The Callback

by Maddie Ziegler

  “And . . . pose!” I held my pose.

  “Yeah, we’re totally embarrassing!” Ariel said. I was laughing hilariously, until I saw something that completely threw me off.

  “Hey, you’re showing your emotions on your face!” Zora said to me happily. Then she frowned. “Uh-oh. And they don’t look like happy ones.”

  Riley was standing at the back of the room. And she definitely did not have happy emotions on her face either.

  CHAPTER

  15

  I walked into Squad rehearsal, nervous. I hadn’t seen Riley since I’d spotted her in the back of the arts room earlier that day. She’d left as soon as I saw her.

  Maybe she hadn’t seen anything. Maybe she wouldn’t say anything.

  I entered Studio 3, and the Bunheads were already there. Riley stood there, her arms crossed accusingly. Trina looked confused.

  “Harper!” Megan smiled. “Hiiiii!”

  “Hey,” I said. I didn’t flinch, as I went to put my bag in a cubby. Then I sat on the floor to start stretching.

  “As team captain, I feel obligated to let Vanessa know if there’s a question of commitment that’s affecting the team—we need to take care of it. It has come to my attention that someone has a conflict with an activity that’s not dance.”

  Riley and Megan looked smugly at me.

  “ALL RIGHT!” Trina burst out. “I’ll tell you!”

  Everyone swung around to look at her.

  “I joined the Robotics Club!” Trina wailed.

  Everyone paused. That was unexpected.

  “Robotics? Like, robots?” Riley stood up and did the robot to demonstrate. Then she smirked.

  “I know, it’s so nerdy,” Trina wailed. “But I don’t care if you think I’m a big dork!”

  “What? I don’t think that,” Megan said. “Robotics is pretty cool. Really smart.”

  “Oh!” Trina calmed down a little. “Okay. So anyway, I’m helping program a robot to break down dance steps.”

  “But it’s not cool that you’re keeping secrets from me.” Megan frowned. “I mean us. I didn’t even know you were into robots.”

  “I didn’t either! But I was talking to this girl Frankie when I went to help Harper and her cast. She told me about Robotics Club.”

  My heart sank.

  “You knew about Harper’s musical? You helped the cast?” Megan said.

  “Oh!” Trina clamped her hands over her mouth. “Sorry, that was supposed to be a secret.”

  “So many secrets around here,” Megan commented.

  I cringed. She was really furious. I tried to help Trina out.

  “You know Trina teaches people and she has to keep it on the down low.”

  “Actually,” Megan said. “Riley told us about what is going on.”

  Well, then.

  “Okay,” I said snippily. “I didn’t know I had to report everything I did to you Bunheads.”

  “You do if it affects us,” Megan snapped back. “As team captain, I feel like I need to be apprised when one of us on the Squad goes out of bounds.”

  Out of bounds? Seriously?

  “I saw you showing your dance to a bunch of randoms at lunch,” Riley said. “And they were giving you ideas of how to do better.”

  “So, why would you ask some randoms to help you?” Megan said, circling me. “It’s a mystery. That’s when I realized what was really going on.”

  Yup. She knew.

  “Spit it out, Megan,” I said. She was enjoying stressing me out too much.

  “They weren’t some randoms! They were professional dance teachers you hired to come in at lunch,” Megan finished. She gave me a smug look.

  I burst out laughing. “Wait, what?” I blurted. “You think I hired ten people to teach me?”

  “You probably need a lot of help.” Megan shrugged. “So you didn’t hire them?”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t believe my secret was still safe.

  “Okay, but if that’s not why would you want advice from people who aren’t even good enough to be on the Squad? It makes no sense,” Megan said.

  “Sorry I’m late.” Lily burst in the door. Then she skidded to a stop. “What’d I miss?”

  “You missed me telling everyone about Harper at lunch today,” Riley said. “After she ditched us, I saw her.”

  “Oh, no,” Lily said, and then before I realized what was happening, she continued, “They know about you and The Little Mermaid?” As soon as she said it, her eyes got wide and she clamped her hand over her mouth as she realized what she’d just done.

