Shelly tried to look serious while she shook her head. But she giggled. Dad said, “I’ll show you. When I’m done practicing, I’ll be the best dancer you’ve ever seen!”
“Maybe you can dance to my song at the showcase!” Shelly laughed. Dad stuck his tongue out and then swam away.
Shelly looked for her friends on the other side of Meow Meadow. The park was full of families with little kittens. Coral’s mother and her little brother, Shrimp, were there. That means Coral should be here, too, Shelly thought.
But when Shelly searched the crowd, she didn’t see Coral anywhere. There was no sign of Angel, either. She tapped her tail against the sand and scratched her head. Where are they? she wondered. She looked up at the clock tower on Cove Council Hall. “It’s only eight forty-five!” she groaned. Her friends wouldn’t be there for another fifteen minutes.
Shelly decided to hang out in the gazebo. I’ll sing to pass the time until nine o’clock, she thought.
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Shelly sang “Seas by Seas.” Then she sang “Purrmaids Like Us,” “Since You’ve Been Swimming,” and “A Moment Like Fish.” By the time she finished “Castaway,” she finally spotted Angel and Coral. They waved, and their bracelets sparkled in the light.
“Shelly!” Angel shouted. “You’re late!”
“Late?” Shelly replied, frowning. “What are you talking about?”
“You said you’d meet us by nine,” Coral said.
Shelly spun around and looked up at the clock tower again. The short hand of the clock pointed at the nine. But the long hand pointed at the three. “It’s nine fifteen!” Shelly gasped. “I guess I lost track of time while I was singing.”
Coral giggled. “We should have known singing had something to do with this.”
“I’m glad we found you,” Angel said. “We have just enough time to get to the library.”
The historical tour of Kittentail Cove started at the library. Every Founder’s Day, the girls took the tour. But this year was different—at least for Shelly. “I was hoping we could sign up for the showcase,” she said. “And then I wanted to practice our song.” She bit her lip. “You both purr-omised.”
“Oh, Shelly,” Coral cooed, “we’re not taking the tour.”
Angel put a paw around Shelly’s shoulders. “But we have to go to the library right away.”
“I don’t understand,” Shelly said. “How will the library help with the showcase?”
“The sign-ups are at the library!” Coral announced.
“We even thought about where to practice,” Angel said. “We’re going to the P.A.W.”
“There are practice rooms there that we can use,” Coral added.
Shelly smiled. “I should have known you two would never let me down,” she purred, and hugged her friends.
The girls swam to the Kittentail Cove Library.
There was a new sign on the librarian’s desk. It read:
A crowd of purrmaids floated around the desk, waiting. “Is everyone here signing up for the showcase tryouts?” Shelly asked.
The striped purrmaid behind Angel said, “That’s why I’m here.”
“Me too,” someone else said.
Shelly gulped. This is a purr-oblem, she thought. I’m not a better singer than everyone here!
“I didn’t realize so many purrmaids would sign up,” Coral whispered.
“How many tryouts can they even fit in today?” Angel asked.
The striped purrmaid said, “I heard that everyone who signs up before nine-thirty gets a turn.”
Shelly looked at the clock above the library door. “It’s nine twenty-five now!”
“At least we’re almost to the sign-up sheet,” Coral said.
When Shelly turned around, there were three purrmaids in front of her!
“Excuse me,” Shelly huffed. “We were here first.”
The three purrmaids spun around. It was the Catfish Club! “Of course, it’s the three of you cutting the line. Again,” Angel grumbled.
“This isn’t like the museum,” Adrianna purred. “There’s definitely no line here.”
“That still doesn’t mean you can push to wherever you want!” Coral yowled.
It looked like the girls would get into an argument. Luckily, the librarian behind the desk interrupted them. “Do you girls want to sign up?” she asked. “There’s just a little time left.”
“Yes!” yelped Shelly and Adrianna at the same time.
The librarian held out a sea pen. “Hurry up, then.”
Shelly reached for the sea pen. But Adrianna snatched it first. Shelly narrowed her eyes and took the sea pen when Adrianna was done.
“We’re all signed up!” Umiko said.
“Just in time, too,” Coral added.
“So there was nothing to worry about,” Angel said.
“And nothing to fight about,” Cascade said.
Shelly sighed. “I guess you’re right.”
“We’re all going to get a turn,” Adrianna said. She pointed to the large crowd of other purrmaids who had also signed up. “I just don’t know if it will make a difference.”
Shelly felt butterfly fish flutter in her tummy. “Are you nervous?” she asked.
Adrianna gulped. “Mr. Boatman is over there,” she said. “He’s our music teacher! He’s got to be better than us.”
Cascade said, “My aunt Marlene is trying out, too. She was an opera singer in college.”
“Maybe this is a bad idea,” Shelly said.
Angel said, “Hold on a second. We can’t give up before we even try!”
“Remember what Ms. Harbor told us?” Cascade asked. “She said this could be an adventure. So all this competition isn’t a purr-oblem. It’s really a challenge!”
