Page 23 of Fire Dancing For Icey Dragons

"Zara..." Yuri says to get my attention.

My heart skips a beat as I think it means she's spotted Blaze. I turn around, expecting to see him coming towards me, only to freeze when I see thelastperson I ever expected at one of my cheer competitions.

"Dad?"

Yuri disappears as he approaches, leaving the two of us blissfully alone.

"Hey," he says.

"I wasn't expecting you to come." Tears prick the corner of my eyes. I can't believe he's here, especially when I gave up inviting him to anything like this a couple of years back when it became clear that he wasn't going to come. While I can understand why he chooses to be that way, it always hurts to know that there's no one in the audience for me.

"I didn't know if I was going to," he admits. "I wanted to, but..."

"Mum," I finish for him. That's always his reason. I remind him too much of her, especially when I'm wearing a Sapphire Sparks uniform and competing for the academy where they met.

He nods. "You look just like her." He gives me a sad smile. "I brought you this." He holds out a small piece of blue fabric.

I take it from him, realising that it's a scrunchie and it's Obscure Academy blue. "Thanks." I'm a bit confused, especially as I have several similar ones in my gym bag.

"It was your mum's," he says. "Her lucky scrunchie, she called it. She wore it whenever she competed. I think she'd have wanted you to have it. Really, she probably wanted you to have it years ago, but I didn't think about it until last night."

"Thank you." I look down at it, trying to think of the right words to process how I feel. It's nice to have something of Mum, especially when I know she'd have wanted to be here herself.

"I'm sorry I haven't been to more of these things," Dad says, his voice cracking and his eyes welling up with tears. My heart aches for him. This has to be hard.

"I understand," I promise. "How did you even get backstage?"

He chuckles. "The same way I used to sneak back here to talk to your mum before she competed."

"I didn't realise it was the same building."

"It is. And I look forward to seeing you win here today, just like she did all those years ago."

"I hope so. I want to. For her."

"You should want it for you too, Zara," he says. "She'd be very proud of you. Not just for this, but for everything. I know you've become the wonderful young woman she hoped you'd be."

I sniff and wipe away a tear. "Thanks, Dad."

"Come here." He opens his arms and I wrap my own around him, holding him tight. Tears roll down my cheeks, but they don't matter when he's here. I can't believe he came, especially after years of staying away from anything to do with cheerleading. He never discouraged me from taking part, and would always take me to practice and events, but he never watched.

But he's here. This is the biggest competition of my cheerleading career, and he's here. It means the world to me.

"I should go take my seat," Dad says, kissing the top of my head and making me feel five years old in the best way. "Good luck out there."

"I don't need it when I've got Mum's lucky scrunchie," I say, wiping away the rest of my tears.

"I'll be cheering for you." He waves goodbye and heads back the way he came.

I take a deep breath, trying to process everything that just happened before we have to get on the stage. There's a loud cheer from the crowd aimed at whichever team is currently out there, and it only makes me more nervous about what the judges are going to think of our performance.

"Zara?" Yuri checks.

I turn to my best friend and put a smile on my face, doing my best to hide the emotions still rushing through me.

"Are you okay?" She looks concerned.

"I'm good," I say firmly.

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