Times Squared (17 page)

I looked over at my twin. She looked at me.

I would bet that we were actually thinking the same thing. Twin moment! We
could
read each other's mind! Sometimes.

“I've been training for those for years,” I whispered to Payton.

“I know. You're going to
rock
in the spelling and geo competitions,” Payton whispered back.

“Exactly what I was thinking.” I smiled at my sister.

Oh, boy. We were dressed identically and we had twin ESP going on. Things were getting a little too twinzy-cutesy.

“Let's not forget Hector at number eleven!” I said. Hector actually blushed. I was feeling generous.

“And the most exciting part of all,” I continued. “We won the team trophy for highest overall scoring team!”

Nima held up her arm. It was her turn to babysit the trophy.

“Hurray!” I finished. “Woo-hoo!”

“Easy for you to be all happy.” Jazmine shot me an annoyed look. “You beat us all.”

“Hey,” my sister said. “Emma's trying to celebrate your teamwork.”

“Yeah, Jazmine,” Nick said. “Either you're part of the Geckos team or you're not. We need to know before we carry out our plan. Are you in or out?”

Nick, Tess, Ox, Hector, Payton, and I looked at Jazmine.

“I'm on the team, okay?” Jazmine said. Then she yelled in a voice so loud it surprised us.

“Go, Geckos! We're number one! Go, team!”

Sydney came over with Cashmere.

“Is there cheering going on here?” she asked. “ ‘Cause it's nothing without an official Geckos cheerleader.”

“Like Sydney!” Cashmere said, as if we didn't get it the first time.

“Great, Sydney!” Payton faked a smile. “You can lead us in a cheer.”

“Yay!” Sydney clapped her hands. Then she added, “Not that I needed
your
permission.”

“Go, Geckos!” she yelled, and did a cheerleader jumpy thing.

And everybody shouted, “Go, Geckos!” as we crossed the street in accordance with the pedestrian signage rules.

Suddenly, from out of the crowd, Mrs. Burkle's voice boomed loudly enough for half of Manhattan to hear.

“Look, everyone! Our twins are wearing identical gecko-colored dresses! Such school spirit!”

“More like gak-o colored,” Payton said. “So embarrassing.”

People were turning around to look at us.

“And we're still a block away from the theater,” I muttered. “Operation Gecko Hick-o hasn't even begun, and already we have an audience.”

“Shh!!!” My twin and Tess shushed me.

“We're here!” Mrs. Burkle sang out. “Get ready for a magical performance!”

“The performance of our lives,” I said. This time no one hushed me. Or argued with me. Operation Gecko Hick-o was about to begin.

Lights.

Camera.

Action!

AT THE THEATER

It was showtime!

The Dramatic Geckos and the Mathletic Geckos entered the theater together. Thanks to Mrs. Burkle's friend, we had part of the front row, second row, and third row blocked off for us.

I scanned the front of the theater to see if Operation Gecko Hick-o was in place.

Jazmine James was sitting in the very center of the front row, with her arms across the seats next to her. I grinned. Jazmine had some magic way of getting to the front-and-center seats in the classroom. She'd worked her magic here, too.

I texted our group:

Operation Gecko: Phase #1 Accomplished.

I went to sit in the third row, near the end of the aisle. Tess and Sam followed me in. We'd recruited Sam at the last minute, and he was totally happy to do his part.

The audience was all buzzing with excitement.

“I'm excited to see this play,” Tess said as we sat down. Then she lowered her voice. “But nervous, too, about . . . you know.”

I knew! I was nervous too, but feeling better as I watched the next stage of our mission happen. Ox took one of the seats Jazmine was saving. Hector sat down on the other side. Nick and Emma were nowhere in sight. And that actually was a good thing.

Everyone was in his or her place. I smiled that it had all gone so easily.

Until it didn't.

“Hey, there's Payton!” I heard a voice. “I want to sit with Payton!”

