She looked down at her Sailor Moon costume. “Nope. I felt the need to try out my costume again before our next cosplay event.”
“You look great,” he marveled. “You’d definitely win a costume contest if you entered at the next event.”
“Especially if we went together as Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon,” she said hopefully.
She noticed his eyebrows knit slightly, but she was prepared for that. She took a deep breath and remembered what Sydney had told her during their pep talk: Be honest. It was something she was working on. Being honest with Sydney and with her family that dance had become the most important activity in her life. But she also needed to be honest with herself: She liked Jack. Why couldn’t she say that and see what happened?
“Look, about the other day when you saw me on the bus with Griffin,” Lidia said, tugging on one of her Sailor Moon pigtails. “Nothing was going on between us. There was this a cappella catastrophe at school that Syd blamed Griffin for, and I felt bad for her so we both went after her together. That’s the only reason I was with him.”
Jack nodded. He didn’t look like he was convinced, so she kept going.
“Griffin and I cleared the air too. He likes Sydney, Sydney likes him, and I’m completely over Griffin and have been for a while,” she declared in case there was any lingering confusion. Jack was still just staring at her. “He doesn’t know his Iron Man from his War Machine. Huge problem in my book. The truth is, I … like you.”
There! She’d said it out loud. She waited for the sky to fall.
Jack slowly smiled. “Yeah?”
Her whole body tingled. She tried not to fidget. “Yeah.”
Jack shuffled his laptop from one hand to the other. “That’s good, because I really like you too.”
Lidia’s cheeks burned. “Yeah?”
“I think Wednesday is starting to be my new favorite day of the week.”
“Mine too,” she said shyly. “I brought you something.” She handed him a bag of nonpareils and a tan notecard.
“ ‘Turn It Up dance competition two weeks from Saturday at the Naples Convention Center,’ ” Jack read. He looked at Lidia. “I thought you gave up your a cappella group.”
“I did, but since I don’t have my first dance competition till afterward I thought we could cheer on my friends together. I choreographed their number to the song ‘HandClap.’ ”
“Fitz and the Tantrums?” Jack asked. “Love them.”
He knew his music. Another plus. Lidia was proud of her first choreographed number. The girls had individual parts and group ones that required a lot of eight counts and quick timing, but they’d gotten the hang of it. Sydney had videoed the number the other day and sent the clip to Lidia. It gave her goose bumps it looked so good.
“I guess your bad luck streak is over,” Jack said, reminding her of the conversation they had had the day they met.
Lidia grinned. “Everything changed the day you gave me those nonpareils.”
“They are pretty magical.” The corners of his mouth turned upward into a small smile. “And so are you.” Her heart did a backflip. “I’ll come with you to the competition, then afterward maybe we can get something to eat to celebrate.”
Lidia looked confused. “Celebrate what?”
“Your former team’s win,” Jack said, as if it should be obvious. “And their awesome choreographer.”
Lidia felt the hair on her arms stand up. She was going to the a cappella competition to root for her friends with a cute boy who liked her.
Things were definitely looking up.
In less than one week, the Nightingales were taking the stage at Turn It Up!
In less than ONE week!
Sydney knew the girls were ready. They’d practiced their song arrangements for Julianna’s song and “HandClap” more times than she could count. They’d practiced their perfectly choreographed (thanks to Lidia) numbers on the quad, at lunch, and even during a pep rally that week that Headmistress Sato had organized just for a cappella groups. Bradley usually never did pep rallies for a cappella groups, but Headmistress Sato had said she was making an exception. Sydney was proud that Bradley was the home of two a cappella groups going to competition, but she was still nervous about running into Griffin.
“You can’t avoid him forever,” Lidia had said. “And you shouldn’t want to.”
Lidia was being so good about this. “I’m too busy to worry about a boy,” Sydney had insisted.
She was concentrating on leading her team to victory at Turn It Up. They only had a couple more practices before the competition, and Sydney wanted everything to be perfect, including her voice. She started with vocal warm-ups outside the aquatic center while she waited for Whitney.
