Centre Stage: A Novel

by Linda Chapman

  ‘And five, six, seven, eight!’ Dizzy counted us in for our first dance.

  Forcing myself to concentrate, I pushed thoughts of Justine and the trick to the back of my mind. I’d deal with the sandwiches when I got a chance. Right now I needed to make a good impression.

  The scenes went by in a whirl. As the time came for Colette, Jack and Mark to go on stage and act without me, I felt myself growing nervous. Could I swap the sandwiches? I had to!

  But to my dismay, when the scene started Velda went over to the props table and started tidying things up on it. I couldn’t go there now. If she saw what I was doing the whole trick would come out and Colette and the others would get into real trouble.

  My skin prickled. What could I do?

  Suddenly I saw Justine leave her group and go over to the drinks’ table. Acting without thinking, I hurried over. OK, so maybe I couldn’t swap the sandwiches but I could stop her eating them.

  ‘Justine,’ I said urgently. ‘I need to talk to you.’

  She must have seen the worry on my face because she frowned. ‘What is it?’ she said, sounding alarmed.

  ‘You mustn’t eat the sandwiches on the tea table.’ I looked round. Colette and the others were busy in their scene and not watching me. ‘They’ve got mustard in. It’s a trick!’

  I explained all about it. Justine’s eyes widened. ‘I hate mustard,’ she whispered.

  ‘Me too,’ I said. ‘That’s why I wanted to tell you. I won’t have a chance to swap them back but you should be able to. Just wait till Velda leaves the table. The normal sandwiches are on a plate at the side. Put some of them on top of the mustard sandwiches and only eat the ones you know are OK.’

  She looked almost as if she couldn’t believe it. ‘Thanks.’ She hesitated. ‘But… but why have you told me, Sophie? I’d have thought you’d have wanted me to mess up the scene.’

  I bit my lip. Did I really mean what I was going to say? Yes, I decided, yes, I did. ‘I’m fed up with not being friends,’ I admitted. ‘I hate all the fighting between the two teams. And it’s a mean trick and I’d hate it if it was played on me.’

  Justine’s eyes met mine. ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘And I don’t want to fight any more either. I never really wanted to but it’s Samantha. She just doesn’t want any of us to have anything to do with your team. She really hates Colette and she’s desperate for our team to be chosen for the first night to prove she’s better than her.’

  I looked round. I was going to be needed on stage any minute. ‘Just because Colette and Samantha don’t get on doesn’t mean we have to hate each other too.’ I heard Jack saying a line that was just before my entrance. ‘I’d better go. Look, see you later.’

  ‘Yeah, later,’ Justine said. ‘And Sophie — thanks.’ She sounded like she meant it.

  I hurried to the stage and just made my entrance in time.

  When it came to the scene with Mr Tumnus I watched Justine with bated breath. I wasn’t the only one. Colette, Mark and Jack were leaning forwards on their chairs, watching in anticipation. Their faces were a picture when Justine took a bite of a sandwich, then chewed it and swallowed it as normal. They looked totally shocked.

  ‘She must like mustard!’ Mark said.

  ‘Her face didn’t even flicker,’ Jack exclaimed. ‘That’s some acting. I’d have been really thrown.’

  Colette looked really disappointed. I kept as quiet as a very quiet mouse. I didn’t think they’d be too pleased with me if they found out the truth.

  Justine did the scene very well; she was perfect on the dance and everyone clapped when she finished. As I made my way to the stage to do the scene after her, butterflies flapped in my stomach. There was no way I would be as good. But I tried to remember what Dizzy had said. A few mistakes weren’t important; all that mattered was that I looked like Lucy.

  As the scene was reset, I watched Colette quickly swap the mustard sandwiches back for the normal ones when Velda wasn’t looking. Luckily Colette didn’t seem to notice that a few of the sandwiches had gone missing.

  I think I did the scene OK. People clapped me, too, when I finished and I smiled all the way back to my seat. OK, I hadn’t been as perfect as Justine but I was just relieved it was over and I hadn’t made a total mess of it.

  The rest of the morning flew by. I wondered which team would be chosen. My team seemed better at remembering their lines. I had a feeling I was acting well, but I still made some mistakes with the dances.

