Two to Tango Read online

  To Gaga, aka my mom,

  Judy Kahn,

  for always believing in me.

  Love you muchly

  Contents

  Chapter 1: A Star Is Born

  Chapter 2: I Gotta Be Me

  Chapter 3: Studio Surprise

  Chapter 4: Two’s Company . . . Three’s a Crowd

  Chapter 5: Water, Water, Everywhere

  Chapter 6: Filling Toni’s Shoes

  Chapter 7: A Team of Our Own

  Chapter 8: Dancing with the Divas

  Chapter 9: Showdown!

  Chapter 10: The Envelope, Please

  Chapter 11: The Show Must Go On

  Chapter 12: Sticks and Stones

  Chapter 13: Hayden the Hero

  Chapter 14: Dancing in the Rain

  Chapter 15: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

  Chapter 16: Love’s First Kiss

  Chapter 17: Making a Splash

  Chapter 18: Trophy Time

  Chapter 19: The Return of Rock

  Glossary of Dance Terms

  About the Author

  By the Same Author

  Chapter 1

  A Star Is Born

  Rochelle Hayes jolted up in bed the second her radio alarm clock began blasting.

  She sprung out of her covers and danced around, singing into an imaginary microphone. It was 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning—hours before she usually had to get up for class at Dance Divas Studio.

  Most weekends she dragged her heels and her mom practically had to wave a plate of chocolate chip waffles under her nose to coax her up.

  But today was different. Miss Toni, her dance team coach, had specifically asked her to come to the studio at 7:00 a.m. to discuss a new routine she had choreographed especially for Rochelle.

  “I have a surprise for you, Rochelle,” she said, pulling her aside in class one day.

  “A surprise?” Rochelle knew in Toni terms that could be a good thing . . . or a bad thing. Or a totally crazy thing.

  Antoinette Moore was one of the toughest dance teachers in New Jersey with a reputation that followed her all over the country, wherever she took her team to compete. Toni liked to spring things on Rochelle and her teammates.

  Only a few months ago, she’d had the five of them perform a patriotic routine, where she painted their faces to look like the American flag. Rochelle got the worst of it: her face was sprinkled with blue stars. The rest of the girls had red stripes on their cheeks and forehead.

  “I look like a Smurf with chicken pox!” Rochelle moaned to her BFF and Divas teammate, Scarlett Borden.

  “And I look like the Cat in the Hat’s hat!” Scarlett chuckled. “Just go with it!”

  Rochelle could always count on Scarlett to calm her down and cheer her up. She was the team’s unofficial captain and voice of reason—no matter what Toni had them do.

  “I have a dance that I think you’ll like . . . for a change,” Toni had said to Rochelle.

  “Is it hip-hop?” Rochelle asked excitedly. “Do I get to bust a move at Leaps and Bounds?” The competition was one of the coolest and fiercest in the country, and the girls were looking forward to the trip to Delaware in a week.

  Toni shook her head. “No, it’s not hip-hop. But it’s colorful.”

  Rochelle suddenly had visions of herself dressed like a rainbow . . . or a clown . . . or a confetti birthday cake.

  “What do you mean by colorful?” she asked nervously.

  “Trust me, it’s a sizzling hot number,” Toni replied.

  So that’s it, Rochelle thought to herself. She’s going to make me dress like a giant strip of bacon!

  “I am not saying anything more until Saturday morning,” Toni insisted. “Be here at 7:00 a.m. sharp, ready to work.” She tossed her a long flowing orange skirt with tiers of ruffles. “And wear this with your leotard for rehearsal.”

  Rochelle made a face.

  “No arguing.” Toni cut her off with a wave of her hand before she had a chance to protest. “This is the most dynamic dance I have ever choreographed, and I think you’re the girl to do it.”

  Back in the dressing room with her fellow Dance Divas, Rochelle was proud but also puzzled. Toni’s clues were impossible to decipher. She held up the skirt: “This is what I’m supposed to wear.”

  “It’s not bad,” said Scarlett. “It could be worse. Remember that ‘Footprints in the Sand’ duet we had to do last year?”

  Rochelle flinched at the memory. “That sandpaper skirt was so lame!” she said. “Not to mention itchy!”