  Oh. No.

  “Wait, what?” Megan said.

  “Nothing!” I said loudly, but everyone’s attention was on Lily.

  “The Little Mermaid?” Lily said. “Riley said she ‘discovered’?”

  “Riley discovered mermaids?!” Trina got really excited. “Real ones?”

  “No, Trina,” Megan said, rolling her eyes. “Riley didn’t discover real mermaids.”

  “Oh. I’d love to meet a mermaid,” Trina said, disappointed. “Oh wait, do you mean Harper’s musical?”

  “That’s it! The Little Mermaid is our school musical!” Riley said.

  “I thought you just said you knew that!” Lily said to her. She turned to me, upset. But I couldn’t get mad at her. It wasn’t her fault.

  “You’re in your school musical?” Megan asked.

  “Yes—but I’m only in one dance,” I said. “I didn’t audition or anything. My English teacher asked me to help out.”

  “Wait, when you couldn’t practice with me, is that where you were?” Megan said. “Hmm. Does Vanessa know about this?”

  Er. Not yet.

  “Megan,” I said. I needed to deflect. I tried to appeal to her ego. “Speaking of The Little Mermaid, you look like a Disney princess!”

  That was weak.

  “Do you think?” she said. “Which one?”

  It worked! I couldn’t believe it worked. The rest of the girls, including Lily, who winked at me, began debating which princess she looked most like. And totally forgot about playing detective and figuring out where I really was at the last practice. My secret was safe. For now.

  CHAPTER

  16

  When we got out of the car, Hailey went right into the house and to her room without saying anything.

  I’d better go stretch, I’d better go do my homework, I’d better . . .

  Something about Hailey’s face, though, got to me. I hadn’t hung out with her in days. I realized something.

  I knocked on her bedroom door.

  “Hi.” I peeked my head in. “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing. Just watching videos,” Hailey said, not looking up from her tablet.

  “Are you watching Hailey on the Daily?” I sat down on the bed next to her.

  “What? No,” Hailey said. “I’m not even doing that anymore.”

  “You aren’t?” I asked her. “Why not?”

  “It was stupid,” she said. “Everything I tried didn’t work.”

  “You shouldn’t quit. You’re a good filmmaker!” I protested. “Even Megan was impressed with what you filmed of our dances. That was really helpful, by the way.”

  “She was just being nice,” Hailey grumbled.

  “I thought your show was funny,” I said.

  “It didn’t work without you,” Hailey complained. “I didn’t have anyone to help me.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “Once I’m done with this play and the solos—”

  “Then you’ll get the solo and you’ll just have to rehearse all the time,” Hailey said.

  “No, I promise I’ll help you,” I said. “It’s fun. I like your show.”

  “There’s no show,” Hailey muttered, and went back to watching her tablet.

  I felt really bad. I went downstairs, where my mom was working on her laptop.

  “Hi, honey,” she said. “Hang on one second. Just working on a client’s spreadsheet . . . and done.
What’s up?”

  “Hailey seems sad,” I said.

  “Yeah, she’s going through a little rough patch adjusting to the move, I think,” Mom said. “I’m hoping she can make some good friends in school. I don’t think it’s clicking for her yet, but she’ll get there.”

  I couldn’t do anything about it—or could I? I spotted the video camera on the kitchen counter, and on my way out I grabbed it. I filled up my water bottle and went to my room. I grabbed one of my stretch bands and looped it around my feet to loosen myself up. I rewound the video camera and watched.

  “Welcome to Hailey on the Daily!”

  Hailey was adorable. I scrolled through and smiled when I saw our cake disaster. Then I saw some footage I’d never seen.

  “Hi, it’s Hailey on the Daily. Today, we’re going to make slime!” I watched as Hailey tried to make slime, smiling until she accidentally knocked over the bowl and slime went everywhere. I bet my mom loved that.

  But it was her next that episode threw me off.

  “Hailey on the Daily is going to do . . . dance moves!” Hailey proclaimed. “I got to watch—and film—my sister’s dance team rehearsal today. They’re really good. I learned a move from it, though, and I’m going to share it with you on my show!”

