Part 5 (2/2)

Then, as I was tucking her in, I had an idea. Could it work? I went back to my room and thought it over. Then I went downstairs to the phone in the kitchen. I dialed a number.

”h.e.l.lo?” ”Kristy!” I said. ”This is Jessi. I just got the best idea!”

Chapter 13.

I told Mallory about my plan for catching Hilary while we ate lunch at school the next day. ”Do you think it'll work?” I asked her.

”I don't know ...” she said. ”It sounds like your timing is going to have to be perfect if you want to catch her alone in the dressing room.” ”You're right,” I replied. ”And I don't want to end up being late for rehearsal, either.” ”Maybe you should do it after rehearsal,” Mal said. ”Does Hilary usually take a long time to get changed?” I told Mal that she did.

”Great! Don't you think that would work better?” I nodded. It was good to go over my plan with someone else. Mallory and I talked about it for the whole lunch period, polis.h.i.+ng every detail until it seemed just right.

”When's your next rehearsal?” she asked, when the lunch bell rang.

I groaned. ”Not until Thursday!” I couldn't believe I had to wait that long. It was only Tuesday.

”Don't worry,” said Mal. ”You've got a great plan, and I'm positive it's going to work.” If only I could be so sure. It was hard not to worry. This was going to be my only chance to trap Hilary. I spent the next days thinking about the plan, going over it in my head, practicing what I was going to say, and imagining how Hilary would react.

I'm sure that my parents thought something was wrong with me, but they must have chalked it up to my being nervous about the performance, which was coming up soon. At dinner I would stare into s.p.a.ce, forgetting to eat, while I pictured Hilary's shocked face. At breakfast, I would forget what I was doing and pour the milk into my cereal bowl until it overflowed.

Aunt Cecelia seemed suspicious, too - but she didn't say anything. She just gave me sharp looks as we washed the dishes together. I tried not to show how preoccupied I was, but it was hard.

Becca got the worst of it, I'm sure. She was still upset about the pet show, which was going to be held that weekend. But I was just too distracted to give her any more consolation and advice than I already had. I was happy to hear that she had decided to go to the pet show after all, and that she was going to enter Misty. She was trying to figure out how to make her more -”special.” Once, I had to stop her from trying to squeeze Misty into one of her Barbie doll's evening dresses.

Squirt was probably the only member of my family who didn't notice that there was something on my mind. Or maybe he did, and he didn't care. As long as I was around to give him ”hawssy rides” (horsey rides), he didn't mind my distracted att.i.tude.

On Tuesday night, I had a dream about trapping Hilary. In my dream, she got to her knees on the dressing room floor and begged me to forgive her.

On Wednesday afternoon we had a club meeting. I had hoped to be able to talk over my plan with everybody, but I didn't have a chance. There were too many last-minute preparations to take care of for the pet show.

On Wednesday night, I had another dream. This time, Hilary turned into a fanged monster and leaped at me when I accused her of being the phantom. I woke up with a start. What a nightmare! But I knew that, whatever else happened, there wasn't much chance that Hilary was going to turn into a monster right in front of me.

My cla.s.ses dragged on Thursday, but finally school was over and it was time for rehearsal. I walked into the dressing room, and saw right away that Hilary wasn't there. I panicked. How was I going to wait a few more days to try out my plan? I'd never make it.

But Hilary dashed in right after I'd finished getting dressed. She was out of breath from running up the stairs. ”Am I late?” she asked.

”No, but you'd better hurry,” I said. ”Mme Noelle just gave us the signal that she's ready to start.” I almost wished that I had stuck to my original idea. At least the whole thing would be over before rehearsal. But it was too late now. In a moment, Mme Noelle would be taking the roll.

I grabbed my toe shoes and ran to the stage, with Hilary on my heels. Mme Noelle barely looked up as we took our places.

”We have only four rehearsals left before zee performance, mademoiselles,” she said. ”I osk for your complete concentration.” She looked me right in the eye as she said that. I gulped; And I nodded.

But unfortunately, my concentration was terrible that day. While we were doing our warm-up exercises at the barre, I lost count and kicked in the wrong direction, almost knocking over Lisa.

”Sorry!” I whispered.

She smiled at me. ”That's okay,” she whispered back. ”I'd be nervous, too, if I were playing Princess Aurora.” Little did she know that -my role was the least of my worries. I shook myself and tried to forget about Hilary. If Mme Noelle noticed how distracted I was, she would be furious.

I got through the rest of the rehearsal with no major accidents. As we finished up our work for the day, I began to feel more and more nervous. What if Hilary didn't fall for my trick? What if she hadn't brought her special red pen that day? What if ...

”You are dismissed!” said Mme Noelle, clapping her hands. ”Jessica Romsey, please stay for a moment.” Oh, no! She was going to tell me how terribly I'd danced that day. Maybe she was going to take the role away from me. After everyone else had gone, I crossed to where she stood, next to the record player.

”Yes, Madame?” I asked.

”Mademoiselle Romsey, please tell me,” she said. ”Is everything all right? I am worrying about you.” She was looking deeply into my eyes.

