Out of Tune

by Gail Nall

I blink at him. “Are you saying that . . . ?” I can’t even ask the question. I don’t want to hear no. “Wait, is it from the talent show? The video?”

  Mom grins. “Dad snuck down the trail by the lake at Grand Teton when you were practicing. You remember, back when we first got there? He got some great footage.”

  I make a sound that’s something between a screech and a shout and throw myself at my parents. “Thank you!” Then I pull away. “Um, do I still get to go? If they ask me to come, I mean?”

  “Well . . .” Mom trails off, that serious look on her face again. “We haven’t sent it in yet. Maya, you scared us to death with this whole thing.”

  “I know,” I say in a quiet voice. “I’m really, really sorry. I hate that I made you worry.” I pull on the hem of my dirty shirt. “I kind of figured out, somewhere between all that biking and climbing over a river, that I don’t really want to be apart from you all. I missed you.” I look up at them. “I promise I’ll never do anything like that again. And I mean it. I know it’s a lot to ask you to send in that video after what I did.”

  Mom and Dad look at each other.

  “Let’s talk some more about it tomorrow,” Mom says. “If we’re convinced you understand what you did, then we’ll send in the video.”

  If my whole body didn’t hurt so much from all the biking and walking, I’d jump up and down in the parking lot. I might still have a chance!

  And just at that minute, my phone—which is almost, but not completely, dead—buzzes with a text.

  M, you ok???? Your parents called mine!

  “It’s Kenzie,” I tell everyone. I’m ok. Missed the bus. But still might be able to try out.

  Really?! Jack & Lacey won’t have anything on you. :)

  “Maya, are you hurt?” Mom asks, more seriously. “Hungry? Tired?”

  “All of the above, but I’m okay.” I smile at her. I didn’t make it back to Nashville, but I might still be on my way to Dueling Duets. And tonight, I’ll go back to Bertha—home, or one of them anyway—with my family. “Can we go check on Shiver? I want to make sure they’re going to let her visit Gert.”

  Mom tilts her head, like she’s not sure who I am, but she nods. “Of course. And then we’re going back to the RV so you can get some rest.”

  “That sounds great.” I smile again. While I’m proud that Shiver and I actually made it here, I’m way too exhausted and achy to think of biking/adventure seeking/river crossing ever again in my whole entire life. All I really want to do now is curl up in my cubbyhole bunk and fall asleep under the TTT. I can’t believe how much I miss the not–Dirt Den Couch, the teeny bathroom, and even Frankendeer and the freaky-eyed doe.

  As we weave through the crowd outside the hospital, Remy catches up to me. I smile way too big when he stops.

  Dial it down a notch, Maya.

  I smooth my wild hair and brush some of the canyon dirt from my jeans. Which is really kind of pointless since the dirt is practically ground into the fabric.

  He reaches over and gives me a quick hug.

  Holy potatoes. Remy just hugged me! Ugh, I must smell awful. And I haven’t brushed my teeth since really early this morning. I hope he doesn’t notice.

  If he does, he doesn’t seem to care. It doesn’t look like he took the time to shower either since I last saw him. “What happened to the bikes?” he asks.

  “Long story,” I tell him. “Did you and Bug make it to the lodge?”

  “Yup. We sat there until about five, when we overheard people talking about some missing kids. So we figured we’d better let your mom know where we were. We thought that would still give you enough time to make it to your bus.” He holds up his phone. “Bug loved the pictures, by the way. So did I. You’re practically a park expert now, huh?”

  I can feel my face turning red as Mom and Dad check with the hospital welcome station attendant. “I guess. It was kind of awesome. Hard, but I’m glad I did it.”

  “No one wanted to let me come here, but I told them I had to make sure you and Shiver made it okay.”

  He was worried about me. My skin breaks out into goose bumps. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I hate that we went through all of that and you didn’t get home. Not that I really wanted you to go home, but I know you did, so . . .” Now his face looks a little red.

  “It’s all right,” I say.

  And it is.

  I tell him about Dad secretly taping me and about maybe getting another shot at auditions. “Thanks for all your help, even though it didn’t work out exactly the way I planned.” I unzip my backpack and pull out his envelope of money. “And here, since I didn’t end up needing it. But thanks for letting me have it.”

  “No problem,” Remy says as he takes the envelope. “Maybe you can come visit me in Denver the next time your family drives through?”

  Something warm floods through me. “Yeah, that’d be great.”

  He takes my hand and squeezes it. And then he doesn’t let go. Mom turns around from the information desk, but instead of saying anything, she just smiles and turns back.

  And when I picture myself onstage for Dueling Duets, I don’t see Jack next to me. Instead, behind the lights and the cameras, I see Remy in the audience, cheering me on.

  As we wait for the elevator, I pull out my phone with my free hand. After I text Kenzie, I find OMGH.

  Operation Maya Goes Home (OMGH)

  (In time for Dueling Duets.)

  Countdown: T minus 3 days

  How to Get Home to Audition with Jack and Win His Heart with My Voice and Stellar Personality:

  1. Convince Mom and Dad this is the worst idea ever.

  2. Bertha needs major repairs (tires don’t count, I guess).

  3. K fakes lots of broken bones & needs me to spoon her soup. (Not believable.)

  4. Walk. Phone mapping app says this will take only 253 hours. Which is like 101/2 days if I don’t sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, or stop at all. (I don’t even like Dad’s 2-mile hikes, so . . .)

