The Fix-It Friends--The Show Must Go On Read online

  “Hi, Minnie!” I said as she sat down next to me. “What part do you want to play?”

  “I don’t want to play a part.” She smiled. “I want to play a piano!”

  Minnie has been playing the piano since she was a little tiny creature, so now she is an expert. Her fingers move so fast when she plays that it almost seems like a magic trick.

  Then Cora’s twin sister, Camille, walked in. I knew it was her even before I turned my head to look. Camille stomps when she walks like she is wearing bricks on the bottoms of her shoes. Clomp, clomp, clomp.

  Camille may look exactly like my best friend, with the same red, curly hair and freckles, but she’s totally different from Cora in every other way.

  Camille plopped down next to Minnie.

  “Who do you want to be in the play?” I asked Camille.

  “Oh, I don’t really care,” she said in her deep, raspy voice. “I’m just here because Cora’s doing the costumes and Mom can’t pick me up till four thirty. I figure I’ll audition for something since I have to be here anyway and it’s too cold to play basketball.”

  Just then, we heard a loud click clack click clack sound coming from the door to the auditorium. We all looked up and saw … Ginger Frost!

  She looked like a real movie star. Here’s why:

  1. White coat with big fur collar.

  2. Lipstick as red as a bowl of cherries.

  3. Hair that twirled into twisty locks. It looked like a whole bunch of fairies had spent all night twirling her hair.

  4. And that click clack click clack sound was from high heels! They sort of looked like the ruby slippers, only with taller heels.

  “Holy cannoli,” I whispered.

  “You can say that again,” whispered Liv.

  “That again,” I said. That cracked us both up.

  Ginger Frost click clacked right onto the middle of the stage and announced, “Who’s ready to make magic?”

  My mouth dropped open. She talked like the queen of England!

  “She’s British!” Liv whispered in my ear.

  “I know!”

  Ginger Frost sat down right on the edge of the stage and crossed her legs. Her shiny red shoes twinkled in the light.

  “That’s what the theater is, you know—it’s magic. We start off as girls and boys, and we become queens and rabbits and enchanted flowers. Over the next few weeks, we will transform this stage. By the time your mums and dads and mates come to see the show, they won’t feel like they are in a school anymore. They’ll feel as if they’re in Wonderland.”

  It was hard to pay attention to what Ginger Frost was saying because I was too busy staring at her hands. She moved her hands so much that it seemed like they were doing a pretty little dance. I almost got hypnotized.

  “So I’ll pass out scripts. Then we’ll queue up in the wings, and you’ll each have a go reading the part you want to play.”

  I shot my hand up and said, “Ms. Frost?”

  She laughed a little chuckle that sounded like jingly Christmas bells.

  “You can call me Ginger, love.”

  “Ginger,” I said. “What’s a queue? Did we have to bring one with us? I didn’t bring anything.”

  She laughed again.

  “Sorry. I’ve got a funny way of talking, haven’t I? That’s because I’m from London. Queue up is just our way of saying ‘get in a line.’”

  I shot my hand up again, and Ginger nodded in my direction.

  “What wings are you talking about? I didn’t bring any of those, either.”

  Then Ginger explained that wings was a theater word that meant the sides of the stage, where the audience can’t see you.

  Then she handed out scripts, and we all scrambled into the wings to get in line.

  A few kids I didn’t know went first and read the parts of the Caterpillar and the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. Camille read the part of the White Rabbit in her deep rumbly voice, and Minnie played a song on the piano that sounded like a flock of sparrows singing to one another.

  Then it was Liv’s turn. She twirled onto the stage and introduced herself. But then she got a very nervous look on her face as she stared hard at the script without saying anything. She tapped her foot a few times. Then she swallowed a big gulp of air and started to read.

  “I won … wonder…”

  Liv’s lower lip trembled like she was about to burst into tears. I was so surprised because Liv did not seem like the kind of girl to get stage fright.

  Ginger spoke up: “Just take your time, love. You’re doing great.”

  Liv nodded. She looked at the script and blinked a whole bunch of times.

