Alma Ruez is eating dinner with her family. They discuss stuff, like how their day went. Alma talks about the school dance that was last week. Lancy, Alma’s younger sister, talks about first grade, and Sam talks about his soccer practice. The whole family goes chattering away. Once they finish, Alma washes the dishes. Alma and Lancy go to their room, and Sam goes to his room. They get ready for bed and are soon snoozing away.

The next morning, Lancy looks at her phone, searching her favorite rock band, Galactic Stars, and finds out that they are having a concert! Lancy asks Alma if she can take her to the concert. “Pleaseeee?!” Lancy pleads. Alma replies, “I don’t know, I mean, I don’t really like that band.” “I’ll give you 10 dollars. Plus, I got us VIP tickets!” Lancy shows the tickets to Alma. “Say no more!” Alma says. “I’m gonna bring you there!”

Alma and Lancy leave straight for the concert after breakfast and getting ready. Alma is wearing her red dress and new red shoes with high heels. Lancy wears her red cap, a blue T-shirt with a red checkmark, a blue skirt, and red shoes with laces. They arrive, identify themselves as VIPs, and go into the concert. After two songs, a singer from the band says, “Now we- wait, is that you?” He pauses, looking at Alma. “You, come on up to the stage!” he continues, pointing to Alma. “Can I bring my sister? She’s not old enough to be unsupervised.” Alma asks.

“Alma, you’re embarrassing me in front of the band!” Lancy whispers angrily to Alma. “Of course, you can! I know her as well!” the singer says. Lancy and Alma come to the stage. “You!” the singer says, pointing at Alma. “You’re that one who won that awesome talent show. Sweet vocals, by the way!” He looks at Lancy. “And aren’t you her sister, the one who won that art contest?” “Yeah, I am!” Lancy says. “Great!” the singer says. “Now, I want to do a duet with you, Alma.”

“Sure, I guess,” Alma says. Lancy stands on the stage near a band member while Alma and the singer sing a song. “That was awesome singing!” the singer says. “But anyway, I wanted you to sing with Liz, where is she?” Just at that point, a girl comes onto the stage. “So sorry I’m late! There was this traffic and everything. Wait, is that…” the girl stops. “This is Liz. She’s, like, literally the best singer in this whole group!” the singer says. The girl, Liz, says, “Hi.”

The singer continues, “Liz, you ready to sing with her?” “Yeah, I guess,” Liz replies. Liz and Alma start singing, and after they finish the song, everyone cheers. “That was awesome!” the singer says. “But let’s make things more interesting. How about a singing contest? The other band members and the crowd will judge on who won. We can duet together, Liz!” the singer says, looking at Liz. “We can sing a song together against Alma! Two people singing means double the lyrics!” Alma looks nervous. How can just one person sing for two people at the same time?

“Can I sing with my sister? Not one person can do a song that’s meant for two people,” Lancy asks. “Of course. Two verses two is fair,” the singer says. The people sing an amazing song. The singer says, “Great job!” To the crowd, he says, “Well, folks, that’s all for today! The next next week we’ll have another concert!” Everyone goes home, including Alma and Lancy. “Wow, we got to perform with my fave band!” Lancy squeals. “Yeah, with your favorite band,” Alma says, a bit excited.

Written by Kruti Patel