The next day was spend with me watching Pretty Little Liars until noon and then practising my solo before Milli and Simon came home from school at two p.m. Both of them were excused to go two hours earlier because of the dance competition tomorrow. After they came home we ate and then it was three hours of practising at the dance studio. Two hours of those, we practised the choreography of the whole dance group and the last hour we decided to stay a while longer and practise our trio until we were sure that it was perfect. And until we couldn't move anymore because our muscles were aching so damn much.
When Roberto came to pick us up, we were completely sweaty and tired. He went as far as to tell us to sit in the back because of 'safety reasons'.
Their parents let us have a sleepover since we would be driving together anyways. The sleepover consisted of arguing about who would take an ice shower first, then arguing about what to watch, then watching "Rags" and last but not least, trying to go to sleep but being too excited about the dance competition and going to sleep an hour later than actually planned.
The morning of the dance competition was extremely hectic. Well not entirely. Sophia made us a wonderful breakfast buffet with everything you could imagine and then called Simon's family over too. French toast, waffles, eggs, sausages, cereal, yogurt fruit salads. Literally everything was there to pick from. I think that Sophia went to give the leftovers to a few homeless people at the mall or something. At least she didn't throw it away like most households would.
After breakfast was when everything got stressful. Milli could not find her shoes, Simon's outfit had a stain on it and needed to be washed. Thank god that Sophia had a spot cleaner for Simon to use and that Emily wanted to play with Milli's sports bag, because that was where we found her shoes after she had told us that she already looked 'everywhere'. Mhm. Totally true.
My bag was already packed with everything I needed because I literally have a whole lot of my stuff here at Milli's house. Thank god that I do, because if I didn't then I probably would have needed to go home and get everything and I seriously am trying to stay as far away as possible from that place right now due to obvious reasons.
The drive to the dance arena took us an hour, which was less than scheduled. Roberto drove Milli, Simon and I, while Sophia and Emily carpooled with Simon's parents since they had a minivan with more space for all of them.
***
"Whoa." Simon, Milli and I say at the same time as we take a look at the huge stage and arena. People are filling in already, even though we still have half an hour until the show starts. I spot Simon's and Milli's family and the second row and wave at them. They give us a thumbs up and we walk backstage again. "We are seriously going to perform on that?" Milli asks, pointing to the curtains that divide the stage from us. "I think I might pass out soon." Simon says and I roll my eyes at his overdramatic being. "Shut it guys. This is perfect and we are all going to be fine, okay?" I say and they nod, but I don't miss Milli stuffing three pop-tarts from the catering table into her jacket. "If you eat too many of those you will get sick before we even start." I warn her and she just shakes her head. "There is no 'too many' when it comes to the most delicious and calming thig in the world." She answers and childishly rips one open and stuffs it into her mouth. I hand her my water bottle when I see that she is struggling to swallow the entire thing and she gradually takes a few sips. "Thanks." She says after drinking away almost the entire bottle and I give her a look. "I will listen to you next time, I promise." She tells me and I nod. Simon steps behind us and pushes us forward. "Hurry up you slow and old grannys." He insults us and we just laugh at him.
Our dance group has their own practise room as do all the other competitors. We walk past a mirror and Simon takes a quick picture of us to post in his Instagram story. "Who should hurry up now?" Milli teases and Simon looks up from is phone. "There is always time for a mirror picture." "True though." I agree with him and we continue walking.
On the way to our dressing room we pass Finn, a guy from our dance studio. "Last rehearsal in 5." He reminds us and we nod, quickly taking our water bottles from the dressing room and going to the rehearsal. Everything goes smooth the few times that we practise and our teacher is definitely satisfied.
When we finish I tell Milli and Simon that I need a few minutes alone to practise and they nod and let me be on my own. What they still don't know is that I'm practising my solo for the last time today before I need to perform it.
As I get back to the dressing room the hallway is full of teens running around because the show starts in less than ten minutes.
"Everybody ready?" I ask as I walk through the door to our dressing room and Milli and Simon grin and nod. I sit down next to them in another bean bag chair and we just sit there in silence.
I remember the first ever competition I attended. It was in my freshman year and I was so nervous to go up on the stage that I wanted to puke. I don't think that Milli and Simon felt any different, but both of them pushed me to go up because if I never tried I would never know how I would do, which would be the same as failing. A smile forms on my lips as I think of how incredible it was to dance in front of all those people.
A knock on the door interrupts our little silence and Sophia steps in. "I have a few minutes until I need to go back but I want you guys to know how incredibly proud I am of you and I know that you will crush this." She tells us and we stand up and hug her. "Let me take one last picture before you need to go out there, okay?"