  “The orange color is nice,” Bria Chang chimed in. “It reminds me of a sunrise.”

  Liberty Montgomery wrinkled her nose. “Ruffles? Seriously? That is so yesterday . . . not Leaps and Bounds.”

  Rochelle hated to ever admit Liberty was right, but in this case she had to agree. The ruffles were pretty tacky. She pulled the skirt over her hips and twirled.

  “How do I look?” she asked the girls.

  Gracie, Scarlett’s seven-year-old sister and the youngest Diva, clapped her hands. “You look pazy.”

  Gracie had a knack for combining words into her own Gracie language. “Pazy” was pretty and crazy rolled up into one.

  “You look like a pirate queen, Rock!” she added.

  “Arrrr!” Rochelle growled at her. “Ahoy there, mateys! Maybe Toni will have me dance in a peg leg?” She limped around the dressing room. “Eat your heart out, Captain Jack Sparrow!”

  Scarlett laughed. “What else did Toni say?”

  Rochelle tried to remember her exact words. “Something about this being her most dynamic dance?”

  “Maybe you’re a superhero? Superheroes are dynamic,” Bria suggested. “That would be cool.”

  Liberty smirked. “You look more like a tangerine than Wonder Woman.”

  “Liberty . . .,” Scarlett said, trying to referee before a fight broke out. “What happened to Dance Divas stick together—not torture each other?”

  “I know! I know! You’re Super Citrus!” Liberty cracked up. “The Fantastic Fruit Salad!”

  Rochelle inched closer to Liberty, till they were nose-to-nose. “Do you want to say that again?” she dared her.

  “Aw, somebody’s a little sour.” Liberty laughed. “Orange you liking my jokes?”

  Scarlett held Rochelle back. “It’s not worth it, Rock. If Miss Toni hears you guys arguing, she’ll take your solo away.”

  Rochelle took a deep breath and smiled. “That’s really funny, Liberty. You’re a riot! I guess you’ll have a lot of time to come up with more jokes since you don’t have a solo to learn this week.”

  Liberty stopped laughing. Rochelle had definitely hit a nerve. She knew Liberty was just jealous that Miss Toni hadn’t chosen her for whatever special routine she was choreographing.

  “Like I care,” Liberty tossed back. “I have to go shopping for a dress this weekend with my mom—something really glam to wear to the Grammy Awards.”

  “That’s so nice of your mom!” Bria said innocently. “She’s flying back from L.A. just to take you shopping?”

  Liberty shot her a look. She’d forgotten that she told Bria her mother was choreographing a music video in Hollywood all week.

  “Well, if she has time, she’ll come home . . .,” Liberty said, trying to cover.

  She grabbed her dance bag and left the dressing room in a huff.

  “Wow, Liberty is really upset that you have Miss Toni’s attention this week,” Scarlett told Rochelle. “You know how she gets.”

  Did she ever! But after several months, Rochelle had figured out that Liberty was all bark and no bite. Having a big-time Hollywood choreographer for a mother wasn’t easy, and Liberty always wanted to please her—no matter what it took.

&
nbsp; “I wish I knew why Miss Toni picked me,” Rochelle said.

  “Why? Because you’re awesome!” Scarlett insisted. “Liberty can do a gazillion fouetté turns, but she doesn’t have your passion. When you dance, you take people’s breath away! You’re on fire!”

  “Thanks,” Rochelle said modestly. “Let’s hope Toni thinks so on Saturday.”

  Chapter 2

  I Gotta Be Me

  “You need a ride, honey?” Rochelle’s mom called into her bedroom. She was juggling Rochelle’s baby brother, Dylan, on one hip. “I can get my keys and drive you to the studio. Just give me a sec to change Dilly’s diaper . . .”

  Usually, Rochelle would have welcomed the lift to the studio instead of biking the fifteen blocks. But today, she had so much energy, a bike ride sounded like a good warm-up for whatever Miss Toni had in store.

  “I’m a big girl; I can bike it,” she said, tickling Dylan’s toes.

