"Been workin' so hard!" Rosetta danced her way onto the stage, belting out the opening notes. From the audience, Lilly and Lucy cheered, dancing along with the music since they weren't on stage. Rosetta beamed out at the others in the audience, catching sight of Jack and winking at him. "I'm punching my card! Eight hours, for what? Oh tell me what I got." With that, Rosetta spun away to join the dancers on stage, quickly slipping into her place next to Swifty in the front row, grinning at him. He grinned back, pulling her into the dance and the choreographed poses on the beats.
"Been workin' so hard!" Pittie burst onto the stage in a flurry of energy, eliciting more cheers from the actors not on stage. "I'm punching my card. Eight hours, for what?" The chorus joined in on the, "For what? For what? For what? For what?"
Sassy made her way onstage from the opposite side as Pittie, smirking as she sang. "Been workin' too damn hard! I'm punchin' that same card! Eight hours bustin' my butt! Oh tell me what I got."
Sassy and Pittie turned to join the dancers, who were moving downstage with Snitch, Rosetta, and Swifty leading the way. The two girls joined the front row on the ends, bright smiles pasted on their faces as they followed along with the dance teacher who stood in front of the stage, hectically running the dances in case anyone forgot.
"Hey, hey, Ren! I heard you're moving away!"
"What, he's leaving Chicago?"
"Ren's leaving Chicago?"
"That's right, I'm leaving you bums for the wide open spaces!" Snitch grinned at Blink, Swifty, and Snipeshooter, who clustered around him.
"What he means is he's moving to some little hick town no one's ever heard of," Snipeshooter laughed.
"I bet they don't even have a zip code!" Blink punched Snitch's arm.
"Hey, people are flocking to it from all over!" Snitch argued, a bit defensively.
"Yeah? What's the name of it?" Swifty countered.
"You can find it on any map!"
"What's the name of it?" Blink raised an eyebrow.
"It's in the middle of everything!"
"What's the name of it?" The three boys chorused together.
"…Bomont."
"BOMONT? WHERE THE HELL IS BOMONT?" The rest of the chorus joined in, making Snitch shake his head and return to his place in the dancing as Pittie, Sassy, and Rosetta danced their way downstage.
"You're playing so cool. Obeying every rule." They smiled and grinned at each other as they sang, focusing on the tight harmonies. "Dig way down in your heart, you're yearning, burning for…"
"Somebody to tell you, that life ain't passing you by!" The girls rejoined the chorus, singing as they danced. Rosetta spun into Swifty's arms as Sassy did the same with Snitch, both pairs dancing in front of the rest of the chorus with more difficult choreography.
Mrs. Darbus beamed and bobbed her head along with the music, confident everything would go well.
That is, until Swifty hoisted Rosetta into a lift, his foot slipped, and both came crashing down. Along with the entire number.
"Rosa!" Jack was on his feet in a moment and leaping up on stage. "Are you okay?" He knelt down and held out his hands to her, his brow furrowed in concern.
She smiled at him, laughing slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Swifty broke my fall…" Her face changed abruptly and she rapidly moved off Swifty. "Oh, my God, are you okay?"
Swifty had closed his eyes for a moment and once Rosetta moved off him, he slowly sat up and opened them. "Yeah, I guess so… I don't think I broke anything, anyway."
"Oh, God, I'm so sorry, Swifty. I think I jumped wrong or something!"
"No, no, my foot just slipped. It's not your fault, Rosa, okay?"
Rosetta nodded hesitantly as Mrs. Darbus made her way up on stage. "Is everyone all right?"
"Yeah, I think so." Swifty smiled at her, pushing himself up to stretch out his legs. "I think I'm good."
Jack helped Rosetta up, gently rubbing her shoulders. "Are you sure you're okay?"
She shook her head at him. "Positive. I'm a cheerleader, I'm survived worse falls." She quickly kissed his cheek before turning to join Swifty in stretching out. She nudged his shoulder lightly. "Drop me again and Jack might kill you."
Swifty glanced over at the football player who was returning to his seat in the audience. Swifty gulped and nodded. "Yeah, I won't. Or, I'll try not it. It's not my fault the stage is slippery."
Rosetta laughed. "I know. I'm sure it was a one time thing, we'll practice in the dance room after rehearsal, okay?"
"Okay." He grinned at her as Mrs. Darbus clapped her hands for attention.
"Okay, kids! Everyone's okay, so we're running from the top! Places, please!"
