The Callback

by Maddie Ziegler

  “Yeah,” Lily said. “I was thinking that too.”

  “Hello, hello!” Lily’s dad called out from behind the counter to us. The Bunheads were already sitting at one of the high-top tables. “Harper, did Lily tell you about our new offerings? We are celebrating fall coming, with caramel apple frozen yogurt and candy corn as a new topping.”

  “I’ll try them!” I said, taking a little test cup. It was fun to try the new stuff. I didn’t really like the caramel apple fro-yo, but I definitely liked the candy corn. I got a bigger cup and poured myself a mix of vanilla and Creamsicle, and put candy corn and marshmallow fluff on it.

  Then I joined everyone at the table. Megan and Riley were drinking smoothies, Trina had a boba tea, and Lily also had a cup of yogurt. I sat down next to Trina, across from Riley and Lily. Megan sat on the end of the table.

  “How can you drink that stuff?” Megan was saying to Trina. “The squishy things in it are gross.”

  “I like the little bubbles,” Trina said. “They’re so chewy.”

  “So slimy.” Megan rolled her eyes. “Everyone is here. Let’s get to business. Let’s talk solos. Riley, you start.”

  “Wait, what are we doing?” I asked. “I thought we were here for team bonding.”

  “Exactly,” Megan said. “I thought we could bond over our solos. Let’s go around the table and tell the hardest moves Vanessa gave you. Riley, you go first.”

  Hmm.

  “Well,” Riley said. “My hardest move is my aerial. It’s hard because—”

  “So,” Megan interrupted. “Harper, how about your dance?”

  Megan wasn’t even trying to be subtle. Megan was gathering intel so she could compare our dances.

  “I think I need a little solo time with my solo before I share,” I said. “To bond with it.”

  Lily snorted quietly.

  “Pfffft!” Megan said. “We’re a team. Just tell something.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I really like my dance. It’s intense.”

  “Intense? Intense as in slow and boring? Mine is pretty dramatic and fast-paced and exciting,” she boasted.

  “I meant intense as in challenging,” I said to her. “You know, how Vanessa said she was going to challenge us—”

  “What’s your hardest dance move?” Megan interrupted me, leaning in.

  “I have a couple of them,” I told her, taking a casual bite of my yogurt. “What’s your hardest dance move?”

  “I have a couple of them too,” Megan shot back. “More than a couple.”

  “Yeah,” I said, not giving in. “Same.”

  “Megan, come on,” Trina said, rolling her eyes. She turned to me. “She just wants to know how hard your dance is compared to hers.”

  “Excuse me!” Megan glared at her.

  “That’s what you said!” Trina protested.

  “You’re not supposed to tell them that,” Riley hissed, and the table moved. Trina grabbed her leg and winced from the kick under the table.

  “Wow, this is great team bonding,” Lily said cheerfully.

  “Okay, okay,” Megan grumbled. “Let’s move forward. Next on my agenda—”

  “You have an agenda?” I asked her.

  “Yes,” Megan said. “Since Vanessa refuses to choose an official team captain, I’d like to propose that we have an unofficial one.”

  “That is a great idea,” Riley said, sounding very rehearsed. “I nominate Megan. All in favor, say yes.”

  “Um, what even is happening here?” Lily looked at me.

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “We haven’t discussed this. What does a team captain do?”

  “A team captain is the captain, the leader, the person that leads,” Megan explained slowly, like I was a little kid.

  “Yeah, I get that,” I said, suspiciously. “Specifically, though. What would you do?”

  “Well, they have . . . really good ideas, okay?” Megan said. “And it’s easier to run things if you have a captain. I mean, seriously, haven’t you had captains on your teams before?”

  “Sure, for my lacrosse team,” Lily said.

  “Well, there you go,” Riley said. “Okay, let’s try again with nominations.”

  Megan’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head at that as she stared down Riley.

  “I nominate Megan—again.” Riley picked up on her cue.

  “I nominate Harper,” Lily said.

  That was really nice of her. But it was obvious we were outnumbered by Bunheads.

  “I still don’t think this is legit,” I said.

