Free Leona''s Unlucky Mission by Ahmet Zappa, Shana Muldoon Zappa & Ahmet Zappa

do….”
    Every day?
thought Leona. If she’d been on Starland, she’d surely have lost her glow.
    â€œBut I’m new….I just arrived….” Leona forced herself to add a smile, but it was hard to make it stay. The image of
her
in
that
made her want to cry instead.
    â€œOh! So you’re probably looking for the headmistress,” said the first girl. “She’ll give you a uniform and show you to your room.” She pointed to the door they’d just come out of. “In there. First door on the left.”
    â€œStar salu—oh, I mean, thanks,” said Leona. She waved and watched the girls walk off. Then she turned and headed in to get her…
gulp
…school uniform.
    Mission 3, Wishworld Observation #2: Warning! Be prepared: choice of Wishling wardrobe is not guaranteed.
    Finding the headmistress was easy, as was convincing her that Leona was enrolled in her school. The mind-control techniques Sage and Libby had taught Leona and the others worked beautifully on her. Almost instantly, Leona was being given a room assignment, a class schedule, and, of course, a uniform while the headmistress remarked on the sudden scent of baking brownies and paused now and then to lick her lips. She told Leona her room number and handed her a key. Leona politely refused her offer to show her the way. She wanted to find her Wisher immediately.
    From there, Leona slipped into a restroom and quickly changed. She was more eager than ever to get on with her mission (and back to her wardrobe on Starland) as soon as possible.
    â€œNow, where is my Wisher?” She checked to see if her Star-Zap had any further instructions to give.
“Ahh!”
she cried as she suddenly noticed a Wishling girl standing right there.
    Leona reeled back in surprise. “You scared me—” she started. Then she realized the pretty, curly-haired Wishling was saying the same thing.
    â€œStarf!”
she said to her reflection in the mirror above the sink. She knew she was supposed to look like a real Wishling…but still, it was hard to accept! She fluffed her hair, which had dried out fairly well. “You are a star,” she said. “Light up the world!” Her sparkly self stared back at her. And a surge of energy boosted her confidence. And with that, she opened the bathroom door and charged into the hall.
    According to the headmistress, classes were over for the day. The hall, therefore, was empty, and Leona’s footsteps echoed as her stiff new loafers clip-clopped across the floor.
    Leona figured she’d head back outside and hope her Star-Zap directed her from there. She paused, though, as she passed a bulletin board, and did a double take. If there were two words that could catch her eye, they were the ones at the top of the pale pink flyer pinned between a cockeyed sign about a yearbook meeting and another about a semester in someplace called Spain.
    Leona read the two words at the top of the pink flyer out loud: “‘Talent show.’”
    A happy tingle made its way up her spine as she eagerly read on: “‘Auditions today from five to nine p.m. in Hawthorne Auditorium.’”
    Of course!
she thought.
That’s got to be where I’ll find my Wisher!
She glanced up at the clock above the bulletin board. The time was four forty-five.
Here I come, whoever you are!
she thought as she turned and ran, loafers clippety-clapping, to find the auditorium.

Hawthorne Auditorium turned out to be easy to find. The building took up most of the north end of the quad.
    Leona was less sure, though, once she skipped up the steps and slipped through the front doors. There wasn’t much to see: just a narrow lobby with framed posters in rows along the walls, two pairs of doors, and one wide-eyed grown-up Wishling waving a clipboard.
    â€œWho are you? And how did you do that?”
    â€œExcuse me?” Leona said. She covered her Wish Pendant with her