I grabbed my notebook and wrote myself a list.
As soon as I saw Charlie, Cici and Meg in the playground at school, I told them my idea of inviting the Fabulous Five to join our act. Luckily they all agreed it was the perfect solution.
I saw Olivia and Willow across the playground arm in arm. I jogged towards them.
‘Olivia,’ I called. ‘Willow. Can you wait a moment?’
The girls stopped.
‘I hear that you and the others are taking our place in the concert,’ said Olivia with a sniff. She didn’t look very happy about the idea.
‘Yes, we are,’ I said. I thought for a moment, wondering what to say next. ‘But the judges are worried that our act isn’t quite good enough.’
Olivia looked chirpier at this news. ‘I’m surprised they asked you, to be honest. I suppose they didn’t want to choose your little sister. That was definitely one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard.’
Olivia was right. Bella’s performance had been excruciating but I bristled in defence of my sister all the same. While we seemed to get on better most of the time now, Olivia still had an amazing talent for saying things that upset me. I wondered if I really wanted to go ahead with my plan.
‘I’m sure you guys will be great,’ said Willow hurriedly.
I decided to ignore Oliva’s gibe.
‘I have an idea for the concert tomorrow,’ I said. ‘An idea to make our act really outstanding. But we need your help.’
Olivia and Willow listened as I outlined my plan. Willow nodded her head. Olivia looked unimpressed to begin with, but then I could see that even she was excited.
‘All right,’ said Olivia. ‘We’ll do it.’
Friday morning dawned hot and bright. All of us were awake super-early. I jumped out of my bunk, jangling with nerves. This time I forced myself to eat my poached egg on toast. In the bathroom, I took a few deep breaths and stretched myself into a starfish to practise.
Papa and Mimi drove us to school. We had a full carload with Harry’s magical disappearing box, plus all the costumes and props. Bella had her tiger onesie costume. Harry had his magician outfit and magic bag. I was wearing my black singlet, leggings and sneakers with the rest of my costume packed in a tote bag. The concert was planned to start first thing after the morning bell.
Papa and Harry carried his box inside and stored it behind the stage. A number of students were on hand, dressed all in black, to help set up props for the different acts.
Parents, grandparents and friends of the school were all invited to come along for the special performance. Mimi and Papa were the first ones to take their seats.
Then Mum and Zoe arrived together. Mum gave me an extra-big hug. ‘I’m so proud of you, Pipkin. I know you’ll be fantastic.’
I hugged her back. ‘Thanks, Mum.’ Then I turned to Zoe.
‘I didn’t know you were coming, Zoe,’ I said.
‘There’s no way I’d miss it,’ she replied. ‘We arranged for my friend Lisa to mind the cafe for an hour or so. But it looks like all our customers are here anyway!’
We looked around as the hall filled with people. All my friends’ parents were there, including Nathalie and Eric, Charlie’s mum, Jodie, and her stepfather, Dave, Mariana and Phillip, and Willow’s mum, Caitlin. I felt sad when I thought that my dad couldn’t be here to see us all perform.
The parents all took their seats on chairs up the back of the hall. The front row was reserved for our VIP visitors. The students all sat cross-legged on the floor at the front. Mum went over to chat to Nathalie and Eric.
Zoe took out her phone. ‘I’m going to stand at the side, in that little alcove near the front, so I can take lots of photos of you all.’
This suddenly gave me an idea. ‘Zoe, do you think you could do me a really big favour, please?’ I asked. I glanced over to make sure Mum was still busy chatting.
‘Sure, Pippa,’ said Zoe. ‘What do you need?’
‘Do you think you could video our song and Harry and Bella’s magic show? I didn’t want to ask Mum to do it.’
Zoe nodded. ‘Of course I can. Any particular reason?’
‘I want to send the video to my dad in Switzerland so he can see us,’ I said. ‘Harry’s worked really hard and Bella’s so excited, and I know they secretly wish he could be here to see it.’
Zoe winked at me, her silver earrings swinging. ‘Consider it done.’
