Secondhand Wishes
Page 13
“Shouldn’t you be at the Once Upon a Time Theater right now?”
I grab today’s schedule from my back pocket. Sure enough, I was supposed to report for rehearsal five minutes ago.
“Oops, sorry about that,” I say, wondering how he knows my schedule better than I do. I mean, there are hundreds of crew members aboard this ship! “I guess time really flies when you’re dousing people with hand sanitizer!”
Curt doesn’t crack a smile. “Your replacement is on her way, so I’ll take over from here,” he says.
I gladly transfer my hand-spraying duties over to him and head to the theater on Deck 4. Tonight is the opening show, so we’re supposed to do a final run-through this afternoon to make sure everything looks right. Mom has been going on and on about how the Fairy Tale Extravaganza will set the tone for the rest of the weeklong cruise. Hopefully, that means it’ll go well. The last thing we want is for Fairy Tale Cruises’ maiden voyage to start off on a bad note.
I weave my way through the throngs of people and head down a corridor that’s blocked off with red tape so passengers won’t use it. This is the last part of the ship to be repainted. All the refurbishing was supposed to be finished before we left Fort Lauderdale, but I guess things got behind schedule. Still, the ship looks amazing now compared to how it was a few days ago when Mom and I first saw it. Before Fairy Tale Cruises bought this ship, it was used as a knitting cruise. Seriously. Not only were there rocking chairs installed all over the ship for people to sit in and knit, but the entire bow was painted to look like a wool hat, and the rest of the ship was covered in knitting-themed murals.
The biggest of the murals—showing famous knitters throughout history all connected with strands of yarn—is the one that’s being painted over right now. As I pause to admire the way the sunlight hits the faces of the people in the knitting web, one of them catches my eye. He looks familiar, but I can’t figure out why. I glance around to make sure no one is watching before pulling my camera out of my pocket and snapping a picture. Then I hurry off to rehearsal before my mom starts to think I fell overboard or something.
When I get to the theater, the lights are all on and the stage is covered with people milling around. It takes me a minute to find my mom in the chaos. Finally, I spot her perfectly styled black bob at the far end of the stage. It’s still kind of a shock to see her looking so put-together considering she was a wild-haired pajama dweller only a couple weeks ago, before she got this job offer. But that means Mom’s “fresh start at sea” plan is actually working. Not only is she back to her old self, but I might even get to have a little fun this summer.
Mom’s talking to the assistant cruise director, Aussie Andy, who’s furiously scribbling down everything she says. Funny how before I was born, Mom used to be the one doing his job, and now here she is, in charge of the entertainment on the entire cruise. You’d never know it by the calm, collected look on her face, but I can tell she’s nervous. The way her nose keeps twitching ever-so-slightly is a dead giveaway.
“All right, everyone!” Mom calls, clapping her hands. No one seems to notice. “Gather round!” she tries again, louder this time. Still no luck. Her nose twitches a tiny bit more. She’s clearly a little rusty at all this.
Finally, a guy in a prince costume lets out a loud whistle that nearly shatters my eardrums. “Listen up!” he bellows.
Mom gives him a grateful smile, though everyone else looks a little annoyed. “Now, ” she says, “we have an hour to run through the opening show one more time, so let’s make it count, okay? Remember that I’ll start things off with a welcome speech before the dwarves dance out onto the stage.” Her eyes lock with mine through the crowd. “Oh! And we have our special guest, Briar Rose, here with us today. Everyone, say hello to my daughter, Ainsley!”
Everyone turns to look at me, and I feel my cheeks growing hot. “Hey,” I say, waving. “Um, I’m excited to nap onstage while you guys do all the work.”
A couple of people chuckle while a few others seem to be sizing me up. I probably look like a little kid to them since I’m still a few weeks away from my thirteenth birthday. Briar Rose, the German version of Sleeping Beauty, was supposed to be played by a girl from Canada (and she was also going to be Katy’s roommate), but she had to drop out at the last minute. Mom had just accepted the job as cruise director when it happened, and she thought having me take the girl’s spot was the perfect solution. Even though I have no business being near a stage, in exchange for taking the part, I also got to take the girl’s bunk instead of rooming with Mom. Considering my mom’s extreme snoring, the offer was too good to turn down. Besides, battling stage fright is still better than staying with Dad for the summer.
While the other cast members shuffle into the wings to their places, I head into the audience to wait for my mom to be done.
And that’s when I spot him.
He’s wearing pointy shoes and green tights and elf ears, but he’s still the cutest boy I’ve ever laid eyes on. He seems to be one of the dwarves, although I don’t know which one. Bashful? Doc?
Wait, no. What am I saying? Those are Disney characters. I glance around, checking for Spies, paranoid that they might have heard my thoughts. Luckily, the coast is clear.
The dwarves line up behind Schneewittchen, which I guess is how you say Snow White in German. (Fairy Tale Cruises really isn’t taking any chances with this whole getting sued thing.) Cute Dwarf stands sixth among the other dwarves, looking off into the wings as if he’s contemplating something really deep. As my mom goes through her speech, he pulls a Moleskine notebook out of his pocket and jots something down.
Oh my gosh. Maybe he’s a songwriter! There is nothing cuter than an artsy guy, and at my jock-filled junior high back home, there is a serious artist shortage. Finally, someone I might be able to talk to.
As if he can sense me staring at him, Cute Dwarf glances out at the audience and his eyes meet mine. I swear I feel the ground—or sea—move under me. And then he … well, he doesn’t quite smile, but he gives me a soulful look, as if we share some kind of secret.
My entire body suddenly feels as if it’s been plugged into an electrical socket. Cute Dwarf noticed me! He almost smiled at me!
Maybe this summer will be better than I thought.
Copyright © 2019 by Anna Staniszewski
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
First edition, February 2019
Jacket art © 2019 by Mike Heath | Magnus Creative
Jacket design by Yaffa Jaskoll
e-ISBN 978-1-338-28020-3
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