by Mary Amato
“This is very bad,” Phillip said.
I went on. “And then I was going to tell you, but it kept getting closer and closer. And then I thought if we were outside, it wouldn’t really be a party.”
“It wasn’t a party at all,” Scarlett said. “We didn’t even eat anything.”
My mom came out of the bathroom with Leo. “I’m going to call all the parents. Lucy, go to your room.”
Embarrassed, I turned around and ran upstairs. I sat in my closet for a few minutes, crying. I sort of wanted a drone so that I could fly it down and spy on them, but I sort of didn’t want to know what they were saying. I could hear cars come and go, so I knew my friends were all getting picked up.
When I heard my dad’s footsteps on the stairs, I climbed into my bed and pulled the covers over my head.
“Lucy, you need to clean up downstairs and then you need to write a letter of apology for every family. When those parents said yes to the party, they thought adults would be in charge. But I was asleep and your mom was gone.”
“I’m sorry, but—”
“No buts,” my dad said.
“I didn’t think it would rain, Dad! We were outside most of the time. We didn’t even have snacks. We didn’t even make a mess—”
“Lucy! You and your friends tracked dirt and mud in. You need to mop the kitchen and vacuum the living room.”
“If I do all that, can I sing with the club on—”
“Lucy, you need to come home every day after school this week. No special activities! And I don’t want to hear a peep out of you.” He pulled off my blanket. “You can start with the living room. You know where the vacuum is.”
I headed downstairs, his words ringing in my ears. No special activities? I couldn’t believe it. Now everybody would be on TV except me. Bad, bad Lucy McGee.
When something terrible happens to you, even if you caused it by making a huge mistake, what you really want is for everyone in the world to feel sorry for you. But that wasn’t happening.
My mom was on the couch with Leo and Lily, reading a book. She didn’t care about how sad I felt. All she cared about was getting the house clean. “Get to work, Lucy,” she said.
I turned on the vacuum, and an idea popped into my head. Instead of spending time mopping and vacuuming, I should spend time inventing hover shoes for the whole family. If our shoes never touched the ground outside, the floors inside wouldn’t get dirty!
I turned off the vacuum, grabbed a piece of paper, made a drawing of hover shoes, and showed it to my mom. “I could invent these,” I said. “Think about it. No more dirt on the floor.”
My mom looked at the drawing. “Nice try, Lucy. Get cracking.”
“Get cracking” is what my mom says when she wants me to do something I don’t want to do.
When I finished cleaning, my mom put a stack of papers and a pencil on the kitchen table and told me to get to work. I had to write my apology letters.
I sat down and started writing.
Whew! It took a long time to write that letter and I had eight more to write! If I wrote that much for each person, I’d be old by the time I finished.
I picked up another piece of paper.
Dear Resa’s Parents,
Sorry for the illegal party. You are grown-ups, and you can do whatever you want to do. But if I were you, I would forgive me and feel sorry for me.
—Lucy McGee
I wrote the rest and then I went up to my closet and cried. That was my Saturday.
On Sunday, a black cloud was hanging over the McGee house. Seriously. The rain hadn’t stopped. That wasn’t all. Guess who else woke up sick? Leo and my mom. Everybody was in a worse mood than yesterday.
After a quiet breakfast, my dad drove me around in the rain, and I had to deliver my apology letters to each house. If I had a drone, I could have had it deliver my letters. That would have been a lot less embarrassing.
When I got back, Leo met me at the door. “Play worms with me, Lucy,” he said.
“Forget it,” I said.
“Lucy, please don’t snap at your brother just because you’re unhappy,” my dad said.
“I’m unhappy, too,” Leo said. “I’m sick, and Mom won’t play with me.”
My mom was trying to take a nap on the couch with Lily crawling all over her.
I put all my books from the bookshelf in a square on the floor and I sat inside it. “No one is allowed to touch these books or talk to me,” I said.
My mom gave my dad a look. “I hope Lucy knows she’s going to have to put all those books back on the shelf.”
Just then the rain started pounding down harder. Leo looked out the window and freaked out. “It’s raining too much! The worms are drowning.”
“Stop it, Leo!” I snapped. “I’m sick of worms.”
“Lucy, that is not helpful.” My mom picked up the remote and turned on Channel Four. “Let’s look at the weather report and see when they predict the rain will stop.”
On TV, Janet Tandy, Scarlett’s mom, was standing in front of a big map, talking about the weather. “Rain through midnight tonight. Tomorrow and Tuesday should be sunny and clear. Wednesday, some clouds and cooler temperatures will come in from the northwest. And we’ll have a special surprise—a group of students from Slido Creek Elementary will be here. They’ve written songs about the weather, and we’ll be rolling out the first one on Wednesday. Join us!”
My heart sank.
“Rain through midnight!” Leo cried. “That’s too much rain for the worms!”
“My life is over!” I yelled at Leo. “Who cares about worms?”
“You are mean, Lucy!” Leo grabbed one of my books and threw it at me.
“Leo!” my mom yelled, and Leo started crying.
