by Belle Payton
“And cowboy boots,” Annelise added.
Lindsey looked thoughtful. “Well, the red does go with the broken heart theme of the song.”
As the girls talked about their costumes, Alex thought about the small breakthrough she’d had with Lindsey. It looked like Lindsey was slowly warming up to her—but how could Alex get her to defrost all the way?
Just another thing on my to-do list that I haven’t crossed off yet, she thought. She still had to create the Variety Show program cover and finish her social studies project with Max.
So on Thursday, when Max approached her about working on the project together, she was relieved.
“I thought we could do it at my house,” he said. “On Saturday, so we have time to get it all done.”
“Your house?” Alex asked, thinking of the mess and the screaming baby. “Are you sure?”
Max smiled. “Yeah. Around ten?”
Alex nodded. “Okay.”
She’d already finished the art for the Variety Show program, scanned it in, and added the text. At that afternoon’s committee meeting, she showed it to everyone.
“Wow, that’s even better than last year’s,” Kendall said, and Alex beamed with pride.
“Okay, so we have to get the finished program to Mrs. Gusman by Monday morning so we can get copies printed in time for the show next Thursday,” Chloe said. “I’m working on the final list, but we’ve got to decide the order of the acts.” She took out a small pile of index cards with the name of an act on each one. Alex was impressed. Chloe was becoming almost as organized as Alex, and she was only a sixth grader.
Kendall started moving the cards around. “So, we always start out with a strong act and end with a strong act,” she said. “We should definitely end with Toe the Line. They brought down the house last year.”
Everyone agreed, and Alex realized what kind of pressure Ava must be under. She hoped the Sackett family line dancing lessons were helping.
“There are so many singing acts,” Chloe said with a frown. “It would be nice to break them up with something. Oh well.”
The committee meeting ended with everybody feeling confident that the show was going to go smoothly. Alex felt relieved to check off one item on her list.
On Saturday she got to Max’s at ten in the morning. Once again, she could hear the sound of Alexa crying. She frowned. How were they supposed to work on this project?
This time, Max answered the door right away. Alex noticed that he was wearing a clean T-shirt, and he looked like he had gotten a good night’s sleep.
Max’s dad walked in, carrying the screaming baby. He had the same messy brown hair as his son.
“You must be Alex,” he said. “Thanks for helping Max with his report.”
“Well, you know, we’re working on it together,” Alex told him.
Mr. Beedle smiled. “That’s awesome. Max, do you want to show her to the study while I give Alexa her bottle?”
“Sure,” Max said, and Alex followed him back down to the family room. They walked through there all the way to the laundry room, and next to that was a small room with a desk and some bookshelves.
“We figured it out—this is the quietest place in the house,” Max said. “Dad used to store stuff in here, but he turned it into a study for me.”
“This is great,” Alex said. “But what about the sleeping thing at night?”
“Dad had another great idea,” he said. “He put this stuff on the wall between my room and Alexa’s room. It’s the same thing they use in recording studios to cut down the noise. It works pretty well.”
Max moved over to the desk. “I’ve got my laptop down here, and it connects to the printer upstairs so we can print stuff out.”
Alex sat in the chair across from him. “Great. I did a whole bunch of research last night.”
As she emptied her backpack, the bookshelf behind Max caught her eyes. A black top hat sat on the highest shelf. The other shelves held books about magic: 101 Magic Tricks, Magic for Beginners, and Tips from the World’s Greatest Magicians. Next to the books were props that Alex deduced were probably used to perform magic tricks.
“Max, are you a magician?” Alex asked.
Max nodded. “Well, an amateur,” he confessed. “I’ve been interested in it since I was a little kid. When Dad made this study for me, I figured this would be a good place to practice my tricks.”
The gears inside Alex’s brain were whirring.
“You’ve got to show me one!” she said.
Max seemed pleased to have an audience. “All right,” he said, and he stood up and then took some items off the shelf: a clear plastic cup, a paper tube, and a piece of paper.
