Fabulous Five 020 - The Witches of Wakeman Read online

  Just then, Keith came around the corner, walking with Jon Smith and Scott Daly.

  Beth started to call out to him, but before she opened her mouth, Keith walked over to Laura, took hold of her braid, and tugged at it playfully.

  "What's Keith doing?" Melanie asked.

  Beth didn't answer. With her mouth set in a tight line, she watched Keith.

  Laura stood up, wiped a drop of water from her mouth with the back of her hand, and giggled. "Keith Masterson!" she said. "I didn't even see you coming."

  Keith laughed loudly. "That was the whole idea," he said, grinning at her, then at Jon and Scott.

  Beth caught her breath. Keith was flirting with Laura McCall! That was all she needed today. She gritted her teeth, praying that tears would not fill her eyes, and said, "Come on, Mel, let's not be late for rehearsal."

  Beth turned on her heel and headed quickly down the hall toward the auditorium. Melanie raced after her.

  "I'm sorry about what happened back there," Melane said sympathetically. "Keith was just showing off in front of his friends."

  "I know," Beth said, trying to sound as if she didn't care. "He can be very immature at times." She remembered a time not long ago when he had squirted her with green slime. He'd been with his friends then, too. He always acted his worst when his friends were around.

  When they arrived at the auditorium, Melanie saw Molly and hurried to the crew meeting back in the corner. Beth sat down in one of the back seats, grateful to be alone for a few mintues to collect herself before rehearsal. Her heart ached. It would have hurt to see Keith flirting with anyone else, but it was worse because it was Laura. Keith was so immature sometimes.

  A thought occurred to Beth, and she sat bolt upright in her seat. Was Keith just acting immature, or was he attracted to Laura? Could he be interested because she was so pretty—and because she had such a great body?

  CHAPTER 5

  "We're going to start with a run-through today," Mr. Levine said. "Everyone get out your scripts."

  Laura had sat down on the end of the same row Beth was in. They ignored each other as everyone reached in their book bags to get out their scripts.

  "We'll start with the first speeches of the Macbeth witches," Mr. Levine said. "They open the show. Dekeisha, Beth, and Laura, will you come up onstage, please?"

  Beth took a deep breath and reminded herself silently to keep her head high. She walked up the side steps to the stage. Dekeisha and Laura followed close behind.

  "For now, I'd like you girls downstage center," said Mr. Levine.

  The girls moved to the center of the stage nearest the audience. Beth was still careful not to look at Laura. She figured that Laura was still gloating over being cast as the beautiful witch. Beth didn't want to give her the satisfaction of being able to smirk victoriously at her.

  Mr. Levine looked to the back of the auditorium. "Do we have a caldron yet?" he called out to the prop crew.

  "We sure do," Molly hollered back. "Want it now?"

  "Yes," Mr. Levine said. "In fact, as soon as the prop crews make or get hold of props, let's start using them."

  Molly and Melanie ran backstage to get the caldron.

  "Oh, you should see the wand that I get to use when I play Glinda!" Laura gushed loudly to everyone. "I'm going to use it today during rehearsal."

  Dekeisha smiled politely at Laura, but Beth decided to ignore her.

  Molly and Melanie came slowly around the edge of the curtain, holding the heavy black kettle between them. There were three branches, each about five feet in length and stripped of leaves and twigs, sticking out of the caldron.

  "These," Molly said, her hand on one of the branches, "are what you use to stir your brew, witches."

  "Thank you, Molly," Mr. Levine said. "They're perfect. Are we ready for the witches' opening scene?"

  "Ready," said Beth.

  "Okay, start at the top of page one," Mr. Levine said. "During the auditions, each of you read all the lines. But as you can see from the script, the opening speech is divided between the three witches. Beth, you will be witch number one; Dekeisha, you will be number two; and Laura will be number three.

  "Go ahead," Mr. Levine said. "All three witches read the first line."

  "Double, double, toil and trouble," they read in unison, all of them stirring the "brew" inside the kettle. "Fire burn and caldron bubble."

  Beth lowered her voice and intoned as witch number one, "Cool it with a baboon's blood, then the charm is firm and good."

