Shai & Emmie Star in Break an Egg!

by Quvenzhané Wallis

  Hey, it works! Shai thought, surprised. She was a good actor.

  “That’s our girl,” Grandma Rosa said, raising her glass of iced tea. Aunt Mac-N-Cheese raised her glass too. Momma and Daddy just laughed.

  SCENE 7

  Gabby Messes Up

  On day one of rehearsals, Ms. Gremillion handed out copies of the rehearsal schedule. It said:

  Once on This Island

  Ms. Gremillion, Director

  Mr. Martinez, Music Director

  Ms. Englert, Choreographer

  Week 1: Music (Monday-Friday)

  Week 2: Choreography (Monday-Friday)

  Week 3: Blocking and Scene Work (Monday-Friday)

  Week 4: Full Run-Throughs (Monday-Thursday)

  Week 4: Dress Rehearsal (Friday)

  Week 4: Opening Night (Saturday)

  Week 4: Closing Night (Sunday)

  Shai and Emmie sat cross-legged on the stage and pored over the schedule together. It reminded them of last year’s Annie schedule. That first week the cast had rehearsed the songs with Mr. Martinez’s help. The second week Ms. Englert had taught them the dance steps. The third week Ms. Gremillion had shown them when, where, and how to move around on the stage. That third week they had also practiced their lines.

  And finally, during the fourth week, they’d put it all together and run through the whole musical from beginning to end. On dress rehearsal night they’d done the run-through in full costume, hair, and makeup. Shai had loved the makeup part the best. As Miss Hannigan she’d gotten to wear red mean-lady lipstick and sparkly purple eye shadow!

  Ms. Gremillion finished handing out the schedules. “Let me know if any of you have questions. Otherwise, please turn to page two of your scripts. Mr. Yee, can you give us an A-flat on the piano? Ruby and Isabella, eyes front. Jay, please get rid of that gum. Okay, let’s get started. . . .”

  For the next half hour the cast rehearsed the opening number. A song called “We Dance” introduced the story and many of the main characters.

  Then Mr. Martinez showed up and took over the rehearsal. Mr. Martinez was Very Serious about singing. He could also be a little scary—sometimes even super-scary. For example, there was the way he talked. It sounded like regular talking, but it felt like yelling. Shai and Emmie called it “quiet-yelling.”

  “You are singing in the wrong key!” Mr. Martinez quiet-yelled at Capone, who was playing Daniel.

  “Eee-nun-cee-ate your words!” he quiet-

  yelled at Molly, who was playing Andrea.

  Today the person he quiet-yelled at the most was Gabby.

  “Why are you adding all those extra trills and slides? If the composer had intended for them to be there, he would have written them in.”

  “But . . . I’m improvising,” Gabby said with a confused expression.

  “You cannot improvise in musical theater. You must sing the music exactly as it was written so that you can blend in with the rest of the cast.”

  “But Ti Moune is the most important character in the show. She needs to stand out!”

  “Not in this scene. In this scene she is just one of the villagers. And you must stop thinking of Ti Moune as the most important character in the show. You are all important.”

  Gabby frowned and did an angry hair-flip.

  Yay! Gabby is messing up! Shai thought.

  Then she noticed something. Gabby’s lower lip was quivering, as though she were about to start crying.

  Oh.

  It occurred to Shai that she should feel sorry for the girl. And a tiny, amoeba-size part of her did.

  But mostly she was glad. Happy. Vindicated, which was one of Daddy’s crossword puzzle words and meant, “Ha-ha! I was right!”

  Shai really should have been Ti Moune.

  SCENE 8

  Practically a Star

  Week two was dance rehearsals. On Monday after school, Ms. Englert gathered the cast onstage to teach them some choreography, a.k.a. dance steps, for one of the early scenes.

  Ms. Englert was the opposite of Mr. Martinez. She was supersweet. She liked to tell silly jokes that were sometimes funny and sometimes not funny, but everyone laughed anyway. Last year for the Annie dress rehearsal, she had brought organic, sugar-free, smiley-face lollipops for the entire cast and crew.

