The New Olivia

Olivia Parker's storytelling debut at Odyssey Middle School ends in disaster. The audience laughs all the way through her funny story, but afterward Vice Principal Morris points out why: a long strip of toilet paper has been stuck to her sleeve, flapping around the stage with every gesture. Convinced she is the laughingstock of the school, Olivia is stunned when Mr. Morris asks her to represent the school at the week-long Junior High State Leadership Conference at Campbell College. She knows she is only the backup to the backup - the better candidates have moved away or gone on vacation - but she agrees to go. Her mother, Eva, encourages her to put the embarrassment behind her, since the conference will be a clean slate with kids who know nothing about her.

Running an errand at Finnaman's Market, Olivia bumps into a friendly British woman admiring a sale on non-prescription glasses. The woman insists that glasses are simply a fashion accessory and that Olivia looks brilliant in a pair, and Olivia can't help noticing how smart and sophisticated the British accent sounds. An idea takes shape. Olivia buys the glasses and practices a British accent with an online tutorial, and she arrives at the conference as a whole new person.

The makeover works better than she dreamed. Her teammates on the orange team, Kaylee and Logan, love her ideas, and they're sure her accent makes everything she says sound extra smart. When they learn the winning team's presentation earns a trip to Washington, D.C., they insist that Olivia be the one to give their speech. Cornered about why a girl from Odyssey talks that way, she invents a father who traveled the world researching English food. She accepts the speaking role with a cheerful "Just call me a teacup and serve me to the queen."

That same afternoon, Olivia interviews for a babysitting job with Mrs. Carol Ann Burke, a warm Southern lady who has just moved in down the street. Without quite meaning to, Olivia starts drawling right back at her, declaring the sweet tea the finest she ever did have - and she gets the job. At home, her mother eyes the fake glasses and gently warns her that she doesn't need to be someone she's not. Olivia insists there is nothing to worry about.

On presentation day, everything collides. Olivia begs her mother not to stay and watch, afraid she can't keep up the act in front of her. Then she discovers that Mrs. Burke is filling in as a competition judge - and that the British woman from the market is Dr. Fenwick, another judge, who heard Olivia speaking in her normal voice at the store. Trapped between accents, Olivia bounces from British with her teammates to Southern with Mrs. Burke, sometimes within the same breath, until she wails to her mother, "I'm Southern British!" She begs for a way out, even offering to hide in the car, but her mother refuses to rescue her. Underneath the accessories and accents, she reminds Olivia, she is a follower of Christ, and she already knows what he wants her to do.

So Olivia gathers everyone together and tells the truth. To her surprise, the adults were never fooled. Mrs. Burke says kindly, "You have a horrible southern accent," and admits she only played along to be neighborly, while Dr. Fenwick assumed the wobbly British accent was part of the act. Her teammates, though, believed her completely, and they feel genuinely betrayed by a week of lies. Olivia apologizes, confessing that in trying to be who she thought they wanted, she forgot who she was - a Christian who hadn't been acting anything like Jesus. She comes clean about everything: the accent, the fake glasses, even the zits under her concealer. Kaylee and Logan forgive her on one condition: that she go out and give the best presentation she can, in her own plain American voice. Olivia decides to do even more - before the prepared speech, she will tell the audience what she just learned about the trouble that comes from pretending to be someone else. As she heads for the stage, her teammates stop her for one last thing: a piece of toilet paper is stuck to her shoe. Laughing with real friends this time, Olivia peels it off and walks out to speak as exactly who she is.