“Whew,” Mitchell said. “That’s the worst.”
“Listen,” she said. “Mr. Sarsaparilla could do a whole thing with drums. DUM-DA-DA-DUM.”
Peter shook his head. “We need aliens and a spaceship. Everyone is counting on that.”
“And don’t forget the crybaby alien,” said Mitchell.
Gina didn’t want to think about that. She took a breath. “We need a star, too.”
“That’s what Madam Ballantine said,” Mitchell told them.
Gina sat back. This was easier than she’d thought. “I was thinking,” she began slowly. “The star could be the princess of a planet.”
“Yes.” Peter began to write.
Gina crossed her fingers. Here came the hard part.
“There could be a robot frog,” she said. “The princess could kiss the frog.”
Mitchell looked up for a second. “This is like the play we saw.”
Gina nodded. “Then the frog turns into—”
“Perfect,” Peter said. “The frog turns into an alien. It eats the whole planet.”
“Maybe the princess’s leg, too,” said Mitchell.
“Wait a minute,” Gina said. “It’s a nice frog.”
Peter and Mitchell looked at her.
“Well,” she said, “it could be a bad frog. But the princess has to save the planet.”
The auditorium door opened again. Kids were coming now.
Madam Ballantine was at the door.
“Put me in for the princess,” Gina said. “Hurry.”
“But who’ll be the crybaby alien?” Peter asked.
The auditorium door opened again.
It was Destiny. She wore a silver outfit from Halloween. She had a gold crown on her head.
“I have come to take you to my planet,” she said.
“My,” said Madam Ballantine.
Poor Destiny. She thought she was going to be the star. But she was going to be the crybaby alien.
“Unfortunate,” Gina said in a Mr. Sarsaparilla voice.
CHAPTER 9
THURSDAY
The bell rang. It was time for Afternoon Center.
Gina pounded down the stairs.
Everyone else pounded, too.
There was just enough time for a snack.
Gina was first in the lunchroom.
The lunchroom lady’s face was red. “Whew.” She wiped her forehead. “I’m trying to make gingersnaps.”
“Great,” Gina said.
“I’m still working on them,” the lunchroom lady said. “But for today we’ll have cheese poppers. It’s what I do best.”
Gina saw Destiny come into the lunchroom.
Destiny was the lunchroom lady’s helper. She put a pile of poppers on a plate.
She had tears in her eyes.
Maybe she was practicing to be the crybaby alien.
Too bad Destiny couldn’t cry like a hyena.
Gina sat at a back table. Trevor sat there, too.
“I’m a bad guy in the play.” He made a horrible face. He held his hands out like claws.
He wiped popper crumbs off his face. “I’m good at that, right? I like to scare my little sister.”
Gina put the last of the poppers in her mouth. She had worked on being a star last night.
She’d stood in front of the mirror.
“I am the princess. I’m going to save the planet,” she’d said.
She’d said it a hundred times.
A thousand times.
She still sounded like Gina.
Too bad. Grandma Maroni was going to let Gina wear her second-best loopy pearls.
Gina was going to wear Mom’s silver slippers. They’d be stuffed with paper. That way they’d fit. Almost.
Mitchell slid into the seat next to her.
“What are you going to be in the play?” Gina asked. “I can’t remember.”
Mitchell shook his head. “I’m a writer, not an alien. I might try for bad guy in the next play.” He jammed a popper in his mouth. “I have to work on it.”
Destiny came to their table. She had a new bottle of Curls Galore gel.
She held it out to Gina. “Since you’re going to be the star.”
“Thank you,” Gina said.
She could see that Destiny was still crying a little.
Gina felt like crying, too. She didn’t know why. She stood up. She waved the Curls Galore gel around. “See you guys later.” She could hardly get the words out.
Gina went upstairs to the classroom.
No one would be there. It would be nice and quiet.
She had to figure something out.
Why was she ready to cry like a hyena?
All the way upstairs, she thought about Madam Ballantine. She had looked just like a black cat.
The actress had said she was a great cat.
That was true, Gina thought.
Madam Ballantine had had the best part in that play.
A cat!
Gina thought of the long dress she was going to wear. She thought about Grandma Maroni’s pearls.
She looked at her feet. Mom’s silver shoes would look—
What was that word?
Enchanting.
Gina began to cry.
A hyena cry. No, a crybaby alien cry.
She knew what she had to do. It would be hard. But it was the right thing.
CHAPTER 10
TWO FRIDAYS LATER
At last it was the day of the play.
