She leapt across the wood covered floor, a perfect landing executed. Her technique and possession of the floor was flawless, though her emotion was lacking. Every move graceful and perfect she wowed the audience with her exquisite dance. The music stopped and everyone applauded her. The teacher, proud and graceful, flounced to the centre of the classroom to address her students.

"oh, that is just the reason I teach dance classes!" she fawned, "Kacee, that was just perfect! Now who wants to go next?" Her make-up slathered eyes scanned the students in front of her.

They all avoided her pointed stare. Who would want to perform after someone so... 'perfect!'? Mrs. Beguine's eyes fell on the very person who was avoiding her gaze the most, Holly Gawain.

"Holly, Why don't you go next?" Mrs. Beguine stated. There was no question in that glowering frown. Just a hint of a smirk showed through as a thought passed her mind before she put it away. She was going to make this into a contest if she couldn't do anything else.

Holly slowly took a deep breath as she untwisted herself into a standing position. She shuffled over to the CD player and inserted her disk. She then moved on to the starting point of her dance. Clearing her mind she signalled for the music to start. Moving into position, the song started, washing over her mind. Feeling the soul and heart of the song she represented it through dance. While not the most showy, or practised moves, she flowed through it with emotion. As the last notes rang in her mind and in the echoing classroom, she held her final pose, a tableau of the songs emotion. On her knees, back arched backwards in pain one hand holding her up, the other covering her crying eyes, she held the position. You could see the tears sparkling in the light, streaming down her exercise-heated face. As the applause started, she slowly returned to her original standing position before ambling back to her spot in the audience. The assistant teacher next to her smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Holly sighed, finally smiling back, tiredly.

Mrs. Beguine reclaimed her centre spot, and declared uncertainly, "That was nice, though you must work on your technique and presentation. Next? OH! How about you..."
…

Holding her book tightly to her body, Holly shut her locker tightly and quietly, compared to the absolute chaos continuing behind her. Yelling and slamming of lockers filled up the hallway; brightly painted horizontal surfaces adding to the confusion. In every inch of space there was movement and noise, nerve grating turmoil. In just five minutes this pandemonium will turn to a tomb like silence, after everyone had moved on to their last class.

A stressed sigh was let out by Holly once more, as she turned to wander to home room, when she saw exactly the person she least wanted to see in the whole universe. Kacee Greene was stalking through the middle of the packed hallway, with a determined glare on her face, and she was strutting right towards Holly!

Everyone in the hallway parted like The Red Sea to let her pass. Kacee flicked her hair over her shoulder as she was counting out her measured steps. Holly rolled her eyes and exhaled, annoyed. A static, uncharacteristic silence settled over the students. Crackling with nervous excitement, it felt like any small movement would set them all on fire. Kacee halted a few feet away and crossed her arms at her waist. They scanned over each other for a moment.

Covered in fitted clothes completely green, Kacee gave tribute to her name, (and one of their school colours,) as well as matching her bright green eyes, and long wavy blonde hair. Her make-up, while put on with a heavy hand, was professionally done. Her heels also verde, were pumps and made her a good three inches above Holly's head. She looked confident and glowering.

Holly, on the other hand was dressed in blue jeans and her favourite purple Alice in Wonderland t-shirt. Both loose fitting, she had a low profile, and comfortable look, completed with no make-up, (she didn't need any,) and navy blue high tops. Her stick straight, dark blue-black hair was pulled back into a simple pony-tail, her bangs falling lightly on her brow, and her luminous blue eyes shining from underneath. She looked sedate and unconcerned.

Kacee stepped forward, "That was a nice dance earlier," she laughed and smiled cattily. "Our assistant teacher, Ms. Saltarello seemed to like it." her eyes flashed. "Why don't we have a contest, just the two of us, and see who is a better dancer? We can have our fellow students-" she waved her hand in the direction of the abnormally silent students. "-be the judges. Unless of course, you are too chicken..." Taunting hoots and hollers rose from the crowd around them.

Holly rolled her eyes again, "Sounds like you are the one that is more chicken. Since you won't even let the answer come out of my mouth. Of course I'll compete against you! Sounds like fun!" she drawled sarcastically. "Time and Place?"

"Tonight. 6 sharp. Auditorium. Be ready!" she bit out in a sing-song voice.

"As long as you are!" Holly ignored the strong urge to stick out her tongue, and instead smiled spitefully and turned quickly on her heel to walk away, even though her class was in the complete opposite direction.

