The Cinderella Ballet Mystery (2 page)

She held out the tiny screen on her camera for everyone to see. She had managed to get a picture of Bess's grossed-out expression and
the fake cookie hanging out of her mouth.

Nancy shook her head at Gregory. He always seemed to be playing practical jokes. Once he'd put fake worms in George's water bottle. Another time he'd put ice cubes in Madison's ballet slippers.

Bess handed the “cookie” back to Gregory. “You can have this back,” she said huffily. She turned to Deirdre. “And you can delete that picture!”

“No way,” Deirdre said with a grin. “I might
even post it on my website!” Deirdre had her own website, called Dishing with Deirdre. Her father had helped her set it up.

“Don't you dare!” Bess cried out.

Mr. McGuire clapped his hands. “Girls and boys! I want everyone on the floor. Now.”

Nancy and her friends hurried over to the middle of the floor and sat down with their legs crossed. Deirdre, Madison, and Gregory sat down nearby.

The other students in the class included Nadine Nardo and Andrea Wu from River Heights Elementary School. There were also about a dozen kids who went to other schools. In “Cinderella,” Gregory played the part of the prince. Deirdre and Madison were the wicked stepsisters. George was the wicked stepmother. Bess was the fairy godmother. Nancy, Nadine, and Andrea were mice who magically turned into Cinderella's coach drivers. They were also dancers and attendants at the prince's ball, along with some other kids.

The lead role of Cinderella was played by a girl named Autumn Gooden. Nancy glanced around. Autumn wasn't here yet. It wasn't like her to be late for class.

Scruffy, Mr. McGuire's golden retriever, came up to Gregory and gave him a kiss. For some reason, Scruffy loved to give Gregory wet, sloppy dog kisses. Nancy wondered if it was because Gregory often fed the dog cookies—
real
cookies—when Mr. McGuire wasn't looking!

Mr. McGuire sat down on his special blue director's chair in the front of the studio. “Hello, class,” he began.

“Hi, Mr. McGuire,” the class replied in unison.

Mr. McGuire had light brown hair and a slender, serious face. He used to be a professional ballet dancer. Nancy, George, and Bess had seen him in a production of
The Nutcracker
last year in Chicago. Nancy had loved the special holiday ballet, especially the second act, which was set entirely in the Land of Sweets. The stage had been filled with giant-size candies, cakes, and
other goodies. Too bad those sweets were fake!

“I have some good news and some bad news,” Mr. McGuire began.

Nancy, George, and Bess exchanged glances.
I wonder what the bad news is?
Nancy wondered.

“The good news is that all the costumes are now ready, thanks to Ms. Zelda's hard work,” Mr. McGuire said. He smiled at Ms. Zelda, who was standing in the corner. Ms. Zelda was the costume manager. She nodded and waved.

“What's the bad news?” Deirdre asked.

Mr. McGuire's smile faded. “I just got a call from Autumn's mom,” he said. “Autumn tripped on the stairs this morning and sprained her ankle. Fortunately, nothing's broken, so she's going to be fine in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, she won't be able to dance the part of Cinderella.”

Nancy gasped. Poor Autumn! She had been practicing so hard for her wonderful starring role. Now she wouldn't be able to be in the ballet at all.

“So who's going to be the new Cinderella?” a girl named Melanie asked him.

Mr. McGuire turned to Andrea, who was sitting in the back row. “Well, it only makes sense that Andrea should be the new Cinderella, since she's the understudy,” he replied. Nancy remembered that an understudy was someone who learned a starring role in case he or she might have to be a substitute at the last minute.

“Yay!” Andrea squealed happily. “I mean, I feel really bad for Autumn. But I'm really glad I get to be Cinderella. And I already know all the dances!”

A boy named Rich who was sitting next to Andrea gave her a high five. Other kids congratulated her too.

Just then a pink ballet slipper came flying through the air. It hit the mirrored wall and fell to the ground.

Nancy recognized Nadine's shoe.

“That's not fair!” Nadine cried out.

Nancy stared at Nadine. Mr. McGuire had just named Andrea to be the new Cinderella. And Nadine wasn't taking it very well.

Why does Nadine always have to be such a drama queen?
Nancy thought.

“Ms. Nardo, we don't throw shoes in the studio!” Mr. McGuire scolded her.

“It … was an accident,” Nadine stammered.

“Yeah, right,” Bess whispered to Nancy and George. “A likely story.”

“Besides, why does Andrea get to be the new Cinderella?” Nadine went on. “
I
should be the new Cinderella!”

Nadine had tried out for the part of Cinderella
last month along with Autumn and Andrea. After the audition, Mr. McGuire had picked Autumn. Afterward, he had taken a long time to choose between Andrea and Nadine to be Autumn's understudy. In the end, he had gone with Andrea and made Nadine one of the mice instead.

“Andrea is my choice and that's final,” Mr. McGuire said firmly to Nadine. “Now, let's get started with the rehearsal. First we'll run through the beginning of the ballroom scene….”

