Twice the Talent

by Belle Payton

  At lunch Lindsey made it very obvious that she was talking only to Annelise, Charlotte, Rosa, and Emily. She acted like Alex was invisible at the table. Alex knew that talking with her then wouldn’t have done any good, so she spent most of the lunch hour listening to a conversation Ava and Jack were having about college basketball and tried to act like everything was normal. She started to wonder if apologizing to Lindsey was even worth it. She could be such a difficult person!

  Do I really need a friend like that? Alex wondered. But the problem was that Lindsey was friends with Emily, and everyone else Alex liked. She had to get along with Lindsey, or things would be forever awkward anytime she hung out with her friends. And Lindsey was usually a nice person, and a lot of fun to be around—Alex didn’t know why she was still holding a grudge against Max.

  But when and how she would make it right to Lindsey—that was what she had to figure out. She had other things to do in the meantime.

  Like working with Max on their social studies project, for one. When the final bell rang, she first headed to the auditorium to see Chloe Klein, the sixth-grade class president. Chloe was one of the other student council members working behind the scenes on the Variety Show. Alex found her backstage, writing in a notebook.

  “So, we’ve got some acts rehearsing today,” Chloe informed her. “I’m going to talk with them to find out what kind of lighting they need and what kind of props they’re using.”

  “Sorry I can’t help today,” Alex said.

  “That’s okay. Kendall and Jerome will be here soon,” Chloe said. “You can be here on Thursday, right? We’re going to start choosing the lineup and talking about the program.”

  “No problem,” said Alex. “See you then.”

  As she walked out of the auditorium, she saw a boy twirling a lasso and singing onstage. Emily, Lindsey, Rosa, Charlotte, and Annelise sat in the seats, waiting their turn. Emily waved at Alex, but Lindsey turned her head just as Alex walked by.

  Alex sighed and hurried to the school library. Max was sitting at a table with his social studies book open and his head resting on it, like a pillow.

  “Max!” Alex hissed in a loud whisper as she sat down.

  Max jolted awake. “What? Oh, hey, Alex.”

  Alex took her social studies folder out of her backpack and opened it up.

  “So, I made an outline of the project,” Alex began, taking out a sheet of paper to show him. “I thought maybe we could divide up the research.”

  Max picked up the paper and read out loud. “Research the history of the Fifth Amendment. Research three important Fifth Amendment cases. Describe why the Fifth Amendment is important to students. List reasons.” He groaned and put down his head again. “This is so much!”

  “It won’t be so bad if we divide it up,” Alex said encouragingly. “And there are two of us working on it, so we can each take a part of the project we’re interested in. Are you more interested in the history of how the amendment was created, or the court cases?”

  Max seemed to brighten a little. “The court cases, I guess. I started looking stuff up last night, and there were some pretty serious cases where people were pressured into confessing crimes when the Fifth Amendment could have helped them.”

  “Okay, so why don’t you start with one court case, and I’ll start with the history of the amendment, and then we’ll check in with each other in a couple of days,” Alex suggested.

  Max frowned. “I guess. It’ll be pretty hard for me to work on it at home. I’ll have to do everything here, but the library doesn’t stay open that late.”

  “There’s always the town library,” Alex reminded him. She was curious about why he couldn’t do homework at home but didn’t want to ask. That felt like prying.

  “I know, but it’s on the other side of town from where I live, and I can’t get a ride,” Max said.

  “So, we might as well get started now,” Alex said, determined to keep Max from being negative about every suggestion she made. “Why don’t you start by looking online and seeing what books the library has on the subject? We need at least two books in our bibliography.”

  “Sure,” Max said, and he slid out of his seat and made his way over to the library computer station.

  Alex looked down at her outline, but she was distracted thinking about Lindsey. She had to stop this before it got any worse. Maybe she could talk to Lindsey before the Dancing Divas started their practice.

  Alex left her folder on the table, let Max know she’d be right back, and went back to the auditorium. She found Lindsey and the others still waiting in their seats.

