Chapter 1 FUTURE ROCK STAR

  STRUM, STRUM, TWANG, TWANG.

  Lucy loved making the guitar sing!

  Her guitar teacher, Mr. Martin, clapped his hands.

  “Great job, Lucy!” he said. “You’re getting better and better every week.”

  Lucy beamed with pride.

  Back when she first started guitar lessons at the Brewster Community Center, she couldn’t even keep the guitar from sliding off her lap. And pressing on the strings hurt her fingers.

  Now, here she was, playing full songs!

  “Listen up, everyone,” Mr. Martin said. “We’re going on a short field trip!”

  A field trip? They’d never had a field trip at the end of class before!

  Lucy and her two classmates, Karina Kam and Gabe Gomez, lined up by the door as quickly as they could.

  Mr. Martin led them down the hallway to another room.

  When he flicked on the lights, Lucy saw they were in a big room with a stage. It was smaller than the gymnasium at Lucy’s school, but much fancier.

  Mr. Martin bounded up the steps and stood under the spotlight on the stage.

  “Strum roll, please!” he called.

  Lucy and her classmates hadn’t brought their instruments with them, but it didn’t matter. They made strumming motions on their air guitars, giggling.

  Mr. Martin spread his hands to halt the strumming, then announced: “In just a few weeks, you will be standing here onstage, performing in your very first guitar recital!”

  “A recital?” Lucy repeated. “We’ll be playing in front of a real audience?”

  “That’s right,” Mr. Martin answered. “This class will be performing right here. And…” He threw his arms in the air. “Each of you will have a solo in the song to show off your skills!”

  Lucy, Karina, and Gabe looked at one another with their mouths open.

  “We’re going to be superstars!” Gabe said in awe.

  “I’m going to invite all my friends!” Karina exclaimed.

  Lucy felt her toes beginning to tingle. Was she really going to play the guitar onstage in front of a whole crowd? She couldn’t believe it.

  This was the biggest—and best—news ever!

  Chapter 2 IN YOUR DREAMS

  The next morning, Lucy’s dad drove her to school on his way to the airport. He was a book salesperson, and he took a business trip every month.

  After he pulled up in front of the school, Lucy’s dad got out of the car and gave her a big hug.

  “I’ll call you tonight after dinner,” he said.

  Lucy giggled. “Well, it will be after MY dinnertime, but before YOUR dinnertime,” she said.

  It was funny that every time her dad traveled for work, he traveled across time zones. Once her dad got off the plane, he would be in a place that was two hours behind Brewster!

  “Daddy, when I fly on a plane with you one day, could we travel all the way back in time to see the dinosaurs?” Lucy asked.

  Lucy’s dad chuckled. “Maybe when you grow up, you can invent a plane like that!”

  “One more question,” Lucy said. “Will you be back in time for my guitar recital?”

  “Of course I will, Lucybug,” her dad replied.

  “YAY!” Lucy hugged her dad one more time. Then she hurried into school.

  Lucy fed the classroom fish, just like every morning. Then her two best friends, Bruce Bickerson and Heidi Heckelbeck, walked in.

  “I have big news,” Lucy said excitedly. She told them all about her guitar recital.

  “Can we go too?” Bruce asked. “I’ve never seen you play the guitar before!”

  “And I can sing along to any song you play!” Heidi chimed in. “Like this. WOAH-O-O-O!!!”

  “Yes!” Lucy said, wiggling with excitement.

  Her best friends were coming to her recital! This was just getting better and better!

  “You play the guitar, Lucy?” Bryce Beltran said as she hung up her jacket in her cubby. “How long have you been playing?”

  “Almost a year…?” Lucy’s voice trailed off uncertainly.

  Bryce Beltran was like an early spring day. You never knew if she was going to be sweet as sunshine or if she’d storm in like angry thunder.

  And whenever she talked to Lucy, it was more often the thunder.

  “Well, I’ve been taking private piano lessons since I was three,” Bryce said. “I bet you’ve never played a piece THIS hard.”

