Shai & Emmie Star in Break an Egg! Read online

  But now she had a problem—Grabby Gabby. Before, Shai had been 100 percent sure that she would be cast as Ti Moune. Now it was more like 50 percent. And 50 percent was definitely not as good as 100 percent.

  “She should go for the part of the snobby rich girl, Andrea. That would be perfect for her,” Shai murmured under her breath.

  “Ahem! Page sixty-three. I want to run through Erzulie’s song again. And Andrea isn’t snobby. She’s more like, you know, sophisticated.”

  “Maybe Gabby should be one of the gossipers, then. She seems like a gossipy person.”

  “Shai!”

  “Okay, okay.”

  Shai turned her attention back to the script. Emmie cleared her throat. She pulled a pitch pipe out of her pocket and played an A note so that she would be in tune. Then she began singing “The Human Heart.”

  “The Human Heart” was a song about Ti Moune and Daniel, who liked each other. The problem was, Daniel was supposed to marry another girl—Andrea. Also, Ti Moune and Daniel were from two different worlds. She was a peasant, and he came from a wealthy family.

  “The courage of a dreamer,” Emmie sang in her sweet, high voice.

  There’s that word again, Shai thought— “courage.” The courage to be nice, the courage to dream. But wasn’t courage about doing scary stuff? Like riding a bike for the first time? Like auditioning? Like trying to be okay with 50 percent sure versus 100 percent sure?

  Now Emmie was singing about hopes that didn’t come true.

  Shai glanced at the music sheets and held up her hand. “You need to hold the word ‘true’ for eight counts, Em. You only did two counts.”

  Emmie groaned. “Oh, right! Ugh, I should have known that.”

  “It’s okay. We’ve only had the music since Monday.”

  “Still. I can’t forget these little details, or I won’t get cast. My song needs to be perfect!”

  Emmie repeated the line and tapped eight slow beats on her lap as she stretched out the word “true.” Shai noticed that Emmie was pretty hard on herself about her singing. Emmie also was hard on herself about her cello playing and acting and every other subject they studied at their school.

  Except for dancing. Shai noticed that whenever Emmie danced, she seemed happy and relaxed and lost in another world.

  Of course, Shai could be hard on herself too. Like when she forgot one of her lines on the opening night of Annie. Or when she tripped on an oar during The Princess and the Frog. But for the most part, acting was her happiness and relaxation and escape.

  Except when certain people were trying to steal certain roles away from her. . . .

  Emmie ran through “The Human Heart” a few more times. She made a ton of notes in pencil in the margins of her script.

  Then she and Shai switched places. Shai warmed up with some scales.

  “Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do!” she sang. “Do- re-mi-fa-so-done-with-this song!” she added as a joke.

  “Ha-ha! Are you going to do ‘Waiting for Life’? Or one of Ti Moune’s other songs?” said Emmie.

  Shai flipped through the music sheets. Ti Moune did have a lot of songs. When Aunt Mac-N-Cheese had played Ti Moune, she’d almost never left the stage. “Um . . . ‘Waiting for Life,’ I guess.”

  Shai felt stomach-achy all of a sudden and began to twist the music sheets in her hands. She didn’t like thinking about how many songs Ti Moune had to sing. Ti Moune also had an important solo dance number.

  Could Shai handle it all?

  And to make things worse, Gabby wanted to be Ti Moune too. Normally Shai wouldn’t have been worried about the competition. But Gabby was a professional. Plus, her unstructured improvisation scene had been well acted. Strange, sure, but well acted.

  “Shai?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Why are you squeezing your music sheets into a pretzel?”

  “What? Oops!”

  Shai wondered if Penelope Periwinkle had a chapter called “Not Freaking Out.”

  SCENE 5

  Break an Egg!

  On Friday the backstage area of the school auditorium swarmed with students. Some were stretching, some were warming up their voices, and some were rehearsing their lyrics one last time.

  As Shai waited for the auditions to start, she did her breathing exercises. She ran through a couple of tongue twisters to loosen up her mouth. She double-checked to make sure that she had worn her lucky not-matching socks—one hearts sock and one stars sock. She had!

  Nearby, Gabby paced back and forth. She was dressed in a peasant skirt and a ruffly top—the kind of outfit Ti Moune would wear.