The three of us stand there with me in the middle and give Sophia our biggest smiles. She takes a few pictures and a staff member walks in to inform us that we need to get going.
"Okey. I love you guys. Have fun." Sophia says and gives each of us a little kiss on the forehead.
We walk to the stage and find our group pretty fast. The moderator goes up and talks a little bit about dancing while the backstage man explains to us when each group is going to perform. First are the entire dance group dances and the vote for the first, second and third place. Then come the trios, after that the duos and lastly the solos.
The first dance group goes up on the stage and I get more nervous each minute that passes. The crowd cheers loudly at the end and I don't even want to guess how many people there are and how many are watching from home.
We are the second to perform and I take Milli's and Simon's hands in mine as we walk up on the stage. I am baffled when I see how everything looks. The people are screaming and clapping. Lights are flashing. Cameras are moving from left to right. I let go of Milli and Simon and we give each other one last nod before the lights dim down and the song starts.
I remember the choreography easily and start to smile when I look at the people in front of me. It gives me a sense of satisfaction to see them being baffled by our dance moves even if they aren't that special and original to be honest.
The song is over pretty fast and we take our last positions and wait for the lights to go out again until we get down from the stage. Our dance teacher applauds us and says that we can go back to the dressing and practise rooms if we want to. A few of our group do exactly that. The rest of us stays backstage to 'observe' our competitors. By the end of all of them I know that we definitely will not win the first place, but that is fine too. I wasn't really expecting us to be that good anyways.
I was right. We didn't get to the first place, but we won the second place and got a trophy and took some group pictures that we probably will put into our trophy wall at the dance studio. The first-place winners we rewarded with 10.000$. Holy. I did not now that you could win any money at this competition.
Now I was getting really nervous. It was time for the trios and every other team had been before us meaning that we are the last ones to go. I think that this is sorted by alphabet and I will be the last one to perform the solo too, since my surname still is Rudes. If I am right which I hope I am not.
The backstage guy calls us three up and wishes us good luck as does the moderator when he passes us.
The first light to go on again flashes Simon, who stands between Milli and me. He starts to clap in a slow rhythm. The second light flashes to Milli and she starts to clap like Simon. I join them when the light flashes me and we turn to each other. The music still did not start but that's exactly how we want it to be. We start to do our handshake and hear a whistle coming from the audience. I think that this was Roberto. According to the looks on the faces of my two best friends, they think so too. When we finish our handshake, the music finally starts and we start dancing too. The audience starts to clap even though we are only at the beginning.
I see a camera move from left to right and smile at it, automatically smiling at anyone who is watching us. I feel like I could take over the world right now and all of my movements show that. Milli, Simon and I are completely in sync and it wouldn't surprise me, if we're thinking the same thing right now.
This feels beyond amazing.
The three of us finish with Milli and I standing back-to-back and Simon jumps over us to slide towards the audience on his knees. I let out the breath I was holding when Simon doesn't slide too far and off the stage. That's would have been funny as hell, but I seriously did not want that to ruin our entire choreography.
We stay on stage as the other five trio- and duo-teams get on too, to wait for the reveal of the winners. We hold our hands as tight as possible as the moderator calls out the name for the third place. It isn't ours. It is a group of freshman guys I think.
They get their trophy and picture and walk back to their spot again. The moderator moves on to the second place and I see Milli close her eyes. When he doesn't call out our names we look at each other. We are either the first place or aren't as good as we thought we are.
When the second-place-winners go back to their spot, the moderator takes a little bit too long to announce the final winner for my liking. "If we win this or not, I still love you guys." I say when the three of us huddle together and close our eyes tight. "We love you too." They say in union and the moderator finally reveals the name of the first place.
Milli is the first to scream and jump when we hear our name and Simon and I follow right after. Jumping and screaming, we make our way to the moderator who gives us a huge trophy and a check of 15.000$. I am not even really there in the situation when the pictures are taken, but smile anyways. 5.000$ for each of us. Holy fucking shit.
We go back down and are engulfed in a group hug. The two families that I am not related to have come backstage to congratulate us. Milli and Simon want to go to the dressing room, but I hold them back. "Let's just stay here a little bit longer okay?" I ask them and Milli raises a brow. "Why? We're finished." I sigh. "We need to stay here just a few more minutes. Okay?" I ask again and this time they nod, still curious about why I am so adamant on staying backstage.
Sophie is taking videos and pictures constantly as we talk to the others and the time flies by pretty fast. No one except me is paying attention for the names called to get on stage for the solo performance.
The same backstage member from the last two times comes us to us and looks around until he lays his eyes on mine. "Hailey Rudes?" He asks and I nod. "You're up next." He says and walks away again.
