Let's Rock! (6 page)

During the entire car ride home, Bria wondered what Reese had meant by “thanks … for coming over and everything.”

“I don't get it,” she told the other Divas. “All I did was talk to her and kinda help her with some homework.”

“You did a lot more than that,” Toni replied. “You treated her with kindness, compassion, and respect.”

“Why wouldn't I?” Bria asked.

“Because not everyone does,” Toni insisted. “I wanted you all to come here tonight and see for
yourselves what homelessness looks and feels like.”

“Why?” Gracie asked. “Did we do something wrong?”

Toni sighed. “No, I did. I went about teaching you the whole Little Tramp routine wrong. When we get back to the studio tonight, I have a whole new choreography to teach you,” Toni said. “We're going to give those judges and that audience a lot to think about.”

Back at the studio that night, all the girls could think about was the experience at the homeless shelter.

“One lady told me that when her husband died, she lost their house and had nowhere to go,” Anya shared. “I felt so bad.”

“Me, too,” Bria added. “I want to go back there and see Reese. She was just like us. She even dances.”

Toni held up her hand. “Volunteering is wonderful, and I encourage you to do so. But there is a lot more we can do.”

She pulled Bria to the center of the room.
“Since you seem to have the walk down, you are going to be the Little Tramp—and the rest of you are going to be society,” she explained.

“What's society?” Gracie asked. “Is it like a club?”

“Sort of,” Toni continued. “It's everyone else in the world. They don't understand what it means to be lonely, cold, hungry, and homeless. So they're going to turn their backs on Charlie. They're going to push him away.” She demonstrated a graceful
pirouette
that landed her facing the back of the room. “You ignore him, shun him—no matter how hard he tries to make you laugh or get your attention.”

“That sounds really mean,” Anya said. “Why would we do that?”

“Because you are showing everyone in the audience how it feels to be homeless. When no one cares or hears you or understands what you are going through.”

“Charlie has no voice,” Bria said. “Like a silent movie.”

“Exactly!” Toni said, patting her on the back.
“But we're going to give him one. At the end of the routine, I want you all to make a circle and lift him in the air. You're going to literally support him and accept him.”

Liberty looked bored. “So, Bria gets to go up in the air and do a solo and everything and we get to dance around her? That doesn't sound fair.”

Toni scowled. “Didn't you learn anything today at the shelter? Enough talking—all of you. I need to fix things.”

Liberty sniffed and took her place in the back line. “If I was going to fix things, I'd make me the star and Bria the background dancer.”

“Well, if I was going to fix things, I'd superglue your mouth shut,” Rochelle tossed back.

“Ladies, I hear whispering,” Miss Toni said, fumbling with the buttons on her MP3 player. “I want concentration. Not gabbing.”

They ran the routine over and over again. Bria started by walking out onstage with the famous Chaplin waddle. She leaped through the air,
then froze in an
attitude
, balancing on her right leg while holding her left at a 90-degree angle in front of her.

“Hold it, hold it,” Toni coached her, “as if you're frozen in time. Now the rest of you … come forward.
Allongé!
Liberty, stretch out that
arabesque
!”

The girls swirled around her. “Let me see
balancé
—together! As one! Up, down, up, down,
relevé, fondu, relevé, fondu
!”

Bria started to wobble. Her leg was killing her from standing like a statue for thirty-two counts. “Now, Bria. Crouch down, get tiny, as if you're trying to hide from the world,” Toni called. Grateful to drop her leg, Bria sunk to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees.

Toni hit a button and the music came to an abrupt halt. Bria looked up, worried she'd done something wrong.

Toni pulled her up to her feet. “I'm not feelin' it,” she said sternly.

Bria sighed. No matter how hard she tried, there was no pleasing her dance coach.

There was a knock at the studio. “May I make a suggestion?” J. J. said, poking his head inside.

Toni frowned. “Can you not eavesdrop?” She was pacing the floor, trying to come up with a way to make the routine work. Everyone was exhausted, physically and emotionally, from the entire day.

“Well, technically, it wasn't eavesdropping. It was more like eaveswatching. Through that teeny tiny crack in the door frame,” J. J. said.

“The shades are drawn so no one can see in,” Toni explained. “No one meaning you, too.”

J. J. smiled and ignored her. “So I was thinking, why do we need any music?” he asked. “I mean, it's called ‘Listen Up,' and it's about silent films. Wouldn't you get more attention if there was no sound at all—just motion?”

The girls looked at Toni for her reaction. “I can't tell what she's thinking,” Scarlett whispered to Rochelle.

Toni cleared her voice. “I still hear whispering,” she said. “And I have something important to say.” She turned to face J. J. “I like his idea—but I think it needs tweaking.”

J. J. raised an eyebrow. “Tweaking? What sort of tweaking? 'Cause people don't tweak Mr. J. J.”

“I like the idea of no sound … until a point. Let's run it again,” Toni commanded.

