Double Treble (Book 1 of the Ava and Mia Series)

Chapter 9

I wake up at 5:30 exactly to the sound of our favorite reel blasting in our room. I jump straight out of bed and start on my makeup. even though I'm tired I won't show it just so my mom doesn't go on another rant. I put my makeup darker than usual because it's oireachtas duh!

I finish my make up in record time. I put on my bright pink sports bra and shorts from Nike. Me and Mia wear the same stuff under our dresses because they're similar as usual. I go out of the bathroom, put on my schools oireachtas pinnie and jacket and brush out my hair and then my mom starts on my wig. It's super blonde and long so we had to cut it. There are loose curls and since we cut it, it hits at about my shoulder blades. I still use the same head piece idea only with different pink flowers because my dress is brighter than my old one.

As my mom is stabbing bobby pins into my wig I think about how I need to qualify for nationals because I get a new dress even though I just got one I'll sell it to Sophia or Lauren probably. After putting enough bobby pins in to draw blood my mom uses the blonde spray to spray my poof blonde. By the time she finishes that, Mia finished her make up but she already had her wig done because hers takes like 5 minutes. Sadie is running around in her cute little pink dress with a white bow in her bun to match our dresses. My mom takes a picture to post on Facebook later and then we grab our dress bags and walk over to the venue. When you walk into oireachtas, or any major, you don't need to be a dancer or dance mom to know that this is intense. There's such an aura around these girls as they practice like I'm siked out and I'm not even their competition! We go to the ballroom I'm dancing in to check out the stage.

Dancing hasn't started so we go up to it to check out the size. Mia comes up behind me and says "do you think we need the sugar?"
"Maybe this looks a lot bigger than last year..."
"Miss Kelly already gave mom the pixie sticks..."
"I call blue!!!" We yell at the same time
"JINX!" We yell again
"Wait don't you mean twinx?"
"Okay Mia whatever!"

We go back over to mom and Sadie runs over with one of her little friends from past competitions.
"Mia, Ava this is Megan! She's in my solo competition tomorrow GO U7! And this is her older sister, Mila! She's in your competition too!"
I look over at her. She has a dark brown wig and a pink headband that suits her so well. She seems to radiate confidence. I bet she's in prelim or open.
"Hi I'm Ava and this is my sister Mia!"
"Nice to meet you. How old are-"
She gets cut off by mom saying "Ava can you walk around with Sadie. I need to stretch Mia."
"Sure mom..." When she turns around I roll my eyes. Mia's always been her favorite...

I turn and walk out of the ballroom with Sadie, Megan and Mila. Sadie and Megan are ahead of us talking about some famous dancers they obsess over. Me and Mila are walking awkwardly so I decide to break the ice. "So what school do you dance for?"
"Francis-O'Donnell. How about you"
"O'Larry-Wells. I think I met a mom last night who's daughter and niece dance there. I think they're names are Lucy and Chloe."
"Oh yeah I know them they're super sweet. Chloe's a bit stuck up though. She always wants my steps but she's just in prizewinner and I'm in open. I have to be polite cause my moms one of the TCs but in my head I'm like back off..." I laugh a bit because it seems so ridiculous.

Miss Kelly walks by and see me "Ava why aren't you warming up?"
"My moms warming up Mia and I have to watch Sadie and her friend with her sister. This is Mila!"
"Nice to meet you sweetie! Best of luck to you today! Come to ballroom C in like 10 minutes and I'll warm you up. You can bring Sadie and her friend too."
"Okay miss Kelly"
She walks away and then some girl comes up and hugs Mila. She has a blonde bun wig with a pink bow and a lot of bright eyeshadow. "MILA BESTIE IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU EVERYWHERE!"

"Hey Chloe, this is Ava she's in our competition too." She barely acknowledges me and then keeps talking to Mila about plan for nationals. She turns to me and says "Me and Mila are shoe-ins for nationals next year. Me and my mom both think I'll make top 5. I'm basically a prodigy I just started dance 6 months ago and I'm already in prizewinner!" She turns back to Mila and says "It's nice how we're talking to other competitors, that way they can say they know us when we're top 5. Bye Mila! Bye Allison." She slips away.

"Not to be mean about your bestie but I don't really like her"
"Don't worry I don't either. I should probably go warm up. See you side stage! Come on Megan!" I take Sadie back to mom then go to ballroom C to warm up. Miss Kelly is watching Caroline and her competition. I sit in the seat next to her. She turns to me "get off the seat go sit in your splits! You need to qualify for nationals this year. You're going even if I have to take you. I don't know why your mother hasn't let you go before just because Mia can't go."

After 20 more minutes of stretching and drills she send me back to my ballroom to get ready. I got there just in time. My group is supposed to check in in 5 minutes! I put on my hard shoes and put on my white and black tape and my number. I'm number 206 and Mia's 129. We go side stage to check in and there's Mila,Chloe and the girl I saw last night all talking in a group. Me and Mia keep to ourselves just so we stay focused.

We line up and I'm in the 3rd rotation with Mila and another girl in a pink dress. I guess pink is in right now. I see Chloe 2 rows behind me then Mia 5 seats down from Chloe talking to the girl I saw last night. I wonder if that's Lucy. Nobody really talks much because we're all nervous. It seems like 5 seconds after they start then me Mila and the other girl, who's name we found out was Becky, are on the stairs waiting to go on. I haven't been able to see my competition because there's a big black curtain between us and the stage. The judges ring the bell and I pull back my shoulder and flash my biggest smile and walk into the blinding lights. We walk out and face the judges. We listen to the 8 count intro and all point our toe. It's go time kids