Deep breath in and hummmmmmm.
Lip trills! Tongue trills! Hey, you walking by the fountain. Don’t look at me like I’m nuts. I’m getting ready to perform!
Deep breaths! In, out, in, out …
Now sirens and kazoo buzzing!
Buzz! Buzz …
“Sydney? Are you okay?”
“What? Griffin!” How had he snuck up on her? Her voice changed. “I’m fine.”
“Lidia said I could find you here.”
He lifted his backpack higher on the one shoulder it hung on. She tried not to stare at his white short-sleeved polo, which showed off his biceps.
“How are you? Ready for next week’s competition?” he asked.
Sydney was still processing the “Lidia said I could find you here” part. Why was Lidia still pushing the Griffin thing? As she’d said a hundred times, she didn’t need a guy in her life to complicate things. She was over Griffin Mancini.
At least, she told herself that a thousand times a day.
There were dozens of guys at Bradley just as funny and charming as Griffin, who also loved musicals and making music with their mouths.
She hoped.
“We’re ready,” Sydney said stiffly. It felt funny standing this close to him again. His coconut scent was overwhelming. Why did he have to smell so good? “Are you guys?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. There’s one thing left to do. Do you have a minute?”
“I’m not helping the Kingfishers,” Sydney said hotly.
Griffin tried not to smirk. “This isn’t a Kingfishers thing. It’s about the Nightingales, actually. They need your help.”
“What?” she shrieked. What were the Kingfishers up to now? She had to put an end to these pranks! “Why didn’t you say so? Let’s go!”
“Come with me.” Griffin offered Sydney his hand.
Go for it, she could hear Lidia say, but still she hesitated.
“Time’s a-wasting,” he said. “Don’t worry. I won’t declare my love for you in the quad or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. I just thought I’d lead the way.” His cheeks colored.
So did Sydney’s. “I didn’t think … I know you won’t. I can walk myself.” She kept her hand at her side.
Griffin looked disappointed, but he didn’t argue. He took the shortcut across campus to the football field. People were running around the track and the girls’ field hockey team was in the middle of practice. Sydney expected to see the football team too, but instead, she saw the Nightingales standing with the Kingfishers.
Aca-excuse me?
“What’s going on?” Sydney asked. “Is this some sort of prank? Because we don’t have time for anything like that. We are less than one week away from Turn It Up.”
Griffin motioned for her to follow. “No pranks. Come on.”
“Hi, guys!” Lidia sounded totally normal. She was smiling as she looked from Griffin to Sydney. And she was standing with the Nightingales.
Sydney was so confused. “Can someone please tell me what’s going on?”
“Why don’t you let Griffin tell you.” Lidia looked at him.
“The Kingfishers wanted to apologize,” Griffin explained. “It was wrong to steal your number and make you gu
ys look bad at the open house. Bradley has two a cappella groups and we should try to get along. Right, guys?” The rest of the team mumbled. “Right, Dave?” Griffin tried again.
“We’re sorry,” Dave said with a sigh and snapped his fingers.
“We’re sorry,” the rest of the guys sang in harmony.
“Doesn’t everyone feel better now?” Lidia asked. “There are two teams at Bradley and they should both do well at Turn It Up! It makes Bradley look good.”
“You sound like your mom,” Sydney mumbled.
“Lidia’s right,” Griffin chimed in. “We’ve all said and done things we regret. It’s time for the a cappella groups to bury the hatchet and call a truce. Maybe if we go around and say what we’re sorry for, it will help. Who wants to go first?”
Micayla sighed. “Fine! I’ll go. We’re sorry about the time we pretended to be the yearbook staff to get your worst baby picture and then plastered the pics all over campus.”
Gabby snorted. “That was a good one.” Sydney gave her a look.
“Dave?” Griffin pressed.
Dave rolled his eyes. “We’re sorry about the time we … sorry. There’s so much to choose from.”
“We know,” Gabby growled.
