Bad Rap Read online

  Katie shook her head. “I can’t hang out after school today. Mr. G. just assigned us a really big project.”

  “Project?” Suzanne exclaimed. “How can you think about schoolwork at a time like this?”

  “A time like what?” Katie asked.

  “A time when the Bayside Boys are coming to Cherrydale, and we’re not going to be there!” Suzanne exclaimed. “We have to figure out a way to get tickets!”

  Katie shrugged. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it. The concert’s sold out. None of us will get to go.”

  “Except Becky,” Suzanne said, making a face. “You don’t have to sit in class and listen to Blechy Becky go on and on about having two tickets to the show.”

  Katie nodded. Becky was in class 4B with Suzanne. It must have been hard to hear Becky bragging about her tickets all day.

  “And get this,” Suzanne continued. “She’s having a contest to see who will get the other ticket.”

  “A contest?” Katie asked. “What kind of contest?”

  “She’s making up a test with questions about the Bayside Boys,” Suzanne explained. “Whoever answers the most questions correctly will get the ticket.”

  Just then Jeremy Fox, Katie’s other best friend, walked out into the schoolyard.

  “Hi, Jeremy,” Katie greeted him.

  “Hi,” Jeremy replied. “That was a good band practice today, huh?”

  Katie nodded. She and Jeremy were both in the beginning band at school. Katie played clarinet and Jeremy played the drums. “I like that new song,” she said. “I’ve never heard any jazz before. It’s kind of cool.”

  “Yeah. I like it, too,” Jeremy told her. “And ...”

  “Would you two stop talking about band!” Suzanne shouted angrily.

  “What’s with her?” Jeremy asked Katie.

  “She’s upset about the Bayside Boys concert,” Katie explained. “We don’t have tickets, and Becky does.”

  “I know,” Jeremy said. “That’s all Becky’s talking about. She even wants me to take her test.”

  “Are you going to do it?” Suzanne asked him.

  Jeremy shook his head. “I wouldn’t go anywhere with Becky.”

  Katie laughed. Becky had a big crush on Jeremy. But Jeremy didn’t like Becky one bit.

  “Are you going to take the test?” Jeremy asked Suzanne.

  Suzanne frowned and kicked at the dirt. “Becky didn’t ask me to,” she said quietly. “She’s only letting certain people take it. She’s such a snob.”

  “Don’t worry about Becky,” Katie said.

  Suzanne sighed. “The only thing I’m worried about is how in the world am I going to get my hands on some tickets!”

  As soon as Katie got home, she raced up to her room. She had to get started on her Aesop project.

  Katie liked Aesop’s Fables. She’d taken the book out of the library because the fables were animal stories. But as Katie had read the stories, she realized there was more to them than just animal tales. They taught important lessons, too. That’s what she wanted to talk about in her report.

  As Katie opened her notebook, Pepper padded into her room with a new bone in his mouth. He wanted to play.

  But Katie didn’t have time to play. “Sorry, Pepper. Not now,” she told her dog. “I have work to do.”

  Pepper seemed to understand. He leaped up on Katie’s bed and sat there quietly, chomping on his bone.

  “Too bad Aesop didn’t write a fable about cocker spaniels,” Katie told him as she opened the book to a story called “The Milkmaid and Her Pail.” The lesson in that one was:

  Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

  Katie turned the page. She smiled when she saw the moral of “The Jay and the Peacock.” It was a perfect one for Suzanne.

  It read:

  It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.

  The next story was “The Lion and the Mouse.” It was one of Katie’s favorites. She liked the lesson in that one:

  No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

  Katie turned the page to the story of the “Bundle of Sticks.” She began to write down that moral, too:

  United we stand. Divided we fall.

  But before Katie could finish writing the last word, the phone rang.

  “Katie, it’s for you!” her mother shouted upstairs.

  Katie dropped her pencil and raced down to the kitchen to answer the phone. “Hello?”

  “It’s me,” Suzanne said breathlessly. “Turn on your radio.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they’re going to have a contest! When Joey G. says to phone in, you’re supposed to call the radio station. The one-hundredth caller wins two tickets to the Bayside Boys concert.”

