The clipboard wielding assistant returns, "Olive Hoover? Are you the Hoovers?" She asks and they nod and return to Olive. Jace wraps an arm around Dwayne's shoulders and pulls him close, trying to comfort him as best as he can. Olive sits at her chair, staring down at the floor, "Olive, time to go." Her mother says but she doesn't move, "Olive...? Honey, are you okay?" Her mother questions — she says nothing. "Um..we need to go." The assistant says.

"Hang on." Mrs. Hoover kneels down so she's eye level with her daughter, "Honey..? Olive look at me. You don't have to do this if you don't want to. If you want to sit this one out, that's fine. We're proud of you anyway, okay?" The assistant checks her watch, "It's time." Olive takes a deep breath before grabbing a top hat and putting it on, she takes her glasses off before she gets up and walks to the assistant, "Okay, let's go." She takes her hand and they walk off. Dwayne, Jace, Mrs. Hoover, and Mr. Hoover stand together and watch — mutually powerless — as Olive is lead off.

"Good luck honey!" Mrs. Hoover calls after her. "Knock 'em dead!" Jace says but neither of them get a reaction. They all sigh, this was it.

——

Walking back to the auditorium — they all meet back up with Frank, "Is she going on?" He asks and Dwayne nods, "She's going on." They all enter the auditorium and fill in the five seats that have been empty since Mr. Hoover sat in one of them.

——

Yet another little blonde girl is onstage — taking her bows to polite applause. The Hoover family, along with Jace, sit down. The MC comes on stage, "Very nice! Thank you! Okay, you've been a patient audience tonight..." Olive stands off to the side, waiting with bated breath, "..we have one more contestant and then we'll be crowning the winner. So please welcome, from the Fort Myers district, Olive Hoover!" Everyone claps.

The lights are blinding and the audience is hidden in darkness — wearing a top hat, button up shirt, a vest, and pants — Olive stands out. Mr. Hoover takes his wife's hand and squeezes it, they share a look. It's silent — Olive waves over the MC and he walks over and holds the mic down so she can speak into it, she takes a deep breath, "I'd like to dedicate this to my Grandpa, who helped me learn these moves." The audience awws at her.

"That's sweet! Is he here? Where's your Grandpa right now?" The MC asks and Olive answers truthfully, "In the trunk of our car." The audience is silent and the MC doesn't know how to respond, "Okay, well! Take it away Olive!" He retreats and Olive is left onstage by herself. Suddenly, some shouts from twelve year old boys come from the audience, "Moo!" One yells before he's shushed. "Arf! Arf! Arf!" Another barks at her before he is also shushed. Olive is confused by their teasing.

Jace goes to get up but Dwayne pulls him back down, "Where are those little fuckers? I'll kill 'em." Frank says and Jace nods, jaw tense, "I'll join you."

Olive looks around and sees Kirby — he nods at her and she nods back. The girl then turns her back to the audience. Kirby turns the volume up to six. He hits play and instantly — the sound of the memorable guitar riff in Super Freak by Rick James begins to play. Olive turns and begins her routine — throwing her hat into the crowd and then ripping off the vest and button up shirt — revealing the top from earlier. She turns around and rips off her pants showing the hot-pants underneath.

The music is hard driving and nasty — it's completely different from the other pageant music that was played. Dwayne, Jace, Frank, Mr. Hoover, and Mrs. Hoover all glance at each other — Jace can't help but smile. "What's she doing? What the hell is she doing?" Mr. Hoover whispers, completely baffled at the sight. Olive dances with a smile on her face — she's clearly having fun. Most of the moves are inappropriate and as it gets halfway through the song, Olive is crawling on the ground and growling.

"Oh my god." Mrs. Hoover mutters. Abruptly, Frank begins to laugh and he stands up, clapping along to the music — Jace joins him. The others stare at them but they also begin to clap along with them. The dance moves are too much for the contest Official who gets up from the judges table and walks towards Mr. Hoover, "What is your daughter doing?!" She exclaims and Mr. Hoover smiles before answering, "She's kicking ass." Mrs. Hoover smiles at her husbands answer and they continue clapping.

The Official is incensed. She turns and walks to the sound booth, she yells at Kirby, "Turn it off!" The man furrows his brows, "What?!" The Official repeats herself, "Turn the music off!!" Kirby fakes as if he can't hear her still, "What..?!" He smiles and cranks the music up to eight which makes people cover their ears. Some start to get up and leave. The Official, now fuming, goes to the stage and goes to the MC. "What's she doing?" Mr. Hoover asks as they watch.