The conversation from earlier quiets down as Milli shouts, "You're performing solo and didn't tell us?!"
I bite my lip and nod. "I'm sorry, I wanted to surprise you guys. So.. I guess.. Surprise!" I say as I back away and onto the stage.
My hands are shaky and I take deep breaths in and out. I stand in the middle of the stage and look at the audience, hoping that they can't tell what a wreck of nerves I am right now.
I count to five.
1..
2..
3..
4..
5..
The music starts and I close my eyes going with the flow. I remember when I first started to dance to this song. The situation with Noah. Oh how I hate that guy now. Then how Elliot rescued me from anything worse happening.
Elliot. Why did I have to fall for you? Why don't you even like me back? Why did you have to make me feel this way?
I realise that the problem is not me falling for him. It is him not falling for me.
When I open my eyes I see the audience. No one is clapping as they did before. They are only watching, not daring to make a sound. Am I that bad?
No. I am great. This is great. This is everything I wanted for the past years. To finally feel alive again.
The fast part of the song starts and I smile as I change my entire rhythm and movements. My body is not just dancing anymore. It is responding to my emotions and feeling the music in every damn cell of my body. This is who I am. Hailey. A freshly died red-headed girl, who is passionate about dancing, loves her two best friends and is incredibly strong. I do not need to have everything I will do next figured out right now. Right now all I need to focus on is the music and how amazing I feel.
At last my song comes to an end too and I wait for the other dancers and moderator to come up on the stage while the audience is still clapping hysterically.
"Wow. Wow. Wow. What a night this has been. I want every dancer to know that it doesn't matter if you won anything today or not, you are incredibly talented and brave for going up here and smashing it. Am I right?" The moderator makes the crowd erupt in cheers and I smile.
"But rules are rules and there has to be a winner tonight." He says and looks at me. I nod, understanding what he means. Everybody is great but who would actually watch it, if there wasn't a winner or some kind of price?
"The third place goes to an extremely talented boy considering his age. Please give a round of applause for Max Johnson!" He says and a boy from the trio group that won second place steps out. They take a few pictures and he gets a small trophy too.
"The choice for the second and first place were a head-to-head. The judges almost called it a tie. Please step forward, Alicia Mendoza, winner of the second place!"
I breath out. It is only me up here, I have no one to support me right now. If I do not win, that's fine. If I win, I will probably pass out and not even be able to take my price.
When Alicia takes her original place again, the crowd dies down.
"And now, the first place. This girl really showed us the meaning of dancing with her choreography. She was the heart of this show, without even knowing. And now, without further ado, give all your love to Hailey Rudes!"
I won. I. fucking. won. Holy shit. Holy- what? I stand there with my mouth open and can't seem to take a step forward. The lights are all on me now, but I don't make a move. It is not until I feel a gentle push on my back that I slowly move forward and to the moderator.
"You truly deserve this." He tells me as I take the humongous trophy and check into my hands. I don't dare to look at the number written on it. The moderator turns me to the side and we take pictures together.
I hear footsteps coming closer to us and turn around. "You sneaky bitch didn't tell us anything." Milli starts as she hugs the life out of me. Simon follows and congratulates me a little bit nicer than Milli, "Holy Moly. I always knew that you were special but- wow. This was beyond mind-blowing."
"Thanks guys. I'm really sorry for not telling you sooner but I just wanted it to be out of the blue you know?" I apologise and they nod. "We could never hate you for being passionate about dancing and wanting to try and do something alone." Milli says and I hold her tight.
"The new Hailey really is full of surprises, isn't she?" Sophie says as she comes up to me too. "I guess I kind of like it that way." I say and she laughs.
We leave the stage and go to get our stuff from the dressing room. It's still full of people, even though the show is over already. Once we took our bags we left the arena to drive back home. Roberto decided to make a quick stop at McDonald's for a little celebration dinner and I think we got home at around midnight.
"How much money did you win, apart from the $5.000?" Milli asks me as I set my dirty clothes down on my bag in her room.
"I don't know, I haven't looked." I say and she turns to me shocked. "What? Why?"
"I don't want to pass out?" I answer her and she runs to my bag and pulls the check out. Once she sees the number she starts squealing and I quickly put my hand over her mouth to shut her up. "Shhhh. The others are trying to sleep." I scold and she moves my hand away. "50.000." She whispers and my mouth falls open. "Dollars?" I ask, not believing her and look at the check. "This is insane." I say and Milli agrees. "This is so much money, holy-" I cut myself off. Whoa.
"Do you know what you are going to do with all that money?" Milli asks me and I shake my head. "Not at all."