Bright Lights

by Linda Chapman

  Ally grinned. ‘Just imagine how jealous Justine will be when she finds out your brother's in the band!’

  Thinking about Justine, I remembered about the play and sighed heavily.

  ‘Come on, Soph! Cheer up,’ Ally said happily. ‘You might not have got the part of Lucy, but Tom's playing at the school fair.’

  Yeah, like that made me feel loads better – not!

  We reached my house. It's an old cottage that's tucked away behind the church. There's a smart blue front door that leads on to the street, but no one ever uses that because it goes straight into the lounge. Instead we go through the gate at the side of house, up a paved area we call the yard and in through the back door.

  As I opened the gate, Wilson and Baxter, our two black Labradors, came hurtling round from the back garden into the yard.

  ‘Hi, boys,’ I said, patting them as they bounced around us, whining in delight.

  With their thick tails thwacking against our legs, we fought our way to the kitchen. Jessica was getting herself a drink from the fridge. Even wearing her boring school uniform – navy trousers and jumper – she managed to look like a model. Her long wavy hair was tied into a loose ponytail, with just a few strands escaping around her face. She turned as we came in. ‘Hi there,’ she said. ‘Do you three want a drink?’

  We all nodded. Jessica tossed us a can of Coke each. ‘Did you get the part, then, Soph?’

  ‘No,’ I muttered, sitting down at the big pine table.

  ‘Justine Wilcox got it,’ Ally explained.

  ‘Bummer,’ Jess said, looking at me sympathetically.

  I was about to nod when suddenly through the window I caught sight of Mum by the gate. She had several bags of groceries and was wearing a smart black trouser suit.

  ‘Mum's home!’ I said.

  Leaping up, I grabbed Wilson while Jessica caught Baxter. Every evening we have the same routine. Baxter and Wilson seem to believe it's their doggy duty to cover smart clothes of any description in slobber and black hair – particularly Mum's work clothes.

  ‘Thanks, you two!’ Mum said gratefully as we held the dogs back while she came in. ‘I'll pat you in a minute,’ she promised the dogs. ‘Just as soon as I've got changed.’ She smiled at Ally and Harriet as she dumped the shopping bags on the floor. ‘Hi, girls.’

  Baxter and Wilson whined and desperately tried get to Mum. Jessica and I quickly dragged them outside, their paws scrabbling on the old terracotta-tiled floor.

  Mum sighed and sat down. ‘What a day!’ she said, as Jess patted the dogs and shut the door. ‘Boring paperwork, taking obnoxious phone calls, being nice to rude people. Sometimes I really do wonder why I work in an office.’

  ‘You do it for the money,’ Jess said, putting her arms round Mum's neck. ‘So you can buy us things – like those embroidered jeans I saw at Top Shop at the weekend.’ She kissed Mum on the cheek. ‘Only kidding. Cup of tea?’ she asked, heading for the kettle.

  Mum smiled gratefully and Jessica switched the kettle on. ‘You should change your job if you really don't like it, Mum,’ she said.

  I nodded. ‘Do something else.’

  ‘It's a nice idea,’ Mum said. ‘But I'm not exactly qualified to do anything else. Though it would be lovely to be in a job where I didn't have to look smart all the time.’ She ruefully brushed the hairs off her trousers. ‘Anyway, come on, Sophie. Tell me all. Did you get the part you wanted?’

  I so wanted to be able to say yes. I swallowed and shook my head.

  ‘Oh, well, never mind,’ Mum said, shrugging as if it didn't matter.

  I stared at her. ‘Never mind!’ I exclaimed.

  ‘I mean, it's not like it's the end of the world, is it?’ Mum continued lightly. ‘Something else will come along.’

  ‘No, it won't!’ I cried, feeling totally betrayed by her lack of sympathy. ‘Mum! I can't believe you think it doesn't matter. I've got nothing to look forward to now – not for ages. I… I…’ I struggled to find words to tell her how awful I felt. ‘I might just as well die!’

  OK, so maybe that was a tiny bit extreme, but what did she expect? Telling me not to mind, as if all that had happened was that I'd had some tiny disappointment.

  ‘Oh, well, if you want to die, you won't be interested in seeing this,’ Mum said, pulling a newspaper cutting from her bag and holding it up casually.