Charlie stuck her head around the door and beckoned to me. ‘Hurry up, Pippa,’ she called. ‘We need to get ready.’
At once I felt the nerves slam me in the stomach. I felt sick with anxiety. Not again, I thought, as Charlie disappeared towards the changing rooms. I followed her slowly, dragging my feet. Then I remembered what Dad had said, so I ran instead, taking big deep breaths, hoping to burn up some excess energy.
Two classrooms near the hall had been turned into changing rooms for the concert. One for the girls and one for the boys. Charlie went inside first. I stopped outside the door and I glanced behind me. No one was around.
I stretched myself up as high as I could in a wide-armed, wide-legged starfish position. Inside my head I roared, ‘I am ten feet tall and bolder than I have ever been. I’m going to smash this performance!’ I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths.
Charlie’s voice broke into my reverie. ‘Pippa, are you all right?’
I blushed fiery-pink and opened my eyes. ‘Dad says it’s a good technique for smashing stage fright.’
‘Excellent,’ said Charlie. She sprung into a starfish. ‘Let’s do it together!’
We stood outside the door in our identical starfish positions. I giggled at the absurdity of what we were doing. Charlie giggled back.
‘Feeling better?’ she asked.
‘Lots,’ I said. ‘We’re going to be brilliant!’
‘Let’s get dressed then,’ suggested Charlie.
Olivia, Jemila, Willow and Sienna were just inside the door doing gymnastics warm-ups in their leotards and leggings. Tash sat on a chair, supervising. I gave them a thumbs-up sign. Cici and Meg were at the back of the classroom, looking gorgeous in their colourful tutus.
‘There you are,’ said Cici. ‘We were starting to get worried you might have run away!’
‘No, I was just preparing,’ I said with a reassuring smile.
Cici handed me my fluffy sea-blue tutu. I wrapped it around my waist and tied the ribbon at the back, over my leggings.
Charlie helped me pin my pearl circlet in place. Then I helped her with her garland of cornflowers, pinning it firmly over her hair.
Cici pulled out a pale-pink lip gloss from her bag with a flourish. ‘To help with nervous dry lips and make you super-confident.’
I took the lid off the lip gloss and ran a slick over my lips. ‘Just the trick,’ I said. ‘Now I’m invincible.’
Mrs Marshall appeared at the door. ‘All right, girls. Are you ready? It’s time to take your seats.’
We bustled through the side door and into the hall. The other performers were already seated at the front, dressed in their costumes.
We wriggled and fidgeted with excitement as we sat cross-legged on the floor. The boys were sitting behind us.
Alex leaned forward.
‘Good luck up there, Pippa,’ he whispered. ‘Sing hard. You’ll be awesome.’
I smiled back at him. ‘Thanks, Alex.’
Our principal, Mrs Black, took the microphone. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, can you please stand while our very special guests from the mainland join us.’
Everyone stood up. We all craned our heads around to stare at the VIP guests. Two men and three women entered the hall. They were all wearing suits and were accompanied by two police officers, who stood at the back door. The five VIPs walked to the front row where Mrs Marshall showed them to their reserved seats next to Mrs Beecham.
Our curiosity was satisfied in just a moment when Mrs Black introduced them. ‘Kira Cove Primary School would like to give a
very warm welcome to the Honourable Kate Macnamara, State Minister for Education. We are so honoured to have you here on Kira Island to visit our school.’
Everyone clapped enthusiastically. The education minister was in the centre, dressed in a scarlet suit. She waved and smiled at the students. ‘Thank you, Mrs Black. I am delighted to be here.’
Mrs Black continued. ‘We also welcome our local member of parliament, Ms Li Ying, together with representatives from the Department of Education, Mr King, Ms Muller and Mr Kumar. Can you please give them a big round of applause?’
We all clapped again.
‘Now let the performances begin,’ said Mrs Black. She handed the microphone to Mrs Marshall, who was the MC, and took her place beside the ministerial party.
Cici passed down a stack of printed programs. I glanced at one.
