by Mary Amato
It started to get dark, and the twinkle lights started shining.
“Let’s have a toast,” Resa said.
All my friends lifted up their cups. “I really wanted to see Ben & Bree,” Phillip said. “But this party was a good idea.”
“Thanks for inviting all of us, Lucy,” Mara said.
Everybody said thanks, and we all clinked our cups. When people clink your cup, it makes you feel happy on the outside and inside.
“Come on,” Saki said. “Let’s do the concert!”
We got our ukes and tuned up in the front yard.
“I think you should stand in the middle and introduce us,” Natalie said to me. “Because it’s your party, Lucy.”
We practiced a few times, and then we went into the backyard and announced that we were ready.
The grown-ups moved all the chairs to the grass, and we stood on the patio facing them like we were on a stage.
“Welcome to the Songwriting Club Concert,” I said. “We are going to sing three songs for you. One is a Ben & Bree song. We still like them even though they didn’t pick us to go to their concert.”
Everybody laughed.
“The other two songs are ones we wrote.”
“Because we are the Songwriting Club,” Phillip said. “That’s what we do.”
Everybody laughed again.
“Ready?” I looked at all my friends.
Everybody was smiling. The sky above us was dark now, which made the string of lights sparkle in the prettiest way. Everything was perfect. My stomach was full of good food. My lost uke was back in my arms. My brain didn’t have a single worry. We sang:
Love in my corner.
Love feeling warmer.
Love back to say hello, my friend.
After all these trips and falls,
I’m gonna get up, gonna gonna get up again.
I’m sure the Ben & Bree concert that night was great. But ours was great, too, and it was free!
Lucky me, Lucy McGee!
THE SONGWRITING CLUB SONGS
Have fun with the songs in this book. You can hear the songs and sing along by going to the special Lucy page on my site: www.maryamato.com/lucy-songs/.
You can also find out more about making up your own songs and learning how to play songs on a ukulele, piano, or guitar.
TWO BRAINS
I’ve got two brains in my mixed-up head.
They don’t get along. They fight instead.
One says yes and the other says no.
One says fast and the other says slow.
One hates my guts and the other thinks I’m fine.
I want to trade them in for a brand-new mind.
PITY PARTY
I’m a loser. I got no luck.
When a bird flies by, I forget to duck.
Four-leaf clover? Just makes me sneeze.
Cough near me, I’ll get a disease.
Come to my pity party, please, oh please.
Come to my pity party, please.
If it rains on my house, expect a flood.
At the end of my rainbow is a pot of mud.
Lucky ladybugs hide when I appear.
If I see a bee, it’ll sting my rear.
Come to my pity party, please, oh please.
Come to my pity party, please.
When I cross my fingers, all I get is an ache.
If I drop something fancy, it’s gonna break.
My genie in a bottle? Got shipped to France.
I get no prize when the game is chance.
Come to my pity party, please, oh please.
Come to my pity party, please.
I’m sad and squashed like a poor, ugly bug.
What I need right now is an itty-bitty hug.
Come to my pity party, please, oh please.
Come to my pity party, please.
GET UP
(BEN & BREE’S SONG)
Sun without warning.
Sun in the morning.
Sun dancing through my window pane.
Peace without warning.
Peace in the morning.
Peace back to say hello, my friend.
After all these trips and falls,
I’m gonna get up, gonna gonna get up again.
Time in my corner.
Time feeling warmer.
Time just to stretch and breathe and bend.
Light in my corner.
Light feeling warmer.
Light at this long, dark tunnel’s end.
After all these trips and falls,
I’m gonna get up, gonna gonna get up,
Gonna get up, gonna gonna get up again.
Joy without warning.
Joy in the morning.
Joy dancing through my window pane.
Love in my corner.
Love feeling warmer.
Love back to say hello, my friend.
After all these trips and falls,
I’m gonna get up, gonna gonna get up,
Gonna get up, gonna gonna get up,
Gonna gonna get, gonna get,
gonna get up again.
SING ALONG WITH MORE LUCY MCGEE ADVENTURES!
COMING SOON!
A STAR ON TV,
LUCY MCGEE
Chapter One
I hate wet socks. When it’s raining and you can’t find your rain boots, you have to be careful walking to school.
Today there were puddles everywhere. By the time I got to the end of my street, I had hopped over seven big ones. Only two blocks more to get to my school. So far so good. My dad was way behind me with Leo and Lily and the big black umbrella. They were walking super slow because my little brother, Leo, had to name every worm he saw on the sidewalk.
Wumpy, Chumpy, Humpy, Dumpy…Leo is excellent at names.
I walked ahead with my blue umbrella in one hand and my ukulele in the other. I turned the corner. Whoa! Right in front of the sidewalk heading into school was the biggest puddle of all. It was deep and wide and long and muddy.
I crouched down and got all my energy ready. I leaped! I soared! My feet lifted into the air and landed…plop! Right in the middle.
Disgusting.
I turned back and saw a red umbrella with legs and a ukulele poking out from under it heading for the same puddle. I knew those legs. I knew that ukulele. It was my friend Phillip Lee.
“Watch out!” I yelled, just as Phillip tried to hop over the puddle.
