by Ann Bryant
What if I found out for sure that she had cheated? What was I supposed to do?
Chapter Ten
On Monday morning I was first to wake up. Lemon sunlight was streaming into our dorm, because we hadn’t shut the curtains when we’d gone to bed. I could see nothing but blue sky, and for about three seconds I felt completely happy, until I remembered that this was the day when Dad’s CD would probably arrive in the post. Immediately I started to get into a state again. I looked at my watch. It was only six thirty. The others wouldn’t be up for another half hour.
I decided to get dressed and do some practice on my Debussy before breakfast, so I went down to one of the little practice rooms and took out my music. I’d worked on it a lot the day before, and found that all the time I was playing it I couldn’t think about anything except the music because I had to concentrate so hard. It was the best possible escape from the big worry that wouldn’t leave me alone, so I didn’t stop practising and practising. I loved the Debussy now, and really hoped Mrs. Roach would be pleased with me on Thursday.
This morning I was determined to get right to the end of the piece if I could, and as soon as I’d played the first few notes, the music filled every corner of my mind and cleared out my thoughts about Dad’s CD.
The thoughts came sailing back during breakfast though, and I couldn’t keep my anxiety hidden from Georgie and the others.
“Don’t worry, Mia. There’ll probably be another contest next year,” said Georgie.
The last thing I wanted was for my friends to think I was upset because I hadn’t won the contest. That would be terrible. I just wanted to listen to Dad’s CD and then I would know for sure one way or the other whether Bella had cheated. I was hoping and hoping that it would turn out that her tune had sometimes just sounded a bit like the one on the CD and that it was nothing more than that, so I could forget all about it and be happy for Bella. After all, she was easily the best performer and singer, so it would be good for Silver Spires if she auditioned for Stars in the Wings.
I don’t know how I got through my first two lessons, but when the bell finally went for morning break I made an excuse about having to get my music and rushed back to Hazeldean. It felt so strange being in the boarding house at this time of morning during the week. The place was completely deserted, although I could hear a vacuum cleaner whirring away somewhere upstairs.
From the entrance hall, I crept round the corner to the corridor where our pigeonholes are. There were letters in several of them and, in mine, the dreaded parcel. I picked it up as though it was a bomb that might go off at any moment, and carried it carefully to the common room. Then, closing the door quietly behind me, I opened the parcel to find a Jed Jarrow CD and a little note from Dad.
Hi Mia,
I finally remembered what that song was you were singing to me. It’s called “Circles” (track 3) and it is by Jed Jarrow. Turned out I’d not thrown it away after all. So here you are! Hope you enjoy it. Love Dad.
I took the CD out of its case with trembling fingers, put it in the CD player, pressed play on track three, and held my breath.
Immediately the room filled up with the music that I loved so much from our family days at home, but I didn’t love it at that moment because an awful coldness was creeping around me. This was the exact music of Bella’s song. She hadn’t changed a single thing except the words. I stood there, feeling frozen and terrible. It wasn’t as if the music was just a bit similar to hers, it was totally identical. There was no way she could represent Silver Spires in the Stars in the Wings auditions with this song. What if she got through? It would look as if the school had cheated. And that would be awful for Silver Spires. But what was I going to do? Who was I going to tell? How would I dare go to Miss York and say that I’d found Bella out? I didn’t even want to tell Georgie. It would just seem like I was a nasty jealous person, who hated that Bella had won.
“Mia?”
I jumped with the shock of hearing the voice of our housemistress, Miss Carol, so close.
“Mia, what are you doing listening to music? Break time’s over. You should be in lessons.”
I stared at her, feeling my face losing its colour. “I…I…was just…”
The song was still playing. Surely Miss Carol would recognize it in a moment. She’d definitely been at the concert both Saturdays. I stayed silent and watched her anxious face turn thoughtful. “Are you all right, Mia?”