I saw Jason pointing at me. He was with his brother and his parents.

“Uh oh,” I said quietly to Tess. “This could make things tricky.”

I was nervous enough without my guidance counselor
and the coach sitting right near me. And who knew what the twins would do nearby?

Jason ran up to me.

“Hi, Payton,” he said. “I wanted to sit by you but Mason won't let me. He wants to sit in the front row because he thinks the star of the play is so pretty. He saw her picture in the program. Her name is Ashlynn.”

That was the first time I was happy to hear about how pretty Ashlynn was.

“So I have to sit with them,” Jason continued explaining. “Sorry!”

“I understand,” I told Jason.

That was close. I sat back down in my seat. The rest of the audience was sitting down. And then the lights dimmed. The curtain rose. And
Fairytale Mash-up
started!

I forgot about everything else as I watched the actors and actresses onstage. The actors and actresses we'd seen onstage were amazing. And, I had to admit, Ashlynn was amazing too.

When Ashlynn sang her song about being a princess searching for her dream, I got chills.

“She's really good,” I whispered to Tess.

Everyone was laughing and having a good time. And then they came to the part of the play that snapped me
back to reality. The audience participation part. Nobody but Operation Gecko team members noticed Ox get up from his front row seat and disappear into the dark aisle. Or if they did, they probably assumed he was going to the restroom. But since Jazmine had snagged a seat so close to the stage, Ox was able to slip easily into his position behind the curtains.

“Audience participation improvisation!” announced the actor who had played a woodchopper in an earlier scene of the mashed-up fairy tales. He called up a boy I recognized from Emma's mathletes competition. Their skit was pretty funny. Then another actress called up a man who had to play her handsome prince. That was hysterical. The two guys sat down amid applause. It would have looked fun, except I knew what was coming.

And then it was Ashlynn's turn. She smiled sweetly. It was so weird how she could seem so sweet and nice onstage. And then in person . . .

“I'd like to bring up . . .” Ashlynn walked down into the audience. She turned toward me. I took a deep breath and prepared myself . . .

“You,” Ashlynn said. She tapped Sydney on the shoulder with her princess wand.

“Me?” Sydney squealed. “Really?”

Really? Tess and I looked at each other.

“She didn't pick you,” Sam said. “That's not in our plan!”

Well, okay. Our plan was foiled. But really, the plan was only in place because we thought Ashlynn was going to try to embarrass me. And the other Geckos. So maybe Ashlynn had taken a turn for the nice after all!

“But I wanted to take her down,” Sam whined quietly.

“Our plan was defense,” I whispered back. “So if she didn't go on the offense, we don't need to do anything.”

Sydney practically skipped up to the stage. I started to think nicer thoughts about Ashlynn. Maybe she'd had a change of heart. Then Ashlynn suddenly stopped. And pointed her wand into the audience.

“Let's let one more person have some fun.” She smiled. And she came over to me. And pointed her wand in my face.

There was no change of heart. It was still cold and black.

Tess's eyes widened. Sam grinned. Operation Gecko Hick-o was about to launch.

I stood up and pretended to be nervous. Okay, actually, I
was
nervous. Ashlynn smirked at me and I followed her up onstage.

“It's Payton!” Mason and Jason were practically
jumping out of their seats with joy as they waved at me. I smiled at them as I joined Sydney onstage. Sydney scowled at me, but I just pasted on a smile.

I could see Mrs. Burkle beaming at me from the audience. And then the house lights went dim, the stage lights went up, and I couldn't see anything past the stage.

“What's your name?” Ashlynn asked Sydney.

“Sydney Fish,” Sydney said. “Future star!”

“What's your name, little girl?” Ashlynn asked me.

“I'm Payton,” I said in my best clear voice. Mrs. Burkle would be proud.

“Sydney, in this improvisation scene you will play . . .” Ashlynn paused. “A tree!”

