by Cathy Hapka
Olivia sighed. “I’m still not sure. I thought
about doing something about science, but I couldn’t
figure out how to make it go with the theme of the
contest.”
“You’d better hurry up and decide,”Emma said,
her face growing serious. “The deadline is only two
days away.”
Just then Mia came into the yard. She was
holding a cute bunny in her arms. “I’m here!” she
said.“And I brought Fluffy, just like you asked.”
“Perfect!” Emma
exclaimed. “Since
you love animals
so much, a photo
shoot wouldn’t
be you without
a cute animal in
it, too!”
21
Emma took lots of photos of Mia posing with
the rabbit. Then she asked Mia and Olivia to pose
together. All the pictures were turning out great!
Later, Emma met up with Stephanie at the park
for her photo session.“Sorry I’m late,”Emma said.“I
stopped to take pictures of some fashionable clothes
I saw in a store window on the way here.”
“It’s okay.”Stephanie set down her laptop.“I was
working on my book.”
“Are you ready to be a fashion model?” Emma
asked, smiling.
Stephanie and Emma walked over to a trail at the
edge of the woods. “These trees will make a good
background,”Emma said. She held up her hands,
pretending to look through a camera lens. “But the
sun needs to be behind me when I take your picture.”
“Okay. How about this?”Stephanie stepped off
the trail and struck a pose.
22
“Freeze right there!” Emma backed up, still
holding her hands up to frame the shot.
“That looks perfect. One second. Just let me grab
my camer—
aah!
”
Emma cried out and jumped aside as loud
hoofbeats pounded up behind her. A second later, a
white horse crashed out of the bushes.
23
“Snowball, whoa!” a familiar voice cried.
“Mia!” Stephanie exclaimed. “What are you
doing here?”
Mia calmed the horse. Then she slid down from
the saddle. “The stable owner asked me to exercise
her new horse, so I brought her out here on the
riding trail,” she said with a frown. “What are you
two doing here? I thought you were doing all the
photo shoots in your backyard. You shouldn’t stand
on the trails like that!”
24
“Sorry,”Emma said. “But I wanted to take some
pictures of Stephanie in the park. You and Snowball
scared us, too, you know.”
“Oh.”Mia looked down. “I guess you’re right.
Sorry I got mad.”
Emma relaxed. She didn’t mean to yell at her
friend.“That’s okay.You’re right; we shouldn’t have
been standing on the trails. But now that you’re here,
how about a few photos together? You, Stephanie,
and Snowball in a riding shot will be the perfect way
to finish my fashion shoot of Heartlake City!”
As the shutter on Emma’s camera clicked with
each shot, her smile grew a little wider.
This is going
perfectly
, she thought to herself.
Cassie will think
this is the most creative—and fashionable—entry
for sure!
25
Chapter 5:
Mia’s Animal
Surprise
“Good girl, Snowball.” Mia said later that
afternoon as she led the horse into its stable. “Enjoy
your hay.”
Mia sighed as Snowball began munching. Seeing
her friends in the park had reminded Mia that she
needed to figure out
a way to make her
photos of animals
work for the
contest, too.
26
So far, she had lots of pictures of horses, cats,
dogs, and birds around town.
The trouble was, none of the pictures seemed
exciting enough to impress Cassie.“Emma’s fashion
shoot makes sense,”Mia said. “But somehow, a
scrapbook of animals doesn’t seem as exciting.”
Just then, the sound of hoofbeats distracted her.
Mia walked toward the practice ring. Her riding
teacher, Freya, was there on her horse.
27
Freya’s boyfriend was watching from inside the
barn. And behind his back, Mia could see he was
holding flowers for Freya. But unbeknownst to him,
a hungry horse was sniffing at them curiously!
“Oh!” Mia whispered to herself. “That’s too
funny!” She tiptoed closer and took several photos
of the pair. Then she looked at her pictures.
Somehow they just didn’t seem to capture the
heart of the moment.
“There’s got to be a way to really show how
special all the animals make Heartlake City.” Mia
sighed.“ Maybe Olivia’s aunt, Sophie, will have some
advice. She works with animals all day. She might
know what to do.”
When Mia arrived at the Heartlake City Vet,
Aunt Sophie was standing outside.
“Hi,”Mia called. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,Mia,” Aunt Sophie replied. “I was just
letting Freddy get some fresh air. Let’s go inside.”
“Freddy?”Mia repeated. “Who’s Freddy?”