  “I wonder if … if I’ve … needed … I wonder if I’ve been…” She trailed off.

  Ginger spoke up again. “I’ve got a thought, love. Why don’t we bring the next person up here, and we’ll come back to you in a few minutes?”

  Liv nodded really fast.

  “And remember, everyone,” announced Ginger, “there are loads of lovely nonspeaking roles, like the flowers and the playing cards.”

  Liv made a grimace, and I could tell she did not want to be a playing card. But I couldn’t think about that, because guess whose turn was next? Mine!

  I walked right into the middle of the stage in big steps.

  “My name is Veronica Laverne Conti!” I said with a lot of pep. “I would like to try out for the Queen of Hearts. It’s the perfect part for me because my whole family says I am a loudmouth!”

  Then I read the scene, and it was the most fun ever! The best part was when I screeched “Off with her head!” and everybody laughed really loudly. I felt like a million bucks.

  I was so happy that I skipped into the wings. I was happy for about ten seconds, until I saw who was waiting to go next.

  Matthew Sawyer, that’s who.

  Matthew Sawyer is the biggest pest in the second grade. He acts like it is his job to bother me. Trust me, he is very good at his job.

  He was wearing a striped shirt like he always does. His shoelaces were untied, like they always are. And he was rubbing the back of his buzz-cut hair, which is what he does every time he’s hatching a devilish plan.

  “What are you doing here?” I grumbled.

  “I go to school here,” he said. His favorite game is playing dumb.

  “I mean, what are you doing at Drama Club?”

  “This is Drama Club?” he asked, pretending to be bewildered. “I thought it was Tapeworm Music Club. I brought my tapeworm with me. He plays electric guitar.”

  I glowered and growled at the same time.

  “Matthew Sawyer! Don’t you dare audition for this play!”

  “News alert! This just in! Veronica Conti is NOT the Boss of the World,” he said. Then Ginger called out, “Next!” and he went right onstage.

  “I’m Matt and I want to be the Cheshire Cat.”

  That figured. The Cheshire Cat is the most annoying character in the whole play. All he does is say nonsense. Perfect for Matthew Sawyer!

  While he was reading the Cheshire Cat scene, Liv came up to me. She was biting her lip.

  “Remember how you said you and your friends could fix problems?” she whispered. “Is that really true?”

  I nodded.

  “Then I need your help,” she said. “Right now.”

  Chapter 5

  “What’s the matter?” I asked Liv. “Do you have stage fright?”

  “No!” she said, shaking her head. “I love being onstage! I just have trouble reading.”

  “Ohhhh,” I said. “What kind of trouble?”

  “It’s sort of hard to explain,” she said, “but it’s called dyslexia and basically it’s really hard for me to sound out words I don’t know. So it takes a long time for me to read something new, and right now, it can’t take me a long time! I have to get the part of Alice!”

  Then she grabbed both my hands with both her hands, and she looked really hard into my eyes.

  “It’s my dre
am, Veronica,” she said.

  Here’s the thing: It’s my dream come true to make someone else’s dream come true. I did it one time—when my dad took us to a video arcade, and Pearl desperately wanted to win a stuffed animal from one of those grabber machines with the big metal claw. I wiggled that claw like crazy, grabbed a fluffy purple dolphin, and kept hanging on to it the whole time as the claw went up. When I handed that dolphin to Pearl, she looked so happy, I thought she’d burst. That made me overjoyed, too.

  So when Liv asked me to help make her dream come true, I promised to try. Only problem was, I had no idea how.

  Then, before I knew it, I heard Ginger’s voice call, “Liv? Ready to give it another go?”

  That’s when I got my genius idea. They don’t call me the president of the Fix-It Friends for nothing. Well, actually, nobody calls me that. But they should.

  “Go!” I whispered to Liv. “Stand close to the wings. I’ll whisper the words to you!”

  Liv sashayed onto the stage, and I crouched down behind the curtain as close to Liv as I could get.

  I whispered Alice’s lines slowly: “I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night.”