  “Oh my gosh!” Katie exclaimed. “Suzanne, get off the phone.”

  “But, Katie . . .”

  “Suzanne,” Katie repeated firmly. “You have to get off the phone.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if you don’t, I can’t call in to win tickets, and neither can you!”

  “Oh. Good point,” Suzanne agreed. Then she hung up without even saying good-bye.

  Chapter 5

  Unfortunately, neither Katie nor Suzanne had any luck winning tickets. Katie had been caller number fifty-three. Suzanne hadn’t gotten through to the radio station at all.

  In fact, no one in the whole fourth grade—except Becky, of course—had been able to get tickets for the Bayside Boys concert. Lots of kids were complaining about it the next morning as they arrived on the playground.

  “I was so sad, all I could do was play the Bayside Boys CD over and over,” Emma W. said. “After a while, even the twins were singing along.”

  “The twins?” Suzanne asked her. “But they’re only two years old.”

  “Well, they weren’t getting the words right,” Emma admitted. “But they were trying.”

  Not everyone was upset at not having tickets, though. George Brennan didn’t even like the Bayside Boys.

  “I don’t know what the big deal is, Katie Kazoo,” George said, using the cool nickname he’d given Katie. “The Bayside Boys aren’t so great. They don’t even play instruments.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” Katie told him. “They sing really well.”

  “I think they’re lousy. I wish they wouldn’t sing at all.”

  “That’s mean, George,” Katie told him.

  “Do you know what you call a band that doesn’t make music?” George asked Katie.

  “What?”

  “A rubber band!” George laughed hard at his own joke.

  Suzanne wasn’t laughing. “There’s nothing funny about this, George,” she told him. She looked over to where Becky was standing a few feet away. She was talking to Mandy.

  “The Bayside Boys are coming into town this morning,” Becky was saying. “They’re staying at the Cherrydale Inn. It’s supposed to be a secret. Of course I found out, though. That’s because I know someone who knows the Bayside Boys.”

  “What a bragger,” Suzanne whispered to Katie. “Don’t you just hate people who brag?”

  Katie tried hard not to laugh. Suzanne could be a big bragger, too. It’s just that right now she had nothing to brag about.

  “Wait a minute!” Suzanne exclaimed. “That’s it!”

  “What’s it?” Katie asked.

  “We’re going to meet the Bayside Boys!”

  Katie looked at her friend strangely. “How are we going to do that?”

  “Today, after school, we’re going to ride our bikes over to the Cherrydale Inn. We’ll go to the desk, ask which room they’re in, and visit them.”

  Katie shook her head. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to go over to the inn.”

  “Why not? It’s just four blocks from your house. You’re allowed to ride your bike four blocks. We do it all the time. You’re not breaking any rules.”

  “I guess,” Katie agreed. “But even
when we get there, there’s no way the person at the desk will tell us what room they’re staying in.”

  “Come on, Katie,” Suzanne pleaded. “It’s worth a try. Just imagine the look on Becky’s face when we tell her we met the Bayside Boys!”

  Katie shrugged. “I don’t want to make her feel bad.”

  “Okay, then. How about the look on your face when you get to shake hands with Spike?”

  Now, Katie began to smile. “Well . . .” she said. “It’s worth a try.”

  That afternoon, Katie and Suzanne hurried to get their bikes. They met at the corner by Katie’s house, and pedaled the four blocks to the Cherrydale Inn. When they arrived, the girls parked their bikes and walked into the lobby.

  “Okay, let me do the talking,” Suzanne whispered to Katie.

  Katie nodded. That was fine with her. She didn’t like talking to people she didn’t know. Besides, the man standing behind the front desk didn’t look very friendly.

  “May I help you?” he asked the girls as they approached the desk.

  “We’ve got a message for four of your guests,” Suzanne told him.

  “Which guests?” the man asked.

  “They’re friends of ours,” Suzanne lied. “They’re registered under the Bayside Boys.”

