Kamila raised a brow at Jana. Jana bringing Anil to the prom meant she’d spoken to him in the few hours since she’d left Kamila’s house. Jana gave Kamila a look that said, This doesn’t mean what you think it does. Meanwhile, Anil was sporting his happy-puppy look again. At least he fit in.

“Well, I’m glad you came. Let me show you guys around. Jana, you especially—I need to show you the adoption room.”

As she was trying to convince Jana and Anil that they absolutely needed to get a picture in the photo booth wearing basset hound ears, Asha approached them, Darcy in her arms. She handed Kamila her dog. “You’re on in ten.”

Kamila kissed Darcy on the head. “Let’s get your costume on. Your fans await. Don’t forget, Asha—I need you to film the whole thing so I can get some footage for TikTok.”

“I know. Tim and I are both going to record it so you have two angles.”

The performance started well. Darcy skipped, spun, and twirled to the Bollywood dance song, while Kamila gave her hand and voice commands. The tricky bits, like when Darcy wove figure eights through Kamila’s legs—no easy feat, considering Kamila was wearing a sari—or when she jumped through the golden hula hoop, were executed flawlessly. Darcy kept in time to the music, her four little feet tapping enthusiastically as she danced around the stage.

Kamila wished she could feed off the audience’s energy during the song because she herself had little energy reserves. But she had to maintain eye contact with her dog the whole time so Darcy would understand this was obedience time, not playtime. Kamila had no idea if the crowd was enjoying the performance or looking incredulous because she was dancing with a dog—in public.

But it seemed to be going okay, until Darcy lost her focus at the worst possible time—right at the bridge of the song when Darcy was supposed to be weaving figure eights again, but this time, while Kamila stomped across the stage, the belled ghungroo anklets she’d tied to her feet chiming to the beat. Darcy let out an excited little yelp at something in the direction of the back of the church, and Kamila tripped over the dog, her sari-clad bottom landing on the wooden stage. The commotion only excited Darcy more and concerned poor Lizzy, who was watching from the front row. The anxious corgi hopped onto the stage to make sure his doggie best friend was okay. That opened the floodgates, and several other dogs in the audience assumed the stage was now a free-for-all and rushed up to join in the fun, many of them batting at Kamila’s belled anklets. This all happened in seconds. Asha climbed onto the stage to help calm the dogs and break Kamila free of the mob of excited pups.