When Julianna entered the Performing Arts Center that afternoon, she was prepared to hear girls whisper about her. That girl is trying out? Didn’t she choke in front of the mic this morning? Instead, she found herself standing in a packed lobby full of … boys.

Huh?

Julianna looked down at her notebook where she had scribbled the audition time for the Nightingales. 3 p.m.! she had written. And crossed it out. And written again. All day she was at war with herself about auditions. If she couldn’t handle an impromptu karaoke session on the lawn, how was she going to stand up in front of her new classmates and sing by herself?

Remember: the tuba, she told herself. You don’t want to learn to play it or be a Rock Monster. You have to try out, Julianna! She would ask someone where the Nightingales were auditioning and she would force herself to go there. Right now. Any second. Just take a step forward, Julianna.

She took a step forward and THUMP! Her legs went flying out from under her.

Julianna slid on the shiny, sticky floor, right into a group of boys, her arms waving wildly as she reached out to grab one of their jackets and hang on for dear life rather than fall in all that goop. Her mind raced in the three seconds from slip to impact. Was that maple syrup? It smelled divine, but it was all over her shoes, which were now sticking to the floors. Gross!

She grabbed for a guy and missed—landing on the floor instead.

The boys around her all started to cheer and whistle.

“And just like that, the first Nightingale slides into last place!” yelled Dave, the guy she remembered from this morning.

Okay, she was going to fall into the floor and disappear now. Thank you.

Someone knocked Dave out of the way.

“What’s wrong with you guys?” a girl yelled, grabbing Julianna by the arm and yanking her up. “Pranks at auditions are against the rules! And now it smells like syrup in here!”

It was the girl who had saved her from the mic that morning.

Dave smirked. “You’re right. They are, which is why we’re wondering how our pizzas arrived this afternoon covered with anchovies.”

The girl blinked. “Wasn’t me.” She turned to Julianna. “Let’s dry you off before auditions.” She helped her gingerly step around the maple syrup spill. “Everyone watch your step! Everyone … hey … where are the girls?” Lidia turned around to glare at Dave again. “Where did you send all the girls auditioning?” she demanded.

Dave laughed. “There aren’t any! We didn’t even need to prank you guys. You pranked yourselves. You’ve got no one trying out!” The guys all laughed.

She pulled Julianna away. “Ignore him. He’s the Kingfishers’ captain, first bass, and resident prank leader. He’s also a jerk. The girls have to be here somewhere.” She headed toward another set of double doors. “I’m Lidia Sato, by the way.”

“Julianna Ramirez,” she said, wiping the syrup on her skirt before she shook Lidia’s hand.

“You’re new, right?” Lidia’s eyes widened. “Hey. You’re the girl from this morning! The one I stole the mic from at the sing-along.”

“Guilty as charged,” Julianna said, her blood pumping. “Thanks for rescuing me. It’s not that I didn’t want to sing,” she babbled. “I love singing. It’s just that it’s my first day and one minute I was looking for the science center and the next I was being handed a microphone and I didn’t know the song and …”

Lidia held up her hand to stop her. “No need to explain. The Kingfishers drive me mad too. The Kingfishers weren’t even supposed to be recruiting this morning.” She pulled open the double doors. Lidia looked suddenly relieved. “There are girls here. Thank God.”

Inside the theater there were at least a dozen girls in uniform standing near the stage. Definitely not as many girls as boys, but at least Julianna wasn’t alone.

“Lidia! Lidia! Over here!” A high-strung, skinny girl marched over, sunglasses on even though they were indoors. “Don’t tell me they got you! We all came around the back of the theater because we were sure the Kingfishers were up to something.” The girl suddenly noticed Julianna and pointed to her. “Who’s this? And why does she smell like maple syrup?”

“Gabby,” Lidia said, “meet Julianna. She’s new and trying out for the Nightingales. And the Kingfishers coated the floor with syrup and now the lobby is a mess.”

“The custodians are going to be furious with them. Yay!” Gabby hugged Julianna. “And yay to new blood! Thank the a cappella gods! I was worried there weren’t enough of us trying out. Then the group would be disbanded and I’d have to be in the general chorus or my mom would make me play the clarinet again and …” A girl next to her poked her in the ribs. “I mean, yay! More Nightingales auditioners!”

