Ava spent the hour after school sitting on the bleachers in the gym, watching her basketball team practice. Everyone cheered when she came in, and it was more fun than she thought it would be to watch them run drills. She paid close attention to everything Coach Rader said—when it came time for her to get back in the game, she wanted to be ready.
Then her phone beeped at four o’clock, reminding her she had somewhere to be. She waved good-bye to her team and headed for the auditorium.
Carly Hermano had approached her at lunchtime, all smiles.
“Kylie said you would take her place in the line dance,” Carly said. “That is awesome!”
“I feel so bad for Kylie,” Ava said, “and if it helps you guys to have a sixth person, I’ll do it. I’m excited to learn how to line dance.”
Carly’s smile faded a bit. “You mean you’ve never done it?”
“Um, no, didn’t Kylie tell you?” Ava asked, starting to feel nervous.
“No, but I’m sure you’ll work out just fine,” Carly replied.
“I’m good on my feet, honestly,” Ava said, and Carly’s gaze drifted down to her ankle. “Well, except for that. But that was an accident.”
“Okay. We’re practicing in the auditorium at four o’clock. I’ll call out the steps as we dance, and you can just follow along,” Carly said.
Ava nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll see you then.”
So Ava’s palms were a little sweaty as she headed to the auditorium. What if the other dancers didn’t want her to join them? And what if she couldn’t keep up?
The first of her fears disappeared when she entered the auditorium.
“Hey, it’s Ava!” Carly called from the stage. “Come on up!”
Four other kids stood onstage with Carly, and Ava vaguely knew them all from seeing them around school.
“Everybody, this is Kylie’s friend Ava,” said Carly. Then she pointed to a girl who wore her black hair in a high ponytail.
“This is Hana,” Carly said, and then she proceeded to introduce Ava to the rest of the group. Keshawn, a tall, skinny boy; Kimberly, a petite blond girl; and David, a short boy with glasses, who pointed his fingers like pistols in the air when Carly said his name and pretended to shoot them.
“Pleased to meet you, pardner,” he said. “Welcome to Toe the Line.”
“I hope I can help out,” Ava said. “I’ve never line danced before.”
“I’ve seen you on the football field. You’re fast on your feet,” Keshawn said, and Ava blushed.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Okay, let’s line up,” Carly said, and the dancers fell into two rows. In the front was David, then Carly, then Kimberly. Keshawn stood behind Carly, Hana stood behind Kimberly, and Carly instructed Ava to stand behind David.
At least I’m in the second row, Ava thought. If I mess up, it won’t be too noticeable, right?
Carly turned to look at the back row. “Okay, I’m going to call out the steps as we go,” she said. “Ava, just try to copy what we’re doing, okay?”
“Okay!” Ava said.
Carly called offstage. “All right, Chloe!”
Chloe pressed a button on the sound system, and the opening strains of a country-and-western song filled the air. After a few beats, Carly called out, “Walk forward!”
That sounded easy enough to Ava. She took a step forward, watching Keshawn next to her. He took a step forward, lifted up his left foot, and clapped. Ava tried to copy him, but her clap came one beat after everyone else’s.
“Grapevine right!” Carly called out.
Grapevine? Ava had no idea what that meant. She took some steps to the right but then noticed that the others were moving sideways, crossing one foot behind the other as they moved. By the time she mimicked the move, Carly was already calling out the next one.
“Grapevine left!”
Ava took another sideways step left and tried to move her right leg behind her left leg, but she was a little slower than the others. When she finally made the move, Keshawn was already moving back toward her, and they bumped into each other.
“Sorry!” Ava said, and Keshawn just smiled at her.
“Step, tap! Step, tap!” Carly was saying, and Ava had to look down at Keshawn’s feet to see what that meant. By the time Carly called out the next move, something about a jazz box, Ava had decided that marching in place was the best thing to do.
What have I gotten myself into? she wondered.
“Pivot right!” Carly called out, and everyone made a half turn to the right—except Ava, who turned left in her confusion. As she made the turn, she saw two boys enter the auditorium from the corner of her eye: Jack Valdeavano and Spencer Mills.
Oh no, Ava thought. Jack was going to think she was the worst line dancer in the world—which was true! She prayed that nobody could see her behind David, but since David was a head shorter than she was, she knew that wasn’t likely. She tried to concentrate on what Carly was saying.
“Kick left!” Carly called out, and Ava turned and gave an enthusiastic kick—which hit Keshawn right in the back of the knee.
“Sorry!” Ava hissed again, and she could feel her face turning bright red. When the song finally ended, she could feel the relief through her whole body.
Carly clapped her hands.
“Nice effort, everybody!” she said in her best cheerleader voice. Then she looked at Ava. “I guess that brace is giving you some trouble, right?”
“Oh, right, the brace,” Ava said, happy to have an excuse. But she knew the truth—she had no idea how to line dance!
“We’ve all been practicing this for weeks,” Keshawn said kindly. “I can write down the steps for you so you can practice them at home.”
“That would be amazing,” Ava said gratefully.
“I’ll send them to your school e-mail,” Keshawn offered, just as Chloe came out onstage.
“Okay, clear the stage, please!” Chloe said. “Jack and Spencer, you’re up!”
Jack grinned at Ava as they crossed paths. “That was really special up there,” he said.
Ava blushed. “It was my first time,” she explained. “I’m just filling in for Kylie.”
“I’m sure you’ll pick it up,” Jack said.
“So, what are you and Spencer doing?” Ava asked. Spencer was a member of the drama club, and Ava hadn’t known that he and Jack were friends.
“Hip-hop,” Jack replied. Ava raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, he and I took hip-hop dance classes in fifth and sixth grade.”
“I have to see this!” Ava said, and she checked the time on her phone. Her mom had said to text her when practice was done. She settled into a front-row seat to watch.
Jack and Spencer shook out their limbs for a few seconds, and then the music began. The two of them started locking, popping, and rolling all over the stage, moving in perfect time with each other.
“Woo-hoo!” Ava cheered. They were awesome!
And then it hit her. This was a serious Variety Show. If she didn’t figure out how to line dance, she might never live it down!