28
Suddenly, something small and hairy leaped in
front of Mia, chattering with excitement. It looked
like a fuzzy little person! Mia was so startled that she
jumped into Aunt Sophie’s arms.
Aunt Sophie laughed. “
That’s
Freddy,”she
explained. “He’s a baby chimp from the zoo.”
“Oh!” Mia grinned, feeling sheepish. “He’s . . .
um . . . cute.”
“And mischievous. We’d better bring him back
inside,” Aunt Sophie said.
29
Mia was helping to put Freddy back in his cage
when Olivia arrived at the clinic.“Aw, what a cute
chimp!” she said.
“Yeah,”Mia agreed, handing Freddy a toy to play
with. The little chimp eagerly grabbed it and began
chewing on it. “You should have been here earlier,”
Mia said. She told Olivia about Freddy startling
her. “I’ll bet it looked hilarious when I jumped into
your aunt’s arms! Too bad nobody was here to take a
picture for my project.”
Olivia grinned. “Too bad nobody was here with
a video camera.”Her eyes widened. “Hey, that gives
me a great idea. Why don’t you do a movie about
animals instead of just photos?”
Mia gasped.“Olivia, you’re a genius!” she cried.
“That’s the perfect way to make my project special.
I’m sure I can get lots of great video of Heartlake
City’s animals!” She paused. “But wait—you’re so
good at technical stuff. And it was your idea. Don’t
you want to do a movie as
your
project?”
30
Olivia shrugged. “That could be fun,”she said,
looking down.“But even if I end up doing a movie, it
won’t be focused on animals like yours. So go ahead!”
“Great! Thanks a bunch for the idea!” Mia
grabbed Olivia in a big hug. “I’d better go home
and borrow my dad’s video camera. I’ve got some
catching up to do!”
31
Chapter 6:
Olivia on
Her Own
After Mia left, Aunt Sophie turned to her
niece. She could tell something was wrong.“Olivia,
shouldn’t you be working on your own project?” she
asked. “I’ve been hearing about the contest from my
clients all week. It sounds like every girl in Heartlake
City is entering.”
Every girl except me
, Olivia thought sadly.
“I haven’t come up with a good enough idea yet,”
Olivia said softly.
Aunt Sophie raised an eyebrow.
32
“But the deadline is Friday afternoon, isn’t it?”
she asked. “Sweetie, what’s wrong? Why don’t you
want to enter the contest?”
Olivia sighed. “I still feel kind of new in town,”
she said.“All my friends have such great ideas. But
every time I ask myself what I like about living in
Heartlake City, all I can think of is how much I
enjoy hanging out with them.” Olivia shrugged.
“I can’t really make an entry about that, can I?”
Aunt Sophie put her arm around Olivia. “You
know what I think?” she said. “I think you can make
an entry about whatever you want. You should talk
to Mia and the other girls. Maybe they’re having the
same thought, and you guys can enter together.”
Olivia shook her head. “No, we can’t. Only one
girl can win the contest. It said so in the rules.”She
took a deep breath.“It’s okay. Emma, Stephanie,
Mia, and Andrea’s projects are all so cool. I’m sure
one of them will win. And I’ve been helping them.
So that’s almost as good as winning, right?”
33
That night, Olivia changed into her pajamas and
flopped onto her bed. She was still thinking about
what her aunt had said.
The little puppy she
was training hopped
around the edge of the
bed. “Sit!” Olivia told
him. The dog flopped
onto the floor and
wagged his tail. “Good
boy.”Olivia smiled.
She patted the dog’s head. “I wish we could have
all entered together,” she said. “I know we could
have come up with the winning entry.” She reached
over to her nightstand and picked up a picture she
had taken with Emma, Stephanie, Andrea, and
Mia earlier that summer. They were all smiling and
laughing in the photo.
“What I love about Heartlake City are my friends.
34
That’s what makes it special to me,”she said quietly.
As Olivia looked at the picture, an idea slowly
began to form in her mind. It was a great idea. A
winning
idea.
Bong!
Suddenly, the clock chimed. Olivia
jumped, startled. It was ten o’clock on Wednesday
night. There was only a day and a half left until
contest entries were due!
Olivia sighed. There wasn’t enough time to
start a new entry now. After all, her friends were all
almost done with their projects.
She rolled over to go to sleep. Like Olivia had
told her aunt, she was sure one of her friends would
win. That was good enough for her.
Chapter 7:
Andrea’s Night
to Shine
35
“Do re mi fa so la ti do!”
