Olivia, Grace and Cuddle raced after Chloe. She was fast and they couldn’t keep up. They ended up in a central hallway with lots of small practice rooms leading off from it – but there was no sign of Chloe.
Grace whirled around. “Where could she have gone?”
Olivia looked inside one of the rooms. A group of boys wearing rollerskates and tracksuits was practising, mixing skating moves with breakdance spins and flips.
Chloe wasn’t there. Grace ran into the next room. A troupe of dancers in multicoloured leotards and footless tights was doing leaps and twirls.
“Have you seen a girl in a green dress?” Grace asked. They shook their heads.
Cuddle jumped out of Grace’s arms and trotted across the hallway. One of the doors was open a crack. She pushed her head through and it swung open. Grace and Olivia followed her inside.
A girl with pink hair was holding an electric guitar. “One, two, three!” she cried and started playing, along with a girl on a keyboard and a boy on drums.
The Krazy Katz was painted on the largest drum. A crowd of other performers was watching The Krazy Katz practise. Cuddle gave a loud miaow, and jumped into the lap of a girl sitting cross-legged by the wall. It was Chloe!
Grace and Olivia glanced at each other. Chloe’s eyes were red from crying. They went to sit either side of her, while Chloe ran her fingers through Cuddle’s whiskers.
“The judges will think this band is brilliant,” Chloe said.
“They’ll think you’re brilliant, too,” Olivia said. She remembered what Grace had told her about climbing trees. “Why don’t you practise reciting the poem to us now? You might feel better.”
Chloe sighed.
“The Shakespeare poem was my mum’s idea. What I really want to do is sing.”
“Then that’s what you should do!” Grace said. “What’s your favourite song?”
“ ‘Cat That Got the Cream’, ” Chloe replied.
“Sing it for us,” Olivia said. “We’d really like you to.”
Chloe’s cheeks went pink, but she took a deep breath and began. It was a pop song the girls knew, and they tapped their feet in time. Cuddle swished her tail like a conductor’s baton. Everyone turned to listen, and even The Krazy Kats stopped playing as Chloe launched into the chorus:
“Me and my friends, we’re a team,
We flow together like fish in a stream.
We laugh and cry, play and dream,
And I feel like the cat that got the cream.”
Everyone broke into applause.
“That girl can really sing,” said the band’s keyboard player.
Olivia clapped her hands and Grace put two fingers between her lips, giving a loud whistle. “Chloe, that was amazing!” Grace said. “You’ve got to sing for the judges.”
“I can’t,” Chloe said sadly. Her eyes were filling with tears. “I haven’t any music to sing along to. I can’t wear this dress. I don’t have my necklace. And–”
Olivia seized Chloe by the shoulders. “It’ll be fine. You’ve got Grace, Cuddle and me to help.”
Olivia looked Chloe’s dress up and down. “I know just how to make you the perfect costume. You’ll look like a star! Won’t she, Cuddle?”
Cuddle stared up at the three girls.
Then she bolted between their legs. Grace shook her head. “Where’s that crazy kitten gone now?”