  Shai gulped. Should she have worn a Ti Moune outfit too? No one else had dressed as the character they were auditioning for. Still, maybe this was what professional actors did.

  Panic, panic, panic.

  “Ahhhhhh!” she breathed, trying to calm down. “Eeeeeee!”

  And then she noticed Gabby reaching into her skirt pocket for something. It was a jar of what looked like honey.

  Gabby unscrewed the top and sipped at it. Shai wrinkled her nose. Was this another Hollywood thing?

  “Why are you drinking that?” Shai asked her.

  Gabby rolled her eyes at Shai and kept pacing.

  “Why is she drinking that?” Shai asked Rio, who was stretching his hamstrings.

  “Singers do different stuff before they have to perform. Some of them drink herbal tea with honey to soothe their throats.”

  “Herbal tea? Ew!”

  Rio grinned. “I always eat a banana before I go onstage. Nya does ten jumping jacks. Some people wear lucky underwear. Whatever works, right?”

  Shai glanced down at her mismatched socks. Hmm.

  A few minutes later a fifth-grade helper- person lined everyone up near the velvet curtain. “When Ms. Gremillion calls your name, go out onto the stage and tell the judges what you’ll be singing,” she said.

  Shai found Emmie, and they bustled into line together. They were wriggly with nervousness and excitement, although at the moment Shai felt more nervous than excited. She ran a hand over her sleeveless white polka-dot dress. She touched her sparkly headband. Why hadn’t she dressed more like Gabby?

  “Break an egg!” Emmie said to Shai.

  “Oh, yeah. Break an egg!” Shai said back to Emmie.

  Actors were superstitious about saying “good luck” before a performance, so they always said “break a leg” instead. “Break an egg” was Shai and Emmie’s own special version.

  Emmie reached over and squeezed Shai’s hand. Shai smiled, glad that her best friend was by her side.

  “The courage to audition,” Shai sang as a joke.

  Emmie cracked up. Shai cracked up too.

  “Rio Garcia, you’re up first!” Ms. Gremillion called out from somewhere in the auditorium.

  Rio squared his shoulders and sauntered onto the stage. He did a fancy twirl and bowed. After a moment he started singing a song called “Rain.” His voice was strong and clear, and he even did some spiffy dance moves to go with the music.

  Emmie went next and sang “The Human Heart.” Shai put her fingers on her temples to send Emmie some positive vibes. Aunt Mac-N-Cheese had taught her about positive vibes, which were like magic brain waves combined with fairy dust.

  The vibes worked really well, because Emmie sailed through her audition without a single mistake. When she walked off the stage, Shai gave her a double thumbs-up.

  Gabby went after Emmie. Shai did not send her positive vibes.

  Gabby began to sing “Waiting for Life.” Shai gasped. That was her audition song. Was the girl out to steal everything from her?

  “Wow, she’s good!” Julia said from the back of the line. Several other kids nodded in agreement.

  Shai’s courage withered. Gabby was good. Really, really good. She had a beautiful voice that could be soft and whispery one measure and big and powerful the next. It was like a roller coaster of sounds and emotions.

  When it was over, Gab
by bowed and breezed off the stage. She passed by Shai and flashed a triumphant smile.

  Shai’s courage withered some more. How could she follow Gabby’s act?

  And then she remembered something else Grandma Rosa liked to say—“Always be positive!”

  “Always be positive,” Shai whispered to herself. Maybe saying the words would make them come true.

  Someone was tugging at her arm.

  “Shai? They’re calling your name,” Rio told her.

  “What? Oh!”

  Shai brushed past the velvet curtain and half-ran onto the stage. Along the way, she said a quick tongue twister under her breath: “Yellow leather, red feather. Yellow leather, red feather.”

  Shai went to the piece of white tape on the floor that marked center stage and blinked into the spotlight. She smiled at Ms. Gremillion and the two other people sitting in the front row—Ms. Englert, the dance teacher, and Mr. Martinez, the voice teacher.

  “What will you be singing for us today, Shai?” Ms. Gremillion asked.

  “Yellow leather, red feather— I mean, ‘Waiting for Life.’ ”

  “Great. Ready when you are.”