  “I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night,” Liv repeated.

  My plan was working!

  I kept on reading and Liv kept on repeating, until Camille walked over and asked if I wanted to go to the bathroom with her.

  I shook my head and told her, “Watch out—the toilet was all clogged before.”

  Before I knew what was happening, Liv was repeating after me, in a very dramatic voice: “Watch out! The toilet was all clogged before!”

  I gasped and whispered to Liv, “I wasn’t talking to you!”

  And she gasped and repeated, “I wasn’t talking to you!”

  Ginger asked in a confused voice, “Have you lost your place?”

  That’s when Liv realized she had been saying the wrong things. Alice in Wonderland never talks about clogged toilets in the play. Not even once. They probably don’t even have toilets in Wonderland. When you stop to think about it, poor Alice probably had to pee the whole trip. No wonder she was so glad to get home!

  Liv replied to Ginger, “Sorry! I don’t know what I was thinking!”

  Then she looked right at me, with a look that said, Hey! You’re making my nightmares come true instead of my dreams! Pay attention!

  And I sure did, for the rest of the scene.

  When Liv was done, Ginger clapped. “That was smashing!”

  Then Liv ran offstage, smiling even bigger than the Cheshire Cat.

  Chapter 6

  That night for dinner, Dad made chicken nuggets—or, as Pearl likes to call them, “chicky snuggles.” Pearl loves chicken nuggets! Not to eat but to play with.

  She likes to line a whole bunch of them up on her plate. Then she acts like her napkin is a blanket and tucks the nuggets in. She even sings them a lullaby!

  But when Mom or Dad says, “Eat your chicken, Pearl,” she says, “Shhhhh! They sleepin’!”

  I’m too old to play with my food, of course, but when there is ketchup, I cannot resist sticking my fingers in it and pretending I’m bleeding.

  “Ahhhhh! Call a doctor!” I screeched. “My finger!”

  I remembered the part from Macbeth, so I rubbed my hands together and shrieked, “Get out, darn blood spot! Out, I say!”

  Pearl copied me, of course: “Go ’way, you bad spot!”

  Jude’s best friend, Ezra, was over for dinner, and he laughed. I love it when Ezra comes over. Here’s why:

  1. He always gives me a part in the movies he makes with Jude. This is how I got good at acting.

  2. He records me singing on his laptop so I can make a demo album. This is how I got good at singing.

  3. He tells hilarious stories about Ziggy, his guinea pig who is a genius and does tricks.

  4. Best of all, when Ezra is around, Jude is less bossy and annoying.

  So when I pretended the ketchup was blood, instead of saying “You are so immature” like he usually would, Jude put some ketchup on his finger, then popped the finger in his mouth and said, “Yum. Tasty!”

  Mom cleared her throat. “How was Drama Club today, Ronny?”

  “Who?” I replied. My whole family has a bad habit of calling me by that babyish nickname. They’ll never learn!

  “Oh, sorry,” Mom apologized with a smile. “I meant Veronica.”

  “Drama Club was the best! My teacher looks like an actual real-life movie star! And she’s from England!”

  “Holy cannoli,” said Dad.

  “That’s what I said,” I told him. “Also I made a friend named Olivia but we call her Liv, and guess what? I think I made her dreams come true!”

  “Sounds fishy,” said Jude with his eyebrows raised.

  I told them all about Liv’s trouble with reading and how I helped. I left out the part where I accidentally made her say stuff about a clogged toilet.

  “But how will she read the lines if she gets the part?” asked Jude.

  “Oh, silly, silly Jude,” I said with a sigh. “She’ll just learn them by heart.”

  “But she’ll still have to read them first,” he insisted. “She should have a plan. She should make a list.”

  “You know what this sounds like, don’t you?” Ezra asked me.

  “A bossy big brother taking over?” I asked.

  “Sounds like a job for the Fix-It Friends,” Ezra said quickly. Ez is the fastest talker I have ever met. His mind just goes really fast, and his mouth can sure keep up. It takes a lot of practice listening to him before your ears get quick enough to understand him. I have had lots of practice, so now I’m an Ez-pert. Ha!