The first act was the Kindy Kitty-cats, jigging to the kitty-cat song. The kids made heaps of mistakes but they were so cute that it didn’t really matter.
The little girl with no front teeth managed to get halfway through the dance before she realised that there was a huge audience watching her. Then she stood staring at the minister, sucking her thumb.
When the music finished, the dance teacher, Miss Demi, had to take her by the hand and lead her off stage.
The kitty-cats were followed by the senior band, in their crisp white uniforms, who played a swinging dance tune. Many of the parents were tapping their feet to the music. Then Alex and the boys danced their hearts out to their hip-hop routine. Their floor spins were spectacular. I clapped as hard as I could when they finished. So far the concert had been a resounding success.
The fourth act was Harry the Marvellous Magician. Harry swept onto the stage in his cloak and top hat, looking every bit the professional performer. Four stagehands carried the midnight-blue magic box painted with silver stars and moons and placed it in the centre of the stage.
Harry gave his opening spiel, then called for volunteers from the audience. Lots of students raised their hand, calling out ‘Pick me! Pick me!’.
‘Harry didn’t have an assistant on Tuesday,’ whispered Cici.
‘No, but he’s doing a new act,’ I replied. ‘Wait till you see it. It’s fantastic.’
Of course, I wasn’t at all surprised when he selected Bella, dressed in her tiger onesie, to come up on the stage to be his assistant.
For the first act, he strode up the central aisle and made the minister’s mobile phone disappear, much to the consternation of the two police officers, but he returned it a few minutes later with a flourishing bow.
Harry ‘lost’ the blue chiffon scarf in his magic fist and Bella managed to ‘find’ it in the collar of our local member, Ms Ying. We all craned our heads to watch. I was thrilled to see the State Minister for Education applauding and chuckling with delight. The audience oohed and aahed over his disappearing silver ball trick and laughed when Bella pulled the toy rabbit out of his top hat.
‘For our final act,’ said Harry, ‘I’m going to make this terrible tiger disappear. Young lady, would you mind stepping inside my magic box?’
He opened the midnight-blue door to reveal the black-painted interior. Bella made a great show of swaggering into the shadowy box. She turned around to face the audience and gave a cheeky grin. Harry closed the door, took his wand and waved it in the air.
‘Abracadabra. Alakazam!’ cried Harry. ‘Make this maiden magically melt away.’
He tapped the box three times with his wand. Then he flung the door open. ‘Tada!’
Inside the box was completely empty. Bella had disappeared.
‘Ooh,’ cooed the audience.
‘How did he do that?’ whispered Meg.
‘Magic,’ I replied, waggling my eyebrows.
Once again, Harry ‘forgot’ to say the magic words so the box was still empty. But on the third attempt, when Harry opened the door, Bella bounced out of the box, beaming from ear to ear.
The crowd went crazy, hooting and clapping.
Harry and Bella bowed, then bowed again as the applause continued. My siblings had done a brilliant routine. I felt my heart bursting with pride.
‘It’s our turn,’ whispered Meg, as Harry and Bella left the stage. I’d been so busy enjoying the other performances that I hadn’t had time to get nervous yet. At once the familiar butterflies started doing cartwheels in my tummy.
The helpers cleared away the magic box and set up a stool in the centre of the stage as well as our microphones. I took a few deep breaths. Have courage, I told myself. Act confident and you’ll be confident.
Charlie and Cici grabbed their guitars, wearing them across their chests on long shoulder straps. I followed the girls up the stairs and behind the curtains. I stretched myself out into my starfish position and whispered my mantra to myself. I’m ten feet tall and bolder than I’ve ever been…
‘And our final act is… the Sassy Sisters,’ called Mrs Marshall.
Charlie took my hand. ‘You’ll be great,’ she assured me.
‘It’ll be fun!’ I replied.
The four of us ran onstage in our frothy tutus. The audience cheered. This time, we stood in the centre of the stage in front of the lone stool. Charlie counted us in. ‘One, two, three…’
In the audience I could see Mrs Beecham waving at me. Mum was in the front row of seats and she blew me a kiss. Zoe stood to the right against the wall and pointed to her phone to show me she was videoing. She gave me a thumbs-up sign. I felt a big bubble of happiness well up as we started to sing, jigging and swaying to the music.