The MC walks onstage and tries to stop Olive from dancing — she doesn't know what he's trying to do but she moves away, not letting him mess up her routine. The MC is still trying to grab her, "Hey! Don't you touch her." Mr. Hoover exclaims as he runs to the stage — he jumps onto the stage and grabs the MC, they fall to the ground near the wings. Olive stops and watches with concern. Frank, Dwayne, and Jace make their way over also. "Keep dancing honey! I'm okay, just keep dancing!" Mr. Hoover reassures his daughter and that's what she does.

Stagehands separate the two men — Mr. Hoover shrugs off their restraining hands, he turns and watches Olive. The contest Official steps forward and angrily confronts him, "Get your daughter off the stage now!" Mr. Hoover sighs. He doesn't want to — he hesitates. She presses him, "If you don't stop her, she'll be disqualified!" Mr. Hoover nods, "...okay." He turns and walks out to the stage. "Honey..." He says as he stands next to her but she can't hear him — she keeps dancing. Mr. Hoover goes to try and stop her but then he looks at the contest Official, that's when he looks at his daughter again.

He begins to dance along with her.

Olive dances in front while he dances behind her. He looks at the Official with a defiant smile that clearly reads, fuck you. Dwayne, Frank, and Jace all look at each other before they all agree. Frank jumps onstage and begins dancing, then Jace who throws in some of his own moves, and then Dwayne who throws in some pelvic thrusts. Mrs. Hoover watches as she laughs. The four men are backup dancers to her daughter — she laughs even more before she sees Frank motion for her to join them.

She pauses before she runs and jumps onto the stage — she dances with Olive. They're all smiling and having fun. Kirby cranks the volume to ten. Jace and Dwayne pull out some party dance moves before they all just jump around. As the song finishes — they all laugh and look out into the audience. They breathe heavily. The biker from earlier is the only one who cheers.

——

The Hoovers and Jace sit in a drab office — still dazed by their actions earlier. Around them are boxes of stacked pageant boxes holding trophies, sashes, and tiaras. Jace notices and bumps Dwayne's knee with his own. He motions to the boxes and the teen nods. "Okay, you're out." A cop says as he walks out of a room that was behind them, Mr. Hoover is confused, "We're free?" The cop nods, "They're dropping charges — on the condition that you don't enter your child in a beauty contest in the state of Florida ever again." They all looks at each other before Frank speaks, "I think we can live with that."

——

Walking out of the hotel, Jace holds a tiara behind his back, "Olive, I think I have something for you." The girl looks at him and he places the piece of plastic on her head. She gasps, "I just like dancing...!" Is what she says and they all chuckle. "Well, you were great." Her father says as he smiles at her. "You were beyond great." Frank compliments and Dwayne speaks after him, "You were incredible." Jace holds her hand as they walk, "Trust me, for dance moves like that, you deserve a tiara." Olive smiles shyly, "Thank you."

They all smile at her before Mr. Hoover sighs, "Let's get the fuck out of here!" And that's exactly what they do — not before fixing the slide door first. They all push — including Mr. Hoover before they each jump in the bus — finally leaving behind the world that is pageantry.

——

It's two in the morning.

Everyone is tired yet relaxed — Dwayne falls asleep on Jace's shoulder while Olive falls asleep on his other one. They sit at a picnic table at a road side rest stop. Cars whizz by on the highway. They've finished eating, an empty bucket of KFC and bottles of diet sprite and water litter the table. Mr. Hoover is telling a story.

"..he's down on his knees in this dumpster behind the racetrack...and it starts to rain," although the two Hoover kids are falling asleep, they join in on the laughter that exudes from the others, "it's wet..it's hot...he's crawling around in this garbage, cursing like a sailor — looking for this ticket that I threw away — and all of a sudden he goes, 'Richard, don't drop the light!' And I go, 'don't what?,'" he mimes holding a flashlight, "and he goes, 'drop the fucking light!' So I go," he mimes dropping the flashlight, "right in the water! He's like.." He pretends he's getting electrocuted.

Everyone laughs. "I run back — unplug the light — run to the dumpster — he's lying there, rain is pouring down...and he's got the ticket! This twelve hundred dollar trifecta ticket! And I'm like, 'dad! Dad, are you okay?' And he looks at me and all he says is, 'Richard, don't ever have children.'" Everyone bursts out laughing. "To me he says that! To me!" Mr. Hoover exclaims. The mirth tapers off and they all look at each other.

Frank holds up his bottle of diet sprite. "Here's to Grandpa." He says and everyone holds up their bottles, "Here's to Grandpa." They all clink their drinks. Mr. Hoover notices a nearby snack shack. "So...who wants some ice cream?" They all cheer and get up. Dwayne and Jace stray behind.

"So...what do we do when we get back home?" Jace asks as he looks at Dwayne. The teen smiles at him, "Finish that make out session." Jace nods, "Good idea." As he stares into the night sky, he swears he sees the silhouette of his bird flying — going in the direction of home. He smiles. "Looks like I'm not the only one going home today."

——