Times Squared (18 page)

Now she was really confused. How did I do that so fast?

The audience was cheering me on!

Emma went back to her hiding place on her side of the stage. I also knew Ox was there, standing in front of her to hide her. Hee.

Ashlynn's eyes narrowed. She didn't know what was going on, but she covered it up.

“Frog,” she commanded. “There's one way to impress the princess enough to win her hand. And that is to sing for her.”

“Sing?” I said, as if I were surprised.

“Yes, you must sing me a song,” Ashlynn said. She turned to the audience.

“Every show of
Fairytale Mash-up
, we're going to have one lucky member of our audience sing!” she announced. “How cool is that? It's like our own
American Idol
showcase!”

The audience cheered. They thought that was cool. They didn't know I couldn't sing. But of course Ashlynn did.

I heard Sydney's voice pipe from the rear of the stage.

“I'll sing! Yoohoo! I'll sing!”

But Ashlynn just had someone bring out a microphone and hand it to me.

I took a deep breath. I knew there were hundreds of people in the audience! All staring at me.

And I started to sing. And that was when:

Operation Gecko: Phase 4 went into play.

I couldn't see him, but Nick was backstage with the sound and lighting guy! The guy Ashlynn had introduced him to earlier that day. He'd asked if he could sit with him. And Nick asked him to turn off the microphone. And turn up the music way, way loud.

To drown out my horrible singing voice!

The music was so loud, the audience couldn't hear me singing!!!

I had planned to lip synch. But instead? I really sang. I sang on a this-close-to-Broadway stage in front of hundreds of people. And of course, they couldn't hear me.

It was pretty awesome singing, knowing nobody could hear me.

Except that's when the howling started.

Aroooo! Arooooo!

I looked offstage, confused. Then I saw the Pomeranians! Bebe, Barbra and LeaMichele were here at the show too! Ashlynn's dog walker was holding the Pomeranians on a leash. And they were howling at me. Or maybe they were howling . . . with me.

Okay. My singing sounded like dog howling. I guess I should go back to lip synching.

“Frog Slave!” Ashlynn commanded. “Stop singing!”

The music cut off. And I spoke before Ashlynn could.

“Did I impress you?” I improvised. Then I sang in a horrible croak: “Ribbit!”

The audience cracked up again.

“No, that was terrible,” Ashlynn said, really ticked off that I was getting laughs. “You don't win my hand. You have to stay a frog forever!!!”

“That's okay,” I said. “I have my own true
frog
princess.”

And from her side offstage, Emma hopped out. She hopped over to me and I gave her a hug.

“It's twins!”
The audience roared with laughter! Then they broke out into huge applause! I could hear Mason and Jason yelling, “Go, Emma! Go, Payton!”

I saw the look on Ashlynn's face.

“You twins—” she hissed. “You—”

“Time to go!” I whispered to Emma. “Hop it!”

Emma crouched down low and I leapfrogged right over her. She leapfrogged over me until we were almost offstage. The spotlight followed us as we leaped away from an unhappy Ashlynn!

And the audience went wild clapping for us! It was awesome.

“Turn the spotlight back on me!” Ashlynn had lost her temper. The spotlight went back on her. And that's when it happened. Completely unplanned. Completely unscripted.

The spotlight shone on her shiny hair. And, boy, did she have shiny hair. I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Something leaped through the air and onto the stage. It leaped up higher and higher until it landed in Ashlynn's hair.

“Mascot!” Mason yelled from the audience. “My gecko!”

Mason's gecko had leaped into Ashlynn's hair. She was shrieking and dancing around.

The audience couldn't see the teeny gecko or hear him. But Ashlynn did. And she shrieked. And danced around some more.

And then the dogs spotted the gecko. And three
Pomeranians yanked free and raced over to Ashlynn. They were yipping and barking at the gecko! Ashlynn was dancing around, trying to figure out what was in her hair!

“Aack!” Sydney-the-tree shrieked. “What's going on? When is something going to happen to me?” The actor who played the woodchopper came back out onstage. Emma and I just watched from offstage. “Timber!” the actor yelled, and “chopped” Sydney down.

Sydney looked furious, as the audience laughed even more. Sydney fell down and sprawled on the stage. Like a dead tree.

“Wow, Operation Gecko Hick-o even brought Sydney down!” Emma whispered to me.

How appropriate. But now what? I had an idea!

I ran back on the stage and over to the microphone.

“So I, the magic frog, placed a crazy spell on the princess,” I said into it. “I lived happily ever after with my Frog Princess, but this princess went insane.”

That did it. The audience went wild.

“Curtain!” Ashlynn hissed. And the curtain went down but it didn't block the audience's applause.

Operation Gecko had its own real-life gecko! And a great group of student Geckos to make it a huge success!!!

Bravo!

ON A NEW YORK STREET

We had one more surprise waiting for us.

“Please line up for the bus,” Mrs. Burkle said.

“The bus ride home already?” we were all groaning. It had gone so fast.

“No.” Coach Babbitt was grinning. “The bus tour around New York City!”

And not just any bus.

“Double-decker bus!” Payton and I both yelled. It was a two-story bus with an open top!

“Woooot!” I yelled louder, pumping my fist in the air—but Payton grabbed my arm and pulled it down.

“Too awkward?” I asked her. Payton nodded. Well,
maybe I'd never be a cheerleader, but I was a mathletes third-place winner! Woot!