“Let me ask you, young lady, would you pay a quarter to see a good magic trick?” he asked.
Alex played along. “Why, sure!” she said. She fished in her backpack and pulled out a quarter.
“Excellent!” he said, placing the paper on the table in front of him. “This paper mat insures that there is no trapdoor on top of this desk. Please place your quarter on the table and the trick will begin.”
Alex obeyed. Max turned the plastic cup upside down. Then he placed the cardboard tube over it.
“Thank you for your donation, Alex. Now let’s watch it disappear!”
He placed the tube and the clear plastic cup over the quarter. Then, with a flourish, he pulled up the tube. There was no quarter inside the plastic cup!
“Wow!” Alex cried.
“Because I like you, I’ll tell you what,” Max said. “This trick is on me.”
He placed the tube back over the cup. Then he picked them both up—and there was the quarter, right where Alex had left it! He gave it to her and then gave a little bow.
Alex laughed. “How did you do it?”
Max wiggled his eyebrows. “A magician never tells his secrets. But that’s a really basic trick. If I had more time to prepare, I could show you some better ones.”
“You can show me next Thursday,” Alex said. “At the Variety Show! We need a magic act.”
Max looked unsure. “I thought about it, but won’t everybody laugh at me? They already do, anyway.”
“They’ll laugh this time because you’re funny,” Alex promised. “Please? I’m on the committee, and we really need a good magic act. There are too many people singing pop songs.”
Max thought about it. “I’ll do it, on one condition,” he said. “That you’ll be my assistant!”
Alex was taken aback. “Me?”
“Sure,” he said. “It’ll be easy. You just have to hand me things when I ask you, stuff like that.”
“And that’s the only way you’ll do it?” Alex asked.
Max nodded. “Yup.”
Alex thought about it. Lindsey was finally warming up to her. How would she feel if Alex was in Max’s act and not in the Dancing Divas? That wouldn’t be easy to explain. But the show really needed a magic act, and it was so nice to see Max happy about something. . . .
Alex took out her phone. “Let me text Chloe.”
Found a magic act for the Variety Show. Max Beedle. Too late to get him in the program?
Chloe texted back right away.
Nope—perfect! thanks!
“Well, looks like we’re in,” Alex said, and then she decided to be honest with Max. “The only thing I’m worried about is that my friends wanted me to join their dancing act, and I turned them down. Partly because I was too busy, but mostly because I’m a terrible dancer!”
“Well, maybe you just need to explain it to them, and they’ll understand,” Max said. “That’s the advice you gave me, and it worked. You have to find a way to show them how you feel.”
Alex nodded. That had already worked with Emily, Rosa, Charlotte, and Annelise, but Lindsey still needed a little more sweetening—how could Alex show her that she really was sorry? She thought about the costumes the girls were discussing the other day and started to form an idea that might actually fix her problem.
“Okay, so project first, magic later!” Alex said.
They worked on the project all morning. Max’s dad and stepmom ordered pizza for lunch, and after a quick meal, Alex and Max finished it up. Then Alex stayed until almost three o’clock, going over possible tricks with Max for the Variety Show.
“Well, I should get going,” Alex said. “Thanks for having me over.”
“Magic practice on Monday?” Max asked.
Alex mentally checked her schedule. “Sure!”
She stepped outside into a beautiful Texas afternoon, hopped on her bicycle, and headed home. She passed the park on the way, where a few boys were playing football—a pretty common sight in Ashland any day of the year. Then one of them called out her name.
“Alex!”
Corey jogged away from the game, and Alex stopped her bike so he could catch up.
“Hey, how did you know I was here?” he asked.
“I didn’t,” Alex replied. “I was just coming from Max’s house.”
Corey’s face clouded, and Alex suddenly wished she had answered him differently.
“We finished our social studies project,” she said quickly.
“Do you—do you—like Max?” Corey blurted out.