“We’re sorry we posted your open house meltdown on YouTube.” He exhaled. “Wow, I feel better.”
“That performance is on YouTube?” Whitney freaked out.
The two teams started arguing again.
Griffin blew into his pitch pipe.
“Guys, this is getting old!” Griffin shouted. “From here on out, the Kingfishers and the Nightingales are no longer enemies. We’re equals.”
Dave snickered. “I don’t know about equals.”
Sydney crossed her arms. “You haven’t seen our finished performances yet. We will blow you guys out of the water.”
“You think so?” Pasqual asked.
“I know so.” Sydney said and they stared each other down.
Griffin stepped between them. “As part of the truce, how about each team acts as the other’s critique partner this afternoon. Turn It Up is this weekend, and this is the perfect way for us to run the number past someone unbiased.”
“Unbiased?” Micayla mumbled.
Everyone halfheartedly agreed. “We will even go first,” Griffin vowed.
“We will?” Dave asked. Griffin gave him a look. “Okay. Kingfishers, assemble.”
“Who are they, the Avengers?” Gabby asked.
The Kingfishers walked farther out onto the football field and moved into a triangle formation.
“Now picture us in dark denim jeans,” Dave yelled to the Nightingales. “Our hair is slicked back and we’re wearing tight gray tees and black suit-jacket vests buttoned up with high-top black lace-up sneakers. We would have worn gold jackets, but they are being fumigated after the Red Ant Incident.”
“Thank you for the fashion statement,” Whitney said. “Want to name your stylist too? Sing already!” The other Nightingales goaded them too. Griffin looked directly at Sydney. His stare only made her more nervous. She looked away.
The Kingfishers bowed their heads, laced their fingers, and, one by one, started to sing. They mixed their beats till the song was entirely recognizable. Before long, Gabby’s head started to bob, and Viola started clapping. Sydney swayed along with the other girls as each one mumbled some variation of “They’re really good.” Then Dave and another Kingfisher started rapping a different Sheeran song in the background. That’s when Griffin stepped forward for a solo.
Sydney’s breath caught in her throat. Hearing Griffin sing did that to her. She’d known she was a goner that first day at In the Heights practice when he’d hit a high note. The feeling only intensified through the summer-long production, growing as they started practicing for the music festival together. She thought of them together at Cliff Notes and her face reddened. A tingling sensation moved from the tips of her ears through her whole body. Why did she try so hard to deny it? Lidia gave Sydney a gentle shove in Griffin’s direction. Sydney couldn’t deny it any longer. She liked Griffin Mancini.
The football field faded away. It felt like Griffin was singing just to her. Sydney couldn’t hear the other Kingfishers anymore. She wasn’t sure where the Nightingales were either. Griffin stepped forward and grabbed her hand, and this time, she took it. He was staring at her the way he had on the summer stage when they’d been playing the parts of two people totally into each other. When Griffin and the guys finished singing, Sydney realized she was still holding his hand.
“The audience participation part is not in our actual act,” Dave said.
“Go for it, Syd!” Gabby yelled.
Sydney grinned. Before she could think of anything witty to say, Griffin leaned in and kissed her in front of everyone. But this time, she didn’t pull away. Instead, she let her lips linger on his even as she heard the two groups teasing them.
“Great! Our groups are commingling, which means we definitely have to be nice to each other,” she heard Dave say to Whitney.
“I guess it was inevitable,” Whitney added with a sigh. “Hey, how many of the guys on your team are single anyway?”
“Sorry for the PDA,” Griffin said when they finally parted. “I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been wanting to do that again forever.” He hesitated. “Was that okay?”
She had Lidia’s blessing, the Nightingales had a shot at Turn It Up, and Griffin Mancini made her feel like she was the inspiration for a Shawn Mendes song. “More than okay,” Sydney said.
“Okay, Nightingales,” Dave declared. “You’re up!”
Sydney reluctantly let go of Griffin’s hand and returned to her team. She, Whitney, Julianna, and the other girls looked at one another as Lidia watched.