  ‘What is it?’ I demanded.

  ‘Just an article from the local paper saying that a film company is going to be filming near here in the summer and is looking for local children between eight and thirteen to be extras,’ Mum said, her eyes twinkling. ‘But of course, you're not interested – you want to die.’ She started to fold up the cutting. ‘So I suppose I might as well throw this away.’

  ‘No! Don't!’ I flew to her side. ‘Let me see.’

  Mum handed me the article with a smile.

  I read:

  STAR STRUCK!

  Have you got a daughter between eight and thirteen years old who wants to be a film star? Well, read on! Griffin Film Production is going to be filming A Little Princess (based on the classic children's book of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett) in the East Midlands over the summer holidays and is looking for twenty lucky local girls to take on non-speaking roles in the film. Auditions are to be held on Saturday I May and Sunday 2 May in Nottingham. Anyone interested should phone Griffin Film Production on the number below.

  ‘Can I audition?’ I gasped.

  Mum nodded.

  I shoved the cutting into Ally's hand. ‘Look, it's a film. We can all audition.’

  Ally and Harriet glanced over the article together.

  Harriet quickly shook her head. ‘I don't think I will. There's going to be lots of pony days at the riding school in July and August. We get to look after a pony for the whole day. You groom it and muck it out and clean its tack. I don't want to miss that.’

  Ally nodded. ‘There's going to be a gymkhana and jumping competitions with rosettes. I really want to win a rosette.’

  I stared at them. Were they on a different planet? How could they turn down the chance to be in a film just because of a few pony days at their riding school?

  ‘But this is a film!’ I told them in disbelief. ‘A proper film.’

  Ally and Harriet just shrugged.

  ‘I wish I was young enough to audition,’ Jessica said, reading the cutting over Ally's shoulder. ‘It sounds cool.’

  It sounded more than just cool to me! Inside I was almost fainting with excitement.

  I swung round to Mum. ‘Will you ring?’ I begged ‘Will you ring now?’

  Mum nodded and stood up. ‘All right. Pass me the number.’

  I paced impatiently around the kitchen while Mum rang up and spoke to someone at the film company.

  ‘I see… That sounds fine… Yes, she's eleven years old… Yes, we can make that time… OK… I see…’

  ‘Well?’ I demanded the second Mum put the phone down. ‘What did they say?’

  ‘You've got an audition booked for two thirty on Saturday afternoon.’

  ‘Yes!’ I cried, my tummy doing a triple somersault in delight.

  ‘They're going to send us a form to fill in with all your details,’ Mum said, ‘and we need to take in a photo of you. Don't go getting too excited though,’ she warned me. ‘The girl I spoke to said there are lots of people ringing up for auditions.’ She took the cup of tea that Jessica had made her. ‘Now, I'm going to get changed. Remember, it's your turn to feed the animals tonight, Sophie.’

  I nodded distractedly as she and Jessica left the room. I could be in a film!

  ‘Hello – is there anyone there?’ Ally teased, waving a hand in front of my face.

  ‘Uh… what?’ I said, blinking.

  Harriet plonked the dog bowls in front of me. ‘Dogs. Feed,’ she said.

  I came down to earth with a bump. ‘I wonder what I'll have to do at the audition?’ I said as I fetched a tin-opener to open the can of dog food
Ally was taking out from the cupboard under the sink.

  ‘Maybe the form they're sending will say,’ Harriet suggested, getting out the rabbit food. She and Ally knew the pet-feeding routine at my house very well.

  ‘I'll have to read the book again,’ I said, trying to remember the story of A Little Princess. I opened the tin and started forking meat into the bowls. ‘I read it ages ago. I can't remember what happens.’

  ‘It's about a girl called Sara who gets sent to a boarding school,’ Harriet said. She loves books and has hundreds at her house. ‘She starts off really rich and everyone likes her and treats her like a princess, but then her father dies and she's really poor. She becomes a maid at the school and has to live in the attic. Most of her old friends won't speak to her and the headmistress is really horrid to her. She's best friends with the other maid, Becky, and they make up all these stories and then she gets rescued and it all ends OK.’

  ‘Yeah, that's it,’ I said, remembering. ‘The man who moves in next door was her father's business partner. He's in England looking for her because it turns out that her father did leave her lots of money after all.’