“Can you guys find Julianna a towel or something while I find Mr. Wickey to go over auditions?” Lidia asked.

“Of course.” Gabby grabbed Julianna and brought her backstage. “I’m Gabby and this is Viola, and I’ll show you around, and … Ah, a towel!” She tossed the towel hanging on a rack backstage to Julianna. “The curse hasn’t struck again.”

“Gabs, there is no curse!” Viola said, removing her purple headphones from her ears. She tossed a few pieces of gum into her mouth and began to chew. “You can call me Vi. This is the first year Gabs and I are trying out. I finally convinced Gabby to audition with me.”

“I’ve been afraid of the curse,” Gabby said and Viola rolled her eyes. “It’s true! The curse is what caused Lidia to freak out on Sydney last week at that Nightingales meeting at Pinocchio’s.” She looked at Julianna. “Lidia and Sydney are captains. They’ve wanted to run the group since they were in the Bradley lower school, before the team took a nosedive. To want to take over a team that was bombing every show they performed in is dedication.”

“Gabs!” Vi groaned, rubbing her temples. Music was still playing from her headphones and Julianna could hear it. “Stop making Julianna second-guess herself. We can’t afford to lose anyone auditioning or there won’t even be a team to be part of.”

Julianna’s mouth suddenly felt dry. “Why do you think the group is cursed?” she asked, trying to think of anything but that large, shiny, bright stage that was just feet away. Girls were now walking on it willingly! She could hear them practicing their audition pieces and running scales. Julianna hadn’t practiced anything. She still remembered her audition piece from the Tonal Teens, though. Was she really going to tempt fate and try that song again?

Gabby counted on her fingers. “One, two, three, four! Think about it! The last few years they’ve lost championships, had team-wide food poisoning, had members fall off the stage, and now the new captains are fighting over a boy.” She leaned in to whisper in Julianna’s ear. “Bad luck follows this group.” Viola nudged Gabby and Gabby attempted an awkward smile. “But don’t worry. Viola says the Nightingales are just having a rough patch, and Lidia and Sydney can turn it around. My family runs a doggy day care business, and when the dogs in Doggone It! This Dog Needs a Day Out! fight, they get over it eventually.” Gabby smiled. “Lidia and Syd will too.”

Julianna nodded as she continued to dab the sticky syrup with the towel. She was a mess. Was she really going to audition like this? Bad luck had already found her.

“Gabs tends to overreact,” Viola told Julianna.

“I do not!” Gabby barked. “Okay, maybe I do.”

Viola motioned to a man in a sweater vest. “Look. Sydney and Lidia are talking to Mr. Wickey, the club advisor, right now. They’re not fighting.”

The auditorium doors opened and the Kingfishers came strolling in loudly. Mr. Wickey tried to get their attention. “Calm down, everyone. Let’s get started.”

“Come on,” Gabby said, grabbing Julianna’s arm before she could change her mind. “Let’s get backstage and warm up.” Gabby led them to a spot backstage where they could see the captains in the audience and the people auditioning.

*  *  *

A short while later, after the club advisor had gone over the audition process, Julianna heard the first girl called to the stage.

“Mercedes Benz?”

Some of the guys in the audience snickered.

A tall girl with straight, light-brown hair that gave her at least another two inches of height glared at the audience. “Who wouldn’t want to be named after the classiest car in the world, which my daddy bought me for my first car, by the way. How many of you guys have a Benz?” The guys shut up fast. “That’s what I thought.” She had such confidence that Julianna was in awe. They watched Mercedes as she stopped center stage, quickly ran through the exercises with Mr. Wickey, and started to sing “Defying Gravity” from Wicked.

“SOMETHING HAS CHANGED WITHIN ME,” Mercedes sang at the top of her lungs.

Gabby, Viola, and Julianna held their ears. In the audience, Julianna saw the co-captains wince and write something down in their notebooks. They whispered to each other heatedly.

“Whoa! She’s loud, but I think she’s got a fifty-fifty shot,” Gabby said. “They need warm bodies.”