“I think Angel and Cascade are right,” Umiko said. Suddenly, her eyes grew wide. “I just had an idea!” she exclaimed.
“What is it?” Adrianna asked.
“Remember when we did the art project together?” Umiko began. The others nodded. “We worked together on that, and it was fin-tastic. Maybe you three could sing with us.”
“That’s a paw-some idea!” Angel said. “We could all go to the P.A.W. and rehearse.”
“We’ve been practicing ‘Purrmaids Like Us’ by Kelpy Sharkson,” Adrianna said. “Do you know that song?”
“Know it?” Shelly shouted. “I love that song! I could sing it in my sleep.”
Adrianna grinned. “Fin-tastic! You three can be backup singers.”
Shelly scowled. “I don’t sing backup,” she grumbled.
“Shelly’s too good for that!” Angel added.
“But we’ve been practicing for a while,” Adrianna said. “The tryouts are in a few hours. We don’t have time to fit in another lead singer!”
“We haven’t actually practiced much,” Cascade said.
“And,” Umiko said, “the one time we did sing…we didn’t sound that good.”
Adrianna frowned. “We could use some help,” she said.
“What if Adrianna and Shelly both sang the lead parts of ‘Purrmaids Like Us’?” Coral said. “The rest of us could be your backup.”
Shelly shrugged. “I’m fine with that,” she said.
“I guess I am, too,” Adrianna replied.
“Great!” Angel exclaimed. “Let’s hurry to the P.A.W. and get to work.”
“Last one there is a rotten skeg!” Cascade called.
The girls laughed and raced to the P.A.W. When they arrived, there was only one practice room left that wasn’t filled with singers. “I guess everyone had the same idea,” Umiko said.
“You know what they say,” Shelly replied. “Practice makes purr-fect!”
The practice room had a large golden harp in one
corner, so it was barely big enough to fit all six girls. “I guess it’s good that we’re working together,” Cascade said, “or else we’d be fighting over this room!”
“I’m glad we won’t be wasting time arguing,” Adrianna said. “We need to start practicing right now.” She led the girls through the open door of the empty room.
“I agree,” Angel said. “When we’re done, we can go to the Sand Sculpture Contest at sea school.”
“Don’t forget about lunch!” Coral yowled. “There’s a picnic today in Leondra’s Square.”
“And the Founder’s Day parade!” Umiko added.
Adrianna scowled. “I don’t know if we have time for all that.”
“But I want to go to the Sand Sculpture Contest, too,” Umiko moaned.
“I’m hungry already,” Cascade whined.
“And we can’t miss the parade!” Angel said.
Shelly didn’t think they should do anything except rehearse until the tryouts. But she knew her friends loved everything about Founder’s Day. “Let’s just get started,” she suggested. “Maybe we will be ready quickly.” She floated in front of the harp, ready to play.
Adrianna handed out copies of the song. “Here are your parts,” she said to Angel, Coral, Umiko, and Cascade. She brought a copy over to Shelly at the harp. “And here’s ours.”
Shelly counted out the beat. “One…two…one, two, three, four!” The girls began to sing.
Purrmaids like us just have to swim together.
Stick with your friends through calm or stormy weather.
Unfortunately, they didn’t sound very musical!
After another minute, Shelly stopped playing. She waved her paws to get her friends’ attention. “Everybody, let’s take a break,” she said.
“What’s wrong?” Coral asked.
Shelly bit her lip. She thought, How can I tell my friends that they’re not singing well?
Adrianna cleared her throat. “We’re not all singing with the same beat.” She floated over to Umiko and Cascade. “You two were singing too fast,” she said. “You finished your lines before I was halfway done.” Then she turned to Coral and Angel. “And you two were singing too slowly.”
“I thought there was something wrong,” Umiko said. “The song didn’t sound right.”
“Actually,” Cascade said, “it sounded really wrong.”
“How do we make sure we’re all singing with the same beat?” Coral asked.
“I’ll clap my paws,” Adrianna suggested. “One clap for every beat.”
“And I can tap my tail on the ground,” Shelly added. “Let’s try again.” She started tapping her tail. Adrianna clapped and signaled for the girls to begin singing.
Oh whoa oh oh whoa oh
This time, everyone sang with the same beat. But it still didn’t sound like beautiful music!
Adrianna stopped singing. She put her face in her paws. Shelly didn’t need to ask what was bothering her. She could hear it for herself. Her friends were singing loudly—but completely off-key!
Shelly took her paws off the harp strings again. “Listen up, everyone!” she shouted.
“Are we still getting the beat wrong?” Coral asked.
Shelly shook her head. “No, the beat was fine this time,” she replied.
“The purr-oblem is that you four don’t know the notes!” Adrianna snapped. “Angel and Umiko, your singing is flat. Coral and Cascade, your voices are too sharp!”
Coral sighed. “We’re doing our best.”
“We’re never going to get a spot in the showcase like this,” Adrianna grumbled.
Shelly saw her friends frown. She had to do something. “I know!” she exclaimed. “We should sing some scales. That will help us with the notes and the beat.”