  Laura, standing on the right side, dropped her branch and took a step toward the audience. "The show today will make you shiver," she said in her natural voice. "We have some acts to make you quiver—"

  "Laura," Mr. Levine interrupted, "don't leave the others when you speak. Just look up and continue to stir the caldron. And you need to work on a different voice—perhaps a lighter tone, although the volume still has to be up for the people in back to hear."

  Laura nodded.

  "Okay, let's try it again," Mr. Levine said.

  Beth held back a smile. Mr. Levine wasn't about to let Laura upstage Dekeisha and herself.

  "Double, double, toil and trouble," they began again.

  The rehearsal went well for Beth, until they got to the Wizard of Oz skit. Just before Glinda's first scene, there was a shriek from backstage.

  "What's going on?" Mr. Levine asked loudly.

  "It's gone! It's not here, and it was here just a half hour ago!" Laura's whiny voice filled the auditorium.

  "Laura!" Mr. Levine yelled. "Come out here."

  Laura appeared in front of the curtains holding her head in her hands.

  "What are you missing?" Mr. Levine asked.

  "My beautiful magic wand!" Laura wailed. "It was on top of the prop cabinet, but now it's gone!"

  "It was there a few minutes ago," Dekeisha said. "Beth and I were looking at it during our break."

  Mr. Levine raised his voice for everyone to hear. "Did anyone see what happened to Laura's magic wand?"

  No one spoke, but several students shook their heads no.

  "I saw Beth looking at it," Laura said nastily. "She was holding it just before we started working on the last scene."

  "I was there, too, Laura," Dekeisha spoke up. "We were both holding it."

  "Yes, but I saw Beth holding it later by herself," Laura insisted.

  Mr. Levine turned to Beth. "Do you know what might have happened to it, Beth?"

  Beth looked at Mr. Levine, astonished that he would even ask. "No!" she said. "And I certainly wouldn't have walked away with it, which is what Laura is hinting at."

  "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you had something to do with it," Laura said.

  "Laura, accusing someone of stealing is a very serious thing," Mr. Levine said.

  "It sure is!" Beth said, her voice rising with anger. "How dare you accuse me of stealing your stupid magic wand, Laura McCall! Just because you saw me holding it, you think I took it? What would I want it for, anyway? I can't think of a single thing, except for the possible exception of making you disappear!"

  Molly burst out laughing at Beth's last remark, and Melanie held a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling.

  "Okay," Mr. Levine said, looking from Beth to Laura, "that's enough, both of you." He sighed. "I'm sure the magic wand will turn up somewhere."

  "It's the Macbeth curse!" Molly shouted. "I just realized it! The witches said the 'Double, double' speech and now another bad thing has happened." The auditorium got deathly still, and Beth felt a shiver run through her. It was true that a lot of things were going wrong on the set, but there couldn't really be a curse—could there?

  CHAPTER 6

  Mr. Levine stepped to the edge of the stage, looking both at the cast and the prop crew. "That's enough talk about a curse," he said sternly. "The subject is closed, remember? The wand will turn up somewhere. Now, let's get back to work."

  To Beth's relief, the rest of the read-through ran smoothl
y with no unexplainable incidents. Paul Smoke performed his magic act and ended with his pulling-the-bat-out-of-the-hat trick. Chet Miller's juggling Headless Horseman act looked as good as it had during the audition.

  As they neared the end of The Wizard of Oz skit where Glinda melts the bad witch, Beth began to get nervous again. She wondered if Laura was looking forward to the scene as much as she dreaded it.

  When they got to the last scene, Mr. Levine stepped up to the two witches. "Okay," he said, "here is where the good witch Glinda melts the bad witch. Of course, we can't have Beth turn into a puddle before our eyes—"

  "Too bad," Laura muttered under her breath but just loud enough so that Beth could hear. Beth scowled at her.

  "—so," continued Mr. Levine, "Beth, when she spills the water on you—and it will be a very small amount—you will act as if you're melting and shriveling, and you'll lower yourself to the floor. At that moment, we'll kill the lights, marking the end of the scene and the show. When the lights come back on, you jump up, and we'll start our curtain call. Got it?"

  "Got it," Beth said, forcing a smile.

  "Okay," said Mr. Levine. "Let's try it in pantomime."

