Charlie sat under the barre and hugged her knees.

The new costumes glittered and shimmered as the rest of the class held them up with ooohs and aaahs.

Charlie sighed quietly. There was no costume for her. She wasn’t in the concert, so she didn’t need one.

‘Put it around your neck like this,’ Rosie said, showing the class how to put on their costumes.

As Charlie watched, the rest of the class tried their costumes on. They looked like shiny metal robots.

Charlie sighed again.

When she had first heard about the concert, she had been scared stiff. But that felt like a long time ago. Now that she knew the dance so well, Charlie thought she could dance on stage if she had to.

In fact, maybe wearing the costume and dancing on stage would be fun.

‘When you break away from the machine,’ Rosie said,‘you do this.’ She pulled at the velcro on Kathy’s costume.

As the silver material came away, Rosie pulled it in a glittering circle. Then she wrapped it around Kathy’s waist to make a shimmery skirt.

It glittered and rippled over Kathy’s hips as she moved.

‘Ooooooh!’ said everyone.

The rest of the class copied. Soon they were all standing together in sparkling dancing skirts.

Charlie rested her chin on her knees. She wanted to reach out and touch the shiny skirts.

‘OK, OK!’ Rosie clapped her hands. ‘Costumes off while we warm up.’

‘Awww!’ the girls groaned.

‘You can put them back on after that,’ Rosie said, smiling.

When it happened, Charlie was in another world.

In her mind, she was a clunking robot, stuck in a machine and forced to do the same work day after day.

It didn’t matter that she was dancing to the side, away from the rest of the class. It didn’t even matter that she wasn’t wearing a costume. In her mind, Charlie was a robot, about to break away from the machine and be free. When Kathy broke away, Charlie kept jolting and jerking like the others.

That was when it happened.

Kathy was smiling, broad and big as always. She pulled the costume from around her neck and wrapped it around her waist. She twirled and leapt with the skirt flowing around her.

Then Kathy jumped back into one flip, and then another …

But this time, as Kathy flipped back, the new skirt got caught under her hands. As Kathy pushed off, her hands slipped on the skirt.

With a cry, Kathy crashed awkwardly to the floor.

It took Charlie a while to come out of her daydream and realise what had happened. But when she did, she felt sick watching.

Kathy was groaning and sobbing while Rosie put an icepack on her ankle. Then Rosie carried Kathy out into the waiting area.

Soon everyone heard the receptionist talking on the phone to Kathy’s mum.

‘… You should probably take Kathy to hospital.’

Charlie gulped and shook her head.

Not Kathy.

And not now! It was only three weeks until the concert.

The trendy girls were whispering in a group. But they seemed more excited than worried.

Charlie glanced at the rest of the class. Then she tiptoed to the waiting area and peeked around the door.

Kathy was lying on the floor with her ankle propped up on a chair. Her cheeks and hair were wet with tears. Rosie and the receptionist were talking quietly in another room.

Poor Kathy! Charlie knelt on the floor beside her friend.

‘Oh Kathy, don’t cry,’ Charlie whispered. ‘It’ll be all right.’

Kathy took a quivering breath. ‘I’m going to miss the concert …’

Charlie shook her head. But she knew Kathy was right.

‘… and level tests at gym!’ Kathy continued.

Then she started crying again.

Charlie held her friend’s hand, wishing she knew what to say.

After a while, Kathy took a big gulp of air.

‘At least you’ll have a spot in the dance,’ Kathy said, trying to smile. ‘That’s one good thing.’

Charlie shook her head again. She still didn’t know what to say.

Being in the concert and wearing the costume would be wonderful. But she didn’t want Kathy to miss out.

Right now, Charlie didn’t know what to hope for.