I stomped upstairs and slammed my bedroom door. “I’m never coming out!” I yelled.
We have a McGee rule. Chase away the blues before you snooze. It means you can’t go to bed mad.
So after a while, I heard footsteps. And then a knock on my closet door. And then the door opened.
My mom was holding Lily and my dad was holding Leo.
Everybody looked horrible. Everybody’s hair was messy and everybody’s nose was red and runny.
“Time for a talk,” my mom said, and they all sat on my bed.
That bed looked nice with everybody all cozy on it, but I stayed in the closet.
“Leo has something to say,” my mom said.
“I’m sorry for throwing a book at your head, Lucy,” Leo said.
Sometimes people say they’re sorry and they don’t really mean it. When someone says they’re sorry and they really mean it, your heart kind of gets a squeeze. Leo squeezed my heart.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you, Leo,” I said.
“You yelled so loud you hurt my ears, Lucy,” Leo said.
My parents laughed because Leo yells way louder than me. And I sort of laughed and then I started crying and then I ran out of the closet and climbed on the bed. “I’m really sorry for everything.” They hugged me, and my feelings started pouring out. “I love writing songs and singing so much. I get too excited and—”
Just then, our front doorbell rang.
“Who could that be?” my mom asked.
They left Leo and Lily with me and went down to answer the door.
Leo looked at me with big eyes. “Do you think it’s the police?” he asked.
“Why would it be the police?” I asked, wiping my eyes.
“Because we were both really bad,” he said.
Lily crawled into my lap and tried to give me her pacifier.
“Come on, let’s find out who it is,” I said.
Leo, Lily, and I crept to the top of the stairs. I heard a familiar voice. It was Scarlett’s dad. I couldn’t hear what he was saying. After a few minutes, he left, and we raced back to my room.
“Well, that was interesting,” my mom said.
“Take a look at this,” my dad said, and handed me a piece of paper.
“Phillip is one great friend,” my mom said. I wanted to agree, but I had a lump in my throat.
My dad explained. “Scarlett’s dad said that Phillip went to Scarlett’s house with the letter and asked Scarlett to sign it. Then Scarlett showed it to her dad and mom.”
“Everybody is hoping we’ll let you go to the TV studio on Wednesday,” my mom said. “Janet wants to have the club do one song live and then record the rest of your songs so that Channel Four can air them throughout the month.”
“Can I?” I asked.
“We’re going to think about it,” my parents said.
I jumped up and raced out the door.
“Where are you going?” my mom asked.
“I’m going to help you think!”
I ran downstairs. I started to put my books back in the bookshelf. And then I noticed tissues on the floor. I put those in the trash even though they were disgusting. And then I noticed that the plants needed watering. I filled up the water pitcher. And then I noticed that there were dirty dishes in the sink, so I started washing them, and then I noticed that Lily’s socks were on the floor, so I picked them up, and then my mom came in and stopped me.
“Lucy, what are you doing?”
“I’m being good so you’ll let me go,” I said.
“You’re putting Lily’s socks in the dishwasher!” she said.
I looked down and said, “Oops.” And then we both started laughing.
“Your dad and I talked it over,” she said. “Singing on TV is a special thing. Since you apologized to everyone and you cleaned up after the party, we’re going to let you go on Wednesday. But we’ll expect you home right after school every other day this week and we’ll expect extra-good behavior from you.”
I jumped up and down and then I hugged her. “Thank you. Thank you.”
She took my face in her hands. “You know who you should thank?”
I knew. The best friend a friend could be. My best friend…Phillip Lee.
On Monday and Tuesday, everybody at school was talking about how we were going to be on TV.
Lucy McGee! A star on TV!
Then Wednesday came! The sky was full of dark cumulonimbus clouds and the winds were whipping through the trees. All morning, it stayed the same way.
During recess, we worked on a thunderstorm song and practiced it. At the end, a bunch of first graders came over to us and told us they were going to watch and asked for our autographs.
Finally school was over. We got our ukes and ran to meet our parents in the parking lot. Victoria’s mom, Scarlett’s babysitter, and my dad were the car pool drivers.
Phillip, Resa, and I got into our minivan. Lily and Leo were both there, of course. As we rode, we sang all our songs. Lily clapped and tried to sing along, but Leo wouldn’t smile.
While my dad talked to Phillip and Resa, Leo turned to me. “I want to be in your club. I want to be on TV,” he whispered.
“You can’t, Leo. But Dad is taking you and Lily to the bagel shop and you can watch us on Dad’s laptop.” We passed the bagel shop, and I pointed. “See? That’ll be fun.”
After two blocks, we passed a playground near a pond. “If I can’t be on TV, I want to go there and play with worms.” Leo pointed at the park.
“A big storm is coming,” I said. “You have to stay inside.”
I looked out the window. The sky had turned green and the clouds looked like they were going to burst. We couldn’t have a more exciting weather day!
Scarlett’s mom met us in the lobby with her assistant, Tom. Then she had to go get a weather update. “This storm is moving fast!” she said.