He landed in the middle. “Lucy! I hate wet socks.”
“Me too,” I said.
He walked toward me, water oozing out of his shoes.
“Well, you know what they say?” I asked.
He shrugged. “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?”
“When life gives you wet socks, sing about it!” I said, and started to make up a song:
It drizzled all night
and it’s pouring right now.
You think it’s raining cats and dogs?
I’d say it’s raining…cows!
Before you leave the house,
pack an extra pair of socks,
especially if you have to walk
a couple of blocks.
Phillip laughed. He added to the song:
The puddles are so deep
they’re probably filled with fish.
When you step in a puddle
your shoes go…squish.
“We got the rhymes!” I said. “Now it’s finish time.” I sang:
So pack that extra pair
of socks for your feet.
Your toes will thank you
and think you’re sweet.
Phillip tried to clap, which was hard
because he was holding his umbrella.
We sang the song again. Another umbrella with legs stopped to listen.
“Great song!” The umbrella lifted up. It was Pablo.
As we walked into the school together, Pablo said, “Hey, I’ve got an idea. It’s my turn to read the weather report on The Morning Mix. Teach me the song, and we’ll sing it together on the show. Your song is way better than what I was going to read.”
I started jumping up and down, my wet shoes landing with a squish, squish. Being on our school’s morning TV show is so fun. Only fifth graders get to do the show. Fourth graders like us can only be on as special guests.
“We have to hurry,” Pablo said. “Get your teacher’s permission and come to the Media Center. And bring your ukes!”
Pablo headed down the fifth-grade hall toward the Media Center.
“I’m glad our feet got wet,” Phillip said. “I think it’s destiny.”
Just then I heard a familiar sound coming down the hallway.
Clack, clack, clack.
I pulled Phillip behind Mr. Tapper’s big rolling garbage bin.
“What are we doing?” Phillip asked.
“Shh! We’re hiding.”
I crouched down.
“Why?” he whispered, and crouched down next to me.
“Listen…”
Clack, clack, clack.
We peeked out. Scarlett Tandy was coming. Scarlett is a friend of ours and she’s also in the Songwriting Club, which Phillip started. She can be fun, but she can also be a tornado of trouble. If Scarlett found out what we wanted to do, I was afraid she would make herself the star. I just wanted to keep it simple.
I crossed my fingers and hoped she didn’t see us.
Chapter Two
Hiding behind a garbage bin is hard enough. Hiding behind it when you’re dripping wet and you have a backpack and a ukulele and an umbrella, and you have to sneeze, is even worse. I pinched my nose to keep from sneezing and we waited.
Clack, clack, clack. Scarlett’s shoes were coming. Of course Scarlett’s shoes didn’t go squish, squish, squish. Even though she lives next to the school, her parents drive her whenever it rains.
The sound was getting closer and closer and my nose was getting ticklier and ticklier. And then Phillip’s eyes got huge. He pointed at my foot. I looked down.
Wriggling around on the tip of my shoe was a worm!
Phillip started to laugh, picked up the worm, and dangled it in front of my face, which made me want to laugh. My laugh and my sneeze came out in one big “Haha-achoo!”
Scarlett heard. “What are you two doing back here?”
Phillip looked at me. “What are we doing, Lucy?”
“Nothing. We’re just hanging out with our new friend Wumpy,” I said, and held up the worm.
“Ew!” Scarlett yelled as she clack, clack, clacked away. “You guys are disgusting!”
Phillip and I stood up.
“Was that mean of me?” I asked him. “I just think that if Scarlett knows what we’re doing, something bad will happen.”
He shrugged. “She always wants to be the boss of everything. It’s a problem.” Then he gave me one of his looks. “But she’s going to find out.”
“Let’s not go to our classroom. Let’s just go to the Media Center and do it!” I said. “We’re studying weather in science now, Phillip. Mrs. Brock will love our idea. Once she sees us on TV, she’ll be so proud of us she won’t care!”
Phillip shook his head. “No way. We need permission. Even if it means Scarlett finds out. Come on or Mrs. Brock will think we’re absent. Bring Wumpy along and we can put her in Mrs. Brock’s ivy plant.”
I looked at Phillip. He just didn’t understand. I had to take control, but how? And then a sneaky idea popped into my head.
“I’ve got it!” I said. “I know a way to tell Mrs. Brock what we want to do without Scarlett finding out! I’ll take care of Mrs. Brock. You go to the Media Center and tell Ms. Dell that I’m coming.”
“What if Mrs. Brock says no?”
“She won’t! See you in a minute.”
I put Wumpy in my pocket and headed toward our classroom. When I was outside the door, I set down my stuff and got out a piece of paper and a pencil.
Dear Mrs. Brock,
There is an emergency. Phillip and I must sing the weather report on The Morning Mix. We will be a little late to class, but it will be worth it. This is our duty.
Your helpful student,
Lucy McGee
I folded up the paper. Then I peeked into the classroom. Everybody was putting stuff in their cubbies.
I slipped the paper under the door and walked as quickly as possible to the Media Center. Mrs. Brock would see the note and be happy that two of her students were being creative and helpful. What could go wrong?