The big moment had finally arrived. The Seaview High School karaoke contest was in full swing . . . and in full sing. The quad had been decorated with festive lights. A banner proclaimed that this was: NINTH GRADE KARAOKE NIGHT. A spotlight hit the stage, which had been set up along a row of lockers.
Amber was onstage and giving a fantastic performance. As she followed the lyrics on a karaoke video screen, Oliver operated a soundboard on one side of the stage.
The crowd was bopping along to the music, having a blast. Most of the crowd, that is. Miley and Lilly were huddled in a science classroom, peering through a window that looked out onto the quad. The science teacher had clearly been taking his class through a lesson on spiders: the room was creepily decorated with a large web made out of cargo netting. It featured a number of fake spiders, all neatly labeled with their scientific names. There was even a terrarium that housed a real living and breathing tarantula!
But Miley and Lilly were too focused on practicing their song to pay much attention to science displays. Miley was holding a wireless microphone and listening to Amber intently. Lilly, on the other hand, was listening with a nauseated feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Oh, man, she sounds good,” Lilly said with a sigh.
“Yeah, but you’re going to sound better,” Miley said confidently. “Oliver’s got this mic patched into the same frequency as the stage mic. So I’ll be singing in here, your mouth moves out there, and Amber’s mouth just does this. . . .” She mimicked Amber’s mouth dropping open in astonishment.
“Got it,” Lilly said, feeling better. She started to head for the stage, then turned back. “Oh, remember, I like a big finish,” she added.
“I remember,” Miley said. She shooed her friend away. “Just go and have fun!”
Lilly grinned and dashed out the door.
“Singers,” Miley muttered to herself. “They’re all divas.”
She started to head back to the window, when she suddenly caught sight of that enormous, hairy tarantula.
“Oh!” Miley gasped. “There ain’t nothing itsy-bitsy about you, big boy.”
Even though the spider was safely contained in the terrarium, Miley moved carefully next to the window. No reason to get any closer than she had to!
Onstage, Amber finished her song with a flourish as the students in the audience cheered. She grinned. “Thank you, thank you. I was good, wasn’t I?” she said into the microphone.
Mr. Corelli hurried onto the stage to take the microphone from her. “Ah, that’s the always humble Amber Addison!” he announced. He scanned the audience. “All right, who’s next?”
Everybody in the crowd glanced around uneasily.
“No way,” a few people called out.
“No. Not me,” others quickly added.
“Boy, I sure wouldn’t want to go up there and sing after someone that wonderful,” Ashley said, looking in Lilly’s direction. “Who could possibly follow Amber?”
“Ooh, I believe the gauntlet has been thrown down!” Mr. Corelli exclaimed, grinning. “Will Lilly Truscott pick it up?”
Lilly jumped up on the stage. “Give me that mic.”
“You’ve got guts, kid,” her teacher said.
“That’s not all I’ve got,” Lilly said defiantly. “I’ve got nerve! Hit it, Oliver!”
Oliver hit a few buttons and the song blasted out of the speakers. Lilly struck a pose and began mouthing the words as Miley did all the singing. Lilly smiled confidently at the thought that no one would actually hear her real voice.
And for a few bars, that was true.
Just as Miley had predicted, Amber was staring at Lilly in shock. “I didn’t know she had a voice like that!” she exclaimed.
Ashley was also stunned. “She sounds exactly like—”
“Shut up!” Amber snapped.
“But she’s amazing!” Ashley protested. Then she caught sight of Amber’s glare and added quickly, “Amazingly bad! Ooh!”
Lilly relaxed and started enjoying herself. Sure, she was only lip-synching—but the crowd was really getting into it. She started dancing around a little bit, enjoying the spotlight.
As Miley sang inside the classroom, she was glad that Lilly was having such a great time onstage. She didn’t notice that the tarantula had made its way out of the terrarium—and was now crawling up her leg!
Miley kept singing. The spider kept crawling. Then, right in the middle of a chorus, Miley looked down. . . .
“Spiderrrrr!” she cried.