“What’s a scale?” Umiko asked.
Shelly explained, “A scale is a set of eight notes that go together in a certain order.”
“If you learn the proper notes in a scale, you won’t sing too high or too low,” Adrianna added.
“That’s a good idea!” Coral said.
“We probably should have started with scales,” Cascade agreed.
Shelly nodded. “We’ll fix that right now,” she purred. “I’ll play the notes on the harp. You sing the same note that I play.” She looked her friends over, head to tail. “Everyone, straighten your backs,” she said. “Relax your shoulders. Keep your paws at your sides. Breathe in slowly.” She played the first note. “Now let’s sing!” Then she played a scale as they sang along.
La la la la la la la la
“Hey, that didn’t sound too bad!” Adrianna said.
Shelly said, “Let’s do another one.”
The girls took a deep breath and waited for Shelly to start. They sang the notes of the scale. When they finished, Shelly cheered, “That was really great!”
“So are we done with scales?” Cascade asked.
“Not yet,” Adrianna said. “We should sing a few more.”
Shelly thought she heard her friends sighing. But she ignored that and played the harp again.
The girls sang five more scales. After the last one, Adrianna clapped. “No one was singing out of tune or off beat!” she exclaimed.
“Could we be done practicing, then?” Coral asked. “I’m getting hungry.”
Shelly shrugged. “We still need to run through the actual song,” she said.
Angel pointed to the clock. “Can we hurry? The picnic has already started. I’m starving!”
“We can’t skip lunch,” Umiko said.
Shelly sighed. “We’re really not ready for the tryout yet. But I guess we do have to eat.”
“We can grab a quick meal,” Adrianna said, “but then we’ll come right back to practice.”
The other girls didn’t look too happy about that. They’re probably just hungry, Shelly thought. She held the door open and said, “Come on.”
When they got to Leondra’s Square, Shelly and Cascade grabbed sea cucumber and seaweed wraps. Coral and Umiko chose oyster rolls. Angel and Adrianna decided to skip right to dessert. They nibbled on chocolate chip starfish bars.
“This is exactly what I needed!” Angel laughed.
“Everything is so yummy!” Umiko exclaimed.
Shelly nodded and took the last bite of her wrap. She wiped her paws and announced, “I’m done.”
“Me too,” said Adrianna. “Time to get back to the P.A.W.”
Coral scowled. “I’m not done.”
Cascade still had a mouthful of food. She swallowed quickly and said, “I’m still hungry.”
“And we want to go to the Sand Sculpture Contest,” Angel added. “We told you that.”
“But we need to keep rehearsing until we sound purr-fect,” Adrianna said.
“That means we have to go back now,” Shelly said. “And we might stay there all day.”
Coral, Angel, Cascade, and Umiko looked at each other. “This is turning into the worst Founder’s Day ever,” Angel grumbled.
“What are you talking about?” Adrianna asked. “You all agreed to try out for the showcase, didn’t you?”
The four girls nodded.
Shelly said, “That takes a lot of work.”
“We didn’t think it was going to be this much work,” Umiko moaned.
“We thought it would be fun,” Coral added, “but this is hard.”
“We’re just doing the same thing over and over,” Cascade whined.
“It’s getting a little boring,” Angel muttered. “And you two are being bossy.”
Shelly crossed her paws. “This is our one chance to sing with Kelpy Sharkson,” she said. “We can’t stop now!”
“We’ve been doing everything you and Adrianna have been ordering us to do all day!” Coral gr
oaned. “Can’t we do something else for a while?”
“We can do something else when we get the song right!” Adrianna said.
“What about what we want?” Cascade asked.
Shelly shrugged. “If we want the song to be purr-fect, we don’t have time for anything except practicing.”
“But you two don’t even like the way we sing,” Angel snapped. “Maybe it would be better if you went to the tryouts without us.”
Shelly’s eyes grew wide. “But you’re my friends,” she said. “I want to do this with you.”
“Me too,” Adrianna added.
One by one, Umiko, Coral, Angel, and Cascade looked down at the ground. Finally, Coral said, “You’re both better singers than we are. You’ll do better at the tryouts without us.”
“And you two want to sing at the showcase a lot more than we do,” Cascade said. “We want to do other things today.”
Shelly gulped. “If you really want to do something else,” she said, “I guess you should.”
Adrianna nodded.
“I knew you’d understand!” Angel squealed. She swam over to hug Shelly so quickly that she spun them both around.
The other girls grinned. They didn’t notice that Shelly and Adrianna weren’t smiling.
“Good luck this afternoon!” Coral called.
“We know you’ll do a great job!” Umiko said.
“We’d better go,” Cascade said. “The Sand Sculpture Contest is about to start.”
Cascade, Angel, Umiko, and Coral waved as they swam away. “We’ll see you later!” Angel called over her shoulder.
Shelly turned to Adrianna. “I guess it’s just you and me,” she gulped.
Adrianna slowly nodded. “I guess so,” she said. “We can do this, right?”
Shelly squared her shoulders. “Yes, we can,” she declared. “You’re a great singer.”
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