Dance Team by Charnan Simon

she wailed over the phone. “I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you from the beginning. I should have trusted you.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” I said. And it was, too. “Nothing Camilla did was the kind of stuff you’d expect from someone you look up to, someone you want to call a friend.”
    Joel and Eli wanted to know all the details when they arrived with Olivia.
    â€œIt was Camilla’s little brother who bumped Leah at the mall,” I said. “And her cousin Alex helped her and Amelia and Jaci do the graffiti, just like you thought, Joel.”
    â€œCamilla, Jaci, and Amelia tinkered with Leah’s bike brakes,” Olivia added. “They heard us talking about going biking. They drove by Leah’s house the Friday before, and Jaci snuck in to mess with the brake cable.”
    â€œI kind of have to hand it to Camilla,” I said. “She confessed to everything, but she didn’t drag in Jaci or Amelia.”
    â€œBut then they confessed on their own,” Olivia added. “They didn’t leave Camilla hanging.”
    Loyalty is a funny thing.
    â€œSo what happens now?” Joel asked.
    â€œCamilla, Jaci, and Amelia are suspended for two weeks. Leah’s family doesn’t want to pursue criminal charges, but Camilla and Alex will still have to deal with the illegal drugs stuff,” Olivia said.
    â€œAnd dance team’s disbanded for the rest of the year,” I said sadly. “Ms. Geiger said they’d have to review everything before they decide if we can perform and compete next year.”
    â€œI bet you will,” Joel said encouragingly. “It’s not like the rest of you did anything wrong. And you were so good at regionals!”
    â€œYou were there?” I said, surprised.
    â€œOf course we were!” Eli answered. “Where else would we be?”
    Suddenly I felt a little better. “Maybe with someone like Cate or Trez as captain, Mrs. Nuñez will let us keep going,” I said. “Most of the team didn’t know anything about what Camilla was up to. We still have three years to win regionals!”
    â€œAnd nail my leg-hold turns,” Olivia said.
    I smiled. “And my triple pirouettes!”

Charnan Simon lives in Seattle, Washington, and has written more than one hundred books for young readers. Her two daughters are mostly grown-up, and she misses having teenagers running in and out of the house.