Sam in the Spotlight

by Anne-Marie Conway

  “Stop it! I am!”

  The crazy thing was I quite liked it when Aunty Mags gave me advice. I don’t know why, but it made me feel special. It was the way she listened to everything I said; I mean really listened. I don’t remember anyone ever listening to me like that before. Certainly not Mum, Dad was always working, and Crystal was so full of her own news she didn’t always have the patience to listen to mine.

  “Look, let’s sit down for a bit,” said Aunty Mags, pulling me towards a bench. “Riley looks as if he needs a rest.” She picked up Riley and plonked him on her lap. “Seriously, Sam, if you think your mum doesn’t understand how strongly you feel about Star Makers, why don’t you try talking to your dad about it?”

  “He doesn’t understand either,” I said. “He hardly ever sticks up for me when Mum’s having a go. It’s like he’s scared of her or something.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he understands much more than you realize. You’d be surprised. He had dreams too, you know.”

  “What do you mean? Dad never talks about the past. He always says there’s no point dwelling on what might have been.”

  Aunty Mags stared off into the distance as if she was remembering something. “Let’s just say that when Crystal came along your mum and dad had to grow up pretty quickly. Your mum was all set to go off to university, but she had to turn down her place. She was brilliant you know – top of her class in everything. I guess that’s why she’s always been so keen for you and Crystal to concentrate on your education. She doesn’t want you to miss out – or to ever feel that way yourselves.”

  “Yes, but what about Dad?” I said.

  “Well, your dad’s always felt terrible about your mum giving up her place at uni – for some reason he blamed himself – but he had to give up some pretty important plans of his own.”

  I took Riley from Aunty Mags and cuddled him close. “What sort of plans? What do you mean?”

  “You ask him one day,” she said, tapping her nose. “You ask him about Stevie and the Stingrays.”

  I snorted into Riley. “Stevie and the what?”

  “Just ask him, okay?”

  I wanted to tell Aunty Mags about the wedding, ask her what she thought I should do, but I knew Crystal would kill me. Somehow, over the next few weeks, I had to get Mum to say sorry to Crystal – but I didn’t even know what she was supposed to be saying sorry for.

  “I’d better be getting back,” I said after a bit. “Can we walk Riley again tomorrow?”

  “Definitely,” said Aunty Mags. “I’m going to hang around here for a bit longer but I’ll call for you in the morning. And try not to get too down about Ellie. I’m sure you’ll be friends again in no time.”

  I ran across the grass feeling so much better. I was going to talk to Dad first chance I got and I was determined to sort things out with Ellie, no matter how hard she tried to push me away. I was almost at the park exit when I noticed someone sitting on the swings. Someone with a blue baseball cap pulled right down over his eyes. It was Eddie, and he had a girl perched on his lap.

  I walked a bit closer, slipping behind a tree so he wouldn’t see me. He said something and the girl looked up at him laughing.

  She had dark hair like Ellie.

  And she was pretty like Ellie.

  She even laughed a bit like Ellie.

  But she wasn’t Ellie.

  I stumbled home in shock. My head felt as if it was about to explode with secrets, but at least everything was going to come out into the open at last. Well, everything about Eddie anyway. He was a nasty two-timing cheat and the sooner Ellie found out the better. I forgot all about Stevie and the Stingrays and asking Dad about his past. All I could think about was proving to Ellie that I’d been right about Eddie all along.

  When Aunty Mags called for me in the morning I said I had too much homework to walk Riley with her. I spent most of the day rehearsing what I was going to say to Ellie. I went over it so many times it was like learning my lines for a play. Mum thought I was busy doing my homework but I was actually pacing around my room having one imaginary conversation with Ellie after another.

