Chapter 30

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The next morning, I woke up and the room was freezing. I got up to grab a jacket, and a sharp pain shot through my ankle. I let out a small noise from the pain as my mom walked in.

"Is it your ankle again?" She asked me, having been down this road before. I've suffered with an injury on my achilles the last year, because I pulled it at a competition. I nodded and sat down. She left and came back with KT tape- a dancers best friend. She wrapped my ankle and handed me a mini ice pack. "What do you want to do about it?" She asked me, handing me ibuprofen.

"I can't just sit out this week. That's not an option, so I'll just dance through it." I shrugged, popping the medicine into my mouth.

"Madison, when you first hurt it, you had to sit out for two weeks because you could have permanently damaged it. Do you really want to do that?" She asked me, clearly concerned.

"No, but I didn't come this far from home and work this hard, to go home because of my ankle."

"I know, but we're still having the medic check it out when we get there." She compromised.

"Okay, but you'll have my back if they tell me sit down, right?" I asked, hoping this would be easy.

"As long as you're honest about the pain, I'll back you up."

"Okay. I'm gonna go get ready." I went and changed into my dance clothes and brushed my teeth. I threw my hair up in a ponytail and threw on a pullover with my studio's name on it. "Why is it so cold in here?" I asked my mom.

"Madison you had it on eighty when we walked in last night! It's on seventy two!" She defended.

"We live in Florida!" I reminded her as we headed out the door.

In the main rehearsal hall, the medic was checking out my ankle.

"You have to be honest with everyone about the pain. If it hits more than like, an eight, you need to stop dancing and sit down." He instructed, wrapping my ankle with medical gauze. I nodded and thanked him for his time. "I'll check in with you later today."

"Madison, what's wrong with your ankle? Did you hurt it?" Kristie asked me, clearly not caring and just wanted information.

"She's fine, just a little sore." My mom lied, sending me away to go warm up. I started stretching next to Jordyn.

"What's up with the ankle?" She asked me, as she stretched her feet.

"Uh, just sore." I shrugged, reiterating what my mom said. Jordyn gave me a skeptical look, which I returned with a small smile. Abby and Kevin walked in, saving me from any further questioning.

"Good morning dancers. This week, your theme is 'Around the World' and your skill is flexibility." Kevin welcomed, getting right to the chase.

"Flexibility can mean many different things. Flexibility of the legs, the back, the mind." Abby hinted.

"Today, you'll learn a harajuku styled dance from Molly. Abby and I will be back in thirty minutes to see you're progress, and reward this week's winner." Kevin and Abby exited the hall and Molly waved.

"Alright, so harajuku is a Japanese style of dance. It's really unique, really quirky, and lots of character work. There's going to be a lot of tricks and a need for flexibility in this piece, so I hope you're all stretched out!" Molly started teaching, and all too soon, the thirty minutes were up.

"Alright ladies line up." We got into our places and as I stood there waiting for instructions, I rolled my ankle in little circles, to help stretch it. I could feel all the moms glaring at my ankle, hoping it would fall off. "Music, go."

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