  Alex slid into the row behind them. The girls got quiet, and Lindsey once again turned her head.

  “Lindsey, can we talk, please?” Alex asked. “I need to apologize to you.”

  Lindsey’s head spun around. “Yes?” she asked.

  “I really didn’t mean to say your act was lame, honestly,” Alex said. “I just got upset when you called Max lame, and a loser, and—”

  “There you go, defending Max,” Lindsey said. “You didn’t defend me when he made fun of me.”

  “But I don’t think he was making fun of you,” Alex said. “And anyway, the bell rang right after, and—”

  “And you’d rather hang out with Max than be in our lame dance group,” Lindsey interrupted.

  “Lindsey, I am so sorry I said that! Honestly!” Alex insisted.

  “Apology not accepted,” Lindsey said, and she turned away from Alex again.

  Alex looked at Emily for some guidance, but Emily just shook her head. It was no use. Not now, anyway.

  “Well, if you’re ever ready to accept my apology, just come find me,” Alex said to the back of Lindsey’s head, maybe a little too sharply, and then she walked off.

  That was frustrating, she thought. But at least she felt that she understood Lindsey a little bit more. Lindsey went to great lengths not to be embarrassed. She hadn’t wanted Alex to know she got the free school lunch or that she bought her clothes in the thrift shop. Max’s “preignition” comment must have gotten to her more than Alex realized—and it hadn’t helped that Alex had smiled at it. And now she and Max were project partners. Lindsey probably thought Alex was a traitor. How was she supposed to fix that?

  Back in the library, Max was sitting at the table. When Alex approached, he quickly opened a book titled The History of the Bill of Rights and started leafing through it, as though he wanted Alex to think he’d been reading it the whole time.

  That struck Alex as odd, but then again, Max was a little odd anyway. She sat down and noticed some pages sticking out of her social studies folder. Did I leave them like that? she briefly wondered, but then quickly forgot about it.

  “So, this book looks pretty good,” Max said. “But maybe it’s something you can use. I’m not finding any court cases in here.”

  “Thanks,” Alex said, taking the book from him. “Maybe we can do some online research for that.”

  The two of them worked in the library until it closed, and then they walked out to the front of the school together. Alex saw Tommy waiting for her right in front of the school. She walked toward the car, their dad’s sedan, and then stopped.

  “Max, do you have a ride?” she asked.

  “Um, my stepmom’s supposed to pick me up,” Max said, looking at his phone. “I tried texting her, but she’s not answering.”

  “Where do you live?” Alex asked.

  “In Magnolia Terrace,” Max replied.

  “I know where that neighborhood is. Tommy will give you a ride home,” Alex said, and motioned for Max to follow her.

  He flashed her a grateful look as they approached Tommy’s car.

  “Can you please give Max a ride?” Alex asked her brother. “He lives in Magnolia Terrace.”

  “Sure, hop in,” Tommy said.

  Alex sat shotgun, and Max climbed into the back. It took only a few minutes to get to Max’s home, a white ranch house in a quiet neighborhood. Al
ex couldn’t help noticing that the grass was a little long in the front yard.

  “Okay, thanks,” Max said, and darted inside.

  “Who was that?” Tommy asked as he pulled out of the driveway.

  “My social studies project partner,” Alex explained. “He’s nice but a little strange, and I wonder if something else is going on. I can’t quite figure him out.”

  Tommy laughed. “If I know you, Alex, you won’t stop until you do!”

  CHAPTER

  TEN

  Ava spent the hour after school sitting on the bleachers in the gym, watching her basketball team practice. Everyone cheered when she came in, and it was more fun than she thought it would be to watch them run drills. She paid close attention to everything Coach Rader said—when it came time for her to get back in the game, she wanted to be ready.

  Then her phone beeped at four o’clock, reminding her she had somewhere to be. She waved good-bye to her team and headed for the auditorium.

  Carly Hermano had approached her at lunchtime, all smiles.

  “Kylie said you would take her place in the line dance,” Carly said. “That is awesome!”

