Just Grace, Star on Stage

by Charise Mericle Harper

  It was so funny! I don’t know if we were supposed to be quiet, but it was impossible. Everyone was laughing. I looked over, and even Ms. Perry was smiling. Of all the kids, Sammy was the star.

  THE POWER OF THE STAGE

  Ms. Perry rang the bell again and said, “Stop.” Everyone stopped, and this time when she asked the same question as before, no one used the word embarrassed.

  Even after everyone came back and sat down, Sammy was still a star. People were smiling at him and giving him the thumbs-up sign. Sammy didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was kind of surprised. Normally he doesn’t get this kind of attention for acting crazy, but that’s because he’s usually standing on the ground. Being up on the stage makes everything different.

  WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

  Ms. Perry asked us to think about why the people on stage had been embarrassed the first dancing time and not the second dancing time.

  WHAT THE PEOPLE ON STAGE SAID

  Wearing the costumes was fun so they felt like dancing more.

  They got over the scared part the first time.

  They were used to the stage by the second time.

  I was glad when she picked me to talk. I said, “With the costumes on they felt like they were not really just themselves—they were kind of like characters in a play.” Ms. Perry smiled after I said my answer. I felt good about that.

  THE AUDITION, PART ONE

  Everyone got split into groups of four. My group had Max, Grace W., and Marta in it. Mostly that was because we were sitting in the same row. I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing, that me and Marta were going to be on stage at the same time.

  When it was our turn to go up, we picked out a hat and a scarf, and then when Ms. Perry rang the bell, we started dancing.

  WHAT WAS EASY AND FUN

  Dancing on stage.

  I didn’t wear the scarf in a weird way like Sammy had. A lot of the boys were trying to be funny like Sammy, but mostly the girls were like I was, more normal.

  WHAT WAS NOT SO EASY

  To see what Marta was doing from where I was dancing. Max was next to me and I couldn’t see anything on the other side of him. He was like a wild monkey. His arms and legs were everywhere, even upside down. Not everyone can do a handstand while dancing. I’m sure Ms. Perry was impressed. Even though I couldn’t see her, I was pretty sure that Marta was dancing around like a fairy. The best I could do was an octopus trying to be a fairy.

  WHAT IS BETTER THAN AN UNDERSEA CREATURE

  When our turn was over we went back and sat down. I couldn’t tell if I had done a good job or a bad job. Max had definitely done a god job! I told him that I liked his upside-down dancing. He smiled and said, “Your Egyptian dancing was good too.” It wasn’t the compliment I was hoping for, but Egyptian dancing was a lot better than octopus dancing. I smiled back and said, “Thank you.”

  GAMES

  When everyone had gotten a chance to dance, Ms. Perry put us into two groups to play some games.

  ANIMAL BALL

  You stand in a circle and throw the ball to someone. If you get the ball you have to pretend to be an animal until someone guesses what your animal is. If they guess right, then they get to throw the ball next.

  FREEZE TAG TELL ABOUT YOURSELF

  Like regular freeze tag, but if you are tagged you have to tell two things about yourself.

  When it was my turn to talk I made sure that I did a super good job of projecting. Most of the other kids were pretty quiet and hard to hear, but not me. Even if Ms. Perry had been standing way at the back of the auditorium she would have for sure heard me. I said a little in-my-head thank-you to Augustine Dupre. Her acting tip was being really helpful.

  HOW I WAS HELPFUL

  When Ms. Perry said she needed a volunteer to help give out pencils and paper I was the first one with my hand up. We had to write down three things on our paper.

  Our names.

  The part we were hoping to get in the play.

  Why we wanted that part.

  THE ONE THING I REALLY WANTED TO SEE

  Marta’s paper.

  I know that she wrote down fairy queen, but what I really, really, really wanted to see was what she put down for why.

  WHAT WAS A SURPRISE

  I really thought there would be more audition stuff to do, but Ms. Perry said it was over and we could all go home. I couldn’t believe we were done. It was kind of disappointing that it didn’t last longer.

  Ms. Perry said the names of all the parts, and who got what, would be on the board outside the front office in the morning. I was wondering if she had already done her deciding, but I couldn’t tell by looking at her. She told everyone the same thing, “Good job,” and then pointed to the door.

  WHAT I WAS GLAD ABOUT

  I walked home with Sammy and Max. They were excited about the play and talking a lot. That helped; it made me feel less worried. Sammy said he was disappointed that there wasn’t a giant baby in the show, because if there was, he knew he would for sure get the part! He was right—he would. Max said that dancing on stage had been fun, but still he didn’t want to do it in front of a bunch of other people, especially parents! Doing it in front of grownups and strangers would be different, but I’d still do it. I wasn’t nervous like he was. A real actress can’t be scared of anything.

  SURPRISE AT HOME

  When I got home Mr. Scruffers did not jump on me the minute I walked in the door. It felt weird. For a second I thought something bad had happened, but then I heard barking in the backyard.

