Natalia Takes the Lead

by Clare Hutton

  Flushing slightly, Zoe raised her hand, along with eleven other girls. Her eyes were bright, and her lips were pressed tightly together. Natalia stared at her in surprise. It was so weird to see Zoe nervous about something.

  Ms. Andrews called the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion next. For a minute, Natalia wondered if maybe she should try out for the Scarecrow, too. She pictured herself and Zoe, side by side, onstage together for almost the whole musical. It would be really fun. And the Scarecrow had a floppy, falling-over dance that Natalia knew she’d enjoy.

  But the Scarecrow also had to sing a lot. As five or six other kids raised their hands, Natalia kept hers down.

  When Ms. Andrews called for prospective Glinda the Good Witches, Caitlin and several other girls raised their hands. Taking her script, Caitlin looked around at the other girls thoughtfully, weighing up her competition.

  “Any Wicked Witches of the West here?” Ms. Andrews asked, and Natalia’s hand shot up into the air. There were six other hands up, she saw. Two of the girls she didn’t know; they were new to theater club this year. One of the other girls, Charlotte, had been in the chorus with Natalia for both Oliver! and Annie. She was nice, and she sang better than Natalia did, when you could hear her. But she was always super-quiet onstage, too shy to speak out. She probably wasn’t going to be much competition.

  The other three were good actresses, Natalia thought. There was one girl, Darcy, who was the tallest girl in the club, and who had a big voice that projected easily from the stage. She’s probably my main competition, Natalia thought. And she’s good. But I’m going to be better.

  When Natalia and Zoe got to the inn, Emma was sitting on the steps outside waiting for them. She was still in her soccer uniform, looking sweaty and tired.

  “Why are you out here?” Zoe asked. Emma lived in Seaview House, so she didn’t need to wait to be asked in.

  “I feel weird going in with guests there,” Emma whispered. “I thought I’d wait for you guys.”

  “You’re going to have to get used to it or you’re going to have a tough time living in a bed-and-breakfast,” Natalia said practically. Then she looked at the door. Suddenly, it did feel a bit weird to walk in if there were strangers there. Paying strangers, who were living in Seaview House for their vacation. “We’ll all go in together,” she said in a hushed voice.

  Emma pushed open the front door cautiously, Zoe and Natalia right behind her.

  The front parlor looked warm and lovely, glowing lamps lighting up the deep red of the walls and the golds and blues of the furniture. By the piano, two strange couples stood laughing with Natalia’s mom and Aunt Amy. They all had glasses of wine, and there was a plate of Uncle Brian’s hors d’oeuvres on top of the piano.

  The people looked nice enough. But where were the dogs?

  “Girls!” Aunt Amy turned to greet them with a smile. “Come and meet Mr. and Mrs. Goldstein and Mr. and Mrs. Warner.”

  Natalia and her sister and cousin came over and awkwardly shook hands. Mr. Goldstein asked Emma about her soccer team, and Mrs. Warner asked the twins what grade they were in and how they liked school and all the questions adults normally asked kids they didn’t know.

  Natalia and Zoe answered politely, but the whole time, Natalia was looking around the parlor for any sign that two dogs were in residence at Seaview House. But there was nothing: no collars, no food bowls, no chew toys.

  Zoe was telling Mrs. Warner that she liked social studies when Natalia broke in. “Did you bring the dogs?” she asked eagerly. It would be terrible if, after all the discussion, they had left the dogs somewhere else instead.

  All the adults laughed. “I told you they couldn’t wait,” Natalia’s mother said.

  “They’re on the back porch,” Mrs. Goldstein said. “We thought you girls could take them for a little walk and get to know each other.”

  “Sounds great,” Natalia said cheerfully. Zoe shrugged and nodded. Emma looked more tired than ever, but she gave a polite smile.

  “If you take the job, we thought we’d pay you twenty dollars a day for the walks,” Mr. Warner added. “Does that sound like enough?”

  The girls exchanged wide-eyed glances. Twenty dollars a day for twenty-one days would be over four hundred dollars, Natalia realized. For playing with dogs! “That sounds great,” she said quickly, and Emma and Zoe nodded.

