The Dramatic Geckos and the Mathletic Geckos entered the theater together. Thanks to Mrs. Burkle’s friend, we had part of the front row, second row, and third row blocked off for us.
I scanned the front of the theater to see if Operation Gecko Hick-o was in place.
Jazmine James was sitting in the very center of the front row, with her arms across the seats next to her. I grinned. Jazmine had some magic way of getting to the front-and-center seats in the classroom. She’d worked her magic here, too.
I texted our group:
Operation Gecko: Phase #1 Accomplished.
I went to sit in the third row, near the end of the aisle. Tess and Sam followed me in. We’d recruited Sam at the last minute, and he was totally happy to do his part.
The audience was all buzzing with excitement.
“I’m excited to see this play,” Tess said as we sat down. Then she lowered her voice. “But nervous, too, about . . . you know.”
I knew! I was nervous too, but feeling better as I watched the next stage of our mission happen. Ox took one of the seats Jazmine was saving. Hector sat down on the other side. Nick and Emma were nowhere in sight. And that actually was a good thing.
Everyone was in his or her place. I smiled that it had all gone so easily.
Until it didn’t.
“Hey, there’s Payton!” I heard a voice. “I want to sit with Payton!”
I saw Jason pointing at me. He was with his brother and his parents.
“Uh oh,” I said quietly to Tess. “This could make things tricky.”
I was nervous enough without my guidance counselor and the coach sitting right near me. And who knew what the twins would do nearby?
Jason ran up to me.
“Hi, Payton,” he said. “I wanted to sit by you but Mason won’t let me. He wants to sit in the front row because he thinks the star of the play is so pretty. He saw her picture in the program. Her name is Ashlynn.”
That was the first time I was happy to hear about how pretty Ashlynn was.
“So I have to sit with them,” Jason continued explaining. “Sorry!”
“I understand,” I told Jason.
That was close. I sat back down in my seat. The rest of the audience was sitting down. And then the lights dimmed. The curtain rose. And Fairytale Mash-up started!
I forgot about everything else as I watched the actors and actresses onstage. The actors and actresses we’d seen onstage were amazing. And, I had to admit, Ashlynn was amazing too.
When Ashlynn sang her song about being a princess searching for her dream, I got chills.
“She’s really good,” I whispered to Tess.
Everyone was laughing and having a good time. And then they came to the part of the play that snapped me back to reality. The audience participation part. Nobody but Operation Gecko team members noticed Ox get up from his front row seat and disappear into the dark aisle. Or if they did, they probably assumed he was going to the restroom. But since Jazmine had snagged a seat so close to the stage, Ox was able to slip easily into his position behind the curtains.
“Audience participation improvisation!” announced the actor who had played a woodchopper in an earlier scene of the mashed-up fairy tales. He called up a boy I recognized from Emma’s mathletes competition. Their skit was pretty funny. Then another actress called up a man who had to play her handsome prince. That was hysterical. The two guys sat down amid applause. It would have looked fun, except I knew what was coming.
And then it was Ashlynn’s turn. She smiled sweetly. It was so weird how she could seem so sweet and nice onstage. And then in person . . .
“I’d like to bring up . . .” Ashlynn walked down into the audience. She turned toward me. I took a deep breath and prepared myself . . .
“You,” Ashlynn said. She tapped Sydney on the shoulder with her princess wand.
“Me?” Sydney squealed. “Really?”
Really? Tess and I looked at each other.
“She didn’t pick you,” Sam said. “That’s not in our plan!”
Well, okay. Our plan was foiled. But really, the plan was only in place because we thought Ashlynn was going to try to embarrass me. And the other Geckos. So maybe Ashlynn had taken a turn for the nice after all!
“But I wanted to take her down,” Sam whined quietly.
“Our plan was defense,” I whispered back. “So if she didn’t go on the offense, we don’t need to do anything.”
Sydney practically skipped up to the stage. I started to think nicer thoughts about Ashlynn. Maybe she’d had a change of heart. Then Ashlynn suddenly stopped. And pointed her wand into the audience.