  I couldn’t wait to get to school on Monday. I knew it would be awful telling her, but I just wanted to get it over with. I hung about outside the gates for ages scanning the crowds, ready to say my piece, but there was no sign of her. When the bell rang I traipsed inside, just in time to hear the secretary give our form teacher, Mr. Bayliss, a message that Ellie had flu and was going to be off all week. I couldn’t believe it. How was I supposed to keep a secret as big as this for a whole week? It was bad enough keeping quiet about Crystal’s wedding, but this was even worse.

  I was so tempted to tell Phoebe and Polly just to see what they thought – but I knew I should speak to Ellie first. I did my best to stay out of their way as much as I could just in case I blurted it out by mistake, but it was practically impossible.

  I spent the entire week ducking behind doors and disappearing into classrooms whenever I saw one of them coming. I felt like I was in the middle of some awful spy movie. On Thursday I was in the canteen getting my lunch when Polly called me over to sit with them.

  “What’s going on, Sam? You haven’t been avoiding us, have you?” she said, budging up to make room for me.

  “Of course not,” I fibbed. “I’m just trying to learn my lines before Saturday. I’ve got loads you know.”

  “We’ll test you if you want,” said Phoebe.

  I backed away, pulling my script out of my bag. “It’s okay, thanks. I’m way better at learning stuff by myself. I’ve always been like that.” I tried to say it lightly like it was no big deal but I could see they were hurt. “When’s Ellie coming back, by the way? Do you know?”

  Polly shook her head. “We’re not sure – she’s really ill, you know. Maybe you should call her? Sort things out before you push all your friends away.”

  I walked off with my head in my script so they couldn’t see how upset I was. I wasn’t trying to push anyone away, but I just didn’t see how I was supposed to sit there chatting away about other stuff when I had this big secret to tell about Eddie. It was easier to just keep to myself until Ellie knew the terrible truth.

  I was half-hoping she wouldn’t be back at drama on Saturday but I spotted her the second I walked in. She was standing right in the middle of the hall with Phoebe, Monty B and Adam and they were all laughing about something. I cleared my throat in a really exaggerated way to get her attention but when she turned round and saw it was me she turned straight back to the others and laughed even louder.

  I went over to the stage to take off my jacket. The hall was boiling hot for some reason, as if someone had turned up the heating to its highest setting.

  “Hi, Sam. How are you getting on with your lines?” said Mandy, coming over.

  I dragged my eyes away from Ellie. “Pretty good, thanks. I know all of Act One already.”

  Mandy grinned. “That’s brilliant, I knew I could rely on you. Listen, you couldn’t do me a quick favour could you? The heating seems to be on very high and it’s far too warm in here. Could you just pop along to Arthur’s office and ask him to turn it down.”

  It was obvious she was trying to avoid Arthur, but I didn’t mind – I was pleased for an excuse to get out. I wandered down the corridor, thinking about Ellie and how I was going to break the news. I kept telling myself she’d thank me in the end, but now that I’d actually seen her I wasn’t so sure. Arthur’s office is tucked around the corner by the toilets. I was just about to knock and go in when I heard him talking to Mrs. Beagle from the church fund-raising committee – or at least that’s what I thought at first.

  “Mrs. Beagle,” he was saying, “we’ve worked together for all these years but recently… No, no, that’s no good… Let me see… Mrs. Beagle, ever since your poor husband passed away… Oh dear, that’s not right either… My dear Mrs. Beagle, or may I call you June? Ever since you came here to help raise money for the church, my feelings for
you have deepened…”

  I put my hand up to my mouth to stop myself laughing. Mrs. Beagle wasn’t in there at all. It was Arthur talking to himself and we’d obviously made a massive mistake. The love letter we found must have been for Mrs. Beagle, not Mandy, and it sounded as if he was planning to propose to her at any second. The hilarious thing was Mandy thought Arthur was in love with her, when he was actually madly in love with Mrs. Beagle!

  I waited until I was sure I wasn’t going to laugh and then I knocked on the door.

  “Yes?” said Arthur, peering out.

  I explained about the heating and he promised to turn it down.

