Dazzling Danny by Jean Ure Page A

because I happen to know that these six all take dancing lessons,” said Miss Pringle. “But if there are any boys…”
    She gazed hopefully about the room. Darryl stuck his elbow in my ribs: I stuck mine in his. Darryl could volunteer if he liked! I wasn’t going to.

    “No one?” Miss Pringle sounded disappointed, but not particularly surprised. ‘All right! Let’s move on to the speakers.”
    I relaxed. I didn’t mind being a speaker! Miss Pringle read out the names.
    “Lucy Flowers, Joseph Brodrick, Sheralee Johnson..!’
    She came to the end – and I wasn’t there! I was the only person in the whole class who hadn’t got a part! I knew I couldn’t sing or dance, but I could speak all right. Why hadn’t she included me?
    Darryl kicked me again under the table. He’d noticed that I’d been left out. Even Darryl was one of the speakers! He’s useless at reading out loud;far worse than I am. But even he was going to be in the show!

    And then Miss Pringle said, “Danny!” and everyone turned and looked at me, including Clint, who crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. “There’s something special that I want Danny to do. But we’re going to have to talk about it, so I’d like you to come and see me afterwards. All right?”

    Clint went, ‘All right?” in a silly sort of voice. He was one of the speakers, too. I was suddenly glad that I wasn’t going to be a speaker. I was going to be something special!
    I spent the rest of the class wondering what it could possibly be and why Miss Pringle wanted to talk about it. What could I do that no one else could? Nothing, as far as I knew. I was the only one in my family who wasn’tgifted. My mum and dad both run for the county. Dad runs long distance, Mum’s a sprinter. They’ve both won medals. They’ve even been given special Achievement Awards by the Mayor. My sister Carrie, who is one big pain, is brilliant at practically everything. She’s two years older than me. Her last school report said, “Carrie works hard and plays hard. A first-class student!”

    I just bet nobody would ever say that about me. Only the other day Miss Pringle had told me to stop daydreaming and pay attention. But now she wanted me to do something special!
    Miss Pringle was busy telling us how theYear 5s were going to paint the scenery and the Year 4s were going to design the programmes. Last year we had been Year 5s and had painted scenery. Clint Parker had painted two of the girls bright green. This year we were the big shots. We were the stars! And Miss Pringle wanted me for something special …
    The bell rang for break. All the rest of the class went rushing out into the playground, but Miss Pringle beckoned me over to her table.

    “Now then, Danny,” she said. “We must talk. There are two very important parts that I didn’t mention… one boy, and one girl. These are the ones who have all the dreams.We’ve already cast Coral as the girl—”
    She paused, just for a second. I waited, breathlessly. Was she really going to say what I thought she was going to say?
    “Both Mr Hubbard and I,” said Miss Pringle, “think that you would be perfect as the boy.”
    Wow! Maybe I was good at something, after all.
    “The only thing is,” said Miss Pringle, “it does mean that you would have to dance…”

Chapter Two
    Dance ???
    Miss Pringle tilted her head to one side. “How would you feel about it?”
    How I felt about it was, you’ve got to be kidding ! Only you can’t say that to a teacher.
    “What do you think?” said Miss Pringle.
    “If I don’t do it;’ I said, “does that mean I can’t be in the show?”
    “Oh, Danny, of course it doesn’t! Of course you’ll be in the show.”
    I said, “What would I be?”
    “How about one of the speakers?”
    I frowned. I didn’t want to be one of the speakers! Not if Clint was going to be. I wanted to be something special.

    “Look, don’t get all worried about it,” said Miss Pringle. “We can