  ‘So she ends up rich again,’ Harriet said. ‘And she lives with the man next door and never has to go to the horrid boarding school again. And Becky the maid goes to live with them too.’

  ‘It sounds a bit old-fashioned,’ Ally said, frowning as she refilled the dogs' water bowl.

  ‘Well, it is set in the old days,’ Harriet explained. ‘Before cars and things.’

  The second I opened the door, Baxter and Wilson charged at me like two Labrador-shaped torpedoes. As soon as I put the bowls down, they started gobbling the food as if they hadn't eaten for weeks. Labradors have to be the greediest dogs in the world!

  ‘Rabbits and guinea pigs now?’ Ally said.

  I nodded. We have three rabbits and two guinea pigs, all of whom we'd rescued. Mum can never say no when an animal needs a home.

  We'd just finished feeding them and started putting some fresh hay in their hutches when Tom appeared.

  ‘Guess what?’ I said, hurrying down the yard to meet him. ‘I'm auditioning to be in a film!’

  Tom stopped. ‘A film?’ he said in surprise. ‘What film?’

  ‘It's called A Little Princess.’

  ‘Oh, right,’ Tom said. He paused for a moment and then shrugged. ‘Cool.’ He headed for the house.

  I followed him. ‘I'd be filming in the summer holidays. Wouldn't it be brilliant if I got in? Just imagine, I'd be in a film – a real film!’

  ‘Sounds great, Soph.’ Tom took two packets of crisps from the cupboard. ‘Anyway, I'm going on the computer. See ya.’ He headed into the lounge without a backward glance.

  I stared after him. Could he be any more unexcited? Brothers! Shaking my head, I went out to join the others.

  Chapter Three

  ‘It is so not fair,’ I said, sitting on Jessica's bed four days later as she got ready to go out with Dan. ‘I can't believe Mum won't let me have some photos done.’

  ‘Mmm?’ Jessica said absent-mindedly as she twisted her hair up with one hand and looked at herself in the mirror. She tilted her head to one side. ‘What do you think? Up or down?’

  ‘Jess!’ I exclaimed. ‘You're not listening.’

  She turned to look at me. ‘Yes, I am. You're moaning because Mum won't let you go and have a professional photo taken for this audition.’

  ‘I'm not moaning,’ I protested. ‘I'm just saying it's really unfair.’

  ‘I don't get why you're making such a big deal about it,’ Jess said, turning back to the mirror. ‘Mum said they just want a snapshot so they can remember what you look like after the audition. It doesn't matter if it's a brilliant picture or not.’

  I sighed. OK, she was right, but it just was a big deal. At least it had been ever since I'd heard at school that day that Justine Wilcox was going to be auditioning too and that her mum was taking her to a professional photographer in Nottingham to have a photo done.

  ‘Jessica!’ Dad called up the stairs. ‘Dan's here!’

  Jessica jumped up. ‘Help! I'm not ready!’

  Leaving her to finish getting all glammed up, I went downstairs.

  Dan was in the kitchen. ‘Hi, Soph.’ He smiled at me teasingly. ‘I hear you're going to be a film star, then?

  ‘Well, I'm going for an audition,’ I replied.

  ‘Tomorrow afternoon, isn't it?’ Dan said, nodding. ‘Jess told me. Good luck.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said, grinning at him. Dan's just so nice. Much nicer than most of the boys Jessica's been out with.

  Just then Jessica came into the kitchen. She had left her hair down and it fell over her shoulders in shining dark waves. She was wearing a sky-blue top that matched her eyes and a long cream skirt. ‘Hi there,’ she greeted him.

  He smiled and walked towards her. I could tell they were going to kiss.

  ‘Er… see you later,’ I said hastily.

  I hurried out of the room. Yuck! Watching my sister snogging is not my idea of fun!

  ‘Next group please,’ the woman at the auditions said. She looked about twenty-five and was holding a clipboard. Her blonde hair was tied in two plaits.

  I shifted on my hard plastic chair as five girls stood up and left the bare room. It was my turn next and my stomach suddenly seemed full of fluttering butterflies – not the small white ones we get in our garden in the summer but gigantic Amazonian butterflies like the ones Miss Carter showed us last term in a video about rainforests.