  “Really? No grumping? No, ‘Why do I have to get up so early for dance class?’ ” her mother remarked. “Did aliens come down and take my daughter and replace her with another kid?” She looked in Rochelle’s ear. “Hello? Is Rochelle Hayes in there?”

  Rochelle giggled. “I’m just excited for this new solo,” she explained. “Miss Toni picked me, Mom. Me.”

  “Well, of course she did!” her mother said. “Rock, you’re an amazing dancer. It’s about time Miss Toni started treating you like the star you are.”

  Rochelle’s parents always told her what a talented dancer she was, but it wasn’t very often that her teacher paid her a compliment. Usually, all she got was, “Why are you not doing the choreography I gave you?” or “Rochelle, you can’t go out onstage and do whatever you want!”

  Rochelle couldn’t help it. Sometimes her feet had a mind of their own. When the music began to play, she didn’t just hear it, she actually felt it. And it took her places that didn’t always fit in with Miss Toni’s vision for the routine. To her teacher, that was disrespectful. But to Rochelle, it was simply what dancing was all about: the freedom to express yourself without a care in the world. Whatever emotion she was feeling, she could dance it out.

  It had always been this way, for as long as she could remember. When she was five years old, her next-door neighbor and best friend, Kayla, moved all the way to Kentucky. Instead of sitting on her front porch crying, Rochelle ran to her bedroom, blasted a Disney Princess CD, and twirled around the room until she was dizzy. She danced to Cinderella’s “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes.” The lyrics spoke to her. It didn’t bring Kayla back, but it made her feel just a little bit better to move her arms and legs in an expression of her broken heart.

  Since Miss Toni had been a dancer her whole life, Rochelle knew she understood this. But the two of them always butted heads. Miss Toni wanted her to wear toe shoes when she preferred to dance barefoot. Toni expected her to spend hours at the barre practicing boring positions when Rochelle wanted to leap and spin through the air.

  “You cannot be a great dancer without foundation,” Toni insisted. “Technique is everything.” But Rochelle was convinced that great dancers were born, not made. She wanted to fly across the studio floor while her dance coach made her take baby steps.

  It was no secret among the Divas that Rochelle liked to dance to her own beat. She had a reputation for being a bit of a rebel. Scarlett was always afraid that one day she’d push Toni too far—and she’d kick her off the competition team. One time, she came pretty close. A day before the Movin’ Up competition in Indiana, Rochelle decided to “redesign” her costume so it would be more comfy.

  “You like?” she asked her teammates, modeling an astronaut costume she’d cut off at the legs.

  “Oh, boy.” Bria gulped. “You chopped off the whole bottom of the costume.”

  “Not the whole bottom,” Rochelle insisted. “Just the big balloony legs so I can move better.”

  “But Rock, Toni had these costumes made to look exactly like space suits,” Scarlett reminded her. “She’s not gonna be happy you changed her design.”

  Scarlett was right. The moment Rochelle walked in the studio—without the legs of her space suit—Toni flipped.

  “You’re supposed to be walking on the moon!” the dance coach shrieked. “You can’t walk on the moon in booty shorts!”

  “I couldn’t dance in that big, bulky space suit,” Rochelle insisted. “I felt like a giant marshmallow.”

  “That was the point!” Toni bellowed. “The authenticity of the struggle! Do you think it was easy for men to walk on the moon?”

  Luckily, it was too late to restage the routine. Toni told all the Divas to wear silver shorts and crop tops instead. But as punishment, Rochelle had to wear an astronaut bubble helmet and sit on top of the moon, waving an American flag.

  “I feel like I’m inside a fishbowl,” she moaned.

  “Serves you right,” Liberty said. “Too bad Toni didn’t make you dress like the man in the moon and wear Swiss cheese.”

  Scarlett tried to sympathize. “Sorry, Rock. But you knew Miss Toni would go ballistic.”

  “I can’t help it,” Rochelle confided in her BFF. “I just have to be me.”

  She hoped that Toni would one day give up, give in, and stop trying to change her.

  Maybe today was the day.

  Chapter 3

  Studio Surprise

  When she arrived at the studio, the door was open but the front lobby and hallways were quiet and dark. Dance Divas was usually abuzz with activity and dancers rushing to classes, but it was too early for any of them to begin. She tiptoed toward studio 2, where Miss Toni told her to meet.