  Ti Moune’s mother, Mama Euralie, wasn’t in this particular scene, so Shai sat to the side and studied her lines. Every once in a while she looked up to check out the rehearsal.

  Gabby seemed to be having a hard time with the choreography.

  “Gabby, that’s right, left, right,” Ms. Englert called out with a helpful smile.

  Gabby frowned and repeated the steps. She almost tripped on the last “right.”

  “Better! Now try it again and add the arms,” said Ms. Englert.

  Gabby repeated the steps a third time and flung her arms in the air. She looked like she was swatting at mosquitoes, which made Shai giggle.

  “I don’t get it,” Gabby said, sounding frustrated.

  Ms. Englert went up to Gabby and whispered something into her ear. Gabby nodded and walked over to where Shai was sitting.

  Gabby flopped down with a heavy sigh. She reached into her backpack for her water bottle, which had an I SOCAL logo on it.

  “Why aren’t you rehearsing? And what’s SoCal?” asked Shai.

  “Southern California. Ms. Englert wants me to take a break. Whatever.” She took a long sip of water and gazed moodily at the dancers on the stage. “Musicals are dumb.”

  “I thought you wanted to be in the show,” Shai said, taken aback. After all, you did kinda steal my part, she wanted to add.

  “I did. I do! But I’ve never been in a musical before, and it’s totally not what I expected. It’s so much work. Plus everyone’s telling me what to do! It was different with the toothpaste commercial and with the zombie movie. I got to improvise a lot. With the toothpaste commercial, the director let me make up my own dance steps.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. It was way better in Hollywood. I was practically a star, and no one ordered me around. Then we had to move here because of my dad’s job. Now I’m stuck in this lame school where no one appreciates or understands me!”

  Shai was about to point out that the Sweet Auburn School was not a lame school. In fact, it was one of the best performing arts elementary schools in the country. Also, wasn’t “practically a star” a little . . . dramatic?

  But instead Shai said, “Do you know what Penelope Periwinkle would tell you right now?”

  “Penelope who?”

  “Chapter ten. A Great Actor must be able to adapt,” Shai said in a fancy British accent. She had read on the book jacket that Penelope Periwinkle lived in England, Europe, and besides, Shai felt very smart, talking like that. “ ‘Adapt’ means changing yourself so that you can be the best you can be in a new environment or situation.”

  “I know what ‘adapt’ means,” Gabby said, sounding annoyed. “But shouldn’t people adapt to me, too? Why do I have to do all the adapting? It isn’t fair!”

  Before Shai had a chance to answer, Ms. Englert waved to Gabby. “We’re ready for you now!”

  Gabby rolled her eyes and got to her feet.

  Shai turned her attention back to her lines. It was hard to concentrate on them, though, because she was in a bad mood all of a sudden.

  You know what’s not fair? she wanted to say to Gabby. You get to play Ti Moune, and you don’t even appreciate it. I want to play Ti Moune more than anything else, and I don’t get to. THAT’S not fair!

  As soon as the dance rehearsal was over, Shai grabbed her backpack, said bye to Emmie, and headed for the exit. Grandma Rosa would be waiting out front to walk her home.

  “Shai?”

  Shai turned around. It was Ms. Gremillion.

  “Hi, Ms. Gremillion.”

  “Listen. Ms. Englert and I were just talking. We want to ask you something important. It’s about the role of Ti Moune.”

&n
bsp; Shai’s breath caught in her throat. Her heart did a crazy somersault. She knew exactly what Ms. Gremillion was going to say next.

  We made a mistake casting Gabby as Ti Moune. Would you be willing to play Ti Moune instead?

  “I’ll do it!” Shai announced. Her feet started happy-dancing.

  “You will?”

  “Yes!”

  Shai hoped Gabby wouldn’t be too upset about being replaced. Although maybe she would be relieved? She’d sounded pretty miserable earlier.

  “That’s great, but . . . let me explain first,” Ms. Gremillion said. “Ms. Englert and I would love it if you could help Gabby. This is her first stage show, and we think she could use some support from someone with lots of stage experience—like you.”

  Shai stared at her.

