Panic flooded through me before I could feel anything. What if I can't go to nationals? What if I have to leave camp early?
After five long seconds of sitting on the ground, I realized I was perfectly fine. Nothing hurt, but I figured if I had landed 2 inches to the left, I might have broken my foot. I got really lucky.
"Go take a little break, and then you can do your full, ok?" The instructor said. I nodded, and walked over to my dance bag.
Strange, I thought, this floor wasn't slippery when we danced on it yesterday. Even stranger, I had put duct tape on my shoes after I had woken up this morning...
I looked at the bottom of my hard shoes. All of the duct tape was gone, and in its place was a sticky substance.
Sock glue.
Angry tears started rolling down my cheeks. Someone wanted me to get hurt, someone wanted me to leave. And I was willing to bet it was the same person who tried to throw out my soft shoes, and the same person who took my dorm key.
I excused myself to the bathroom, and Julie must have seen me crying, so she followed me in.
"Ciara? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"Someone put sock glue on the bottom of my hard shoes, and they wanted me to fall! Someone wants me gone!" I sobbed. Julie's jaw dropped.
"Oh my God!" She said, covering her mouth. "Did you see who did it?!"
"No, the only time I've left my bag today was when I went to brush my teeth, when you were in the bathroom." (Julie and I had seen each other again that morning.) "Carly was still asleep, so she obviously couldn't have seen anything..." Suddenly, an immense amount of fear seemed to crash on top of me. This person had gone so far as to try to injure me, what else would they be willing to do to get me to leave?
"You need to tell the camp director, Ciara. This is getting really scary. First your key, then your soft shoes, now this?" Julie exclaimed.
"I know, I know... I'll do that once we get back in tonight."
Julie nodded. We walked back into the studio, and I cleaned off my hard shoes the best I could, and then got up to finally do my hornpipe, Julie going with me.
"Wow Ciara, this is so powerful and aggressive! Keep it up!" The instructor yelled.
Being angry while I danced seemed to work.
When I walked back to my bag, there was a hot pink sticky note on top.
It said:
If you tell anyone about the sock glue you'll seriously regret it xoxo
YOU ARE READING
Irish Dance Camp
General FictionCiara Sullivan is excited to be headed to one of the most prestigious Irish dance camps in the country, Campa damhsa na hÉireann, for two weeks with her best friend Carly. She's even more pleased to find that she is grouped with the current world ch...