  She pulled out a binder from her backpack and opened it up to show Lucy, Heidi, and Bruce.

  Lucy’s head spun with all the small, complicated musical notes scrawled across the pages. There were squiggly marks, words, and symbols that Lucy had never seen before!

  But when Lucy opened her mouth to respond, she found herself saying, “I could play that in my sleep!”

  “Wow, you can?” Bruce said. He and Heidi looked at Lucy, impressed.

  Bryce, on the other hand, curled her lips into a smirk.

  “You mean, you could play it in your DREAMS!” she said.

  Just at that moment, the bell rang, and all the students had to take their seats.

  Talk about saved by the bell!

  Why did I lie? Lucy asked herself. Now Heidi and Bruce think I’m the greatest guitarist on the planet!

  And they’re going to be so disappointed at the recital when they find out… I’m SOOO not!

  Chapter 3 STRIKE A CHORD

  After school that day, Lucy rushed through her homework as fast as she could. She needed as much time as possible to practice her guitar.

  Before she started playing, she sat on the floor and did a few warm-up stretches.

  With her right hand, she made a fist and kept her left hand open. Then she switched so the left hand was a fist and her right hand was an open palm.

  Every time she did this stretch, Lucy felt like she was playing some kind of weird game of rock-paper-scissors against herself. She even made some scissors with her hands, just for fun!

  Then she shook out her arms to make them nice and loose. That’s what they did in music class. But since she was home, Lucy shook out her whole body!

  “Okay, NOW I can start playing!” Lucy declared.

  She laid out the sheet music in front of her. Seeing it reminded her of the piece Bryce had shown her that morning, and she couldn’t help feeling a twinge of embarrassment. Compared to that, Lucy’s music looked simple and babyish.

  But it was all she knew how to play. So Lucy started strumming slowly, making sure her finger placements were correct for every note.

  After a couple of tries, she was able to play through it without pausing in between notes!

  From her bookshelf, she pulled down a device called a metronome. Her mom had given it to her when she started guitar lessons. It helped keep Lucy on beat, so she didn’t slow down or speed up while playing.

  Lucy turned it on. The long arm on the metronome started swinging back and forth.

  Tick, tock, tick, tock. Watching the metronome was like watching an old-fashioned grandfather clock.

  Lucy played the song again, trying to stay in time to the beat of the metronome. But every time she got to her solo part, her fingers fumbled and she hit the wrong note.

  THWENK!

  “Gah!” Lucy shouted, frustrated. She had to get it right. There was no way she could mess up at the recital in front of a big audience.

  With her heart beating faster than the metronome, Lucy started again. This time, just as she got to her solo…

  HICCUP!

  Lucy’s toes tingled. And right on beat, she landed the chord perfectly.

  It sounded so lovely!

  But Lucy didn’t have time to pause and celebrate. Her fingers started flying and her pick started grooving. She was so into the music, she even added an extra little flourish at the end of the song!

  It was almost like the guitar was playing itself!

  “Wow,” Lucy whispered. “I sound AMAZING.”

  Lucy played through the whole song again, and it was even better than the last time. In fact, it was the best she had ever played it. Ever!

  Lucy’s mom even popped her head into the room.

  “All your practicing is really paying off,” she said, smiling.

  “Something like that!” Lucy responded.

  Unlike Bryce, she didn’t have years and years of private training. But she did have something Bryce didn’t have.

  Magical hiccups!

  Chapter 4 HICCUPS ON A ROLL

  For the rest of the week, Lucy didn’t practice for the recital at all. In fact, she practically forgot about it!

  But there was nothing to worry about. Practice or no practice, her magic would make the recital a huge success.

  On Saturday morning, Lucy was reading a book when the phone rang.

  “Is it Daddy?” Lucy asked. He was supposed to get back home from his trip that afternoon.

  “No, it’s Bruce,” Lucy’s mom said, handing her the phone.