“I…I’m not sure.” The music seemed too loud for the room. I looked at Miss Carol and suddenly saw her face change as she listened. She closed her eyes slowly, then opened them again and nodded. Just one small brisk nod, as though she was telling herself to do something. The track ended and I pressed stop abruptly. “I was listening to my dad’s CD,” I managed to carry on. “He…sent it to me because I…remembered the music from when I was young and we used to sit round the fire at home…”
I knew I wasn’t making any sense, but I was just babbling on because I couldn’t quite make myself come to the truth. It felt like a betrayal.
“It’s all right, Mia. We know.”
“You know…what?”
“Mia, come along to my flat. Bring the CD case with you. I was going to talk to you later, but I think now would be better. Let’s go and have a cup of tea.”
Miss Carol sat opposite me in her living room. She’d made the tea while I’d been sitting on her settee, flipping through a pile of magazines and feeling for a few moments as though I was in a dentists’ waiting room, about to have a nasty injection. She leaned forwards and looked at me carefully.
“I’ll come straight to the point, Mia. Yesterday, we teachers had a meeting, because two or three members of staff had commented after the contest that they thought they recognized some of Bella’s music…”
I swallowed. “You mean…the song she sang in the first round, and at the end?”
“Well actually it was the other song at first. It seems she took different bits from a couple of existing songs and stuck them together. But then Mrs. Harrison said that Mr. Wagstaffe had also recognized her first song. He’d not been at the first round of the contest, but he had a shock when he heard it at the final on Saturday, because it was clearly the same song as this one he knew, only with different words. So…you obviously recognized it too, Mia.”
I nodded, feeling so relieved that Bella had already been found out and that I didn’t have to be the one to betray her.
“Well, since our meeting, Miss York has spoken to Bella, and Bella has admitted that she did indeed borrow the melodies of those other songs. She’s truly sorry for what she did and accepts that she can’t possibly audition for Stars in the Wings.”
I nodded again.
“And this is why I was going to speak to you, Mia. You see the person who came second in the final, with just three votes fewer than Bella, was you.”
I nearly spilled my tea, I got such a shock. “Me? Are you sure you counted properly?”
Miss Carol laughed. “Well I didn’t count the votes personally, Mia, but Miss York tells me there was definitely no mistake.”
“Oh…right.” I didn’t know what to say.
“So what Miss York and myself and all the teachers want to know is…would you be happy to audition for Stars in the Wings?”
Then I did spill my tea. The mug just tipped as I was trying to put it back on the table. “Oh sorry, I…”
Miss Carol grabbed a tissue and wiped up the tea in a second. “That’s nothing, Mia. The important thing is, would you be prepared to do it?”
My whole body suddenly filled with the most excited buzz, but then, just as quickly as it had come, the buzz disappeared. “But so many people voted for Bella. I’ll just be a big disappointment to them. I know I will.”
“No, I really don’t think so, Mia. You see—”
There was a sudden knock at Miss Carol’s door. “Sorry, Mia, I’ll see if this is anything urgent…”
Miss Carol went to answer the door
and I got a shock when she came back in with Georgie just behind her.
“Georgie was worried that you hadn’t showed up for English,” said Miss Carol. “Come on, you may as well join the party, Georgie, now you’re here. I’ll pour out another cup of tea.”
A few minutes later Georgie knew everything. She’d been a bit cross that I hadn’t said anything to her, but only a bit. Now she was more excited about the whole Stars in the Wings show.
“You’re going to be a star!” she said grabbing my hands and staring at me, with big sparkling eyes. “And I know you!” she added, looking suddenly awestruck. “Can I have your autograph?”
Miss Carol laughed, but I didn’t even manage a smile. “Nobody will want me to do it,” I mumbled. “Bella was first choice. I’m sorry, I just don’t want to do it, Miss Carol. I can’t.”
“Well I think everyone will be very disappointed if you say no, Mia,” said Miss Carol, looking concerned. “I mean, your parents, the teachers, your piano teacher… Everyone will want you to enter.”
