Today at school, our Art teacher, Mrs. Taylor, held tryouts for the new Baton Club in the school auditorium. In case there are no batons in the future, I'll fill you in. These are long metal sticks with rubber tips that you twirl really fast while you march or dance. In our Baton Club, we were gonna twirl and dance. The girls trying out were me, Stephanie, Robyn, Sunny and...uh...Jennifer. I was wondering how that was gonna go since she had been ducking me since the scene in Sam's Snack Shack. But she barely even looked at me.
Mrs. Taylor said the first thing we had to know was how to walk on beat. Keeping the beat was really important when learning the dance moves. So she put on a record and called us one at a time to walk to the music. Sunny was first.
She didn't do that well. Maybe it was her platform shoes, maybe she was nervous. Whatever it was, I felt bad for her. I was next. I took a deep breath and stepped up in front.
I think I did OK. I spend a lot of time in my room dancing to my David Cassidy records, so maybe that helped. Stephanie was up next.
She didn't do too badly, but she tripped over her feet towards the end. Next was Robyn.
Pretty good. She even added a little finger snapping. Last but not least was Jennifer.
As much as I hate to admit it, she did pretty well. She stayed on the beat, and looked like she was having fun. Mrs. Taylor thanked Sunny and Stephanie for trying, but there were only 3 spots available, and maybe they could try again next year. Wow, what a bummer. I wished we could have all been in this together.
Now it was just me, Robyn, and Jennifer. Now we each had to walk and twirl the baton at the same time. I've fooled around with my cousin Ruby's baton. I know how to twirl it, but I'm not super great or anything. But the true test was both walking on the beat and twirling without dropping the baton.
Well, we were all pretty good. We all kept the beat, and no one dropped their baton. So Mrs. Taylor put on a different record, and we walked together as a group.
I think we grooved pretty well together. Mrs. Taylor was satisfied and said we'd practice every Tuesday and Thursday in May so we could perform at the last school assembly in June before school let out. The songs she chose were Jackson 5's "Dancing Machine" and The Sylvers "Boogie Fever". Far out! Those are dynamite songs, and I know Robyn has those albums so we could practice together.
I didn't know if Jennifer had those records. I was wondering if maybe I should invite her to practice with us. I was still pretty mad for all those mean things she did and said to me. But I guess I gotta forgive her some time. But I don't think I'm ready to yet. Does that sound mean? I guess I'll talk to my mom and my friends, and see what they think. Speaking of my mom she was really proud of me for making the tryout. She fixed my favorite spaghetti dinner to celebrate! Yum! Well I gotta do my math homework now, (ugh!), so I gotta go now.
Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman
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