Take Two (19 page)

She's trying? No! No trying! I replied:

And waited. The world outside the bubble was eerily quiet. Except for applause, and then . . .

Whrrshhhhh!

A loud, windy sound came from the stage.

Oh. No. That couldn't be the tornado! (Could it?) The whirring noise stopped.

“‘Toto?'” said Tess' voice, loud and clear. “‘I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.'”

The play had started! I was supposed to be sitting in the audience; not encased in a bubble wearing a Good Witch costume. Could things get any worse?

Of course they could. Because two boys began rolling the bubble, and through the plastic I could see the stage. With Tess holding a stuffed dog. And a house with two feet sticking out from under it.

As the ball rolled, I felt myself tipping. Must locate my center of gravity. I experimented a bit with laws of balance and managed to keep on my feet. However, my forward velocity must have been greater than the boys' pushing force because I rolled right out of their hands. Onto the stage. Straight for Tess/Dorothy! At the last moment, I lurched crazily to the left and missed running over the lead actress. Instead, I crashed into the house.

I heard some gasps from the audience.

Audience??? Have I mentioned I have severe stage fright? Only in competitions, armed with extensive knowledge, can I stand up in front of other people.

In a bubble in a dress in a play I'm not supposed to be in? Nope. The crash against the house spun me around and knocked me over. I sat, stunned, in a pouf of confusion.

Tess/Dorothy stared at me. The audience stared at me. Payton would be telling me to stand up and pretend to be her. So, I summoned my inner Payton, stood up in the bubble, and waved my star wand and smiled.

Some cheers from the audience.

Okay. Now what? The whole auditorium was silent.

And then—“Twinkle, twinkle, little star”—my cell phone ringtone went off. The audience started to laugh.

I ruffled through poufiness and found the opening in the dress. I took out my phone.

“Hello?” I said, chirping in a high-pitched voice that I hoped sounded Glinda-like.

“Emma, I'm trapped under the stage,” Payton's voice said into my ear. “I can hear you. Just do what I say.”

“Yes, this is Glinda,” I said, my voice shaky with terror. I felt a thumping under my feet. Payton??

The audience was really laughing now.

“Say, ‘Are you a good witch or a bad witch?'” Payton said.

What? Was that like one of those Top 10 Dumb Twin Questions people ask—like which one is the good twin and which one is the evil twin?

“Just say the line!” Payton hissed. And thumped harder. My bubble wobbled.

Oh! The line!

“‘Are you a GOOD witch or a BAD witch?'” I asked Dorothy. “Um . . . my friend wants to know.” I pointed to the phone with my wand.

“‘Why, I'm not a witch at all,'” Tess/Dorothy said, staring at me like I was crazy.

Suddenly, a bunch of students covered with face makeup came out onto the stage, walking on their knees.

“Oh!” I said. “The Munchkins!”

“Yes,” said one knee-walker. “‘I am a Munchkin of Munchkinland.'”

And, thank goodness, The Munchkins started talking with Dorothy.

“What do I do?” I whispered into the phone.

“You have one more line, then get the heck off the stage,” Payton said.
Thump, thump.

I tried not to look out into the audience, because of my stage fright, but my bubble ball turned that way a bit. Through the plastic and with all the stage lights, I couldn't really see anybody. Just a blur. I felt better. Like I could do this. Maybe.

Just one more line. What was it? I clutched my phone. Oops. Hit the off button. Klutz.

I felt banging under my sneakers. It made the bubble vibrate. Vibrate! My cell was going
brzzzt.
A text from Payton.

I watched until Dorothy and The Munchkins stopped talking. They looked at me. I took a deep breath.

“‘Follow the Yellow Brick' . . . whoa!” The bubble started wobbling. I barely kept my balance as I realized the stage was
rising! Earthquake? No, no, just a trapdoor. I looked down through the plastic bottom and saw . . .

Payton's face! Through a little opening in the stage, Payton peered up at me. She looked as surprised as I felt. I looked at Tess/Dorothy and thought fast. I stepped to the side so my big poufy skirt covered up the hole in the floor and my twin in the hole.

“‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road!'” I shouted, a little more Loud Witch than Good Witch.

And then I felt it. A crawling sensation around my socks. I flashed back to the crawling feeling of the mascot gecko in my hair.

Eeeee.

“Don't be silly, Emma,”
I told myself in my head.
“It's just that being onstage has freaked you out.”
I felt and heard the trapdoor shutting under me. Okay. Payton was gone. I could leave my spot.

“‘Good-bye, Dorothy!'” I waved as I pushed my way back in the direction from which I'd made my stage debut. “‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road!'”

And I was out of the spotlight and off the stage.

Payton

Twenty-three

DURING PLAY, UNDER STAGE

I was sitting in total darkness. Pitch-black, under the stage, in the stage basement . . . with a gecko on the loose!

This was
so
not what I'd imagined. But it figured. When I'd come downstairs, the main door locked behind me. And to make it ten thousand times worse, the lights wouldn't go on. Nick had turned them off when he ran the light board upstairs. I only had the little light from my cell phone. Which was losing battery strength, so it was barely glowing. I'd ended up feeling around in the darkness for the lizard. I could hear his little tiny feet scampering around. At least I knew my way around the room, since I'd been here so often. But I had no luck catching the gecko.

My brilliant idea of letting in some light by opening the trapdoor? Fail. I'd popped up under the stage and totally freaked out Emma in the Glinda ball.

At least Emma had her phone with her, so we could get her through the play. Kind of, anyway.

I heard her voice upstairs: “‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road!'”

I finished texting Emma and waited. I could hear applause. I could hear laughter. I could hear my crazy sister rolling off the stage.

I sat down on the paint can and waited. And waited.
Hello?

No answer. Argh. I tried to push the trapdoor open to see what was going on. But it was stuck! Something was on top of the trapdoor!

I went to text Emma again and—oh, no! My cell phone battery died! I had no light! No phone! No way of reaching the outside world! Was I going to be stuck down here forever?!!!

Then I realized that other than the door onstage I had texted her about, Emma might not know how else to get into the stage basement. She didn't know about the main door. I felt my way over to the other door in the ceiling. I carefully climbed up on the ladder and knocked on the ceiling. I hoped someone was up there.
Knock! Knock!

And then the trapdoor opened up! YES! I was rescued!

“Payton!” said one of the Mason/Jason twins, sticking his head in. “Did you find Mascot?”

“I did but I lost him,” I said. “He jumped again. I'm so sorry.”

“Oh, no!” he said. And he closed the door.

Wait! Closed the door? Noooo! I thumped on the ceiling again. Let me out!!! The door opened up again.

“Mason, you have to let me out!” I said to him.

“Payton, shut the door or Mascot might escape!” Mason said. He started to close the door again.

“Mason,
I
need to escape,” I said. “Let me out of here!”

“But you didn't find Mascot.” His little sad face looked back at me. “Are you just going to give up?”

Oh, great. I felt terrible.

“I promise I'll find him,” I said. But I had to get out of that basement. “I just need to go get supplies. Um, flashlights and things.”

Mason sighed, and let me climb out of the basement.

“First, where's Emma?” I asked him.

“Emma's hiding in one of the dressing areas,” Mason said, and led me over to where she was. “She doesn't want to get busted being you. It's so cool how you guys traded places. Does Emma take your math tests for you?”

“No!” I said. “We don't do anything like that. And you and Jason shouldn't, either.”

“Bummer,” Mason said.

“Did you find him?” Jason asked.

“No,” I said. “But I will. First I need to talk to Emma.”

I hurried to find Emma, with the boys right behind me.

“Payton! Quick!” Emma said. “Change clothes with me! Here, put on Glinda's dress! We don't have much time. They're doing a Scarecrow scene, so if you hurry you'll be ready for the next one!”

“I can't,” I said. “I have to find Mascot first. I couldn't get him.”

“Payton, you tried,” Emma said. “You did your best. Now just switch back with me. This is your chance! You've wanted to be onstage! Come on!”

“I promised the boys,” I said.