  The girls played the scene. Beth advanced menacingly on Laura, enjoying every minute of it. It was all she could do to keep from saying her lines out loud. Then Laura acted as if she were dashing water all over Beth. Beth began whirling in a slow circle, dropping lower and lower, her knees trembling. She put her hands around her throat as if she were choking and got a horrified expression on her face. She was really into the scene, and she knew she was doing a super job.

  Suddenly there was a hideous, high-pitched laugh, stopping Beth cold and causing her to stumble and fall to the floor. She looked up to see Laura laughing as if it were the greatest moment of her life.

  "Laura!" Mr. Levine called out. "This was supposed to be in pantomime. Besides, you aren't supposed to laugh. Remember, you're the good witch! The spilling of the water and the melting of the bad witch was just an accident."

  Laura glanced at the teacher, but she didn't say anything.

  "You should be horrified, not exhilarated," Mr. Levine ordered.

  "Okay," Laura said, planting a sickly sweet smile on her face.

  When they had finished the scene, Mr. Levine nodded. "We'll end rehearsal here," he said. "Tomorrow, instead of running straight through the show, we'll take smaller sections and really work on them. The three witches should be here for the 'Double, double' speech, as well as Paul Smoke. We'll work on The Wizard of Oz, too. The next day, we'll work through Snow White and Chet Miller's act. The three emcee witches will have to be here for every rehearsal."

  By this time the crew had gone home. Beth had no desire to stick around where she might have to hear nasty remarks from Laura, so when she saw Paul walking up the aisle toward the door carrying his bat cage, she hurried after him.

  "Paul!" she called out.

  Paul turned around and smiled when he saw Beth. Her heart fluttered a little—after all, he was a ninth-grader—and he seemed genuinely glad she had called to him.

  "That magic act of yours is really great," she said, aware that Laura was walking up the aisle behind them now. "How did you ever think of using a bat in your act?"

  Paul grinned. "Bats are my hobby," he said. "I've got three of them."

  "You're kidding!" Beth said. "You have three bats at home?"

  "That's right," he said. "Batman, Robin, and Shirley."

  Beth laughed. "Shirley?"

  Paul shrugged. "It's a female, and I couldn't think of a good name for her. So I named her after my sister." He grinned. "She hated that."

  Beth laughed again. Paul is really nice, she thought, and funny.

  "Which bat are you using in your act?" Beth asked him.

  "Robin," Paul said. "He's really a ham. He loves to perform."

  "How can you tell?" Beth asked seriously.

  "Sometimes I let him loose at home, and he shows off for us, flying, swooping, and dive-bombing all over the house."

  "You let him loose?" Beth was incredulous. "What does your mom think of that?"

  Paul shrugged. "She's used to it now. She likes Shirley best because she's so shy."

  They stopped just outside the auditorium door, and Laura McCall swept past them, her nose in the air.

  "I suppose the next thing you'll tell me is that you rent Robin out for Halloween parties," Beth teased.

  "Hey, why didn't I think of that?" Paul threw back his head and laughed. "Robin would love it, and I could always use the extra money."

  "I've got an even better idea," Beth said, raising her eyebrows in delight. "Rent him to me, and I'll put him in my sister Brittany's closet on Halloween night." Beth raised her hand before Paul could answer. "Naw, on second thought, I'd hate to scare Robin."

  They had another good laugh over that, and then Paul said, "Would you like to come over sometime and see my bats?"

  Beth grinned. "That would be fun! I'd love to see Batman and Robin and Shirley up close. Both Shirleys," she added, and giggled.

  "Great," Paul said. "Let me check with Mom about what day would be best. I'll let you know."

  "Okay," Beth said.

  They said good-bye, and Beth pushed the exit door open and walked out into the brisk fall air. A ninth-grader wants me to come see his bats, she thought, smiling to herself. I guess if Keith can flirt with Laura, I can go and see Paul's bats.

  Still, she couldn't help wondering how Keith would feel if he knew.

  CHAPTER 7

  When Beth got home, her five-year-old sister Alicia was sitting at the kitchen table, which had been spread with newspapers, laboriously painting a face on her Halloween pumpkin under the watchful eye of Mrs. Barry. Beside Alicia's chair, Agatha, the family's old English sheepdog, happily thumped her tail on the floor when Beth walked in.