“Hmph,” Nadine protested. She didn't say anything more.

The students scrambled to their feet and took their places. Nancy was one of the dancers at the prince's ball, along with Nadine. As the fairy godmother, Bess was not in the scene. George, playing the wicked stepmother, would not be in the scene until later.

Mr. McGuire started playing the music on the CD player. Nancy's heart began racing. The music was so elegant and regal. She could
almost imagine that she was at a royal ball in a beautiful castle in some faraway kingdom. She wondered what sort of pretty ball gown she would get to wear for this scene. Would it be purple, her favorite color? Or maybe blue?

“First position,” Mr. McGuire called out. All the dancers put their heels together with their toes pointed out to the sides. They held their arms curved out in front.

“
Tendu
left and
glissade
stage right,” Mr. McGuire said.

Nancy had finally gotten used to hearing the ballet steps called out in French. To do the
tendu
, she slid her left foot to the front, toes still pointed. Then she slid her foot to the side, then to the back.

For the
glissade
, Nancy glided over a few feet to the left. That was one of the most confusing things about ballet. “Stage right” meant go to the left. “Stage left” meant go to the right. It had to do with the audience's view, not the dancers' view. But it sure sounded backward to Nancy.

Still, the
glissade
was one of Nancy's favorite steps. It felt so light and breezy, as though she was dancing on air.

“Michael, don't lock your knees. Keep them loose. Nadine, other direction,” Mr. McGuire said.

“Right, left, what difference does it make,” Nadine said under her breath. Nancy was dancing close to her and could hear every word. “A terrible mistake has been made!” Nadine added.

“I'm sorry you didn't get to be Cinderella,” Nancy whispered to Nadine as she did a
tendu
with her right foot. “But you're an awesome dancer! We need you in this scene.”

“Hmph,” Nadine said.

The group continued to rehearse the steps. Nadine kept muttering about how she should have been Cinderella.

Nancy couldn't help wondering: Was Nadine going to keep complaining about not being Cinderella? Was she going to make trouble for Andrea and the other dancers?

“The Cinderella slippers have arrived!” Mr. McGuire announced.

It was Tuesday afternoon. Nancy, George, Bess, and the rest of the class were gathered in the studio for another rehearsal.

Nancy sat on the floor, pulling on her sky blue leg warmers, which matched her tights and leotard. She pulled her water bottle out of her bag and took a long drink.

“What Cinderella slippers?” Nancy asked the teacher.

“We ordered them from a very special store in Paris, France,” Mr. McGuire explained. “They are for Autumn, I mean Andrea, to wear to the prince's ball. It's a lucky thing both girls wear the same shoe size. Ms. Zelda is downstairs now, getting the package from the deliveryman.”

“Cinderella's glass slippers!” Bess whispered excitedly to Nancy and George.

Nancy nodded. She loved that part of the Cinderella tale.

In the story, Cinderella's fairy godmother
waved her magic wand and made Cinderella a special pair of glass slippers to wear to the prince's ball. She also turned Cinderella's raggedy dress into a beautiful ball gown, a pumpkin into a coach, and mice into coach drivers.

The fairy godmother warned Cinderella that she had to leave the ball by midnight because the magic spells would wear off then. Cinderella agreed. At the stroke of midnight, she left the prince's arms and rushed out of the ball. But in her haste, she lost one of her glass slippers. Later, the prince would comb the kingdom searching for her. He knew that whoever the tiny glass slipper fit must be his beloved princess.

“So Andrea has to dance in glass slippers?” George whispered to Nancy and Bess.

Nancy shrugged. “I don't know. She'd have to be really careful not to break them!”

Just then, Ms. Zelda came running out onto the studio floor. She was dressed in a silvery gray T-shirt and jeans. Her golden curls were piled on top of her head with fancy combs and
pins. She was holding a white box covered with brightly colored stamps.

“The package has arrived from Paris!” she announced breathlessly. She had a soft voice with a French accent that sounded very sophisticated to Nancy.

“My Cinderella slippers!” Andrea exclaimed.

Mr. McGuire smiled. “Let's see them!”

Ms. Zelda started to open the box. She tried to rip the tape off. But it seemed to be stuck.

Gregory was standing next to Ms. Zelda. “You want some help, Ms. Z?” he asked her.

Ms. Zelda thrust the box at him. “
Oui
, that would be very kind.”

Gregory took the box and began ripping. After a moment, he had the box open.

He reached in and pulled out a white shoe box with pink and silver stripes on it. He opened the lid and parted several layers of white tissue paper. Then he pulled out one of the glass slippers.

Nancy gasped. So did everyone else in the class. The slipper was beautiful! It was see-through and decorated with glittering, heart-shaped rhinestones. It looked very delicate.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nancy saw Deirdre get her camera out of her dance bag. She took a picture of Gregory holding the shoe.

“Deirdre, I told you before. No taking pictures during rehearsals!” Mr. McGuire called out.