by Jean Ure
I said, “Yes, cos if people saw you they’d get all silly and screechy.”
“You don’t think maybe we should come in disguise?”
I frowned. I am never quite sure with Sean when he is being serious and when he is teasing.
“I don’t think I’d better tell Caitlyn,” I said. “Not till afterwards.”
“You mean in case she gets all silly and shrieky?”
“No, in case she goes into meltdown.” I giggled. “She’s the Spirit of Winter so she needs to stay frozen!”
“OK, well, let’s all meet up in the refectory after the show. Meanwhile, break a leg!”
There were a lot of pre-performance nerves in our dressing room as we got ready the next day. The performances might not be open to the public, but the whole school was going to be out there, watching and passing judgement – and, of course, Madam and the rest of the staff, all beady-eyed and on the lookout for faults.
“It’s like having an audition all over again,” moaned Alex.
“It is an audition,” said Amber. “Good as.”
I thought, Yes, and for me especially. I knew Miss Hickman still had doubts. I could actually be thrown out! People had been known to disappear at the end of their first term. Not very often, it was true; but it had happened.
“Does anybody know,” said Roz, “if there’s going to be a DVD?”
“I should hope so!” said Tiffany. “All this for just a few minutes of honour and glory and nothing to show for it?”
“It’s OK, they always film it,” I said. “They do it for the choreographers more than us.”
“But we can get copies?”
“If we want them,” I said.
Tiffany tossed her head. “I want one!”
“Mum does, too,” I said. “She’s still got the ones from when Sean and Jen were in their first year.”
“Oh, I wish I could see them!” cried Caitlyn, and then immediately blushed furiously and clapped a hand to her mouth.
“It’s all right,” said Roz, kindly. “We all know how you feel about a certain person.”
“No!” Caitlyn shook her head, spraying silver glitter all over the place. “I meant Jen! I wish I could see Jen!”
“Don’t worry, you can see them both,” I said.
I felt like adding, “You can even see one of them here today,” but I resisted the temptation. The atmosphere in the dressing room was already tense; knowing who was up in the gallery would only make it worse. There are people like me, and like Tiffany – bigheaded, some would say – who never really suffer from stage fright. Others, such as Caitlyn, can be almost crippled by it. It might throw her completely if she knew that Sean was up in the gallery.
Winter Dreams was the opening piece. It only lasted five minutes, but as Mum said later, when we watched the DVD together, “Every one of those minutes counted.” Jen’s comment was, “Exquisite!” At the time, waiting in the wings till it was my turn to go on, I was a bit too fraught to take in all the details, but there was a collective intake of breath, from me and some of the others, as Caitlyn performed her final reverence.
“Who can hope to beat that?” whispered Alex.
“Well, it’s her sort of part,” said Tiffany.
Tiffany was right, it was Caitlyn’s sort of part: poised, and elegant, and as Dad said, as we watched the DVD, an almost other-worldly beauty. As different as could be from the knockabout humour of the Clowns, or the swirling excitement of the Spanish Doll. But saying it was “her sort of part”, in that slightly sneering way that Tiffany had, didn’t make it any less an amazing performance. It was hard to believe that only two years ago she had never so much as had a single ballet lesson. She had come so far since that day in the gym, when I had discovered her desperately trying to teach herself how to do pirouettes. I remembered teaching her, and how quickly she had learnt. In spite of her technique still not being as strong as mine, I had this feeling that she was catching up fast. Which was good! What teacher wouldn’t want her pupil to do well? We would always be very different kinds of dancer. The Spanish Doll was my sort of part, just as the Spirit of Winter was Caitlyn’s. We weren’t really in competition.
As I stood in the wings, waiting to make my entrance, Nico came up and squeezed my arm.
“Go for it, girl!”
I smiled at him, gratefully. He knew how much depended on my performance. For maybe the first time in my life, I felt that I was being put to the test. I couldn’t afford to fail! It would be letting everyone down. Not only Mum and Dad, but Sean, who had stood up for me; Caitlyn, who had been so loyal; even Miss Hickman, who had given me a second chance. I owed it to all of them to do my very best.
The moment came. I ran on stage and took up my position: back arched, arms raised. I was the Spanish Doll. Olé!
I danced as I had never danced before. Stamping, spinning, twisting. Just five short minutes and every one of them filled with passion. I had never felt so exhilarated! I felt like I could go on for ever.
“Maddy, that was so exciting!” said Caitlyn, after we had all taken our bows at the end.
“Spanish Dancing is exciting,” I said. “And you know what?”
“What?”
I was almost on the point of saying, “There’s something else that’s exciting!” but stopped myself just in time. I didn’t want to spoil the surprise! “Let’s get changed and go up to the refectory.”
Caitlyn looked puzzled. “I thought we were going straight home. Why do we want to go to the refectory?”
I said, “Cos we do. Don’t argue!”
Meekly she followed me. My plan was almost ruined at the last moment by Tiffany galloping after us.
“Did I hear you guys saying you were going to get something to eat? I wouldn’t mind something to eat! I’m starving. Can I tag along?”
“Actually,” I said, “we’re meeting someone.”
“Oh. Well. OK!” She tossed her head, like, I can tell when I’m not wanted. “I’ll see if Amber wants to come.”
“So who are we going to meet?” whispered Caitlyn, as we left the dressing room.