“Let’s let one more person have some fun.” She smiled. And she came over to me. And pointed her wand in my face.
There was no change of heart. It was still cold and black.
Tess’s eyes widened. Sam grinned. Operation Gecko Hick-o was about to launch.
I stood up and pretended to be nervous. Okay, actually, I was nervous. Ashlynn smirked at me and I followed her up onstage.
“It’s Payton!” Mason and Jason were practically jumping out of their seats with joy as they waved at me. I smiled at them as I joined Sydney onstage. Sydney scowled at me, but I just pasted on a smile.
I could see Mrs. Burkle beaming at me from the audience. And then the house lights went dim, the stage lights went up, and I couldn’t see anything past the stage.
“What’s your name?” Ashlynn asked Sydney.
“Sydney Fish,” Sydney said. “Future star!”
“What’s your name, little girl?” Ashlynn asked me.
“I’m Payton,” I said in my best clear voice. Mrs. Burkle would be proud.
“Sydney, in this improvisation scene you will play . . .” Ashlynn paused. “A tree!”
“A tree?” Sydney asked. “What kind of tree? A beautiful maple? A dramatic, tragic weeping willow? An apple tree that will feed the children?”
“A tree,” Ashlynn responded.
“Well, what’s my motivation?” Sydney asked her.
“Your motivation is that you stand there and be a tree,” Ashlynn said.
The audience chuckled. They didn’t know what I knew. This was going to be a humiliation attempt! I squinted to see if my Operation Gecko mates were in place, but the stage lights were too bright.
“And you,” Ashlynn told me. “You are going to be a frog. A very green frog.”
A frog! I was insulted for one split second. But then I realized how absolutely perfect that was going to be. I held back a grin so Ashlynn wouldn’t suspect anything.
“Ew, a frog.” Sydney laughed at me.
I pretended to be annoyed. I crouched down in a frog position. The audience chuckled.
“Hm, not just any frog.” Ashlynn pretended to think. “How about an . . . insane frog?”
The audience laughed. I played a good sport. I tried to look crazy. I jumped around a little bit. And oops! Lost my balance and fell over.
“Heh.” Sydney smirked at me.
Hey, it was a comedy and I was making the audience laugh. I knew Ashlynn was trying to embarrass me, but honestly, it was kind of fun!
“The story is, the frog—who, by the way, is covered with disgusting warts—thinks he is a prince and that a princess can turn him back into a prince,” Ashlynn said. “So the frog will do anything the princess wants.”
I could see where this was going.
“So I’m a Frog Servant?” I asked her loudly. And then I practically shouted. “I’m a Frog Slave?”
Ashlynn seemed surprised I was taking it so well. But I needed my voice to project realllly loudly.
“Why, yes.” Ashlynn nodded. “My Frog Servant. Let’s get into character now.”
She waved her princess wand in the air.
“Frog Servant, I’m thirsty,” Ashlynn said. “Fetch me a drink of water from my wishing well.”
I crouched down and frog-hopped to the side of the stage. I passed Sydney, who was standing like a tree. I preten
ded to dip a cup in water and hopped back to Ashlynn.
Ashlynn drank it up.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, Princess,” I said. “I sipped it too. You might get warts.”
The audience laughed. Ashlynn looked annoyed. But what could she do? It was a comedy!
“Hello, tree over here!” Sydney waved her branch—I mean, arm. “What about me?”
“Oh, your part isn’t yet,” Ashlynn said. “And shh, trees don’t speak.”
Ashlynn waved her arm and the lights over Sydney went off. She was in the back of the stage—in the dark! Obviously part of Ashlynn’s revenge and humilation.
“Frog, go bring me my glass slippers,” Ashlynn commanded. I hopped one way, but Ashlynn stopped me. “No, that way!”
I hopped the other way, almost falling over. It was a challenge to hop like a frog. Ashlynn had me hopping all over the stage as she barked directions to me.
I started to huff and puff a bit. The audience cracked up at my frogginess. Ashlynn was starting to look pleased with herself.
