CeCe and the others piled into Ty's SUV and drove to a fancy, oldies inspired burger restaurant to celebrate getting into tomorrow's final. After they'd all ordered, they toasted each other with their milkshakes.

"Now all that's left is the dance-off tomorrow," Gunther closed his eyes and took a long drink of milkshake.

"Yes," CeCe could feel some nervousness at the thought of the dance-off, especially since the girl at the check-in booth had told her that Sarah Ray was going to be there.

Ty laughed. "Come on, no matter what they throw at us, we'll be able to handle it. I'm more concerned about the order. It's going to be randomly selected. Let's hope whoever is going first is well prepared."

"We'll all be coming prepared," Rocky insisted. "There's no way that we wouldn't be. We'll put Gunther's music library on his laptop on random tonight to practice."

"Why so specific?" Gunther arched an eyebrow at her.

"Because you have lots of really weird music on there that we'll never have to dance to but that will be good practice to taking us off guard," Rocky explained as if she was talking to a child.

Gunther frowned at her. "It's clear your music taste is lacking if you think my music is strange."

"Right, that's what's wrong," Rocky snorted.

"It's a good idea though," CeCe nodded. "We'll definitely get some different, unexpected songs that way. Practice should be harder than the real thing."

"I'm all for that," Tinka agreed. "Anyone up for a sunset beach walk?"

There was a chorus of "Yeah!"

The group of them had a relaxing and quiet walk along the edge of the waves. While they walked along, admiring the mingling pinks, reds, and oranges that reflected off of the ocean, CeCe reached over and took Gunther's hand. He glanced her at her with a smile and squeezed her hand gently. Neither of them broke the silence as they followed the others until they reached the house they were staying in.

When they got back into the house, Gunther hooked his laptop up to Ty's speakers, then set his library on shuffle, and they practiced dancing to whatever song came on for two hours, before heading off for showers and sleep.

Check-in for the two finalist groups was at 10:00 AM. CeCe kept glancing at the clock, even though it was only 8:20 and it wasn't far to the dance competition location. She was beginning to feel her nerves take over. She glanced over at Rocky. "Are you nervous?"

"Only a lot," Rocky giggled. "This is big. We'll get a tv spot, a cash prize, and THE Sarah Ray will see us perform."

"Way to talk the two of us down," CeCe rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, it's just I'm so excited about it all," Rocky admitted.

"I know. I am too," CeCe took a deep breath. "Want to go watch something until it's time to go?"

"Sure," Rocky stood up and headed for the living room. "Anything to take my mind off the dance-off."

The girls flipped through the stations on the tv until it was time to leave for the competition.

As they arrived at the beach, CeCe jumped out of Ty's SUV and made her way to where the stage was set up with a line down the middle. One side for their team, the other for the opposing team. She scanned the other team's member where they were warming up on the other side of the stage and shook her head. This wasn't going to be easy.

The teams were called up to the stage and the order of the dancers was announced. Their team's order was CeCe, Ty, Gunther, Tinka, and Rocky.

"Looks like you'll be going first," Rocky patted CeCe on the back.

CeCe nodded nervously. "Yep. And that means that I have the most chances of going more times than anyone else too."

"I don't envy you that is for sure," Tinka tried to make a joke of it all.

CeCe was grateful that she was trying, but it didn't really help.

Gunther grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "I know you can do this, CeCe. Just feel the beat. Go with it. All you have to do is dance until that timer rings then Ty will be in there and you get a break. No big deal."

CeCe starred into his eyes then leaped forward, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips against his in a feverish kiss. She pulled away as she heard her name called to take the stage. "Thank you," she whispered as she made her way onto the stage.

CeCe couldn't help but think of how lucky she was to have Gunther and a bunch of friends who truly cared about her. She took those emotions that she was feeling and expressed them through her dance. When the timer rang, she and Ty switched places and CeCe, panting, leaned on Rocky's shoulder.

"You did good," Rocky smiled affectionately at her.

CeCe managed a small smile and a nod in response, still catching her breath.

The girls watched as Gunther took Ty's place. Tinka and Ty exchanged a quick hug before she took her place at the edge of the stage, prepared to replace Gunther. And so the order continued for three complete rounds. All of them were sweating and were starting to look exhausted.

CeCe took her place on the stage for the fourth time and found she could barely move. She closed her eyes and felt the rhythm of the music, letting her instincts take over and just going with it. Thankfully, she heard the timer go off and was able to switch places with Ty.

Ty only had to dance for a little over a moment, before his opponent stumbled and was unable to get back in sync.

The rest was a blur to CeCe. She, Rocky, and Tinka were screaming, hugging each other, and jumping up and down. They were brought on stage, presented with their award and congratulated by all the other groups.

The moment that made the day for her was when their team finally got a moment alone and Sarah Ray approached them. She smiled at the girls and held out a card. "I'd like to talk to you girls about auditioning for me. Why don't you meet me this evening? My secretary will set up the arrangements."

A/N: So as you can tell, I'm back to writing again. I've found some time to fit this kind of writing in my schedule again and I hope to be updating more often.

~CoS