His dad laughed again Probably because we weren’t They go by kilometers here Oh Holden said disappointed It’s still pretty fast his dad assured him Holden gazed around him Strings of lights dangled from trees twinkling like fairies Just up the hill from where they were was a beautiful castle It almost felt like yuck it almost felt like a fairy tale What’s wrong his dad asked him You’re rolling your eyes Just when I start to like this place it reminds me of Maddie Oh right She loves fairy tales doesn’t she Holden nodded Her whole life is fairy tales If only his dad knew just how true that was He felt like he could tell his dad almost anything but the one thing he couldn’t share was how he and Maddie had been getting sucked into fairy tales lately All Holden had to do was point out the plot holes in one of Maddie’s annoying stories and then the two of them would get pulled into his tablet Then they’d become characters in the story and have to fix it so it still had a happily ever after That was the only way they could get back home Well you know his dad said this is the village where the Brothers Grimm grew up Holden groaned Of course it is I can’t escape fairy tales Definitely not here you can’t There’s fairy tale junk all over this town He pointed to the castle on the hill They say that castle is what inspired the Grimms to write Snow White There’s even a magic mirror inside You can tour it if you want Me Holden said No way I hate fairy tales They don’t make any sense Holden’s dad snickered Tell me about it I mean why did Snow White just wait around the dwarfs cottage for the Queen to come kill her Why didn’t she train the dwarfs in karate or something Seven dwarfs against one stuffy old Queen They could’ve kicked her butt Holden smiled He had so much in common with his dad They always had so much fun when they hung out He wanted to tell him how he felt but he didn’t want to sound
sappy So what he said was Dad I love Germany Well his dad said then you should move here Holden was so shocked he nearly spat out his sausage What Yeah my company’s transferring me here permanently Maybe you can come live with me Holden checked his dad’s face to make sure he was serious This was huge He never thought his trip to Germany might last forever That would be Holden wasn’t sure what to say It’d be an adventure Dude we’d have so much fun I’d enroll you in an American school buy you some lederhosen What’s lederhosen Holden’s dad laughed They’re these goofy German overalls You’d look hilarious in them Maybe I’ll skip the lederhosen Other than that though I could get used to this place Well we’d have to talk your mom into it Wow Holden said overwhelmed by the thought Could he really see himself living in Germany Could he really move away from his mom his stepdad and Maddie His dad walked to the cashier to order dessert and Holden looked around him again Germany was so cool yet so different from Middle Grove New Jersey Would he actually want to live here
Chapter 2 Maddie was surprisingly calm on opening night She had rehearsed so many times she felt like nothing could go wrong As the school auditorium filled up she couldn’t help peeking out at the crowd There was her dad sitting in the front row with two bouquets of flowers one for her and one for Carol who was busy putting the finishing touches on the cast’s makeup Maddie felt bad for her dad having to sit all by himself It would’ve been so satisfying to see Holden beside him forced to watch a fairy tale without interrupting and pointing out the flaws Tasha was freaking out OMG I can’t remember my lines Maddie what am I going to do Just relax Maddie told her We’ve rehearsed a million times When you show up at my door you say you’re an old peddler woman selling apples What Tasha said I don’t remember that scene at all How can you not remember that Maddie laughed It’s the most famous scene in the story Oh no Tasha whimpered I’m totally blanking Before Maddie could calm Tasha down Carol came jogging up to her There you are Maddie she said I wanted to check this color for your acne in act two She held a makeup tray up to Maddie’s face My what Maddie said Snow White doesn’t have acne Tasha gasped Now you’re forgetting the play This is a disaster Tasha ran back to the dressing room in a panic Carol shook her head I’m sure it’ll all come back to you when the curtain rises she said Everyone knows Snow White makes herself ugly to get the Wicked Queen off
her back Carol stuck a few fake zits on Maddie’s face What Maddie wondered Did she hear that right Not bad if I say so myself Carol said admiring her work You’re ready to go She picked off the zits and hurried on to the next cast member She didn’t realize but she left one pimple on Maddie’s nose Maddie was in a daze She had mentioned during rehearsals that Snow White should’ve made her skin break out Was it possible that No only Holden could break the stories Right Or could it be that she’d done it herself this time Hi-ya shouted Joey Katarka who was playing one of the seven dwarfs Maddie wheeled around and saw the dwarfs attacking each other with kicks punches and yelps What are you doing she asked We’re preparing for the karate fights Joey replied In Snow White Maddie said She may have mentioned acne but she never said anything about the dwarfs doing martial arts That sounded like something Holden would come up with She wondered if he knew something about this Five minutes to curtain everyone Mrs Greenberg shouted Maddie ran to check her copy of the script nearly getting karate chopped by Ashley Lizander on the way When she picked it up she could see from the title alone that the story had gone through some pretty major changes Snow White and the Seven Butt Kicking Dwarfs Ugh Holden This had to be his doing and well maybe a little bit hers too As she flipped through the script she saw page after page of dialogue she didn’t recognize scenes that had never been part of the play before Snow White getting acne the huntsman confessing to the King It was a totally different story It was just like what happened with Cinderella Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin All of a sudden the fairy tale was broken There was no more happily ever after Worst of all Maddie didn’t know any of the lines anymore and the curtain was about to go up How long has the script been like this she asked around her
