I sat down on the floor to unlace my toe shoes. I was thinking that someday I'll be good enough to audition for a ballet like that. Maybe a few years from now. Three years, two . . . if I were lucky. Who could tell? Maybe even next year. I picked up my dance bag and started to head for the dressing room.
"Modemoiselle Romsey." Mme Noelle caught me just as I was almost out the door. Oh, no. My heart sank. Was she going to give me one last correction? Just when I had been able to end the class on such a good note. I braced myself to hear what she had to say.
"Ma petite, do you think you might aw-di-see-on for Swan Lake?" she asked.
"Me?" My voice came out in a high-pitched squeak. "Well, I don't think this year. Maybe I'll be ready next year. I mean - " "You're a gifted doncer," Madame cut me off. "This production will be quite professional. It would be a wonderful experience for you. Broadening. I do hope you consider, dear." She handed me a flier with the information. Then Madame smiled at me and gestured for me to go ahead of her out the door.
"Thank you, Madame," I managed to sputter.
I glanced at the flier. It said that there would be three audition calls altogether, with eliminations after each one. As 1 walked to the dressing room, my thoughts were flying. Mme Noelle had singled me out to encourage me to audition. Maybe I actually should try out.
In the dressing room the other girls were all talking about Madame's news.
"The Stoneybrook Civic Center!" said one. "You know, the productions in that theater get reviewed by the papers in New York City." "I bet a lot of dancers from New York will come out for the auditions," said another. "I bet the competition will be really stiff." "Yeah, like A Chorus Line." "Oh, no!" groaned Katie Beth.
Katie Beth was still wearing her toe shoes. She leaped to the center of the dressing room floor and began turning pirouettes as fast as she could.
"Do I get the part? Do I get the part?" she called out.
After her last pirouette, she struck a pose from the ballet, nuzzling her cheek against her shoulder as a swan might do to preen its feathers.
We all applauded.
"Encore!" we shouted. "Encore!" Katie Beth collapsed on the floor, breathless and panting.
"No way," she said, laughing. "I guess I'm no enchanted swan. All I am is a tired ballet student." After I had changed, I stuffed my sweaty tights and leotard into my bag. Then I slung the bag over my shoulders and waved to my friends.
"Do you think you'll try out?" asked Katie Beth, as we left school.
"Maybe," I said. "I don't know." That was true. I didn't.
Outside the school, Mama was waiting for me in the car. Becca and Squirt were with her. I slid into the backseat next to Squirt. He grabbed my cheek and gave me a spitty kiss.
"How was class?" Mama asked.
"Good," I said. I told her about the auditions for Swan Lake. I told her that Mme Noelle had drawn me aside at the end of class to encourage me to try out.
"That's wonderful, honey," Mama said. I could see her smiling in the rearview mirror.
"It is," I replied with a sigh, "but I don't know. Maybe it's too professional for me right now. I mean, how can I compete with dancers from New York? I mean, do I even want to?" "It's up to you," Mama said. "It does sound like an opportunity. You might want to go ahead and go to the audition even if it is scary. But that's your decision, Jessi. You just let me know." Parents. Doesn't it seem backwards that they always want to make decisions for you when you don't want them to? Like, "No, you can't stay out past 9 PM," or "No, you can't get your ears pierced." But when you actually might want them to go ahead and tell you what to do, what do they say? "It's up to you. You just let me know." Mom pulled the car into traffic and turned on the radio.
I stared out the window. I pictured myself onstage in a swan costume. I couldn't be Odette, of course. Odette is the queen of the swans and the star of the ballet. But maybe I could be one of the swan maidens who dance in the corps. In my fantasy I did quick turns across the stage. I was a graceful, mysterious swan escaping from hunters.
Okay. The fantasy did it. I was hooked. Yes, I did want to be in Swan Lake. More than anything, in fact. Right then and there I decided to try out. Yes, I'd go to the audition, all right. I would do it.
Chapter 4.
Before I knew it, it was Wednesday afternoon, and time for me to baby-sit for DEREK MASTERS! and his little brother, Todd. If you think I was excited, you should've seen Becca. When I was getting ready to leave, she followed me to our front door, firing questions at me all the way.