  “Let’s vote!” Megan said. “Everyone who thinks this is legit, raise your hands.”

  Megan and Riley raised their hands, and Trina raised both hands.

  “You can only vote once,” Riley said to Trina.

  “I know, but Megan said to raise your hands,” Trina told her.

  “Three to two. We are going to vote on a captain,” Megan said. “Okay, everyone who votes for me, Megan, to be captain, raise one of your hands.”

  Riley and Trina each raised a hand. Megan jumped up and clapped.

  “Oh my gosh, thank you all!” Megan clasped her hands to her chest. “I’m honored to be your captain. Your fearless leader.”

  Lily looked at me. I shrugged back. I wasn’t too worried about this. Megan always tried to take charge anyway, so until Vanessa told me Megan was the actual captain, I didn’t know if anything changed.

  “So, Madame President, what will be your first order of business?” I asked her. Her face lit up. She was really taking this seriously.

  “Well, since some people aren’t willing to be team players with solos”—Megan gave me a side eye—“let’s discuss the group dance.”

  That actually sounded like a good plan.

  “Well, we all agree we want to step up our game,” she said. “So I looked at all our class schedules and came up with these times for additional rehearsals.”

  Megan sent out a group text. I skimmed it. Monday after rehearsal, Tuesday after class, Wednesday before class . . . Whoa. She had us scheduled every single day plus weekends.

  There was no way I could do this. Especially now that I was going to be in rehearsal in the school musical on the weekends.

  “Um, I’m not going to be able to do this schedule,” I said. “School stuff.”

  “Me neither,” Lily said. “I have to help at the store.”

  Megan leaned on the table with her hands.

  “Third place,” she said quietly. “Who here is happy with third place?”

  “Top three was good for our first competition,” Trina protested.

  “Not! Good! Enough!” Megan pounded the table with her fists, making us all jump, including the family sitting a few tables down.

  “Is everything fine over there?” Lily’s dad even noticed. “Can I get you something? A relaxing lavender tea?”

  “We’re fine.” Lily smiled at him.

  “Mr. Sugar Plums,” Megan said. “Would Lily be able to rehearse a little more the next few weeks until our next competition? After that, we can offer you extra help. Riley here will help out any way she can!”

  Judging by her face, this was news to Riley.

  “Well, we’re hiring someone new,” Lily’s father said. “So Lily will have extra time.”

  “I will?” Lily brightened. “Oh, cool! Thanks, Dad!”

  “Well, that’s exciting,” I told Lily. She seemed really happy.

  “So we’re all good!” Megan said, totally disregarding me.

  “Uh . . .” I raised my hand. “Not quite. I’m going to have to miss a couple of these.”

  “I’m not going to apologize for being passionate about this. I want us to be champions,” Megan said. “Did you see what the Bells posted?”

  I hadn’t. I did look as Megan held up her phone.

  The Bells’ new team, Energii, was standing in their white, yellow, and orange team jackets. Isabella was front and center in the picture, holding a huge trophy.
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  “What’s that from?” Trina gasped.

  “They went to Alabama for a competition,” Megan said. “They posted that last night. They came in first place. First!”

  “Energii is really good.” Trina nodded. “They’ve gotten lots of first places.”

  “Yes, but hello? Who’s holding that first-place trophy? Isabella,” Megan said. “It’s the Bells’ first win there—and they’re letting Isabella hold the trophy like she won it for them.”

  Megan looked at each of us fiercely.

  “Don’t you want to post a picture of the Squad with a first-place trophy?”

  Yes, I could totally agree with that one. No-brainer. I wasn’t going to let Megan push me around. We all knew she wasn’t really the captain. But she did have a point. We did have a lot of competition, and we did want to win. In her own way, Megan was motivating. Annoying, but motivating.

  “First! Place! Trophy!” Megan said, waving the phone in my face. “Harper, it’s all up to you now. Are you in?”

  Everyone looked at me.

  “I’m in,” I said. “DanceStarz on three!”

  We all put our hands in, went one, two, three, and cheered!

  “This is going to be the best dance ever,” Megan said.