  “I don’t know where my head is at the moment,” he sighed. “I actually put the kettle in the fridge and tried to boil the milk this morning. I suppose it must be my age.”

  But it wasn’t his age of course. It was hormones! And I knew all about that!

  Back in the hall, Mandy had everyone round the piano.

  “I’m so excited,” she was saying, “because my boyfriend Julian has agreed to compose some spooky music for the show. It’s going to play out all through the opening number and then whenever the phantom face appears at the window.”

  “Can’t he compose some special music for me?” said Monty B. “Like some really cool detective music or something?”

  “Sorry for being thick, yeah,” said Neesha, “but what exactly is detective music?”

  “What I’d like you to do,” said Mandy, ignoring them, “is to sing the opening number in a really creepy way. Try to put across to the audience that you can’t trust anyone, not even the people you think you know really well.”

  I looked over at Ellie. She trusted Eddie but he was a liar and a cheat and it was up to me to save her. I didn’t take my eyes off her all the way through the song and whenever we sang the line “The question of trust is one that you must be sure of – or you’ll be in trouble!” I practically yelled the words right in her face, drowning out the rest of the group.

  “Calm down a bit, Sam,” said Mandy. “You should be half-whispering, remember, not shouting at the top of your voice. It’s great that you’re so enthusiastic, but you need to listen to the others – not sing over them.”

  “I was just trying to get across how easy it is to trust someone when you don’t really know anything about them,” I said, still staring straight at Ellie.

  “I swear my mum doesn’t trust anyone,” said Neesha. “She’s totally paranoid about me speaking to strangers or answering the door or even stepping foot outside the house without her watching my every move.”

  “My mum’s the total opposite,” said Monty B. “She says a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet.”

  Neesha rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well no one’s as strange as you, so that probably makes her feel quite safe.”

  “That’s actually a really famous saying,” said Tara, joining in, “about a stranger being a friend you haven’t met. It was written by someone called Will Rodgers.”

  “I know another famous saying about friends,” said Adam, winking at Tara. “True friends are like bras…close to your heart and always there for support.” He looked over at Sandeep and they both collapsed laughing.

  I stared down at the floor so no one would see my face burn up. I was actually wearing a new bra today – the most grown-up one I’d ever bought. I could just about cope with standing in the same room as Adam, but not if he was going to talk about bras!

  “How on earth did we get on to this nonsense in the first place?” said Mandy. Sara shot her hand in the air as if Mandy was asking a real question.

  “Well, Sam was singing really loud and then she said something about trusting people and Neesha said something about her mum and Monty B said something about his mum and then Neesha said something about Monty B being strange. And then Adam said something about bras.”

  “Thank you, Sara,” said Mandy, sighing. “Can we just get back to the song now, please.”

  “What’s going on?” whispered Phoebe. “Why were you singing like that?”

  “Can’t say,” I said. “I’ve got to speak to Ellie first.”

  Just then the door swung open and Arthur came in to check the heating was okay.

  “So sorry about this morning,” he said. “Silly mistake. Turned the dial up far too high.”

  “Not to worry,” said Mandy, getting flustered. She picked up one of her music books and made out there was something terribly interesting that she just had to look at.

  “The problem is,” Arthur went on. “I’ve got something on my mind and I really would like to discuss it with you, Mandy my dear.”

  Mandy peeped over the top of the book. “We will discuss it, Arthur,” she squeaked. “Just not right now in front of the children. Okay?”

  “Splendid,” he said. “Catch up with you later then.” He gave her a silly little wave and practically skipped out of the hall.

  Another secret to keep, but this one was hilarious. I really had to tell the others but not until I’d sorted things out with Ellie. She did her level best to stay out of my way for the entire session but I finally managed to grab her just before she left to meet Eddie downstairs. I knew he was coming because she’d been harping on about it to the others all through break.

  “Erm, Ellie…there’s something I need to ask you,” I said, as she gathered up her stuff to go.

