Plum Fantastic by Deborah Underwood

Author:Deborah Underwood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Middle Grade
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Chapter 9

Mama’s waiting on the steps under a bright blue umbrella.

“I hate ballet. I hate Harlem. Can we move back to Georgia?” I ask.

“What’s the matter, baby?” she asks, putting her arm around my shoulders and pulling me under the umbrella.

“I have to be the stupid Sugar Plum Fairy in our dance show.” I stomp through a puddle and immediately regret it as the water oozes through my sneakers into my socks.

Mama’s face lights up. “The Sugar Plum Fairy? That sounds like a big part.”

“It is,” I growl. I’ll be standing out, just like she wants. But I’ll stand out for getting so dizzy I spin off the stage or for throwing up or something—probably not what Mama dreamed of.

“Well, that’s wonderful, Alexandrea!”

“It is not wonderful. I can’t do it. There are lots of turns, and I just about killed three people when we did turns practice.”

“Now, sweetie. I’m sure they gave you the part because you’re the best dancer. Ms. Debbé knows what she’s doing.”

“They drew my name out of a hat!” I yell.

“That is enough, Alexandrea Petrakova,” Mama says.

“Fine,” I mutter.

Mama stops walking and turns to face me. “Did you mean, ‘yes, ma’am’?”

“No one says ‘ma’am’ around here,” I tell her. “I’m enough of a freak already. I dance like a freak. Do I have to talk like one, too?”

Being grounded is different in Harlem. In Georgia, it meant I couldn’t go outside and play with my friends. Here I’m not supposed to go out by myself anyway, so Mama had to think of something different. So being grounded means I have to stay in my room. Luckily, I have a tiny TV in my room. Unluckily, being grounded also means Mama takes my TV away and puts it in her workroom. That way, she says, I’ll have plenty of time to think about what I’ve done.

After an hour, I go into her workroom. She looks up from her sewing machine.

“I’m sorry I was disrespectful.” I quickly add, “Ma’am.”

“Thank you for your apology, Alexandrea.” She hands me back my TV.

I sit on a stool beside her.

“Do I really have to take ballet? I want to be a speed skater, not a ballet dancer.”

Mama looks at me. “Alexandrea, this is a whole new start for both of us. I want to make sure you don’t miss any opportunities. We both have so much potential here in New York.”

Potential again. If there does happen to be a tiny speck of potential in me somewhere, maybe I can have it surgically removed so everyone will leave me alone.

Mama sees me roll my eyes. She sighs. “I’ll tell you what. You take the class till December. Really give it a chance, Alexandrea. It’s important to me. If you still want to quit then, well…” She holds up her hands.

“Really?” I say. “I can?”

She nods.

“Thank you!” I put down the TV and jump into her arms.

“You have to give it your best shot, though. Deal?”

“Deal.”

I skip down the hall to my room and plug in the TV.

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