“Mrs. Roach won’t,” I said, trying not to sigh. “She’ll be happy that I can get back to my proper practice.”
“You’re wrong there, Mia. Naturally, Miss York kept Mrs. Roach in the picture about what’s been happening, and apparently Mrs. Roach had no idea you were quite so talented.”
“She didn’t think the Star contest was important at all,” I said quietly.
“Well I think Miss York might have been singing your praises, Mia, because I can assure you that Mrs. Roach wants to support you in your singing and composing as much as she possibly can. In fact, she actually told Miss York she thought she’d been a bit short-sighted, because she had no idea that you had a serious talent as a singer/songwriter.”
I sank back into the settee, feeling one big pressure sliding off my shoulders. But there was still no way I could audition for Stars in the Wings and I knew my other worry was showing on my face, because Georgie frowned at me with big concentration as she leaned forwards and spoke carefully to Miss Carol.
“Do Bella’s friends know she cheated?”
“I’m afraid they do, yes. Her dorm mates wanted to know why she was crying and she told them. Unfortunately for her, I should think the whole of Year Eight probably knows by now.”
I felt myself tensing up. Poor Bella.
Miss Carol tipped her head to one side and gave me a sympathetic smile. “After summer it’ll all be forgotten, Mia. Bella is a popular girl. Her friends will forgive her. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“Please say you’ll try out for Stars in the Wings, Mia…” said Georgie, coming right up to my face with praying hands.
I shook my head. “No. I just can’t.”
Miss Carol was right about everyone finding out that Bella had cheated, because at lunchtime there seemed to be no other topic of conversation in the dining hall. The whole place was buzzing with the shocking news.
“Who’s going to represent the school now?” I heard a Year Nine girl say, as I stood in the lunch queue near her table with my tray.
Then someone from the same table must have spotted me and called out, “Hey, Mia, was it you or Demonstrate who came second?”
I bit my lip. “Er…I think it was me.”
Georgie was right behind me. “It was Mia!” she said firmly. “All the teachers want Mia to sing for Stars in the Wings but she’s got this stupid idea in her head that she didn’t win and she hasn’t got any right to do it!” Georgie rolled her eyes dramatically. “Can you believe it?”
The queue had shuffled forwards and I quickly moved on with it. I didn’t want to be a part of this conversation any more, because it was obvious nobody would want little me in Bella’s place.
By the time I’d got my lunch and sat down with the others, there was no sign of Georgie. I glanced over at the table where the Year Nine girls were and saw that they’d gone too, which puzzled me.
“Hey, Mia!” called out a Year Seven named Bryony, from two tables away. “Naomi says you’re not going to do Stars in the Wings. Are you mad or something?”
“Did you come second then, Mia?” asked a friend of Bryony’s.
“Yes she did!” Katy answered for me. She must have been able to see that I was getting embarrassed.
“You’re brilliant, Mia!” said someone else from Bryony’s table. “You’ve got to do it.”
It was kind of Bryony and her friends to stick up for me, but they were only Year Seven. The older students wouldn’t want me representing Silver Spires, I just knew it.
“Shh!” Bryony said to her friend. “Ms. Carmichael.”
I looked towards the door. Sure enough, Ms. Carmichael had come in with Miss York, and just behind her were the Year Nine girls who’d been talking to Georgie. And then, there was Georgie herself. The whole dining room went quiet. It wasn’t just that Ms. Carmichael was there – she often came in. It was the fact that there was something going on. She was whispering to Miss York and looking around the room. Then her eyes alighted on me, as Georgie came nipping over and squashed herself in between me and Katy.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
“Nothing,” she answered, trying to look innocent.
But a second later there was complete silence, because Ms. Carmichael had rung a little bell.
