Take Two (4 page)

Oh. I felt really bad.

“It's okay,” I said guiltily.

“Hah! Tricked you! My master manipulation skills are ready to take on that Jazmine James,” Emma said. Now she not only punched the air, but she did an awkward jump. “Mathletes rock! Goooo, mathletes!”

Augh. Sometimes, she just had no shame.

“Goooo, Emma.” I sighed. Please, just go, so people will stop looking at us.

Emma waved good-bye and left, to my relief. However, I did kind of understand why she was so excited. Not because of doing math, of course. But because I was excited to go to Drama. From detention to Drama Club! Here's the thing. Last week when I was pretending to be Emma, I'd gotten to go live on air for our school's first videocast. And I'd loved it. So being onstage seemed like something I might like, too.

Not that I thought I was going to get a big part in a play or anything, of course. But it would be cool to get a small role and
have a couple lines to say. Emma could be the Mathletes Twin, I could be the Actress Twin!

I smiled at the thought of it.

And then my cell phone started buzzing. I saw a text was coming from Tess. She'd texted me a couple times, even though she was one of Jazmine James's sidekicks. Emma called Jazmine her “archnemesis,” but even she agreed Tess seemed kind of nice.

I smiled and shut my locker. I walked down the hall to the auditorium, feeling more confident since I knew I had a seat saved for me. I walked into the auditorium and saw that the front rows were filled with people facing the darkened stage.

I scanned the room, looking for Tess. I spotted Nick. I was a little surprised he wasn't at mathletes, since he was a math brain. But since he was the camera guy for VOGS (Videocast of Gecko Students), I guess it wasn't too surprising he would be at drama.

He saw me, too, and waved. Nick was so nice and easy to talk to that even Emma had been able to talk to him. I'd once thought they would be the perfect love match. He looked kind of her brainiac type, with a little messy longish brown hair and green eyes. But then Emma had totally surprised me—and everyone else—by liking Ox.

I looked around some more and saw Tess. Tess was pretty easy to spot since she was seriously tall with long blond hair. She was sitting in the middle of second row, so I made my way over there.

“Excuse me,” I said to the person sitting on the end as I climbed over her legs. “Excuse me.”

And then someone didn't excuse me, and I tripped over her legs.

“Owww,” she whined dramatically.

It was Sydney. And she was so obviously intentionally blocking the aisle.

“I didn't see you,” she said innocently. “Besides, aren't you supposed to be in detention?”

“Aren't you supposed to be in cheerleading?” I asked back.

“I'm doing it all,” she said, smiling. “Preparing for my future career as actress/model/professional cheerleader.”

“Whatever,” I muttered, and backed away, down the aisle where I'd come from. I'd just go around to the other side of the row. I was looking for Drama, but not
girl
drama.

“Sydney, you're so talented,” I heard a girl say.

I inched back over everyone's legs, just as the lights went on.

A teacher came out onto the stage. “Welcome, students!”

It was Mrs. Burkle! Our English teacher, who also ran VOGS.

“People! Be seated!”

I stepped over the last leg and into the aisle and then
sneaked up the aisle to get to the front and back over to Tess's chair.

“I'll begin with a quote from Shakespeare!” Burkle said. “‘To be or not to be'! As in, to be or not to be seated is your choice! But if you are not in a chair, you will be excused from the room!”

I slid into a chair next to Tess. Whew!

“We'll put on some fabulous shows on this very stage. We will waste no time! We will begin auditions for our first play this very week!”

There was an excited murmur. I happily pictured myself in costume and performing to cheers and applause.

“Mrs. Burkle, what play will we be doing?” some boy asked.

“Our first play will be . . .” Mrs. Burkle paused.
“The Wizard of Oz.”

Oh! I love that movie! Except The Flying Monkeys kind of freaked me out. But I'd even play a Flying Monkey if I could be in this play. Or a Munchkin, I'd even play a Munchkin. I'd pretty much play any part.

“Mrs. Burkle?”

“
Somebody's
voice projects nice and clear.” Mrs. Burkle smiled broadly. “I like that. What is your name?”