  Hailey tried to demonstrate one of our combinations. One, two, three, four . . . five, six, seven, eight. She did pretty well until she stumbled on a turn.

  “I’m not good like my sister is,” she said. “I only get to take one class. Ugh, I’m such a fail.”

  Then her face fell and the camera went dark. Hailey was so fun on camera, and you could tell she really liked it. Just because a few things in her videos didn’t work out, didn’t mean she was a fail! I felt even worse after watching that.

  That gave me an idea. I jumped up and connected the video camera to my laptop. And I got to work.

  An hour later, I knocked on Hailey’s door.

  “What?” she asked me.

  “I want to show you something,” I said. I sat down with my laptop and clicked on the video I’d just put together.

  “Welcome to Hailey on the Daily!” Hailey said. Some cheesy music I’d found quickly played, and text came up: Hailey on the Daily . . . Fail-y!

  “Wait.” Hailey frowned. She pressed pause.

  “No, it’s fun, I promise,” I said to her. “You were just saying how we—not you—screwed up some of those? So you can’t have a show? I think the show’s even better. You’re hilarious. Just watch.”

  “Whatever.” She scowled, but clicked play.

  A montage of scenes came on, with Hailey and sometimes me. All of the funniest moments. Hailey started to smile, and then she started to laugh.

  “My editing isn’t that good,” I said. “But look how funny your show is!”

  “And that’s it for Hailey on the Daily!” on-screen Hailey said. And I’d put text over it saying: Fail-y!

  “Look what a good host you are!” I said. “You can’t give up your show because you don’t know how to make a cake yet. You know what my old dance teacher in Connecticut used to say to us: ‘You’re talented. But even if you weren’t, you shouldn’t give up! Work harder and learn from your mistakes! And follow your dreams!’ ”

  “Aw,” Hailey said, looking embarrassed. “Thanks. But actually it got kind of boring. I’m looking for another talent. I think I found it.”

  Hailey held up her phone, where she had an app of a girl playing a cover of a song in her room.

  “Singing star,” Hailey said. “Here, I’ve been practicing.”

  Hailey showed me.

  “You are a pretty good singer,” I agreed.

  “I want to take lessons, though,” Hailey said. “I think I should before I go to the recording studio, you know?”

  “Sure.” I nodded, holding back a smile. Hey, she was a good singer. Maybe my little sister could make music videos! “Want me to talk to Mom about having you take some lessons? I can get a ride from Lily and make more time for you.”

  “Would you?” Hailey grinned. “That’s cool. Also, they have a holiday chorus in school. I was thinking about doing that. Maybe. I don’t know anyone.”

  “You should definitely sign up for that,” I told her. “I didn’t know anyone at DanceStarz. Or in the school musical.”

  “Okay,” Hailey said. “I will.”

  “Speaking of dance and the musical, I promise I’ll spend more time with you when they’re less crazy.”

  “You just spent time with me.” Hailey shrugged. “Now leave. I’m busy practicing my vocals.”

  I laughed, but then when she looked back down at her tablet, I realized she was serious. Hey, I was glad she was feeling happier. I was glad I could cheer her on.

  Now I had to do the same for me.

  CHAPTER

  17

  After the stress of competition dance, the musical was becoming a happy place. Everyone was always so supportive and enthusiastic! And it was such an exciting time: tech week!

  Tech week was when we rehearsed with all of the lights and sound and set and props. The final day of tech week would be dress rehearsal on Thursday, the day before the real show. It was going to be so exciting!

  I walked into the auditorium smiling.

  That didn’t last long.

  “I cannot even believe her!” one of the seaweeds said. People were in clumps whispering. Flounder and Frankie were sitting on the side of the stage, and they waved me over.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “Drammaa,” Flounder sang out and shook his head. “So Aquata was already mad at Zora before—”

  “Because Aquata really wanted the part of Ursula.” Frankie nodded.

  “Well, that’s not Zora’s fault—” I started to say, but they kept going.

