Baby-Sitters Club 042

by Ann M. Martin

  "We just came by to wish you luck," said Mallory. "I know you're going to do a great job. We can't wait to see you dance!" "And don't worry about you-know-who," said Dawn. "I'm sure she won't pull anything." I nodded. But I wasn't so sure. I was still worried about Hilary. It wouldn't take much to ruin my performance and make me look like a jerk in front of everybody. She'd only have to give me a shove, or spill something on the stage before I went on. I just didn't trust her.

  "Thanks for coming by, you guys," I said. "I'll see you after the show, okay? You're all invited backstage." "Great!" said Stacey. "Break a - " Then she stopped. "I can't say it," she said.

  I was just as glad. I was worried that if somebody said "break a leg" I really might, especially if Hilary decided to pull one of her tricks. I waved at my friends as they got back into the car. "Have fun!" I yelled, as they drove off. By then, Becca had come out of the house. She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the car.

  "I have a surprise for you," she said. "But I'm not going to tell yet. I promised." I wondered what she was talking about. She looked very excited. She also looked very cute, dressed in her ruffly pink party dress.

  I got into the car to wait for Mama and Daddy and Aunt Cecelia, but then I jumped back out. I'd forgotten to say good-bye to Squirt! Logan was going to sit for him so that the rest of my family could come to the ballet.

  Mama was just telling Logan about Squirt's bedtime when I burst through the door. Squirt was sitting in his high chair, and I picked him up carefully after making sure that he didn't have too much food on his face (he was eating creamed spinach). " 'Bye, Squirt," I said, kissing him. "Wish me luck!" "Uck," said Squirt. I laughed.

  "Do you think he's wishing me luck, or just telling us what he thinks of creamed spinach?" I asked Mama.

  "I don't know," she said, laughing. "But we'd better get going. All set, Logan?" He nodded.

  And then it was time to leave. We piled into the car and drove to the civic center. In the parking lot, I said good-bye to my family. Then I went through the backstage entrance.

  Backstage before a performance is an exciting place. People are running around and yelling things like, "Where's the blue filter for the spotlight?" and, "Has anyone seen my tiara?" Some of my classmates had already changed into their costumes and were warming up in the wings. The orchestra was making tootling noises in the pit in front of the stage.

  I took a minute to peek around the curtain. The audience looked huge! At first I couldn't find my family. Where were they? Then I spotted them, sitting in the middle of the third row. And my friends were seated right behind them. I waved to Mallory, but I knew she couldn't see me. Then I ran to the dressing room.

  I changed into my costume carefully, making sure not to rip out any of Aunt Cecelia's careful stitches. I was wearing a brand-new pair of pink tights, to match my pink tutu. After I'd braided my hair, I pinned on my headpiece - a crown of roses. Later I'd replace it with a (fake) diamond tiara, but for the Rose Adagio I wore flowers in my hair.

  I decided to do my makeup before getting into my toe shoes, so I sat down at the big mirror that ran across the wall of the dressing room. As I was putting on some blusher (which I never get to wear in real life), I looked behind myself in the mirror and saw Hilary looking right at me. She smiled shyly when she caught my eye.

  "Good luck," she said. "You look beautiful." "Thanks," I said cautiously. "So do you." Did she really mean it? Or was she just trying to throw me off?

  I finished my makeup and then took one last look in the mirror. Suddenly I didn't look like Jessi Ramsey, sixth-grade baby-sitter anymore. I looked like a ballerina.

  The pink tutu was fluffed out perfectly around my waist. The crown of roses sat elegantly on my head. And my face looked - different. Older, more sophisticated. I hardly recognized myself.

  "Five minutes!" yelled somebody from out- side the dressing room door. Oh, my lord! I hadn't even warmed up yet! For a minute I felt totally panicked. Then I remembered. I wasn't even in the first act! I had plenty of time.

  I ran to the wings, carrying my toe shoes. All of the dancers who were in the first act were already arranged on the stage. The curtain went up, and the orchestra began to play. I heard applause from the audience. Then the ballet began.

  I watched the first act as I put on my toe shoes and did my warming-up exercises. I was beginning to get caught up in the story - the story I'd almost forgotten during those weeks of rehearsal. I'd gotten totally involved in practicing my steps over and over again, and the wonderful fairy tale of the Sleeping Beauty had become less important. But now it was coming to life.

  On the stage, the king and queen sat on thrones while each fairy danced a special dance as she presented a gift to the baby princess. Then, just as the Lilac Fairy was about to present her gift, the bad fairy, Carabosse, appeared in a coach drawn by four giant rats. (The rats were dancers from the beginner's classes.) She shrieked and cackled as she danced, screaming at the king and queen because they had not invited her to the baby's christening.

  The king and queen begged her forgiveness, but she would not listen. Instead, she put a curse on the baby princess - that she would one day prick her finger on a spindle and die.

  All the dancers fell back when Carabosse cursed the baby - except for the Lilac Fairy. Lisa looked beautiful in her costume as she stepped forward with her wand, held high, driving Carabosse back and trying to remove the curse. The Lilac Fairy couldn't take the curse off, but she did manage to change it, so that instead of dying, the princess would only sleep - for a hundred years, until a handsome prince woke her up.

