Showstopper by Sheryl Berk

yours!”
    Phoebe put a hand over Mandy’s mouth, and Scarlett clamped her hand over Gracie’s. “Zip the lip!” she warned her little sister. “Do you want Toni to kill us?”
    Gracie shook her head. “Uh-uh.” She turned to face the Feet. “I’m not telling you anything about my joker costume. So there!”
    â€œJoker costume? Are you doing some lame Batman dance?” Addison asked. “Who’s the Penguin? Your big sis, Scoot?”
    â€œHah! You’re not even close!” Gracie said, just as Scarlett and Rochelle dragged her away.
    â€œGracie, you almost gave it away!” Anya exclaimed. “This is why we can’t let you anywhere near our competition.”
    Scarlett sighed. “Like I said. Loose lips.”
    â€œWell, maybe they’ll think we’re doing a superheroes dance,” Bria suggested. “With comic book villains.”
    â€œMaybe we should let them think that,” Rochelle said, raising a brow. “I mean, if they want to believe it, we can’t stop them, right?”
    Liberty’s eyes lit up. “You mean feed them false info?” she asked. “I’m liking this already!Can’t you just see Justine switching their routine last minute to try and ruin ours?”
    Anya considered. “I don’t think it’s right to lie, but Gracie did kind of tip our hand.”
    â€œExactly!” Liberty said. “We’re just covering our tracks. Toni would totally approve of a little white lie to protect ourselves.”
    â€œI don’t know about that,” Scarlett hesitated. “But I guess we don’t have much of a choice, do we?”
    Liberty took Gracie by the shoulders. “Okay, we need you to blab a little secret to Mandy.”
    Gracie looked confused. “But my lips are zipped, remember?”
    â€œUnzip ’em!” Liberty insisted. “This is what you tell her: you’re the Joker, Scarlett’s the Penguin, and I’m Batgirl.”
    â€œHow come you always get the biggest role?” Rochelle asked. “Tell her
I’m
Batgirl, Liberty is Robin, and Anya is the Penguin.”
    Bria raised her hand. “What am I? Chopped liver? I wanna be Batgirl!”
    â€œIt’s not like this is for real!” Rochelle reminded her.
    â€œHuh? I don’t get it,” Gracie said. “Why am I telling Mandy this?”
    Liberty gave her a shove in the direction of City Feet. “Because we want them to think it’s our group routine. Got it?”
    Gracie nodded. “Got it.” She went up to Mandy and tapped her on the shoulder.
    â€œI have something to say to you,” she began, then hesitated. It was hard to remember everything her teammates had told her! “Okay, Scarlett and Rochelle are penguins with baseball bats and Anya and Bria are chopped liver—oh, and I’m joking. Or something like that . . .”
    Mandy looked confused. “I don’t get the joke. Is it a knock-knock?”
    Gracie smiled. “Oh! I know a great joke! How do you make a tissue dance?”
    Mandy thought for a few seconds. “I don’t know. How?”
    â€œYou put a little boogie in it! Ha-ha!” Gracie was cracking up—and planning on telling another joke—just as Liberty stepped in to break up the conversation.
    â€œOkay, Gracie. Time to go! Hope you didn’t let the cat out of the bag.”
    â€œCat? You said it was a bat!” Gracie complained. “Would you people make up your minds?”
    Liberty ushered the little girl back to the Divas. “Mission accomplished,” she said, patting Gracie on the back. “They were chattering away, so I’m sure Mandy will go running back to Justine with all the info.”

    As the Divas had predicted, Mandy couldn’t wait to report the news to her teammates. “I know what dance the Divas are doing,” she said, tugging on Phoebe’s sleeve.