  She turned round, waiting. I was sweating like mad even though Arthur had turned the heating down.

  “I was just wondering…erm…where you went with Eddie last Saturday after drama?”

  Ellie looked at me suspiciously. “I didn’t see him last Saturday, not that it’s any of your business.”

  “Busy was he?” I said, fixing her with my Most Meaningful Stare.

  “What are you getting at, Sam? I didn’t see him because it was his nephew’s first birthday. Happy?”

  She pushed past me and ran downstairs.

  I ran down after her but she was through the doors before I could catch up. “He wasn’t with his nephew,” I shouted. “He’s a liar!” But I have no idea if she heard. I trailed back up to get my things and by the time I got back down and out of the building they were already halfway up the High Road, a whole crowd of them with Eddie and Ellie right in the middle.

  I set off after them, determined to catch up. I was still going to tell her about what he was up to, whether she wanted to hear it or not. That’s what friends are supposed to do, isn’t it?

  I was charging up the High Road ready to confront Eddie when Crystal rang.

  “Hey, Sam, what are you up to?”

  “Oh you know, just stalking my ex-best friend to save her from her evil two-timing boyfriend,” I said. It sounded so stupid I started to giggle.

  “Look, don’t go after them now, come and meet me instead. I’ve just found the most amazing dress for you to wear at the wedding. It’s got this sort of dusty-pink tutu style skirt with layers and layers of lace, and I really want you to try it on.”

  I glanced up as Ellie and Eddie disappeared round the corner. I really wanted to sort things out, but it would have to wait until Monday. Crystal gave me directions to the shop, a little retro-boutique not that far from where I was.

  The dress was much more Crystal’s style than mine but there was no telling her and in the end I agreed to try it on just to shut her up.

  “Oh, look at you,” she cried, pulling me out of the changing room and twirling me round in front of the mirror. “My little sister, all grown up!”

  The dress was stiff and uncomfortable. I wriggled about while Crystal went on and on about the colour and length and how she was going to go straight back to her flat and make me a matching crystal necklace. “I’ll just get changed,” I said in the end. The lace was itching my legs and I couldn’t wait to get it off.

  Walking back from the shop with the new dress in a bag, I told Crystal about Eddie and seeing him in the park with another girl. “I wanted to warn Ellie after drama, I d
id try, but she ran off before I could explain properly.”

  Crystal shook her head. “Listen, Sam, I know it sounds harsh but if I was you I’d let Ellie find out for herself. She probably won’t even believe you anyway – she’ll think you’re just saying it to be spiteful. I know you’re just trying to be a good friend, but she won’t thank you for it.”

  “Yeah, but how am I supposed to not tell her? It’s like your wedding.”

  Crystal looked at me sharply. “What do you mean? What has Ellie’s low-life boyfriend got to do with my wedding?”

  “Just that I really want to tell Mum and Dad. I’m serious, Crystal, I can’t carry on pretending that everything’s normal when you’re about to get married and they don’t have the first clue.”

  I still hadn’t told Crystal about Sophia Malone’s wedding and Mum doing the flowers. I knew I should, but I was scared it might make everything worse.

  “I am going to tell them,” Crystal said quietly.

  “But Crystal, there’s not that much time left and what if they find out before you tell them? They’ll be so hurt.”

  Crystal rounded on me. “But what about me being hurt? I don’t want Mum spoiling the most important day of my life! She can’t even bring herself to say Tyler’s name, so she’s not exactly going to welcome him into the family.”

  “But what about Dad?” I could feel myself getting really angry. It was crazy. Crystal and Dad had always been so close. She couldn’t get married without telling him! It would break his heart.

  She scuffed her boots along the ground. “I don’t want to talk about it any more. You don’t understand. Anyway I’ve got to get back now. I’ve got work to do.” She sloped off in a mood. I felt like running after her to say sorry but I didn’t really know what I’d be saying sorry for.