The Leaping Leopards: The Last Dance Team

Hailey had wanted to be a dancer since she was little. Her coaches all said she was a natural. She was on a dance team called the Leaping Leopards. She was on the team with her best friends Ava, Sydney, and Ashlyn. The Leopards were undefeated and the best in their league. They were trained by some of the best coaches in the nation and they seemed nearly unstoppable. The final national dance competition of the year was coming soon to Hollywood and the Leopards were practicing harder than ever. One day in practice Hailey was working on a difficult jump when she saw a spider scurry across the floor.
“Ahhh!” she screamed, and landed in a heap on the floor. Spiders were one of her greatest fears.
“What’s wrong?” cried Sydney, as the coaches and
“You can’t let this get you down,” “the only way you can beat it is to not give up.”
This didn’t make hailey feel a whole lot better, but it was all she needed. She got up and tried making an effort toward dancing. It hurt horribly bad, but it felt good to get off her feet.She tried dancing a little bit each day,nothing difficult, just the basics. Her doctor advised against it but she continued.
It was now the day of the competition and hailey still had not healed. Almost couldn’t bare to watch, but she decided to wear a brave face. Lucky for the Leopards, they would be the last to compete, so they got to see all the opposing teams before they had to perform. Even with this advantage things were looking pretty rough without Hailey. The other s acts were magnificent, It was hard for the Leopards to think positive.
The team was up in two performances. Hailey knew what to do to save her team.
“Coach, you need to put me in!” Hailey pleaded, almost demanded of coach Thal.
“ But your ankle is still hurt?” coach Thal said confused.
“I know.” said Hailey confidently. “But I need to try for the team.” “If I don’t, all the hard work this team has put in was for nothing,” Hailey said boldly.
“Okay,” agreed her coach, “Go get