Diary of a Danceaholic

Entry #14: Vultures

We got to the venue in Kansas and I couldn’t wait to get a feeling for what it was like to be normal at one of these things. But even in street clothes, I was still getting stares. Apparently even here in little rural Kansas, I was still well known. Maybe they’d leave me alone, though.

I texted Asher to let her know I was here, while my mom bought a program. Asher was warming up for the group numbers that she was in. They were coming up soon, so I waited to go find her until she had a break.

“Let’s sit in the back, Mom.”

I steered her away from her normal choice of seating in the middle of the auditorium. I didn’t want to be that visible, here. We got to our seats just in time for the adorable little petite dances. I loved watching them dance; they were all so enthusiastic when they danced! But then we had to sit through the not-so-adorable novice teen dancers. Some of them were painful to watch, but I had to give props to them for still having the guts to get out there and dance.

Do what you love. Screw the haters.

“Excuse me.” It was a little girl with a blonde dance bun and bright red bow standing in the aisle next to my seat. “Are you Skyler Thomas?”

“Yes, I am,” I said sweetly. “I love your bow!”

“Thank you,” she said shyly, smiling. She touched the bow as if to make sure it was still in place.

“You’re welcome. Are you dancing today?” I asked her.

“Mm-hm. But not for a while. I’m stuck here with my sister. She’s dancing soon. My mom is down there.” She pointed to a blonde-haired lady staring up at us. She caught my eye and smiled and waved. We waved back.

“What’s your name?”

“Ryan,” she said.

“I can’t wait to see you dance, Ryan! I’ll be here all day. I’m going to cheer extra loud just for you!”

“Thank you!” she said excitedly.

“What’s your dance called?”

She shrugged, then started singing a piece of it. “Read all about it, read all about it.”

I chuckled. “I bet that’s what it’s called.”

She nodded, then held out a program. “Can…can I have your autograph?”

“Sure,” I said with a smile. I signed it and handed it back.

She hugged me, then skipped away back to her mom.

“You’re really good with the little ones,” my mom told me.

“They’re cute. I can’t resist.”

So much for inconspicuous, though. That little girl’s mom was bound to tell everyone here that her daughter had just met Skyler Thomas.

“When’s her dance?” I asked my mom.

She flipped through the program until she spotted it.

“Not for over an hour.” Her eyebrows shot up. “It’s an intermediate large group. I bet that little girl is no more than seven. Good for her.”

I rolled my eyes. Oh, good. Probably another overly ambitious dance mom. They really were everywhere.

“Poor little girl,” I said under my breath, but my mom heard and slapped my leg with a scoff.

I was absently playing with my phone, only half watching the dancers going on and off stage when a spoken word dance came on. I thought these were all played out a couple of years ago, but this dancer boldly chose to do one. It’s ambitious for the intermediate level, but she did it really well. She had some technical aspects to work on, but I surprisingly enjoyed it. It wasn’t the same anti-bullying body image poem that everyone did and that worked in her favor. She would score well, I thought.

“Not many solos can capture your attention; you must have liked that one.”

I shrugged. “It was original. I liked that. When are groups? I love watching those.”

“The solos, duets, and trios have their awards in a few minutes first, then it’s groups.”

I sighed. Awards ceremonies were unbelievably boring even when I was a part of them.

I snatched the program from my mom and flipped to the beginning of this section. “Number twenty is going to win the whole thing,” I predicted.

My mom just raised an eyebrow at me. She took the program back and huffed. “‘No Stopping Me Now?’ That’s way too predictable,” she said. “Number sixteen is going to win, for sure.”

“Okay, how bout this; if I win, I get to wear sweats to the next comp.”

My mom chuckled, “And if I win, you wear the new blue set from Revel.”

“Deal.” We shook on it.

I had to pee, but I didn’t want to get up. I liked my hiding spot back here in the back. I didn’t want to be recognized by anyone. Little Ryan already spotted me and if I headed out into the light, there’s no telling what could happen. I was starting to wonder if coming here wasn’t such a good idea after all.

My mom put her hand on my leg. “Sky, honey, stop fidgeting.”

“I have to pee,” I complained.

“So go,” she said, taking her hand off my leg.

“I don’t want to. What if someone sees me?”

“Child, you need me to hold your hand?” she said it sarcastically, but I jumped at the offer.

“Yes!” I said with too much enthusiasm and pulled her up with me.

“You know, a little publicity never hurt anyone, Skyler.”

“Says you,” I mumbled under my breath.

The whole way to the bathroom I tried to keep my head down so that no one would recognize me. I hoped so, anyway, but my mom had other plans. She was happily waving to and chatting with anyone who happened to make eye contact.

I left her behind while she talked to the guy at the merchandise table and braved the crowds myself.

