Free Playing for Keeps by Veronica Chambers

you’re sporting, and I think at the moment, sitting might be your thing.”
    Alicia looked over to where Saniyah was teaching Gaz a basic Texas line dance. “Oh, my God, it’s like a country-and-western Macarena.” She rolled her eyes. “I can do a Macarena with my eyes closed, doesn’t matter how sore my feet and butt are.”
    Valeria tried to warn her. “It’s actually a little more complicated than it seems…” But Alicia just ignored her.
    Carmen shook her head. “It’s no use trying to talk sense into her.”
    â€œOnce Lici’s made up her mind, there’s no stopping her,” Jamie said. “Might as well join her, give her moral support. She’s going to need it.”
    Back in Miami, discussing their trip, the group had agreed that line dancing had high cornball potential. Saniyah, however, made it look graceful. Therefore, they were unprepared for just how hard it was. They all tried to keep up as she tapped her heels and sashayed this way and that, but the most they could catch was a hip swivel here and a hop there. Still, they were having fun. The group danced their way through Josh Turner, Billy Currington, Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood, and Tim McGraw.
    One by one, though, they each dropped out. Valeria was hungry and wanted to order food. Carmen wanted to text Domingo before dinner started, which reminded Jamie that she wanted to call Dash. Gaz, who had never really gotten the hang of the moves, bowed out, too. Soon, it was a very uneven dance-off between Saniyah and Alicia, who was scooting around like a grandmother on her way to Tuesday-night bingo.
    Saniyah looked as though she could have danced all night.
    â€œWe call this one the Wild Wild West,” she explained as she began a new step.
    â€œThat looks a lot like a merengue to me,” Alicia snapped, trying to add some Latin flavor to it. But she succeeded only in causing herself pain, as her shirt chafed against her sunburned skin.
    Carmen and Jamie, having contacted their sweeties, came back and stood on the sidelines cheering their best amiga on. “Go, Lici, go, Lici,” they cried as their friend gave every move her best shot. They exchanged looks when she got distracted. They hated to admit it, but if this had been an official dance contest, Saniyah would have been cruising to first place.
    On the next song, Saniyah changed things up again. “This one is so old-school! It’s called the Cowboy Charleston.”
    Alicia had welts on her feet, her inner thighs were saddle sore, and her sunburned face, arms, and legs ached even more intensely. All she wanted to do was lie down in a cool bath, then take a three-day nap. But she was beginning to feel as though this were the finale on Dancing with the Stars . She’d come too far to quit. Out of sheer desperation, she began to do the dance that required the least amount of movement—the Robot—which drew a huge whoop from the small crowd that had gathered to watch her and Saniyah work it out on the dance floor.
    When the song ended, Alicia was sure there would be no more. That she could finally sit down. But then Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Achy Breaky Heart” came on, and the crowd roared. Alicia seriously considered getting down on the floor and doing an old hip-hop move called the Worm. She figured she could scooch across the floor to the rhythm, and, if nothing else, she’d win points for originality. But just as she got to her knees, she heard her joints crack and she realized that if she got down, she might not be able to get up.
    â€œHelp,” she said in the tiniest of voices. Carmen and Jamie rushed to her side and helped her over to the table.
    â€œYou okay there, Achy-Breaky?” Jamie asked when they were safely seated.
    â€œIf I ever go on Survivor , I’m taking you,” Carmen said. “You are a girl who doesn’t know the meaning of the word quit