Episode 2: My Fair Lady: The Extraordinarily Ordinary Life of Cassandra Jones: Southwest Cougars Eighth Grade, #2

By Tamara Hart Heiner

She's climbing the totem pole.

 

Cassie can hardly believe it when the popular crowd at school notices her. She's been waiting for this moment for two years, and she's not about to let it pass her by.

But it seems they don't want her quite the way she is. They want her to change her hair, her clothes, the way she talks, who she talks to. How much is Cassie willing to change just to be accepted?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tamark Books
• Release date: May 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386672173

Tamara Hart Heiner

Tamara Hart Heiner lives in Arkansas with her husband, four kids, a cat, a rabbit, and several fish. She would love to add a macaw and a sugar glider to the family collection. She graduated with a degree in English and an editing emphasis from Brigham Young University. She's been an editor for BYU-TV and currently works as an editor for WiDo Publishing and as a freelancer. She's the author of the young adult suspense series, PERILOUS, INEVITABLE, the CASSANDRA JONES saga, and a nonfiction book about the Joplin tornado, TORNADO WARNING. 

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Big Plans

The first week of school would be a little easier and slower than the rest of the school year.

Or so Cassandra had hoped.

No such luck. By Tuesday all of her teachers were handing out assignments and giving pages in the text books to read.

And then she had community choir, also.

She walked through the doors of the community center and headed for the choir room along with several other kids, trying to ignore the prickling of dread building under her skin. Lately she hadn’t enjoyed this choir so much as before. She didn’t have any good friends here; in fact, there were some people she really didn’t like. Ms. Vanderwood didn’t consider Cassie one of her star singers and rarely played her to her full potential.

Worst of all, last year during the school performances, Cassie had made a fool of herself by spreading a false rumor about someone.

She took a deep breath and walked inside.

Come in, come in, come in! Ms. Vanderwood sang, clapping her hands as each student came through the door. Her reddish blond hair was up on top of her head, small kinky curls escaping around her face and softening her angular cheeks and nose. She waved at Cassie. You know your position, just like last year!

Cassie climbed the tiered steps and found a chair in the second soprano section. She smiled and nodded at a few people, but the familiar stirring of unrest cropped up in her chest. She could be doing something else right now. She didn’t want to be here anymore.

The other kids all whispered and laughed together, replaying their summer adventures. Cassie reached into her backpack and pulled out a book. At least she’d had a chance to get to the library at school and check out the new selections.

Now that we’re all here. . . . Ms. Vanderwood’s eyes sparkled with barely contained excitement. I hope you’ve had a great first two days of school. I need everyone’s full attention, please, I have a big announcement.

Cassie supposed that meant she should put her book down. She did so, looking at Ms. Vanderwood expectantly.

I met with a few choir directors from other states over the summer at a conference for choir directors. We talked about putting on a huge joint choir performance with our combined choirs.

Cassie just watched Ms. Vanderwood, unable to drum up the same level of anticipation her director obviously had. She preferred solos to large groups, feeling the pure, authentic sound was lost when too many voices joined the music. The bigger the choir, the worse the cohesive sound.

But we need somewhere huge for all of our choirs to perform, right? Well. She took a deep breath, her toes lifting back and forth on the linoleum flooring. We pulled some strings and managed to reserve Carnegie Hall!

Cassie had no idea where that was, but judging from the gasps and shrieks in the room, some people did.

Where is that? Chris, a redhead boy in seventh grade, asked.

New York City, of course, RyAnne said, her snotty, condescending tone filling the room.

Cassie winced, especially glad now she hadn’t asked. She and RyAnne had a long standing disagreement between them, both barely standing the other. She cast the thought aside and focused on the immediate present. New York! They were going to sing in New York! Cassie had been to New York state, but the last time she’d been to the actual city, she’d only been seven years old. This would be awesome! A trip with her choir and not her parents, even better!

Ms. Vanderwood kept talking. It’s going to be an expensive trip. So I’ve set up some fundraising opportunities for you guys throughout the year to help pay your way. Here are the dates we’ll be gone. She turned around and wrote on the white board behind her, June 10-14.

Cassie pulled her backpack over and found the calendar where she wrote school assignments and projects due. She flipped to the very back, to the month of June. A little wave of euphoria rushed over her as she realized by the time she got to June, she would be done with eighth grade. The finish line was in sight.

Using her pencil, she wrote down, choir trip to New York on Tuesday, June 10. She drew the line across the dates until she reached the 14th, and then she wrote, perform at Carnegie Hall. Lifting her pencil, her eye caught the day written above the calendar square.

Sunday.

A hard knot tightened in Cassie’s chest. Her family had very strict rules about how they spent their Sundays, which they held sacred as a day of rest. Most of the time Cassie found this a very convenient commandment, as it gave her an excuse to relax and not do any homework. But sometimes it was a sacrifice, when there were fun parties or events she didn’t go to because they would not allow her to keep an attitude of worship. Her parents always allowed her