The lights dimmed. Music rose from the pit band. The audience settled into their seats. The red velvet curtains opened, revealing an empty stage.
Clara walked onstage from the wings to a round of applause. She wore a headband in her hair and was dressed in a flowered sundress and knee-high leather boots. She looked beautiful and glowed inside and out. Clara thought about what she was planning to do to Holly, but before she could have a second thought about it, Vivica peered at her from offstage, invisibly commanding Clara to look toward her. Clara turned her head. Vivica stared into her eyes and whispered, just loudly enough for her, but not the audience, to hear, “Holly won’t steal your spotlight now. Tonight is your turn to shine!”
Clara nodded, then turned back to the audience. She bowed her head and spoke into the mic in a breathy, shaky voice. “I wrote this song one day when I realized how much music meant to me. Kind of, well, pretty much everything. I hope you enjoy it.”
Within a few notes, Clara had captured the television producer’s full attention. She performed with a playful and natural ease she’d been carrying inside but had never let shine through. That was her chance and she was taking full advantage of it. The producer leaned forward whenever Clara’s lyrics stirred a reaction in the audience. Her pitch was perfect. Her style and tone were all her own.
The Star Darlings, anxious to get onstage, counted the minutes until they could perform at intermission. Even though they weren’t sure exactly how the bad wish would play out, they knew that at any starmin it could be granted, and they were poised to stop it. They also knew they needed to keep a close watch on both Clara and Holly.
After Clara’s stellar performance, the audience gave her a standing ovation. She was glowing as she walked offstage.
Sage told Leona, “You and the others follow Clara. I’m watching Holly.” But when she looked at where Holly had just been standing, she gasped. “Wait, I don’t see her now!”
Suddenly, Vivica swooped in and tapped Sage on the shoulder. She smiled and asked, “Enjoying the show?”
Sage started to answer but thought better of it.
Then Vivica said menacingly, “There’s more to come. You’ll see. It just gets better.” With that, she turned around and disappeared into the audience.
The next act began before the Star Darlings could dash after Clara, and they were stuck backstage. Wordsworth gestured to them. “Stage crew! Back it up! There’s a performance going on. Quiet!”
Clara finally found Holly. She was all by herself in a hidden part of backstage, softly practicing her song. She looked nervous and unsure of herself. Clara moved right in and said in a warm, friendly voice, “Hi.”
Holly looked around to see if Clara was talking to someone else.
Clara laughed. “I’m talking to you.” She looked into Holly’s eyes. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting.”
Holly melted. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. All her nerves for her performance started to float away.
“Will you forgive me?” Clara asked.
Holly looked relieved. “Yes, but what happened?”
“It’s complicated,” Clara said. “Can we go somewhere and talk for a minute?”
Holly nodded. “Yeah, but it’ll have to be quick. I’m up soon.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Clara said sweetly. Then she grabbed Holly’s hand and guided her away from the theater and down the hall toward the prop closet.
The Spring Variety Show was a hit! Even the television producer seemed to be enjoying it. Although her poker face didn’t reveal too much, at least she was still there! Wordsworth watched proudly. He was particularly impressed with Clara’s song and suspected that she might have a chance at a spot in the singing competition.
It was time for Holly to perform. Wordsworth proudly announced, “Next up, one of our rising young stars at North Coast Performing Arts Center…I am extremely pleased to present…Holly!”
The piano player began the introduction to Holly’s song, but Holly didn’t walk onstage on her cue.
Vivica was lurking in a dark corner backstage. Clara found her and rushed up to her, out of breath.
“I did it,” she whispered.
“Well done,” Vivica said, and her teardrop pendant crackled.
The Star Darlings were in the wings, sitting in a circle, holding their instruments.
Sage reminded the others, “We go on right after Holly.”
Scarlet asked, “What if the song doesn’t work?”
“It’s going to work,” Leona said.
“As long as we work together, we have a chance,” Sage said. She realized at that moment that she couldn’t complete the mission without the help of all the Star Darlings who were there. They were all needed to play a song for the Wisher.
Vega calculated in her mind. “We have approximately seven Wishling minutes until we find out if the song will have an effect on Clara or not.”
Suddenly, the assistant director ran over to the Star Darlings. Out of breath, she asked frantically, “Have you seen Holly? No one can find her anywhere!”
“What are you talking about?” Sage asked.
“She’s supposed to be onstage now! But nobody knows where she is,” she explained before rushing off to look elsewhere.
Sage looked at the other Star Darlings. “Vivica!” she exclaimed. “The bad wish has started!”
Wordsworth stood offstage, unable to utter even a single word. He stared in disbelief, shocked that the arts center’s shining star, Holly, had abandoned the show at the last minute. He stalled for a moment. Then Sage raced up to him, wearing her electric guitar. “We can play now!”
Wordsworth announced in his booming voice, “There’s been a change in the show’s lineup. Next up, some new talent. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for five of our bright stars. The…” He had momentarily forgotten the name of the band.
The audience was silent, looking at the five girls.
Sage helped him out. With full force, she shouted, “We’re the Star Darlings. And this is our song. We call it ‘When We Shine’!”