Andrea sang.
“Whoo!”
Olivia cheered. “Sounding great, A!”
It was Thursday afternoon, and all four of Andrea’s
friends were at the café for her big performance.
Olivia and Emma were sipping cocoa while Mia and
Stephanie were working on their laptops.
“I’m just warming up, silly,”Andrea said with a
smile.“You don’t have to cheer yet.”
Olivia shrugged. “Well, I still think you sound
great.” Then she turned to Emma. “Doesn’t she?”
“What?” Emma asked, looking distracted.
36
Olivia frowned.“Are you okay, Emma? You’ve
been really quiet.”
Emma was about to reply when Marie, the café
owner, rushed over.
“The camera is ready to go!” she exclaimed.
Andrea looked over at the movie camera at the
edge of the café and clapped with excitement. When
Marie had heard about Andrea’s project, she had
37
offered to record Andrea on her old-fashioned
film-reel camera, straight from Hollywood! It
was perfect. Anyone could take a digital video of
themselves. But this motion-picture film would
make it extra glamorous. When Cassie received
the Hollywood-style movie of Andrea singing her
special song about Heartlake City, it was sure to
stand out as the winning entry!
38
Andrea nodded. “I’m ready.”
She held up her microphone and took a deep
breath. Marie started the music.
“No matter how far I roam,”
Andrea sang,
“Heartlake City is my home . . .”
“Woo-hoo!” her friends cheered loudly.“You
go, girl!”
“And I work part-time at the café,”
Andrea sang.
“Is it a great place? All I can say is—”
Andrea looked over to Marie. Suddenly, she
noticed a woman sitting at the back table. It
was . . . Cassie!
“No way!” Andrea exclaimed.
“Huh?” Marie said with a frown. Andrea’s friends
looked surprised, too.
Andrea gulped. She’d just messed up. Big time.
She had turned the line “hip hip hooray” into“no
way.”So it had sounded like she didn’t like working
at the café! And Cassie was actually there, watching
her performance live!
39
“I mean, uh, hooray?”
she sang weakly.
“Um . . .”She tried to remember the next line of the
song.
“Uh, then there’s our beautiful Heartlake Park,
where we always hang out from dawn until dark . . .”
Andrea managed to finish the song without any
other mistakes. When the last note finished and the
lights came up, Andrea glanced over to where Cassie
had been sitting. But the television host had left.
“Oh, no!” Andrea blurted out. “She’s gone!
“Who’s gone?” Stephanie asked.
“Cassie!” Andrea told her friends what she’d seen.
“Oh, wow, Cassie was here?” Emma exclaimed.
“It’s okay,”Olivia said, patting Andrea’s shoulder.
“I know you messed up a bit. But you can record it
again so it’s perfect for the contest.”
�
��Yeah,”Stephanie agreed.“Cassie’s in show
business herself. She’ll understand.”
That made Andrea feel a little better. Hopefully,
there was enough old-style film to record her song
one more time.
40
Suddenly, her eyes grew wide.
“What’s that cat doing over by the camera?” she
exclaimed.
Marie looked over and gasped. “Oh, no!” she
cried. She picked up the kitten, who was completely
tangled in the film!
“She must have thought the film was a toy,”Marie
moaned. “She’s pulled out the whole roll! It’s all
gone. How can we record more now?”
41
Chapter 8:
A Friendly
Idea
“Can you fix it?” Andrea asked anxiously.
“I don’t think so,”Olivia said.“Film gets ruined
when it’s exposed to light. You’ll need a new roll.”
Marie shook her head. “It’s not easy to find that
kind of film. It will take a week to order more.”
“A week?” Andrea cried. “But the contest
deadline is tomorrow!”
“It’s okay.”Mia put an arm around Andrea.“I can
film you with my digital camera.”
“Thanks.” Andrea sighed. But it just didn’t feel
the same.
42
“Here,”Mia said.“Let me save my movie and we
can set up to rerecord your song.”
Mia opened her laptop. “Actually, Olivia, I could
use your help,”she said.“This video software has
been giving me problems all day. I can upload and
play a video, but I can’t edit it. Watch.”
43
The friends looked over Mia’s shoulder as she
played a funny clip of a horse pushing a rider into a
haystack.“See?” she told Olivia. “I can play it, but it
won’t let me add it to my other clips.”
“That video is hilarious!” Stephanie exclaimed.
“Can you e-mail it to me?”
“Sure,”Mia said. She clicked a few more keys.