A terrified yell boomed out of the mic. A look of panic crossed Lilly’s face as the audience members glanced at each other in surprise.
Miley kept trying to sing, even though she was seriously freaked out.
First, she tried to flick the spider off her arm, timing her breaths to the rhythm of the song. Confused, Lilly tried desperately to lip-synch her own breathing to match Miley’s. It looked odd, to say the least.
Then Miley started spinning around, trying to shake the spider off. Unfortunately, she spun her way right into the web—and got tangled up in the netting! She didn’t stop singing, but her voice sounded as if she were about to cry . . . which wasn’t far from the truth!
And the spider wasn’t giving up! When it got to the top of her head, Miley couldn’t keep singing.
“Help me!” she shrieked, before falling to the floor.
A squeal of feedback filled the quad until Oliver finally cut the sound.
Lilly stood still on the stage as everyone stared at her in silence.
“Yeah, you got nerve, all right,” Amber said, scoffing at Lilly.
“Just no talent!” Ashley added.
Amber laughed. And then everyone in the audience joined her and exploded in laughter.
Lilly left the stage, practically in tears. She ran toward the double doors just as Miley came running out of them.
“Lilly!” Miley shouted, catching up with her. “I’m so sorry.”
“Come on, let’s just get out of here,” Lilly grumbled quietly. She was mortified.
But Oliver wasn’t going to stand by and watch people make fun of one of his best friends. “Lilly, hold up,” he called. Then he turned to address the crowd. “What are you guys laughing at? At least she had the guts to get up there.”
Lilly gave him a grateful glance. Oliver really was a good friend.
“Even though she did completely humiliate herself,” he added.
“Thank you!” Lilly snapped at him. She nodded to Miley. “Come on.”
“No, Oliver’s right,” Miley said. Now it was her turn to talk to the other students. “She did humiliate herself.”
Lilly couldn’t believe this! Were both of her best friends determined to embarrass her even more? “I think they heard it the first time!” she yelled at Miley. “What kind of friend are you?”
Lilly once again headed toward the door.
But when she heard Miley say, “The kind I should’ve been all along,” Lilly stopped.
She listened as Miley said to the crowd, “Sure, Lilly doesn’t have a great voice. Most of us don’t, but does that mean we shouldn’t sing?”
“Uh, yeah,” Amber said, rolling her eyes at how obvious this answer was. She smiled brightly at the audience. “Now who wants to hear me?”
Mr. Corelli spoke into the microphone. “Amber, let’s not”—he sang the last word— “interrupt.” Then he nodded at Miley. “Carry on. I beg you.”
Amber tossed her hair angrily, but didn’t say anything as Miley continued.
“Singing shouldn’t be about showing people up,” she said. “It should be about having a great time no matter what you sound like.” She walked over to Lilly and gave her an apologetic look. “And I should’ve known that. Lilly, I’m sorry; I never should’ve messed with that CD. Your mom would have loved it, just because it came from you.”
Lilly hesitated, then smiled. “Yeah, she is a big mush ball,” she admitted.
As Miley and Lilly hugged, Mr. Corelli said into the mic, “So, who wants to come up here and have a good time?”
But despite Miley’s speech, no one was interested in singing—it was just too intimidating!
“Go up there,” Miley said to Lilly. “Show them the real Lilly Truscott. I think she’s pretty great.”
“Thanks,” Lilly said, giving her best friend a smile. “Mr. Corelli, I want a do-over.”
“You got it,” he said, beaming.
As Lilly bounded back onstage, Miley called after her, “Hey, Lilly! Don’t forget your big finish.”
Lilly grinned and launched into another song. She was still off-key—but she really got the crowd moving! By the end of karaoke night, everyone—from Oliver to Mr. Corelli to Rico—was taking a turn singing their hearts out.
As more and more singers took the stage, Miley and Lilly walked over to where Amber and Ashley were watching in disbelief.
“Congratulations,” Lilly said to Amber. “You’re the best singer in the school.”
“Too bad nobody cares,” Miley said.
Miley gave Lilly a high five. This experience had definitely ended on a high note!