Star Time (2 page)

She opened her classroom door. It was quiet in there. No kids. No teacher.

Gina looked at her desk. It was a little messy. Books and papers were half in, half out.

She took a step toward Ms. Katz’s desk. The teacher’s desk was even worse than hers.

She told herself not to look. Ms. Katz’s stuff was private.

She couldn’t help seeing Destiny Washington’s math paper. There were cross-outs all over it.

Destiny’s paper was the biggest mess in the room. Gina’s paper was poking out, too.
Very good
, it said.
Just a little sloppy
.

Cool.

She heard a huge
clump
out in the hall. Then “Oof.”

Charlie must have crashed.

There was a mirror in Ms. Katz’s closet. It was all right to look at that. Mirrors weren’t private.

She stood on tiptoe to see her whole self.

Would the used-to-be-famous actress like a girl with a bird-with-wings spot on her shirt?

The bird-with-wings had grown. Now it looked like a hippopotamus.

She was getting worried. Her heart thumped.

“Get your act together,” she whispered to herself. That was what Mrs. Farelli always said.

Gina opened her mouth wide. “Do, re, mi-mi-mi …” Lovely. Loud and clear, even with a thumping heart.

“I am going to be the star,” she sang.

If only Destiny would lend her that sparkly purse to cover the hippopotamus/bird-with-wings.

G
ina poked her head into the art room.

Destiny wasn’t there.

She opened the gym door next.

Clunk!
A basketball hit her in the head. She tossed it back.

“Ew,” Habib said. “It has goo all over it.”

Gina gulped. She opened the girls’ room door. She heard a voice. A strange, wiggly voice.

“I’ve come from a planet far away,” it said.

Gina jumped back.

Something had invaded the school.

Slowly she poked her head around the door.

“Destiny Washington!” she said.

“Just practicing,” Destiny said. “That’s what stars do.” She stopped. “What happened to your shirt?”

Gina raised one shoulder. “Could I borrow your purse for tryouts?”

“My best purse, with the sparkly front and the striped back?” Destiny began to shake her head.

“I have to cover this stain.”

Destiny leaned closer. “It looks like a—what’s that thing with a horn on its head?”

“A rhinoceros?” Gina leaned forward. “I’ll be your best friend forever.”

Destiny rolled Chap Stick over her mouth. She smacked her lips together. “I guess so. Here”

Gina held up the purse. Yes. It covered most of her shirt. Only the rhino’s horn hung out. Or maybe it was the hippo’s tail.

They headed for the auditorium. Kids were all over the hall.

Habib was juggling a mozzarella stick.

Angel was jumping rope without a rope.

Angel’s friend Yolanda was Irish step dancing. Her shoes were clinking and clanking.

Click! Click!

Suddenly everything was still. No one moved. There wasn’t a sound in the hall.

Mrs. Farelli was snapping her fingers. She was the world’s best snapper.

Her snap meant: “Quiet!”

After a moment, everyone began to walk on tiptoe.

In the auditorium, Peter Petway and Mitchell McCabe were lying on the floor. Papers were spread out around them.

They were working on the play:
A Robot World
.

Peter was writing.

Mitchell was thinking.

The play was about a wild space station. Bad guys were all over the place. Too bad. Gina had been hoping for princesses, and frogs turning into princes.

She would have made a great princess.

Charlie would have made a great frog.

Now everyone ran to the window. Gina looked over Destiny’s shoulder.

A car had pulled up in front of the school.

It was an old car, a clunker.

It was the actress, Madam Ballantine!

She came up the walk. She was skinny as a pretzel stick. Her hair was a mess. Too bad she didn’t have any of Destiny’s Curls Galore gel.

Madam Ballantine came into the auditorium.

“We’re doing aliens and comets crashing,” Peter said.

“Wonderful.” Madam Ballantine looked around. “I hope you’ll all come to my play
on Tuesday. It’s at the Star Theater.”

“Of course,” said Mrs. Farelli.

“Of course,” Gina said, too. She stepped a little bit in front of Destiny. She wanted to be sure the actress saw her. She looped up Grandma Maroni’s pearls.

Destiny gave her a push. “You’re taking up my airspace.”

Gina pushed back.

“Hey!” Destiny yelled. “No pushing at the Zigzag School.” She grabbed her sparkly purse away from Gina.

Gina tried to grab it back.

What would the used-to-be-famous Madam Ballantine think of a girl with a hippo-bird on her shirt? Or a rhino?

Mrs. Farelli came toward them. “Outside,” she said. “Both of you.”

They followed Mrs. Farelli into the hall.
Everyone must be staring
, Gina thought. She looked down at her sneakers.

“This is a fine kettle of fish,” Mrs. Farelli
said. “What must Madam Ballantine think?”

“Sorry,” Gina said.

“Sorry,” Destiny said, too.

“Sit out here for a while,” Mrs. Farelli said. “Get your act together.”

Mrs. Farelli disappeared back into the auditorium.

Gina and Destiny slid down against the wall. They watched a bunch of kids go inside.

Four girls said they were going to be stars.

Four boys said they were going to be robots.

“How long do you think we have to sit here?” Gina asked.

“Maybe for the rest of the afternoon,” Destiny said.

“But what about the actress?” Gina hoped she wasn’t going to cry like a hyena.

This afternoon wasn’t turning out very well.

Not very well at all.

O
utside, Gina could hear the
slap-slap
of a jump rope.

Inside, she heard voices. “SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THIS SPACESHIP!” someone shouted.

That was Mitchell.

“He must be reading part of the play,” Destiny said.

“A nice loud voice,” Madam Ballantine said.

Gina peered through the crack in the door. “Do you think Mrs. Farelli forgot about us?”

The gym door opened.

Mrs. Farelli came out. She kept going down the hall.

A moment later, she was gone.

“Maybe she’s going home,” Destiny said. “I guess we’ll be here all night.”

“With nothing to eat?” Gina asked. Her mother would be sad. Mom wanted her to have good healthy food.

“Maybe they turn off the heat at night,” Destiny said. “We may freeze.”

Gina held on to Grandma Maroni’s pearls. She could see blocks of ice in the hall. Icicles on the ceiling!