  The man shook his head. “We don’t have any guests by that name.”

  Suzanne frowned. “Well, maybe they signed in under their real names. Do you have any rooms for Ace, Fizzy, T-Jon, or Spike?”

  “I don’t believe so,” the man behind the desk replied firmly.

  Katie could tell he was getting very annoyed with them. She pulled Suzanne away from the desk and whispered in her ear. “That’s it, Suzanne. They’re not here. Let’s go home.”

  Suzanne shook her head wildly. “I’m not leaving,” she told Katie. “They’re here. I know it. They probably just registered under some fake names so no one would bother them. Remember, Becky said their being here was a secret.”

  “Let’s just go,” Katie urged.

  But Suzanne wasn’t budging. She plopped down on one of the big couches and folded her arms in front of her. “You can go if you want to. But I’m not leaving until I meet a Bayside Boy . . . or until I have to go home for dinner.”

  “I promised my mom I’d finish my homework early today,” Katie told her. “I can’t stay here all afternoon . . .”

  “Our class doesn’t have any homework today. Ms. Sweet said it was too pretty a day for us to be inside, working,” Suzanne boasted. “She’s the nicest teacher.”

  There was no way Katie could argue that one. She liked Mr. Guthrie a lot. But right now it would have been nice to have been in Ms. Sweet’s class. “I gotta go,” she said.

  “Whatever,” Suzanne shrugged. “Just don’t blame me when you miss the chance to meet Spike!”

  Katie’s block was very quiet as she pedaled toward home. No one was around. The parents were all at work or making dinner. The kids were inside doing homework. Which was what Katie would have to do as soon as she got home. Ugh!

  Suddenly, a cool breeze began to blow. Katie shivered a little bit. It was getting kind of chilly. She pedaled faster, so she could get home before it got really cold out.

  But Katie couldn’t pedal fast enough to beat this wind. The breeze blowing on Katie’s neck wasn’t just any wind. It was the magic wind.

  Whoosh! Within seconds, the cool breeze turned into a full-blown tornado. It was whirling just around Katie.

  Quickly, she hopped off her bike . . . just before the magic wind knocked it to the ground. Phew. That was close.

  Katie shut her eyes tightly and tried hard not to cry. All she’d wanted to do was get home and do her work. But she wasn’t going to be able to do that now. The magic wind had seen to that.

  Suddenly, the tornado stopped. Everything was calm again.

  The magic wind was gone. And so was Katie Carew.

  Chapter 6

  Katie stood there for a moment, afraid to open her eyes. She had no idea where—or who—she was. It was a very scary feeling.

  The one thing she knew for sure was that she wasn’t outside anymore. The smell of the trees and freshly cut grass on her block were gone. Instead, her nose picked up the scent of air conditioning and soap.

  “We’re ordering in room service,” she heard someone say. “You want anything, T-Jon?”

  T-Jon?! Katie’s eyes shot open. Was it possible? Could she be in the same room as the Bayside Boys?

  It was possible. And as Katie looked in the hotel bathroom mirror, she realized she wasn’t just with the Bayside Boys.

  She was one of the Bayside Boys. The face that stared back at her from the bathroom mirror had cool round sunglasses and just the slightest touch of a beard on the chin. The magic wind had turned her into T-Jon!

  And the other Bayside Boys were right outside that bathroom door. Wow! Katie had to admit that this time the magic wind had done something really cool. She was going to get to meet Ace, Fizzy, and Spike!

  “Yo, T-Jon, you want food or not?” someone called into the bathroom.

  Slowly, Katie opened the bathroom door. As she stepped into the living room of the hotel suite, she stuck her hand into her pocket. There was nothing inside.

  “I . . . um . . . I don’t have any money,” she said.

  Fizzy laughed and put his hand over the phone. “Yeah, like we need cash. The record company’s picking up the bills now, remember?”

  “You’re Fizzy,” Katie squealed excitedly.

  Fizzy looked at her strangely. “Yeah. And I’m hungry. So order something, will you?”

  But Katie was too excited to eat a thing. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed. “Spike!”

