Page 80 of Going for Gold (Sweet Cravings 3)

"Shit!" she screamed as her ankle twisted under her. She collapsed to the stage.

"Kristen! Are you okay?" I ran over and put my hand on her shoulder.

Kristen scrunched her face up in pain. "Yeah, I think I'm okay. Give me a second."

"What happened?"

"I just landed funny in these damn shoes. I knew Tim should have let us wear flats. Alright, help me up."

I reached out and helped Kristen to her feet. She winced when she tried to put weight on her right foot.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.

"No. Damn it, I think I sprained my ankle." She was standing on one leg and using me for balance.

"Should I try to find a trainer?"

"I'll find one later. But right now, we shouldn't be worried about me. This is your dance now."

"Oh my God..." I had been so concerned about Kristen being hurt that it hadn't hit me until just then. I was the understudy. And now that Kristen was hurt, I was going to have to perform t

he dance. On this stage. I looked around at the cameras, the thousands of empty seats in the audience. My head started to spin. "Nope. No. This can't be happening. We need to find someone else to do this."

"Who else? You were the only other girl in all of our dance practices."

"Right. Okay, well, maybe your ankle just needs some tape?"

Kristen laughed a little. "Alina, tape isn't going to fix this. The dance is in less than three hours and I can't even put pressure on it."

"I really don't think I can do it. What if the guys just all go out there without us?"

"I wouldn't mind watching that, but I don't think it's allowed. I'm pretty sure this is a women's event, so without a woman, we'd be disqualified. Alina, you can do this. I saw you in practice. You know it just as well as I do."

"Yeah, I can do the moves in the studio. But in front of all these people? And what if I lose? I'll have to kill myself if Gabriela beats me again."

"You know you can't think like that. If you were that afraid of losing, you'd never have gotten this far in volleyball. We go out on that court every day thinking that we're going to win. This is no different. Just picture the look on Gabriela's face when she's looking up at you on that gold medal podium. That'll be priceless."

"You really think I can beat her?" I asked.

"I know you can. But first you need to do a rehearsal run. We only have a few more minutes before we get kicked off the stage."

"Should I wear my shoes?"

"Do you have an understudy?"

"No."

"Then hell no. You're wearing sneakers until five seconds before you perform. We can't have you spraining your ankle too."

***

The music stopped and I looked over at Kristen. Please tell me I wasn't awful.

"Alright, I'd say you're ready," said Kristen. "My only advice would be to not shy away from the sexy parts. Arch your back more. Really get into it. It's supposed to be a sexy dance, so be sexy. You haven't had a problem being sexy with Bryce during practice, that's for damn sure."

"But this is in front of millions of people."

Kristen shook her head. "The lights on stage will be so bright that you won't be able to see any of that. While you're dancing you can just pretend like it's you and Bryce, but in the end, you're going to do such an awesome job that you'll be happy all those people are there to see it."

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