One Thursday my dad drove us up to practice. We pulled up in the parking lot and I saw Coach Melissa's car. Hmm. Maybe Kyle took it. But Kyle doesn't come to practice on Thursdays.
We walked in and who did I see? Coach Melissa! We all ran up and hugged her.
"You're back!" I exclaimed.
"I couldn't take it anymore. I knew that I needed to be back here for regionals. My husband's still on the boat. He'll be back in a month or so. Collin's back, too. He's taking a nap in the back room. You guys can say hi to him when he gets up later."
"I'm so glad you're back," I said. "Me too," said Jake.
As soon as everyone was there, Coach Melissa called us all to grab a seat. We all gathered in the center of the room in a big blob, just like we used too.
"Well, I'm back!" Coach Melissa said. "Yay!" we all responded.
"We have a lot going on. Well, of course regionals is coming up. We're having an all-day practice competition next weekend," she said.
"Then, I also just heard about this Hollywood gig. They won't let us know what it is until after we get the job. I want you all to try out, though. We'll shop two videos tonight. The first one will be like an interview, and we'll have you guys introduce yourselves. Say your name, how old you are, height, weight if you know it, and how long you've been jumping. We'll also shoot another video of each of you doing your best three tricks in double dutch. They say that they're looking for girls, but boys can try out too. They also want jumpers under 5 feet tall, but they're willing to expand. They also want jumpers from different ethnicities."
A Hollywood commercial! Wow! We had done our reality show last year, but I had never been in a commercial or anything like that. I was 5'2, but that wasn't too much over the height limit. Also I knew I wasn't really considered a "different ethnicity". I was just blonde with blue eyes, you know, the average kid. But that wouldn't stop me from trying out. I love the spotlight, and I wanted this spot.
Coach Melissa and Kelly started lining up everyone in age and height order, and Kyle got the camera. I guess all three coaches had decided to come for the special practice when Coach Melissa finally came back.
We started interviewing and walking down the line, shortest to tallest. I close to the taller end of the line. When the camera finally got to me, I said, "I'm Julie Kiss. I'm 12 years old. I'm 5'2, and I've been jumping for 3 years." I smiled brightly at the camera. I had had had HAD to get this part!!! I wanted to get back to being on TV again! And a commercial or one time Hollywood job sounded better than a show. More fun, and you only had to do it once.
After the first video, we went on to the jumping video. Lexi and Annie started turning double dutch for us. Zoey went first, because she's the smallest. Then went Joey, then McKenzie. They all did their tricks barely without a miss, and if they did mess up, they would get out of the ropes quickly and cover their misses very well.
Ashlyn went next. Ashlyn is a gymnast, and did gymnastics before starting jump rope. She's great at frogs, which are like handstands, which I have a lot of trouble with. She's also great at push-ups, cartwheels, round-offs, splits, and even front handsprings.
Ashlyn did a perfect round-off into the ropes, and then did a frog. She looks so graceful when she jumps. Then she went down and jumped into the splits. They looked really good for a second, until she fell and started crying. Everyone rushed over to her.
"Owwwwweeeee!" she screamed. Luckily her mom was there, and so was Coach Melissa, and they both rushed over to her side.
"Are you ok?!?!" her mom asked. "I hurt it at gymnastics," Ashlyn said in between tears. "And now it just got worse!" Tears were streaming down her face as she held tightly on to the back of her leg. She lay there for a few minutes crying, unable to get up.
"Do you want me to call my dad?" I asked. "He's an emergency room doctor and he dropped us off. He's probably only fifteen minutes away," I offered.
"Thank you so much sweetie," Ashlyn's mom answered. "But I think that we'll be alright."
After a couple minutes Ashlyn's mom and Coach Melissa helped lift her off of the floor to a chair. It hurt for her to sit, though. They got her an ice pack and had her sit on an angle on it.
After Ashlyn was all propped up we started over our double dutch video. I missed once, but tried to make up for it with a really cute smile.
After we filmed the videos we did some speed workouts. Then Coach Melissa called us all in again.
"Wow, as soon as I left, did you guys all decided that it was like, time to get better or something? I mean look at you guys! You're so much better! Wow, Leia, your frogs look amazing. And Julie, did you really get five triples?" I nodded.
"You guys are awesome. I'm so glad I'm back. Wait, one second." She left for a second and retrieved Collin, and then came back with him in her arms. He was just as adorable as he was the day he left.
"Hi Collin!" we all said. We all owed and awed over him. Coach Melissa put him on a the floor, and he reached for Zoey, who seemed to be his favorite. Probably because she was the smallest and closest to his size. We all laughed, even Ashlyn.
On the way home I said,"It's a shame that Becky wasn't there tonight. She would have loved the audition."
"Yes she would have," Kelly responded. "And she would have been exactly what they were looking for." We all laughed.
That night when my mom picked me up from Jake's house, I hopped in the car as soon as I could. "Mom," I said, "You'll never believe what happened today!"