  The dogs were lounging on the screened back porch, but they hopped up when the back door opened. A big black dog waved his tail politely, but a tiny tan terrier yapped hysterically, jumping up at them.

  “Good girl, Daisy,” Mrs. Goldstein said, patting the terrier. “She’s just excited to see you.”

  Natalia knelt down and petted Daisy’s head. The little dog writhed around ecstatically, craning her head to lick Natalia’s hand.

  “And this is Jasper,” Mr. Warner said. Emma rumpled Jasper’s ears and smiled when the black dog began to pant happily.

  Zoe and Natalia fastened leashes to the dogs’ collars and all three girls took the two dogs out into the neighborhood. Jasper walked close beside Zoe, his tail wagging steadily. Daisy bounced along the pavement, stopping to sniff at everything they passed—trees, rocks, lampposts, the tires of cars parked along the street—and then hurrying ahead to the next object on her route. There was a squirrel busily sniffing along the yard of the house next door and Daisy yapped excitedly, straining at the leash.

  “It’s a good thing she’s so little,” Natalia said, holding her back. “It’s okay, Daisy, look, you’ve scared it off. It respects you.” Once the squirrel had disappeared up a tree, Daisy gave up and strutted on.

  “They are pretty cute,” Zoe said.

  Emma agreed. “They’re both nice dogs. It’ll be fun to walk them. And I guess two dogs between the three of us won’t take that much time.”

  “Um,” said Natalia, then stopped. She hadn’t yet told Emma and Zoe about the wedding at Seaview House, or that she’d promised they’d look after two more dogs. But maybe now wasn’t the right moment.

  Zoe stopped dead. Jasper tugged at the leash, and then turned back to look at her curiously.

  Emma looked back and forth between Zoe and Natalia. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “I know that look on your face, Natalia,” Zoe said ominously. “There’s something you aren’t telling us, isn’t there?”

  Natalia bit her lip nervously. “Well, some people called Seaview House a few days ago while I was there and asked if they could have a wedding there. In three weeks. The place they were going to do it had a fire.”

  “A wedding?” Emma said curiously. “That’s a big deal! Is my dad making all the food?”

  Zoe’s steady gaze stayed fixed on Natalia’s face. “That’s not all, though, is it?” she asked. “You look guilty.”

  “I’m not guilty,” Natalia said, mimicking her twin’s voice. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. You guys will thank me.”

  Now Emma was looking decidedly nervous. “What do you mean, that’s not all?” she asked. “And why will we thank you?”

  “They have two dogs that are going to be ring bearers,” Natalia explained. “And I told Mom and Aunt Amy that we’d be happy to take care of them, too. They need us to walk them during the days leading up to the wedding when they’re here making arrangements, and then on the day of the wedding.”

  “Natalia!” Zoe scolded. “You don’t have the right to make promises for us without asking.”

  “But a wedding will be so great!” Natalia insisted. “They were on the phone asking, and Mom and Aunt Amy needed an answer about the dogs so they could say yes or no to the wedding. You wouldn’t want them to turn down a wedding at Seaview House, would you?” Daisy tugged on the leash, and Natalia started walking again. Emma and Zoe hurried after her.

  “Having a wedding here will be awesome, but I have soccer and swim practice during the week,” Emma said apologetically. “I wish you had asked me first.”

  “I’ll do most of i
t, I swear,” Natalia promised. “You guys won’t have to do anything except show up and play with the dogs when you have free time. It’ll be fun. And think about the money. They’ll be paying us, too!”

  “What about school?” Zoe said dubiously. “We have midterms coming up. And what about the play? There are going to be rehearsals starting once Ms. Andrews chooses the cast.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Natalia assured her. She looked down at happy, wiggly Daisy and dignified Jasper. They were great, and walking them was a piece of cake. “These dogs are no trouble at all,” she told the others. “You don’t have to worry, because I’ve got this.”

  As she walked up the school steps the next morning with Caitlin, Natalia’s phone buzzed in her backpack.

  “Go ahead,” she told Caitlin. “I’ll catch up in a minute.” Zoe had already disappeared into school with her friends Louise and Ava.