  “Guys, thanks but no thanks. I don’t need help,” I replied. “I’ve got it under control.”

  “Ooooh, I know what she could do—” Jude started to say. But I had to be firm.

  “No, no, no,” I interrupted him. “Don’t worry your little head about it. You just worry about making the sets. They have to be magnificent! I don’t want you to disappoint Ginger Frost.”

  “Oh, she will not be disappointed,” said Jude, pushing his glasses up on his nose. Then he talked on and on about his plans to make swirly sets that seemed really enchanted.

  “Miss Tibbs looked at my sketches and said I might just be the next Vincent van Gogh,” he bragged.

  “Those are gonna look incredible under my lights!” said Ezra, cracking his knuckles. He always cracks his knuckles when he’s on a roll. “I have all these different-colored plastic films to put over the lights so the stage will be different colors at different times. Like, when Alice falls down the rabbit hole, it’ll be blue, and when the Queen of Hearts comes out, it’ll be—”

  “RED!” I shouted.

  “Shhhhhhhhh!” Pearl scolded us. “Don’ wake up my chicky snuggles!!”

  Chapter 7

  On Wednesday at dismissal time, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me to the auditorium. I could not wait to see the cast list, to find out who would be playing each part.

  I was just turning the corner to the auditorium when smack! My head hit something big and black and squishy. I knew right away what it was.

  “Opa!” I yelped.

  Miss Tibbs put her hands on her hips and peered at me through her big black eyeglasses. “Miss Conti.”

  “Present!” I replied.

  “I am not amused.” She frowned.

  Big surprise. Miss Tibbs is never amused. Irritated, yes. Disappointed, sure. Horrified beyond words, of course. But never amused.

  “Sorry, Tiss Mibbs, I mean Mibbs Tiss, I mean Miss Tibbs.”

  Sometimes she makes me so nervous, I get all tongue-tied.

  “How many times have I told you not to run in the halls?”

  “Ummmm … fifty-seven?” I guessed.

  “I don’t know how many times. I’ve lost count.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it,” I said. “I’ve lost count, too.”

  I tri
ed to sneak around her so I could get to Drama Club, but she stepped in front of me. Then she gave me a lecture about how lucky it was that I’d crashed into her and not an elderly person, because I could have broken their hip, and how would I feel then? I was sort of confused because I thought Miss Tibbs was elderly, but I knew better than to say that to her.

  I was really starting to worry about being late to Drama Club when Cora walked by, with her arms full of furry fabric.

  “Hi, Miss Tibbs!” squeaked Cora. “I found the fabric you wanted for the White Rabbit.”

  Miss Tibbs’s angry scowl melted when she saw Cora.

  “That’s perfect, Miss Klein,” she cooed.

  When she’s talking to me, Miss Tibbs is like an angry pit bull, but when she talks to Cora, she’s like a newborn chickadee. I know it’s Cora’s freckles and red hair that do the trick. Sometimes I am tempted to draw freckles on my face and put on a red wig to see if Miss Tibbs would like me then.

  While Cora and Miss Tibbs were busy talking about how they’d make bunny ears, I sneaked away. I walked super fast—but I didn’t run!—down the hall to the auditorium. I was the last one there!

  Minnie, Camille, and Liv were all sitting together, and they had saved me a seat. I sat down next to Liv, who was wearing earrings in the shape of ballet slippers!

  As soon as I sat down, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. Matthew Sawyer, sitting right behind us, whispered, “You’re late, you’re late, for a very important date.”

  “Off with your head,” I said back to him.

  Ginger was walking around in her ruby-red high heels and a big fluffy white turtleneck sweater that looked like a cloud.

  “She’s giving out the cast list,” Camille whispered to me. “And then we’re playing improv games.”

  I didn’t have any idea what improv games were, but, knowing Ginger, they’d be super fun.

  “Ginger said we won’t start reading from the script till next rehearsal,” said Liv, who looked relieved.