JULIE'S POV

Like the rest of the crowd, I'm standing on my toes, trying to peer over the shoulders of the people in front of me. I'm sticking my phone up in the air, frantically hoping that it's capturing whatever amazing routine is going on. This is the day when people scream, people sob, people jump up and down. They laugh, they cry, they smile. They win, they lose. And it all happens today.
It's Grands Day.
"We will now be having a fifteen minute break for the judges," the announcer says.  McKenzie, Lilah and I scramble out of our seats and head over to the concession stand to buy some food.  There's a pretty long line, but we're hungry so we wait anyways.
We get kinda bored in line, so we start talking to the girls next to us who are from the Summerwind Skippers.
"What are your names?" I asked them.
"I'm Sakura," said one of the girls. "And this is Kennedy, Madison and Lexi."
"Are you guys competing today?" asked Lilah.
"Ya, for our pairs double dutch," a different girl answered.
"That's awesome! Good luck!"
"Thanks!" they replied.
By this time we had reached the front of the line, so we ordered our food and took it back to our seats.

Two heats later, it was Sierra's singles.
We all screamed and cheered for her. She did her routine with two misses, but great presentation. We screamed super loud at the end.
Soon, it was time for pairs. Lexi and Cara walked out from behind the curtain.
Lexi and Cara's pairs was really good. I was pretty sure that they had a shot at placing in the top 3, if they didn't have a lot of misses.
We all held our breathes as the went flawlessly through their multiples, then power, then dance, then crossing and into their ending pose.
They had nailed their routine.
We screamed like we had never screamed before. You could see tears of joy running down Lexi and Cara's faces.
We all ran down the row and met them as soon as they walked offstage and hugged them.

***

We watched the triplets double dutch.  They did pretty well, they only had one miss.

No one from our team made it to grands for pairs double dutch, but we decided to watch anyways.  There were some amazing routines.
We soon saw the girls from the line at the concession stand.  Their beginning pose was really cool.
When the buzzer beeped, the beginning of one of my favorite songs came on.  They choose Hips Don't Lie by Shakira for their double dutch pairs song.
They went through the hardest pairs double dutch I had ever seen without any misses, and amazing presentation.  When they finished their routine, everyone knew that they had just won the grand national championship.

Soon it was time for awards.
Sierra didn't place for her singles.
When all of the competitors for pairs walked up, we held our breathes.  The announcer said,
"In third place, from the Kangaroo Kids, Sydney and Lynn!"
"I'm second place, from the HT Highflyers, Amy and Allison!"
Lexi and Cara had either won or not placed.  They had nailed their routine.  Maybe they got 4th.  That would have stunk.
"And your new grand nationals champions for single rope pairs freestyle are....."

"LEXI AND CARA FROM THE SAN DIEGO SPEED SKIPPERS!!!!"
We all shrieked and screamed and shouted even louder than we had done after they nailed their routine.  It was such a happy moment.  I remembered all the times that Lexi had talked about how much she wanted a grands trophy, and now she had one.
They had did it.

The triplets didn't place for double dutch, and the girls from Summerwind won for pairs double dutch, just like we expected.

***

That night at the hotel pool, I spotted Trevor walking over to me.
"Hi!"
"Hey," he replied.
"Why do you look so sad?" I asked him.
"I just found out that I'm moving."
"Oh that sucks."
"And there's probably no jump rope team there, and then I'll never be able to win at nationals, and I'll never be able to see you again!  Plus, I'm leaving all my friends, and have to go to a new school, and I love Florida!  It's so awesome there!  I love the weather and I'm so close to Disney World and I love my team!"
I kissed him on the cheek.  I'd never kissed a boy before, but I'd never see him again, so I thought it would be ok.
"Where are you moving to?" I asked.
"San Diego," he replied.
"SAN DIEGO THATS WHERE I LIVE YOU CAN JOIN MY TEAM!!!"
I hugged him.
Then I remembered that I had just kissed him.  And now I was going to see him ever day!

Things has just gotten awkward.