“No, of course not!” Alex protested. I like you! she wanted to say, but she wasn’t brave enough. Instead an awkward silence hung between them.
“Okay, see you around,” Corey said, and he ran back to join the game.
Alex was mortified. Did Corey really think she liked Max? Then what would he think when they performed together in the Variety Show?
The thought worried her the whole ride home. As she put her bicycle away, Ava walked out the front door, eating an apple.
“Where’ve you been?” she asked.
“Over at Max’s house,” Alex answered, and then she explained what had happened.
“A magic act?” Ava repeated.
Alex nodded. “Yes. It’s really funny and cute. And I just have to hand him things and smile.”
Ava laughed. “I can’t wait to see you being someone’s assistant.”
“So it looks like the Sackett twins will both be appearing in the Variety Show,” Alex said with a grin. “The amazing performing Sackett twins!”
“Let’s just hope we’re not the amazing falling-on-our-faces Sackett twins!” Ava joked.
“I’ve seen you dancing,” Alex said. “You’re getting better! You’re not going to fall on your face.”
Ava looked down at her brace. “I hope not!”
On Tuesday, Ava couldn’t concentrate on anything in her seventh-period class. She kept looking at the clock, willing the big hand to move faster. Finally it hit two o’clock, and an announcement came over the classroom speaker.
“Ava Sackett, please report to the office.”
Ava contained a whoop of joy and nodded to her teacher as she hurried out of the room. In the office, she found her mom waiting for her.
“Ready, Ave?” she asked.
“I’ve been ready since I woke up!” Ava replied.
Mrs. Gusman, the school secretary, looked up from her desk with an amused expression.
“I’ve never seen a student so happy about a doctor’s visit before,” she said.
“I’m hoping for some good news,” Ava said, holding out her leg to show her brace.
Mrs. Gusman nodded. “Good luck, then, Ava.”
Ava was bouncing in the seat on the whole drive to see Dr. Rodriguez. In the waiting room, she bounced her left leg up and down the whole time. Finally she got called into his office.
“So Ava, how’s the ankle doing?” he asked, as she hopped up onto the exam table.
“Great! Really great!” she replied enthusiastically. “Really, really great!”
The doctor laughed. “Okay, I get the picture,” he said. He removed the brace and examined her ankle, gently moving it up and down.
“Let me see you walk on it without the brace,” he instructed.
Ava obeyed—her ankle didn’t hurt at all anymore! It felt as good as new.
Dr. Rodriguez nodded. “That does look pretty great. I’d like you to keep wearing the brace for three more weeks, but you can go back to your normal physical activity.”
“Like playing basketball?” Ava asked.
“Yes, like playing basketball,” the doctor replied.
“Woo-hoo!” Ava cheered, jumping up.
“How about you get the brace back on before you do that?” Dr. Rodriguez suggested.
“What? Oh, sure,” Ava said, quickly strapping on the brace.
She practically skipped out of the office ahead of her mother, she was so happy.
“Mom, I can go to practice tonight, right?” Ava asked.
“If Dr. Rodriguez said so, then yes,” Mrs. Sackett replied.
“Woo-hoo!” Ava cheered again.
Ava’s mom shook her head and chuckled. “Trust me, I’m as happy as you are that you can play basketball again.”
The car approached the park on the way to the Sacketts’ house, and Ava could see Jack shooting hoops by himself. His backpack was thrown off to the side—he must have stopped at the park on the way home from school. Ava looked at her mom—and her look said everything.
Mrs. Sackett pulled the car over. “One hour, Ava. Then you need to get homework done before tonight’s practice. Got it?”
“Got it!” Ava said. “Thank you!”
She ran—for the first time in three weeks—to the basketball court.
“Hey! Over here!” she called out.
Jack turned toward her and grinned. Then he passed her the ball. Ava dribbled it up to the basket, then jumped up for a layup shot. The ball bounced off the backboard into the net.