Mercifully, I made it to the bathroom without being stopped, but as I came out of the stall to wash my hands and looked into the mirror, I found three teenage girls staring at me with open-mouthed wonder.

“Hi,” I said politely and hurriedly washed my hands. “Great comp! Good luck today girls!” I said it with forced enthusiasm and rushed out the door before they could get their phones out.

My mom was still chatting away at the merchandise table, so I headed over to her.

“Oh, Skyler, honey!” She put her arm around my shoulders. “This is Adam.”

I smiled. “Hi, Adam.” He was attractive for a twenty-something dude. He had short, light brown hair, styled into a fashionable fauxhawk.

“Skyler,” he said, holding his hand out for me to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You, too.”

“Congratulations on your latest win. I saw it on i********:, of course, and Lindsey was just telling me all about it. Exciting.” He raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes. He must have also seen how big of an a*s Reece made of herself. “You’ve got a bright future ahead of you.”

“Thank you,” I said humbled. I liked him despite myself. He was a fun guy and obviously enthusiastic about his job. It was awesome.

“Your mom tells me you’re here to watch a friend compete. It’s great to see dancers supporting each other, even if they’re from different studios.”

I nodded. He’s gotta know all about the rivalries among dancers at competing studios. Reece and I were prime examples, unfortunately. Not everyone was interested in being my friend.

“Would you be interested in giving a shoutout at the next awards ceremony? I bet there are some fans all the way out here in Kansas that would love to get a chance to see you.”

I stared in horror for a second before I could find my voice. “Oh, I don’t know…”

“She would love to,” my mom interjected.

“Mom!” I whispered fiercely.

Adam picked up on my reservations and said quickly, “It’s okay, Skyler! I understand, really. You’re here for your friend. You go enjoy the competition.”

I sighed in relief. “Thank you,” I said sincerely. “I’m just here to watch Asher. I don’t want to steal the spotlight. This is their day.”

“Wait,” he said, “You’re here for Asher Dugan?”

“Uh, yeah,” I frowned in confusion. He knew her. That was pretty cool.

“She’s somewhat of a local celebrity around here.”

“Oh, my goodness, that’s awesome! She’s amazing!” It was great to know she was being recognized for her talents. She deserved it for sure.

“That she is,” Adam nodded.

“She’s got some group numbers coming up in a bit,” my mom said. She was disappointed that Adam let me off the hook, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t about me, today.

But it seemed to be too late to escape back into the auditorium undetected. The girls from the bathroom were back. They must have been waiting for an opening to pounce.

I smiled at them and that was all it took.

“Can we take a picture with you?!” they said with way too much excitement.

“Sure,” I said suppressing a sigh.

They came way too close and I smiled my best fake smile for the selfie and they thanked me before running away giggling.

And…because of them, the floodgates opened.

Adam came out from behind the table and brought me over to the picture area where they had a backdrop set up. It was free advertising for their competition, but it also served as a way to direct the masses to a more appropriate area for them to take all the unwanted pictures of me that I could stand.

“I’m so sorry about this,” he whispered between shots.

“It’s okay. Really,” I told him after I’d taken a pic with some little bitty girls. “It’ll be good for your competition. This is only your third year, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, surprised that I knew that. “You’ve done your research.”

He ushered the next group of girls over to stand with me.

“My mom knows pretty much everything about every competition. She filled me in,” I said, only half-serious.

Predictably, my mom was eating up all this attention.

Over the course of an hour, Adam came to my rescue over and over again by jumping into some of the pictures, making funny faces, and doing silly poses. Because of him, I was actually kind of enjoying myself. He was my hero.

“Alright, everyone!” Adam called after what felt like a thousand pictures, “Skyler is out of time. Enjoy the competition and good luck to everyone competing today!”

They all applauded, and moved away; some still snapping photos of me from afar. The vultures.

“Thank you so much, Adam!” I said sincerely.

He gave me a side hug and we snapped our own selfies, just the two of us.

“No, thank you. You didn’t have to do all that, but you handled it beautifully. You’re a class act, Skyler.”

“Call me Sky, please!”

“Sky,” he says with a smile. “Keep in touch, okay?”

“Definitely!” And I meant it. He’s good peeps.

“Let’s go, Mom,” I said practically dragging her by the arm back toward the auditorium. “Please tell me I haven’t missed Asher because of that.”

“I’m sure there’s still plenty of time, Honey.”

We found new seats in the back and I quickly flipped through the program to see where we were. “You’re so lucky, Mom.” We were back with just two numbers before Asher’s first group was set to perform.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Skyler. Adam spoke with the MC and he told him when there were five more numbers left. Just for you.”

“My hero, yet again.”

I texted him another thank you for coming to my rescue in so many ways, today. He didn’t even know me, but he was looking out for me. Truly a good guy.