“Sydney Fish,” Sydney said, nicely and clearly. “I have a question. I love
Wizard of Oz
and I want to be an actress. But I have a previous commitment because I am a cheerleader. May I still audition?”

“Certain roles will take a major commitment,” Mrs. Burkle said. “Such as Dorothy. However, there are other roles in fewer scenes that might fit into a busy after-school schedule.”

Hmm. That would be excellent if Sydney had to be a Flying Monkey or a Munchkin. He-he.

“Like Glinda, the glamourous Good Witch of the North?” Sydney asked.

“Exactly,” Mrs. Burkle said.

I silently groaned. That was practically a done deal, because Sydney pretty much got whatever she wanted. Except for one thing. Well, one person, anyway . . .

Sydney didn't get Ox. Sydney had flirted with Ox, but somehow he ended up liking my sister. I still couldn't get over the fact that not only did my sister have a boy she liked like her back, but one that Sydney wanted. Sometimes, things just didn't make sense.

“Who do you want to be?” Tess whispered to me. “I hope we don't want the same role.”

“That's nice of you to ask,” I whispered back. “But I've never done a play before so I'll be happy to be a Munchkin. How about you?”

“Oh, anything.” She shrugged. “But I doubt I'll be a Munchkin.”

We both grinned. Tess towered over most of us, including the boys.

“Let's start by doing a few warm-up exercises my favorite drama coach taught me,” Mrs. Burkle announced. “Stand up
and choose a partner. Find a space with your partner onstage or in the aisle.”

“Partner?” Tess asked me.

And we got up and moved out to the aisle to find a space. I noticed Sydney hopped up onto the front of the stage.

“This exercise is called ‘Mirror Image,'” Mrs. Burkle said. “Face your partner. One student will act as leader, the other follower. The leader will mime actions while the follower will try to match anything done by the leader. Your goal is to be so synchronized that it's as if you are a reflection in a mirror.”

“You can be the leader,” I said, facing Tess.

Tess raised her hands over her head, and I raised mine to match.

“You should be really good at this game,” Tess said as she moved slowly and I mimicked her. “Since it's called Mirror Image and you've got one in real life.”

“True.” I sighed. “Not that Emma and I really are in synch most of the time. She's so different from me.”

Tess made a goofy face and I imitated it, trying not to laugh. Then Tess did a more complicated hand motion.

“Excellent!” The voice behind me made me jump. “Here is a team that is demonstrating a near-perfect mirror image! Everyone please watch.”

Oh my gosh! She was talking to Tess and me!

We did our mirror image, and I tried to ignore the fact that everyone was watching us do it.

“Fabulous!” Mrs. Burkle said.

She said I was wonderful! This was awesome! It was like I'd already had a preaudition for her or something. I turned around and grinned.

“Oh! Ms. Mills! I did not recognize you from the back,” Mrs. Burkle said.

I felt a little like a celebrity.

“I didn't realize you were here,” she said. “Please head up to the stage to see Zahra in the red shirt. Zahra is our high school intern here to assist.”

Okay! I looked at Tess and she shrugged at me. I felt a little bad leaving her, and getting all that attention out in front of everyone. I practically skipped up the stage steps. I was sooo glad I'd joined Drama. It was going better than I'd imagined! I passed Sydney on the stage and gave her a sweet smile. Ha! Take that, Sydney!

“Hi, I'm Payton,” I said to Zahra.

“Follow me,” Zahra said.

“Um, okay.”

I followed her off to the side of the stage and out the side door. Then she reached down on the floor and pulled up a handle. A trapdoor opened up and her head went down, down, down, as if she were climbing down a ladder.

“Excuse me, where did you go?” I leaned carefully over the opening in the floor. I saw a short ladder leading to the floor.

“To the basement room,” she called up. “Come on down.”

Um, huh? As I leaned over a little farther and looked down, I saw a dusty room full of shelves with things like paint and I don't know what else on them. There was an old makeup-style table with a mirror on it, a rack with hangers. Theater things that looked like they hadn't been used since before Emma and I were born.