  I was completely caught up in the story by the time the first act ended and the "fairies" came rushing off the stage. Then I heard the music that was my cue. I took a deep breath and walked onto the stage. I hoped I looked like a real princess - like Princess Aurora, on her sixteenth birthday.

  The Rose Adagio began, and almost immediately, I was swept into the dance so completely that my nervousness fell away. I didn't worry about Hilary. I didn't worry about whether Becca was going to call my name. And I didn't worry about whether my friends were having a good time. I just danced.

  At the end of the second act, Carabosse came back onstage. She tempted me with her spindle, and when I took it I pricked my finger and collapsed into my hundred-year sleep. The rest of the dancers put me into a bed, and the "magic forest" grew up around me as I slept.

  Next, I danced for the prince who had come looking for me one hundred years later. Of course, I was only supposed to be a vision - a dream. He kept trying to dance with me, but I kept escaping from his embrace.

  Then I had a rest, as the prince journeyed to find me, led by the Lilac Fairy. And then he found me and kissed me. I didn't giggle at all. (My friends probably did.) I woke up and danced with all the fairy tale creatures, including Carrie as the Bluebird of Happiness. That part was especially fun.

  Then, at the end, I danced with the prince, who was now my husband. The dancer who played him was from another class. I think he's an eighth-grader. He's a good dancer, and very strong. That's important in this dance, because he keeps having to lift me up in the air.

  The music in that part is so pretty that I could have danced forever. But finally, the music ended and the performance was over. Carrie hugged me as soon as the curtain came down.

  "You were great!" she said.

  "So were you," I answered. "Do you think they liked us?" I listened to the applause. It had started immediately, and it didn't stop as we took our first curtain call.

  "I guess they did!" she said to me, as the curtain went down again.

  When we took our second curtain call, she pushed me out in front of the line of dancers. I'd almost forgotten that I was supposed to curtsy by myself. When I did, the applause swelled, and I heard Kristy's whistle. My dad was yelling "Bravo!" I smiled, and looked to my right. There, in the wings, was Mme Noelle. She smiled back at me. She looked proud.

  Then I looked back at the audience. P
eople were starting to stand up - but they weren't leaving. They were still clapping. A standing ovation! I'd never gotten one before. I 'felt the tears come to my eyes. And then I saw Becca, her arms full of pink roses, climbing the stairs to the stage.

  She walked across the stage and handed them to me, smiling. "Surprise!" she whispered. I took the roses and gave her a huge hug. She'd kept that secret very well. When ? let her go, I looked up to see Mallory standing there with another bouquet of roses - white ones. (I guess she knew how I felt about red roses!) "These are from everybody in the club," she said, handing them to me. "You were wonderful!" I was speechless. I stood with my arms full of roses, smiling out at the audience, until the curtain fell again. I will never forget that moment! Then the show was really over. It was time to get out of my costume, wash the makeup off my face, and go back to being Jessi.

  I headed for the dressing room and ran into Hilary in the hall. "Jessi, you were fantastic!" she, said.

  "So were you. So was everybody," I answered. "Wasn't it fun?" I'd almost forgotten that I'd ever been worried about Hilary and her dirty tricks.

  "I want to apologize again," she said. "I'm really sorry for what I did. And you know what? After this, I'm quitting dance." I was shocked. "You're kidding!" I said.

  "Nope," she answered. "I never really loved it. Not like you do. I mainly did it for my mother. And I just wasn't that good at it." "You are too good," I said. I didn't like to hear her put herself down.

  "Not good enough for my mother," Hilary replied. "And I realized that things had gotten out of hand that day when you confronted me in the dressing room. I must have been crazy, to do the things I did to you." "How does your mother feel about your quitting?" I asked.

  She frowned. "I haven't told her yet. But it's my life, and I have to do what I want." I gave her a hug. "Good luck," I said. "I'll miss you in class." And as soon as I said it, I knew it was true. I would miss her. Hilary's okay. And maybe once she quits dance her mother will go easier on her.

  When I walked into the dressing room, I saw my friends from the BSC waiting for me. They rushed over to hug me and tell me how wonderful the ballet had been.

  "Anybody up for ice cream?" I asked, after I'd thanked them for the flowers. My dad had said that I could invite my friends out for a celebration after the performance.

  "Sounds great!" said Mallory, and everyone else agreed. After I'd changed, we walked out of the theater together to meet my family. Becca threw herself at me, and I gave her the toe shoes I'd worn in the show.

  "Did you autograph them?" she asked.

  "Sure did," I said, smiling at Mama and Daddy and Aunt Cecelia, who were standing nearby, waiting their turn to hug me. "See? Right there." I pointed to my left toe shoe, where I'd written (in red ink, with the calligraphy pen that no longer cursed me), "For Becca, with love from Princess Aurora." About the Author ANN M. MARTIN did a lot of baby-sitting when she was growing up in Princeton, New Jersey. Now her favorite baby-sitting charge is her cat, Mouse, who lives with her in her Manhattan apartment.

  Ann Martin's Apple Paperbacks include Yours Turly, Shirley; Ten Kids, No Pets; With You and Without You; Bummer Summer; and all the other books in the Baby-sitters Club series.

  She is a former editor of books for children, and was graduated from Smith College. She likes ice cream, the beach, and I Love Lucy; and she hates to cook.

  Table of Contents

  BSC042 - Jessi and the Dance School Phantom - Martin, Ann M.

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