She sent out a wish of her own: for the celestial positive energy of their song to reverse the negative feelings in Clara’s heart and stop the bad wish.
Vivica, who had been lurking at the back of the theater, looked on in disbelief and annoyance. “The Star Dippers?” she muttered to herself.
Sage turned to the Star Darlings band members. They were tuned up and ready to save Starland! Leona was at the microphone; Vega was on the bass; Libby was at the keytar; and Scarlet was at the drums. Sage strummed the first note on her lead guitar. Then Scarlet counted out the beat: “And one, two, one, two, three, four!” As soon as the Star Darlings began their song, the audience got on their feet.
Leona’s voice was still weakened from the damaged Wish Pendant, so Sage backed her up. Together, they sang.
If you’ve stayed too long in the shadows
Always the lonely one
If you’re feeling left out, feeling less than
You’re not the only one.
Vivica’s teardrop necklace crackled and then sputtered. “What are they up to? Why are they playing this song?”
Backstage, Clara heard the audience cheering. She knew it wasn’t Holly they were cheering for, and she wondered who was out there.
The assistant director rushed by her. Clara stopped her and asked, “What’s happening out there?”
“Holly didn’t show, so there’s a girl band playing instead…and they’re killing it!”
“Girl band? They weren’t in the lineup.” She followed the other cast and crew, who were all rushing to the side of the stage to check out the band. Clara saw the Star Darlings, and as she listened for a second, the song caught her attention. She moved closer to the stage to listen to the lyrics.
If you’ve ever wanted something so bad
And you feel overlooked
Jealous over what you don’t have
There’s another way, take a second look
Something in her shifted. She felt like her chest had been cracked open. She felt understood and sad and alive, all at the same time. When Sage and Leona sang the chorus, Clara realized she was crying.
Step into the sunlight
You and I
It’s our sky
And we were meant to be
Sunlight burning bright
Look up, look up now
Together we can light the spark
Dynamite taking out the dark…
Clara leaned back against the wall and slumped down. She brought her forehead to her knees and let the tears fall freely down her cheeks. Those lines in the chorus hit a note in her: “Step into the sunlight. You and I, it’s our sky.” It made her long for Holly and their friendship. As the song played, it was truly magical.
She remembered what it had been like when she and Holly were on the same team. All the negativity she had been feeling left her body.
Clara was overcome with a realization—that Holly wasn’t keeping her in the shadows. If anything, her own jealousy was. At that moment Clara knew the only thing really holding her back was herself. Why had she been comparing herself to Holly? Couldn’t they both be amazing in their own unique ways? There was room for both of them to shine!
Meanwhile, Vivica frantically tried to stop the Star Darlings from finishing their song. She realized the words too long in the shadows were basically her own. She shouted to the audience, “The Star Dippers stole my words!” But nobody even noticed her. She had absolutely no effect on them. They were too busy dancing to the Star Darlings’ music.
Vivica stormed down the aisle. The memories she had stored of all the times the Star Darlings had outshined her at Starling Academy flashed before her. And now this—when the bad wish was about to come true! Vivica knew that as long as the show was under way, there was still a chance for Holly to return, and then the bad wish wouldn’t be granted by curtain call. And if that happened, it would mean, once again, that the Star Darlings had one-upped her. This was only intermission; there was more time for Holly to perform. Vivica screamed, “Clara!”
But Clara was already pushing through the crowd, trying to get to her friend. She wanted to get Holly out of that room and back onstage, where she belonged. She wanted the TV producer to hear Holly sing. She had turned her bad wish into a good one, but was it too late?
Just then, Leona’s super hearing returned. Libby was doing a mini keytar solo, so Leona wasn’t singing for a moment, and that was when she picked up something disturbing. She said to Sage and Scarlet, “I hear someone!”
As Libby played on, Sage mouthed, “Who?”
Leona closed her eyes and listened. She heard, “Help! I’m stuck in here! The lock isn’t working. I need to get out! Help!” Leona opened her eyes and turned to Scarlet. “Oh, my stars! It’s Holly! She’s locked in a room somewhere in the building.”
Scarlet stuck her drumsticks in her back pocket and told her friends, “Keep playing, I’ll find her.”
Leona nodded toward where she had heard the screams. “That way!”
Scarlet snuck offstage, and as Libby ended her keytar solo, Sage kept the song going, handing Leona a tambourine to keep the beat, since Scarlet wasn’t there.
Sage told Leona, Vega, and Libby, “Keep singing, no matter what. The song is working! I can feel it!”
Before Vivica could stop her, Clara headed straight to the prop room, which was down a long hallway, away from where anyone would be going that night. She could hear Holly’s screams as she got closer. When she got there, she was surprised to see Scarlet there, about to pull the door open. Embarrassed, Clara looked at Scarlet.
Scarlet gave Clara a small smile and opened the door.
Holly practically fell into the hallway, and Clara grabbed her best friend. “Come on, let’s go!” she said, pulling Holly down the hall toward the theater.
Holly was out of breath and exhausted, but overjoyed to see Clara. “I’m so glad you’re here. Thanks for finding help.” She turned and gave Scarlet a grateful smile, thinking she had done something special to open the door.