“Ready?” Sydney asked the girls.
“Ready!” they all cheered.
Sydney stared out at the football field with a feeling of determination burning in her chest. “Then here we go.”
Julianna couldn’t tear herself away from the side of the stage. The performances at the Turn It Up competition were electric and so was the crowd. Packed auditorium, balcony full of cheering fans holding up neon handmade signs, emotionless judges, and lots of parents geeking out in official a cappella team T-shirts. What wasn’t there to like?
This was her first a cappella competition and she wanted to soak it all in, even the wackiness of the emcee. Rick D. thought he was a budding Ryan Seacrest. He smiled enough for all of them, flashing grins at every a cappella contestant he saw backstage, including Julianna.
“Ready to get out there?” he asked as he fixed the cuffs on the white shirt he wore under his suit jacket.
“Yes,” Julianna said and she meant it.
Stage fright was not getting the better of her today. She had a score to settle. She had managed to avoid the Tonal Teens and Amy all morning, but she knew they were there and she’d have to face them eventually. She’d talked to Naya about the Tonal Teens’ slight and Naya agreed Julianna had every right to be angry with Amy. But strangely, Julianna didn’t want to fight with Amy. She just wanted her out of her life. Maybe that’s why she had texted Amy the night before:
You and I both know what you did. Our friendship is done. Good luck at competition—your team will need it.
Amy hadn’t replied. She didn’t call either. Julianna didn’t need her to. Performing her original song in front of the Tonal Teens and wowing the judges would be revenge enough.
“How’s our competition?” Sydney asked, coming up beside her.
“Tough,” Julianna admitted. Each group she watched take the stage was better than the one before. Some would get a perfect score for stage presence while others had such intricate choreography they looked more like a cheerleading squad than an a cappella group. The vocals were too good to measure. Julianna watched the judges typing on their laptops for a reaction. They gave none.
“That’s okay, we’re ready.” Sydney sounded confident.
&nbs
p; “The judges and the competition people are always watching,” Sydney had told them all earlier. “From the moment you hit that stage, you have to be ready to perform.”
“Don’t be over the top or fake,” Whitney had added. “Be yourself, but not yourself, if you’re going to freak out.”
“Confident, but not overly confident,” Sydney had added. “Do you guys know what we mean?”
Julianna didn’t. This was all new to her. Her palms were sweating, her stomach was churning, and she could hear her heartbeat over the roar of the crowd, which seemed to intensify by the minute. Somewhere out in the audience were her mom and her grandmother. Mr. Wickey and Headmistress Sato had come too, along with Lidia and her new boyfriend, Jack. The Kingfishers would be rooting for them as well. The Nightingales finally had a cheering section.
There was a loud roar from the crowd as the all-boy group Vocalosity came running offstage. They were the Kingfishers’ toughest competition. The Kingfishers had been one of the first groups to take the stage and had been done for an hour already. Julianna wished the Nightingales were finished. Why hadn’t they been scheduled before the crowd thickened? Before the Tonal Teens arrived? Was Amy going to be watching her? What would the Tonal Teens think of the Nightingales’ performance or Julianna’s song? It was hard not to work herself up into a frenzy.
“And now, straight from Miami, the FIVE-time-winning Tonal Teens!” Rick D. announced.
“Don’t look!” Gabby said as she and Viola walked over to watch behind the curtain.
“No, I want to see.” Julianna inched closer to the stage. The Tonal Teens came up through the aisles, high-fiving audience members and taking selfies on their way to the stage. Amy led the way in the same hot-pink, form-fitting dress that all the members had on, even if it didn’t look as great on them as it did on Amy. As she ran up the steps to the stage, she stumbled a second as she caught sight of Julianna.
Hi, Amy! Julianna thought with glee.
“Is that your former best friend and backstabber?” Micayla asked, coming over to watch too. “She looks petrified of you!”
“Good!” Viola declared. “She should be scared of the whole team.”