  At last we were doing the final dance. We spun, held up our arms and it was over. We’d gone through the whole thing.

  Claire, Dizzy and Stefan clapped as Dizzy turned off the music and we lowered our arms. I was out of breath and I had a stitch. I put my hands on my knees and drew in deep gulps of air. I wasn’t the only one. Even the really good dancers looked slightly pink and sweaty.

  ‘I’m exhausted!’ Colette gasped beside me.

  ‘Me too,’ I agreed.

  ‘Good work everyone,’ Claire announced. ‘You really have done very well to learn and remember so much.’ She smiled. ‘Now go and have a lunchbreak. You deserve it.’

  ‘Back at one thirty!’ Velda called, jotting down the time on her clipboard.

  Colette’s shoulders sagged. ‘So we’ve got to wait until after lunch to hear which team’s been picked.’

  ‘I suppose they want to discuss it,’ Jack said.

  ‘We were better than the red team,’ Colette said. ‘They forgot more lines than we did.’

  ‘But their dancing was good,’ I put in.

  ‘Well, there’s no point worrying about it,’ Mark said practically. ‘We can’t change things now. Let’s go and have lunch.’

  As I followed him over to our bags I found myself wishing I had asked Dizzy for help earlier. Maybe if I had, I could have really improved my dancing and given our team a much better chance.

  Suddenly I didn’t feel hungry any more. What if my team didn’t get chosen because of me?

  As I picked up my bag, Justine came over. ‘Hi,’ she said shyly. ‘You were really good.’

  ‘You too,’ I replied. ‘Your dancing was brilliant. You did the solo perfectly.’

  ‘Thanks to you,’ she smiled. ‘If you hadn’t told me about that mustard…’ She broke off. Colette, who was standing nearby with Mark, was staring at me.

  ‘You told her!’ she exclaimed. ‘Sophie, how could you?’

  Oh no, Colette was really mad. ‘I-I…’ I broke off. Hang on, why was I trying to make excuses? I’d done the right thing. I frowned. ‘I thought it was a mean trick,’ I told her, putting my chin up. ‘It wasn’t fair.’

  Colette gaped.

  I glanced at Justine. She flashed me a quick smile and, emboldened, I went on. ‘I don’t want to fight with Justine any more,’ I told Colette. ‘It’s stupid. So what if their team gets chosen to perform first? I don’t care. I just want to be friends.’

  ‘Me too,’ Justine said, stepping forwards and standing beside me. ‘When we were doing the film everyone got on and it was really fun. I want it to be like that here.’

  Colette looked like she didn’t know what to say.

  ‘Sounds good to me,’ Mark put in. I looked at him in surprise. He shrugged. ‘I’m fed up with all this fighting too. OK, you and Samantha are never going to get on, Colette, but it doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be sworn enemies. I quite like David and Xav.’

  ‘Yeah, me too,’ Jack said. ‘And you’ve got nothing against Justine, have you, Colette? Apart from the fact she’s in Samantha’s team.’

  Colette hesitated. ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I guess not.’

  ‘So let’s all just get on,’ Jack said. He smiled at me. ‘You did the right thing to tell Justine about the sandwiches, Soph.’

  I smiled back at him.

  ‘Well?’ Mark said to Colette.

  ‘OK,’ she sighed. ‘We can call a truce.’ She frowned. ‘Though I’m not being friends with Samantha.’

  Mark grin
ned. ‘I’m not expecting miracles to happen.’

  I looked at Justine. ‘Do you want to eat your lunch with us?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, please.’

  ‘I’ll go and speak to David and Xav,’ Mark said. ‘You coming, Jack?’

  They set off and Justine and I sat down together. We’d just opened our sandwiches when Samantha came over.

  ‘What are you doing sitting with her?’ she said to Justine.

  I met her angry gaze. ‘We’re going to be friends,’ I said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Justine said. ‘We’re fed up with arguing. Everyone is. Look.’ She nodded to where Mark, Colette and Jack were laughing with David and Xav.

  Samantha stared. ‘But…’

  ‘You might as well just accept it,’ I told her. She might be fourteen but there was no way I was going to be intimidated by her any more. ‘We’re not changing our minds.’

  ‘Justine!’ Samantha appealed.

  Justine shrugged. ‘I’m with Sophie,’ she said coolly.