  “Hi, Lucy!” Bruce said on the other end of the line. “I’m going to take Frankie to the park to play ball. Do you want to come too?”

  “Of course I’ll go!” Lucy squealed. She loved playing with Bruce’s dog, Frankie!

  But Lucy’s mom raised her eyebrows and pointed at the guitar, sitting in the corner of the room and collecting dust.

  That was when Lucy remembered. Today was the rehearsal for the guitar recital!

  But she still had time.

The rehearsal wasn’t until afternoon.

  So Lucy told Bruce, “I’m free all morning. See you there!”

  As soon as she hung up the phone, Lucy’s mom frowned.

  “Don’t you need to practice before your rehearsal?” she asked.

  Lucy gave her two thumbs-up and a smile.

  “I’ve already perfected my recital piece,” she said. In her mind, she added, with a little bit of magic!

  Lucy ran all the way to the dog park. Bruce and Frankie were there, and so was Heidi.

  They had a blast throwing the ball to Frankie. He ran and jumped, catching the ball in his mouth and bringing it back for another throw.

  “Here, Frankie, catch!” Lucy tossed the ball, but it went higher than she thought. It soared over Frankie’s head.

  “Oops! Sorry!” Lucy yelled. And then she hiccupped.

  In one marvelous moment, Frankie leaped into the air, backflipped, caught the ball in his mouth, and landed on his four feet!

  It was incredible!

  “Wow! Did you see that?” Heidi shrieked with delight.

  “I always knew you were a SUPERdog!” Bruce said, throwing his hands in the air.

  Lucy bent down to snuggle Frankie, and he licked her face.

  “That tickles!” She giggled.

  Frankie nudged the ball on the ground again. It suddenly started rolling away from where they were standing, faster and faster as it picked up speed.

  “Whoa!” Lucy exclaimed.

  She didn’t know how, but she was sure she had somehow MAGICKED that ball. And she was the one who had to catch it!

  In a second, Lucy, Bruce, Heidi, and Frankie started chasing the ball.

  Finally, Lucy caught it by diving onto the grass. A moment later, Frankie dove into her arms and tried to wrestle the ball away from her.

  She laughed as she rolled around in the grass with Frankie.

  My hiccups are on a ROLL! Lucy thought.

  Chapter 5 FACING THE MUSIC

  At rehearsal later that day, Karina pointed at Lucy’s grass-stained knee.

  “What happened to your jeans?” she whispered.

  “Oh, I was at the park this morning,” Lucy explained. “I didn’t have time to change.”

  Gabe clutched his guitar and said, “I was so nervous for the rehearsal, I couldn’t do ANYTHING this morning.”

  “It’s going to be okay,” Lucy assured him.

  The three of them were sitting on folding chairs in the front row of the audience in the performance room. Up onstage, Mr. Martin was talking to a group of older kids.

  All of Mr. Martin’s music students were playing in the recital, so there were a bunch of kids from other classes scattered throughout the rest of the audience. Everyone was buzzing with excitement.

  Lucy was impressed by all the different kinds of music everyone played. Some students rocked out on electric guitars. There was even a group of ukulele players and one student who played the banjo!

  Mr. Martin rolled out a piano onto the stage. Lucy had no idea he taught piano, too.

  “Bryce Beltran?” Mr. Martin called out, looking down at his clipboard. “You’re up next.”

  Lucy’s stomach dropped. Could there possibly be more than one piano-playing Bryce Beltran in Brewster?

  Of course not. The Bryce Beltran who bounded onto the stage was, of course, the person Lucy LEAST wanted to see.

  And of course Bryce was really good at the piano. As Lucy listened, she squeezed her hands together and tried to stay calm.

  It’s okay, she told herself. Once I play, Bryce will see that I’m really good at the guitar too.

  Finally, it was time for Lucy’s class to rehearse.

  Mr. Martin showed each student where to sit onstage. Lucy was in between Karina and Gabe, right smack in the center of the stage.

