What It All Comes Down To (Book 2 in the Irish Dance Camp series)

Chapter 10

When I get back upstairs, Mom is making a pasta dish with squash, and Marisa is stretching, while simultaneously watching tv.
"You got the book?" My mom says as I close the door behind me.
I nod and hand it to her. "I'm number 136, I'm not sure about Marisa."
Mom turns off the stove, then sits down with a piece of paper and a pen to look at the program book. Since Marisa and I dance on the same morning, Mom wants to figure out where she has to be to watch both of us.
"Okay, so both of you are in the middle of the rotation for your hard shoe rounds, so that might require a bit of running around.... But Ciara is near the beginning of soft shoe and Marisa is one of the last groups, so we'll be fine there... Marisa is in the middle for set, and Ciara, you'll be the very last one! They are starting sets at 137; how funny!"
That's a relief, I think to myself. My set is probably my strongest round anyway, so I'm happy to be going later on. It might be harder to stay warmed up though through all that waiting... That is, assuming I recall....
Shut up Ciara, you got thirteenth last year, recalling should be the least of your worries! I think hastily to myself.
"Are you okay, Ciara?" Mom asks, " You look upset."
"Yeah, I'm fine... Just nervous..." I spot my dance bag on the other side of the room. "Can I go downstairs and practice?" I ask, as I think it might be a good way to blow off steam.
"Sure, just don't tire yourself out, okay? We want you to be at your best on Wednesday." I nod and leave the room.
The practice room is at the very end of the vendor hall. When I get inside, there's loads and loads of dancers running through their steps, and the atmosphere in the room is intense. Everyone is already on that "major buzz", as my teachers like to call it.
I put on my hard shoes and run through my hornpipe one step at a time, thinking about all of my recent corrections.
I'm finishing my third step when I hear someone yell my name behind me.
I whirl around, and a slightly sweaty Julie O'Conner tackles me into a hug.
"I missed you so much!" I squeal happily.
"Me too! How are you?"
"I'm fine, how 'bout you?"
"Nervous! I can't believe we dance in two days!" She says.
"Yeah, me too... Did you hear about Carly?"
"Yeah, that's crazy! I can't believe she's going to dance, isn't she in a boot?"
"Yeah. And she's been acting really weird lately, I think she's mad at me, so don't be surprised if it looks like she's trying to avoid me."
"Why would she be mad at you?" Julie asks.
"To be honest, I have no idea..."
"Speaking of angry people..." Julie leans in to whisper, "Marie got asked to leave my dance school."
"Wow... That's just- wow...." Marie had tried to sabotage me when I was at Camp, and had gone so far as to try to injure me out of jealousy.
"After my mom found out what she did to you, she was livid. Marie can't even do nationals because she's on a six month ban now." Julie says. Julie's mom is also her teacher.
"That's crazy!" I say. "I didn't think she'd get into that much trouble..."
"Yeah, well, my mom is just worried she'll try to hurt someone else..."
"Did she transfer to a different school?"
"Yes, Taylor's school." Julie says. I groan.
Taylor had also attempted to make camp miserable for me, calling me names and trying to play mind games with me.
"Julie!" Julie's mom is calling to her from the other side of the room.
"I gotta go. But let's hang out tomorrow, okay? I know that Grace and Claire are already at the hotel, so we can all get together tomorrow morning and watch dancing or something." Julie says.
"Sounds great!" I say. "Bye!" I give her a quick hug and then we part ways.
I run through my set a few times, and then I change shoes.
I'm running my reel when I realize that I've been in the practice room for two hours! If I keep going, I could get overly exhausted. I take off my soft shoes and stuff them back in my bag, then I go back to the hotel room.
"Good practice?" My mom asks. "You were down there for quite a while."
"Yeah. I saw my friend Julie from camp!"
"Oh! Is she the one who won worlds?" Mom asks.
"Yep. There's like a 99% that she'll win nationals." The more that I think about it, it seems surprising that Julie's so nervous. Sure, she has a title to uphold, but it always has seemed like she's a shoe-in. Maybe she just doesn't think that.
"Well, I'm excited to meet her. I think we are going to go to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Sound good?"
"Yeah, definitely."
We headed downstairs, into the last evening of peace throughout the hotel before dance competitions begin tomorrow.
[I'm so sorry this has taken so long to update! I was busy training for my regional oireachtas, which was the first week of this month (I world qualified in solos for the first time, yay!). Thank you so much for the positive feedback! I look forward to updating this story more regularly!]