  Samantha glared at her and stalked off. For the rest of lunchtime she sat by herself.

  At one thirty, Velda called to us that lunchbreak was over. ‘Grab a chair and bring it into the middle,’ she instructed. ‘Claire, Dizzy and Stefan will be here in a moment.’

  Realizing I needed to go to the toilet, I hurried out. I knew Claire didn’t like people going out to the bathroom in between breaks. My heart pounding, I hurried into the cubicle. It was the big moment. We were finally about to find out which team had been chosen.

  I was just coming back out of the toilets when I heard Claire’s voice. She was walking down the stairs with Dizzy and Stefan. ‘It’s very difficult. Justine is clearly better at dancing than Sophie but in everything else…’ Her voice trailed off. ‘I hope we’ve made the right choice.’

  I froze with my hand on the door. They were talking about the teams!

  ‘I’m positive we have,’ I heard Dizzy say. ‘I know Sophie’s had a few problems with the dancing but, like I’ve been saying, I’m really certain we’ve sorted those problems out now. She’ll be ready by the time of the first performance. Trust me.’

  ‘Well, if you’re sure,’ Claire said, and then their voices faded as they went into the theatre.

  My head swirled. Had I heard right? It sounded like they had chosen my team. I wanted to race into the theatre straight away but I forced myself to wait a few moments in case they realized I’d been nearby and had overheard. By the time I slipped into the theatre, they were sitting down at three chairs Velda had put out for them.

  I quickly sat down beside Justine.

  ‘OK,’ Claire said, looking round at us. ‘In a moment I’ll give you your notes on the performance this morning but first I want to let you know that we’ve decided which team will be performing on opening night. It was a difficult decision but…’ she paused and then smiled, ‘it will be the blue team, that’s with the principals Sophie, Colette, Jack and Mark.’

  The breath whooshed out of me and for a moment I felt giddy with relief.

  ‘Yes!’ Colette exclaimed.

  Around us everyone clapped — everyone, that is, except Samantha. Justine smiled at me and mouthed ‘Well done’. David and Xav gave us the thumbs-up sign.

  A warm glow spread through me. We’d done it, we’d really done it!

  Jack banged me on the back and Colette hugged me. ‘Isn’t it brilliant, Soph!’ she cried.

  ‘Brilliant!’ I agreed, feeling like I was going to faint with happiness.

  ‘OK, everyone settle down,’ Claire called.

  As Claire started talking again, I glanced at Dizzy. I knew how much I had to thank her for. From what she’d been saying to Claire it was clear that she’d been arguing that my dancing would be good enough by the time of the performance.

  It took Claire an hour to go through all her comments on our run-through that morning.

  ‘Take five minutes,’ she said when she finally finished. ‘Then Stefan wants to go through some of the songs with you.’

  As everyone got up and stretched I went over to Dizzy.

  ‘Pleased your team’s been chosen for the first night, then?’ she said to me.

  ‘Very,’ I replied. ‘Thank you for choosing us.’

  ‘It was a joint decision. But you know you’ve still got some work to do before you get your dancing up to performance standard,’ Dizzy said.

  I nodded. ‘I’m going to practise and practise.’

  ‘Good.’ Dizzy looked me in the eyes. ‘Don’t let me down, Sophie.’

  ‘I won’t,’ I promised.

  Chapter Sixteen

  As soon as I got home, I rang Ally to tell her my news but she wasn’t there. ‘Sorry, Sophie, she’s at Harriet’s house,’ Ally’s mum told me. ‘Do you want me to take a message?’

  ‘No, it’s OK,’ I said. ‘I’ll go round to Harriet’s and see them both.’

  They were in the garden cleaning out Pickles, Harriet’s rabbit, when I arrived.

  ‘Sophie!’ Ally exclaimed, jumping to her feet and knocking the bag of hay all over the lawn. ‘What happened at the rehearsal?’

  ‘Did your team get chosen?’ Harriet demanded.

  I grinned. ‘Yeah!’

  They squealed and ran over to hug me.

  ‘Well done!’ Harriet cried.

  ‘I knew you’d be OK!’ Ally said.

