Musical Star

by Rowan Coleman

  I took the glittery legwarmers out of the bag and suddenly my eyes filled up with tears. Maybe it was silly to cry over a pair of legwarmers, maybe I was just being a lovey again and exactly the sort of drama queen that Danny always said I was, but to know that these people believed in me made me the happiest I had been for a long time.

  “Blimey, don’t blub,” Gabe said, putting an arm round me.

  “Thanks everyone,” I said, sniffing loudly. “Thanks for letting me be part of your choir and your school.”

  “We’ll miss you when you go back the Academy,” Dakshima said.

  “Go back the Academy?” I echoed. “I’m not doing that – what ever gave you that idea?”

  “So get I’ll my full choir back after Easter?” Mr Petrelli asked me.

  “Of course you will, sir,” I said. “We’re team aren’t we?”

  “Have you got the cheque for the twenty-thousand pounds yet, sir?” Dakshima asked him casually as we walked out of school.

  “I think so,” Mr Petrelli said. “All that sort of business goes through the head.”

  “Have you cashed it yet?” Dakshima persisted.

  “Why?”

  “No reason.” Dakshima smiled brightly at Mr Petrelli before mumbling to me, “That Mick Caruso might want it back otherwise.”

  “Well, Mrs Petrelli and I have our tickets, we are really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow,” Mr Petrelli called out as he climbed into his car. “Good luck – break a leg!”

  “So?” Dakshima asked me.

  “So?” I said heavily, full of dread about what I had to do.

  “Are you going round there now?” she said. We’d agreed the night before that I should tell Danny first, and then the two of us would go and confront Jade and her dad.

  “Going where?” Talitha and Hannah appeared at our shoulders.

  “Oh, nowhere—” I began.

  “She’s going round to see Danny,” Dakshima told them.

  “Oooh, are you going to tell him you lurve him,” Talitha teased.

  “No!” I said. “I’m just going to ask him something about the show.”

  “To practise the kissing scene with you in case Jade breaks her mouth?” Hannah giggled, making Dakshima laugh.

  “I am just going to talk to him, that’s all,” I said, stoutly walking way from the group. “Now good day to you all.”

  “Good day!” the girls shrieked with laughter.

  “You lovey types are all the same,” Dakshima called after me as I trudged down the street. “Good luck, Rubes!”

  “Thanks,” I said under my breath. “I’m going to need it.”

  “Ruby,” Danny said. “Wow, I was just going to call you.”

  “Were you?” I asked nervously.

  “I thought you might want to meet me in the café for a hot chocolate.” Danny said. “You know, just to talk and hang out.”

  “Good,” I said, with a shy smile. “Because I’m not sure you’re allowed to do much else in a café.”

  Danny laughed. “So,” he said smiling at me. “You’re here again.”

  “Yes I am,” I said. I was getting a distinct feeling of dejá vu, sure that Danny and I had had almost this exact exchange the last time I tried to tell him about the Auto-tune Miracle Microphone. That last conversation hadn’t worked out so well; we had fallen out without even even making up to begin with, and I still hadn’t managed to tell him.

  What ever happened now, I knew that this time I had to tell him, however it ended. If I failed, Danny Harvey, a boy that I still really cared about, would find out the truth for himself on Saturday night in front of an audience of thousands.

  “Danny,” I said, steeling myself, “I’ve come to tell you something important.”

  “Really?” Danny’s smile grew uncertain, probably because I sounded so serious. “OK,” he said slowly. “But would you mind if I told you something important first? Because if you hear what I’ve got to say, it might change what you’ve got to say.”

  “I don’t think it will…” I said uncomfortably.

  “Please, Ruby,” Danny said. I shrugged and nodded. “It’s just that I wanted to say sorry for dumping you for Melody. I was an idiot…again.”

  “Pardon?” I blinked at him, realising ten seconds too late that he was trying to apologise for breaking up with me.