“Gabby and Viola, hey,” said a pretty girl with long, golden hair. The girl with her, who had short, curly hair, struck the same hand-on-hip pose. They both looked the girls up and down. “Didn’t know you were trying out. Fun. Who’s this? And why are you all wet?”

“She fell victim to a Kingfishers’ prank,” Gabby explained. “Syrup on the floor.”

“Oh.” Both girls nodded, but neither seemed sympathetic.

“If we were captains, there would be no more pranks,” said the first girl. She smiled at Julianna. “I’m Whitney and this is Micayla. We were up for captains this year, but lost by a handful of votes. Like two.” Something about the girl’s attitude reminded Julianna of her best friend, Amy.

“If the voting was done at the beginning of the a cappella season, we’d definitely be the ones holding auditions right now,” said Micayla. “I just cut a demo in New York so I can spot talent easily.”

“So can I,” said Whitney. “I was accepted into a college musical theater program this past summer.”

“But you still lost,” Viola said bluntly, placing her headphones back on her head. “So I guess we all have to impress Lidia and Sydney today.”

“Guess so,” Whitney said stiffly. “Till they start fighting again and leave the group hanging. Then we’ll be there to pick up the pieces.” Her smile was slick. “Good luck, girls.” The two walked off.

“I can’t stand them,” Gabby said under her breath. “They think they’re the next Taylor Swift.”

“Lidia and Sydney are better,” Viola said, bopping along to the music in her ears. “Maybe there will be so much talent here they won’t even make the cut.”

Make the cut. Amy’s voice broke into her thoughts again. “You didn’t make the first cut,” she heard Amy say. Julianna started to sweat. What was she doing here? She wasn’t going to make this group.

“Pearl Robbins?” Mr. Wickey called.

“Oh, Pearl.” Viola tsked. “I heard she tried out last year and was really pitchy.”

“Maybe she’s gotten better,” Gabby said hopefully as they all turned their eyes to the stage.

Pearl took the stage and launched into the same song from Wicked as Mercedes. Seemed like everyone was sticking with Wicked. Some words sounded great, but others were way out of tune. “SomeTHING has ChanGED withIN ME …”

Julianna looked to the audience. The Kingfishers in the auditorium laughed, but Lidia and Sydney barely raised an eyebrow as they wrote their notes.

What will they write in their notebooks when I try out? Julianna thought. Nothing! You’re not Pearl. You know you can sing. You just had a bad Tonal Teens audition.

Girl Number Three strolled onstage with a stack of red Solo cups and everyone backstage groaned. As Julianna suspected, the girl took a seat on the stage, sat cross-legged, and broke into Anna Kendrick’s “Cups” from Pitch Perfect.

Gabby shook her head. “That’s an a cappella no-no.”

“You never do Pitch Perfect music at an a cappella audition,” Vi agreed. “Everyone knows that.”

“Viola Chasez?” Mr. Wickey called two minutes later.

“That’s me!” Viola said, removing her headphones again. She took a deep breath. “Wish me luck!”

Viola took the stage without any hesitation, handed her sheet music to the piano player, and launched into Hamilton’s “Satisfied.” By the time she started rapping, the entire backstage was leaning onstage to hear Viola’s soulful voice. In the audience, Sydney looked shell-shocked and excited at the same time.

“She’s incredible!” Julianna said.

“Isn’t she?” Gabby marveled. “She’s exactly what this group needs … other than me.” She laughed and nudged Julianna. “And you! What are you singing?”

Julianna’s answer was drowned out by the roar of applause as Viola finished her audition and hurried offstage.

“Gabby Cyprus?” Mr. Wickey announced.

“That’s me!” Gabby said, running onto the stage and doing a cartwheel, which got some laughs. After handing in her own sheet music, she busted out Kelly Clarkson’s “Catch My Breath.” Wow, she had pipes too.

“How do you guys do it?” Julianna asked Viola as she chugged water post-performance. “You didn’t even blink out there.”

Viola shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve been listening to my music over and over for days.” She pointed to her headphones. “And stages don’t scare me, I guess.” She smiled. “Want my advice?”

“Yes, please,” Julianna said.

“Take a deep breath, and when you get onstage, stare at the back of the auditorium like you have an exit plan. Worked for me.”

