The day has come, this day is what we were all prepared for. On this day we will compete for the top of the list. We rush to get things done as soon as we arrive at the school. We finally get to the room, all scramble to get costume and makeup bags.

Doing hair and makeup is always a hassle for everyone to do at anytime. The long braid down every single dancer with a headband perfectly placed on the forehead. Tons of bobby pins scattered across the room with a smell of hairspray to add to the old musty school smell. Each dancer doing makeup, eyeshadow and all. Black and silver applied on each eye same as the others. Coach yells to start getting our costumes on and to warming up and to stretch. Everyone is in a panic, with some girls some things are not done yet. Helping team mates with zipping up the dark and gloomy costumes and black pants. Last chance to fix hair and makeup before we go down to perform in front of a gym full of fans and a few judges in the mix.

The time has come, straight line for walk on. We hear our name, we are next to perform. We walk out all looking serious, just listening to our fans cheering and chanting our name. Walking on as the announcer says our name, first formation, let’s do this. Coach yells “1, 2, 3 ,4!” we then all shout back “5, 6, 7, 8”. Down we go, heads nod, all goes silent. Music is on, the team dances with all of our might. Smiles, facials, heads up all goes down in the end. I hear one of my teammates yell kick-line. Last little bit to go. 15 more seconds till we are done. We push our kicks throughout the whole routine. I keep telling myself that I can do this. The end has come, down flat into the splits with one hand up. Screams and cheers come from the crowd as the song and our routine ends. We all stand up, breathless as the whole team walks back to the room.

Time to see how we performed. Walking out back onto the floor with other teams and varsity at our side in a straight line with captains up front. The announcer says “we are only announcing the top 3 teams in each category.” Hands being held and all heads go down. 3rd place went to Crossby-Ironton, then they announce second. First place is coming up and we have yet to hear our name. Second then goes to BOLD. Ok we have to get this, all heads go down one last time for first, hands are being held tight and we all squish together in our line. Then announcer later  announces “In first place… Cannon Falls!”. We all scream and hug each other in excitement along with our fans in the crowd. All of JV and Varsity sprint back to the room, screaming and yelling. Taking selfies with the trophy as we all usually do.

Hair and makeup is a very important thing. When we performed, there were some mistakes, but not every performance is perfect. I was just wondering if we even placed that day. When I heard our name, I just was overwhelmed on what happened with excitement. I knew this was going to be our day. On how we did and how many mistakes we had in our performance, you can do anything once you put your mind to it.