“Number 334 please enter the stage.” My heart was racing, I could feel it beating out of my chest. I was determined to nail my routine.  Kristina counted in 5,6,7,8 and my team stepped on the stage. The lights were beaming on us, making it hard to see. We started in our beginning pose and waited for the judges to play the music. It was the longest twenty seconds of my life. Once the music played, I was ready to begin. This was the most important three minutes.
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The alarm went off it took 30 seconds before I realized, so  I rolled over to tap snooze. Less than a minute later I shot up in bed and grinned. Today was a big day. In 3 hours I had a flight to Florida, for Nationals Dance Competition. I squeezed the toothpaste on my toothbrush, and brushed my teeth. I was scrambling. Packing some last minute things, grabbed my luggage and headed out the door. My whole dance team was traveling with me. The taxi took us to Logan Airport and we  met up with my instructors.

“Who’s ready to compete?!” Miss Cait shouted with enthusiasm. In unison the team replied shouting “Me!”
They gave us hugs and told us how excited they were. After checking in and going through security, all we had to do was board the plane. The lady at the JetBlue counter scanned my ticket and gave me a friendly smile. I sat down first at the window seat, my mom sat in the middle, and Kristina sat at the aisle seat. We couldn’t stop talking. Kristina seemed so calm to me, and I didn’t understand why I was terrified. My sister and I were bonding over how excited we were to perform .We have worked so hard and long to perfect this dance, I was confident in myself and my teammates. After a couple of hours we had landed and made it to Orlando Florida.

The bus from the airport dropped us off at the front of the hotel. We grabbed our suitcases and rolled them to the front desk. I was looking around, so many girls my age were competing too. All of the sudden I got butterflies in my stomach, the nerves were kicking in.

After checking into our Disney themed hotel room at the All Star Resort,  we unpacked our bags, and were ready to start rehearsing our dance. We took a bus to the ESPN Sports Center and had an hour to go through our dance one last time. Although the practice was only an hour, I was exhausted!  Our teacher said we did really well and were ready to compete tomorrow morning.
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The next day we woke up very early and drove down to ESPN.  We walked through the black double doors, and found the dressing room. I laid out my costume, and set up my makeup. Five minutes went by and my whole team was in the dressing room.  We started getting ready, we slicked our hair back, and caked on our makeup. My dance teacher asked us to start stretching. Once we were all warmed up we headed backstage to check in.  
“What number are you guys?” questioned the backstage worker. “334” Kristina replied. “Alright! You guys are on in three, you can line up once these girls finish.”

This is when my dance teacher had to leave, she wished us luck and gave us a hug. As the announcer said “number 334 please enter the stage,” we were more ready then we would ever be. I counted the team in. We all stepped on stage at the same time. Waiting twenty seconds for the music to play felt like a lifetime. Finally, the music started and we began. All went well going through the routine, everyone was on time. All of the turns were clean, and the leaps were high. Once I hit my ending pose I was relieved. I grinned a little bit harder, I knew we did really well. As we walked off the stage we all were laughing. I was so proud of my team, we hugged and all of our sweaty bodies stuck together. I walked out the backstage doors. A weight was lifted off my shoulders, I let out a deep breath. The hardest part was over. Now we wait for our awards.

As every dance re-entered the stage, the announcer congratulated us saying every team did an awesome job. The award ceremony felt like ages. I was so anxious to get the results. The host kept talking, I looked over at Kristina and rolled my eyes. I didn’t think this guy would ever stop.  About twenty minutes later he finally moved on. The judges came out and each gave us a speech before they went on to the real awards. As they walked down to take their seats, the host moved on to my team’s division. We were competing against 16 other teams in the U.S., we were very nervous about our results. We’ve competed against no more than 10 teams before. I was confident in my team. I knew we would do good but I was still nervous. After 30 teams got awarded our division was next. The top ten place dancers were going to be announced. They called 10th, 9th, 8th,7th, and 6th, we weren’t called. Then they moved onto the top 5. “And the 5th place award goes too….number 334!” My team jumped up in excitement and gave each other hugs. We received a huge trophy and a cash prize.

After we exited the stage we met up with my dance teachers, they were so proud! Although we didn’t win first, I was very proud of what my team had accomplished. All of the hard work and time invested into our dance routine payed off by the fun trip, and the memories made.  The next goal was to win first place.