1 Let’s Dance!

  “Attention, class!” Ms. Tuttle said. “I have an exciting announcement.”

  Simon Seahorse looked up from his glitter sand painting. If Ms. Tuttle was interrupting art time, it meant she had something important to tell them.

  “The Coral Grove Elementary School Showcase is coming up,” Ms. Tuttle went on. “Usually, the whole school puts on a play together. But this year, each class will be doing a short performance!”

  Simon cheered along with his classmates. Last year, he’d been a rock in the school play. Performing with friends sounded like a lot more fun!

  “Today you should decide as a group what type of performance you’d like to do,” Ms. Tuttle said. “And also choose a group leader.”

  The bell rang for recess. Everyone cleaned up their art materials and then swam out of the classroom, chatting excitedly about the showcase.

  “I can’t wait to perform for the whole school!” Simon said to his best friend, Olive Octopus, as they headed down to the playground.

  “It does sound fun,” Olive agreed.

  “It sounds like a lot of work to me,” said Cam Crab, scuttling past them.

  Simon smiled at Olive. “Sounds like someone is feeling crabby today,” he joked.

  On the playground, the students in Ms. Tuttle’s class gathered to talk about ideas for the showcase.

  “What if we did a light show?” said Nix. The tip of her eel tail lit up. “Something really… electric?”

  “How about a tightrope act?” Lionel suggested.

  “I know!” said DeeDee, a guppy. “At my summer camp, my friends and I wrote our own song and sang it for everyone.”

  That gave Simon an idea. “What if we performed a dance number?” His family sometimes did dance nights where everyone made up their own routines. They were always so much fun.

  A few of Simon’s classmates nodded.

  “These are all good ideas,” said Olive. “But how can we pick just one?”

  Simon had eleven brothers and sisters, so he had lots of practice getting a big group to agree on something—and there was only one fair way to do it.…

  “Let’s take a vote!” he suggested.

  So the class took turns voting for their favorite ideas. Simon was secretly really excited to see the most fins and claws go up for his.

  “A dance number it is!” Olive cried.

  “What if not all of us are good at dancing?” Cam grumbled.

  “That’s okay!” Simon assured him. “We’ll have plenty of time to practice.”

  “Simon,” said Nix, “you should be the group leader since we’re using your idea.”

  The others agreed. Even Cam nodded in approval. “Simon does have the most imagination of anyone I know,” he said. “But I still think factual reporting is always best.”

  Simon smiled. His mind was already swirling with ideas for songs and dance steps.

  “Just wait,” Simon told the group. “This is going to be the most amazing dance number Coral Grove Elementary has ever seen!”

  2 A Place to Practice

  After school, Simon and Olive got to work finding a spot to rehearse. A few other groups were already using the school stage, and Simon wanted someplace quieter.

  “Let’s take the current into town and look for a spot there,” Olive suggested. When the sea creatures of Coral Grove wanted to get somewhere quickly, they usually rode the current.

  Simon nodded. “Good idea.”

  The friends hopped into the current that would take them to town. When they hopped off, they swam past Sandy’s Candy and waved to Chef Claude at the Barnacle Bakery.

  “Maybe we could rehearse at the library,” Olive suggested. “I could ask my mom if we could use a back room there.”

  “Our dancing might be too loud for the library,” said Simon.

  “Hmm, good point.” Olive’s face lit up. “What about the Seashell Pavilion at the park?”

  “Won’t it be busy there?” Simon asked.

  Olive shook her head. “No one uses it anymore now that they’ve built the new theater.”

  So they swam over to the Seashell Pavilion to check it out. The stage was nice and big, and since the pavilion was outdoors, they didn’t have to worry about being quiet.

  “This is perfect!” Simon cried. “We can tell everyone to meet here after school tomorrow.”

  Simon said goodbye to Olive and then hurried toward the current that would take him home.

  When Simon reached his house, his dad was just taking a kelp pot pie out of the oven. Simon washed up and then helped his siblings set the table.

  Over dinner, Simon told his family about the showcase. “I’m the group leader and the choreographer.”

  “What’s a choreographer?” Simon’s younger sister, Lulu, asked.

  “A choreographer creates the dance steps,” Simon answered.

  Most of his siblings were excited about the news, but Simon’s oldest brother, Jet, looked very concerned. “That sounds like a lot of responsibility,” he said.

  But Simon wasn’t worried. “I can already see the whole dance in my head. It’s going to be great!”

  “You know, when I was your age, my friends and I put on a big show,” Mr. Seahorse said.

  “Ohh, tell us about it,” said Fred, one of Simon’s older brothers.

  “Well, come to think of it, it was… a disaster!” Mr. Seahorse said.

  Simon’s sister Izzy gasped. “Oh no! What happened?”

  Mr. Seahorse laughed. “Our costumes ripped, our music turned off, and we forgot the dance steps. But the funny thing is, we still had a great time.”