  Shai folded her hands and stared into the distance. She imagined that she was on a Caribbean island. She smelled the mangoes ripening on the trees. She felt the warm, tropical breeze on her face. She didn’t think about Gabby at all.

  When she was ready, she gave a little nod to the pianist, who also happened to be the music teacher, Mr. Yee. He played the introduction, and Shai started to sing.

  “A stranger in white,” she sang.

  Right away Mr. Martinez made a face and wrote something on his clipboard. And not a nice face either, like, That Shai Williams is so talented! It was more of a cranky face, like, That Shai Williams sounds like a croaky old frog! Shai wondered, Had she come in too soon? Or not soon enough? Or sung a D-sharp or a D-flat instead of a regular D? Shai was scared of Mr. Martinez, whose nickname was “Meany Martinez,” and for good reason.

  Don’t freak out, Shai told herself. Be positive. At least Ms. Englert was beaming and bobbing her head to the music. Ms. Gremillion was watching and listening carefully, as she always did. Besides, Shai couldn’t dwell on mistakes or maybe-mistakes. The show must go on. . . .

  She focused on singing the rest of the song well. At the end she remembered to hold the last note for eleven long beats. Then she bowed and curtsied and bowed and curtsied again.

  Shai practically danced off the stage. Except for Mr. Martinez’s cranky face in the beginning, it had been a great audition—maybe even better than Gabby’s.

  Emmie rushed up to her and gave her a big, squeezy hug. “You were amazetastic!”

  “Thanks! You were amazetastic too.”

  The two girls sat down on an old theatrical trunk to watch the rest of the auditions. Shai peered over her shoulder to look for Gabby so that she could smirk at her.

  But Gabby was surrounded by a group of kids. They were smiling at her and patting her on the shoulder. Shai thought she heard someone say, “You’d be an awesome Ti Moune!”

  No. Way. Had they not just seen her, Shai Williams, deliver an A-plus-plus audition?

  Shai ahhhhhhh’d and eeeeeee’d some more to try to calm down. Sure, Gabby’s audition had been okay. More than okay. But the teachers wouldn’t pick Gabby for Ti Moune over Shai . . . would they?

  * * *

  After the last audition Shai and Emmie waited with everyone else while the teachers discussed and debated in secret. Who was going to be cast as whom?

  After what seemed like forever, Ms. Gremillion came backstage, thanked everyone, and posted the cast list on the wall. The students gathered around eagerly.

  Shai stood on tiptoes so that she could see over people’s heads. Her heart was pounding like crazy. She saw that Emmie had been cast as Erzulie. Yay, Emmie! Rio had been cast as Agwe, the God of Water. Go, Rio!

  But where was her name?

  “Yesssss!” Gabby shouted.

  Shai moved closer to the wall.

  She saw:

  TI MOUNE: GABBY SUPREME

  MAMA EURALIE (TI MOUNE’S MOTHER): SHAI WILLIAMS

  Shai’s heart sank all the way down to her lucky socks.

  How could this have happened? Ti Moune’s mother? It was a nothing part. She could barely remember it from Aunt Mac-N-Cheese’s production.

  How could the teachers think Gabby would make a better Ti Moune?

  Emmie came up to Shai and gave her another big, squeezy hug. “You totally should have been Ti Moune,” she said quietly.

  “Thanks,” Shai answered, trying to hold back her tears.

  “I didn’t eat my grapes from lunch. Do you want them?”

  “Yup.”

  Grapes were Shai’s number-one comfort food.

  Although right now she wasn’t sure anything could comfort her.

  SCENE 6

  Lima Bean Sad Faces

  “Jamal, please pass the mashed potatoes. Shai, sweetie, what’s wrong with you tonight?” Momma asked her.

  “Nothing,” Shai mumbled. She could feel Sugar sniffing at her feet and waiting for magical falling crumbs.

  “Nothing, huh? Is that why you made a sad face out of your lima beans?” Daddy asked, pointing to her plate.

  “I’m ready for my Ooey-Gooey cake now!” Samantha announced loudly.

  “Sam, you have to eat your dinner before you have your dessert. Corn muffins aren’t for throwing, mister!” Momma cried out as Jacobe stood up in his high chair and flung a corn muffin at Noodle. Noodle caught it in his mouth and scarfed it down in less than two seconds.