Halfway through the first verse, the door at the back of the hall burst open. Four girls in black leotards and hot-pink tutus pranced through the door, waving their arms in the air in time to our music. It was Olivia, Willow, Sienna and Jemila with broad grins on their faces. We had made extra tutus for them yesterday afternoon. Olivia led them in single file, tumbling and cartwheeling down the central aisle through the middle of the audience.
When they reached the front, the group split, skipping up the stairs on either side of the stage, two by two. The girls began to dance behind us. Olivia disappeared for a moment behind the side curtains, then she helped Tash hobble out to sit on the stool in between us. Tash’s left leg was still swollen, wrapped with bandages under her leggings and tutu.
Tash beamed as she began to sing the words with us. We sang the last verse to the song, ‘As the summer sun goes down, happy Kira Dreaming…’
Olivia, Willow, Sienna and Jemila flung themselves into a series of cartwheels in a giant circle around us. Tash twitched as though she was itching to join them.
The crowd roared and clapped as we finished our song. Charlie had been right. It was fun!
Charlie, Cici, Meg and I crowded together in a big bear hug, our arms wrapped tight around each other, smiling with relief. Then Tash, Willow, Sienna, Jemila and finally Olivia swarmed around us, joining the embrace.
And with that our concert was over. We’d done it.
Afterwards was a confusion of congratulations and chatting. All the performers were invited to have a special morning tea to meet the minister and the other VIPs.
The State Minister for Education shook hands with us all, one by one, murmuring compliments about our performances. Then she gave a short speech, explaining that she was here as part of a study tour visiting several remote schools.
‘I’ve spent time in many schools around the state but that was the best talent quest I’ve ever seen,’ Ms Macnamara said, beaming around at all of us. ‘You should all be very proud of yourselves.’
Then she looked straight over at Meg, Charlie, Cici and me.
‘But I must say, I particularly enjoyed the singing and dancing performance of my new favourite song, “Kira Dreaming”,’ she said. ‘I am so impressed that a small school like this, on a tiny tropical island, could produce such a professional performance. It is a huge credit to the students and teachers of Kira Cove School. Well done all of you.’
Zoe was out the front of the cafe, writing up the specials on the chalkboard. I asked her if she could send Dad the videos that she had taken on her phone. She winked and said it was next on her list.
Inside, we checked on tiny Smudge. She was in her crate, up on a sideboard out of the way, where she could see everyone coming and going. Our kitten already looked so much better. Her coat was now black and glossy, and she had put on weight. Smudge no longer cowered in her crate, but scampered over to the door to rub her cheek against my finger.
I carefully lifted her out and snuggled her. Last night had been the first time we’d been allowed to cuddle Smudge, but only for a few minutes. Her fur felt soft and velvety under my chin. A purr rumbled deep in her chest.
‘Hello, Smudge,’ I whispered to her. ‘I’m so glad you came to live with us.’
Mum noticed me cuddling the kitten. ‘Pipkin, why don’t you take her to your room and let her have a good run around up there with the door closed? Caitlin said that today we could start to let her out as long as it’s in a contained space.’
Harry and Bella followed as I carried the crate upstairs and put it inside my empty bedroom. I closed the door and let Smudge out of her crate. Harry and Bella took turns cuddling her on the floor while I went upstairs to the tower room to make some special preparations for today’s meeting. When I was done, I went back downstairs to wait for the girls.
As I clattered down the stairs, I heard the phone ringing, then Mum’s voice as she answered it.
Mum paused for a moment, then called me over and handed me the phone. She had a funny look on her face and her voice sounded a little wobbly. ‘It’s for you, Pipkin. It’s your dad.’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Hello, Dad?’
This time Dad’s voice sounded a long way away and rather crackly. ‘Good morning, sweetheart – I mean, I suppose it’s nearly good evening there now…’
Kira Dreaming Page 9