Fight Song

Chapter 19

Caspar's PoV
I knew there was no way we could beat Canada, and so did my team. So instead of trying to improve what we already had, we decided to just go out there and have fun with the routine we'd prepared. There was no point stressing when we weren't going to win. And plus, with competition you often forgot to have fun. You just thought about winning. It'd be nice to go on stage just to have fun.

"Hey," a girl in an Estonian jacket came over to me when I was queuing up to get coffees for my team. I recognised her as Heidi, the dance captain of the Estonian team. They'd be dancing against Britain in a few hours.

"Uh, hi," I replied. I'd never spoken to Heidi before, and I had no idea what she wanted.

"It kinda sucks knowing you're gonna lose, doesn't it," she sighed. Her accent was enchanting. I'd always loved Estonian accents when they spoke English.

"Yeah, but what can you do now except go out there and just have fun," I smiled.

Heidi's eyes lit up suddenly. "You know, that's actually a really good way of putting it. Dance because we love it, not because it's our job to win."

"Yeah," I nodded, glad she saw my perspective.

"Plus, if we do that we don't really have to change our choreography, and we were never gonna win against Britain with our choreography now," Heidi smiled. "And what's the bet Britain is currently working super hard to get an amazingly advanced routine ready? Estonia is just gonna waste their time, so at least I get something out of it."

"Well that doesn't make you sound evil at all," I laughed, getting my coffees.

"I know," she grinned, "but if I'm going to have fun with it, I want to have a lot of fun."

"It's a valid point," I shrugged. "In that sense, South Africa is wasting Canada's time too."

"Amazing," Heidi did a high kick and picked up her iced coffee. "See you later, Caspar!"

"Bye, Heidi," I waved. She was a strange girl.

I considered telling Joe about Heidi's little scheme, but I knew he'd work hard anyway, so there wasn't much point. Plus, Heidi was right, they were gonna win so why not waste their time a little. It'd be funny.

Briar's PoV
I'd made up my mind. I wasn't going to throw the dance and I wasn't going to take it easy on Caspar's team. This was competition. This was Internationals. It was all or nothing, there wasn't time for friends.

My team had gone straight to a rehearsal studio and begun workshopping ideas for more advanced choreo. We needed to be unstoppable. We were the Canadian Dance Company, we held International titles and were always National champions. We did not come here to play games.

"Tilt jump, aerial, arm six seven eight!" I yelled over the music as we were running our dance. We'd chosen to change as little as possible so it wasn't too much work being done, which I knew Australia and Britain wouldn't have done. They'd have gone and choreographed totally new routines, which in this time space was definitely not the right move. But oh well, whatever suited them I guess.
Our dance was looking spectacular. The story and overall concept had gone, but we weren't being marked on that anymore so it didn't matter one bit. It was technically extremely advanced, and I knew with this routine we could win against anyone in this competition, including Australia and Britain. Would I feel bad winning to Caspar? Of course. But this was competition. This was Canada's year, and we were winning Internationals. I wasn't going to let anyone, including my friends, stand in my way.

Dianne's PoV
We'd changed the music, and the majority or the choreography. But I still didn't like it. I couldn't quite pin point what it was I didn't like, or what I felt was missing. I kept telling myself it was just the story, and I liked having a story, but deep down I knew it wasn't that. It lacked something.

"Hey," Katie looked at me. "What's up?"

"It needs something...more," I said. "That big moment of WOW, particularly at the start when the music builds up to that huge crash."

"We're jumping in unison after doing individual moves," Katie said. "I mean we could all back layout at the same time? Or another tumble?"

I'd thought about that, but I didn't like it. It still didn't look as good. Plus the jumps would get us more points for technique. I didn't want excess tumbling and for it to just look like a gymnastics routine.

"I'm gonna phone Joe," I said. "When we choreograph together we come up with the best ideas."

"Fine," Katie agreed. "He's not against us this round and he's in love with you so he won't sabotage us."

I rolled my eyes. Joe wasn't in love with me. Obviously he liked me, he was my boyfriend, but I don't think either of us could call it being in love yet. I mean, I definitely wasn't there yet.

"Hey," Joe said, picking up on only the third ring.

"Hey," I smiled into my phone. Just hearing his voice made the world seem right. "I was wondering if you could quickly come and check out our routine? I want your opinion on it and I need to add something more but I can't pinpoint what it is."

"Sure," Joe replied. "I can't be long though, we haven't even finished choreographing our routine yet."

"That's fine," I said. "Thank you."

"No worries," he said, and hung up.

"Joe's coming," I said to my team.

"Sweet," Andrew nodded. I could tell he was less sure of Joe now he knew he was my boyfriend. Protecting his little sister vibes. Typical older brother behaviour.

Joe came in, looking hot and flustered. Clearly his team had been working hard. I felt a bit bad for dragging him away from his team now.

"Show me what you've got," he smiled encouragingly.

I nodded. We showed him the dance, which was great, and definitely Internationals standard, but it wasn't the standard of an Internationals winner.

"I like it," Joe clapped at the end. "You'll win your round for sure."

"But there's something missing," I sighed.

"Dianne," Joe said, putting his hands on my shoulders. "There's always going to be something missing because nothing can ever be perfect. Perfection isn't something that exists. It's only someone's perception. In my mind, this looks perfect, but in yours it doesn't. That doesn't mean it's missing anything."

"Okay, but could you give any pointers on what to add?" I pleaded.

Joe thought about it for a while. "Maybe a big lift," he said eventually. "Throw one of you into the air. You're the smallest, Andrew could do a cool lift with you. Just a suggestion. But I really have to get going now. Love you."

He smiled at me, then left. Okay, big lift it was.

Short chapter, dealing with some stuff rn so I'm gonna be scattered with updating this. I'll try my best to do it as often as possible though - B x