  ‘Only just,’ I admitted, and I told them about Dizzy having to persuade Claire and Stefan that my dancing would be good enough by the opening night. ‘I’ve promised her I’m going to practise loads. She was really kind. She said she’ll help me with the dances.’ I looked at Harriet. ‘You were right. I have been worrying about what other people think of me and it’s stupid. From now on I’m going to ask Dizzy for help whenever I need it. All I want is to be good enough by the time the show starts so that I don’t let people down.’

  Harriet beamed at me. ‘That’s brilliant, Sophie.’ She hesitated. ‘I’ve been thinking about things too and… well,’ she took a nervous breath, ‘I’m going to do the quiz team.’

  My eyes widened in delight. ‘Harriet, that’s great!’

  ‘What you said is so true.’ She looked at me. ‘Kelly will tease me whatever I decide, so I might as well just do it and enjoy it.’

  ‘Cool!’ Ally said.

  ‘So what are you going to do about Kelly?’ I asked Harriet.

  ‘Try and ignore her.’ Harriet frowned anxiously. ‘I wish you weren’t going to be at rehearsals, though. It’s going to be weird not having you in school.’

  I nodded. It was going to be weird for me too. From Monday onwards I was going to be rehearsing full time and, for the next three weeks, I’d be doing my schoolwork during breaks in rehearsal with a teacher from Clawson Academy. Once the play started I’d be back at school, although I’d have to leave at lunchtime on the days I was performing.

  ‘I’ll be back at school soon,’ I said. ‘And then it will be the Christmas holidays.’

  ‘And you’ll still have me to hang around with at breaktime,’ Ally said to Harriet.

  ‘Yeah,’ Harriet said, but I could tell she was still dreading me not being there.

  ‘We should have a sleepover next weekend,’ I said. ‘At my house on Saturday. Actually, no,’ I said, suddenly remembering. ‘Saturday’s no good. I’ve got a radio interview about the play first thing on Sunday morning and then a rehearsal. I bet Mum won’t let me have a sleepover the night before.’ Mum was funny about things like that. ‘How about the weekend after? I know we’ve got that Sunday off.’

  Harriet nodded eagerly but Ally shook her head. ‘I can’t come then,’ she said awkwardly. ‘I’ve invited Eve over to my house to stay a week on Saturday.’

  It would be weird but… ‘Well, she can come too,’ I offered. ‘I mean she’s your friend now, Ally. We should get to know her.’

  ‘You wouldn’t mind?’ Ally said uncertainly, looking from me to Harriet.

  We both shook our head
s. ‘Course not,’ Harriet told her.

  Ally grinned in delight. ‘Cool! I’ll ask her. She really likes you both, you know. She said so last night at the party.’

  My eyes widened. How could I have forgotten? ‘The party!’ I squealed. ‘What happened? Nathan? Did you kiss?’ I could hardly get the words out quick enough.

  Ally shook her head. ‘No. Almost. He was talking to me and was really close and suddenly, well, I realized I didn’t like him that much any more.’

  Harriet rolled her eyes and I could tell she’d already heard the story. ‘It was his eyebrows, Sophie.’

  ‘His eyebrows?’ I echoed.

  ‘They meet in the middle,’ Ally said. ‘I’d never really noticed before but he was leaning closer and saying how much he liked me and I thought he was going to kiss me and then I saw them. They were like a great big beetle or something.’ She shivered. ‘I couldn’t kiss him after that. I like him as a friend still but, urgh, kiss him? No way!’

  I pushed my hands through my hair. ‘I can’t believe you, Ally. You’ve been going on about how much you want to go out with him all term!’

  Ally shrugged. ‘Well, not any more. I told him I liked him as a mate and that was that. He was OK about it and we’re still going to be friends.’

  I sighed. I’d really thought she was going to kiss Nathan and that she’d be able to tell Harriet and me about it. Looked like we were going to have to wait a bit longer before one of us actually snogged a boy.

  A grin pulled at the corners of Ally’s mouth. ‘There was this other boy there that I liked, though. He’s called Luke and he’s a friend of Claire’s brother. He’s in Year Eight. We talked a bit and he said he’d see me at school.’ A dreamy look filled her eyes. ‘I wouldn’t say no if he tried to kiss me!’

  Harriet and I exchanged grins. One thing was for sure, life was never going to be boring with Ally around!