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Ten
All I had left wereMonday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and then we left for Orlando on Thursday afternoon. Friday was the first day of competition, and then those who made it past the prelims got to perform on Saturday. No matter what, we were headed to Disney on Sunday, and I was still considering taking Dom up on his offer to let me stay at the hotel and have a day off.
It was crunch time and I wished that the kids weren’t still in school, but they had two weeks left and I couldn’t get them out of classes. My seniors definitely had senoritis bad, and I didn’t see what point there was in keeping them in class when they weren’t learning anything, but it wasn’t my call to make. Education was important, yes, but at a certain point, you had to throw in the towel and let them go for the summer.
One more week and it would all be over. I’d say goodbye to my seniors, which was going to make me cry, again. We’d already had our athletic banquet and I’d given them all praise and awards, but we knew we still had Nationals. Once that was over, this squad was in the books, and we’d have to look forward to next year.
I always got strangely calm about the lead up to competitions, and this was no different. My focus narrowed, and I knew that, at this point, there wasn’t a whole lot more we could do. The routine was what it was, my athletes were as good as they were going to get, and all I could ask was that they tried their best and forgot the rest.
Monday passed in a blur. I barely had the time or energy to eat and work, let alone talk to Echo or think about her. Much.
On Tuesday, my kids were on edge and jumpy and I didn’t know how manage them. Dom and I tried, but they were just not having it.
“Hey,” a voice said behind me, and I whirled around to find Echo, leaning around the curtain.
“What?” I snapped, and then winced.
“Why don’t we do something to take the pressure off?”
I walked over to talk with her so not everyone could hear.
“Don’t you need to drill them perfectly one more time?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“If they haven’t gotten it by now, they’re not going to. Why don’t we have them perform for each other just for fun?” she asked.
That didn’t sound like fun at all.
“I don’t think so.”
Echo rolled her eyes as if I was being difficult. “Fine, then let’s take this damn curtain down and have a freaking dance party.”
That I could agree to. I never said no to a dance party, even when it was suggested by Echo.
It was probably a little too symbolic as both squads shoved the curtain away and moved the mats together until we had one huge space that covered almost the entire gym. Talk about plenty of tumbling room. I hoped we got to keep the mats even after the other team left. There was already a fundraiser the replace all the old equipment (which I’m sure was insured), that had exceeded its goal, so the Heartwood cheerleaders were going to be fine when their brand new gym was finished before the start of the next school year.
I made Dom choose a song and he cranked up the speakers. After a few seconds of reluctance, the dance fever hit everyone and it wason.
I saw my kids pull out viral dance moves and bad-on-purpose moves and there was so much movement you couldn’t tell who was on what team anymore. Dom threw himself into the fray, and then a few of my squad dragged me in and then all the adults were in the mosh pit of teens, laughing and dancing and having the best time.
A circle formed and, one by one, each person showed their best moves as the rest of us cheered them on. That led to a few people throwing tumbling in and then Echo shimmied into the center and did a fucking standing full and everyone lost their minds.
She stood up from the trick and winked right at me.