  “But anyway, I guess Aquata told people Zora can’t sing the high notes,” Flounder said. “And Zora told Aquata she found out and Aquata just ran off crying and says she’s going to quit the play.”

  “Oh, no!” I said. “That’s really sad. I thought everything here was so happy and perfect!”

  They both burst into laughter.

  “You missed last night,” Frankie said. “Two of the seaweeds got in a fight because they both like the same guy. . . .”

  I sat up straight. Uh-oh.

  “King Triton,” Zora specified. Whew. I was sure other people would have crushes on Drew, but I didn’t want to even think about a fight about that.

  Ariel came over and sat down next me.

  “It’s gets really stressful when the show gets closer.” She sighed. “Is it like that at dance?”

  “Ha! It’s like that nonstop. It’s like we always have a show coming up,” I said. “But wait, it’s not like it’s all bad. We also get super close bonding!”

  “We could use some of that bonding now,” Ariel said. “You missed a lot of tension the past twenty-four hours.”

  Weirdly, I felt like that was a bad thing. I missed a lot of stuff by only being a substitute dancer in one scene. I knew that going through the whole process together often meant you got closer with everyone, through good times and bad. I felt left out.

  Just then, Aquata came back in through the backstage door, with red eyes. Zora followed her, and I could see her eyes were also red. And behind them both, Mrs. Elliott.

  “Let’s get back to work!” Mrs. Elliott clapped her hands. “Oyster and pearl dancers on deck!”

  “She’s staying!” everyone was whispering. “She’s staying!”

  Whew! I thought. I looked over at Zora and tried to give her an encouraging face, but she was looking down. I tried the same with Aquata, but she was whispering with some of her mer-sisters.

  It was time for me to refocus on dance. I ran off to the left wing to wait for my entrance with the other under-the-sea creatures. I closed my eyes to get into the headspace to perform, but couldn’t ignore the whispering around me.

  “Did they make up?”

  “Who started i
t?”

  “Aquata is such a drama queen,” Frankie said snarkily. “If she left, I was going to suggest Harper take her role.”

  “Uh, NO!” I gasped. “No, no!”

  I hadn’t even thought of that, that people would think I could substitute for her. I should have felt flattered, but the thought of attempting to take on anything else right now made me want to throw up.

  “Harper wanted to take Aquata’s role?”

  Oh, no! One of the seaweeds thought that! I did NOT want that to become a rumor! Ugh, now I really wanted to throw up.

  “NO!” I said loudly, looking right at her. “Nobody should quit! I just want to dance my dance!”

  I climbed into my oyster shell and fumed. Ugh! I just wanted being in the musical to go back to being all happy times. Why was there drama in drama, too? I guessed I shouldn’t have been surprised. If dancing onstage was stressful and competitive, why wouldn’t being in a huge play?

  Sebastian started singing, and I waited to be rolled out onstage.

  “No, no!” I could hear Mrs. Elliott calling out. “Try that again.”

  After a moment to reset, Sebastian started the song again. I could hear some of the sea creatures run out to dance. Under the sea! Inside my seashell! La la la, I sang quietly to myself.

  It was a little bit cramped in the oyster shell. Could we get on with this? I lay on my back and pushed my legs against the shell. I squirmed around to get comfortable, which I did by lying down with my feet up.

  “Courtney and Frankie! Two beats earlier!” Mrs. Elliott yelled. “Take it from the top.”

  Sebastian started singing again.

  It was actually kind of warm and cozy in my seashell. Like a little nest from the outside world. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. Maybe I could just stay in my little shell and shut out the drama drama . . . Ah.

  I was floating in the water, dancing. Oh, in a beautiful mermaid outfit. Oh, nice! I’d turned into a mermaid. I twirled in the water, admiring my long, beautiful tail. Wait, was I dancing with someone? Yes, yes, I was! Was it . . . Drew? I squinted in the dark, murky water to see, and then the lights underwater suddenly turned on and it wasn’t Eric! It was Megan, dressed as Ursula! And she yelled at me. “Give me your voice, Harper!” And then she had a trident and shot a lightning bolt at me!