The book opens up with Jessi auditioning for the lead role in her ballet school's production of Sleeping Beauty. Since Jessi is the best 11-year old ballerina in the world, she obviously gets the lead role. Daddy is really excited for her and he buys ice cream for dessert to celebrate her accomplishment, but Jessi only eats a tiny bit of it, because she has to watch what she eats so she won't get fat. Being fat is the Worst Thing in Baby-Sitters Club land, like that part in Winter Vacation (Super Special #3) where some boys on the bus are singing a mean song about a fat girl, and not only is this presented as a normal thing to do, the next sentence is a snotty line about how the song didn't stop the girl from eating three Snickers bars on the ride home. So clearly Jessi does not want to get fat.
On the first day of rehearsals, Jessi's toe shoes disappear from her bag and she has to go in without them. It is completely embarrassing for her and makes it impossible for the rehearsal to go on. When they go back into the dressing room, the toe shoes have magically reappeared in Jessi's bag, which aside from being confusing is also pretty embarrassing. And then after the rehearsal when they go to change, there is a slip of paper with the word BEWARE written on it.
The next rehearsal, Jessi brings a whole spare outfit, to avoid a repeat. Then she works her ass off to show Mme Noelle that she is serious about working hard and the toe shoe thing was just a fluke. When she goes in to change after rehearsal, though, her spare outfit is missing from her bag and there is another note, written in red letters, that says WATCH YOUR STEP.
Jessi spends her baby-sitting money to buy a whole new dance outfit, and a new dance bag that she can lock. This is one of the things I always remember about this book, the locking dance bag. The rehearsal goes well at first, but then Jessi botches the landing on a tour jeté and twists her ankle badly. She won't be able to dance for several days. The worst part is it turns out she wasn't even supposed to be performing that particular move. She hadn't heard what Madame said, and one of the other girls in her dance class had given her the wrong instruction. When Jessi goes in to change, she finds another threatening note. This one says TOLD YOU SO. FROM NOW ON, WATCH OUT. Then she has to sit out one rehearsal, and after that one, finds a note that says IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE. TOO BAD IT WASN'T.
Jessi talks to her friends, and they suggest they come watch the next rehearsal. The rehearsal is going to be in the auditorium, and Jessi thinks that if they sit in the back maybe no one will notice their presence. This seems extremely unlikely to me, because while the back of the theater will be dim if the house lights are off I doubt it'd be pitch black enough that they wouldn't be spotted at all, and secondly a group of middle school girls is not exactly the quietest thing in the world, but this is BSC land. Charlie drives them all to the auditorium. This is the other part of the book I always remember, because his car doesn't even have enough seat belts for all the girls, and some of them are sitting on each other's laps, and I don't know why their parents allow it, and then I also wonder what Charlie is going to do in Stamford for the time the girls are watching the rehearsal until he has to pick them up again. Maybe hang out at the mall or get a bite to eat I guess. Why doesn't Charlie have anything better to do on a Saturday?
Jessi's friends manage to hide in the theater seats. Jessi can't even spot them when she looks for them. This despite the fact that Dawn has brought a tiny flashlight to take notes with. If you're on a stage looking out into a dark auditorium you'd probably notice a flashlight beam, I'm just saying. On the ride home, the girls talk it over and come up with a short list of suspects in Jessi's class. At no time does the idea of telling an adult come up, even though Jessi has received threats and hurt her ankle.
Jessi's stolen leotard is returned to her dance bag, cut to shreds. To me this is the creepiest part of the book. There is a lot of hatred involved in stealing something, destroying it, and returning it so the victim knows exactly what you did. She gets some more notes. She gets shoved into some wet paint. She almost gets taken out by a piece of falling scenery. She has also eliminated two of the three suspects on the BSC list and is left only with a girl named Hilary.
There is a bit where Jessi is helping Aunt Cecelia with the dishes and has an idea about how to expose Hilary and she exclaims out loud. Aunt Cecelia asks her what's going on and Jessi says nothing, because she hasn't told her aunt or parents about all the danger so as not to worry them. I personally think this is the exact wrong kind of message to send to kids reading these books. If someone is sending you threats and almost knocking you out with scenery and destroying your possessions, tell an adult. Don't leave it all to your group of middle school friends.
Jessi gets Hilary to incriminate herself by asking her to make a sign about a wet floor, which Hilary obligingly does with the red calligraphy pen she has been using to write the threatening notes. Hilary is not a winner in the brains department obviously. Hilary has been trying to scare Jessi because Hilary's very pushy mother is upset that she didn't get the lead. Hilary is very upset to be caught and begs Jessi not to tell Mme Noelle. She'll stop doing nasty things and she'll pay Jessi back for the leotard she ruined. Jessi agrees to this. Jessi is not a winner in the brains department this day either.
Opening night! All of Jessi's friends come to see her dance.
Claudia looked extremely cool and exotic, as usual. Her hair was braided with silver ribbons, and she wore a shimmery dark blue minidress. On her feet were silver sandals, with laces up the calves -- kind of like toe shoes.Jessi dances and the show goes extremely well, and she gets roses from her family and friends. Hilary announces that she is quitting dance.
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