  “Yes,” Danny took a step closer. “When you went away I felt jealous and left out and all that stuff with Sean was more of an excuse from me to be angry with you than a proper reason. I suppose I did get a bit bigheaded about the number one and Kensington Heights and all that. And I suppose I thought you didn’t care about me any more. Pretty immature right?”

  I paused to take in what he had just said. “Well, yes, actually,” I had to agree.

  “The thing is,” Danny went on. “I really miss hanging out with you, and maybe you came round here to tell me that you don’t want to hang out with me, or that you don’t like me. But whatever you say, I wanted to tell you that I do still like you. A lot.” Danny shrugged. “Your turn.”

  I looked at Danny’s dark eyes sparkling at me and said the truth out loud.

  “Danny…you can’t actually sing.” The words tumbled out of my mouth. “The only reason you’re the lead in the show is because Jade wants you there. She got her dad to give you the part so that she could get her claws into you. When you sing it’s not your real voice that you are hearing come out of the speakers. It’s fed through a thing called an Auto-tune Miracle Microphone that adjusts your voice instantly and makes you sound really good.”

  I paused to take a breath and glanced at the expression on Danny’s face. It was very quiet and still.

  “When you recorded your hit single, you know they tweaked your voice in the recording studio – you told me. And you know when before you said that in your head you always sound terrible when you sing?” I went on, unable to stop talking, like my voice was a runaway train careering downhill towards disaster. “Well, that’s because you do sound terrible. Look, you’re an amazing boy and a great actor and even an OK dancer, but you really can’t sing. And neither can Jade. And me and Dakshima just thought we should tell everyone what we know – starting with you…”

  Finally I came juddering to a halt and braced myself.

  Danny laughed uneasily. “Look, that’s not funny.” he said.

  “I know,” I said miserably. “But it’s true. Dakshima and I found out during the auditions. We sneaked upstairs to try and peek at the judges and you were one of the people we saw. We heard you sing without a microphone and you weren’t good, Danny. But Mick Caruso told you that you were and that you were going through the live final. We heard him tell Elaine Emmerson that he was putting you through not because you could sing but because Jade wanted you to play the part of Sebastian opposite her Arial. I’m not trying to hurt you, Danny, because that’s totally the last thing I want to do, but Dakshima and I can’t keep it to ourselves any more. Jade doesn’t deserve that part. She and her dad have cheated to make sure she gets everything she wants, including you as her leading man.”

  “You’re crazy!” Danny flared up. “I’m not stupid. I know that you can change the way a voice sounds in a recording studio, but you can’t do that day after day at rehearsals. Or on the live final. I was singing live, Ruby.”

  “Into an Auto-tune Miracle Microphone,” I said. “Haven’t you noticed that you and Jade always have a different style of microphone? And that you are the only ones who do? That’s what makes you sound so good.”

  “You are lying.” Danny shook his head and I could see fury boiling in his dark eyes. “You’ve been in rehearsal with us for weeks, Ruby. We’ve all heard the same thing.”

  “Because you were always wearing the microphone…” I thought for a moment. “Come with me and I’ll prove it.”

  “What? Go where with you?” Danny asked me.

  “To the rehearsal studio.” I explained, looking at my watch and wondering how long i
t would be before Mum noticed I was late. “Where I can show you the truth.”

  It took some persuading to get Eileen, the security lady, to let us in unsupervised, but once I explained to her that I’d left my mum’s birthday present in the studio and that her birthday was today, she let us in. I had fifteen minutes and no more because children weren’t allowed unaccompanied in the building and she’d get fired if anyone found out.

  “You are getting very good at lying in your old age,” Danny said, as he followed me towards our rehearsal room. The building wasn’t empty, there were other rehearsals for other shows, both TV and theatre, going on all over the building. Our mission was to try and avoid being spotted by any of them.