  The shades were pulled over the studio windows, so Rochelle couldn’t see in. But she could hear Miss Toni’s voice booming. “And one, and two, and shoulders back, straight knees!”

  She pushed the door open slowly and saw a blond bun at the barre . . .

  Liberty!

  “Glad you could join us, Rochelle,” Toni called. “Come in. Warm up. Let’s get to work.”

  Rochelle froze in her tracks. “What’s she doing here?” she began. “You said this was my dance, my solo.”

  “I never said I was giving you a solo. In fact, I was envisioning a duet,” Toni explained.

  “No way. I am not dancing with her!” Rochelle cried.

  “Me, neither!” Liberty said.

  Miss Toni clapped her hands in the air. “Enough! Stop bickering or neither of you will dance at Leaps and Bounds. You’re not dancing together.”

  “We’re not?” Rochelle scratched her head. “So who is the duet with?”

  The door to the studio suddenly pushed open and a tall, dark-haired teenage boy in a backward baseball cap walked in.

  “With this young man,” Toni said, motioning for him to come in. “Ladies, I’d like you to meet Hayden Finley. I discovered him at the Feet on Fire competition. He lives in New Jersey, and he wants to be a guest Diva.”

  “Seriously? You want to be a Diva?” Rochelle asked. “You’re a boy.”

  “And boys can’t dance, right?” Hayden said. He did a smooth twirl on the floor, then stood on the tips of his jazz shoes. “How’s that?”

  Rochelle felt a strange flutter in the pit of her stomach—like a butterfly tickling her with its wings. “Um, okay,” she said. But it was more than okay. It was amazing. Hayden could dance all right. He could dance circles around any Diva.

  “But can you do lyrical? Or ballet?” Liberty challenged him.

  Hayden launched into a thrilling saut de basque, traveling across the entire studio floor in a series of breathtaking turns. He landed on bended knee back at Liberty’s feet. That shut her up. For once, Liberty was actually speechless. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  Miss Toni cleared her throat to get their attention, but both girls were too busy staring at Hayden to hear her. “Hello?” she asked. “Can we start the choreography, or are you girls going to just stand there with your mouths hanging open?” />
  Hayden smiled and rose to his feet.

  OMG, thought Rochelle, he has dimples, too!

  Miss Toni continued. “Like I was saying, I envisioned a duet between a boy and a girl—and Hayden says he’s up for being the male lead. That leaves the female lead.”

  If Rochelle was excited before, the idea of dancing with Hayden made her feel even more giddy. “So, that would be me?” she asked Miss Toni.

  “Not so fast . . .,” Toni corrected her. “Liberty came to me yesterday and asked for a special dance as well. Fair is fair. She did win the National Junior Solo title.”

  Rochelle fumed. It was so like Liberty to try and manipulate everyone! And Miss Toni seemed to be buying it!

  “So I’ve decided to choreograph two duets with Hayden. We’ll try out your routines at a few of the smaller competitions. Whichever girl brings it more, gets to perform with him at Leaps and Bounds.”

  “So that would be me!” Liberty said, cozying up to Hayden. She batted her eyelashes. “You get to dance with the National Junior Solo champ!”

  Rochelle gritted her teeth. Liberty was pulling out all the stops. First, she went behind her back to Miss Toni. Now, she was trying her best to charm Hayden into picking her as his partner.

  Toni turned to Rochelle. “Your dance is called ‘Inferno.’ It’s about a girl who is literally on fire on the dance floor,” she explained. “It’s a contemporary dance with Latin rhythms. A little salsa, a little paso doble, and lots of smoke machines.”

  Rochelle was confused; she had never heard of those dances before. What was Toni getting her into this time?

  Hayden read her mind. “The only salsa I like is the kind you eat with tortilla chips,” he joked to Rochelle. “Can I have some guacamole on the side?”

  Toni ignored the wisecrack and continued. “Hayden, you will chase Rochelle around the floor, trying to capture her—but if you get too close, you get burned. Clear?”

  Hayden nodded . . . then winked at Rochelle. There went that flip-flop feeling in her stomach again!