  Spike looked around quickly. “What’s the matter?” he asked nervously.

  “Nothing,” Katie assured him. “It’s just that I can’t believe I’m here in the same room with you . . . with all of you!”

  Ace walked over and draped a long arm around Katie’s shoulder. “T-Jon, dude, are you all right?”

  “Yeah, you’re acting kind of strange,” Spike agreed.

  “Are you ready to order or not?” Fizzy demanded of Katie.

  “No,” Katie quickly replied. “I’m not very hungry.”

  “Okay, so that’s it,” Fizzy said into the phone. “Just have them bring up the food when it’s ready.” He hung up. “Room service should be here soon,” he told the others.

  “Okay, how about we work on the new tune while we’re waiting for the eats?” Ace suggested. “I still need a little work on that second verse.”

  “Yeah, and T-Jon hasn’t finished his rap for it yet,” Spike said. He turned to Katie. “Come on, man, we’ve got a radio interview tomorrow morning and the first sound check is tomorrow night.”

  “Which is why we really need to work on this now,” Ace agreed.

  “Okay,” Fizzy agreed. “Let’s take it from where I come in with the high part.” He opened his mouth and began to sing. “Wherever I travel . . .”

  Katie couldn’t believe her ears. Fizzy didn’t sound anything like the way he did on the CD. In fact . . . “That was awful!” she blurted out suddenly.

  Fizzy stopped singing and glared in Katie’s direction. “Excuse me?” he demanded.

  “It just sounded so high and squeaky,” Katie told him, scratching the little patch of red hair on her chin. “Are you sure those were the right notes?”

  That made Fizzy angry. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing,” Katie said quickly. “I just thought ...”

  “Yeah, well stop thinking,” Fizzy shouted back.

  “Hey, guys, cool it,” Ace said. He stepped between them. “How about we take it from my vocal?”

  “Good idea,” Katie said. “You have such a nice voice. My friend Suzanne says it makes her all tingly.”

  Ace shook his head. “Maybe you better sit down, dude. You’re acting all weird.”

  Katie gulped. She’d been so excited abou
t being with the Bayside Boys, she’d forgotten she was one of them. She’d have to be careful about what she said.

  “Okay. From the top,” Ace said. Then he began to sing. “When I’m traveling down that highway, with nothing but road ahead . . .”

  “Is that how you’re going to sing it on Saturday?” Katie blurted out.

  “You know another way?” Ace asked her.

  “It’s just that it sounds so boring,” Katie said. “So plain.”

  “That’s because it’s missing the harmonies,” Fizzy said. “Oh, wait, that’s right. You didn’t like my harmonies, either.”

  Fizzy could be really scary when he was angry. Katie was surprised. He sure never looked that way in the magazine pictures.

  “You know what?” Spike interrupted. “We haven’t heard anything from T-Jon yet.” He looked straight at Katie. “Instead of criticizing everyone else, why don’t you show us what you got?”

  Uh-oh. He expected her to rap! Right here. Right now. How was she supposed to do that?

  Katie gulped. This was so not good.

  Chapter 7

  Katie just sat there for a minute, trying to figure out a way to get out of rapping in front of the Bayside Boys. But she couldn’t be quiet forever.

  “See, I told you T-Jon hadn’t written anything yet!” Fizzy announced to the others. “The guy just can’t rap anymore.”

  Katie scowled. Fizzy was being very mean. “I can too!” she declared angrily. Then she gasped. Why had she said that?

  “Prove it, then!” Fizzy demanded. “Let’s hear the new rap.”

  There was only one thing to do. Katie had to rap. “Okay, here goes,” she said. “It’s great to be here at the show. Rappin’ to people I don’t know. I gotta admit it’s kind of cool. To be up here instead of sitting in school. I’m tired of homework and teacher’s tricks. I’d rather be up here making musics.”

  Phew. She’d done it! She’d come up with a rap. And it was a pretty good one, if she did say so herself.

  Unfortunately, the other Bayside Boys didn’t say so. In fact, they hated it!