  “I feel so bad for Kylie,” Ava said, “and if it helps you guys to have a sixth person, I’ll do it. I’m excited to learn how to line dance.”

  Carly’s smile faded a bit. “You mean you’ve never done it?”

  “Um, no, didn’t Kylie tell you?” Ava asked, starting to feel nervous.

  “No, but I’m sure you’ll work out just fine,” Carly replied.

  “I’m good on my feet, honestly,” Ava said, and Carly’s gaze drifted down to her ankle. “Well, except for that. But that was an accident.”

  “Okay. We’re practicing in the auditorium at four o’clock. I’ll call out the steps as we dance, and you can just follow along,” Carly said.

  Ava nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll see you then.”

  So Ava’s palms were a little sweaty as she headed to the auditorium. What if the other dancers didn’t want her to join them? And what if she couldn’t keep up?

  The first of her fears disappeared when she entered the auditorium.

  “Hey, it’s Ava!” Carly called from the stage. “Come on up!”

  Four other kids stood onstage with Carly, and Ava vaguely knew them all from seeing them around school.

  “Everybody, this is Kylie’s friend Ava,” said Carly. Then she pointed to a girl who wore her black hair in a high ponytail.

  “This is Hana,” Carly said, and then she proceeded to introduce Ava to the rest of the group. Keshawn, a tall, skinny boy; Kimberly, a petite blond girl; and David, a short boy with glasses, who pointed his fingers like pistols in the air when Carly said his name and pretended to shoot them.

  “Pleased to meet you, pardner,” he said. “Welcome to Toe the Line.”

  “I hope I can help out,” Ava said. “I’ve never line danced before.”

  “I’ve seen you on the football field. You’re fast on your feet,” Keshawn said, and Ava blushed.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Okay, let’s line up,” Carly said, and the dancers fell into two rows. In the front was David, then Carly, then Kimberly. Keshawn stood behind Carly, Hana stood behind Kimberly, and Carly instructed Ava to stand behind David.

  At least I’m in the second row, Ava thought. If I mess up, it won’t be too noticeable, right?

  Carly turned to look at the back row. “Okay, I’m going to call out the steps as we go,” she said. “Ava, just try to copy what we’re doing, okay?”

  “Okay!” Ava said.

  Carly called offstage. “All right, Chloe!”

  Chloe pressed a button on the sound system, and the opening strains of a country-and-western song filled the air. After a few beats, Carly called out, “Walk forward!”

  That sounded easy enough to Ava. She took a step forward, watching Keshawn next to her. He took a step forward, lifted up his left foot, and clapped. Ava tried to copy him, but her clap came one beat after everyone else’s.

  “Grapevine right!” Carly called out.

  Grapevine? Ava had no idea what that meant. She took some steps to the right but then noticed that the others were moving sideways, crossing one foot behind the other as they moved. By the time she mimicked the move, Carly was already calling out the next one.

  “Grapevine left!”

  Ava took another sideways step left and tried to move her right leg behind her left leg, but she was a little slower than the others. When she finally made the move, Keshawn was already moving back toward her, and they bumped into each other.

  “Sorry!” Ava said, and Keshawn just smiled at her.

  “Step, tap! Step, tap!” Carly was saying, and Ava had to look down at Keshawn’s feet to see what that meant. By the time Carly called out the next move, something about a jazz box, Ava had decided that marching in place was the best thing to do.

  What have I gotten myself into? she wondered.

  “Pivot right!” Carly called out, and everyone made a half turn to the right—except Ava, who turned left in her confusion. As she made the turn, she saw two boys enter the auditorium from the corner of her eye: Jack Valdeavano and Spencer Mills.

  Oh no, Ava thought. Jack was going to think she was the worst line dancer in the world—which was true! She prayed that nobody could see her behind David, but since David was a head shorter than she was, she knew that wasn’t likely. She tried to concentrate on what Carly was saying.

  “Kick left!” Carly called out, and Ava turned and gave an enthusiastic kick—which hit Keshawn right in the back of the knee.