  SURPRISE IN THE BACKYARD

  I looked outside and saw Mimi and Robert running around with Mr. Scruffers. As soon as Mimi saw me she came running over. “How was it? What happened? Was it fun? Did you get the part?” She had a ton of questions. Just as I was about to answer, I got clonked in the head by a ball. It was Robert, playing catch again. I was lucky he had picked the big red ball and not the little green ball.

  “ROBERT!” yelled Mimi. “Say you’re sorry.” “Sorry,” said Robert. He looked like he was about to cry. “I’m okay,” I said. “But next time tell me before you throw.” Robert nodded, but he still looked sad. “Like this,” I said. I got the ball and shouted out to him. “Robert, catch!” And then when he looked up, I threw it to him. He’s terrible at catching, so of course he missed, but he didn’t seem to mind—he ran after it and he was smiling. I tapped my hands together so he would know to throw it back. It was a perfect throw. He really was a good thrower.

  WHAT IS HARD

  It’s not easy to tell a story and play catch at the same time. Especially if there is a dog who really wants you to play with the green ball instead of the red ball.

  We stayed outside longer than I wanted, because after I finished playing catch with Robert I had to throw the ball for Mr. Scruffers. I would have done it earlier, but it took Robert a long time to get tired. It was weird, but Robert wouldn’t let Mimi play catch with him—he only wanted to do it with me. I tried to get Mimi to throw the ball for Mr. Scruffers, but she said it was too disgusting to touch. Not everyone can deal with dog slobber.

  WHAT MIMI AND I DID BEFORE BED

  Tonight Mimi and I flashed our lights seventeen times. That’s a lot more than normal, but it was worth it. We did one flash for every letter of GOOD LUCK TOMORROW!—and even one for the exclamation point. I was really hoping it was going to help.

  NIGHT DREAMING: TRY NUMBER TWO

  I closed my eyes and tried to imagine myself on stage. It didn’t seem like it would be that hard, since all I had to do was think back to the afternoon, but for some reason everytime I tried to imagine myself on stage, someone else was there too. Sammy! And not normal Sammy. Sammy in a scarf diaper! This was not something I wanted to dream about.

  WHAT WAS GOOD ABOUT THE NEXT MORNING

  As soon as I woke up and thought about my night, I was happy.

  Sometimes a nothing can make you happy.

  When Dad saw me he n
oticed my joy because he said, “What are you so happy about?” I laughed because even though it was impossible to explain, I couldn’t wait to answer him. “Nothing,” I said, and it was 100 percent the truth.

  WHAT MIMI ASKED ME ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL

  At first she didn’t ask the exact question she wanted to ask. Instead she said, “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to, but I have to ask you something.” Of course I was confused. “What?” I asked. “What is it? Tell me.” “It’s nothing exciting,” said Mimi. “It’s just a favor.” Now I was super curious. “WHAT? What is it?” When Mimi asked the question, it was not what I was expecting.

  “Why?” I asked. “Because Robert is driving us all crazy by asking for you. He asks about it every ten minutes, and he won’t play catch with anyone else. Not me, not Mom, and not even Dad. It’s only you! It’s okay if you don’t want to do it, but I promised him I would ask you.”

  MY ANSWER

  When I said yes Mimi clapped her hands together and said, “Thank goodness! I was hoping you’d say that, because I already told Robert yes.” It was hard to be annoyed about that, because Mimi was so happy. PLUS she agreed to run all the rest of the way to school. We couldn’t wait to get to the board. I wanted to see my name next to Fairy Queen, and Mimi wanted to write her name in the costume helper section.

  WHAT WE SAW IN THE PLAYGROUND

  Usually I don’t see Marta in the mornings, but today she was by the slide with her fairy friends. They were all hopping and skipping around like perfect little fairies. “I wonder why she’s not looking at the board?” I said. “Maybe she forgot?” said Mimi. “Or maybe the paper isn’t up yet.” I thought about that for a second. It seemed like a good answer. Maybe she had gotten here too early. “Maybe it’s up now,” I said. “Let’s go see.” Mimi turned and we ran to the front of the school. Normally Mimi and I do not hold hands at school, but this was a special occasion. I needed extra friend energy. Right before we went in I grabbed her hand.

  THE FIRST THING WE SAW IN THE SCHOOL

  Lots and lots of kids all crowded around the board. It was not going to be easy to get in there and find my name. “They must have just put this up,” I said. All of a sudden Max was standing in front of us. He was smiling. “I got the knight part and you’ll never guess who is going to be the king.” He didn’t even give us a moment to guess, because two seconds later he yelled, “IT’S SAMMY!” I couldn’t believe it. “No way!” I said. “Yes way!” said Max. “It’s true! You can go see for yourself.” He pointed to the board. “It says so right on the paper.” I let go of Mimi’s hand and pushed forward to see. “Plus you’re going to be super happy when you see your name,” said Max. “You got what you wanted!” Now I really pushed ahead.

  Mostly it’s not nice to push, but I couldn’t help it. I had to get closer and see. “Stop pushing!” said a voice in front of me. It was Sunni. She was mad. “And you’re not the fairy queen! Marta is!” “What?” It was all I could say. I was confused. Why was she being so mean? Why was she lying? Maybe she felt bad for Marta. I tried to ignore her, but she kept talking.