Tom took us down a long hall to the main studio. There wasn’t just one studio, there were lots of different rooms with stuff inside. One small room had a bunch of video screens showing views from different cameras at the same time. “We have a new set of weather drones,” Tom said. “We send them out to capture videos of severe weather.”
“Drones!” Phillip and I looked at each other. So cool.
First we went to the main studio for a real rehearsal. It wasn’t anything like the TV studio in our media center. This was big with huge lights, five different cameras, a main news desk in the middle, and a weather desk with a big computer and a green screen on the right.
Tom gave us each a place to stand in front of the green screen. He put Pablo in the center with Scarlett because they were the tallest. Nobody argued. He gave us tips for performing and we sang our song twice, pretending that the cameras were rolling.
“Great job,” Tom said. “Don’t move. I need to speak with Janet.”
“I can’t believe it,” Phillip whispered.
“Believe what?” I whispered back.
“We’re all getting along perfectly.”
It was true. We looked around. Everybody in the Songwriting Club was smiling.
“When we get famous and move to Hollywood,” Resa whispered, “let’s all buy a house with a swimming pool and live in it together.”
“One for all and all for the Songwriting Club!” I whispered.
We all gave each other a thumbs-up.
It was really happening—we were going to be on TV!
A voice came from the booth. “Places. Three minutes, people.”
The anchorman and anchorwoman sat at the news desk, fixing their hair and microphones. Mrs. Tandy sat at the weather desk in front of the computer.
Tom adjusted his headset and stood behind the camera operators. “Okay, kids. Nobody move. After the anchors finish the news update, Janet will introduce you, then I’ll point to you, and you look at this camera and sing your song. When you’re done, don’t move or talk until we give you the cue that it’s okay. Then I’ll take you to another studio and we’ll tape the other songs.” He smiled. “That will be more relaxed and fun.”
“Showtime!” Phillip whispered. We were smiling and ready.
“Hold on!” Mrs. Tandy worked at her computer. “Breaking news—a tornado was just spotted in Elkton! Hail and winds likely at seventy miles per hour.” She turned to us. “Sorry, kids, you can’t sing your song. We need to tell everyone to seek shelter immediately.”
A voice came from a booth. “Adjusting the teleprompter. Ebony, you’ll lead with it.”
The anchorwoman nodded.
“Sixty seconds.”
“We could do a tornado song!” Scarlett said.
“No,” Mrs. Tandy said. “If we have kids singing, people might not take it seriously. This is an emergency.”
“But Mom—” Scarlett started to whine.
Mrs. Tandy said to Tom, “Clear the kids! Quick!”
Our dream was squashed!
As Tom rushed us to the door, I thought I couldn’t feel worse. But then Mrs. Tandy called out, “There’s more breaking news! Wait, Lucy!”
I turned around. She had her cell phone out and a terrible look on her face.
“Lucy,” she said. “Your dad is texting. Leo is missing!”
My heart was beating like crazy.
“Janet? What’s going on?” the voice from the booth said. “We’re on in thirty seconds.”
“It’s my neighbor Moz McGee,” Mrs. Tandy said. “He can’t find Leo, his son. Leo must have walked out of the shop they were in. Moz has looked everywhere. He just called the police for help.” She looked at me again. “Lucy, he wants to know if you have any idea where Leo might be.”
“Fifteen seconds, everyone,” the voice from the booth said. “We have to roll. We’ll confirm with the police and make an announcement about the missing child at the next update.”
Tom was holding the studio door open. Half my friends were in and half were out. All of them were staring at me. My mind was swirling
around like a tornado! I pictured poor little Leo out in the storm. What if he got hurt? What if we couldn’t find him? He would be so scared.
“Ten seconds.”
Then a thought popped into my head. “I might know where he is!” I said.
“Tell Tom!” Mrs. Tandy said, and we hustled out the door as the cameras switched on and the anchorwoman began to talk.
Out in the hallway, Tom looked at me.
“I think he might have gone to a park that we passed on our way,” I said. “It’s not far from here. Can we send a weather drone to look?”
Tom’s eyes popped open. “Great idea!”
We ran toward the drone control room. Tom told my friends to wait in the hallway outside and took me in.
“Leo will be okay!” Phillip called out.
It was a nice thing for him to say, but my whole body felt shaky.
Tom talked to the woman in charge of programming the drones and then he gave me his phone and told me to call my dad and tell him what we were doing.
“Oh, Lucy, we have to find him,” my dad said. Then his voice got as shaky as I felt. He stopped talking.
Tom took the phone. “We’ll keep you on the line so you can hear what’s happening, Mr. McGee. Just hold on.” He turned on the cell phone’s speaker and handed it back to me.
“Which park?” the drone woman asked.
“I don’t know the name, but it has a big pond and we passed it on the way here.”
“Adler Park!” the woman said. “No problem. We have a drone and a truck not too far away. Tom, let’s get a news crew ready just in case.”
“Dad,” I said into the phone. “I think he went to a park near the bagel shop called Adler.”
“I’m going!” he said. “Victoria’s mom came here. She can watch Lily.”