  “I don’t want to have to lie or come out here, when I know Mum is going to kill me for being late and not telling her where I’ve gone. She’ll probably think I’ve caught a flight to Acapulco or somewhere,” I told him in a low voice as we crept along the corridors. “And then I’ll get the talk about whether I’m happy and if I’m planning another stupid trip, so I am never late, because I never want Mum to worry that much about me again. Except for now, because I have to make you see the truth. That’s how serious this is.”

  We entered the room and I switched on a couple of lights. Once I could see well enough, I turned on both sets of microphone receivers, hooking them up to the speakers like I had seen the engineer do a hundred times.

  Using some of the special tape that was used to fix the microphones to just below our hairlines, I fixed both types on to Danny, who submitted despite his anger. Standing close, we looked at each other for a second in the half light and I couldn’t help thinking that the moment could have been so different. But it was too late to turn back now.

  “This is ridiculous,” he said.

  “Is it?” I asked him, going to the control panel. “Then why are you here? You must know that something isn’t quite right or you wouldn’t have come with me.” I turned up one of the microphones.

  “This is the Auto-tune Miracle Microphone,” I told him. “Go on, sing.”

  His eyes flashing, Danny let rip a few lines from, ‘Love Gets it Wrong Every Time.’

  I got the distinct impression that he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t worry about that now. I had to stay focused.

  “That sounded really good,” I told him. “Now I’m turning the Auto-tune off, and the regular microphone on. Try again.”

  Danny only managed to sing a few words before stuttering to a stop. “It’s broken,” he said, ripping the mic off.

  “It’s not, Danny.” I picked it up and sang a few bars into it. My voice sounded exactly like it always did.

  Danny bent his head and crossed his arms across his chest for a moment, before looking up at me. “They’ve lied to me,” he said quietly. “Made a right fool of me and manipulated me.”

  “Yes,” I said reluctantly.

  “And you’ve known for weeks, Ruby,” he continued accusingly. “You’ve known all this time and you didn’t tell me. I bet you thought it was hilarious that I was making such a fool of myself.”

  “Danny please – it’s not like that!” I protested. “I did try and tell you, but you got the wrong end of the stick and then we started to be friends again I didn’t want us falling out again.”

  “So why are you telling me now?” Danny asked me. “Why couldn’t you wait until the show was finished.”

  “Because you and Jade have got parts in a show that you don’t really deserve and people like Nydia are missing out. Besides, if I didn’t tell you Dakshima was planning to turn off your microphones during your first duet, and then the whole world would have found out the truth in the worst possible way. And I couldn’t let that happen to you, or Jade – even if you both hate me for it.”

  “You’re both crazy!” Danny exclaimed angrily.

  “We’re not. We’re just trying to do the right thing. Can’t you see that?”

  “No, but I am tone deaf apparently,” Danny said bitterly. “Look, you can’t tell anyone else about this.”

  “Why not?” I asked him. “Do you still want to go ahead and play Sebastian, even now you know?”

  “No, I’m not a hypocrite and I won’t be pushed around like that by anyone,” Danny said. “But Jade has worked so hard on the show and, I swear to you, she doesn’t know about those microphones either.”

  I laughed out loud. “Of course she does! Look, Danny, I know that Jade has been acting all sweetness and light with you, but that’s all it is – an act. All that rubbish she came out with about auditioning like everyone else, about not wanting any special favours? Her dad made this musical for her; he gave her the lead and the leading man she wanted. You. Of course she knows. It was probably her idea.”

  “That’s rubbish.” Danny was adamant. “I’ve spent a lot of time with her recently and she’s not like you think. You’re…you’re jealous!”

  “Jealous!” I gasped. “How did you work that one out!”

  “Because you’re about to wreck a show that a ton of people have put a load of effort into, just to be spiteful!”

  “I’m not jealous! I just think that the lead parts should go to the right people.”

  “Like you, you mean,” Danny said looking at me so harshly that for a moment I couldn’t speak.

