Jeté to Stardom

3. Cheerleader Blues

Nova pushes herself on the swing, her sister on the swing next to her. Their older brothers Alaric, 13, and Ciaran, 12, are a bit in front of them, hanging with their friends while their little brother Emilio is to the right, hanging with his own friends in the jungle gym.

"What's it like being on TV? It must be so cool," her friend Esther squeals. "The cameras, the lights, the makeup. And you two are gonna be so famous. You're really pretty, so there's no way you won't be and..."

"They get it!" Mallory cuts her off, pulling her braids back. "They're going to be famous."

"I don't know," Nova shrugs. "nobody might watch the show."

Her Mama had explained to them that they're just doing a couple of episodes to see how people react. If lots of people like the show, then they'll do more episodes.

"Still, it must be nice," Esther sighs dreamily.

"Not really," Lux tells her. "We're just dancing more."

She would have said more if a black Regal didn't drive up, blowing its horns.

"Lux! Nova! Dad's here!" she heard Alaric shout.

"Coming!" Nova yells back, swinging herself higher before jumping. She grabs her bag off the ground, quickly hugging her friends, before running after Lux and her brothers. "Bye, guys!" reaching the car, she held onto the door to pull herself up. "Hi, Dad! Why are you picking us up?"

"Hi, Nova," Marcin smiles at her. "Mamá had some trouble at work. What? You don't want me picking you up?"

Nova pouts, putting on her seatbelt; that wasn't what she meant. "I didn't say that. It's just that you never pick us up."

"Never," Lux agrees. "Mom always picks us up."

"Well, Dad has to work, so he can't pick you up like he wants to. Emilio, how was your day?" he replies, sweeping past the car in front of him.

With a big grin, Emilio starts babbling about his day. "My teacher was sick today, so we had somebody new, and she was really nice. I like her more than my teacher but don't tell Ms.Krich. And at lunch, my..."

Sitting in the back, Alaric and Ciaran had their own conversations.

Turning her brothers out, Nova turns to look out the window; realizing they weren't taking the route home, she turns forward. "Are we going straight to dance?"

"We are," he glances at her through the rearview mirror. "Take a look at the back; your dance bags should be there. Make sure you have everything in there."

From the back, Ciaran hands her bag to her. "Here, Novie."

Nova grins, taking her light green Under Armour duffle bag from him. "Gracia Ciaran."

Quickly opening the zipper, Nova checks her backpack. All her dance shoes were there, her dancewear and the extras, her hair stuff, a towel, water bottle, deodorant, antiseptic wipes, antibiotic ointment, and bandages. "I have everything."

"So do I," Lux says. "Daddy did good!"

"Yay!" he jokingly cheers.

Giggling, Nova settles in for the ride; two seats away from her, Lux takes out her homework. She should be doing the same thing but decided against it. She also knows she's gonna regret it later when she's up at eleven doing her homework. Again. They live pretty far from the studio, almost an hour away. They don't leave the studio until nine-thirty, get home about ten-thirty, eat dinner, and finish any homework before getting ready for school the next day.

It was tiring, especially with them doing it all week and competing every weekend instead of three times a week and a competition every month, like before. Nova was okay with it, it's what she has to do to dance, and dance is what she wants to do for the rest of her life.