"Ask him if he knows Lament. I mean, of course he knows Lament. Ask him if Lamont's as nice as he is on TV. Ask him what kind of games Lamont likes to play. Ask him . . . ask him what Lamont likes to eat for breakfast." Honestly.
"Becca, I'm baby-sitting for Waldo, not for Lamont." I heaved a big sigh. "Look. Now you've got me all confused. I mean, I'm babysitting for Derek. Anyway, I thought you said you didn't have a crush on Lamont." "I don't!" Becca said hotly. "I'm just curious, that's all." "Sounds like a pretty serious crush to me," I said.
Becca whirled around in a huff and stomped off to her room. I grabbed my sweater and was out the door.
Well, Becca may have been a bit over the edge about Lamont, but to tell you the truth, I was not much calmer about Derek. As I walked down the street to the Masterses' house, my heart started racing. I was going to meet a real TV star! Every week people all over the country watched P.S. 162 and every week they laughed at Waldo and his silly science. Hmm. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe Derek would be able to help me with my science homework. (I had been having a little bit of trouble with it lately.) At any rate, this would be a good opportunity to get his autograph. If I wanted to be clever, I could even get him to autograph my science book! I stood at the front door of the Masterses' and brought my finger up to the doorbell. I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. This was as bad as an audition. I certainly had as many butterflies in my stomach.
"Go on," I said to myself. Sometimes I have to take myself in hand and tell myself what to do. "Just go ahead. Ring that bell." B-R-R-R-R-I-M-I-N-G/ I jumped at the sound of the bell. The door opened and a nice-looking woman stood there smiling. Behind her were two boys.
I looked past them into the house. I was looking for Derek, for a boy wearing thick, horn-rimmed glasses.
"Hello," the woman said cheerfully. She extended her hand to shake mine. "You must be Jessi. I'm Mrs. Masters, and, come here, boys." She beckoned to the two children behind her. "This is Todd," she said, putting her hand on the little one's shoulder. "And this is Derek." "Derek?" I don't think I hid my surprise. The boy she introduced as Derek was just a regular-looking kid. Where were the glasses? And what about his spiky hair?
"I look different from on the show, huh?" Derek said. I guess my mouth was still hanging open.
"No glasses," I managed to say. , "Waldo wears the glasses," said Derek. "I have 20-20 vision." Mrs. Masters ushered me into the house and started showing me around. Well, the famous Derek Masters was not only regular-looking himself, he also lived in a perfectly regular house. In fact, it was kind of messy. There were newspapers all over the floor in the living room and dishes piled up high in the kitchen sink. What had I expected? A Hollywood set?
Mrs. Masters showed me where she kept the emergency numbers and then she set out a snack for the boys and me in the kitchen. She was just going to be gone a couple of hours, so she said good-bye to Todd and Derek and left me there in charge.
"Well," I said to the boys. They looked up at me over their glasses of juice. "Tell me about L.A. What's the TV business like, Derek?" "Yuk," Derek said. "Work. Actually, I like it okay, but I'm glad we're on a break." "P.S. 162 feels like work?" I said. "Gee, it looks like so much fun on TV." "It can be fun," Derek said, "but it's long hours." "Then when do you go to school?" I asked.
"I have a private tutor there," said Derek. "He works with me on breaks between tapings, whenever we can fit it in." Derek stuffed a whole fig cookie in
to his mouth. "I'm starting school here again next Monday," he grinned. The words were all garbled with cookie. Derek was a regular kid, all right.
I wished I had taped our conversation that afternoon. It probably sounded pretty comical. For awhile, I didn't give up trying to ask Derek questions about the show - what it was like being a TV star and all. But, every chance he could, Derek changed the subject and asked me things about Stoneybrook. Did I know anything about Stoneybrook Elementary School? he wanted to know. Were the same teachers still there? Did I know if any of the same kids would be in his class?
Of course, I know plenty about Stoneybrook Elementary. Becca goes there and so do just about all the kids I baby-sit for.
"Do you know Nicky Pike?" I asked.