“Frog, fetch me my wand,” Ashlynn said. And she slid her wand to the side called “stage left.”
And that’s when we went into:
Operation Gecko: Phase #3
I hopped offstage to the left. I hopped past the wand, to behind the curtain, so the audience wouldn’t see me.
And then, from the complete opposite end of the stage, like magic, I jumped out again.
Okay, it wasn’t me! It was Emma! We were still in matching outfits, so it looked like I had magically gotten from one side of the stage to the other! I waited offstage.
Emma hopped over to Ashlynn and brought her the wand. Ashlynn looked confused but Emma smiled.
“How’d you do that?” Ashlynn sputtered.
The audience applauded.
Ashlynn then tossed the wand to the other end of the stage, stage right.
“Oopsie!” she said. “Fetch, Frog Slave!”
Emma quickly hopped across the stage without touching the wand, and kept going to stage right. I waited until she was hidden. Then, from stage left, I hopped back on. I grabbed the wand and brought it to Ashlynn.
Now she was really confused. How did I do that so fast?
The audience was cheering me on!
Emma went back to her hiding place on her side of the stage. I also knew Ox was there, standing in front of her to hide her. Hee.
Ashlynn’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t know what was going on, but she covered it up.
“Frog,” she commanded. “There’s one way to impress the princess enough to win her hand. And that is to sing for her.”
“Sing?” I said, as if I were surprised.
“Yes, you must sing me a song,” Ashlynn said. She turned to the audience.
“Every show of Fairytale Mash-up, we’re going to have one lucky member of our audience sing!” she announced. “How cool is that? It’s like our own American Idol showcase!”
The audience cheered. They thought that was cool. They didn’t know I couldn’t sing. But of course Ashlynn did.
I heard Sydney’s voice pipe from the rear of the stage.
“I’ll sing! Yoohoo! I’ll sing!”
But Ashlynn just had someone bring out a microphone and hand it to me.
I took a deep breath. I knew there were hundreds of people in the audience! All staring at me.
And I started to sing. And that was when:
Operation Gecko: Phase 4 went into play.
I couldn’t see him, but Nick was backstage with the sound and lighting guy! The guy Ashlynn had introduced him to earlier that day. He’d asked if he could sit with him. And Nick asked him to turn off the microphone. And turn up the music way, way loud.
To drown out my horrible singing voice!
The music was so loud, the audience couldn’t hear me singing!!!
I had planned to lip synch. But instead? I really sang. I sang on a this-close-to-Broadway stage in front of hundreds of people. And of course, they couldn’t hear me.
It was pretty awesome singing, knowing nobody could hear me.
Except that’s when the howling started.
Aroooo! Arooooo!
I looked offstage, confused. Then I saw the Pomeranians! Bebe, Barbra and LeaMichele were here at the show too! Ashlynn’s dog walker was holding the Pomeranians on a leash. And they were howling at me. Or maybe they were howling . . . with me.
Okay. My singing sounded like dog howling. I guess I should go back to lip synching.
“Frog Slave!” Ashlynn commanded. “Stop singing!”
The music cut off. And I spoke before Ashlynn could.
“Did I impress you?” I improvised. Then I sang in a horrible croak: “Ribbit!”
The audience cracked up again.
“No, that was terrible,” Ashlynn said, really ticked off that I was getting laughs. “You don’t win my hand. You have to stay a frog forever!!!”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I have my own true frog princess.”
And from her side offstage, Emma hopped out. She hopped over to me and I gave her a hug.
“It’s twins!” The audience roared with laughter! Then they broke out into huge applause! I could hear Mason and Jason yelling, “Go, Emma! Go, Payton!”
I saw the look on Ashlynn’s face.
“You twins—” she hissed. “You—”
“Time to go!” I whispered to Emma. “Hop it!”
Emma crouched down low and I leapfrogged right over her. She leapfrogged over me until we were almost offstage. The spotlight followed us as we leaped away from an unhappy Ashlynn!
And the audience went wild clapping for us! It was awesome.
“Turn the spotlight back on me!” Ashlynn had lost her temper. The spotlight went back on her. And that’s when it happened. Completely unplanned. Completely unscripted.
