Diary of a Danceaholic

Entry #10: Awards Ceremony

Let’s start with Mackenna’s score because she deserves some recognition for all her bitchy hype. She got 9th overall. It’s a great accomplishment, but for someone like Mackenna, she probably took offense. Whatever, forget her for now.

Fifth overall went to some random contemporary dancer. No surprise there.

Fourth overall went to the token boy. He sucked, but he had all the right parts if you know what I mean. At least they didn’t just hand him first overall.

And now, the piece-de-resistance. Third overall went to…Reece Friggin’ Day!

The entire stage erupted into whispers. The audience clapped, but it couldn’t drown out the chatter.

I watched Reece stand up slowly, not even trying to hide her absolute anger. There was no way to salvage this for herself, either. She was the one that brought all the hype and controversy here. She expected to win and she didn’t even manage to get second. She did even worse this time.

I had to literally bite my cheek to keep from laughing out loud.

As Reece headed up to get her award, all eyes slowly turned toward me. It was a struggle to keep my composure. I was gripping my hands in my lap and fighting back the gleeful smile that kept threatening to escape.

Everyone thought I was going to win, but I could care less what I got, now. If I don’t even place, cool. If I get 2nd or 1st, even better, but it made no difference anymore. Mackenna got 9th, so she could suck it, and Reece didn’t win the whole damn thing. Today was a great day.

I wondered where Antonio was. Did he get up and leave as soon as Reece’s third was announced? Or was he sitting there amidst all the gossiping mommies and judgmental dancers?

Second overall was another boy. This one was legitimately good. He was one of the ones that I sat through in the audience. He deserved the placement. Reece would claim it was another gender-biased score, but I truly enjoyed watching him dance. It also didn’t hurt that he was totally hot. His costume was a pair of black slacks and that was it. I mean, who needs a shirt when you’ve got an eight-pack and the perfect tan.

The MC shouted into the microphone, “First overall goes to….” my song began to play over the loudspeakers. “Number 90, Escape! This is Skyler Thomas.”

I let a little snort escape while my head was down, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I stood up. While I was picking my way through the dancers amidst the deafening cheers and chatter, I debated whether or not to completely ignore Reece on my way to the MC holding my big a*s trophy.

She made the decision for me; however, when she pulled me into a limp hug to show that she was a good sport. I barely touched her back before she had already released me. Mr. Second Overall on the other hand pulled me into a tight and sincere hug. He whispered his congratulations in my ear. He smelled good too.

“Congratulations, Skyler!”

I smiled at the MC and mouthed my thank you.

“Who choreographed this award-winning routine?”

“Antonio Fuego.” I was tempted to say Miss Jodi, too, but she doesn’t deserve the heat she’d get if I did that.

“Congratulations, Antonio! And what studio do you represent?”

“Mountain Vista Dance Academy.”

The audience cheered loudly and we all stood together for a picture. Mr. Second’s arm went around me and lingered even after the picture was over. He headed back to sit with his team and winked at me before he sat down.

My cheesy grin was almost embarrassing, but I could play it off on winning. Now I wished I hadn’t picked a spot clear on the other side of the stage, though. It would look really weird if I followed him over to his spot, so I reluctantly turned my back on him and picked my way through the dancers - giving high fives on the way - to my corner of the stage.

I looked back over to where he was as soon as I was sitting down and to my surprise, he was openly staring at me. Hmm

I watched as he scooted back until he was in the wings, obviously being egged on by his teammates. Once he was no longer visible to the audience, he got up and headed behind the curtain.

What is he doing?

“Hey!” a loud whisper from behind me startled me and I looked over. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hi,” I said scooting toward the wings. “Congrats on your second place!” I said with a smile.

“You too,” he said. “Your first, I mean,” and sat down in the wings close enough that I could hear him easily, but strategically still hidden from the audience.

“I’m Will,” he said with a lopsided smile that was way too cute for his own good.

“Sky.”

“I know.”

“Of course, you do,” I said rolling my eyes playfully.

“Give me your phone,” he said and held his hand out.

I eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”

He eyed me right back. “Because.”

I reluctantly handed it over.

“Now, I probably shouldn’t tell you this,” he said, doing something to my phone, but he wouldn’t let me see. “But I follow you on Instagram.”

I snorted.

“Everyone does,” I said rolling my eyes.

“Okay, Miss Popular. We can’t all be as cool as you.” He snapped an adorable selfie on my phone and handed it back to me.

I looked at it and it was Will’s contact information with the selfie as the contact pic. I couldn’t help the smile that came and I blushed when I caught him staring.

“Your turn,” I said, holding out my hand for his phone. He handed it to me and I made a funny face while I snapped a selfie and added my contact info to his phone. He snatched it back as soon as I was finished.

“Now get over here,” he told me. I scooted over to him, loving the normalcy. He wasn’t treating me like a celebrity. He wasn’t gawking at me. He was treating me like a normal teenager. I savored every second of this normalcy.

He leaned toward me and held his phone out for another picture with the two of us.

“So, Blue Skies, what’s California like?”

“Blue Skies?”

“I like it. It fits you. Deal with it; accept it; love it.”

“Okay, okay,” I said with a laugh. “California is fine. Hot. Dry. I live in the desert, not near the beach. I’m not living the surfer life or anything.”

“But you’ve been surfing before, right?” He stared at me with horror.

“Nope,” I said. “Never,” and laughed openly when he fainted in disbelief.

“We absolutely must remedy that immediately.

“And how are we going to do that?”

“Tomorrow,” he said simply.

We both turned our heads when we heard the MC announce the end of awards. The world crashed in around us once again and I realized that I hadn’t mentally prepared myself at all for the s**t show that was about to happen.

“Do we run now, or face the music?” he asked, struggling to remain serious. My irritation must have been plain on my face.

“I’m so not ready for this,” I said with a loud groan.

He took my hand easily and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m not going anywhere; not if you don’t want me to.”

I swallowed and looked at him. He stood and pulled me up with him and into a hug.

He quickly released me and it was time to face the music.