When Bria showed up to rehearse her duet with Liberty on Tuesday night, she never expected to see her partner dressed like a rhinestone cowboy.
“Whaddaya think?” Liberty said, modeling a gold sequin vest and shorts over a white leotard. “Taylor Swift’s costume designer made it for me.” She plopped a gold sequin cowboy hat on her head and tied on a white satin mask. “Too much? You think I should lose the mask?”
Bria was speechless. “No, I think the mask is fine … It’s the rest of the outfit I’m worried about.”
Miss Toni walked in the studio and dropped her clipboard. Her mouth hung open. “What in heaven’s name are you dressed for? Halloween?” she boomed. “This is supposed to be set in the Old West. Not Las Vegas!”
“I just thought …,” Liberty started to explain.
“Don’t think. Just change. Now!”
As Liberty ran to the dressing room, Bria stared at the clock on the wall. It was already 6:00 p.m., and she had a ton of homework and a science quiz tomorrow.
“Am I keeping you?” Toni asked.
Bria shook her head. “No, Miss Toni. I just have a lot of studying to do.”
Toni perched on her stool. “Your mom tells me you’re an excellent student, Bria,” she said. “So why are you worried?”
Bria sighed. What she wanted to tell her dance coach was how much pressure she felt in her family to do well. Her dad was a journalist, and her sister was a genius. That left her to keep up—which she barely managed to do with fifteen hours a week of dance class and rehearsals. Her mom insisted she maintain a B+ average or she couldn’t be a Diva. She really wanted Miss Toni to understand what she went through, day after day.
Instead, she simply answered, “I’m okay.”
Finally, Liberty returned, dressed in a simple black leotard and cowboy boots.
“Much better,” Toni commented. “No costume designers. I’ll be providing your look for this duet.”
Liberty rolled her eyes. If it was an “Old West” style, then it was bound to be sequin-less.
Miss Toni hit a button on her MP3 player and a song boomed over the speaker. “This is a high-energy routine,” she told them. “I want the moves strong and staccato. I want to see a clean barrel jump, Liberty. And Bria, watch those arms in the axle turn. They’ve been looking like linguini!”
At the end of the routine, they were both supposed to climb into their saddles mounted in the middle of the stage and yell, “Hi-ho, Silver! Away!” For now, they swung their legs over a chair back.
“We’re lucky she didn’t make us ride a mechanical bull,” Liberty whispered to Bria.
“I heard that!” Toni shouted. Her back was turned, and the music was blaring, but she never missed a comment—especially a snarky one. “And thank you for the wonderful idea, Liberty. I do think we should have the saddles move up and down—as if you’re riding into the sunset on your trusty steeds.”
“But I was kidding!” Liberty exclaimed. “And what’s a steed?”
“A horse,” Bria replied. She wondered if Liberty ever used her head.
“Well, I’m not kidding,” Toni said. “It’s an extra surprise that the judges will never see coming.”
“It’s an added surprise I didn’t see coming,” Bria said, elbowing her duet partner. “Thanks a lot, Liberty!”
Liberty crossed her hands over her chest. “Look, it’s not my fault. I wanted this routine to be glam, not grunge. I was even having my costume designer make you something.”
“Thanks,” Bria said. “I think.”
Toni waved her hand in the air. “Enough! You’re dismissed. I’ve had enough horsing around for today.”
“How’d it go?” Scarlett asked Liberty and Bria as they flopped down on benches in the dressing room.
“You mean how didn’t it go?” Liberty said grumpily. “Toni totally shot down my couture cowboy costume.”
“But she did approve your idea for the rocking horses,” Bria complained. “Did I mention I have no idea how to ride a horse?”
“A horse? Seriously?” Scarlett chuckled. “How are we gonna fit that in the overhead on our flight to L.A.?”
“Not a real horse—a mechanical one. That goes up and down,” Bria said. “Did I also mention I get motion sickness, Liberty?”
“She does,” Scarlett said, nodding. “Trust me. I sat next to her on the Tilt-A-Whirl at the spring carnival and it was not pretty.”
“Just thinking about it makes me queasy,” Bria said, sighing.
“Oh, stop complaining,” Liberty said. “The horse is the least of our problems. Our costumes are going to be totally drab and probably covered in dust and tumbleweeds.”
Scarlett tucked her hair under a glamorous blond wig. “How do I look?”
Liberty frowned. “That just makes me feel worse. I hate this duet! I hate Miss Toni! The Marilyn Monroe solo should have been mine.”
“Gee, someone’s in a bad mood. That’s more like it,” Rochelle said, striding into the dressing room. “I feel so much better when Liberty is miserable.”
“For your information, I am not miserable,” she insisted. “Actually, when I think about it, I’m thrilled. I spoke to my mom this morning and she says I’m a shoo-in for the spotlight dancer in the Sugar Dolls’ video.”
“Aw, that’s so nice of your mommy to give you the lead,” Rochelle replied. “It must be nice to be a spoiled brat who gets whatever she wants.”
“And it must be nice to be talentless and clueless,” Liberty shot back.
“Divas! Divas!” Scarlett stepped in to referee. “Can we focus on the positive here? We’re all going to Hollywood! We’re all going to be in a pop video.”
Liberty shot Rochelle a nasty look. “Not if I can help it. I’m calling my mom right now.” She stormed out of the room.
“You think she’s bluffing?” Bria asked Rochelle.
“Don’t know, don’t care.” Rochelle shrugged. “When I’m a pro dancer, I’m gonna be cast in a ton of music videos. I don’t need Liberty Montgomery to do me any favors.”
“But, Rock, I want you to be in the video with us,” Scarlett said. “We’re a team. It wouldn’t be any fun without you.”
“Just say you’re sorry for calling her a spoiled brat,” Bria suggested.
“But she is a spoiled brat,” Rochelle said.
“Rock, please?” Scarlett pleaded. “For me?”
Rochelle sighed. “Fine. I’ll go find Liberty and tell her I’m sorry. But I’m crossing my fingers behind my back.”
Scarlett looked at Bria and shook her head. “Maybe we should rename our team the Drama Divas?”