  Then slowly everything made sense.

  WHAT IS KIND OF IMPOSSIBLE TO DO

  Keep from crying, even if you really don’t want to cry.

  WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

  Mimi grabbed my hand and pulled me to the bathroom.

  THE FIRST THING I ASKED MIMI WHEN I COULD TALK AGAIN

  “Did you see it? Is it true?” Mimi nodded yes. Suddenly I was crying even harder than before. The bell rang for class, but I didn’t care. I cried and cried and then I stopped, just like that, but the weird thing was I still heard crying. Then suddenly I knew it wasn’t just me. The bathroom was full of crying girls! I looked at Mimi, and without me even asking she said, “Three others.” It was so sad. We all wanted to be the fairy queen, and now here we were sitting in the bathroom crying. It was terrible.

  THE THING THAT I HEARD THAT WAS A SURPRISE

  I could have said, “You can have my part—I only wanted to be the fairy queen,” but I didn’t. I didn’t say anything. I still wanted to be in the play, and the narrator was for sure better than a talking tree. I washed my face to get rid of the crying marks, and then Mimi and I walked to class. “Are you going to be okay?” asked Mimi. I tried to say yes but no sound came out. After you have been crying a lot your voice doesn’t always work right. Plus sometimes talking makes you start crying all over again.

  HOW MISS LOIS SURPRISED US

  Even though we were late, Miss Lois didn’t ask any questions or even get mad. She just said, “Girls, please take your seats.” I put my head down so no one could see my face. The last thing I wanted was for everyone to know I’d been crying. I especially did not look at Marta. I’m sure she was smiling. When you look at the ground you notice different things than normal. Marta was wearing ballet slipper kind of shoes. That explained a lot.

  THE REST OF THE MORNING

  I was kind of surprised that the morning went by fast. Maybe it was because we started late, or maybe it was because I wasn’t looking forward to lunchtime. I couldn’t tell which.

  LUNCHTIME

  After we ate lunch, Mimi and I went back to the message board at the front of the school. With all my unhappiness Mimi never got a chance to put her name down on the costume maker list.

  It was the first time I was going to see my name next to Narrator. Part of me hoped it wouldn’t be there. That maybe Ms. Perry had made a mistake, but fixed it, so now my name was going to be where it should be, right next to Fairy Queen. I was hoping this, but I knew it wouldn’t be true. While Mimi wrote her name down, I got brave enough to look, and there it was, just like everyone said.

  It wasn’t disappointing. It wasn’t exciting. It was just there.

  The biggest surprise was seeing Sammy’s name next to King. I knew it was going to be there, but still when I saw it, I had to say, “I can’t believe it,” out loud.

  WHAT WAS A SURPRISE

  That Ms. Perry was standing right behind me when I said, “I can’t believe it.” She didn’t know I was talking about Sammy. She thought I was talking about me, and the part I was getting. I know this because she said, “You were the best one for the part! Congratulations.”

  I know I shouldn’t have, but I had to ask her about the fairy queen part. “Why didn’t I get to be the fairy queen?” Ms. Perry didn’t seem surprised, but what she said was a big surprise to me. A huge surprise! And not a good one!

  I couldn’t talk. All I could do was make my I-can’t-believe-it face. Mimi knows that face, so she saved me. She said hi to Ms. Perry, and then kept her busy talking. “I really want to work on the costumes,” said Mimi. Ms. Perry said, “Super! We are going to need a lot of help, so I’m glad you are excited to chip in.” Ms. Perry smiled at me again, and then turned to leave. As she was walking away she said, “Don’t forget, meetings start Monday after school for the helpers, and today after school for the actors.”

  THE FIRST THING I SAID TO MIMI

  “Did you hear that? I would have gotten the part of the fairy queen if I hadn’t done that stupid projecting thing! Augustine Dupre was wrong! She gave me the wrong advice. It ruined everything!”

  WHAT I DID NEXT

  I stomped off to the playground.

  Mimi followed me, but she had to run a little bit to keep up, because stomping is faster than regular walking.

  WHY THIS WAS A BAD IDEA

  The first person I saw was Marta. She was with Sunni. Seeing them together was not a good thing. It was terrible.

  AFTER LUNCH

  Sometimes drawing comics makes me feel better. I’m not supposed to draw in class, but Miss Lois wasn’t looking at me so I did it anyway. When I was done I didn’t feel any better.

  WHAT HAPPENS MOST OF THE TIME

  Usually when I’m mad I start to feel better after some time has gone by, but today was different. I just felt the same, right up until the bell rang to go home. Only I didn’t get
to go home. I had to go to the play practice and watch Marta do the part that I would have gotten if I hadn’t listened to Augustine Dupre.

  WHY I AM AN EVEN BETTER ACTRESS THAN EVERYONE KNOWS

  I went to the play practice and did an excellent job of pretending that nothing was wrong.