Leading Ladies

XXVIII.Break A Leg

Padding through the halls of her home, Bianca stops in front of the oak door and knocks.

"Come in, Bianca," her Tata calls.

Opening the door, she raises an eyebrow at them. "How did you know it was me?"

"Lucky guess," her Mom chuckles, reclining on the bed. She lowers her book to get a better look at Bianca. "What do you need, love?"

Closing the door behind her, Bianca stands at the foot of the bed. "Rory asked me if I could come to her house for a sleepover Thursday. And I was wondering if I could go?"

"And why should we let you go?" her Mom asks, bookmarking her book before placing it on the side table. "Usually, we leave for competition Friday; you're going to be exhausted."

"And you have chores," her Tata chimes in. "I believe it's your turn this week to do the laundry."

Bianca grins. Her parents always do this. She doesn't know why, but whenever she and her siblings want to do something, they have to argue their case. Sabrina hates it, but she finds it fun, and she already had her argument prepared.

"We usually leave for competition Friday afternoon or early Saturday morning, which means I won't miss the bus and whatever sleep I miss and can recover on the bus. I've also talked to Sabrina, and she agreed to take over my chores this week in exchange for doing hers."

She waited quietly as her parents had a silent conversation with their eyes.

"All right," her Tata nods. "You can go."

"Thank you so much!" Climbing on the bed, she kisses her parents on the cheeks before running out of the room to tell her friends.

_________________________________________________________

"Where are Paige and Kelly?" Abby asks the following afternoon.

"They're at the doctor's," Brooke tells her.

Abby's eyes widened. "Today?"

"I think it's more serious than just a toe," Christi chimes in.

I hope she's okay, Bianca thought. Paige had an excellent week last week, only for it to end with a possible broken foot.

Abby shakes her head. "Oh my goodness. I told her not to fool around. Kids, do you understand that your body is your instrument, and it's your job to take care of it? And I said, 'Girls, don't fool around. There's cement underneath this carpeting.' I remember vividly saying that."

"Where's Jill?" Christi cuts into Abby's rant to Bianca's relief. She was sure that Abby would've spent all of the rehearsal ranting at them.

"Jill is not an official member of this competition team. She would like to think so, but I might forgive people, but I don't forget," Abby replies. "So congratulations are in order. We had an amazing trip to Lancaster. I entered four solos in the competition, and I had all four in the top ten and one winning the crown."

Bianca gently bumps shoulders with Sabrina as everybody claps. Jazz has always been Sabrina's especially but last week, she was amazing; that win was expected.

"This week, we are going to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania," Abby announces. "Let's start the pyramid. On the bottom, we have Paige. Paige has an outstanding performance. She was sixth overall high score. And then, accidents happen-- she might be out a week, or maybe she'll be able to dance today.

"Moving on, Mackenzie. Mackenzie, if you're in a competition, you're there to learn. And next, I have Chloe. Chloe, you did a great job. You didn't have any solo or a duet, so it's a little difficult to judge, but you did a great job in the group routine. Bianca and Elsa same thing; there wasn't much to judge. And next, Brooke. Brooke, because of your maturity during rehearsal all week is why you're up there."