CHAPTER 3: Auditions

The next afternoon, Hannie, Nancy, Andrew, and I arrived at SMS. We saw several other kids from school, as well as the big-house neighborhood. One of the kids I recognized right away was Druscilla Porter—or Dru, as we call her. Her grandmother lives next door to the big house. I used to believe that she was a witch named Morbidda Destiny, but I've long since outgrown those beliefs. Dru, on the other hand, hasn't, and chances are, she never will.

We also saw several of my former second-grade classmates, about half of which are now in my class: Natalie Springer, Pamela Harding (my best enemy since then; nowadays, I guess you could call her a "frenemy"), Bobby Gianelli, Hank Reubens, and Rick Torres. We also saw Scott Hsu, who also lives in Daddy's neighborhood, but like Dru, he goes to Stoneybrook Day. In fact, Scott and Rick had been Hannie's and my pretend husbands. Now, I guess you could say they're sort of our boyfriends.

The four of us sat in the front row on the left side of the auditorium, where we saw several more kids arriving, including David Michael and Jackie Rodowsky, better known as the Walking Disaster to the BSC.

At exactly 3:00, after all of the kids had arrived—and it looked like there were 50-75 of us—Jason stood up in front of the group to get our attention. The first thing I noticed was Jason's hair. It was still the same beautiful jet-black, but it was cut and styled like George Clooney's during his ER days. When I first met Jason, his hair was long enough to be pulled back in a ponytail. Other than that, he was still cute.

"Welcome everybody," Mr. Drubek said. "For those of you who don't know, I'm Mr. Drubek, and this is Jason Everett." He was interrupted by applause from me, my brothers, my two best friends, and the Carnival kids: Jackie, Pamela, Rick, Natalie, and Rosie.

"And Bebe Everett and Jessi Ramsey will be our choreographers," he finished as the applause died down.

"Okay, I'd like all seven-year-olds up on stage, please," Jason said. Andrew went up on stage with a group of kids, including Johnny Hobart, Jamie Newton, and Jenny Prezzioso. When it was his turn, he sang "One Song" from Snow White. He did a great job, even if I could barely hear him.

After they finished, they joined Jessi Ramsey in the lobby to learn a dance routine. They went through the same thing with the eight-year-olds, which included Claire Pike, and the nine-year-olds, which included Rosie Wilder.

Next, the ten-year-olds were up. I went up there with my friends, my former second-grade classmates, Dru, Jackie, and a few other kids.

I stood between Hannie and Nancy. We were asked to step forward, say our name and age, and sing a song. When it was my turn, I said, "My name's Karen Brewer, and I'm ten years old." Then I sang "Maybe" from Annie. Of all of the songs from that show, that one's always been one of my favorites.

On the way to the lobby after we finished, I saw a group of eleven-year-olds go up on stage, which included Scott Hsu, Nick Pike, David Michael, and Becca Ramsey.

"Okay, everybody," Jessi said as soon as we'd assembled in the lobby. "I need you to watch me very carefully here, because after the last group finishes, we'll all be doing the routine together onstage."

Then Jessi showed us all these steps, turns, and kicks, which I thought looked pretty cool. When we tried them, some of us, namely Natalie and Jackie, had a hard time keeping up. In fact, Jackie tripped over his own foot and fell right in front of Natalie, who fell right on top of him. It was like watching a Three Stooges video without actually renting one! Then, to top it all off, Pamela almost collided with me when she was doing one of the turns. If she'd been a few inches closer, she would've knocked my glasses right off.

"Hey, watch it!" she exclaimed.

"Me?! You're the one who almost hit me in the face!" I yelled. "And if something happens to my glasses, guess who's paying for them?"

"All right, settle down, you two," Jessi told us. "Pamela, watch what you're doing; and Karen, if you're so worried about your glasses, I'd suggest either taking them off or getting a strap for them."

I did have a strap, but they were on my other glasses. Still, I thought it was a good idea.

Finally, all of the kids were called up on stage. After we all did the routine together, Jessi paired us up into groups of four so she could see how well we all worked together. As luck would have it, I was in Pamela's group, so I made sure I was nowhere near her in the line.

"All right, that's it for today," Mr. Drubek said at last. "Jason and I have your audition forms, and we'll put the list up at all the schools first thing Tuesday morning. You all did very well, but we only need twenty. Thank you very much."

While everyone was starting to leave, I ran over to Jason and hugged him. "Well, what'd you think?" I asked hopefully.

"You were all great, Karen," he said. "I hope you make it."

"Thanks," I smiled. I was so glad to have someone like Jason rooting for me.