“So how do you all know it?” I tried a different in with her.

“Well, the song is from my little sister,” Kelly said. “But the cheese thing is from a comp we did a while back. Something happened, and someone said, ‘so, cheese,’ instead of ‘oh, please,’ and . . . well, I guess you had to be there.” She and Eliza both laughed.

The talk turned to their latest stuff at the dance studio. Funny things that had happened without me. Crazy things that had happened without me. Annoying things that had happened without me.

By the time Eliza’s mom poked her head in and told me it was time to commute back to the city, I was not bummed about leaving before the party ended. I hugged Eliza goodbye and told her I’d see her in the morning. I’d been happy to see her. Hanging out with her felt normal. But the party—all of it was based on an inside thing I wasn’t a part of. That was a bit much.

When I got back to the hotel, I thanked Eliza’s mom, and Riley’s mom met me in the lobby to walk me up.

“I hope you had fun,” she said. “But everyone else is in bed. Tomorrow is an important day. One of the dance teams is going to be crowned number one. The grand champion. The big cheese.”

“Please don’t say ‘cheese,’” I mumbled.

CHAPTER

15

Lily was already asleep when I got back to the hotel room that night. And on the morning of the competition, she woke up before me.

“Good morning!” I called out to her through the bathroom door. I learned Lily was big on having whole conversations through that bathroom door. As soon as she’d jump out of the shower, she’d start telling me some long, funny story, as if we’d been sitting in the same room. But this time, I could only make out a murmur in reply. That was strange. So far, it seemed Lily had been a morning person.

Could be competition jitters? I pulled my things together as I waited for her to come out of the bathroom. I want to make sure I had everything I need in my dance bag:

Hairspray

Extra leo

Bobby pins

Tights

Hairbrush

Bandages

Tape for my feet

Water bottle

A chewy cranberry granola bar

Towel

Deodorant

Stretch band

Hair elastics!

We’d been through this once already. Did it get any easier on day two of competition? The churning of my stomach hadn’t started yet. In some ways, I could be a little less confident now that we knew just how fantastic our challengers were. But then, the fact I’d already been through this the day before, so I was familiar with how it felt to go to nationals, be on a nationals stage, and compete at our best, balanced all that worry out.

And when I figured the cure for day-two jitters was to not be here for day two, that made me feel better. Megan had been keeping up with Isabella’s social media posts, so we already knew that she was back in Florida after having been bumped out of the competition. Nope. These day-two jitters were a good problem to have.