The Gift of Dancing (Book 5 of the Ava and Mia Series)

Chapter 7

Dinner with big families are hard but with our family... It's even harder... We all squeeze into the long dining room table and get our food. We're passing around ham, rolls, mashed potatoes and some cranberry sauce. The adults are all talking and then the topic turns to us kids. We act like we're not fascinated but we really are.

"So how's Ashley's dancing going?" Aunt Victoria asks Aunt Keran.
"Oh it's good. Her classes bumped up from 45 minutes to an hour so she's not quite adjusted yet but we're sure that this will help her improve a lot."

Me Mia and Sadie all give eachother a look. One hour for a class? And having it be hard? What? I wish our classes were that short...

"Well that's great to hear! She's become such a good dancer! Maybe we can see some moves after dinner?" She asks Ashley.
"Of course! My teachers say I'm really good!"

I look at Mia and roll my eyes.

The same questions go around... Football... Soccer... Cheerleading... Dance... It seems like everyone has forgotten about us when finally

"Heather! I remember you saying something last time we were all together about Ava and Mia starting Irish dance! Are they continuing that still?" Grandma Warren asks.
She doesn't have Facebook or anything so I guess she hasn't heard anything.

"Yes, actually all 3 of them are dancing. Sadie and Ava actually won their age group at the regional competition this November and Mia was 5th. Ava and Mia were up against 79 girls and Sadie was against 54 so we were really proud of them! Ava is actually goi..."

"My group dance came 7th out of 29 groups at their national competition in June. I'm learning a trio to do a competition in May!"

That's it... I can't keep quiet anymore... She thinks she's all that...

"That's great! When we went to nationals, I got 7th in my solo competition and Mia for 11th! But there were 106 girls in our competition and Sadie got 3rd out of 84. I'm also going back to Scotland in February for their nationals. I got 4th their last year and I'm hoping to wor..."

"Heather... Don't you think that's a bit... Extreme for a little hobby?" Aunt Keran interrupts.

"Not for these Girls. They're heading to the world championships next year so obviously there's some talent here..."

"Would you girls also like to show us something after dinner than?" Grandma Peterson asks.

"They would love to." Mom replies.

Yikes... It's tense... The moms make more small talk while everyone finishes eating. We bring our dishes into the kitchen and clear them off for the dishwasher. Mom pulls me aside "I think I might have old hard shoes in my old room so if you want to use them you can. It's upstairs and the 3rd one on the right."

I head up the stairs and walk into a room that obviously hers. I see old medals and pictures of mom with trophies from all these majors. Wow dresses were really weird then... I open the closet and there's like 5 pairs of hardshoes. I pick on that's about my size and grab some socks from her dresser after figuring out what drawer they're in and head back downstairs. They have a big screened in porch in front of the driveway so I'll dance there. Good thing I wore my gray Nike pros underneath my dress...

I see Ashley stretching out trying to look more professional than she is. I slide into a right split to stretch a bit. I have my over split so this isn't hard for me. I switch to my left leg. Hold for 2 minutes then switch to a straddle. Okay all stretched out now. Mia is stretching too. We're gonna share moms shoes and Sadie isn't dancing because none of moms shoes fit her.

Everyone comes out onto the porch and Ashley declares "I'm gonna go first!" Then to me and Mia "to show you how good dancers look."

She's like Chloe all over again... Ugh...

Her mom puts on the song thats their trio It's Firework by Katy Perry. She does do a lot of dancing... Just posing and faces and sassy walks... There's like a cartwheel and handstand that she "marked" and like 1 turn...

Everyone claps because that the polite thing to do and all then I walk out and Mia puts on my set. I'm not even nervous or anything... I shouldn't be obviously. Nobody will know if I mess up. The 8 bars finish and all thoughts leave my head except for my set. I see Mia videoing it on her phone. It was okay... Like not amazing but only me Mia and Sadie and maybe mom know that. Mia does her set and she looks really good too! We showed everyone what real dancing is like. We all eat desert and then all of us kids go back into the basement until the parents say it's time to go.

We aren't the first ones to leave but we aren't the last... We don't have to deal with everyone until next Christmas probably. Easter and Thanksgiving are smaller. The sun is setting when we get in the car. Within 30 minutes me Mia and Sadie are all dozing off...

It's 9:30 at night when we finally get home. I'm so tired... We all slowly trudge upstairs. I take out my hair-do and change into some sweats and a t-shirt I think I took from Ruby who she took from her older sister... Normal friend things... I grab my Feis blanket from the floor where I left it, plug my phone into the charger and jump into bed. It felt like such a long day! I can't believe I get to go to Scotland again!