“Okay, guys?” Marianne raised her hand.

Vi paused. “Marianne?”

“Um, I really appreciate all you guys have taught me the past couple weeks. But … maybe I can teach you something that could help with—ya know—‘cohesion’?” Marianne bit her lip. Would Vi accept?

“Like that compliments ritual you did the other week?” Vi asked. “I’m not sure, I— Hmm. What would you teach us?” Vi asked, checking the clock.

“Team spirit.” Marianne grinned. She took out her lip gloss and reupped. Then she held out her hands to bring everyone closer together. She pulled her jeans up a bit, shaking her tush to get comfy in them. “Every team needs one thing. Do you guys know what that is?”

They stared at her blankly. And to be fair, she hadn’t been on a team since Rec & Ed softball in fourth and fifth grade, so she didn’t know, either. But she could improvise.

“A secret handshake, of course,” she found herself saying.

“Oh, I don’t know…” Vi stammered to come up with a reason not to do it, but Marianne let the protestations slide right off of her.

Marianne created the first move, a hand slap followed by a “psssh” noise as she twirled around.

Nina giggled.

Marianne tried the step with Dan first.

He did it in his own way, his arm crutches spinning around him as he turned on his more stable foot.

“Nailed it!” she cheered. “Now you make up the next one.”

Dan rolled his head in a circle.

“Perfect,” she said. They put their moves together.

Nina, usually so tightly wound, morphed entirely as she added a graceful, ballet-esque arm in/arm out element.

Vi was resistant. “This is for little kids.”

“Who cares? It’s fun,” Nina chirped.

“Aw, come on,” Dan joined in.

Marianne started to chant, pounding both fists into the air in front of her. “Vi. Vi. Vi. Vi.”

They all joined in: “Vi! Vi! Vi! Vi!”

“Fine.” Vi gave in. “Standing worm. Go,” she said.

She performed a standing-up version of a break-dance move where your whole body rolls on the floor. Standing in place, her spine wiggled.

Had Vi mastered break dancing, too?

All three of them whooped and hollered for Vi.

“Learned it from YouTube,” she said, only a little out of breath.

Every time they practiced it, a different person got a different part wrong. By the time Mr. Garcia walked in, they were in hysterics.

“Now this is the kind of positive zeal I want to see for Regionals!” Mr. Garcia raised a fist in the air in emphasis, a really peppy move for a guy like him.

“And now”—he strode to the head table and put a timer on his desk—“we focus. Shall we dive right in?”

Scrimmage time.

Vi and Marianne versus Nina and Dan.

Marianne leaned forward, ready.

Albany is the capital of which state?

A negatively charged ion is referred to as what?

Who is the author of the fantasy epic Lord of the Rings?