  Help Gabby? The one who stole the role away from me? The one who doesn’t even want to be in the show?

  “Shai?” Ms. Gremillion was waiting for her to say something.

  “Yeah. I’ll do it,” Shai repeated. But this time her feet weren’t happy-dancing.

  Not one bit.

  SCENE 9

  Taking the High Road

  Shai sat at the kitchen table working on her character journal. Next to her was an array of excellent snacks: beef jerky, gummy worms, and her favorite blue power drink. Sugar was a warm, snoring puddle at her feet.

  Today had been the last day of dance rehearsals with Ms. Englert. On Monday they would begin blocking and scene work with Ms. Gremillion.

  After her conversation with Ms. Gremillion, Shai had come around to the idea of helping Gabby. Sort of. Kind of. After all, Ms. Gremillion had asked her, and how could Shai let her teacher down?

  She’d discussed it with Momma and Daddy too, and they’d described something called “taking the high road,” which meant being mature and adaptable.

  So Shai had taken the high road. She’d tried about a billion zillion times to give Gabby advice about Ti Moune. But each time, Gabby had either ignored her or said something mean and snarky. Like: “I’m sorry, were you in a Hollywood movie?” Or: “What do you know about being a star?”

  Now Shai turned her attention back to the character journal. She needed to forget about Gabby and high roads for a while and focus on her own role. She wanted to make sure she understood Mama Euralie’s character really well so that she could say her lines in a convincing way.

  According to Penelope Periwinkle, a character journal was a useful tool for this. It was basically a notebook filled with information about your character. Where did she live? Who were her friends and family? What was her favorite herbivore dinosaur? Stuff like that.

  Shai dangled a gummy worm into her mouth. Then she picked up her turquoise marker and wrote:

  CHARACTER: MAMA EURALIE

  • She and Tonton Julian found little Ti Moune in a magical tree and raised her as their daughter.

  • Ti Moune grows up, saves Daniel from his car accident, and falls in love with him. She wants to go to the other side of the island to be with him, but Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian try to stop her. Ti Moune is just a peasant, and Daniel and his family are grands hommes (that means big, important people). Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian are worried that the grands hommes will reject Ti Moune and be super-mean to her.

  • Mama Euralie wants to take care of Ti Moune. She doesn’t want her to get hurt.

  Shai considered this for a moment. Her brain began to improvise.

  She flipped to a fresh page and wrote:

  CHARACTER: GABBY SUPREME

  • She and her family just moved to Atlanta from Hollywood.

  • She was in a toothpaste commercial. She was in a zombie potato movie, too.

  • She doesn’t want to be here.

  • She wants to do everything her own way.

  • She thinks no one appreciates or understands her.

  The kitchen door opened. Momma walked in carrying the mail, a cardboard box, and a canvas bag full of vegetables. Sugar trotted up to her and sniffed at her ankles.

  “Hi, Shai. Where is everybody?” Momma asked as she unloaded everything onto the counter.

  “Upstairs with Grandma Rosa. She’s teaching Jamal and Samantha how to play chess, and Jacobe’s taking a nap. Is my tongue blue?”

  Momma laughed. “Uh-huh.”

  Sugar started barking at the cardboard box.

  “What is the matter with you?” Shai asked Sugar.

  Momma bent down and spoke softly to the box. Then she reached inside and pulled out a cat. It had scruffy gray fur and a bunch of missing teeth. Its golden eyes looked frightened.

  Sugar barked at the cat. The cat hissed at Sugar.

  “She’s a stray,” said Momma. “No one seems to want her because she can be a bit . . . well, cranky. But she’s probably a sweetheart, deep down. I thought we might give her a home for a while, until she sorts things out.”

  Shai knew what that meant. Momma had said those same words when she’d brought home Patches and Noodle and Furball and Purrball and all their other animals.

  “Hey, kitty,” Shai said, reaching out her hand.

  The cat hissed and swiped at Shai with her claws.

  “These things take time,” Momma said to Shai. She snuggled the cat to her chest. The cat hissed at her but didn’t try to escape. “Come on, Crabbycakes. Let’s get you into a quiet room so you can do some cat yoga and chill out.”