“Good to have you back,” Jack said.
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
“Okay, everybody! Acts one through five, please stay backstage. Acts six through twenty, we need you to wait in the music room!” Alex yelled over the hubbub of voices backstage.
It was the night of the Variety Show—thirty minutes before the curtain opened, to be exact—and Alex was running around backstage with a clipboard, just as Emily had predicted.
“Okay, I’ve got the first five here!” Chloe called out.
“Great!” Alex replied. “I’m going to the music room.”
Alex headed there to organize the remaining acts—but she was on a mission, too. Her plan to win Lindsey back wouldn’t succeed if Alex didn’t find her friends, fast.
Chaos greeted her inside the music room, as the performing students talked excitedly, warmed up their voices, practiced their acts, and put the finishing touches on their costumes. Alex spotted Ava first, going over the line dance with Toe the Line. Her sister wore a cowboy boot on her left foot and a sneaker on her right foot with the brace.
Alex waved at her twin, but Ava was concentrating hard on the moves and didn’t notice.
Next, Alex passed by Max. She was surprised to see that he had cleaned up nicely for the event. He wore a white shirt tucked into black pants, and a black skinny tie. Gel slicked back his normally messy hair. He looked up from his box of props as Alex walked by and gave her a thumbs-up.
When Max asked her to be his assistant, she had worried that she might have to wear some silly costume. But Max told her to just stick to black and white, so she’d worn a short black skirt with a white blouse, black tights, and black flats. She and Max would look perfect together onstage.
That was a good thing and a bad one too. She liked Max but she didn’t like him—not the way she liked Corey. And she knew Corey was definitely going to think she might like Max once he saw them onstage together. She had tried to grab a minute with Corey to talk with him about it, but there never was a right time at school, and she’d been busy every day after school prepping for the show.
Alex pushed the worry aside. She had bigger things to take care of first! She spotted the Dancing Divas in a corner and rushed up to them.
“Hey, you
guys look great!” she said. Each of her friends wore a short red pleated skirt, a white T-shirt, and a brown vest embroidered with red hearts.
“When are we on, Alex?” Emily asked, nervously tugging on the end of her skirt.
“You’re number ten,” Alex told them. “I’ll come get you in plenty of time, don’t worry.”
Then Alex took a small drawstring pouch off her shoulder. “I made something for you guys,” she said.
She pulled out five thin elastic red headbands. On each one, Alex had sewn a red felt heart that she’d embroidered with zigzag lines in black thread.
“Broken heart headbands, to go with the song,” Alex said.
“Oh, Alex, they’re perfect!” Rosa gushed, grabbing one, and each of the girls took one, even Lindsey.
“So cool,” Emily said. “We should go put these on in the restroom, so we can see how they look.”
“I wanted to do something for you—all of you—to apologize,” Alex explained. “I honestly think your dance is really cute. And the main reason I didn’t want to do it is because I can’t dance. I mean, I seriously can’t!”
Emily nodded. “I know. I’ve seen you,” she teased.
“So, the show needed a magic act, and I’m helping Max Beedle onstage,” Alex said. “I hope you all understand. All I have to do is hand him things. It’s so much easier than dancing.”
Then she looked at Lindsey. “I know you don’t like him. But I really think he’s nice, and he didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. And you’re my friend first, Lindsey, always.”
Lindsey sighed and looked down at the headband. “I know. I’m sorry for not talking to you, and I’m sorry if I was mean to Max. He’s actually not so bad.”
“Thanks,” Alex said, and she remembered why she was friends with Lindsey in the first place. Under that armor, she could be really nice.
“Group hug!” Annelise called out, and the girls converged on one another, giggling.
“All right, I’ve got to get backstage,” Alex said, looking at her watch. “The show’s starting soon. You guys are going to be great!”
Alex could feel the excitement in the air once she got backstage. The lights in the auditorium had dimmed, and Ms. Farmen walked onstage under the glow of a spotlight.