Aimlessly storming through the hallways, she found herself in the Orchestra room, the only place she could think straight. She took a long breath, savouring the unique smells of the class. Rosin and wood, paper, and bow hair, sweat and a hint of mold. A smell she was wary of at first but came to know of as home.

She rushed over to the far left corner of the room, and slumped down into her personal niche, reviewing what had just happened. I Should have kept a cool head, I SHOULD have let it go, and in the case of anyone else, I would have, just not Kacee! We have known each other since childhood and everyone has always compared us, and of course, now Kacee is full of herself, because I've just never been as good as her.

Holly rubbed her eyes and let her head fall back against her cello locker. Oh well, no undoing it now.
The girl jumped up as the warning bell rung and she rushed to class, still troubled about the event now set tonight.
…

The school day had ended, the last bell had rung and the hallway ruckus was even worse than during passing periods.

It doesn't help that the hallway is full of whispers following me... thought Holly. Her knuckles got even whiter as she clung to her books weaving in and out of the rampaging students, just trying to reach her locker. After struggling through the throng of students she attained a small area in front of her locker and shoved her books in as soon as the blue metal door clicked open. Continuing to battle against the tumultuous masses just to keep from being pushed fully into her locker, she shut the lightweight metal door to find her good friend standing behind the space it had just occupied.

"I heard about you and Kacee..." Adira prompted, "Its the only thing everyone is talking about!"

"Already?! Its only been an HOUR!"

"What did you think was going to happen? Its the middle of the school year and this it the most exciting thing that has happened in a long while. It spread like wildfire and I'm sure the whole school knew about it within fifteen minutes! I even heard the teachers talking about it!" Adira's rich cinnamon eyes got wider with every word.

"Mmmmmrrraaaaaarrrrhgggghhhhh hhhhh..." Holly groaned as she attempted to embed her head into the cool locker door.

"Hey, Do you want me to fight her? I could totally take her down for you! She wouldn't come back to school for weeks!" The fiery red head exclaimed.

"Yeah, and neither would you! Don't get yourself suspended or expelled for HER. You're a leader in this school, Adira, people look up to you!"

"Fine. But I still want to punch her face in... As a leader." Adira grumbled.

"Maybe she's not as bad as we think, I mean, its not like she's going to chop my head off! Besides, even if she is, at least it'll only be me, and not the class president getting defeated. That might cause an uprising on par with goblins." both girls shuttered.

"That would be bad for everyone... So, I suppose you'll have to just go along with this twisted contest of hers. The judges tonight are the student body, correct? I heard a few of them say from your dance class that they saw how you danced earlier and they were talking about how much they liked it... but as soon as Kacee came up, they changed the subject. As class president, I will most likely have to do the introductions for this event... and though I have to be unbiased, we can make the voting anonymous by putting up a poll on the school website so they can vote... which means they can't be swayed by Kacee, because she won't know who voted for whom!" Adira concluded, her tight curls on her head bouncing in excitement. "I'll see you later, friend, I have work to do! I'll meet you at five-" she glanced at her watch, "in an hour, in the orchestra room!" With that, Adira was off to do her job, before Holly could even say 'Bye'.

"ah, old friend, I think that even you can not help me out of this hole I've dug for myself." Holly murmured to herself as she shook her head, walking to the extra unused dance room to practice.

…

That short hour had come and gone, the stage was set, the work was done.
Five o'clock was the time for them, for final steps, and prayers to send.
Hair and make-up, costumes and shoes, such girlish things, for them to choose.
The final practice was then set, crossing fingers and placing bets.
This is where we next step in, they come on stage, the game begins.

"Hello everyone! Class president speaking, if you would please quiet down, we will start in a moment! As you should have read on the flyer that was handed out to all of you as you came in, this will be an anonymous voting. You can vote by using the laptops that we have placed in the theatre's lobby outside the door. You can also any of your internet capable devices, by going to the school's homepage and submitting your answer in the poll in the right hand column of that main page! Thank you. Now we shall begin by introducing our two contestants, Kacee Greene, and Holly Gawain!"

The two girls strutted on to the stage, making theatrical bows to the audience before meeting in the centre and shaking hands. Whether their confidence was put on, or truthful, no one quite cared, too excited were they for what was prepared.

"Now, we shall start with Kacee Greene's dance first, so I'll run along off stage." Adira continued, "Cue the music when you are ready, Kacee."