  “Sorry!” Ava hissed again, and she could feel her face turning bright red. When the song finally ended, she could feel the relief through her whole body.

  Carly clapped her hands.

  “Nice effort, everybody!” she said in her best cheerleader voice. Then she looked at Ava. “I guess that brace is giving you some trouble, right?”

  “Oh, right, the brace,” Ava said, happy to have an excuse. But she knew the truth—she had no idea how to line dance!

  “We’ve all been practicing this for weeks,” Keshawn said kindly. “I can write down the steps for you so you can practice them at home.”

  “That would be amazing,” Ava said gratefully.

  “I’ll send them to your school e-mail,” Keshawn offered, just as Chloe came out onstage.

  “Okay, clear the stage, please!” Chloe said. “Jack and Spencer, you’re up!”

  Jack grinned at Ava as they crossed paths. “That was really special up there,” he said.

  Ava blushed. “It was my first time,” she explained. “I’m just filling in for Kylie.”

  “I’m sure you’ll pick it up,” Jack said.

  “So, what are you and Spencer doing?” Ava asked. Spencer was a member of the drama club, and Ava hadn’t known that he and Jack were friends.

  “Hip-hop,” Jack replied. Ava raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, he and I took hip-hop dance classes in fifth and sixth grade.”

  “I have to see this!” Ava said, and she checked the time on her phone. Her mom had said to text her when practice was done. She settled into a front-row seat to watch.

  Jack and Spencer shook out their limbs for a few seconds, and then the music began. The two of them started locking, popping, and rolling all over the stage, moving in perfect time with each other.

  “Woo-hoo!” Ava cheered. They were awesome!

  And then it hit her. This was a serious Variety Show. If she didn’t figure out how to line dance, she might never live it down!

  CHAPTER

  ELEVEN

  The rest of the week was difficult for Alex. Lindsey still refused to speak to her, making every day at lunch awkward. Luckily, she had the social studies research to keep her busy, as well as the plans for the Variety Show.

  On Thursday Alex met with the other members of the Variety Show committee after school. Besides Chloe there was Kendall, the eighth-grade class secretary,
and Jerome, Chloe’s vice president in the sixth grade.

  Chloe opened up a notebook with a marbled cover.

  “Okay, we have nineteen acts so far, and people are still signing up,” she reported. “We’ve got twelve singers, six dance acts, and one guy balancing a chair on his nose.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot of musical acts,” Alex remarked. “Is that what it’s always like?”

  “Not usually,” Kendall said. “Last year Roman Hitchcock did a comedy routine, but he’s in high school now. And two years ago some kid did magic.”

  “That would be a nice break from all the singing,” Alex said. “Do we know anybody who does magic?”

  “No, but there’s this kid in my math class who’s pretty funny,” said Jerome. “Maybe he could tell some jokes or something.”

  “Okay, let’s forget the acts for a second. How are we doing on the program?” Kendall asked. “Last year Julie O’Connor did the art for the cover, but she’s in high school now too.”

  “So all the talented kids graduated?” Chloe asked. “Great.”

  “I’m pretty artistic,” Alex said. “I could try to come up with something.”

  “The cover just has to go with the theme,” Kendall said. “Wild West. And it has to say, ‘Ashland Middle School Variety Show’ and the date.”

  Alex wrote quickly as Kendall was speaking. “Got it!” she said.

  In social studies class the next day, Alex finished her workbook pages early and used the time to sketch out the idea she had for the program cover—a cowboy hat surrounded by a lasso. Drawing the hat was easy, but getting the lasso just right was more difficult than she’d thought it would be. She was erasing some lines on her latest sketch when the bell rang.

  “Alex, Max, may I please see you both?” Mrs. Bridges asked.

  Alex figured she wanted to check in on their report, or to see how Max was doing with Alex’s help. But she wasn’t expecting what happened next.

  The teacher opened a folder and pulled out two papers—the homework assignment they had turned in on Wednesday. Alex immediately recognized her own handwriting on one paper, and the other one was Max’s.