CHAPTER 5: The Next Day

The next afternoon, Seth picked us up and took us to the Y, where rehearsals for the Stoneybrook Kids were going to be held. Like we usually did, we moved Seth's blueprints to the very back of the van. On the upside, there wasn't a whole lot of sawdust and tools lying around. That was because Mom got so tired of the mess, she gave him a hand-vac for his birthday last year.

"I hope the songs we're singing aren't too hard," Andrew commented as we turned the corner to enter the parking lot.

"Whatever you're singing, I'm sure you'll do a good job," Seth reassured us. "Well, here we are."

"See you later," Nancy said as we got out of the van, and the four of us headed to the front door. On the way, we met Kristy. Her hair was wet, and she was carrying her shoes, so she'd obviously been at the pool.

"Hi, you guys," she smiled.

"Hi," I answered.

"Hey, I heard you made it into the Stoneybrook Kids," she said, giving each of us her signature arm-punch. "Way to go!"

"Thanks, Kristy," Andrew said.

"Well, I have to get to Mary Anne's house," Kristy said. "David Michael's already inside. See you later."

She hurried to her car, which had been Sam's until he left for college last fall. It's a shiny brick-red Jaguar with an all-leather interior. When Sam graduated from SHS, Daddy and Elizabeth had given it to him, and it came from the same dealership in Stamford that Jason's motor scooter had come from. Jason told us he'd gotten the motor scooter for Christmas when he was thirteen, but he sold it last winter when he'd gotten the truck last Christmas. I think it was nice of Sam to give the car to Kristy, but part of me still thinks he was out of his mind for doing so. I mean, that car was his pride and joy, just like the Junk Bucket had been Charlie's.

When we got to the aerobics room, I saw that Mr. Drubek, Jason, Bebe, and Jessi were already there, as well as some of the other kids who had made it. As we usually did, the four of us ran up and hugged Jason. "Hi," he said. "You guys all set?"

I grinned and nodded. This was going to be so much fun.

A little while later, Jenny Prezzioso arrived. She was wearing a white Minnie Mouse T-shirt and dark blue gym shorts with red and white stripes down the sides. I thought it was nice to see her in something besides a dress. And no, her mom no longer dresses her like every day was Easter Sunday. (HALLELUJAH!) Unfortunately, she's still her same loud, opinionated self. Oh, well; two out of three isn't bad, I guess.

"An-drewww!" she said in a sing-song voice. My poor brother just shut his eyes and let out an embarrassed groan. In case you haven't guessed, Jenny has a really big crush on him.

"Hi, Jenny," he said, trying to sound polite. If you'd seen him that day, you'd be able to tell that he wasn't a very happy camper. Gee, I wonder why?

"Are you looking forward to this?" Jenny asked.

"Oh, yeah," Andrew admitted, cheering up a little. And in a way, he was, mostly because he was glad to be in the Stoneybrook Kids, so he decided to be a good sport, and ignore Jenny making eyes at him.

After everyone had arrived, Jason and Mr. Drubek stood in front of the group to get our attention. "Welcome, everybody," Mr. Drubek said. "I'm glad to see all of you, and I can tell you're going to be a great group to work with. Now, as some of you may know, Jason Everett..."

As soon as Mr. Drubek said those two words, my friends and I were staring dreamily at Jason.

"...is going to be helping you with the music, and Jessi Ramsey and Bebe Everett will be helping with the choreography. Well, let's get started, shall we?"

Then Jason stepped up to the front of the group. "Okay, first of all, I'd just like to say that it's good to see all of you here," he began. "And just so you'll know, Mr. Drubek and I have given this a lot of thought over the past couple of days, and we've decided on music from the '70s, which is basically the music our parents grew up listening to, so a lot of you have probably never heard of it. Some of the songs we'll be doing are from artists like the Jackson 5, Earth, Wind & Fire, Three Dog Night, and the Captain & Tennille."

Huh? Who are these people? I'd never heard of these artists before, but I was pretty sure I'd enjoy the music anyway.

So far, the Stoneybrook Kids seemed to be off to a pretty good start.