  Shai glanced down at her character journal. Her brain began to improvise again. Maybe Gabby was like the new cat. Maybe she was cranky on the outside but sweet on the inside. Maybe she just needed someone to appreciate and understand her.

  Maybe Shai shouldn’t give up on her just yet.

  “Momma?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Can I use the phone to call a friend from school?”

  “May I. And yes, you may.”

  Shai found Gabby’s family’s phone number on the rehearsal carpool list. Then she punched in the number.

  It was Gabby who answered. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Gabby? It’s Shai Williams.”

  There was a long silence.

  “Gabby, are you there?”

  “What do you want?”

  Shai tried to think of her next line. How could she make Gabby feel appreciated and understood?

  And then it came to her. She would ask Gabby for help.

  “Hey, so . . . I need some advice about those scenes with Ti Moune and Mama Euralie. Do you want to meet at the Scoop, maybe tomorrow afternoon? Like three o’clock?” Shai asked.

  There was another long silence.

  “Sweets and Treats has better ice cream,” Gabby said finally.

  Shai stuck her tongue out at the phone.

  “Shai? Are you there?”

  “Yup! Sweets and Treats. Tomorrow at three. I’ll be there. Bye!”

  Shai hung up.

  “Was that the new girl? The one you tried to help before?” Momma called out over her shoulder.

  “Yup!”

  Momma smiled. “You’re a good egg, Shai Williams. That was a very kind thing to do. Very high road.”

  Shai smiled back. “Does that mean I get to play extra video games tonight?”

  “We’ll see. Love you, sweetie.”

  “Love you too, Momma.”

  Shai returned to the kitchen table to work on her character journal. Just yesterday she’d remembered to ask Grandma Rosa about that saying, “Have the courage to be nice to people.”

  “It takes courage to be nice to folks who aren’t always nice to you,” Grandma Rosa had replied.

  Shai finally got that. It had been a little scary, being nice to Gabby just now.

  Hopefully, it would be worth it.

  And hopefully, Gabby would have the courage to be nice back . . . at least a little.

  SCENE 10

  The Gummy Bear Triangle

  Sweets and Treats was busy on Saturday afternoon. When Shai and Emmie got there, they found Gabby waiting in a corner boo
th.

  “What’s she doing here?” were the first words out of Gabby’s mouth as she scowled at Emmie. “I thought we were going to work on Ti Moune and Mama Euralie’s scenes.”

  So much for nice, Shai thought, disappointed. “Emmie wanted to ask you for some acting advice too,” she improvised quickly.

  She elbowed Emmie. Emmie elbowed her back. The truth was, Shai needed her best friend beside her for moral support. She wasn’t sure she could handle a whole hour of Crabby Grabby Gabby all by herself.

  Shai and Emmie slid into the booth across from Gabby. Daddy and Jacobe were seated at a nearby table with coloring books and crayons. They had walked Shai and Emmie to Sweets and Treats.

  The waiter came by to take the girls’ orders. Shai ordered strawberry ice cream with whipped cream and gummy bears. Emmie ordered the same thing with peach ice cream. Gabby ordered a “lemon froyo.” Shai figured out that “froyo” was Hollywood language for “frozen yogurt.”

  “So, Gabby, . . . I need your advice. What do you think I should do with Mama Euralie’s character? I can’t quite figure her out,” Shai said. Which wasn’t 100 percent the truth, or even 50 percent the truth, since she had done the character journal and all—but Gabby didn’t know that.

  “Well, Mama Euralie is a mom. Obviously,” Gabby said with a hair-flip. “And most moms worry about their daughters, right? So Mama Euralie worries about Ti Moune. She doesn’t want Ti Moune to go to the other side of the island. She doesn’t want her to get her heart broken or be treated badly by people or put herself in danger.”

  Shai already knew all this, but she nodded and acted as though she didn’t. “Huh. That’s really, really interesting! So do you think Ti Moune feels bad about not listening to her mom?”

  “Well, yes and no. Ti Moune loves her mom. But she’s independent; she wants to do things her own way,” Gabby replied. “Again, obviously.”