It had been a while since I’d visited one of those famous NYC pizzeria shops that were so common, especially downtown. During our lunch, we’d posted our selfies with floating emoji pizzas streaking down our pic. It seemed Eliza and I had been cracking up at every little thing ever since.

But now it seemed the conversation was getting a bit more real-life.

Eliza took a long sip of her water. “So, tell me what’s been up with you.” Eliza leaned in closer, as if she’s asking me to tell her my deepest secrets. “Are you loving Florida?”

“Yup, it’s a pretty place to live,” I casually answer. “I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of seeing palm trees.”

“Good.” Eliza smiled cheerily. She took another bite of her cupcake. “What about your new studio? How’s that going? Looks like you’ve made some pretty cool friends there.”

“Yeah, I got lucky.” I smiled a little wider. “With Lily, especially. She’s super supportive.”

Eliza nodded. “We all need someone like that. Remember how hard we used to push each other?”

I shake my head. “How can I forget?”

She laughed. “Remember that time we couldn’t get our double-timed move down fast enough? We must’ve tried it over a million times until we got it.”

I winced at the memory. “That was pretty intense. Lily is a different kind of supportive, though.”

Eliza scrunched up her face. “How do you mean?”

“Well, she’s more cheerleader than coach,” I said. “She reminds me to have fun, which is nice.”

“Sure, fun is important. But . . .” Eliza shrugged. “No judgment. Just wondering if you’re staying challenged like you did when you were here. Remember what Ms. Fiona used to say to us—”

“‘Can’t get too comfy, girls!’” we say at the same time with that same cracked voice Ms. Fiona used to speak in. We chuckle at the memory.

Being here with Eliza, reminded about what used to be important to me, was eye-opening. In some ways, I had changed a lot. In others, though, I hadn’t.

“I’m still the same go-hard dancer you remember,” I replied, wiping my mouth of any lingering chocolate icing.

“Good, because we’ve got to dig deep at the nationals,” Eliza said. “The scouts are coming, and this is the time to start making choices.”

“Yeah, I want to make a good impression on them and see how far I can take it.” I actually hadn’t admitted that to anyone else yet, but I realized how excited I was at the possibility of going for one of the summer programs.

“Well, this is the epicenter of dance right here,” she said. “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.”

I recognized the lyrics to that famous old song, so I started singing the rest. “It’s up to you—”

Eliza joined in. “New York, New York!”

We cracked up all over again. Just like old times!

CHAPTER

10

Bzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I shut off the buzzing alarm on my cell phone and willed myself awake a half hour earlier than I’d intended. Careful not to wake Lily in the queen-size bed beside mine, I grabbed my secret stash of fruit I’d brought home from our dinner last night. As gross as it sounded, the best place to do this quietly was the bathroom, for sure.