Julianna’s palms were sweating. That stage looked bigger than the one at her old school. Weren’t stage sizes regulated? Why was this one so mammoth? She took a deep breath. She could do this. Shake it off, she told herself. Hmm … Shake it off! Shake it off! Cause the player’s gonna play, play, play …

Great, now she was singing Taylor Swift songs in her head instead of the piece she’d planned on.

“Donna Patel?” Mr. Wickey called.

A small girl with black wavy hair walked onstage and stood there. “Mind if I bring out my sidekick?” she asked in a gravelly voice.

“I’m sorry?” the blond captain said. “Sidekick?”

Donna pulled out her right hand, which had a puppet face drawn on it. Some of the guys snickered. “This is Ms. Heel and she’d like to help me sing ‘Defying Gravity’ from Wicked.” She didn’t wait to be told to start. Julianna was expecting her to sound bad, but Donna’s voice was deep with lots of layers. Julianna fidgeted slightly. She couldn’t even compete with a puppet. In the audience, Julianna noticed Lidia and Sydney talking heatedly. What was going on? Her phone buzzed and Julianna instinctively looked down. There was a picture of an envelope addressed to her. She enlarged the picture to see who it was from. It was from the Sounds of the Future songwriting contest!

MOM: Look what came!

Julianna wrote back quickly: OPEN IT! Maybe it was a sign that it came that afternoon. Maybe her audition was going to go great. Julianna stared at her phone, waiting for the next picture to come through. When Donna’s song was ending, her mom finally sent a picture of the letter.

Dear Julianna Ramirez,

Thank you for your songwriting submission, “Me When There Is No You,” to the Sounds of the Future songwriting contest. We were impressed by the thousands of entries we received and the talent that lent their song ideas and voices to our contest. Unfortunately, your song, “Me When There Is No You,” was not a winner. We hope you’ll consider entering the contest again next year. Keep writing!

—the Sounds of the Future songwriting judges

Her song had lost.

Again.

Julianna breathed heavily and blinked back tears. “Me When There Is No You” was the best song she’d written, but Sounds of the Future wasn’t impressed. This was the third songwriting contest she’d entered this year and she’d lost all of them. She pressed delete and erased the picture from existence but not from memory. She was a failure. She obviously couldn’t write and she couldn’t sing. She wasn’t going to make the Nightingales. A single tear fell down her cheek.

MOM: I’m sorry, Ju-Ju. Are you okay?

“Would Ms. Julianna Ramirez take the stage?”

“That’s you!” Gabby cheered. She and Viola pushed her toward the stage. “Good luck!”

Between the tears and the darkened stage, Julianna had no clue where she was going. A few smoky, bright-white spotlights were all that was leading the way to the stage. Her pulse was so fast she felt like she had just run four laps around the track.

“Do you have your own music?” the piano player whispered.

Julianna didn’t answer her. She closed her eyes for a second to avoid the hot lights and felt like she was back in Miami again. She was at her Tonal Teens audition and Amy, Naya, and the others were cheering her on. Julianna thought she had nailed her audition until Amy called her that night with the bad news.

She didn’t belong on this hot, dusty stage and she obviously couldn’t write music either. It was time to let her music career fade to black.

“Whenever you’re ready, Julianna,” Mr. Wickey said.

“Ju-Ju-Julie-ANNA!” she heard one of the boys sing. Someone else started to laugh.

“Isn’t that the girl from this morning?” she heard someone say.

“She’s the one who fell in the lobby!”

“Sing!” Gabby whispered from the side of the stage.

You didn’t make the cut.

Unfortunately, your song was not a winner.

Julianna’s mouth tasted like metal. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She was going to bomb this audition too. She clutched her chest. She couldn’t breathe.

“Julianna?” Mr. Wickey tried again.

Someone laughed louder.

“I’m sorry. I forgot my sheet music. I’ll just run back and get it. Let the next person go instead. Sorry!”

Julianna didn’t wait to find out if this was okay with the judges. She just rushed offstage, blowing past Gabby and Viola, and kept going. She had taken one bit of advice from Viola—know where your exits are. She ran toward the glowing red exit sign that signified her freedom.