oh, call Mamá later."

Uncle Isaac blinks at her. "Por qué. What's wrong?"

"Because you don't call her, and she ends up ranting at me about. Come on, Lux, Nova."

Nova giggles as her Uncle rolls her eyes, just like her Mamá a few minutes ago.

"I'll call her. Te veré más tarde."

"Te veré más tarde, Tio Isaac," Nova chorus with Lux before running out of the office.

If she turns, she will see Mamá and Uncle Tio watching them amusedly.

Nova doesn't, though, because her focus is on getting outside and heading to the dance.

Again, just like last week, the girls and moms are left waiting for Abby to enter the studio. And as always, it sends Nova's suck on the inside of her lips.

I wonder how bad it's going to be? Nova thinks. Not one single entry won last week. Nobody won from the group to the solo, and Studio Bleu beat them in the solo and group divisions.

When Abby walks in, she smiles, surprising Nova. "I just want to look at what fourth place looks like."

She takes a moment to survey the team before speaking again. "This weekend, we will be traveling to Voorhees, New Jersey. We will be attending On Stage America. I don't want to be fourth again.

"On the bottom, Mackenzie. You will not be performing in the group routine this weekend. Next, Maddie. At nationals, you were amazing-- just as good as Chloe, but Chloe won, and ever since then..." Abby shrugs.

Nova frowns. It wasn't true. Maddie's been working really hard since Nationals and even harder since the stakeout.

"Paige," Abby moves on. "Once again, it's the same pattern, Kelly. Like, 'I went, I won. Third was good enough for me.' Nia. You're doing fine but is fine going to make you a star? And next, we have Lux."