  Stepping to the side, Natalia dug out her phone and read her new text. It was from her mom.

  The bride and groom are coming this afternoon! The text was followed by emojis of champagne glasses. Natalia chuckled and rolled her eyes. Her mom was such a dork sometimes.

  The phone beeped again. They’re bringing the dogs, so come over after school! They want to meet you. Tell Zoe and Emma. Several dog-face emojis followed.

  Grinning, Natalia texted back, We’ll be there! then turned off the phone. They were allowed to take their phones into school, but they weren’t allowed to have them on once classes started.

  I can’t wait, Natalia thought as she sat down in math class. Yesterday afternoon had been a total success. They’d taken the dogs for a long walk, and then thrown balls for them on the long lawn of Seaview House. Jasper had been amazing, leaping in the air to catch any ball that went near him. Daisy, with her shorter legs, had trundled busily behind him each time they threw the ball, returning panting happily without the ball after Jasper caught it.

  Emma, who liked things to be fair, had thrown the ball directly to Daisy several times, but she had just dropped it immediately, cocking her head expectantly at them. She didn’t seem to know what to do with it. Then Jasper had stolen it from her, and she had been happy again.

  It had been a lot of fun. And today would be even better—two more dogs for the three of them to play with!

  Or maybe even the four of them … four dogs and four girls would be perfect.

  “They were so cute,” she told Caitlin, who was lining up her school supplies as usual. “I bet the new dogs will have a ton of fun with them. I wish you’d change your mind and help us with the dog walking. Emma and Zoe are both so busy, they won’t mind splitting the money four ways.”

  “I’m just as busy as they are,” Caitlin said. “And you should be, too. This dog stuff is going to take up more time than you think it is.”

  Caitlin is being so negative, Natalia thought, flipping her hair behind her shoulder. If she worries about everything, she’s going to miss out on a lot.

  “Settle down, everyone,” Ms. Patel said at the front of the classroom. “Get out your homework from last night and we’ll go over it.”

  Natalia froze, her heart sinking. She had completely forgotten her math homework. She’d scribbled the answers to a social studies worksheet before the theater club meeting, but she hadn’t had a chance to do her math, too. Then, by the time they’d finished with the dogs, she’d totally forgotten. Forgotten until now.

  Natalia pulled out her folder and pretended to shuffle through the papers inside. Was it possible she’d done her math homework and forgotten? Definitely not, and, to prove it, there was nothing inside that looked anything like the homework. Shoot.

  Beside her, Caitlin had her homework laid out on her desk, ready to be corrected. Ms. Patel was on the other side of the room, going up and down the rows of desks, checking to see that everyone had completed the assignment. Natalia felt sick.

  She glanced back toward Emma. Her homework was on her desk, too. Of course. Emma would never forget an assignment. Natalia’s cousin was the most responsible kid she knew. Zoe, also, had pulled some papers out of her folder. For a moment, Natalia felt resentful. If she had known Zoe was doing her math homework, Natalia would have remembered she had to do it, too. But then she remembered that Zoe had been working right before theater club—she must have had time to do the math problems while Natalia was daydreaming about dogs and the Wicked Witch of the West.

  Natalia knew she didn’t have anyone but herself to blame.

  Ms. Patel arrived in front of her desk. “Where’s your homework, Natalia?” she asked, nicely enough.

  Natalia’s mouth went dry. She always did her homework. She didn’t always do it well, but she always had something to turn in. “I forgot it,” she said in a small voice.

  Ms. Patel frowned. “Did you leave it at home?”

  “No.” Natalia gulped. “I forgot to do it.”

  Ms. Patel’s face was stern. “Natalia,” she said, softly enough that most of the class couldn’t hear it, although Natalia was sure Caitlin was listening. “This isn’t like you. You seem like you’ve been struggling in class lately, and it’s really important that you keep up with homework. I expect it on my desk first thing tomorrow. If I don’t see that you’re catching up with the rest of the class, I’m going to email your parents about getting you some extra help.”

  As Ms. Patel returned to the front of the room, Natalia dropped her head down on her desk with a groan. If her parents thought she was doing badly in school, they might make her quit theater club. And they might decide taking care of the dogs was too much for her.