  "Bethy! Bethy! Look at my pumpkin!" Alicia shouted.

  Beth stopped beside the table and looked at Alicia's artwork. The face she had painted was obviously female, with bright red cheeks and lips and yellow streaks for hair.

  Glinda! Beth thought, and stifled a gasp. It looked exactly like her.

  "Well!" Alicia said impatiently. "Do you like it?"

  "Of course," Beth said quickly.

  "Do you know who it is?" asked Alicia.

  Beth grimaced. "The good witch from The Wizard of Oz?" she asked hesitantly.

  "No, guess again," Alicia demanded.

  Sighing, Beth looked at the blond-haired pumpkin. Why was it that everything she saw reminded her of Laura McCall?

  "I give up," she said.

  "It's the tooth fairy!" Alicia cried gleefully. "Can't you tell?"

  "Oh, yeah. Now I can see," Beth fibbed.

  Her mother was trying to hide a grin behind her hand, and Beth exchanged winks with her. Alicia hummed happily and went back to work on her pumpkin, and Beth glanced sideways at her mother again. Mrs. Barry had a pretty face, she thought, that was for sure. But if you looked down past her neck, you'd have to admit that she was a bean pole. So it's in the genes, she thought miserably. I'm doomed to be skinny all my life.

  Just then Brittany, who was sixteen, came jogging in the back door. "Hi, everybody," she called out as she grabbed the receiver from the wall phone and immediately began punching in a number.

  Beth looked Brittany over. If I needed more proof, here it is, Beth thought. Brittany was not as flat as their mother, but she was not exactly voluptuous, either.

  Beth poured herself a glass of milk and waited until her sister got off the phone.

  "Brittany," Beth began, "you don't think that having a great body is all that important, do you?"

  Brittany shrugged. "Well, it helps." Then she looked at Beth thoughtfully and added flippantly, "Hey, don't worry that you're so flat-chested. Some girls have it and some don't. It's no big deal—unless, of course, you want to enter the Miss America pageant."

  Beth bristled, and her face grew hot and prickly. She h
ad forgotten all about the Miss America pageant. And the Miss World pageant. And the Miss Universe pageant. Why was everybody so hung up on women's bodies? It didn't make any sense at all.

  "Oh, Brittany," Mrs. Barry said. "What a thing to say."

  "What did she say, Mom?" Alicia asked innocently.

  "I'm just telling her the truth," Brittany snapped, and disappeared into the family room.

  Mrs. Barry reached out and stroked Beth's hair. "You're a very pretty girl. You know that, don't you?"

  Beth looked down at the floor. "Maybe above my neck," she said.

  "You're lovely all over," her mother said. "And besides, thin is in. Everybody is dying to be as thin as you are. Just give yourself time to fill out a little."

  But you didn't fill out, Beth thought. Why should I think I'm going to? She didn't say those things, though. Why hurt her mother's feelings?

  "Hi, everybody," Beth said in a grumpy voice when she met her friends at school the next morning. She was still depressed over Brittany's remark yesterday and she was in no mood for cheery conversation.

  "Is something wrong?" asked Christie.

  Beth shrugged. Maybe she should tell them what was on her mind. After all, they were her best friends.

  "Have you ever thought much about the Miss America pageant?" she asked. "You know, how the winner is picked?"

  "Oh, boy, have I," Katie said, looking exasperated. "I hate the idea of judging women for how good they look in a swimsuit."

  "I'll second that!" said Beth.

  "Of course, the pageant does provide scholarships for the winners and runners-up," Katie admitted. "That should count for something."

  "And a lot of them are really talented," Melanie said.

  "Do you think the judges consider talent?" Beth asked.

  "Of course," Jana said. "Otherwise, the pageant wouldn't have a talent contest."

  "But I still think most people tune in to see how beautiful the women are," Katie said. "If they wanted talent, they'd watch Johnny Carson or David Letterman."

  "But why does a woman's body have to be so perfect?" Beth cried out suddenly. "Can't people appreciate a woman for her musical ability or her acting talent or her dancing or gymnastic abilities? Or even how nice she is? Why does everyone care about what her stupid bust measurement is!"