‘Ta for that,’ Joanna said. ‘And hey, check this out.’
For a second, Penelope wondered if Joanna was going to give her another deep thought.
It was Thursday. The day of the Big Performance. Penelope had set her harp alarm so she could get up early and brush up on everyone’s lines. But it was actually the beep of an incoming text message that woke her up. It was from Grandpa George.
Penelope took a deep breath. Obviously Fred wasn’t too old to learn new lessons after all. She was very glad for him. Penelope hoped that things would go well for her, too.
Mr Salmon had transformed the drama studio for performance day. The windows were covered with black cardboard, making it very dark, and the lights around the stage were dazzling.
‘Woo hoo!’ Bob said, giving Penelope a (friendly) pinch on the thigh as they sat cross-legged on the floor. ‘I’m so pumped. This is crazy cool, hey Pen?’
Penelope returned the pinch. It was good to know that their friendship was totally back on track now she’d sorted things out with Joanna. But Penelope felt very nervous about the play. After all, she was the writer and director, so the success of Likeable Lucy: The Extremely Popular Girl really rested on her shoulders.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,’ Mr Salmon said in a grand theatrical voice, ‘I’ve been so pleased to see you all working hard on your plays. It’s a great challenge, as it involves both creativity and cooperation. I’m certainly hoping for some quality performances this afternoon. So, without further ado, I give you …’ He shuffled some papers in his hands, and then adjusted the lighting, which actually WAS a bit of further ado, Penelope thought. ‘I give you Murder on the Train!’
Then there was even more ado while Alison Cromwell’s group set up chairs onstage. Penelope was always very interested in what Alison did because she was excellent at a lot of things (like Penelope).
At Chelsea Primary, awards were given every Friday at assembly. Penelope (who now had 51 awards) was still leading. But Alison was getting scarily close with 39 awards.
Alison’s group’s play was about a murderer on a train (not a plane, as Penelope had originally thought). It was definitely an entertaining play, and the bit where Sarah cut Alison’s throat and her (fake) head fell off was gripping. The downfall, as far as Penelope was concerned, was at the end when all the dead bodies were jiggling up and down in a way that suggested they were laughing (which of course dead bodies do not do).
Mr Salmon held up his score card, and everyone cheered. He had given the group 8/10.
The next group’s play was called Stacking Up. Given that Eliza Chung (Class Captain!) was in this group, Penelope expected the play to be a bit better than it was. The only proper, scripted bit was at the beginning when the characters started arguing about who was the strongest. The rest was pretty much just about forming a human pyramid. If Penelope had been the judge she would have given them points for an impressive human pyramid. Then she would have taken points away for all the groaning the kids at the bottom of the pyramid did.
Mr Salmon seemed to agree with Penelope’s point of view, because he gave Stacking Up 7/10.
After that came Oscar and Rita’s group. Their play was called Timeless. It was about a group of young friends who were playing around with a frisbee they had found at the park. It turned out that they followed the frisbee into another time zone. The way they did this was very creative. It involved each character following the frisbee behind the curtain and offstage. When the characters came back onstage, they were now old. Penelope had to admit that Rita was pretty good at playing a grumpy old lady.
He came back onstage wearing glasses and a long, grey beard, and made his voice sound old by adding a tremor to it.
The audience had applauded at the end of each play, but when Oscar took his bow, there was hooting as well. Even Penelope hooted (though she covered her mouth so it wasn’t too loud).
Mr Salmon’s score was very high. Possibly even unbeatable. 9/10.
Then (finally!) Mr Salmon introduced Penelope’s group.
Penelope had NEVER enjoyed performing so much (not even when she’d played one of the mice in Cinderella). She was nervous – butterflies definitely flapped their wings inside her chest (not literally – Penelope would never actually swallow a butterfly!). But right from the beginning of the play, she just had a feeling that things were going to work.
And they did.
The audience went MAD for Likeable Lucy. In fact, Sarah and Tilly laughed so hard that they smacked their heads together! But there were some tender moments as well, when the audience stayed quiet and listened.
It was a Very Weird thing. Originally, Penelope’s play had been a drama. But Penelope could see, now, that if she’d played Likeable Lucy in the way she’d planned, the whole thing might have just been sad – and even a little bit dull.
Joanna’s Likeable Lucy was very funny. But her being funny didn’t make the play any less important. It seemed to draw the audience closer, so that when they got to the serious bits, everyone leaned in and listened.
By the end, Penelope wished they could go back and do the whole thing again.
The audience clapped enthusiastically. Joanna took her bow, and they hooted and hollered. Then, standing all in a row, they took a group bow.
She held her breath as Mr Salmon revealed their score. 9.5/10! This was, most likely, the highest score he had EVER given.
They stayed onstage while Tommy Stratton launched into his version of ‘The Greatest Love of All’. Penelope decided it was OK that they hadn’t used a recording like she had planned. And, if everyone formed a stampede to get out of the drama studio as soon as the bell went (even though Tommy hadn’t even reached the chorus) that was OK too.
So many things had gone WRONG with this project. But somehow the wrong things had all added up to make things totally RIGHT.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chrissie Perry is the author of over thirty books for children and young adults, including thirteen books in the popular Go Girl series and the award-winning Whisper. She lives in St Kilda with her husband, three children (who are stubbornly refusing to stay young) and an opinionated Maltese Shih Tzu called Gidget.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To Publishing Director, Hilary Rogers, legend and friend, who always inspires me to reach for the stars.
To Project Editor, Penelope White (seriously!) who has a great deal in common with Penelope Kingston but manages excellence without outbursts.
To Jon Davis, whose illustrations continue to delight me and our readers and give Penelope’s world such a divine glow.
To Sarah Magee, Marketing and Communications Executive, for Adorable Ideas.
To Charlotte Bodman, International Rights Manager, for introducing Penelope to the world and enabling her to speak French, Czech and even letting her try on an American accent.
As always, the biggest thanks have to be reserved for my family. Marty, Jack, Billie and Hugo. Though she is (still) the smallest in her class, Penelope Kingston seems to take up a great deal of space. Yet you continue to nurture us.
To Helen Keighery, with thanks for my gorgeous PP puppet.
The Truly Terrible Mistake
published in 2016 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.
A CiP record for this title is
available from the National Library of Australia.
eISBN 9781743584019
Text copyright © 2016 Chrissie Perry
Illustrations copyright © 2016 Hardie Grant Egmont
Series design copyright © 2016 Hardie Grant Egmont
Series design by Elissa Webb
Illustrations by Jon Davis
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