  It wasn’t fair. She could absolutely catch up. Easily. She knew it; she just needed to study a little bit. Hot tears prickled Natalia’s eyes, and she quickly wiped them away before they started to fall.

  Caitlin reached between their desks and squeezed Natalia’s hand. “I’ll tutor you if you want,” she whispered.

  Natalia sniffed and gave her a tiny, watery smile. “Thanks. But I’ll be fine.”

  She knew she could bring her math grade up by herself.

  “All that for one homework assignment?” Zoe said, frowning. “It seems like she’s kind of overreacting.” They were standing in front of the school waiting for Emma, and Natalia had told Zoe exactly what Ms. Patel had said.

  “Well …” Natalia said reluctantly. She could feel her cheeks getting hot. “I haven’t done the best job on my homework lately. And I did pretty badly on that pop quiz she gave us last week.”

  “Yikes.” Zoe made a face. “Want to do our homework together tonight? I can show you how to do the problems.”

  “I guess,” Natalia said. “If we have time.” She didn’t really want to talk about math. She was more interested in getting to know the dogs that would be waiting for them at Seaview House.

  “Maybe we can practice lines for The Wizard of Oz audition, too,” Zoe said, her face brightening.

  “Definitely,” Natalia said. She felt better just thinking about it: Soon she’d be the Wicked Witch and she’d be making money taking care of adorable dogs. Maybe this was just the first step and soon she’d have a whole dog-walking business. She imagined herself holding three leashes in each hand, surrounded by happy puppies as she strolled through the center of town. In the daydream, she passed the old theater and saw her face, frightening in green paint, glaring out of a Wizard of Oz poster. “I’ll be a star and an entrepreneur,” she said dreamily.

  Zoe raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, okay,” she said. “Just make sure you’re a math whiz, too, superstar.”

  Natalia frowned. “You don’t need to nag,” she said. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Emma came up to them, tightening her ponytail. She was in her soccer uniform. “Hi,” she said. “Tell my mom I’ll be home late, okay?”

  “What’s going on?” Natalia asked. “I thought you were coming on the bus.”

  “We’re having an extra practice,” Emma told them. “Coach says we need to work on our offense.”<
br />
  Zoe and Natalia both nodded, the way they did whenever Emma talked about soccer. Neither of them knew a thing about it. But Natalia’s stomach sank. “I told my mom we’d come over to Seaview House today,” she confessed. “The people who are getting married are there, and they wanted to meet us.”

  “Oh.” Emma twisted her hands together, looking guilty. “If I’d known … but I have to go to practice.”

  She looked so sorry that Natalia hurried to reassure her. “It’s okay. They just want to talk about the dogs. Zoe and I can handle it.”

  Zoe blew out an irritated breath. “No, we can’t,” she said. “If you had told me, I would have come, but I promised to run lines with Caitlin and some of the other kids in theater club.”

  “With Caitlin?” Natalia asked, surprised. “You don’t even like Caitlin.”

  “That’s not true,” Zoe said. “Sometimes she gets on my nerves, is all. But I really want to play Dorothy, and so I need to practice before the audition.” She raised an eyebrow at Natalia. “Don’t you think you should come, too?”

  Natalia felt a tug of longing. Practicing lines with Zoe and Caitlin and whoever else was getting together with them did sound like fun. Meeting the wedding couple and their dogs had sounded fun, too, but in her imaginings it had been all three of them doing it together. Doing it by herself wouldn’t be as exciting. “I can’t,” she said regretfully. “I told Mom we’d be there.”

  Zoe’s face softened. “If you really need me …” she said.

  “No.” Natalia shook her head firmly. Zoe wanted to be Dorothy, and Natalia wasn’t going to stand in the way of that. “You’re right, I should have told you guys before. I can handle it.” Meet the dogs, catch up on my math, study my lines. No sweat!

  At Seaview House, Natalia’s mom and Aunt Amy were seated with a couple at one of the little round brightly painted tables in the dining room. There were small plates in front of them: Natalia saw Uncle Brian’s special little crab puffs on one, some kind of pasta on another, and what looked like chicken on a third.