  From the curtains, Mr. Martin counted off the start of the song. Lucy, Karina, and Gabe began playing their song together.

  STRUM, STRUM, TWANG, TWANG. So far so good!

  Then came Karina’s solo. Her notes rang out clearly into the audience, where the other music students were listening.

  Next was Lucy’s solo. She smiled, closed her eyes, and waited for her magic to kick in.

  But as Lucy strummed the first few notes, nothing happened.

  She didn’t hiccup. Her toes didn’t tingle.

  What happened to my magic? she thought, opening her eyes again.

  And then Lucy’s fingers fumbled. She hit a wrong note… and her pick tumbled into the guitar’s hole!

  BRRJARINGGGGG! RATTLE, RATTLE, RATTLE!

  The sour note echoed throughout the room.

  Some kids in the audience started giggling. And that included Bryce Beltran.

  Gabe and Karina gawked at Lucy as she turned her guitar upside down and shook it, trying to get the pick to fall back out.

  Finally, Mr. Martin ran up onto the stage and helped her fish out the pick.

  “Let’s try again,” Mr. Martin said, smiling kindly.

  But Lucy had had enough embarrassment to last a lifetime. Without saying a word, she ran right off the stage.

  And she kept going, straight out of the performance room.

  Chapter 6 LOOKING FOR MAGIC

  As soon as Lucy got home from her rehearsal, she stomped into her bedroom, hiccupping up a storm.

  HICCUP!

  Her curtains closed, then opened again.

  HICCUP!

  The blankets on her bed rolled themselves up into a bundle.

  HICCUP!

  Her metronome fell off the shelf with a CRASH!

  On the fourth HICCUP, her spell book fell off her shelf, just missing her foot.

  “Great,” Lucy grumbled. “NOW I have hiccups! Where were they when I needed them?”

  She picked up her spell book. Maybe there would be a spell that would help her play the guitar perfectly.

  When Lucy flipped open the book, she saw:

  The Budding Musician Spell

  Feeling nervous about your upcoming solo? There’s no need to feel so low.

  Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and count backward from ten to one.

  Then, play your best. Remember, music is all about having fun. It’s not a test!

  “That’s not a real spell!” Lucy cried, shutting the book.

  If her spell book wasn’t going to help her become an amazing guitar player, she would need to find a way to get out of the recital entirely.

  Maybe she could convince everyone that the stage was haunted, and the ghosts would get angry if they played music.

  No, that wouldn’t work. Nobody would believe her.

  Or maybe she could hide in the Magical Library, where the only person who would be able to find her was Ms. Egli, the librarian.

  No, that wouldn’t work either. Ms. Egli would surely take her back to the performance room to play.

  Maybe she could magic a special guest appearance by a famous singer? Everyone would be so starstruck, no one would notice that Lucy never performed!

  Lucy opened her spell book again and flipped through the pages, looking for ideas.

  There was a spell to close the curtains and a spell to make her bed. But there was nothing to help her miss her own recital.

  Lucy slammed the spell book shut. It was clear to her now. Magic wasn’t going to help her get out of the recital.

  She would have to do it herself. The old-fashioned, non-magical way.

  Chapter 7 THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

  Lucy’s dad arrived home later that afternoon. He and Lucy’s mom were in the living room when Lucy walked downstairs, clutching her left arm.

  “Ow, ow!” she cried. “I think I hurt my arm at the park today.”

  Lucy’s mom examined her arm.

  “Hmm, I don’t see any bruises or cuts,” Lucy’s mom said. Then she stood up. “Let me get an ice pack from the freezer.”

  “No!” Lucy blurted out. She hated how cold ice packs felt against her skin.

  “Um, my arm doesn’t hurt THAT much,” she continued. “It’s just… I can’t play guitar anymore.”

  Lucy’s parents looked at each other.

  “Lucybug, come sit down.” Lucy’s dad patted the couch, and Lucy squished in between her parents.

  Lucy’s mom put her arm around her shoulder and said, “Talk to us, Lucy.”

 

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