Leading Ladies

XIII. Return of the Candy Apples

"Have I today you how much I love your costume?" her brunette friends asks,

Sabrina chuckles, pulling her purple hair out of her face. "Like 567 times, Vicki."

"Because it's so cool! You're dressed like Raspberry Torte! When did you even have time for this?" the brunette asks.

"Oh, we've been planning this since March" Sabrina organizes her books into her bookbag. "Everything is custom made for us, from wig to the shoe."

They don't usually get a chance not to wear their uniforms, but their school allows students to wear costumes, if appropriate, on Halloween days. So, of course, Sabrina and her sister couldn't just wear any old costume, and after lots of bickering, they settled on Strawberry Shortcake.

"Are you going to go like that to dance?" Vicki asks. "Are you even allowed?"

Sabrina shrugs. "We'll see."

Hearing knocking beside her, she smiles at the sight of Lemon Mengrui and Blueberry muffin, making funny faces at her behind the window that separates Sabrina and the halls.

"Let's go," Elsa mouths to her. "Moms here."

Closing the clasp of her bookbag, she swings it behind her bag. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Sabrina," her friend waves; some of her classmates echoed it as she made her way out of the room.

Meeting up with her sister, they run outside; it was still five minutes before the final bell rang, so the coast was clear.

"Hi Mom," she smiles, climbing into the back of Lexus RX.

"Hi, Raspberry," their mom chuckles. "Lemon, Blueberry. How was school?"

Bianca shrugs, taking the left seat second row, while Elsa took the right seat. "It was school. Even though it was Halloween and everybody was in costumes, we still had to learn."

"Oh, the horror," their mom chuckles, pulling out of the parking lot.

Sabrina chuckles with her. The only part of school that Bianca liked was gym. It wasn't Sabrina's favorite place in the world either, but at least she got to see friends.

They made a stop at home for lunch and to get their dance bag before heading to the studio.

"Please tell me those are wigs," Abby pleads as soon as they step into the building.

"Of course they are!" Elsa yells, caressing her blonde locks.

Sabrina didn't blame her. They've never touched their hair except for a trim, and after hearing some of the horror stories about dying blonde hair, she would never. She liked being a blonde, thank you very much.

Abby sighs in relief. "Okay, head in."

"Hello," Sabrina greets, pushing the door open.

"Oh my God," Melissa squeals. "You three look so cute!"

With a grin, Sabrina accepts the compliments of the moms and the girls. We nailed it.

Taking off her wig and costume, she pulls her hair into a ponytail and changes into a white cap sleeve dress.

Abby's voice rings in from Studio A. "Let's go! Come on, girls! Let's go!"

Entering the studio, Sabrina smiles at Abby before standing in line beside Bianca. When all of them stood in front of her, Abby didn't take long to start the pyramid.

"I want to start off talking a little bit about Dance Troupe in Greensboro, North Carolina. That was not the group on Lake Tahoe that just won a national championship. Obviously, cute still works in the Carolinas. Kendall, you did your solo scared to death. That face was not an Abby Lee Miller face, that's for certain. I--"