  Simon frowned. That didn’t sound like a great time.

  “Well, nothing like that is going to happen to us,” replied Simon.

  “I’m sure it won’t,” said Mr. Seahorse. “But remember: the most important thing is to have fun!”

  Simon was pretty sure his dad was saying something else, but he was barely listening. His mind was full of glitter and confetti and fireworks—and a hundred other fabulous ideas for the showcase.

  3 The Bubble Bop

  The next day after school, Simon and his classmates arrived at the Seashell Pavilion for their first rehearsal.

  “Okay, everyone, let’s start by stretching out!” Simon said enthusiastically.

  The sea creatures swam onto the stage to warm up. Simon noticed that Cam was off on his own, looking grumpier than usual. But he didn’t have time to worry about Cam. He had to get things ready for the rehearsal.

  “Olive,” said Simon, “can you help me set up the music?”

  “Sure!” Olive replied.

  Together, they brought over the conch shell gramophone that Simon had borrowed from home. They set it up on a table on the side of the stage, and then Simon put in a sand dollar disc. The song he’d chosen for the dance began to play.

  “Is this the music for the show?” DeeDee asked.

  Simon nodded. “Yes! It’s called ‘The Bubble Bop.’ Isn’t it perfect?”

  “It is a good song,” DeeDee agreed, “but it sounds a little fast. Are you sure we’ll be able to keep up with it?”

  “Absolutely!” Simon said. “We just need to practice.”

  DeeDee shrugged. “If you say so.”

  There was a long silence, and Simon realized that everyone was waiting for him to start the rehearsal. Simon gulped. He was excited about leading the group, but he was also a little nervous.

  “You’ll be great, Simon,” Olive whispered. That was the thing about best friends: sometimes they could practically read your mind!

  Simon smiled and cleared his throat. “Let me show you the dance steps I came up with.”

  Simon went through the moves one by one: the sea shuffle, the jellyfish jumper, the electric eel slide, the whale walk, and the guppy grapevine. Then he had everyone practice the moves on their own while he watched.

  He was glad to see that DeeDee was a great dancer, and Olive and Lionel were pretty good too. But Nix kept getting the steps mixed up, and Cam seemed to have two left claws.

  “Cam, remember to shuffle forward instead of back,” Simon called.

  Cam mumbled something Simon couldn’t hear.

  Finally, after a lot of practice, the group was starting to get the hang of the steps.

  “Let’s try it with the music,” Simon said.

  But when the song started up, everything went wrong. Cam crashed into Nix, who tripped over DeeDee, who got tangled up with Olive. Pretty soon, the whole group was lying in a heap on the stage.

  Simon sighed. They certainly had their work cut out for them if they were going to be ready for the showcase in time!

  4 Go Big or Go Home

  During lunch the next day, everyone got together for a picnic meeting.

  “I have an idea for how to improve our dance,” Simon said excitedly.

  “Pick slower music and easier steps?” DeeDee suggested.

  “No, we need to go bigger!” Simon cried. “I’m thinking sets and costumes and props! Now, who wants to be in charge of what?”

  Lionel and Nix glanced at each other and nodded. “We can do the sets,” Lionel said. “I have some paint at my house we can use.”

  “And I can do the costumes and props,” said DeeDee. “I have a whole clamshell full of dress-up things to inspire me.”

  “I guess I’ll help DeeDee,” Cam grumbled.

  “It sounds like you could use help organizing everything, Simon,” said Olive. “Maybe I could be your assistant?� ��

  “Perfect!” said Simon. He told everyone about the huge moving sets he had in mind, full of giant sea fans and glittering coral. “And for the big finale, we can release a bunch of glowing sea stars!”

  When he was done talking, there was a long silence.

  “That sounds great, Simon,” Olive said finally. “But are you sure we have time to make all of this and practice the dance?”

  “Well…,” Simon began. Maybe his plan was a little over-the-top.

  “What if instead of making moving sets, we get big pieces of seaweed paper and paint a backdrop?” Lionel suggested.

  Simon thought that sounded a little boring, but the others seemed to like the idea.

  “All right,” he said. “But let’s still make the sea fans. And for costumes, I was thinking silk mermaid tails and big headpieces.”

  “How can we do the dance steps if we’re wearing mermaid tails?” Cam asked.

  Simon blinked in surprise. He hadn’t thought of that.

  “What if we did silk sashes instead of tails?” said DeeDee.

  “That’s not really what I had in mind,” Simon started to say, but no one heard him. They were all busy agreeing with DeeDee.

  Simon’s stomach twisted. He was the group leader. Didn’t that mean everyone was supposed to listen to him?

  “Okay, let’s keep going!” Simon called, getting the group’s attention again. “We’ll probably need to stay after rehearsals to get everything done in time.”

  “I can’t stay late. I have homework,” said Cam.

  The others nodded in agreement.

  “What if we use part of our rehearsals to work on the sets and accessories?” Olive suggested.

