“You’re forever at choir practice…” sighed Leah theatrically. “Is it really such a major deal?”

“And now let’s do it one more time from the beginning — listen out for that beat!”

The small room pulsated with the upbeat melody as the girls standing around prepared to sing. At the right beat, they all burst out together, “Chaveirim kol yisroel……”

As the last notes died down, the silence was broken by the spontaneous applause that broke out.

Adina was the first to take a dramatic bow toward the nonexistent audience and the others quickly followed suit. Debby was last.

“That was fantastic!” exulted their exuberant leader, grinning widely.

“All of you,” she spread out her arms as though to encompass them all, “keep that up and we will blow them off their feet! See you all on… Wednesday. Does that day work for you? No tests? No play? Good. How about you, Debby? Great. Well, then Wednesday it will be! 8 o’clock — SHARP!”

The girls continued giggling as they walked out of the building into the frigid darkness and broke up into chattering groups. Well, mostly.

Debby waited outside the building, shivering slightly as she watched expectantly for the tell-tale headlights to appear in the distance.

The other girls drifted off to walk home in groups of two or three. Cheery “See ya's!” bounced around and their voices were soon lost in the wind.

Debby exhaled sharply when she saw the family car finally making its appearance.

And it wasn’t only because she was cold.