No More Dead Dogs

Over the weekend, Wallace fields questions from the cast about scenes in the play, and he’s amazed to realize how much he cares about Old Shep, My Pal. The following Monday at rehearsal, Mr. Fogelman announces that Wallace has fulfilled his class requirement and is released from detention. The drama club gives Wallace an enthusiastic and bittersweet goodbye, and he heads to the pep rally that’s going on in the cafeteria. Right as he’s leaving, someone rolls a bunch of marbles onto the stage where the cast has started the rollerblading scene. The kids go down, and Wallace charges into the hall to catch the culprit. He doesn’t find anyone and gets pulled into the rally.

The football coach asks Wallace to share his good news, so Wallace tells the room he’s done with detention but is “quitting the team to go back and work on Old Shep, My Pal” (107). The room goes silent, and Wallace leaves. Rick and Feather go after him and demand an explanation. Wallace has nothing against the team, but he feels like they haven’t been good friends since detention started while the drama kids have treated him well. Rick and Feather leave in a huff, swearing they’re done with Wallace.

As a result of Wallace quitting the football team to work on the play, Old Shep, My Pal gets so popular that Mr. Fogelman closes rehearsals to anyone not involved in the production. The cast agrees not to talk about the play outside of rehearsal, especially not to the kid who runs the newspaper. One afternoon, the kid asks Trudi if the play is a musical with Wallace as the star. She says no because “my sweetie couldn’t even carry a tune” (111). The next issue of the newspaper includes an article about how Wallace left the football team to be with his girlfriend in the play.

Rachel is spitting mad about the article in the school newspaper, and Dylan is so mad Wallace quit the team that he throws all his football memorabilia out his bedroom window. At school, someone wrote “femme fatale” on Trudi’s locker, and Wallace cleans it off, much to Rachel’s surprise. The whole day, kids point and stare at Trudi as if she’s someone special. To Rachel, it feels like “accompanying a movie star on a stroll through Beverly Hills” (116). She resents the attention until Trudi points out that people actually care about the drama club for once, which leaves Rachel feeling torn.

At rehearsal, Wallace changes the nurse’s dialogue so it’s all rap. Rachel runs to Mr. Fogelman’s office to console him about this latest change and finds him jamming with the Dead Mangoes. Despite herself, Rachel is amazed at the band and Mr. Fogelman’s keyboard playing. The band tries to convince Mr. Fogelman to play with them during Old Shep, My Pal. He’s hesitant until Rachel says he should, and he finally agrees.

That weekend is the fall festival in town. Rachel goes with Trudi every year, but this year, Trudi has plans to help Wallace rake leaves. Rachel asks around the rest of the cast, and they’re all going to help Wallace instead of going to the fair.