Gina wore a lime-green costume. It was huge.
The sleeves covered her hands. The skirt dragged along the floor.
She looked like a turtle with no neck.
Mrs. Farelli had found it for her.
It was horrible.
Never mind. She had to look like a crybaby alien.
Besides, she was wearing Mom’s silver slippers.
Gorgeous.
Mom thought aliens might wear shoes like that. “No one really knows,” she’d said.
Underneath her costume, Gina wore Grandma Maroni’s second-best loopy pearls. They hung down to her knees.
Gorgeous, too, even though no one could see them.
She peeked through the curtain.
Everyone was there. Even the meat man from Stop & Shop. And Grandma and Grandpa Maroni. Grandma wore her third-best loopy pearls.
“Shhh, everyone,” Mrs. Farelli whispered.
Her whispering was loud. The whole audience could hear her.
Destiny began to laugh. Gina felt a little like laughing, too.
She didn’t, though.
The play had to be perfect.
Mitchell swished open the curtain.
Charlie was sitting in a spaceship. It still looked like an old box with wheels.
“We’re going to crash into a planet!” Charlie yelled.
A wheel fell off the spaceship.
Great. They hadn’t even practiced that.
A bunch of robots marched across the stage. They wore cardboard boxes covered in silver paper.
Now Gina opened her mouth. She opened it wide.
She began to cry like a hyena.
Grandma Maroni gasped. So did the meat man.
Her mother and father didn’t. They were used to the hyena crying. Besides, she’d been practicing.
She cried every two minutes. Even when she wasn’t sad.
In the front row, Madam Ballantine was smiling.
Gina looked across at Destiny, the star. Destiny looked like a star. She sounded like a star.
For a minute, Gina was sorry she wasn’t the one wearing a beautiful gown.
But only for a minute.
She was a great crier.
And there was that surprise at the end. She and Mitchell and Peter had figured it out just yesterday.
But right now, Charlie was being turned into a hopping frog.
Gina had to run away from him.
Too bad her costume was so long. She tried to hold it up.
No
good.
She tripped across the stage.
She landed on the spaceship. The other wheel fell off. It rolled away.
Grandma Maroni’s pearls shot out all over the place.
Then she was really crying like a hyena!
What would the meat man think?
And poor Grandma Maroni. Her second-best loopy pearls were ruined.
Gina took a peek at the audience. Everyone was sitting forward.
They thought it was all part of the play. Even Madam Ballantine. She winked at Gina.
It was time for Destiny to tackle the frog.
“Oof!” Charlie yelled.
“I have saved the planet,” Destiny said.
The curtain closed, and everyone clapped. No one heard Destiny slide over a pearl.
“Don’t worry,” Mitchell said. “We’ll pick up all the pearls later.”
Destiny gave Gina a hug. “You’re a star crier,” she said.
Gina hugged back. “You were great, too.”
Then came the surprise.
There was the sound of the drums. DUM-DUM-DE-DUM!
It was Mr. Sarsaparilla, star drummer.
Beebe pulled back the curtain. Gina stepped out in front. She opened her mouth.
This time she wasn’t crying. She was singing.
Opera singing.
“YOU CAN DO ALMOST ANYTHING, TRA-LA, TRA-LA …”
Everyone was smiling. Whew, Gina thought. She was good at something. Not great. But good was enough.
In the back, Mrs. Farelli was whispering again. “This is the best play we’ve ever had.”
Gina thought so, too.
She finished her song. She hated for the play to end.
She sang her song all over again. She was some star!
Enchanting!
PATRICIA REILLY GIFF is the author of many beloved books for children, including the Kids of the Polk Street School books, the Friends and Amigos books, and the Polka Dot Private Eye books. Several of her novels for older readers have been chosen as ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Books and ALA-YALSA Best Books for Young Adults. They include The Gift of the Pirate Queen; All the Way Home; Water Street; Nory Ryan’s Song, a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Honor Book for Fiction; and the Newbery Honor Books Lily’s Crossing and Pictures of Hollis Woods. Lily’s Crossing was also chosen as a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book. Her most recent books for older readers include Storyteller, Wild Girl, and Eleven. Other books in the Zigzag Kids series include Number One Kid, Big Whopper, and Flying Feet. Patricia Reilly Giff lives in Connecticut.
ALASDAIR BRIGHT is a freelance illustrator who has worked on numerous books and advertising projects. He loves drawing and is never without his sketchbook. He lives in Bedford, England.
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