“Twins on a double-decker bus.” Mrs. Nicely smiled at us as she checked our names off her list as we boarded. “You can share some double memories on a double-decker.”

“Remember the last time we took a double-decker bus together?” I asked Payton. “We were five and a half.”

“That's so cute,” Tess said from behind us in line. “I bet you guys were so cute when you were little twins.”

“Yes!” Payton said. “We wore matching bright yellow dresses so Dad could spot us if we, well I, ran off. We sat together squished in a seat with Dad. And Emma corrected the tour guide on one of the facts—”

“I remember,” I interrupted Payton, shaking my head. “The tour guide said that Andy Warhol was New York City's quintessential artist. But I said no way, it was Jacob Lawrence of the Harlem Renaissance. What was she thinking?”

“That you were annoying?” my twin said.

“More knowledgeable,” I said firmly. Ha.

I followed Payton to the stairs. We definitely wanted to sit up top. So did everyone else, and there was a line going up.

“You don't want to sit with Nick?” I asked Payton. The two of them seemed to be getting along rather nicely, I had noticed.

“We should sit together,” Payton said firmly. “Twins on a double-decker bus. Wait, is that okay with you, Tess, if I sit with Emma? Will you sit near us?”

“Of course! You're so lucky to have a twin sister,” Tess said. “Someone who understands you. Someone who has shared all your memories since you were born!”

“Technically, since I'm six minutes and fourteen seconds older, I did have six minutes and fourteen seconds of my own memories,” I pointed out.

“Emma, do you have to be so literal?” Payton sighed. “Besides, you don't have any memories that early on.”

“Hello? I have a near-photographic memory,” I said as the line moved forward. “I remember everything. I came out wondering and curious into the world. You were crying and needed a diaper.”

“Okay, maybe I don't want to sit with you, after all,” Payton grumbled.

“Oh, you twins,” Tess said. “You're like a comedy team.”

I started to take a seat in the front. I couldn't wait to hear the tour guide's fascinating facts.

“Oh, come on, the back is more fun,” Payton said, poking me to move on. Then she grinned. “Oh, looky, Ox is sitting near the back.”

Why, yes, yes he was. Sitting near the back. I stood up and followed her to the back.

“Emma,” Ox said. “Sit here!”

Oh, yay. He pointed to the seat in front of him. Really pointed—with a giant foam finger with a baseball team on it.

“Got this from the street vendor,” Ox said, poking me with the giant finger.

I had a sudden flashback of how I had been given the giant foam finger at our first Geckos pep rally. Everyone in the gym had looked at me and I'd had to lead a cheer in front of the whole school. Then I remembered that it happened during our twin switch. I'd been pretending to be Payton! Ox had thought he liked Payton, but it was really me. It was crazy! But look how it worked out.

Ox still liked me.
Me!

“Give me that.” I grinned and pulled the foam finger off his hand and put it on mine.

I stood up on the bus seat and waved the foam finger.

“Geck!”
I yelled out.

“What the heck?” Payton said, looking up at me.

“Geck!”
I yelled out even louder.

“O!” Ox yelled back.

“Geck!”
I waved the finger

“O!” everyone on the top floor of the bus screamed back at me.

“Nice spirit!” Ox said admiringly.

“Payton Mills, please do not stand on the seat!” Coach Babbitt called out. “Sit down and be safe!”

Oopsie!

“Hey, you just got
me
in trouble.” Payton took the foam finger off my hand and bopped me on the head with it.

“Sorry,” I told her. “But that twin mix-up is understandable. Of course Emma Mills wouldn't behave so crazylike.”

“What have you done with my sister?” Payton asked me “You being silly in public?”

“Pht,” I replied smugly. “That was nothing. I'm world-champion silly.” And about to prove it.

Because that's when I saw Nima coming down the aisle toward us. She had been down in line at the street vendor when I had last seen her. And I'd given her some money for a few souvenirs.

“Here, Emma,” Nima said, stopping in front of me.
She handed me what I'd asked for: two very tall foam hats as big as my head. One was a Statue of Liberty crown. I put it on Payton's head.

The other was shaped like the Empire State Building. I put that one on my own head.

“See? I can be frivolous in the spirit of good fun,” I told her. “And fashionable, too! Thanks, Nima!”

I shook my head so the spiky top of the Empire State Building wiggled. We all laughed.

“Hey, there's Nick!” Tess waved for him to come back our way. Nick, Sam, and Reilly came down the aisle carrying giant bags.

“Whoa, Payton, Emma,” Nick said. “Nice hats.”

“It was a present from Emma,” Payton said, and gave me a little hug.

“Well, Sam and I have a present for everyone too,” Nick said, waving his bag in the air. “Street food!”

“Hot dogs!
Dosas!
” Sam started passing out food to people.

“Roasted nuts! Knishes!” Nick said. “Giant pretzels!”

Everyone was like, No way! This is awesome!

“Thank Mrs. James for the treats,” Nick said. “She got them for us.”

“Seriously?” We all craned our necks to see Mrs. James squeezing into the seat where Jazmine and Hector were sitting. Jazmine was reading the tour map. Hector was looking squished.

“Thank you, Mrs. James!” we all called out.

“Meh.” She shrugged. “Jazmine thought we should feed the whole team. I don't know where that came from, but—”