Ivy and Bean Doomed to Dance (3 page)

Madame Joy stared at Bean for a second, and then she said, “Dulcie, will you show us how to leap like a kitty?”

“Yes, Madame Joy,” said Dulcie, only she said, “Madame Jwah.” For some reason, Madame Joy liked that. Dulcie came to the front of the line and stood with her arms out and her toes pointed.

Bean rose to her feet. “So I already did it, right?” she asked. “I get to be done, right?”

“No,” said Madame Joy. “You need more practice. Go to the end of the line.”

Bean clomped to the end of the line and stood behind Ivy.

Dulcie lifted her arms higher and smiled proudly. Then she hopped across the empty floor, ker-plop, ker-plop. When she reached the other side of the ballet studio, Dulcie stood before Madame Joy and held out her tiny pink dance skirt. Then she swirled one leg behind the other and curtseyed.

“Show-off,” whispered Bean.

“I can’t believe that we asked for this,” said Ivy, her eyes on Dulcie.

“We didn’t just ask. We begged,” Bean said glumly.

It was true. They had begged.

After everyone had leaped, Madame Joy clapped her hands and told them they had to be butterflies.

Bean raised her hand. “Can I be a Wili instead?”

Madame Joy stared at her. “Not today,” she said in a way that really meant never. Then she turned on some music, and all the other girls ran around the room flapping their arms and pointing their toes.

That’s when Ivy and Bean turned to look at each other, and their eyes said
We have made a terrible mistake
.

BAD NEWS BENEATH THE SEA

Every week Bean and Ivy put on tights and leotards and went to Madame Joy’s School of the Ballet, where they fell down and hurt themselves (Ivy) and were bored out of their minds (Bean). Every week they were told to watch Dulcie plié and kitty-jump across the floor even though she was only five. Every week they waited and waited for Madame Joy to clap her hands and say it was time to be butterflies. They hated being butterflies, but at least that meant ballet class was almost over.

It seemed like it couldn’t get worse. And then one day, instead of telling them to be butterflies, Madame Joy told them to sit in a circle on the floor.

“We’re going to be mushrooms,” whispered Ivy to Bean.

Bean didn’t think so. When grown-ups asked you to sit in a circle, they were usually about to tell you something you didn’t want to hear. Ms. Aruba-Tate, Ivy and Bean’s second-grade teacher, was forever gathering them in a circle for bad news. Like, the class fish died over the weekend. Or, everyone has to start using real punctuation. Or, the pencil sharpener is off-limits. Circles meant trouble.

Bean watched Madame Joy walk pointy-toed to a chair and sit. No floor for her. “Girls,” she began, “I have something very special to tell you.”

“Oh, tell us, Madame Jwah!” cried Dulcie. She even clapped her hands.

Madame Joy smiled. “As many of you know, we end each session with a lovely recital. A recital, girls, is a chance for you to dance before your friends and family so that they can see what you’ve learned.”

Ivy coughed.

Madame Joy leaned forward eagerly. “Most of our recitals are held here at the school, but this time we have been invited to participate in The World of Dance! Isn’t that wonderful?”

Several girls said, “
Oooooooh!
”

Bean was getting a not-so-good feeling. “What’s The World of Dance?” she asked.

Madame Joy’s smile grew. “The World of Dance is a gathering of many different dance schools from all over town—tap dancers, jazz dancers, hip-hop dancers. We will be representing the ballet. Each group gets a chance to perform, just as in a regular recital, but we’ll be performing on a real stage in a real theater!”

“
Oooooooh!
” repeated the same girls.

Bean was sick of hearing that.

Ivy’s hand shot into the air. “Can we do
Giselle?
”

“
Giselle?
” Madame Joy looked surprised. “No. Goodness, no. We will be doing a lovely piece called ‘Wedding Beneath the Sea.’”

“Wedding Beneath the Sea”? Bean didn’t care if she was rude. She yelled, “What are Ivy and me?”

Madame Joy raised her eyebrows. “I was planning to discuss parts next, but if you must know, you and Ivy will be the two friendly squids.”

Nobody said, “Oooooooh.” Squids? Ivy and Bean looked at each other.
We have made a really terrible mistake
.

On the drive home, Bean and Ivy were quiet. That was because of the no-complaining rule.

Quietly, they got out of the car and went into Bean’s backyard. Quietly, they stuffed themselves into Bean’s tiny playhouse and slumped against the walls.

“Squids. Who ever heard of squids?” said Bean. “I don’t even know what squids are.”

“I’m not totally sure,” said Ivy, “but I think they’re ugly, and I think people eat them.”

“Oh, great,” moaned Bean. “I can’t believe that stupid Dulcie gets to be the mermaid, and we’re squids.”

“I believe it,” said Ivy. “We’re awful.”

“We’re not
awful
—” began Bean.

“Oh yes we are,” said Ivy. “I’m worse than you, but you’re pretty bad, too.”

“That’s because we hate it. If we liked it, we’d be better at it.”

“I thought I’d like it,” said Ivy sadly.

“So did I,” said Bean. “I thought we’d be kicking some heads off. I didn’t know about the positions and pliés and all that.”

“You know, they can’t
make
us do it,” said Ivy.

Bean thought about that. “Yes, they can,” she said.

Ivy sighed. “It was mean of them to make us promise not to complain,” she said.

“Yeah,” said Bean. “They knew all along how horrible it would be.”

“We’re going to have to be squids in front of everybody,” said Ivy. “That’s the most horrible thing of all.”

“They’ll probably laugh at us,” said Bean, imagining it.

“They can’t. They’re
parents
,” Ivy said.

“Remember? It’s friends, too. There might even be someone from school there,” Bean said gloomily.

“If only we could quit,” Ivy moaned.

“But we can’t,” said Bean.

Ivy frowned. That meant she was getting determined. “There has to be a way,” she said, determinedly. “Nothing is impossible.”

Bean stared at her. “It’s impossible for us to be good at ballet.”