  CHAPTER

  6

  This is going to be the worst dance ever!” Zora said, too loudly. Mrs. Elliott turned to her and Zora looked at us sheepishly.

  “Please show a little faith,” Mrs. Elliott said. “We are improving every—NO! Eeels! NO! Left, right, through—not under!”

  Rehearsals for The Little Mermaid dance were actually going really well—for me! My dance steps were tricky, but nothing compared to what I had to do for competition dance, so I felt my confidence rising every time I was onstage with the others.

  But overall, the dance wasn’t going so well.

  “Crabs! Crabs scuttle forward-back-forward, not back-forward-back!” Mrs. Elliott called out.

  “Sorry!” One of the seaweeds stepped on my foot. “Sorry!”

  “It’s okay,” I told her. It was, except when we tried it again, the seaweeds were a beat late and almost knocked a puffer fish off the stage.

  “Okay, let’s break on ‘Under the Sea’ for today,” Mrs. Elliott said. “Why don’t you all head to your regular lunch. Chef Louis, stay behind to work on the kitchen scene.”

  I went down the steps off the stage and grabbed my stuff.

  “I can’t get that timing to work,” Courtney the eel complained. “I keep knocking into the mer-sisters.”

  “We noticed” Zora sighed.

  “I think you’re moving too early. You need to move on four count, not three,” I suggested, tentatively.

  “I have no clue what that means,” Courtney said.

  “On the combo? The eight count?” I continued. Courtney just shrugged.

  “I’ve never taken a dance class in my life.”

  “Me either,” Frankie said. “Dancing is really hard!”

  “Tell me about it!” I laughed. We reached the cafeteria and I said good-bye. I went over to sit with Lily, Riley, and Naima.

  “Oh!” Lily perked up. “I thought you weren’t going to be here today. Because of your . . . um . . . quiz.”

  She looked over at Riley and Naima, but they weren’t really paying any attention anyway.

  I really needed to tell Vanessa about my musical so I could stop hiding it.

  “I finished my quiz early,” I said. Just as I sat down, Zora and Courtney came up to our table.

  “Hi, Pearl!” they said.

  “Who’s Pearl?” Riley looked around.

  “Sorry to bug you, Pearl,” Zora said. “But can you explain what you were talking about with the eels, the crabs, and the mermaids? We’re kind of stressed.”

  Riley leaned closer to me.

  “Uh, we have a science quiz,” I said to Riley. “About sea creatures.”

  “Mermaids are on your science quiz?” Riley asked us.

  “Ha!” I let out a little nervous laughter. “Ha-ha! Mermaids on a science quiz!”

  I realized I was coming off like a total goof. Riley was looking at me, eyebrow raised.

  “I’ll be right back!” I said cheerfully. I jumped up and fled across the cafeteria to a table that was full of the cast and crew eating their lunches.

  “Harper’s going to help us with our dance,” Zora announced.

  “Hey, Harper!” “Pearl’s here!” Everyone shifted down the bench to make room for me. Ariel, the girl playing Ariel patted the seat next to her. Prince Eric was sitting down the table, on the other side. I felt a little shy as I sat down with them.

  Drew. He was cute.

  “So, Harper.” Ariel turned to me. “Your dancing is amazing. Teach me your ways.”

  “Oh!” I smiled at her. “Thanks! You’re already a good dancer, though—and singer.”

  “Have you seen her act, yet?” Zora said. “She’s a triple threat. Do you act and sing?”

  “I definitely don’t sing. My little sister has a good voice, but not me.” Then I paused and surprised myself  by saying: “I kind of would like to act a little, though.”

  “You can try out for the spring play!” Ariel said. Everyone else nodded. It was nice how enthusiastic and supportive they all were.

  “Oh wait, I don’t know about that,” I said, quickly changing the subject. Acting seemed pretty scary. It was the one part of dancing I was really trying to improve. “But anyway, did you have dance questions?”

  “Oh my gosh, yes,” Courtney said. “I keep running into everyone.”

  “She does.” Frankie nodded.

