When Alvaro and Mia went to bed, Zoe and Juanma were asleep. They quietly got ready for bed and lay down. Mia was tired. She snuggled up against Alvaro. Alvaro enjoyed her company and noticed that he too was exhausted and tired.
The alarm went off early the next morning. There wasn't much to pack so they were ready to leave quickly. Breakfast was served in the ranch house. This time it was harder for them to say goodbye. It had been fun driving the herd to the other meadows.
The way back to school passed quickly. They were there shortly after the break and went straight to class. It was all without incident. Alex had scheduled a rehearsal with Lupe and Mia for the afternoon. To Mia's surprise, Lupe didn't complain about it. When they met Alex in the GO, they were alone with him. "So girls, I want to see full commitment. Now imagine you are on stage at the competition." He played the music.
It worked very well. Mia and Lupe both gave everything. Alex made them sing the song twice. "Very good," he said. "I think that was the best performance you did. I'm proud of you"
Mia clapped Lupe's outstretched hand. Their eyes met for a moment and then Lupe looked away.
Mia then met up with Zoe and the boys again. She told how well the rehearsal had gone.
They spent the rest of the day in Mia and Zoe's room. They still had an English exam ahead of them, and Alvaro helped them prepare. Ramiro had met Mia briefly to make sure she was okay. He had asked Alvaro by message to let him know if he notices anything.
The week passed quickly. A basketball game for the Sunday after the competition has been announced for the boys. So they had more exercise than normal. On the Friday before the competition, Mia noticed that she was nervous. She had practiced a few more times with Lupe and, as she had predicted Alvaro, it depended on Lupe's mood how it worked. Unfortunately, the mood wasn't particularly good on Friday.
After the rehearsal, they drove into town to have an ice cream. Roberto and Clara joined them, as did Fede and Sofi.
It was good for Mia to think about something else for a few hours. Alvaro had the feeling that she was more relaxed afterwards.
After dinner, Mia went through the song again with Juanma in Go before she wanted to sing again with Lupe. She noticed for herself that she had more security with Juanma. Lupe had heard the last lines.
"Would you rather sing with Juanma" she asked.
"No, I just wanted to go through the song again," Mia said.
"Then let's start". It worked out well, Mia had the impression that as long as the others were there, Lupe didn't dare to say too much or start an argument.
The four of them retired into the room and watched a little more television.
Marcello had scheduled a training session for the next morning so that Juanma and Alvaro could not come to the competition immediately, but wanted to come later.
Ramiro took Lupe and Mia with him, as neither of them wanted to take the bus. Lupe didn't look at Isabel and Isabel gave Ramiro a helpless look. Ramiro took her briefly in his arms and said " Give her a little time, she haven't see us together often."
When they arrived, the two went into the locker room. Both prepared in silence. Gaspar was already in the auditorium and texted that two duos were still ahead of them.
When they then had to go to the stage, Zoe, Juanma and Alvaro were there to wish them luck. They hadn't been in the auditorium yet so they hadn't brought Gaspar with them. Lupa thanked them and then stood a little to one side while the others hugged Mia. When Alvaro walked up to Lupe and wanted to hug her, she turned away and said "Mia come now." Mia gave Alvaro a kiss as she passed and they were called onto the stage. They took their positions and the music began.
Mia closed her eyes for a moment. When it was her turn, she opened them and began to sing. She saw Mariana in front of her. It worked very well, neither of them made any mistakes and nobody did notice the actual hostility in their performance.
The audience clapped and St. Marys students could be heard cheering. Gaspar wrote that it was the best performance so far and that they had victory under their belt.
In the locker room, Mia approached Lupe. "It was fun singing with you." Lupe looked at Mia. "Yeah, it was fun. I think we did pretty well."
Both turned back to their occupations until Gaspar and Alvaro wrote at the same time that the distribution of points was next on the program. Since the overall winner was also named, the schools that came into question from the count of points of the points had come to the competition with all participants.
Lupe and Mia made their way to the stage. The moderator gave his usual speech and Mia intuitively took Lupe's hand. Lupe looked briefly at Mia and smiled. Both were tense and when the moderator announced 10 points for the duo of the St.Marys and so also the overall victory, both jumped into the air.
Antonio's school had achieved second place with their duo and in the overall ranking. Mia and Lupe were supposed to perform another song and decided on See you. While they were singing, the other attendees from St. Marys came on the stage and Alvaro took Mia's hand. In the meantime there was more cheering than singing. They were very happy and Lupe and Mia were accompanied to the locker room by Alvaro, Juanma Zoe and a few others. Alvaro held Lupe briefly on the door. "You did a great job." He said and took her in his arms. Lupe returned the hug and said "Thank you"