“Girls, I’m sorry to interrupt your lunch but I wanted a quick word with you, and I want it now, while our Star contest is still fresh in your minds. I think most of you, if not all of you, will know by now that sadly the songs Bella sang in the contest were not her own material. As we cannot tolerate cheating or deception such as this here at Silver Spires, I’m afraid we have taken the decision that it would be best for Bella to be sent home for the last week of term. Bella has apologized and is most repentant, and next term will be a clean slate for her, because she’s a lovely, talented girl who simply made a mistake – one that she won’t ever make again.” She paused, letting her eyes travel round the silent room.
“In the meantime, we have a problem on our hands, because in second place in our contest, by a very narrow margin, was Mia Roberts…”
All heads seemed to turn to look for me, and a second later I was sure my face was bright pink, because I could sense so many pairs of eyes on me.
“Hey!” said a few girls nearby, breaking into applause, and I noticed the Demonstrate girls amongst them. “Go, Mia!”
And then it was like fire spreading round the hall, and I couldn’t help feeling tingles of happiness, even though I was still embarrassed.
Ms. Carmichael carried on talking. “The problem is that Mia doesn’t feel that she deserves to enter Stars in the Wings and has told us that she doesn’t want to do it…”
One of the Year Tens was suddenly on her feet. “Mia, you’ve got to do it. You were the best!”
“I was second,” I quickly pointed out.
“You were the best,” the Year Ten girl came straight back at me. Then her voice softened. “Because you wrote your own songs, Mia.”
A huge cheer went up all over the dining hall and then everyone was stamping and banging their fists on the tables and chanting, “Mi-a, Mi-a, Mi-a, Mi-a…”
“There!” said Georgie, putting her arm round me and whispering right into my ear, because it was impossible to hear a thing with so much noise going on all around me. “Now will you believe me?”
I looked up at Ms. Carmichael and saw that she was smiling at me with raised eyebrows. “Well?” she mouthed.
I stood up slowly, feeling my heart beat with excitement and happiness, and instantly there was silence again.
“Thank you,” I said quietly. “I’m convinced now that you want me to do it…so I will.”
Then there was another burst of cheering and clapping and stamping and Miss York actually came over and gave me a big hug. Everyone was crowding around me, but Georgie put her hands up like a policeman stopping the traffic. “Give her a bit of space, people!” she said, pretending to be bossy. “
I’m her manager, you know, and I’m not having her crushed like this!”
I’d never felt so popular in my whole life. Or so happy. I couldn’t wait to tell Mum and Dad.
The sun was so bright as Georgie and the rest of my dormies and I left the dining room and made our way over to afternoon lessons. My eyes went straight to the tall spires of the main building. They shone as brightly as real silver and glinted and sparkled like everlasting fireworks.
“Look!” I whispered.
Everyone followed my gaze.
“Aren’t we lucky?” said Naomi.
No one replied, but I knew we were all agreeing with her in our minds. It was just a beautiful moment that we didn’t want to disturb by speaking out loud.
Beside me, Georgie reached for my hand and I saw that her eyes were sparkling.
“Yes,” she said, breaking the silence. “We must be the luckiest girls in the world.”
I smiled at her and thought, Yes, and I must be the very luckiest of all because I truly am a real musician.
And that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be.
School Friends Fun!
Performing in the Silver Spires Star contest was something I thought I’d never be able to do! But with the help of my lovely friends, I actually learned to enjoy singing in front of people. And you can too!
How to give a star performance!
* Stage fright can creep up on everyone, even superstars. And it doesn’t matter what sort of performance you’re giving, a little confidence boost can make all the difference. So, if you’ve got your eyes on singing stardom, like me, here’s some fun ideas to try out with your friends!
* Whether you’re going solo or forming a band it’s important to get your sound spot-on. Spend time listening to different types of music before settling on a song that suits your voice and ability. Don’t be afraid to experiment and swap tunes with your friends for inspiration.
* Grab a video camera and record each other’s performances. Watching yourself on tape can be cringe-worthy, but you’ll be able to see what you’re doing right, and where you need a bit more practice.