  Across the room, I could hear the drone of Justine Wilcox's voice as she talked loudly to the girl next to her about how she'd got the lead part in her school play. ‘Yeah, I'm Lucy,’ she was saying. ‘Our teacher said she thought I'd be just perfect for the part…’

  I tried not to listen. I felt sick. I wanted to go to the toilet.

  Mum squeezed my hand. ‘It'll be OK.’

  I gulped. I wished I could believe her.

  Five minutes later, the door opened again and ponytail girl came in. ‘Next group please.’

  I stood up, my knees wobbling as if they had turned to rubber.

  ‘Good luck,’ Mum said.

  I swallowed. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘This way,’ the girl said, holding the door open. ‘If you come with me I'll tell you what you've got to do.’

  She led us into another room a little further down the corridor. There were chairs around the outside and a clear space in the middle. ‘I'm Cathy,’ she said, shutting the door. ‘I'm the third assistant director on the film. Steve Hanson will be auditioning you. He's the first assistant director. ‘What he wants you to do is to prepare a short play showing someone's first day at a new school. You've got ten minutes to prepare something and then I'll come and fetch you.’

  She left the room. We all stared at each other.

  ‘We've got to do what?’ one of the other girls said.

  ‘A play,’ I said.

  My mind was already starting to work. A play. That was OK. I could do plays.

  ‘We've just got to make it up!’ Justine said. ‘I thought we'd be reading some lines or something.’

  ‘Me too,’ one of the other girls said, looking panicked. ‘I can't make up a play.’

  ‘It's all right,’ I said quickly, feeling my nerves start to subside. ‘I think I've got an idea.’

  OK, so maybe it wasn't brilliant, but my play was definitely all right. It was about a girl who was going to a new school and was really worried about what it would be like. In scene one she was talking to her mum about how worried she was, then in scene two she went to school and was very nervous, but in scene three she made friends. I made sure that everyone had lines to say and luckily, because no one else had any ideas, they didn't argue about what we did but just got on and practised, so by the time it was our turn to go in we had run through it three times and all knew what we were doing.

  I was playing the girl who was new at school and I made sure that I
spoke loudly, so that Steve could hear, and whenever anyone looked like they had forgotten what happened next I quickly said something to cover up. Justine was my mum and one of the people who became my friends. She was actually really good. She didn't forget anything and she didn't giggle or look embarrassed.

  ‘Excellent!’ Steve said, clapping at the end.

  He was about thirty, with spiky blond hair. He was wearing combat trousers and a white T-shirt and didn't look nearly as scary as I'd been imagining a film director would look.

  ‘That was great, girls. Now, come over here and tell me a little about yourselves.’

  We went to the table he was sitting behind.

  ‘We'll start with you,’ he said, pointing to a girl called Beth who had spoken really quietly when we did the play.

  ‘Er… um,’ she stammered, looking like a startled rabbit caught in a car's headlamps.

  ‘You're Beth, aren't you?’ Steve said, looking down at our application forms and photos on his desk. ‘Tell me what you like doing, Beth?’

  ‘Er…’ Beth looked like her mind had gone totally blank. ‘I like… I like… playing tennis,’ she gulped.

  Steve smiled at her. ‘Great,’ he said kindly, then he moved on. ‘And you?’ he said, looking at me. ‘Sophie, isn't it?’

  I smiled and nodded. Now I had done the play, my nerves had gone completely.

  ‘So, what do you like doing, Sophie?’ Steve asked.

  ‘Acting,’ I answered, trying to sound bright and confident. There was no way I wanted to come across all shy like Beth. ‘I mean, I like other things as well,’ I told him. ‘I love animals – we've got two dogs, three rabbits and two guinea pigs at home, and I like looking after them – but I like acting best.’

  Steve nodded encouragingly. ‘Have you done much acting?’

  ‘Just school stuff. I was Dorothy when we did The Wizard of Oz last year.’ Something told me I should keep talking for as long as I could and so I plunged on. ‘This year I really wanted to be Lucy – we're doing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,’ I explained. ‘But I didn't get the part because my teacher said she wanted to let someone else have a go at having the main part. I was really upset, particularly when I heard what part I had got.’