Fight Song

Chapter 18

Caspar's PoV
Small groups. South Africa had never got past the small group round. Semi finals were dominated by Canada, Australia and Britain and then one other team would get lucky and get there. And that team had never been South Africa. I was determined that this year it would be. But when I saw who we were up against, I knew we were never going to get there. Canada.

Briar: Caspar... This sucks, I didn't wanna have to go against you :(

Caspar: I know, don't worry - we've never made it past this round anyway, so it's not like we've done any worse than before

Briar: i still feel bad you know :(

Caspar: Briar it's chill, we're friends and this is a competition. Good luck, not that you'll need it haha :)

Briar: thanks, you too x

I sighed. I'd really hoped to get to the semi finals for once, but still the top 8 was good. Again...
I looked at the board and saw Australia were against Sweden and the UK was against Estonia. Strong teams, but they didn't really stand a chance against Australia and Britain. I decided I wanted Canada to win this year. If we had to lose, I would want it to be to the Internationals winners.

Briar's PoV
I had a hard decision to make. I'd won Internationals before, so many times. I was renowned for being the best. Caspar's team had never had that opportunity, and if we lost...he could go to the Semi Finals, and maybe even the Finals... But on the other hand, if Canada lost before the semi finals, we could lose our title as one of the best teams, and Caspar might even suspect I let him win...

"What's up?" Milo came and sat beside me.

"Do we have to win Internationals?" I asked, not looking at him.

"Um," Milo started, "yeah, kinda. I mean, we've worked the whole year for this. To not win would be pretty upsetting. We haven't won in a two years."

"But what if we go out today?" I asked, this time turning to face him.

"That's not gonna happen, we're against South Africa," Milo laughed, but then looked at my face. I wasn't laughing. He searched my face, and then spoke again. "You want to let them win..."

I nodded, and he took my hands in his. "Briar, I know where your heart is at, and I know you want Caspar to win, but you're not on his team. You're on our team, and imagine how much grief we'll get if we lose before making it to the semi finals. This is competition, Bri. Friendship comes second at competition, you say it yourself every year."

I nodded again. He was right. But I just couldn't get the thought of Caspar's delighted face if he won out my head. I wanted that just as much as I wanted to win Internationals, and I had the power to make it happen...

A break in the chapter because this could now go one of two ways, and I want you guys to decide what Briar does. Will she throw the dance, or will she not? OR if you have any other ideas on how you want this to pan out let me know too! I want your opinions :)

Dianne's PoV
As soon as I'd showered and changed, I rushed down to the theatre to see the timetable for the day. Because there were only eight teams left in the competition, it was an evening show, starting at 7:30pm. This meant we had a lot of the day to kill, and there were often meetings for dance captains at this stage, meaning it was my job to check.
The first thing I checked was who we were competing against for the small groups, silently praying it wouldn't be Britain, Canada or South Africa. I didn't want to have to go head to head with my friends while it could still be avoided. I was grateful to see we were dancing against Sweden. Sweden were one of the best teams, and were usually the other team in the semi finals with Britain, Canada and Australia. However, we'd beaten them before, so I was pretty confident we could beat them again. I looked to see who Britain was paired with, but I quickly saw Canada and South Africa were competing together. My heart went out for Briar and Caspar. They'd become really close friends because of the duet round, and their bond had just grown and grown. It would almost be like me having to compete against Joe... I hoped they were okay, particularly South Africa, because their chances of beating Canada were slim to none.
I sighed, and moved on to the activities section, noting there was a dance captain meeting at 2pm for the remaining countries. That was Australia, Canada, Britain, South Africa, Sweden, Brazil, Estonia and Italy. This gave me around 3 hours until the meeting, meaning I had time to kill. I decided to see if Joe was free. Three hours with him sounded fantastic.