“Why do I need to come down?” I asked cautiously.

“I'll show you,” she said.

I climbed down the ladder, rung by rung. I sneezed from the dustiness.

“You're here to do school service instead of detention or something, right?” Zahra asked. “We need you to clean and reorganize the stage basement. Mrs. Burkle wants to use it for a costume-slash-supply room to keep the sets in. There's a broom and dustpan in the corner. Let me know if you need anything!”

Zahra climbed back up the ladder. And I was alone. In the stage basement. Because of school service instead of detention. It suddenly dawned on me that I wasn't going to be part of Drama onstage. I was supposed to be cleaning under the stage.

Too bad we weren't doing
Cinderella
, I would have been perfect.

“Hello? Payton?” I heard a voice from above. Sydney's face appeared in the hole in the ceiling.

And if this were
Cinderella
, she would be a Wicked Stepsister.

“Hah! You're in, like, the dungeon! Gross!” Sydney laughed. “Mrs. Burkle said to give you this.”

Suddenly a mop hovered through the opening, spraying dirt all over me.

“Ooopsie,” Sydney said. “My bad.”

She cackled. Forget Glinda. She would make an excellent Wicked Witch. I grabbed the mop from her, coughing.

“And here's the bucket,” she said.

And as I looked up to catch a glimpse of a bucket. A bucket that tilted sideways and—

Water came splashing down on my head! Brown, smelly water!

“Ooopsie,” Sydney said again. “My bad again.”

“Sydney!” I tried to yell at her, but her head disappeared. I heard footsteps running away.

I was drenched in water that was apparently used to clean the floor, and from the smell of it, not recently. I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection of the mirror. I was disgusting.

Bzzzzt!
I limply pulled my phone out of my pocket. It was from Tess.

I sank down on the bucket. This was all because of our stupid twin switching! This totally and completely stunk.
I blinked back tears and tried not to cry. Okay, that wasn't working. I pretty much started to cry.

I started to text Tess back that I wasn't coming. Just go on without me, Drama people. Don't mind me, covered in muddy water in the filthy basement.

Bzzzzt!
It was Emma.

Not particularly good timing for Emma's attempt at humor. I texted back.

Almost immediately, my phone buzzed with a call.

“So, I've got a few minutes to kill before mathletes. What stinks?” Emma asked me. Then she paused. “Are you crying? You're crying. Why are you crying? Tell me what happened.”

I told Emma what happened.

“Oh,” Emma said sympathetically. “That does stink.”

“And
I
stink. I smell disgusting because I'm covered with muddy water while everyone else is going to get their picture taken,” I concluded miserably. “I won't be in the yearbook picture. And I won't get a headshot.”

“But you should have a headshot for your audition if everyone else does,” Emma said indignantly.

“I can't audition,” I said. “I'm on cleanup duty.”

“But at least you have to be in the yearbook picture,” Emma said. “You have to prove to everyone you're part of Drama Club, no matter what! What if Counselor Case sees the picture and thinks you skipped out on Drama Club? Your yearbook picture is proof.”

“I guess she could ask Burkle if I was here—,” I said, but Emma wasn't listening.

“Sydney cannot sabotage this, too!” Emma said. “Enough is enough. March up there and get your picture taken.”

“Emma,” I wailed. “I'm covered in muddy water! I'm a mess!”

There was silence at the end of the phone.

“Payton. Meet me at the JC. Now.”

And I heard the click of Emma hanging up the phone.

The JC? The JC was the janitor's closet, our secret twin meeting place. And that meant only one thing: Emma wanted to switch places. I tried calling Emma, but she didn't pick up. I texted her and she didn't answer. But we couldn't switch places, could we?

I slowly climbed the ladder and peeked my head out. The first thing I saw was Sydney, smiling and posing in front of a big white screen as Mrs. Burkle took her picture for her headshot. I quietly pulled myself back onto the stage and then bolted for the side door and out into the hallway.

Fortunately, the halls were empty as I raced to the janitor's closet. And there was Emma standing in front of it.