The Divas got back into position, and did the entire routine over, this time with no piano music. This time, when Bria crouched to the floor, Toni told her to cover her ears.

“Shut out the pain, the fear,” she instructed her. “Give it eight counts, then open your arms wide! As if you're letting the rest of the world into
your
world.”

“What do you hear?” J. J. asked.

Bria listened as hard as she could. “Um, Rochelle panting behind me? Liberty chewing her gum? Scarlett scratching her head?”

Toni gritted her teeth. “No. That's not what I want. Dismissed for tonight!”

Toni and J. J. huddled in the corner while the girls gathered up their bags.

“I was telling the truth,” Bria said. “And I didn't even mention Anya grinding her teeth or Gracie licking her lips.”

“I don't grind my teeth … do I?” Anya asked her teammates. “Maybe just when Toni barks.”

Gracie licked her bottom lip. “I can't help it. I love this strawberry lip balm!”

“It doesn't matter,” Scarlett said. “The point is we have less than two weeks before Electric Dance—and no routine or sound track.” She glanced over at Miss Toni, who was deep in conversation with J. J. “I just hope they can figure something out by the time we get to Hollywood.”

“If they don't, City Feet will trample all over us,” Rochelle added.

Bria gulped. She couldn't think of anything worse.

The flight to L.A. was five and a half hours, which was about five hours and twenty-nine minutes too long for Gracie.

“Are we there yet?” she asked, anxiously peering out the plane window.

“Not unless Hollywood is in the clouds,” her mother answered. “Honey, relax. We'll be there before you know it.”

Gracie sunk back in her seat. Why did the flight have to take forever? And why didn't Scarlett seem to mind? She was too busy reading some book about Old Hollywood.

“Did you know that one of Marilyn Monroe's favorite actors was Charlie Chaplin?” she read out loud.

“Cool. Maybe we could do a duet dressed like both of them,” Bria suggested.

Rochelle looked back over her shoulder. Miss Toni was seated in the last row of the plane with J. J., studying her notebook of dance notations. “Somehow I don't think Toni would go for us changing up her choreography.”

Bria shrugged. “I know. But it would be cool, don't ya think?”

“I think it would be cool if you would all stop talking. I'm trying to catch up on my beauty sleep.” Liberty yawned.

Anya unfortunately had the seat next to her across the aisle. “The flight's only five hours. You need a lot more time than that,” Anya muttered under her breath.

A voice came over the plane loudspeaker. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are making our final descent into LAX airport.”

“Yippee!” Gracie squealed. “We're here!”

The girls gathered their luggage from the baggage carousel with Toni leading the way. “Okay, make sure you have everything. I don't want to get to Electric Dance missing any costumes or dance shoes.”

Liberty had checked five bags—three filled with clothes, one brimming with hair products, and another containing enough makeup to stock a department store.

“And I thought I overpacked,” Bria's mom whispered in her ear. “Compared to Liberty, I'm a lightweight!”

Just then, a voice came singing through the baggage claim area. “Darlings! Over here!” A blond woman dressed in a pink fur vest and huge black sunglasses made her way through the crowds.

Bria squinted. “Is that Lady Gaga?”

Rochelle sighed. “No, it's Mommy Montgomery.”

“This way! This way!” Jane Montgomery instructed two limousine drivers wheeling luggage carts.

“Mommy!” Liberty screamed and raced toward her.
Mwah! Mwah!
They air-kissed on both cheeks. “I missed you so much!”

“And I missed my Libbylicious!” her mom said, hugging her.

“I think I'm going to barf,” Rochelle groaned.

“Thanks for the warm welcome, Jane,” Toni said as the drivers scooped up their bags. “And the ride.”

“Of course! It's the least I can do for our dynamite Divas,” she replied. “I hope you're all excited for your music video debut. I know the Sugar Dolls are excited to meet you.”

“Wow! We get to meet them,” Gracie gasped. “Yiphoo!” It was a funny word, but her combo of “yippee” and “yahoo” seemed to sum up what everyone was feeling.

Anya could barely contain her excitement. “I have always wanted to make a music video,” she told Mrs. Montgomery. “I must have gone on a gazillion auditions when I lived out here. I can't believe it's really happening.”

Jane nodded. “In Hollywood, it's all about who you know,” she said, patting Anya on the head. “And you're lucky enough to know me.”

J. J. stepped forward. “And you're lucky enough to know me. How's it goin', Janie?”

Jane's face went pale. She looked like she'd seen a ghost. “Jerome Fairbanks?” she gasped, taking off her sunglasses to get a better look. “What are you doing here? With my daughter's dance team?”

“He's our guest choreographer,” Toni jumped in. “I hired him.”

Jane stared. “You do know that he almost destroyed my career, right?”

“Hey, that was way back when,” J. J. explained. “I was a pushy kid. A new dancer breaking into Hollywood.”