“Don’t be embarrassed to like it,” I told her. “It’s easier if you try it off the ice, of course.”

“Who says I’m embarrassed? And who says I can’t skate?” Megan said. “Anyway, ice-skating is dumb. Wearing someone else’s borrowed shoes and going in circles on a giant ice cube? Who needs to do that? Bunheads! Are we finished here?”

Trina skated over to Riley. They linked their arms as Trina guided Riley around the rink and out the exit, where Megan met them.

That left Lily and me. We stared at their backs in silence.

“Can we talk?” I asked her.

“Sure. Okay,” Lily said.

“All right, so—” I started. Just then a group of kids grabbing hands did a huge, long whip, and the kid holding at the end whipped so quickly by Lily, she almost fell over.

“Anyway,” I said when we recovered from that, “I just wanted to say—”

Two couples holding hands pushed in between us, blocking my view of Lily. This was not working so well.

“Want to go get hot chocolate?” I shouted to her.

“Yeah, okay!” Lily yelled back. She weaved her way through the crowd and headed out the exit door.

We got lucky. We caught the concession stand when the line was relatively short. We had our hot chocolates a few minutes later. The warm cup felt amazing to hold. It also felt nice to sit for a moment.

“Hey, girls!” Vanessa waved to us from a few tables away, where she and the moms were chatting.

“Rad moves out there!” Riley’s mother called out.

“Thank you!” We waved back.

“She’s the one with the skills!” I pointed at Lily.

“When I get home,” I said to Lily, “I’ll have to find a skating rink I could go to every so often so I can practice to catch up to your skills.”

“Connecticut home?” Lily asked.

“No, I mean Florida,” I said. I paused and looked at the dazzling Christmas tree. “I know I’ve been weird. It’s complicated, I guess. It’s tough to explain. You wouldn’t understand.”

Lily wraps her hands around her drink. “Why would you think I wouldn’t understand?”

I considered her question.

“I’m new to DanceStarz, just like you are,” Lily continued. “I moved from the only home I knew too, you know. Maybe I was in the same state, but still.”

“But you seem to be adjusting so great. It’s like you’re handling everything so well. Plus, your parents’ shop feels like it’s always been there,” I said. “I guess you don’t even talk about your old home, so for some weird reason, it feels like you’re not new.”

She shrugs. “Maybe I just don’t show my feelings about this as much. But believe me, I know how weird and hard it is when you’re new. At least you got to see your friends. I haven’t been back since I moved.”

“Well, I’ve been making it even weirder for you these past few days.” I make a face. “I’m so sorry about slipping out of our room the other day without saying good-bye.”