“Squad on three!” shouted Lily from somewhere inside of the group hug. “One, two, three . . .”

“SQUAD!” we shouted before breaking away.

“National championship Squad!” I pumped my fist. We rode that team bonding feeling all the way to the backstage at nationals.

“Right after this performance, Trey will call you out to take a bow,” said the busy stagehand who’d led us to the stage from our front-row seats moments before.

We nodded and thanked her before she speed-walked off, disappearing into the backstage scenery.

Up until now, we’d been having a great time watching Trey MC. He was wearing another sequined bomber, but I didn’t need to train myself to stare into its shimmering back, because the pressure was totally off my shoulders. I sat in the audience enjoying Trey’s charming MC style, cheering for the exhibition performers, and tossing the balloons that at one point were released from a giant net overhead.

Between the surprise pop-up Squad salon in our hotel room to the fun show, it had been more of a chill morning. My stomach wasn’t churning as loudly as it had been the past two days. That is, until I saw something that got it going again.

The stagehand was back with another person—Eliza. “Your performance will be right after they take their bow,” she instructed Eliza.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds.

“Hey, Eliza,” I said as I walked over to her.

“Hey, Harper,” she smiled, but she seemed a little quiet.

Everyone else greeted Eliza, except for Megan.

That was all anyone said. We turned our attention to the performance about to start onstage. Trey had just finished interviewing the little girls dressed up like rock-star elves—candy-striped leggings and Santa hats with black biker jackets. They told Trey they were kindergarteners from New Jersey.

When they started dancing to a popular holiday song, we couldn’t look away from their performance. It was the cutest thing. Throughout their routine, they didn’t stop smiling and engaging the audience. There were a boatload of people out there, but these little girls weren’t intimidated by that at all. They gave it their all until the very last note of the song.

The crowd went wild for them.

“That was fun!” said a tiny, giggling voice. The kindergarteners were exiting the stage in our direction.

They could hardly contain their excitement. Trina put up her hand—not too high up—so that each kid could high-five her on their way off stage. It was such a sweet, supportive thing to do, so I stood behind her and did the same. Lily and Riley stood across from us, creating a tunnel of congrats for the kids. Megan and Vanessa followed suit—one stood across from the other. As the kids walked through, I looked at the tops of their heads, bobbing all the way through our tunnel.