Leading Ladies

XXXIII. Nationals 90210

"Ileen, you look so beautiful!" taking off her oversized shirt, Elsa smiles at the compliment to her Mom.

Her Mom looks stunning in a light green floral dress with a long bell sleeve and a slight v showing plunge.

Taking her seat, Ileen favored the other blonde mother with a small smile. "Thank you, Melissa. You look beautiful yourself."

As it was the last pyramid of the season, the moms had decided to dress up more than usual. Ileen looked better than all the moms combined.

I don't think any of them have anything like that in their closet, Elsa felt, slipping her turners on. If they did, they sure didn't wear it today. And this isn't Mom at her best; they should see her on date night.

"Let's go! Let's go! Get in here!" standing with a stretch, Elsa trotters into the studio. As always, Abby waits for them to all be in the room before speaking. "Get in here! Isn't this nice? Lots of space so we can run our number. Hello everybody."

"Good morning," Melissa says.

"Hello," Christi sings at the same time.

Abbey tilts her head. "In10sity Dance was intense," Elsa snorts when Sabrina laughs at the pun. "I saw a lot of mistakes, and yet this was the week where every solo needed to strive for perfection. This was the last competition before we go to Nationals. You were duly warned. We won that National 2011 title. I want to win it again. Now, this week, we're gonna stay right here in sunny Los Angeles, but we are going to the famous zip code..."

"90210," Melissa gasps, knees wiggling in excitement.

Elsa laughs at the look Abby sends her.

"Sorry," Melissa shrieks, clapping. "I'm sorry. Sorry."

"We are going to 90210... Beverly Hills," Abby admits. The moms were more excited than the girls. "We are going to the energy dance National invitational. So let's get to the pyramid. Paige, you knew you were gonna be there; you forgot your dance. You have so much more talent than you're able to show, A: because of an injury and B: because you don't remember what you're doing."

Abby reaches for the next photo. "Next, Nia. I thought you could have been better. I need you to be as strong at the end as you are at the beginning. Next... I have Chloe. Chloe, you've been consistently in the top five for most of your life. Sixth is not good enough.

"Kendall, you came out there strong. You were exciting. You were energized; your tricks were clean. Your movements were sharped; you attacked them. Everything a great jazz dance needs to be. When you started your turns, you were a bit sluggish. Even your mother pointed that out to me."

She did well, though, Elsa thought. Kendall was fifth, beating Chloe, and that's not an easy feat.

"Moving along, Brooke," Abby says. "You won; you were in the overall high score. I was proud of you. But you know what? You are capable of doing more. And you're lazy, and you're sitting there saying, 'This is good. I can coast. I'm still winning. I'm still getting a platinum. I can just step out there and do one chin stand and get a platinum.' That's what I see happening.'"

It's what's been happening since Brooke became a teenager. The rumors that Brooke doesn't want to dance anymore don't come from nowhere.

"Next... Mackenzie. It's the easy stuff that you mess up. The round-off back handspring was great. The side aerial was great. The area walkover was great. This?" Abby claps her hands over her head and motions victory. "Come on. Next, Elsa. Overall the trip was amazing. But you know, and I know you almost flipped over."

Elsa nods. She overextended her tilt in the air and could have flipped over, ruining the whole routine. She's perfectly fine with her placement on the pyramid.