I gaped at the clock. How could it be so late already? I still had so much to do. I scrambled to finish my chores and homework before 11, hoping that for once, I could actually get enough sleep. I knew that the idea wasn’t very realistic however. I sighed and continued with my work.

We roller bladed in circles around the basement, laughing and giggling as we zipped around the corners. I grabbed a jelly bean from the pile as I raced around the corner yet again. We shrieked and shouted, trying to remain upright. My older cousin who had been sitting on the couch the entire time scolded us, claiming we were being too loud. We agreed to head back upstairs at 10. Returning to our game, we zoomed around the corners, still being ad loud as before. 10:00 rolled around and we reluctantly took off our roller blades and headed upstairs for bed.

As we bowed and stepped of stage, I felt a huge weight being lifted off of my chest. After days and days of unending performances, I am completely worn out. March is such a busy month for a dancer and while I love every minute of it, I’m ready for a break. Our next performance is on Thursday. Until then, I plan on resting as much as I can.

We traveled from city to city, gradually crossing off performances from our long list of shows for the day. Our first performance started at 9 in the morning, and we didn’t finish dancing until 7:30 at night. All four performances wore us out and by the end, our legs were aching, yet, we loved every minute of it. Saint Patrick’s Day is so many of the dancers’ favorite holiday for a good reason. We practiced all year for this day. Every dancer grinned through each dance as we proudly showed off the dances we had all worked so hard on. We worked together all day to adapt each dance to the available space. After such a busy week, we were able to efficiently plan out our dances in minimal time. As a result, our performances went smoothly, and the day was a success.

I stepped onto the stage beside the other dancers. My classmates sat in the audience, waiting for the performance to begin. I put a smile on my face, but I could feel my stomach twisting. The music started, sending my heart racing. It was finally time to perform. With sweaty palms, I began to dance. My nerves slowly wore off as the performance went on. I realized that I wasn’t going to mess up, and that no one from the school was going to laugh at me. The four dances passed by quickly without any major errors and I was pretty proud of the performance that we put on. We quickly took a bow before rushing off stage for tennis practice.

Taylor and I waited off stage as the band performed their songs. Sitting on the ground, we quietly tried to focus on our homework. As our turn to perform grew closer and closer, we began to become anxious. We abandoned our homework, too nervous to concentrate. The band played song after song and our turn to perform continued to grow closer. Deciding to practice our dance on last time, we got up as quietly as possible. We giggled as we shuffled around in the wings, trying not to disturb the band performance. Taylor and I had performed another dance towards the beginning of the concert. That dance was one we had done 100 times but the next one was new. We would be performing a newly choreographed dance with a live band. Our nerves grew and grew and we quietly rehearsed the dance in the wings. After hours of practicing, we knew we were ready. When it was finally our turn to dance, we stepped onto the stage with huge grins and began to dance.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and groaned. Our school still has one snow day left and I was desperately hoping that we would use it today. Instead, we had to make the icy trek to school anyways. The morning passed by in a haze as I sleepily dragged myself through my morning routine. It was so hard to face the reality of having to go to school when I had my hopes set so high. Despite getting my hopes up time and time again, I continue to let myself down every time there is a chance of a snow day.

I flipped through page after page, attempting to fly through 100 pages by the end of the night. Despite all of the warnings I had received about not procrastinating, I still waited until the last week to finish my assigned book. I am now bitterly regretting putting off my reading as 11:00 draws nearer. Sighing in despair, I realize that I have less than an hour to read over 50 pages. Pushing all other thoughts aside, I pick the book back up and continue to race through the words.

The unfamiliar dog bounded across the yard, his ears flopping with the movement. We approached the dog and bent over to look at his collar.

“Mick,” I read aloud. “C’mon Mick, let’s get you home.”

Mick happily followed us across the street, prancing along on his short, fluffy legs. Grey and white fur hung from his ears and face, giving him an innocent look. He trotted up to his doorstep without a problem, seeming to be glad to be back.

My cousin and I hesitantly rang the doorbell. No answer. A little unsure of what to do with Mick, we looked around for somewhere to leave him. We found a crate at the side of the house and decided to leave the little dog in it so that he wouldn’t venture back into the road.

We gave Mick one last pat on the head before heading back to the house. I turned back to give him one last small wave and then we crossed the street, leaving Mick alone in the crate.

The float in front of us crawled along slowly as our younger dancers struggled to keep up. The crowd of people lining the streets whooped and hollered as the parade rolled by. My fingers quickly grew numb from carrying our troupe’s banner. Earlier on, we saw other dance troupes performing steps as they walked. Marissa, Taylor, and I quickly decided that it was time for us to do the same. We passed our banner off to our instructor and we stepped forwards to lead our troupe. The three of us quickly debated what step to do before deciding on a simple reel.

“Five, six, seven, eight…”

We launched ourselves into the step, dancing down the crowed streets. Finishing the step, we decided on a new one and continued to dance along with the parade. Performing warmed us up almost immediately and feeling returned to my fingers. The parade ended in no time and we left the people-lined streets behind to go watch one of our seniors perform a solo at Cancun.