Just Grace and the Terrible Tutu (14 page)

 

Mimi is filled with worry.

WHAT HAPPENED WHILE MOM AND I WERE WORKING

Augustine Dupre came upstairs to tell me that everything was set for Friday night. She said Yvonne was going to bring Lily over at seven-thirty. I could tell that she would have liked to watch the show too, but it was a special performance for Mimi and Lily only.

WHAT IS NICE

It's nice to go to sleep thinking that you are ready for something you have been working on. I knew that Mom and I were going to finish on time, and in my head everything was going to work out perfectly. It had to.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE SUPER EXCITED

You get dressed, eat your breakfast, and are completely ready for school by 7:14 a.m.

 

WHAT IS NOT SO GOOD

Being ready for school over an hour early and having nothing else to do but wait, because school doesn't start until 8:45. Mom made me wait until it was 8:00 before she let me go over to Mimi's house to give her the invitation. Once I got there I had to wait some more, because Mimi was still upstairs getting dressed.

WHAT MIMI SAID WHEN SHE SAW THE INVITATION

"OH MY GOSH, GRACE! WHAT IS THIS? IT'S FOR ME? I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. TELL ME!!!! TELL ME!!" And then she started to do little bounces up and down like she always does when she gets super excited. If you spent four days making your best friend a special show, this is the exact kind of perfect way you would want her to act when she found out about it.

 

WHAT I TOLD MIMI ABOUT THE SHOW

Nothing. I said, "Mimi, I can't tell you anything. It's a surprise."

WHAT WAS LONG

When you are waiting for something that is going to happen at the end of a day, the whole part of the day that is in front of the end part can seem like it is taking forever. School felt like it was never going to end. Even though some good things happened, it still seemed to go by super slow.

THE GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED

 

1. We watched a video of an elephant that could write the words
   love
   and
   hope
   in cursive. Miss Lois told us it was a boy elephant, and if a boy elephant could write in cursive, then a boy human should be able to do it too. Everyone thought this was pretty funny, even the boys.
   
2. Grace F.'s birthday's on Saturday, so we all got to have blueberry muffins at snack-time. Cupcakes would have been better, but Mr. Harris is trying to get all the kids not to eat so many sweets, so Grace F. 's mom had to make muffins instead.
   
3. Because the muffins took so long to eat, Miss Lois canceled our spelling test for today and said we would have it on Monday instead.
   
4. Brian Aber's dad came to the class to show us his banjo. He played two songs and was really good. He said he did not know how to the play the guitar, which was a surprise because they both kind of look the same. I was wishing he would stay longer so we wouldn't have to do math, but Miss Lois wouldn't let him play any more songs or answer any more questions, so he had to leave. She really is the boss of the classroom, even when there is a dad there.
   

FINALLY

When the bell rang Mimi and I walked straight home. She was going to clean up her room and I was going to finish up the show with Mom.

WHAT MOM SAID

Right before Lily came over Mom told me that no matter what happened she was very proud of me. This was a nice thing to hear, and I was hoping she was going to remember this happiness the next time she was thinking about getting mad at me for some reason.

Before, when I was still getting stuff ready I was not one bit worried about anything, but now the waiting-for-it-to-start part was making me nervous. It was taking forever for Augustine Dupre to bring Lily over. Suddenly my brain was thinking of all the things that could go wrong, and it was not easy to get it to stop.

It was a huge relief when Lily said, "Grace! Grace! I'm here. You can stop waiting."

THE START

Lily gave me a big hug and for once I was happy about that. Like always, she was wearing a tutu. This time it was a purple one. "It's the best twirler of all my tutus," said Lily, and then she did a twirl to show me. "You're right," I said. "It is a good one." And then after about five more twirls we started our walk over to Mimi's.

 

It was just starting to get dark, which is the perfect kind of light for a shadow show.

Mimi was excited too, and I knew that, because instead of waiting for us inside, she met us in her front yard. It was not easy to try to pretend like I was not nervous. All three of us walked up to Mimi's room.

Right when we got to Mimi's room I said, "Remember that cool clapping song game we used to do at school?" It was one of those games where you say a rhyme and clap your hands together at the same time. Mimi and I used to do it all the time last year, and I was hoping like crazy that she was going to remember it. "The one with the made-up words?" asked Mimi. Yay! She remembered. "Yes, that's it," I said. "When you see the hands, teach it to Lily." Of course Mimi didn't know what I was talking about, but I was hoping she would understand when she saw the show.

I was glad to see that her room was super cleaned up and organized. Mimi had two little chairs sitting in front of the bedroom window. I looked across at my window and suddenly my ears started to get hot. This only happens to me when I get nervous or when I am embarrassed. It is not a good feeling.