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“ Well, I came here to congratulate you, but I also came to apologize, especially to you, Sid. I didn't have the opportunity to do it back in Texas, but I really wanted to apologize to you for everything that happened. You didn't deserve to see what you saw.” Emily's sincerity was visible. I couldn't say that I had remained a fan of hers after everything, but maybe there really were people who regretted things.

“It's okay, Em.” Sid stood up and went to the blonde, giving her a hug. “The important thing is that you're okay now.”

“Yeah, I'm... I haven't been close to any kind of drug since I got back home…” she said. “And I hope I can go back to college next semester. I'll be staying here in Florida, but anyway, I hope I can still enjoy it and finish my degree.”

“Everything will work out!” Troian declared.

Everyone was optimistic about Emily's situation, and I wanted to feel the same. She was important to Veronica in some way, so I was willing to make a small effort to be optimistic too.

The girls ended up staying there and we all had dinner together. We pushed our beds together and watched a romantic comedy movie. At the end of the night, Emily's parents came to pick her up, Troian, Jazmine and Sidney went back to their respective rooms and I was alone with Veronica again.

I was playing with my cell phone when Roni finally lay down next to me.

“What are you looking at?”

“Colleen took a picture of us today…” I commented, turning the camera towards her. “I like it.”

In the picture, Veronica had her legs around my waist and we were both smiling and looking at each other.

“It really is beautiful.”

“I wanted to post it…” The words escaped me faster than I could contain them. And when I realized it, I felt my cheeks already burning with slight embarrassment.

“It's too beautiful to not post it.” Veronica replied with sweetness and lightness, two things I never thought would fit so well with our story. “Post it with a request for me to repost it on my profile too, please.”

I opened the Instagram app and saw mybiowith a cliché phrase that I had kept there for years and Belinda's@. I thought it deserved a change with some more colorful emojis and then I posted the photo with the caption:Daytona wouldn't have the same impact if I didn't have you by my side. And my life would definitely be boring without having you as my girlfriend. *heart emoji*.

“Posted!” I declared, finally, earning a kiss as a reward.

The first day of competition had gone incredibly well. We would only have access to the score at the end, but we managed to perform impeccably. It would have been very difficult for the judges to take points away from us.

Now there was one last presentation left.

My hands were sweaty and I was genuinely worried that my makeup would melt off.

“Hey, we’re next!” Karlee said, gathering the group together and leading us to the small wooden door behind the stage. Another university was starting to perform. “Colleen!”

Even though she wasn’t competing, Colleen was still one of the strongest voices on the team and had a great way with words. She knew exactly what to say. The day before, I had nearly burstinto tears at everything she had said before we went on stage. And this time, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be different.

“All your thoughts, all the energy you put into that stage yesterday and will put into it again, is what will happen. You know the choreography, we have practiced it countless times, we have done it all over 150 times. You know what needs to be done, so do it! Trust in yourselves and in our team. 25% of the final score is already in the bag, now we just have to go after the last 75%. Give it everything you've got up there. Because I know that before the sun sets today, we'll be in that ocean!"

The anxiety was enormous, but at the same time, her words brought us peace. The idea, the vision of ending my day in the ocean at Daytona Beach, was phenomenal. It was like a superstition, we didn't go into the sea unless we won, because that had to be earned with the necessary effort.

“Every mistake, every failure we made in Belinda was made to be made there!” Colleen continued: “We made mistakes there to win here. No matter what you did yesterday, no matter what you do tomorrow, today you are going to go up on that stage and give the best performance of your lives. Look around, because this is your last chance to work on a team with these same people, with this same formation, so take advantage of it! I love you, and I am proud of each of you.” Bryant's tear-filled eyes traveled over each of our faces, but I knew she was speaking with special affection to Kendra. I grabbed my girlfriend's hand, who was standing next to me, and placed a kiss on it. Ken smiled.

“Zero, that's what we're going to do. Zero point deductions! Zero, damn it!” Sid finished, finishing stirring up the group.

And before we could even go on stage, Becker made us scream our battle cry at the top of our lungs.

“And the snake is ready to bite!”

My lungs filled with air before entering the dark hallway through the small wooden door. Right ahead was the Daytona stage. The sun was at the limit of our heads, frying any unsuspecting neurons. The blue mats matched the roof where the judges stood. Which was about 100 meters from the stage on an elevation.

On the left was the beach.

To the right were people everywhere, climbing up the surrounding shopping center. And in front, more people were eager to see the performances.

Stuck in front of the stage, between the fences were Karlee, Evan, Colleen and the rest of the teammates who couldn't compete. The presenter announced Belinda Stone and we put the biggest smiles possible on our faces.