Derek's face lit up. "Nicky's a great guy." As Derek talked on, the light bulb finally flashed in my brain. Derek wasn't interested in talking about show biz. Here was a kid who'd been away from his class for almost a year, and he was just worried about how he would fit in when he went back.
"I hope the kids don't think I've changed," he said, "or treat me differently. Some people act pretty strange about this star stuff." "Really?" I gulped. I was glad Derek didn't know how silly I had gotten.
After the boys had finished their snack, Derek brought me up to his room. He pulled an old, battered box out from one of his drawers. It was a game of Candy Land.
"Landy Cand!" he said to Todd. "You want to play Landy Cand?" Then he explained to me, "That's what Todd used to call it when he was two." See, not only was Derek a regular kid, he was also a regular, everyday brother.
The three of us settled on Derek's floor for a game. And another. And another. Whenever Todd got a card with candy on it, he brought it up to his mouth and pretended to eat it with loud munching sounds. Derek let Todd win every other game.
When we were about Candy Land-ed out, Derek folded up the board and put the game away. I spotted another box in the drawer. On the top was a large photo of Derek.
"What's this?" I asked curiously. I picked up the photo. It was of Derek's face, but it was blown up and it looked like some kind of fancy movie star photo. His hair looked kind of windswept, but in a perfectly styled kind of way. His smile was big and toothpaste-y. At the bottom of the photo his name was printed in big letters. Derek looked embarrassed that I had found it.
"There's more," I said. The whole box was filled with copies of the photo.
"It's my head shot," Derek said shyly.
"Your what?" I asked.
"Head shot," Derek repeated. "If you're an actor, you get a fancy picture taken of you like this and then you send it around to all the people who might give you work." "Really?" I said. It seemed so ... so, I don't know. ... So professional.
"Yeah," said Derek. "You take them to auditions with you and stuff." "Auditions," I mumbled, I wondered if dancers were supposed to have photos, too.
"I'm going on an audition soon," I told Derek. Even as I said the word, my stomach started knotting up. I may have decided to go ahead with the audition, but I was obviously still more than a little scared.
"Really?" said Derek. Now it was his turn to be surprised. "What kind of audition? An acting thing?" "Sort of," I said. "For a ballet." I explained to Derek about my dance classes and about this Stoneybook Civic Center production of Swan Lake. I told him that Mme Noelle had encouraged me to try out.
"Great!" said Derek. "I know all about auditions. I'll be your coach. I'll tell you exactly how to land this job." Derek didn't have time to do any coaching that day, though. Downstairs, the front door banged open.
"I'm home!" Mrs. Masters called.
Derek came downstairs with me. "Thanks for all the news about Stoneybrook Elementary," he said.
"Sure," I replied. "And don't worry. You'll do fine. Hey, especially in science," I suggested, trying to be helpful. "You could make friends just by doing everybody's science homework." "Science!" Derek shook his head as if he were going crazy. "I hate science!" he exclaimed. "I get F's!" "You do?" I said. I couldn't help laughing.
Derek narrowed his eyes, pretending to be mad.
"I know, I know. I'm confusing you with Waldo. I'm going to have to start a list. On one side I'll put all the things Waldo does. On the other side I'll put the things Derek does." Mrs. Masters paid me and I said good-bye to the boys. I hurried down the street and headed for my afternoon Baby-sitters Club meeting at Claudia's house. I couldn't wait to tell my friends all about Derek and what a nice kid he was. And wait'll Becca hears, I thought.
Uh-oh. I stopped short. Becca! I'd completely forgotten to ask Derek anything about Lamont! Oh, well. I sighed as I thought of how mad Becca would get. I ran the rest of the way to the meeting.
Chapter 5.
You can tell from what Mallory wrote in the club notebook that she had caught DEREK MASTERS! fever. That's the way it seemed to go. Just when one person would be getting over it, another person would catch it. It was contagious.
Anyway, that Saturday, things did get a little strained. Who knows, maybe it was all my fault. Maybe I shouldn't have tried to get everybody together in the first place. But Becca started it. And Mallory pushed it. And then the triplets made it worse.
Come to think of it, Derek didn't help the situation any himself.
See, this is how it started. I was still home, getting ready to go over to the Masterses' house for another afternoon baby-sitting job. Becca followed me to the door while I was putting on my jacket. She was begging, I mean absolutely begging me to take her along.