For a moment, just for a moment, I considered telling her everything. I'm not sure what stopped me. I guess I wanted to be able to prove what I suspected before I brought her into it. ”I - I'm fine,” I said. ”I know my dancing has not been perfect. I'm sorry.” She smiled at me. ”Even Anna Pavlova was not always perfect,” she said.

Anna Pavlova is probably the most famous ballerina of all time. Every dancer wants to be ”another Pavlova,” including me. I smiled back at Mme Noelle. Then, suddenly, I realized that I'd better get going if I wanted to catch Hilary in the dressing room.

”May I go now?” I asked Mme Noelle.

She nodded. ”But Jessica, if something is bothering you, please speak to me of it.” ”Thank you!” I said. She can be so nice sometimes, even though she is a tough teacher. I guess she just expects a lot of her students. I turned and ran off the stage.

When I reached the hallway, I paused to catch my breath. This was it! I was about to unmask the phantom. Could I do it? ”Go for it, Jessi!” I said to myself. Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door of the dressing room. I looked around. It was empty. I'd blown it.

Then I heard a cough. I spun around and saw Hilary by the mirror.

”Hilary!” I said. ”I'm glad you're here!” She turned and looked at me curiously. ”Why?” she asked.

I tried to sound like I was out of breath from running, which wasn't hard. My heart was pounding like crazy, just from nervousness. ”It's - it's Mme Noelle,” I said.

”What?” asked Hilary. ”Is something wrong? Is she hurt?” This was not going in the right direction. ”No, no,” I said. ”Nothing like that. It's just that she needs a sign.” I paused. There was something I was forgetting. ”And she wants you to make it,” I added, breathlessly. This wasn't going as smoothly as I'd imagined.

Hilary gave me another funny look. Then she went over to her bag and started to rummage through it. ”A sign, huh?” she asked. ”Okay, no problem. What should it say?” I could have kicked myself. I'd forgotten an important part of my script! ”The janitor spilled some cleaning stuff on the stairs,” I said. ”Mme Noelle is afraid someone will slip on it and hurt themselves before he has a chance to clean it up.” Hilary waited silently.

”So,” I finished, ”I guess it should just say something like 'Danger! Slippery Steps!' ” ”That sounds simple enough,” said Hilary.

”I'll make Mme Noelle the best sign she ever saw.” I sighed with relief. Then I saw the pen she had pulled out of her bag. It wasn't red! It was just a regular blue ballpoint. ”Don't forget,” I said. ”It has to be highly visible, so everyone can see it.” Hilary glanced at the pen in her hand and shrugged. Then she threw it back into her bag and rummaged around some more. I almost sighed out loud. She certainly wasn't making this easy for me! Finally, she pulled out a red pen and started to write. From where I stood, I couldn't see what the writing looked like, so I just had to wait patiently. But my heart was racing.

”How does this look?” she asked, holding the sign up for me to see. I walked over and took it from her. One glance told me that the pen she was using was the same one she'd used to write those nasty notes.

”GOTCHA!” I cried.

”What?” she asked, turning white.

”This pen!” I said. ”And this writing. You sent me all those notes! And now I've caught you.” ”What notes?” asked Hilary, narrowing her eyes. ”I never sent you any notes. Just try convincing Mme Noelle that I did. It'll be your word against mine, and she'll never believe you. You can't prove anything.” ”Oh, yes I can,” I said. ”For one thing, I've kept every note you sent me. Anyone could see that the writing is the same as the writing on that sign.” ”So what?” she asked. ”Why would I write you notes?” ”Because you wanted me to get so scared that I'd drop the role of Princess Aurora,” I said. ”You thought you'd have a chance at it if you could audition again.” ”I wasn't the only one who wanted you to drop out,” said Hilary.

”You're right,” I said. ”Katie Beth and Carrie would have liked to get that role, too. But Carrie was absent when I got a note one day, and Katie Beth saved me when you pushed that scenery onto me.” ”Scenery!” said Hilary. ”I didn't do that! That thing fell by accident, I swear. I didn't want you to get hurt that badly.” Then she put heir hand over her mouth. I could tell that she had realized she'd practically confessed to all her other ”crimes.” ”Oh, please!” she begged. ”Please don't tell Mme Noelle! I couldn't stand it if I got kicked out of dance school. And my mother would be furious.” ”That's why you did it in the first place, isn't it?” I asked. ”Because of your mother.” Hilary nodded. ”It's so important to her for me to be a good dancer. I work really hard to live up to her expectations, but sometimes I just can't. You're a better dancer than me - that's why you got that role. But she doesn't understand.” 1 looked closely at Hilary. I could tell that she was about to start crying.

”1 promise I won't do anything else to you, Jessi!” she said. ”No more notes, no more 'accidents.' I'll leave you alone. I'll pay you back for those leotards I ruined. Just please, don't tell Madame!” 1 didn't know what to do. I felt sorry for Hilary because of her mother, but I was still mad at her. I thought about it for a minute while she waited, tears in her eyes.

I was still worried that she'd try some nasty trick on me during rehearsals, or even during a performance. But since I had proof of her ”crimes,” she probably wouldn't. She knew she'd just be in even deeper trouble. And I realized that she had probably already suffered enough by having to deal with her awful mother.

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