The spotlight shone on her shiny hair. And, boy, did she have shiny hair. I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
Something leaped through the air and onto the stage. It leaped up higher and higher until it landed in Ashlynn’s hair.
“Mascot!” Mason yelled from the audience. “My gecko!”
Mason’s gecko had leaped into Ashlynn’s hair. She was shrieking and dancing around.
The audience couldn’t see the teeny gecko or hear him. But Ashlynn did. And she shrieked. And danced around some more.
And then the dogs spotted the gecko. And three Pomeranians yanked free and raced over to Ashlynn. They were yipping and barking at the gecko! Ashlynn was dancing around, trying to figure out what was in her hair!
“Aack!” Sydney-the-tree shrieked. “What’s going on? When is something going to happen to me?” The actor who played the woodchopper came back out onstage. Emma and I just watched from offstage. “Timber!” the actor yelled, and “chopped” Sydney down.
Sydney looked furious, as the audience laughed even more. Sydney fell down and sprawled on the stage. Like a dead tree.
“Wow, Operation Gecko Hick-o even brought Sydney down!” Emma whispered to me.
How appropriate. But now what? I had an idea!
I ran back on the stage and over to the microphone.
“So I, the magic frog, placed a crazy spell on the princess,” I said into it. “I lived happily ever after with my Frog Princess, but this princess went insane.”
That did it. The audience went wild.
“Curtain!” Ashlynn hissed. And the curtain went down but it didn’t block the audience’s applause.
Operation Gecko had its own real-life gecko! And a great group of student Geckos to make it a huge success!!!
Bravo!
Twenty-two
ON A NEW YORK STREET
We had one more surprise waiting for us.
“Please line up for the bus,” Mrs. Burkle said.
“The bus ride home already?” we were all groaning. It had gone so fast.
“No.” Coach Babbitt was grinning. “The bus tour around New York City!”
/> And not just any bus.
“Double-decker bus!” Payton and I both yelled. It was a two-story bus with an open top!
“Woooot!” I yelled louder, pumping my fist in the air—but Payton grabbed my arm and pulled it down.
“Too awkward?” I asked her. Payton nodded. Well, maybe I’d never be a cheerleader, but I was a mathletes third-place winner! Woot!
“Twins on a double-decker bus.” Mrs. Nicely smiled at us as she checked our names off her list as we boarded. “You can share some double memories on a double-decker.”
“Remember the last time we took a double-decker bus together?” I asked Payton. “We were five and a half.”
“That’s so cute,” Tess said from behind us in line. “I bet you guys were so cute when you were little twins.”
“Yes!” Payton said. “We wore matching bright yellow dresses so Dad could spot us if we, well I, ran off. We sat together squished in a seat with Dad. And Emma corrected the tour guide on one of the facts—”
“I remember,” I interrupted Payton, shaking my head. “The tour guide said that Andy Warhol was New York City’s quintessential artist. But I said no way, it was Jacob Lawrence of the Harlem Renaissance. What was she thinking?”
“That you were annoying?” my twin said.
“More knowledgeable,” I said firmly. Ha.
I followed Payton to the stairs. We definitely wanted to sit up top. So did everyone else, and there was a line going up.
“You don’t want to sit with Nick?” I asked Payton. The two of them seemed to be getting along rather nicely, I had noticed.
“We should sit together,” Payton said firmly. “Twins on a double-decker bus. Wait, is that okay with you, Tess, if I sit with Emma? Will you sit near us?”
“Of course! You’re so lucky to have a twin sister,” Tess said. “Someone who understands you. Someone who has shared all your memories since you were born!”
“Technically, since I’m six minutes and fourteen seconds older, I did have six minutes and fourteen seconds of my own memories,” I pointed out.
“Emma, do you have to be so literal?” Payton sighed. “Besides, you don’t have any memories that early on.”
“Hello? I have a near-photographic memory,” I said as the line moved forward. “I remember everything. I came out wondering and curious into the world. You were crying and needed a diaper.”
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