Abby Lee Miller may have been loudmouthed and positive about always being right, but this time she totally was! She had often made a point of saying that one day, a talent agent, or a scout for a professional dance company, or a casting director would see Kalani, like very much what they saw, offer her the chance to audition for a spot, or a part, or a role, and 'bam!' Kalani would be gone.

Abby's canny sense had struck again. Amazed over what had just happened, Kalani stared at her mobile phone in complete disbelief. Abby's prediction had just come true. That call had come from a talent scout for the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes in New York City. If Kalani was interested to dance with them, she should send in an audition video. After review, if there was any interest, she'd be invited to audition in person. If she performed well for the initial audition, she'd get a callback. It had all been dutifully explained, and the impressionable Dance Moms star was still reeling. Her hopes and dreams danced around her in a tight circle. The opportunity she was being offered was tremendous, first dancing as a Rockette, and then...who knew what other plum dancing opportunities could come her way, owing to this.

Kalani tingled. Vibrancy sparked through her svelte body. Just going to New York was sheer excitement itself. When she got the actual call to become a Rockette, she'd keel over, fainting dead away. Taking several deep breaths, she shouted:

"Mom, Mom! The Rockettes want me to make an audition video! I could really become a Rockette, like I've always wanted to be!"

Kira came running from the living room, where she'd been reading the latest e-book novel she'd begun. She was as breathless as Kalani, seeing her daughter trembling like a leaf in a windstorm. "What's this about becoming a Rockette?" Wisely, Kira suggested, "Maybe you should sit down before you fall down."

Kalani lowered herself to the edge of her bed, but nearly slid off. "Yeah, Mom. That was one of their agents. She said that after seeing my performance in our last dance competition, she liked what she saw. My name's been submitted. They want to see more. If, and, the woman I spoke to name is Eva Clarke, and it's Clark with an 'e,' says I pass their preliminary evaluation, I'll have to audition in New York! Mom, I'm going to New York City-to become a Rockette!" Kalani began jumping up and down on her bed like a Jack-in-the-box on steroids.

"Easy, Baby, easy," Kira tempered. "One step at a time. First, I need to make sure this is legit. You should've called me to the phone. I know you're eighteen, but you're still my 'little girl.' Not to mention, I'm also your Manager." Her doting mother had been ever since her artistically-inclined child had learned how to point her toes correctly.

Nodding, Kalani didn't object to her mother's contention. She and Kira were more like sisters, but when it came to something as potentially life-altering as this, it was to be expected that Kira was supposed to be all up in her daughter's business.

"I know, I know," Kalani concurred. "Just think, first I'm a Rockette, then it'll be one of many of my dreams coming true."

"Honey, you deserve all of your dreams coming true. I couldn't've wished for a daughter more wonderful than you. I know you're all grown up," Kira acknowledged, "and you've worked tremendously hard all these years for an opportunity just like this to come along, but I still need to make sure no one stands to take advantage of you. Understood?"

"Sure, Mom. That's why you manage me. But, isn't it great that now I'm exactly the right height to be a Rockette, five foot, six." When she'd been 16, she'd only been 5'2". She'd most likely wind up being 5'8" by the time she was twenty. If the dancing career never panned out, she could be a model for sure. Kalani was a natural beauty, with or without makeup.

Kira was always saying so. So often that the other Dance Moms had to roll their arms when she started exalting Kalani's exquisite gorgeousness. Yeah, she was, but Kira went on, and on, and on about it, seriously ad nauseum.

She asked Kalani for her phone, which she handed over immediately. Her mother redialed the last number, and while she waited for the call to be picked up, she smiled at her daughter and reassured, "Trust me. I'm just making sure. If this is some kind of scam, I'll have this call traced and have the cops on this scammer's butt so fast, she won't know what hit her."

"It's not a scam, Mom," Kalani mumbed, feeling her heart beat faster, as she prayed her mother wasn't about to spoil this impossibly stupendous chance for her. And if her mother was right, and this was all just a miserable scam, she'd give Kira the biggest hug, and thank her from the bottom of her toes for always looking out for her.

Kira was talking to someone now, presumably Eva Clarke. Kalani realized, when she needed air so she wouldn't pass out, that she needed to quit holding her breath while her mom was on the line.

"I see," Kira said, giving Kalani a confounding, blank stare. Her look spoke volumes, all so stressful for the eighteen-year-old.

Kalani's spirits nosedived. With bated breath, she hoped against hope that Eva was telling her mother the exact same thing she'd told her, and it was really on the up and up.

Kira was nodding now, looking a bit more upbeat. "Okay...yes. Uh huh. Okay. There's no guarantee. When is that, in show biz? Well, that's good; her video can be charged back to you guys. Right. Fine. Then, we'll be in touch. And, thank you." Handing Kalani back her phone, Kira said, "Let's get on that video!"

"Oh, Mom, that's great! Great! Great!" Falling into a thoughtful mood, Kalani wondered just how was she going to take it from there.

As if reading her mind, Kira suggested, "We'll record it at the Third Street Dance Studio. Get one of our friends there to do it."

The 3rd Street Dance, in West Hollywood, was the ALDC's elite team members' place of refuge. The girls ran there when keeping secrets from Abby was top priority.

Kira continued, "Abby won't be involved in this at all. You know how she is, and how she'll get if she knows anything about this. If, and I'm not saying nothing will come of this, because I know they'll want you, sweetheart, but if, for some reason, it doesn't work out, Abby won't have an excuse to treat you like a traitor to her cause, which, as we know, is making lots of money off you and the other girls. Maddie's time came, and she did what she had to do. This is your time, Baby, and you're doing what you want to do, because you have to."

"Of course, Mom. This is what we've always been working towards."

"You got that right, 'Lani. You go, baby-girl. Follow your dreams. I'm in your corner, every step of the way."

Kalani sprang up from the bouncy mattress and wrapped her arms around Kira. "Thanks, Mom, I know I can always count on you." She hugged her tightly, squeezing her mother bear-hug style.

Laughing in her daughter's snug embrace, Kira exclaimed, "I'm with you all the way, Baby!"