“Just wait,” I said, “and you’ll see.”
Her face, when we reached the refectory and found Sean and Danny sitting there, was full of wonderment.
“They were up in the gallery,” I said. “They came specially to watch your performance!”
“We did,” said Sean. “Congratulations … the pair of you! Mum’s going to be like a cat that’s got the cream when she sees what you both did. Great stuff! It really was most impressive.”
By now, needless to say, Caitlyn had turned a bright blushing pink. Danny, taking pity on her, said, “Let’s go and get you something to eat. You coming, Maddy? Oh, and by the way, I managed to get a few photographs of you both, for the book. Madam said it’d be OK. I just need to get permission to use them. Well, I know I can use Caitlyn’s, but, Maddy, you’ll need to check with your mum and dad. Sean doesn’t seem to think there’ll be any problem. I hope not, cos it would be good to have you in there.”
I was so thrilled at the thought of being in Danny’s book that my face actually started to turn as pink as Caitlyn’s. I could feel it happening! It wasn’t embarrassment: just happiness. I hadn’t properly realised until now how hurt I’d been when I’d heard that Caitlyn was going to be in the book and not me.
“So,” said Sean, as we made our way back to the table, “did you kiss and make up?”
Caitlyn looked at me, questioningly.
“He thinks we quarrelled,” I said.
“We wouldn’t ever do that,” protested Caitlyn.
“That’s what I told him! We just had words.”
“You harboured ill feelings,” said Sean.
“Oh, that’s right, she did,” agreed Caitlyn. “She thought I’d told Miss Hickman about her! Which was mean,” she added, “cos I never would.”
“It was only because we’d said things,” I pleaded. “Cos I’d said you were jealous, which
I knew wasn’t true, and you got mad at me, and so I thought that’s why you might have done it.”
“But you were wrong,” said Sean. “The least you can do is kiss and say sorry.”
“Oh, all right!” I pecked furiously at Caitlyn’s cheek. “Sorry, sorry, sorry!”
“Call that a kiss?” jeered Sean.
“It’s better than you did,” I said. “You were pathetic.”
“Yeah? I can set that right if you want. Do you want me to?”
I glanced a bit nervously over my shoulder. “Miss Hickman’s just come in,” I said. “She can see us!”
“Think that would bother me?”
Caitlyn giggled. Danny tapped Sean on the back of the hand. “Stop showing off.”
“Oh, very well,” said Sean. “I’ll make do with Caitlyn, instead.” He leaned across and gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead. “Thank you for speaking up for my very annoying little sister. I don’t know where she’d be without you.”
Caitlyn, predictably, turned pink to the very tips of her ears. “I don’t know where I’d be without her.”
“There,” said Sean. He beamed at us across the table. “Isn’t that nice?”
I made a gurgling sound.
“Now what’s the matter?”
“It’s Miss Hickman,” I whispered. “She’s coming over!”
“All right, you don’t have to panic. Just give her a big smile and—”
“Madeleine.” Miss Hickman had stopped directly in front of me. I felt my heart sink. She looked as grim as ever. “And Caitlyn! Very well done, you two girls. Lovely performances from both of you.”
Phew! Someone – I bet it was Sean – trod on my foot under the table.
“You obviously took my words to heart,” said Miss Hickman, nodding almost pleasantly at me. “Thank you for not letting me down.” And then she stretched her lips in a sort of smile and said, “Enjoy the holidays! I shall look forward to seeing you both next term.”
Caitlyn and I sat watching, in awed silence, as Miss Hickman made her way to the door.
“Well, there you go,” said Sean. “I told you there was no need to panic.”
“Oh,” I said, “you’re always right!”
“I like to think so.”
“Always so bigheaded,” I grumbled.
“And one of us always so ungrateful,” said Sean.
Danny and Caitlyn exchanged glances.
Danny shook his head. “This is what passes for brother-and-sisterly love? Shall we go and see if there’s anything else we want to eat and just leave them to it? They might be a bit more civilised by the time we get back.”
We wouldn’t be, cos it was just our way. Sean knew I wasn’t really ungrateful. I owed so much, both to him and to Caitlyn. Suddenly I was just dying to get home and tell Mum what Miss Hickman had said! “Very well done, very lovely performances …”
You couldn’t get much higher praise than that!
If you loved STAR QUALITY, don’t forget to read about Maddy and Caitlyn in BORN TO DANCE
Maddy and Caitlyn will return with their next dance adventure in 2018
More from Jean Ure …
And for fans of FRANKIE FOSTER …
Books by Jean Ure
The Kissing Game
Just Peachy
Lemonade Sky
Love and Kisses
Fortune Cookie
Star Crazy Me!
Over the Moon
Boys Beware
Sugar and Spice
Is Anybody There?
Secret Meeting
Passion Flower
Shrinking Violet
Boys on the Brain
Skinny Melon and Me
Becky Bananas, This is Your Life!
Fruit and Nutcase
The Secret Life of Sally Tomato
Family Fan Club
Ice Lolly
Secrets and Dreams
Jelly Baby
Pumpkin Pie
Strawberry Crush
Special three-in-one editions
The Tutti-Frutti Collection
The Flower Power Collection
The Friends Forever Collection
And for younger readers
Dazzling Danny
Daisy May
Monster in the Mirror
About the Publisher
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United Kingdom
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http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
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http://www.harpercollins.com
