“But still, Joe. I bet you’ll beat her.” Susan stammered a bit and blushed furiously. “I . . . I . . . I mean, I saw you do that double axel when I was at the rink last week. You were great.”

“Thanks, Susan, but we both have to do a final audition for the lead.”

“But wouldn’t the lead have to be either a boy or a girl?” Rose asked.

“Gender neutral.”

“What do you mean?”

“The choreography is the same. If it’s a boy, he’s a prince. If it’s a girl, she’s a princess. It’s an adaptation of the story of Saint George and the Dragon. They’ll either call it Saint Georgia and the Dragon or Saint George. You know—why shouldn’t gender equality be part of fairy tales?”

“So you get to fight a dragon on ice?” Susan asked.

“Yeah, actually it’s pretty cool. I don’t mind the idea of a girl in the part. Just that girl.”

“I agree,” Rose said, and Susan nodded vigorously.

“Me too!” she whispered.

School was uneventful. The math test went exceedingly well. The Mean Girls kept their distance. She supposed the rock through the window—indeed, the whole Halloween attack—would qualify as a Trio of Doom special-ops effort. What would these evil girls dream up next? Rose was nervous about seeing Lisa at her riding lesson that afternoon.

Everything was great when she got to the stables. She looked around, confident that she would see Lisa getting her horse, Miss Dimples, ready. But no Lisa. At that moment Jamie came up instead.

“Hi, Rose. Have fun on Halloween?”

“Oh yeah. Hey, where’s Lisa?”

“Her mom called and said she wasn’t feeling well.”

“Hmm . . .” It’s her face that isn’t feeling well, Rose thought. September had done a number on her face.

“Okay, well, let’s get you up.” Jamie said, giving Ivy a pat.