It had happened right under my nose, and I hadn’t even noticed until now. It was an issue that needed and, of course, deserved my attention. But right now was not the time. My brain was on overload. I was exhausted. We only had room to focus on one thing right now, and that was tomorrow’s group competition.

“Lily,” I said. “Can we talk about this later?”

“Sure.” She sighed. “Later.”

CHAPTER

13

We got this! Go big or go home!” Megan barked, her voice bouncing off the rows of closed hotel room doors.

She was not wrong.

Today was day one of the competition. If we didn’t make it past this first round of group performances, that would be the end of the line for the Squad’s chances at nationals.

But we were hours away from our performance. We were on our way to breakfast.

“Whoa, Megan,” said Lily. “That’s a lot of pep talk for someone just hoping to get their key card working again.”

“In Riley’s defense, those key cards are super touchy sometimes,” said Trina. “The struggle is real.”

Riley ignored us and kept trying to get the light on the door’s safety lock to stop flashing red. She’d waved her key card this way and that. It was tough to watch.

“You seem to have everything you need,” I gently told her. “You sure you have to go back in right now?”

Riley didn’t turn around, which made her voice sound even more panicky. “But I need it! It’s my lucky ring!”

“I thought you said you got it from a gumball machine,” said Megan, totally unsympathetic. We could almost hear a record scratch when Megan’s words flew out of her mouth.

Poor Riley. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this freakout moment was not just about a lucky ring. This was about the competition today. I was used to competing. We all were. But for me, competition days usually played out the same way. I got quiet and focused, I usually worked off my nerves by feeding my team with extra encouragement, hoping some of that pep talk would also indirectly boost my own confidence. Lily zoned out to her music. And after competing with the Squad, I’d come to recognize how they take on preperformance jitters.

Right then, just as I thought we’d be there forever, we finally heard a soft click, and Riley opened her door. She was out of her room before you know it, and sporting a tiny heart ring around her right pinkie.

At last, we could meet Vanessa and the moms down the hall at the elevators. There was a cushioned bench right by the elevators they enjoyed sitting on to chat and strategize as they waited on us to be ready. To our surprise, they were still standing when we got there.

I guessed we weren’t the only ones managing our worries about today.

“Eat something,” Riley’s mom told us a few minutes later as we wordlessly pushed food around our plates but did not eat much.