“Yeah, um…we’ll talk about it later,” Clara replied. She looked at Holly with a mixture of guilt and relief. “Now we’ve got to get you to the stage. You’ve got a song to sing!”
“A song to sing!” Scarlet repeated. “Starf! I’ve got to get back onstage.” She raced ahead of the girls, down the hallway to the stage, and then slid back into the seat at her drums and started drumming again.
The Star Darlings sang, and Sage looked right at Vivica and smiled. She meant it. Writing the song had allowed her to understand how hurt and jealous Vivica felt. At that moment, the song began to crescendo. It was powerful; Vivica caught herself singing along. She noticed that her negative feelings were dissipating the longer the Star Darlings played their song, like it had some kind of magic. When she touched the teardrop necklace, it no longer crackled and shook. She knew that the song had something to do with the bad wish’s not being granted. Strangely, her anger toward the Star Darlings started to fade. She didn’t know what had come over her, but she felt less angry. She felt good. She felt hopeful.
The music brought Vivica back to when she’d first arrived at Starling Academy, as a young Starling with great possibilities and her own dream of expressing herself through singing and music. As Vivica remembered that, the negativity continued to lose its power over her, just as Leona’s voice started to regain its full power!
Sage, who was still watching Vivica, saw her icy-blue aura brighten just like Scarlet’s aura had brightened when she was feeling something for Maxwell. When the Star Darlings finished their song, Sage noticed Vivica clapping along with the audience. She hadn’t imagined the song’s positively affecting Vivica in that way. That hadn’t been in the plan! They had written it for Clara, but of course Vivica had connected to it as well. It made perfect sense! Watching how the power of music transformed even Vivica, Sage knew that she had discovered something important.
Wordsworth was about to announce the next act when Sage saw Clara and Holly in the wings. Sage rushed up to the microphone and whispered something in Wordsworth’s ear. He stepped away. Sage waved Clara and Holly onto the stage. Clara reached for Holly’s hand. Together they walked up to the mic.
Clara began, “Everyone, you have no idea how happy and thrilled I am to introduce my best friend ever. She is the most talented singer I know, and the truest friend, too…Holly!”
Since there was no piano onstage anymore, Holly asked if the Star Darlings band could back her up. Then she stepped up and took her place center stage. She sang the love ballad “Far Away” with such conviction and beauty even the television producer was visibly moved. Holly’s voice touched everyone in the room.
After the song, while Holly took her bow, Clara stood with the Star Darlings. Now there was no invisible wall between them. She thanked Scarlet for helping Holly, unaware that all the Star Darlings in each of their unique ways had helped her, too. Then she told the Star Darlings, “It might sound silly, but tonight feels really magical.”
Sage looked at Clara. “You know what? It doesn’t sound silly at all.”
At curtain call, Holly and Clara bowed in a line with the rest of the variety show’s cast and crew. The audience members were on their feet, clapping and cheering.
“There’s something I should tell you, Holly,” Clara said. “Your getting locked in the closet wasn’t exactly an accident, I planned it. I was jealous. And I’m so ashamed and sorry I did it. I understand if you never forgive me.”
Holly took in that information. Clara waited, expecting the worst. She knew what she’d done was awful. After a long beat, Holly finally responded.
“It’s okay,” she said.
“What? You don’t hate me?” Clara asked, shocked.
“No. Because you came back to get me. You didn’t let the bad thing happen.”
Clara gave her friend
a fierce hug. She felt really lucky.
“I just don’t want to let anything get in the way of our friendship ever again!” Holly said.
“Me neither!” Clara told her.
Backstage, there was much to celebrate!
Clara and Holly were inseparable, laughing and giggling together, making up for the last few weeks when they hadn’t spoken or spent time together.
Wordsworth clinked a water glass and asked for everyone’s attention. “To the cast and crew of North Coast Performing Arts Center!” Cheers broke out. “Kids, I’m proud of all of you. Tonight, all the performers onstage and the backstage crew proved why you’ve earned your spot at one of the most prestigious performance houses in the Northwest.” He looked at Holly. “Holly, you sang beautifully, as usual.” He then pointed to Clara and smiled. “Ladies and gentlemen, a new star was born tonight! I see big things for you in the future, Clara!” The cast and crew all clapped for her.
Wordsworth walked over to Clara and told her, “Clara, I always knew you were special. That’s why you were here at the performing arts center. But today, you proved it to yourself! Congratulations!”
Holly turned to Clara and asked, “By the way, why didn’t you ever tell me you wanted center stage?”
“I thought it was obvious.”
“It wasn’t!” Holly looked at her friend with tears in her eyes. “I am so happy that you had your moment today, Clara. I’m even happier to have my best friend back!”
Just then, the television producer arrived backstage. The cast and crew cleared the way for her as she made a beeline for Holly. She excitedly shook Holly’s hand and introduced herself.
“Well, Holly,” she said, “that was a powerful performance. You clearly know your way around a ballad. I know the show’s viewers will love you. How would you like to audition for our show?”
Stealing Starlight Page 10