Fight Song

Chapter 9

Joe's PoV
I got up early the next morning, knowing it was my last day rehearsing with Dianne before we performed tomorrow, and after that she'd just be competition. I'll be honest, I loved working with her and had maybe even formed a SMALL crush on her, but at the end of the day she's still a dancer from a rival studio and she could use anything I tell her against me and my team.

As I headed to the door, I noticed Neil was still asleep, despite me having woken up to an alarm, having a shower, using the hairdryer and just not exactly being quiet. He really was a deep sleeper. But I couldn't resist...
I'd bought a water gun with me in case we ever managed a trip or two down to the beach, but until now I hadn't realised just what a wonderful opportunity it presented. Quietly, I took it from my suitcase and headed into the bathroom to fill it up. Then I crept over to Neil's bed and just fired it. The water hit him hard and fast, and his reaction was priceless. He shook his head in confusion for about one second, but then sat dead upright and used his hands to block his face before spotting me and trying to push me. I laughed and jumped away, dumping the water gun, grabbing my bag and running out the door leaving a drenched ginger boy behind me. I felt like he was going to get revenge for that soon, but that was a problem for future Joe to be concerned about.

I walked happily down to the theatre to meet Dianne, deciding to stop for coffee for both of us beforehand. To my utmost surprise though, I ended up in the queue behind Briar Lloyd from Canada.

"Hey!" she smiled at me.

"Uh, hi," I said. I'd never spoken to this girl before in my life, and even though Caspar didn't seem to mind her, Dianne basically despised the girl.

"Yeah," she laughed, "I know we're competition, but honestly I've always wanted to kinda get to know the British and Australian teams. Like we're the three best, but because of that we seem to isolate ourselves from everyone else, which is something Caspar taught me yesterday. Did you know he calls my team the Arrogant Maple Leafs? Like damn, I didn't think we came across that badly."

"Yeah," I laughed. "But don't worry, they call us the Cocky Crumpets..."

"Cocky Crumpets?" Briar laughed. "Damn, whats Australia? I'm gonna go ahead and assume they have one if we do too."

"Pretentious Kangaroos," I grinned. "Dianne doesn't know though so don't tell her."

"Sure," Briar said, grinning. "So, you and Dianne... You seem to be getting quite close, huh?" She smirked at the end of her sentence. Now we have Neil, Katie and Briar all shipping us.

"I know what you're implying, but honestly we're not dating, we don't have time to think about that sort of stuff when we're so busy dancing," I shook my head a smiled.

"Oh honey I see straight through those lies," Briar tapped her nose. "Remember my boyfriend is literally on my team, we've danced together for years. When you find the right person, time no longer exists."

I blushed, and she grinned at me.

"I have to warn you though, remember that even though you're working together now, she's still BIG competition," Briar turned serious. "You'll both be able to keep your dance lives separate from your personal lives I'm sure, but at times you can forget. I forgot at my Nationals once, and a girl stole my choreo for my solo. She won Miss Nationals Canada that year, not me. All because I forgot who I was talking to. Like me for example, notice how I've not been speaking about how my routine is coming along or asking about yours. Steer clear from dance related topics."

"Yeah, Dianne always says that," I nod.

"She's a smart girl," Briar smiled, "and one heck of a good dancer. "I don't think it would really matter anyway, us discussing our routines, because it's not in the Internationals Board's best interests to pit our teams against each other this early on. People keep watching on TV for our rivalry, and if Caspar and I won then that would be two of the three possible winners gone. People would switch off."