“That was so fun!” said Eliza after I hugged her good-bye.

Isabella came from nowhere to stop and stare at me and Eliza. This class was so huge, she’d been here the entire time and we hadn’t noticed. No sooner had Eliza walked away than Isabella intercepted me halfway to the Squad. “Aww, you two—super sweet,” Isabella cooed and pursed her lips into a pout. “Harper, congrats on your acceptance into a Connecticut studio! The DanceStarz didn’t deserve you.”

I stared blankly at Isabella, though I had her all figured out.

“You know I’m still with DanceStarz,” I said finally.

“Oh, really? It didn’t seem like it,” she said and continued down her own path.

When I chatted with the Squad, their mood was less jubilant. Apparently, they’d overheard my whole exchange with Isabella.

“Um, wasn’t that amazing?” I asked the Squad. “Didn’t you just love it?”

“It was the best,” said Riley, cheerily. “Up until the part when you jumped ship and joined the competition.”

“Hey, that was only for fun!” I chuckled, even though I wasn’t entirely sure she was joking or not. I looked at everyone’s faces for clues. They all looked happy, but also like they kind of thought what Riley had said was true. Why wouldn’t they lighten up? Did they want me to change who I was? I was proud to be close to home, with my old friends. I knew that I could have friends in both worlds—but did they?

CHAPTER

12

The walk back to our hotel was more low-key than it had been when we were heading out to the surprise hip-hop class. We walked back across Times Square with way less enthusiasm than when we first saw it as a group. The flashing lights and all the flair might as well be dulled out by a dense gray fog. Even Riley kept her camera phone in her pocket most of the way—apart from the time she thought she saw Trey Thompson. (Spoiler: It wasn’t him.)

“Well, that was kind of . . . funny,” said Megan’s mom to no one in particular. “Seeing Harper competing against her Squad members like that.”

Megan pursed up her lips and puffed out a sigh.

“Nothing like a little fun competition to shake things up before our big day tomorrow,” said Vanessa cheerfully. “Besides, it didn’t mean anything. They were learning something new and having fun.”

You would never catch Vanessa saying anything negative about competition and today was no different. She was the type of person who relished any opportunity to perform or watch a performance, in whatever form they came in.

Megan’s mom wasn’t going to let this go. “The day before nationals, I’d prefer more team bonding than in-team rivalry, but I guess that’s just my preference. After all, team bonding is half the battle.”

I knew this was just a dig at my hip-hop fun, and it wasn’t fair. Here was the same woman whose daughter had thought nothing of acting like a rival to her teammates at regionals.