Chapter 3
They took me to the nurse’s room behind the auditorium.
My mother stayed with me.
So did Ms. Alvarez.
A medic cleaned my foot.
There was a small puncture.
Not deep.
But deep enough.
Enough to bleed.
Enough to hurt every time I stepped.
Enough to make the dance dangerous.
The medic looked angry while trying to sound professional.
“You should be seen at urgent care after this.”
My mother’s voice shook.
“She danced with that in her shoe.”
I looked down.
“I had to finish.”
Mom turned to me.
“No, baby. You had to be safe.”
That sentence hit harder than the pain.
Because I had not believed it.
Not on stage.
Not with Brooke waiting for me to fail.
Not with my mother in the third row after working double shifts.
I thought finishing was the only way to honor her.
But my mother was looking at my foot like she would give back every saved dollar if it meant I had stopped dancing sooner.
Ms. Alvarez sat beside me.
“You were brilliant,” she said. “But your mother is right.”
“I didn’t want Brooke to win.”
“She already lost when she chose this.”
Outside the nurse’s room, voices rose.
Brooke’s parents had arrived.
Her mother was demanding that the competition continue.
Her father was saying lawyers.
Rich parents always knew that word.
Lawyers.
Like money could make a tack disappear.
Then Lily came in.
She stood near the door, trembling.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
My mother looked at her.
“For what?”
May you like
Lily swallowed.
“For knowing.”
