Play It Again by Laura Dower Read Free Book Online

way. Ivy actually sounded like she was kidding around.
    Ivy never kidded around like that.
    “Oops! Bigmouth alert!” Aimee joked. “But is it me or … YOU?”
    She made a funny face and Ivy laughed—one of those deep belly laughs. Their ponytails shook from side to side.
    “Takes one to know one!” Ivy spit out, laughing.
    Ivy never laughed like that.
    Madison didn’t see what was so funny.
    “Now, remember how we did it last time, Addaperle….” Ivy said.
    “You bet, Glinda,” Aimee said back.
    Was this really happening? This trio should be sparring, not singing. And definitely not smiling.
    Fiona leaned on the piano the whole time, laughing as hard and as long as Aimee and Ivy. Listening to their laughter was like coming down with chicken pox.
    Please go away, Madison told herself. She itched all over.
    “Tut, tut. Let’s start, girls.” Mrs. Montefiore hit a few piano keys.
    Mariah also tapped Madison on the shoulder and reminded her they had a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. She handed her a bag of big blue beads and asked Madison to string them on a long piece of cord. Madison sat down with her legs crossed and pulled the cord with both fingers. She could bead and keep her eye on the singing witches at the same time.
    Mrs. Montefiore played Ivy’s solo number from the end of the show next. But halfway through the introductory melody, she stopped abruptly.
    “I just got a wonderful idea,” she said. “Aimee, I want you and Ivy to sing this one as a duet. You’re together in the scene. I think it makes sense. And your voices do sound lovely together.”
    “But it’s my solo,” Ivy barked.
    Aimee rolled her eyes. “Solo, polo, rolo …”
    They were kidding around again.
    “Miss Daly,” Mrs. Montefiore said. “Most solos have been turned into group numbers. This is about working together. To-geth-er.”
    “Can’t Fiona sing, too?” Aimee asked.
    Mrs. Montefiore shook her head. “Just do it the way I am asking, please. And Miss Waters is not in this scene, Miss Gillespie. She’s the bad witch Evillene. At this point, she’s dead.”
    Fiona giggled. “Oh yeah, I forgot.”
    Ivy tilted her head to one side like she had her head in an imaginary noose.
    “Yeah.” Fiona laughed even though it was a creepy gesture.
    Mrs. Montefiore banged her fist on the side of the piano for attention. She plinked out a few more piano chords that sounded a little out of tune, but Ivy and Aimee’s voices trilled right along into the first stanza.
    “‘Believe what you fe-eeeee-el,’” they started to sing again. “‘Because the time will come aroooooooound …’”
    As they got louder, Madison had to admit that they did sound good together. Not as good as Lindsay, but better than Egg. By the second verse Aimee and Ivy were standing so close together at the piano, they looked practically attached.
    “‘Believe in the magic that’s inside your heart,’” the pair harmonized. “‘Believe what you seeeeee …’”
    Madison couldn’t believe what she was seeing at all.
    “Pssst!” Mariah leaned down to speak. “Señorita Finn, how are those beads coming along?”
    There were only seven blue beads on the cord. Whoops.
    “Madison!” Mariah said. “Mrs. Perez is gonna throw a fit. What’s your problem?”
    Madison wanted to point at Ivy and Aimee and yell, “THEM!”
    Instead she slid another bead onto the string.
    For the rest of the day, Madison couldn’t get the faces of Aimee and Ivy singing and smiling out of her head. And when Aimee didn’t return Madison’s phone call that night, it only made her feel worse.
    Friday, Madison was feeling more of the same.
    She didn’t see Aimee all morning, which wasn’t unusual since they didn’t really have that many classes together, but her imagination started doing back flips.
    What if Aimee was being nice to Ivy outside of rehearsal, too?
    What if they were all laughing together right now?
    What if they decided to become best