  5. Hitchhike! (Shiver. Ugh. Also, scary.)

  6. Find ride with another RV family. (Shiver. Again.)

  7. Buy plane ticket with Mom’s credit card. (Busted. And guilty.)

  8. Bike to bus station. Take bus home!

  9. Two homes are way, way, way better than one. Even if one of them comes with a Frankendeer.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you so much for picking this book to read! Without readers, there would be no books—and I would be very, very sad. If you liked reading about Maya, Shiver, Remy, and Bug, visit my website at gailnall.com and let me know! I love hearing from readers.

  This book was inspired by two life-changing road trips I took out West. Words can’t capture the beauty and immensity of places like Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, the open plains of Kansas, and the colors of Hell’s Half Acre (yes, it’s a real place!). I’m forever grateful for those experiences and for the US National Park Service, which preserves so many of the beautiful wild places for us all to enjoy. You can learn more about them at nps.gov.

  A great big huge thank-you to my ever-amazing agent, Jullia A. Weber, who (for some reason) still likes reading the crazy things I come up with, and who keeps me sane and focused. There isn’t enough cake in the world for how smart and encouraging she is! Thank you, thank you, thank you (times a million!) to my savvy and hilarious editor, Amy Cloud, who not only loved Maya’s story but who also helped me figure out how to make it even better. Your ideas and suggestions are everything, and if I could, I’d buy you your own glitzy tour bus (no Dirt Den included) to travel in (or to park in NYC just for kicks). And thank you so much to the entire Aladdin team—including Jessica Handelman for the lovely cover, Faye Bi for being an amazing publicist, and Katharine Wiencke for fixing all my misplaced hyphens and commas—and Eda Kaban for the cover illustration that perfectly captures Maya’s story.

  A special thank-you to Rae Ann Parker for schooling me on all things Nashville. Than
ks for answering random text messages about the Pancake Pantry and the pedestrian bridge, and for giving me a place to stay whenever I’m in town. Another special thank-you goes to Mary Uhles, for sharing her experiences growing up in the national parks and answering all of my Remy questions. Another thank-you goes to all those full-timer RV folks out there who share their experiences online for nosy people like me to read about.

  I’m a lucky writer to have so many fellow writers who kindly beta read this book for me when it was in its early stages. Ronni Arno, Brooks Benjamin, Heather Brady, Jeff Chen, Melanie Conklin, Abby Cooper, Manju Howard, Jen Malone, Dee Romito, and Stefanie Wass—thank you so much for your time and suggestions. Another big thank-you goes to my ever-patient critique group who read so many bits and pieces of this book—Anne Howard, David Jarvis, April Roberson, Laura Stone, Charles Suddeth, Kate Weiss, and Amy Williamson. And another thank-you to my group at the 2013 SCBWI Midsouth Revision Retreat, for all of their thoughtful comments and criticisms on this manuscript—Tricia Cortas, Kim Teter, Patricia Nesbitt, Judith Rehder, and Pat Weaver.

  Thank you, thank you, thank you to my hilarious and talented MG Beta Readers group. Thank you to everyone who is part of SCBWI Midsouth. To Gretchen Kelley—thank you for our annual Mojito Tapas/writing/publishing/life meet-ups, and for being one of my very first critique partners! To Sara O’Bryan Thompson—thank you for keeping me fueled with wine and cookies and inspiration during our writing times.

  Finally (but never least!), I am grateful for a wonderful circle of family and friends—Mom and Joel, Dad, Cheryl, Mike and Joann, Lisa and David, my friends, and, of course, my Eva. I love you all and am forever humbled to have you in my life.

  Gail Nall lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with her family and more cats than necessary. She once drove a Zamboni, has camped in the snow in June, and almost got trampled in Paris. Gail is the author of the middle-grade novel Breaking the Ice, the coauthor of You’re Invited and You’re Invited Too, and the author of the young-adult novel Exit Stage Left. You can find her online at gailnall.com and on Twitter as @gailecn.

  Aladdin

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Gail-Nall

  Read these other books by Gail Nall:

  Breaking the Ice

  and with Jen Malone:

  You’re Invited

  You’re Invited Too

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

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  First Aladdin hardcover edition November 2016

  Text copyright © 2016 by Gail Nall

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2016 by Eda Kaban

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  Jacket designed by Jessica Handelman

  Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia

  The text of this book was set in Adobe Caslon Pro.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Nall, Gail, author.

  Title: Out of tune / by Gail Nall.

  Description: Aladdin hardcover edition. | New York : Aladdin, 2016. |

  Summary: When twelve-year-old Maya’s parents sell their house and move the family into an RV to travel the country, her only goal is to return home to audition for the singing competition show that is sure to propel her to country music stardom.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2015046573 (print) | LCCN 2016022993 (eBook) |

  ISBN 9781481458177 (hc) | ISBN 9781481458184 (eBook) |

  Subjects: | CYAC: Singers—Fiction. | Families—Fiction. | Country music—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Friendship. JUVENILE FICTION / Performing Arts / Music. Classification: LCC PZ7.N142268 Ou 2016 (print) | LCC PZ7.N142268 (ebook) | DDC [E]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015046573