The lights dimmed as Adira and Holly stepped backstage to watch from the sidelines. "Cue," was heard from across the stage, the lights came back to life, and the music was played, as Kacee Greene made her way across the stage. Carefully planned out was her ballet, every move perfectly executed, (those who were dancers were quite amazed). You could tell that she had been practising this for long, not even a single movement of hers was even a bit wrong. But even as amazing as this was, you have to remember that this was only high school. Her dance was wonderful, but many would agree, that this dance was meant for more attuned eyes, not boisterous students. While every movement was graceful, there was a distinct gap of taste between people such as her (who were professionally trained dancers), and high school students, (who while politely interested, were not drawn in or consumed in awe). Now when her part was finished they clapped fervently, though many might have been bored or confused, they all knew when it was done, and they all knew how to cheer. Next came Holly, who was greeted politely, but the audience wasn't sure if hers would be the same or different. They quieted down as the lights dimmed once more, and sprung back to life with the opening notes of her song. This song was quite different, a song more well known in the world of high school. Even if they didn't know the first thing about dancing, the movements paired with the song easily plucked their heart-strings; the emotions that were transferred were well known to these moody teenagers. So when all was finished and done, it was easily predicted, as to who won. While Kacee's dance was beautiful and calculated, Holly had obviously touched their hearts and brought everyone together for those few important minutes. The emotion shown made most everyone sure of who they would vote for. It was announced after voting was done that Holly had won. The cheering began again, Kacee and Holly shook hands again, before Kacee grabbed the microphone and demanded a rematch. In one months time, they would meet here again, but in that next challenge they would be judged by the teachers, not the students. It was agreed that they would both come up with a new dance, to a new song. They shook on it and smiled, turning to the audience to bid them good night.

…

With a month to prepare, they sought help here and there. It was decided between them, that they could both have a coach to guide them along. While Kacee had a private teacher, Holly did not, so she was quite grateful when Ms. Saltarello, (the afore mentioned assistant teacher,) offered to assist her. But what no one could see, (except for now, you and me,) was that Kacee's character was not all that she seemed. Kacee Greene is not the real antagonist in this story, that place is held in actuality by her mother, Morgan Greene. Because, you see, Morgan had been controlling and shaping things to her whim from the start, and projecting her lost childhood dreams onto her daughter who had just to play the part. So when her plans of the first contest had failed, she decided to use the unexpected second contest to her advantage. When it was decided that they could utilize the help of a coach, they also set a new rule: The dance coaches would be their only help, they would perform this in all honesty, without cheating. So Morgan decided to bribe Ms. Saltarello to try and get Holly to cheat. Three different times in three different ways did she try, though she felt guilty, she did it any ways (college debts are quite high you know), but each time she did fail, until the fourth try. This is where we re-enter the story once more.

…

"Holly, the contest is tomorrow, do you feel ready?" Ms. Saltarello asked.

"Sure! Yeah. Absolutely..." Holly replied in a obviously forced tone, her face not happy but nervous. "What am I going to do? I'm surely not going to win, so maybe I should just forfeit." She finished in a depressed voice.

"Hey, It'll be O.K.! I was just as nervous as you are now, when I was applying for the dance academy! But you know what helped me?" Holly looked up at her with hopeful eyes. "My high school dance teacher gave me this necklace and explained that it was passed down from dancer to dancer for over 100 years and it helped each one to find their destiny and happiness. I wore it to my audition and I got in, so I'm going to give it to you now. Maybe it will help you win!"

"Wow, thanks Ms. Saltarello, I really appreciate it!" Holly gushed happily.
…

The deal was done, the record broken, and Morgan Greene couldn't have been happier. The next day came with the crowd of students even more excited than they were the last encounter of Kacee and Holly. The news had been spread through the district and part of the state, and hordes of people were gathering in their much too small theatre to observe this new challenge. There was a board of teachers at the front to judge, and the students and guests sat behind them. Now, as I have already described their dancing to you before, you can probably guess what all happened (so I won't bore you with any more details). The proceeding happened much like before, but this time, (as you may have guessed,) Kacee's perfectionistic dancing won. But Holly felt guilty about accepting the necklace, (though she didn't win it still felt like cheating). So she went up to Kacee and gave her congratulations, then apologized and explained the dilemma. She was surprised when Kacee apologised too, and said she had known all along, because her mother had set this all up. They discussed all that had happened and found that they had become fast friends, though Morgan's interference had kept them apart for so long. They both found friendship and happiness in the end.