  “That little man is going to be pitching for the Braves someday,” Grandma Rosa said.

  Grandma Rosa was Momma’s momma. She lived around the corner in the house where she and Grandpa Lloyd had raised Momma, Aunt Mac-N-Cheese, and Uncle Milo. Grandma Rosa helped out a lot, especially with the younger kids, while Momma and Daddy were at work.

  Grandpa Lloyd had passed away last year, and Shai still missed him every single day. She kept a picture of him on her dresser next to the glass bead bracelet he had bought for her in Italy, Europe.

  The front door opened and closed. The dogs made bat ears and began barking like crazy. Aunt Mac-N-Cheese rushed into the dining room, smiling and breathless. She wore a pretty hat with feathers and flowers.

  “Sorry I’m late, everyone! My rehearsal went over. And of course I had to pick up some yummy pecan candy for us to share later!”

  She set a white box on the table and pulled up a chair next to Shai. “How’d your audition go today, sweetpea?”

  “Your audition!” Momma and Daddy said at the same time. “I put in the family calendar that it was next Friday. I’m so sorry, Shai,” Momma added.

  “It’s okay,” Shai replied. She knew how much stuff Momma had to keep track of—and Daddy, too. Besides, she had hoped she wouldn’t have to talk about her audition at all tonight.

  Of course Aunt Mac-N-Cheese had had to go and remember. Or maybe Ms. Englert had mentioned it to her. The two of them were friends from college.

  “Is your audition the reason you’re making lima bean sad faces?” Daddy asked her gently.

  Shai picked up her fork and pushed the lima beans into a mini Mount Everest. “Uh-huh. Worst. Audition. Ever.”

  “Oh dear. What happened?” asked Grandma Rosa.

  Shai shrugged. She had been asking herself the same thing. Would it have made a difference if she’d rehearsed more? Or worn a Ti Moune costume? Or done more Penelope Periwinkle exercises?

  Or maybe the answer to Grandma Rosa’s question was simple: Gabby happened.

  “Someone else got Ti Moune. This new girl.”

  “Aww.” Aunt Mac-N-Cheese reached over and hugged Shai. “That’s rough. I’m sorry, sweetpea.”

  Momma came over and hugged Shai too. So did Daddy and Grandma Rosa. Jamal gave her his corn muffin, with extra honey butter. Samantha gave her five and a half lima beans. Jacobe made
buzzy raspberry lips at her. This usually made her crack up, but tonight it only made her mouth twitch into a half smile.

  “Did you guys know that Once on This Island has a lot in common with Hans Christian Andersen’s story ‘The Little Mermaid’?” Jamal spoke up. Shai’s big brother knew something about everything.

  “This boy is going to be a professor someday,” Grandma Rosa remarked.

  “Definitely!” said Momma. “So, Shai, did you get another role?”

  “Uh-huh. I have to play Ti Moune’s mother,” Shai groaned.

  “Hey, that’s wonderful!” said Daddy.

  “It’s the opposite of wonderful, Daddy. I was supposed to be Ti Moune, not Ti Moune’s mother. Besides, mothers are old. And boring.”

  Momma chuckled. “Is that so?”

  “Shaianne, have I told you about the time I did a play called A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway? My character was a mother, and she was so interesting,” Grandma Rosa said.

  Grandma Rosa used to be a famous stage actor. Aunt Mac-N-Cheese had followed in her path and studied drama in college. And now she, Shai, was carrying on the family’s acting tradition. Sort of.

  SHAI WILLIAMS STARS AS . . .

  TI MOUNE’S MOM!

  Blah.

  “Do you know why they call it acting?” Grandma Rosa went on. “A good actor can act like someone she’s not and make the audience believe she is that person.” She paused dramatically. “Are you up to that challenge, Shaianne Rosa Williams? Can you make your audience believe that you are Ti Moune’s mother?”

  Shai thought about this. Grandma Rosa was right.

  “You have to eat your dinner before you have your dessert. Corn muffins aren’t for throwing, mister!” Shai said in a pretend-Momma voice.

  Samantha looked startled and spooned a bunch of lima beans into her mouth. Jacobe picked up his corn muffin and took a big, crumbly bite.