“Oh,” Emma said. Then she sighed. “I'll help the boys find Mascot.”

“You will?” Mason, Jason, and I all said, shocked.

“Yes,” Emma said. “If he's that important to you, I will find him. I have overcome my fear of being onstage. I will now overcome my fear of creepy little green lizards.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I'm ready. Although if we see him, you guys will grab him. Avoid contact with me at all costs,” she added. “But first, wait for me out there while Payton and I switch clothes.”

“Wow,” I said. “Impressive.”

“Shhhh,” Emma said. “Quick and switch before anyone realizes that it was me out there.”

Emma pulled the pink Glinda dress over her head. Underneath, she had on her mathletes competition shirt that said
MATHLETES CHAMP.

And on the front of her shirt . . . was the gecko. Stuck right to the
CHAMP
.

“Um,” I said.

“Hurry!” Emma said. “If we switch really fast, Burkle will never know!”

“Um,” I said, and tried to reach out subtly to pluck the gecko off her.

“What are you—” Emma looked down and froze. “Oh. Hello. There is a creepy little green lizard on my well-earned mathletes championship T-shirt.”

“Breathe deep,” I said. “In through one nostril. Out through the other. Don't panic.”

I leaned out and waved Mason to come over.

“Mascot!” he said, his eyes lighting up. But then Mascot crawled into Emma's hair. Oh, no. I waited for her to freak out.

“Emma.” Mason's eyes lit up. “Mascot really likes you. I think it's your supershiny hair.”

“Really?” Emma asked, still frozen. “My supershiny hair?”

“Yeah,” Mason said. “Your hair is so shiny.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “I have supershiny hair, too. In fact, I'm the twin who is taller, with the bigger nose, and
with the shinier hair
.”

“I don't know.” Emma suddenly smiled. “The gecko is only attracted to my hair. Not yours. Hmm. I think that's proof.”

“Hey,” I said. I reached out and plucked the gecko off her hair. Then I put him on mine. “See, he likes mine, too.”

And then the gecko jumped back to Emma's head. And she didn't even flinch.

“My hair is shinier!” I whined.

“It's okay,” Mason said in a comforting voice. “Your nose is still bigger.”

“Plus, Emma's hair smells really good,” Jason said as he suddenly appeared behind me. “I noticed that when she tutors us. It smells like oranges and flowers.”

“Well, Payton, it appears the gecko has solved that shiny-hair competition of ours.” Emma looked quite pleased. And suddenly she plucked the gecko out of her hair. And cheerfully held it in her hand.

“But, Payton, your breath smells a lot better than Emma's,” Mason added.

HAH!

“Okay,” Emma said loudly. “Focus! We found the gecko. Mason, take Mascot and don't let him go. It's time for Payton to turn into Glinda.”

Emma's calm was contagious. I slipped the dress over my head. My sneakers were hidden, so I kept them on.

“I should brush my hair,” I said. “Since maybe that's why it's not as shiny as usual.”

“Payton, get over the shiny-hair competition.” Emma grinned. “And go break a leg. But not like Sydney.”

“Well, at least let me get some stage makeup on,” I said.
I went over to the dressing table and Glinda'd myself up. All those hours spent under the stage, behind the scenes, and I was finally going to be
on
the stage. In the spotlight.

I took a deep breath and headed out of the dressing area. And ran into Nick.

“Hey, Payton, I'm sorry the bubble is kind of out of control,” Nick said. “I thought it was the coolest prop.”

He looked disappointed. I thought about the hours he'd spent backstage, too.

“It
is
the coolest prop,” I said. “It's not your fault Sydney wore those stupid heels and Emma is a klutz.”

Oops. Nick looked at me oddly.

“
Emma
is a klutz?” Nick asked.

“Um,” I said. “Nothing. Anyway, I am going to rock your bubble. Get that bubble ready. Here comes Glinda.”

“Awesome!” he said. “And hey, you look really nice as Glinda.”

“Scene 3!!!” Mrs. Burkle was yelling as she came through the area. “Glinda! Munchkins! Places, everyone! Be ready to go onstage.”