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

Chapter 4

"Ouch! I'm pretty sure you just stabbed my brain." I say clutching my head with both hands. The one huge difference between soccer and irish dance is that in soccer I know for a fact that we don't play with pins jabbing our skulls, holding in some wig. The wig kills but when I look in the hand mirror after it's finished, it actually looks really good! My mom puts in the white bow, and the look is complete!
"Wow, Lucy! You look like a fashion model or something!" Mom exclaims. I love it. I feel like a whole different person, not the one who's always been so tomboyish. Now I'm like loving the wig (not the pain, the look of it) and the crystals that Razz had put on my socks the other day!

Razz is looking around and she finds me, and rushes over.
"Lucy, you look amazing! How do you feel?" She asks as soon as she comes by our stuff.
"Nervous." I admit.
"Don't be! You're gonna do your best and hopefully get some amazing results! Remember, this is your first time out! Just focus on doing your best and having a good time!" Her words help the butterflies go away a bit.
"Ok! Thanks!" I exclaim. She gives me a quick hug and disappears, off to find some other dancer probably.
"Hey, Chloe! Hey, Carol!" Mom says, greeting my aunt and cousin who are now walking over to us and where we're camped.
"Hey guys! First feis, Lucy! You excited?" Aunt Carol asks me while putting down all of the bags.
"Yeah! I was really nervous but Razz just helped me with that!" I exclaim. Aunt Carol and Chloe look a little confused for a moment before mom jumps in.
"Razz just came by with some encouraging words for Luce! You guys just missed her!"
"Oh. At Chloe's first feis, nobody came to say good luck. I wonder why she did for you." Aunt Carol probably didn't mean it, but when she said this she sounded rude and obnoxious.
"Oh, mom! She probably knew Lucy was gonna be really nervous so she wanted to come make her feel better! I wasn't nervous at all at my first feis, so I didn't need any words of advice!" Wow. Snob central station over here, I guess. Mom notices, but she tries to stay friendly.
"Maybe! But Chloe, are you excited for today?" Lucy nods. "What level are you in again? There's so many it's hard to keep track of which one everybody's on!" Mom says, and Aunt Carol and mom laugh.
"I'm in Novice, but I only need one more first until I can move up to Prizewinner." Chloe answers.
"Wow! That's great! Good luck! I have to get Lucy ready for reel." Mom says and begins unzipping the dress bag and pulling out my dress. Sure it's the school's costume, but can't I be excited about it? It's so pretty! It's a dark green with yellow, orange, and white designs all over it.

The day I got it, I had asked mom if I could wear it to school the next day, but as expected she said no. She didn't want it to get dirty because it costs a lot of money, so I left it at that.

I pull the dress on, and my mom zips it up. Time to go over to the stage.
"Good luck, Lucy!" Aunt Carol and Chloe say.
"Thanks!" I try to make it sound grateful, but I'm so nervous it just sounds like I'm out of breath. Then I look around for my stage, Stage 6. Finally I find it, and mom and I head over to it.
"Alright, Lucy! Go get em! Dance your best honey!" Mom says and hugs me. I walk over to the lady with the clipboard who's talking to some of the other girls by the side of the stage. I hope she's actually somebody important on this stage, because I walk right up to her. I guess she is a somebody here because she looks down at her paper and back at my number and says, "Number 392, you can go sit in the chairs right behind you!" I head over to a chair towards the end, next to a girl in a white and black dress with red hair.
"I like your dress!" I say to her. I don't think she realizes I'm talking to her because she looks around for a minute. When she realizes I was actually talking to her she says, "Thanks! It's my school's costume though." She makes a face and I reply, "Same. But yours is really pretty!"
"Thanks! Yours is too! Is this your first?" She smiles.
"First what?" Whoops. I didn't mean for that to sound rude, it kind of just slipped out. I guess that's what mom meant when she was telling me that I don't really have a "filter".
"First feis." The girl says laughing. Oh yeah, that.
"Oh yeah! Is it yours?" I ask.
"Nah. I've been feising for 6 months already." She sounds a little cocky, but I could just be making a wrong judgment or whatever.
"Wow! You must be amazing!"
"Hardly." She says and laughs.

All of a sudden, the lady with the clipboard takes us all onstage and I realize this is it. Time for my first dance at my first ever feis. Time for me to shine.