Irish Dance Camp

Chapter 1

I squealed as our car pulled into the parking lot."I can't believe we're finally here, Carly! It's so beautiful!" I gushed. The Campa Damhsa na hÉireann facility was inside a huge college campus that happened to only be a mile from a beach.
"Makes the long car ride worth it, I say," My best friend Carly smiled as she stared out the window at the palm trees around us.
My mom turned around to face us from the front seat. "Ok girls, I want you to grab all your stuff out of the back, then bring it to that table over there-" She pointed to a table set up next to the main doors- "Apparently they are going to bring your things up to your rooms for you. I'm going inside to sign you guys in. I'll be right back, stay here!"
"Okay, Mom." I said, hardly containing my excitement. We grabbed our things and headed towards the table. Hanging above it was a large banner that read 'Welcome to Campa Damhsa na hÉireann!' We joined the somewhat long line; at the front girls were being told their room number and getting luggage tags. Two girls that seemed to be me and Carly's age (u14) stepped into line behind us. One of them looked familiar, but I couldn't figure out where I had seen her.
"Julie, I'm so nervous! What if no one likes me? What if the instructers think I'm not good enough to be here? What if I get kicked out because I'm not as good as you?!" The girl's friend said in a loud whisper.
"Marie, I'm sure they'll love you. You are so nice and an incredible dancer! Besides, you deserve to be here just as much as everyone else. You had to audition, just like everyone else did."
"Yeah, but compared to you, I'm nothing. You did win worlds after all..." I let out a small gasp and saw Carly's eyes go wide. We turned to stare at each other, and Carly mouthed "That's her..." I knew now that the "Julie" that was speaking was Julie O'Conner, the world champion from my age group. She had received a perfect score at worlds. She danced at the O'Conner school in California, her mom's school.
"Marie....." I could practically hear the eye roll in Julie's voice. "You need to believe in yourself. You came 20th at worlds. Most people DREAM of going to worlds, and you medalled. That's definitely an accomplishment."
"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Carly and I had danced at our first worlds earlier that year, and I was beyond happy to come 40th. Carly sadly hadn't recalled, so I hadn't mentioned worlds much at all since then because it was clearly an awkward subject. Carly and I had always been pretty close in placements, and we had tied at many feises, but after worlds I started beating her a lot more. I even felt bad about it at times.
After awhile, we reached the front of the line. "Hi girls," the lady grinned at us. "Can I have your first and last names please?"
"I'm Carly Madison and this is Ciara Sullivan." Carly said.
"You two don't happen to be from the Macmillan School, are you?"
"We are! How did you know?" I asked.
"My daughter Emma just got into open champs and she thinks you guys are the coolest thing. She loves to watch you dance!" She smiled.
"Wow, thanks!" Carly said. "Did she dance at worlds? Maybe we know her."
"No, she's not at that level yet. She hopes to get there someday though!" She looked at me. "Congratulations on your worlds placement by the way, dear, that's incredible!" I wished she hadn't said it with Carly standing right next to me.
"Thanks," I said shyly.
"Anyway, here's your luggage tags, put them on your things before you leave. You two are in room 427 and will be with group 6. Think you can remember that?"
"Yep!" Carly and I said at the same time.
"Have a great time girls!"
With that, We headed over to our luggage and put our tags on.
"I'm so excited, I can't stand it!" Carly said. My mom rejoined us, and we headed to the cafeteria, where we found our group.