“A tree?” Sydney asked. “What kind of tree? A beautiful maple? A dramatic, tragic weeping willow? An apple tree that will feed the children?”

“A tree,” Ashlynn responded.

“Well, what's my motivation?” Sydney asked her.

“Your motivation is that you stand there and be a tree,” Ashlynn said.

The audience chuckled. They didn't know what I knew. This was going to be a humiliation attempt! I squinted to see if my Operation Gecko mates were in place, but the stage lights were too bright.

“And you,” Ashlynn told me. “You are going to be a frog. A very
green
frog.”

A frog! I was insulted for one split second. But then I realized how absolutely perfect that was going to be. I held back a grin so Ashlynn wouldn't suspect anything.

“Ew, a frog.” Sydney laughed at me.

I pretended to be annoyed. I crouched down in a frog position. The audience chuckled.

“Hm, not just any frog.” Ashlynn pretended to think. “How about an . . . insane frog?”

The audience laughed. I played a good sport. I tried to look crazy. I jumped around a little bit. And oops! Lost my balance and fell over.

“Heh.” Sydney smirked at me.

Hey, it was a comedy and I was making the audience laugh. I knew Ashlynn was trying to embarrass me, but honestly, it was kind of fun!

“The story is, the frog—who, by the way, is covered with disgusting warts—thinks he is a prince and that a princess can turn him back into a prince,” Ashlynn said. “So the frog will do anything the princess wants.”

I could see where this was going.

“So I'm a Frog Servant?” I asked her loudly. And then I practically shouted. “I'm a
Frog Slave
?”

Ashlynn seemed surprised I was taking it so well. But I needed my voice to project realllly loudly.

“Why, yes.” Ashlynn nodded. “My Frog Servant. Let's get into character
now.
”

She waved her princess wand in the air.

“Frog Servant, I'm thirsty,” Ashlynn said. “Fetch me a drink of water from my wishing well.”

I crouched down and frog-hopped to the side of the stage. I passed Sydney, who was standing like a tree. I pretended to dip a cup in water and hopped back to Ashlynn.

Ashlynn drank it up.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, Princess,” I said. “I sipped it too. You might get warts.”

The audience laughed. Ashlynn looked annoyed. But what could she do? It was a comedy!

“Hello, tree over here!” Sydney waved her branch—I mean, arm. “What about me?”

“Oh, your part isn't yet,” Ashlynn said. “And shh, trees don't speak.”

Ashlynn waved her arm and the lights over Sydney went off. She was in the back of the stage—in the dark! Obviously part of Ashlynn's revenge and humilation.

“Frog, go bring me my glass slippers,” Ashlynn commanded.
I hopped one way, but Ashlynn stopped me. “No, that way!”

I hopped the other way, almost falling over. It was a challenge to hop like a frog. Ashlynn had me hopping all over the stage as she barked directions to me.

I started to huff and puff a bit. The audience cracked up at my frogginess. Ashlynn was starting to look pleased with herself.

“Frog, fetch me my wand,” Ashlynn said. And she slid her wand to the side called “stage left.”

And that's when we went into:

Operation Gecko: Phase #3

I hopped offstage to the left. I hopped past the wand, to behind the curtain, so the audience wouldn't see me.

And then, from the complete opposite end of the stage, like magic, I jumped out again.

Okay, it wasn't me! It was Emma! We were still in matching outfits, so it looked like I had magically gotten from one side of the stage to the other! I waited offstage.

Emma hopped over to Ashlynn and brought her the wand. Ashlynn looked confused but Emma smiled.

“How'd you do that?” Ashlynn sputtered.

The audience applauded.

Ashlynn then tossed the wand to the other end of the stage, stage right.

“Oopsie!” she said. “Fetch, Frog Slave!”

Emma quickly hopped across the stage without touching the wand, and kept going to stage right. I waited until she was hidden. Then, from stage left, I hopped back on. I grabbed the wand and brought it to Ashlynn.