  I thought about how the dance had gone. While I’d been concentrating on trying to do my best, I also had noticed what was going on around me.

  “Okay, one issue that you guys are having is your timing.” They looked at me blankly. I stood up and pushed back my chair. “Okay, let me demonstrate.”

  I went in front and showed them a simple combo they had, going by counts. One, two, three . . . I danced as everyone was craning their necks to see what I was doing.

  “I can’t see! Can you do that again down here, too?” someone down the table asked.

  I waltzed down the length of the table, then I added a little spin. I smiled when I saw people nodding, like they were getting what I was trying to say. But then my smile dropped. I could see Riley watching me from across the cafeteria, very interested.

  “You know what,” I said. “Maybe I can go over this later, at the next rehearsal? I mean, if it’s okay with Mrs. Elliott. She’s the choreographer.”

  “Oh, she’d be thrilled,” Ariel said. “She has to work with us on so many things. Maybe we can meet after school or over the weekend?”

  Ouch—that would be kind of hard because of this whole rehearse-every-day mission Megan was on. I was about to say I couldn’t, but then—

  “Pearl?”

  I looked up behind me. Drew was standing there. His dark blond curls flopped over his head as he looked down, and he smoothed them back with his hand.

  “Would you help me with my dancing too?” he asked.

  “Yar,” I said stupidly. “I mean, yes! Okay! Yes!”

  Oh my gosh, now I was sounding like a super dork. He probably regretted even asking me.

  “Please, please help us.” Ariel laughed. “When we do our last dance together, it’s so awkward. Last time we did our waltz, I practically punched him in the face. By accident, I swear!”

  “And I stomped on her foot.” Drew laughed.

  “How about Saturday at my house?” Ariel said. “We have a big basement, and I can invite everyone.”

  “Great, I’ll be there!” Drew said.

  “Me too!” I said, a little too enthusiastically. Fortunately, he didn’t pick up on that.

  The bell went off. Oh my gosh, I hadn’t even started eating my lunch. Everyone started packing up their stuff to get ready to leave.

  “Bye, Pearl!” Ariel said. �
��See you Saturday!”

  “See you Saturday!”

  CHAPTER

  7

  I’m starving!” I said as I burst into my house. “Feed me!”

  “We have to leave in forty-five minutes!” Mom said.

  I looked in the fridge. I grabbed some cheese wedges and strawberries. I was so hungry, I immediately stuffed some berries in my mouth. Mo was jumping around my feet, hoping to catch some people-food crumbs. Then I went to the pantry and opened the door and—

  “AAAAAAHHHHHH!” I screamed. Something grabbed my leg.

  Hailey was scrunched up in the bottom of the pantry.

  “Ha!” Hailey jumped out of the pantry, holding my mom’s video camera. “Gross, you just spit berries all over me.”

  “Well, guess what? I wasn’t expecting you in the pantry,” I told her, wiping my mouth off.

  Mo barked around us.

  “It’s for Hailey on the Daily! I’m doing pranks.”

  “Okay, no,” I said. “Give me that camera.”

  “Don’t erase it!” Hailey said. “Don’t erase it! I need material!”

  “Give me the camera or I’m telling Mom,” I said. Hailey made a face and gave me the camera.

  I rewound her camera and watched what she’d been filming. I watched as Hailey’s face came on-screen.

  “I’m hiding in the pantry,” Hailey whispered. “My sister will be coming home from school, and she always gets a snack. I’m going to freak her out. Okay, I hear her! She’s coming!

  Then the screen gets light as I open the door and then . . .

  Mmflpmp.

  You can hear me scream, but you can’t see anything except Hailey’s floral leggings. Then you can hear Hailey say, “Gross, you just spit berries all over me!”

  “How’d it come out?” Hailey asked me. “How’s it look?”

  “Well,” I said, “I think you need to work on your camera skills a little.”

  I handed her the camera, and she watched it herself.

  “Oh, no! You can’t see anything!” she wailed. “That would have been so good! Now I have nothing for today’s show!”

  “Sorry,” I said. “It’s not like you’re really posting daily, so nobody will really know.”

  Her face fell.