Making Strides (Book 2 of the Reaching New Heights Series)

Chapter 1

"Lucy, are you ready? We have to leave in 3 minutes!" Mom calls upstairs to me.
"Yeah, I'll be right down!" Shoot shoot shoot. I jump off my bed and open up my dresser drawers, searching for dance clothes. I finally find some and slip them on before running downstairs, grabbing my dance bag, and joining my mom in the car.
"You got everything?" Mom asks me. I check my dance bag for both pairs of shoes and my water bottle.
"Yeah!" I say. Oh yeah! I completely forgot that today's my first time in advanced beginner, and my first time trying hard shoe! Razz made me and my mom go out to buy me hard shoes this past weekend because she wanted me to try it at my first feis: "If you aren't feeling ready enough to compete in hard shoe, you don't have to. But I do want you to try. After all, Chloe did it at her first feis and she did so well in it!"

I almost growl when I remember that conversation. It's always about Chloe: "Chloe got second in hard shoe and a first in soft shoe at her very first feis!" "Chloe's amazing! You should dance like Chloe!" Why is it always about Chloe? I shouldn't be compared to her all the time. I'm 7, she's 8, so we're not even the same age so why should we be compared?! Sure we're both U8, but she's in novice now! I'm just starting feises, so I'm in advanced beginner. Again, nothing alike. But I can't control that. I can control how hard I work for my first feis, though, and I'm going to practice everyday for at least an hour leading up to the feis. I also have decided to dance my very best in class every time, especially because today's my first class with the other Advanced Beginners and I wanna make a good first impression.

"Alright, Lucy, you ready?" Wow we're already at the studio. I was so lost in thought I didn't even realize it! Mom and I walk into the studio, and I see that Anne's at the front desk.
"Hi, Lucy! Ready for your first class in Advanced Beginner?" She asks.
"Yes!" I exclaim.
"Don't forget to work extra hard from here on out because feises are pretty hard, and you're first one is this Sunday!" Anne reminds me. She doesn't need to remind me though. I get butterflies in my stomach whenever I THINK about feising, which is like a million times everyday. So that's a lot of butterflies in my stomach. But I've been practicing everyday for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, so hopefully I'll be fine. I'm just worried about doing hard shoe.

"Razz is waiting in Studio C today, so head in there!" Anne says. I nod and start down the hall. Even though this is only my 6th class and third week here, I already know my way around pretty well. That's only because I got lost trying to find the bathroom last time.

"Hey, Chloe!" I exclaim when I see her walking towards me. She's with another girl who I'm guessing is also in Novice.
"Hi, Lucy." She says, but she doesn't sound too happy. Whatever, she could just be having a bad day.

A few moments later I hear, "Hey Fergs!" I turn around. It was an older girl who I remember from when we were watching the Prelim and Open class. But who's Fergs? Then I hear Chloe's voice, "Hey Mandy!" Wait what? How does Chloe know the older and more advanced girls? And why do they call her Fergs?

I try to figure out how and why they know each other, but by now I've reached Studio C. Great, now I have to focus if I wanna be able to try hard shoe at my first feis.