"Please, please, please, please, please," she said.
"Becca," I said, "you know I can't take you with me on a job." "But Derek is probably lonely," she whined. "He probably doesn't have any kids here to play with yet. In L.P. he probably gets to play with Lamont all the time." I rolled my eyes. This time I didn't even bother to correct Becca. She hurried on.
"Does Derek ever say anything about Lamont?" she asked. "I mean, did he ever maybe say anything about how Lament really loves rock collections?" What a question. That's my sister, though. You can guess who has her very own rock collection. Miss Rebecca Ramsey, herself.
"Please," Becca started up again.
Okay, Becca was being a little bit of a pest. But as she was talking, I started thinking. It was true, Derek had seemed a little lonely. Practically all he'd talked to me about was whether he was going to be able to make friends at school again. And it just so happened that he and Becca were the same age. I decided that I would ask Derek and his mom if they'd mind if Becca came over to play for awhile. Of course, I wasn't about to tell that to Becca. I figured I'd wait and see what they said first.
"That would be fine with me." Mrs. Masters smiled when I asked her the question. "Derek, what do you think?" Derek squinted his eyes.
"How old did you say your sister is?" he asked.
"Eight," I said.
Derek's face brightened.
"Eight?" he repeated. "Yeah, sure. Call her up. Tell her to come over." You should've heard Becca squeal on the other end of the phone. I had to hold the receiver about a mile away from my ear.
Mrs. Masters left us sandwich fixings for lunch, and since it was a nice day, the boys and I decided to have a picnic in the backyard. By the time Becca arrived, Derek was munching on an apple and Todd was trying to spread a big glob of peanut butter onto his bread. I introduced Becca to the boys.
I noticed Becca staring hard at Derek. I had warned her ahead of time that in real life he doesn't have spiky hair and glasses, but I think it still came as a shock.
"Hi," Derek said. "Want an apple?" Phew, I thought, this is going to go just fine.
Derek asked Becca all kinds of questions about what had been happening in the third grade. Becca, of course, knew lots more than I had been able to tell him. She knew all of the kid stuff, like how one boy had thrown a spitball and been sent to the principal's office, and how a bird had flown through an open auditorium window during the last assembly.
"Really?"
said Derek. "Cool." There was a lull in the conversation. I could see Becca gearing up to ask her question.
"So, Derek," she said. "What's it like to work with stars?" "It's okay," said Derek. Suddenly, all the life had drained out of his voice.
"Well, what's it like to work with Lament? What's he like?" "He's okay," Derek replied flatly.
"Is he as funny as he is on TV?" "Yeah, he's funny." "Is he smart?" "Pretty smart." "Do you think he likes rock collections?" Derek kneeled on the picnic bench. He took a napkin and wadded it up into a ball. "Can we change the subject please?" he said.
That was my first clue that talk about the show was going to make Derek a little testy.
"Hey," I said quickly, "why don't you guys go climb on the jungle gym? But carefully, since you just ate." Derek hopped off the bench and started for the jungle gym. Becca tagged after him, still firing questions.
As I cleaned up the lunch things I had an idea. Maybe it would be better to get Derek together with a boy. I decided to call Mallory and see if maybe I could bring my kids over to visit hers. I knew that Mallory was at home baby-sitting for Nicky and the triplets (her mother had taken the three younger girls shopping). After all, Derek already knew Nicky, and the two of them were even going to be in the same class. I got Mallory on the phone and asked her what she thought.
"DEREK MASTERS!" she screeched. I was beginning to understand how Derek felt. I mean, Mallory is my best friend and all, but she was getting as carried away as everyone else. I reminded Mal that Derek was just a kid.
"Right," she said, calming down. "I remember what you said at the meeting. He's worried the kids won't like him." "So how about it? Can I bring Derek and Todd and Becca over?" I asked.
Mallory thought it was a super idea. I wrote Mrs. Masters a note telling her where we would be in case she should come home early. Then I rounded up my gang.
"Field trip!" I called. "What would you think about going over to the Pikes' to play?" "All right!" the kids exclaimed.
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