  “But then we won’t have as much time to practice,” Simon pointed out. The dance still needed a lot of work.

  “Don’t worry, Simon,” Olive said with a reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay.”

  Simon tried to smile back. But he didn’t want the show to be okay. He wanted it to be amazing!

  5 Glitter, Glitter Everywhere!

  The next day, the Seashell Pavilion was bustling with activity. DeeDee was decorating headpieces, Cam was cutting out sashes, and Lionel and Nix were painting the backdrop.

  They were making a lot of progress, but Simon had the feeling something was missing.

  “I think those sea fans need to be bigger,” he told Lionel and Nix.

  “Are you sure?” asked Nix. “They already take up a lot of room.”

  Simon nodded. “Trust me. They’ll look great.”

  “You’re the boss,” Lionel said with a shrug.

  Simon swam over to where DeeDee was gluing shells to the headpieces. “Hmm, I think we need more glitter and bigger shells,” he said.

  “If we add any more, the headpieces will be really heavy,” DeeDee warned.

  “A little extra won’t make much of a difference,” said Simon. “And we want the costumes to be as sparkly as possible!”

  DeeDee glanced at her craft supplies. “I’m not sure I have enough glitter left.”

  “Not to worry!” said Simon. He grabbed a large container of glitter sand from his bag. “You can use some of mine.”

  DeeDee didn’t look convinced, but she went back to gluing.

  A little while later, when the props and sets were drying, Simon called everyone over. “Time to run through the dance!”

  Things went a little better this time—but not much. The group was getting the hang of the different steps, but putting them together was still a problem. Even when Simon started calling out the names of the steps, Nix kept falling behind.

  “Nix, you need to keep up with everyone else!” Simon said.

  “I’m trying, but I can’t see over Olive,” Nix complained. “She’s too tall!”

  Simon sighed. “Let’s start from the beginning again.”

  Things did not go much better after that. It didn’t help that other sea creatures who were swimming by kept stopping to watch the rehearsal. This was really distracting the dancers. Maybe the park hadn’t been the best place to practice, after all. But it was too late to find somewhere new.

  “All right,” Simon said near the end of rehearsal. “Let’s try it with the music and sashes this time.”

  Cam passed out the sashes to everyone. They weren’t as fancy as mermaid tails, but Simon had to admit they looked pretty good.

  Simon turned on the music, and for a moment, everything went perfectly. Then it all fell apart again. Cam got his claws tangled in Nix’s sash, which made Nix bump into Lionel, who knocked over Olive.

  “No, no, no!” Simon cried, turning off the music. “This is a total mess!”

  “Simon, we’re doing the best we can. Just give us more time,” said Olive.

  But the show was only three days away. They barely had any time left!

  6 A Mess

  The next day, Simon arrived at the Seashell Pavilion ready to turn things around.

  “Let’s run through the dance with the music before we work on the sets and costumes today,” he said.

  Everyone lined up on the stage. Then Simon turned on the music, and they started the dance number.

  “Stop!” Simon called a moment later. “Lionel, you went the wrong way. Let’s start again from the top.”

  Everyone sighed and went back to their starting positions.

  “Stop!” Simon called again a few steps later. “Every time someone messes up, we’re going to start over.”

  “Simon,” Olive said, “isn’t that a little much?”

  “It’s the only way we’ll get it perfect,” he said. “Ready? Again!”

  They ran though the dance over and over and over. They had to stop so many times that they never even got to the end of the routine!

  “How about we take a break?” Olive suggested. Simon noticed that she was panting. In fact, everyone looked tired.

  “All right,” he said. “Let’s try on the costumes.”

  DeeDee swam off to get the headpieces ready while the others stretched and chatted. Simon was too worried about the show to join them.

  “Hey, look at the move I made up!” Lionel said. He jumped up and spun around. “I call it the Lionel leap.”

  “Ooh, we should add that to our dance,” Nix said. “What do you think, Simon?”

  Simon couldn’t believe it. “We can’t even do the moves we already have, remember?”

  “You’re right,” Lionel mumbled, looking embarrassed.

  “It’s your turn to try on your headpiece, Olive!” DeeDee called out.

  Olive swam over and lifted the mass of glittery shells onto her head. “Oof,” she said. “It’s heavy.”

  “Try a few dance moves with it on,” Simon instructed.

  Olive circled around the giant sea fans to get to the middle of the stage. Then she started doing the whale walk. She’d only taken two steps when—

  “Ahh!”

  Olive tipped backward. Then she and the headpiece fell over—right into a sea fan! The sea fan wobbled and crashed into another sea fan, which crashed into another and another.…

  “No!” Simon cried. He rushed over, but it was too late. The final sea fan smashed into the backdrop, and the whole set fell over.

  Crash!

  When the glitter dust settled, Simon was stunned to discover Cam crouched behind the backdrop.

  “Cam, what are you doing back there?” Simon asked in disbelief.

 

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