  “No, Danny,” I said. “Like Nydia and that other boy for the live final – Callum Thingummy. I just want to do what’s right. And I’m going round to Jade’s house to talk to her now. If you don’t want to come with me, that’s up to you.”

  “Oh, I’m coming,” Danny said. “If Jade has to know then we’ll tell her together. And I promise, she’ll be just as angry as me.”

  “Fine!” I spat, angry that Danny was being so protective of Jade. “OK, we’ll go and tell, and then she can explain to you how she’s known all along about everything.”

  “Fine!”

  “Good!”

  As we turned off the equipment and I flicked off the lights, my phone rang. I took it out of my pocket and my heart sank further.

  “Hi, Mum,” I said, trying to sound a lot brighter than I felt. “Am I late?”

  “You are an hour late,” Mum replied, her voice a mixture of worry and anger. “Home by 5.30 after school we agreed. When you said you were popping round to Danny’s, you didn’t say you’d be late. Where are you exactly?”

  I bit my lip. I didn’t want to admit that Danny and I had got the bus to other side of London where we were currently wandering around a rehearsal studio without adult supervision.

  “Danny and I are sorting a few things out for tomorrow and we’re just going to see Jade, and then I’ll be back.”

  “Jade Caruso? You don’t even like her, do you?”

  “I know, but I have to go, Mum,” I said. “It’s really important. It’s about the show tomorrow.”

  “In that case you won’t mind me coming to meet you there,” Mum said. “I’ll pick you up and bring you home.”

  “Mum I don’t need you to—”

  “No arguments, Ruby, That’s what’s going to happen,” Mum told me. “See you then.”

  “Right.” I looked at Danny. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Anne-Marie’s house is big and grand, but compared to Mick Caruso’s rock star palace it was practically a bungalow. This place was so big that it didn’t have gardens, it had grounds, complete with a half-mile driveway leading to the grand front door.

  Because we didn’t have much time before my mum turned up, Danny and I got a taxi to Jade’s. But it turned out that we only had enough money to pay the cab driver to take us down about a third of the drive, so we had to jog the rest.

  “I can’t believe you’ve done this to me, Ruby,” Danny puffed bitterly as we approached. “You of all people!”

  “I’m not the one who did it,” I defended myself as Danny rang the bell. “It’s Jade and her dad.”

  “Whatever. You knew and you didn’t
tell me,” Danny said.

  Before I could reply, Jade answered the door, which surprised me because I was expecting some snooty butler.

  “Hi, I saw it was you on the security TV,” she beamed at Danny, before eyeing me distastefully. “What’s she doing here?”

  “She’s told me something pretty radical,” Danny said. “And now she needs to tell you too.”

  “Something radical, hey?” Jade said, waving us into a grand hallway, complete with a huge chandelier dangling above our heads. “Is it that she’s woken up and discovered a dress sense?”

  “Jade,” Danny chided. “You don’t have to act like that around me, or Ruby, OK?”

  Jade’s hard face softened as she looked at Danny and I realised for the first time that she really did like him. I could see by the look on her face that he was more than just a prize to be won. That didn’t exactly make me warm to her.

  “Come through to the den,” Jade said, ignoring me and smiling at Danny. “Dad’s around somewhere, but he never usually bothers me when I’m in there.”

  She led us down some steps to a big pink-painted room containing a huge TV screen, games consoles and several computers. There was thick cream carpet on the floor with big, fat bean bags scattered around.

  “So, what’s this radical news then?” Jade asked me, sinking gracefully into one that was cerise-coloured.

  “Jade, remember that day I told you that I knew your secret, when you freaked and walked out of rehearsal?”

  Jade looked uncomfortable. “No,” she said.

  “Yes, you do. Anyway, I’ve told Danny. Now he knows too.”

  Jade visibly crumpled. “How did you find out?” she asked miserably. Her expression was so different from the one I had expected that for a moment I wondered if I was really talking to Jade’s secret twin, like had once happened to my character in Kensington Heights.

  “You know?” Danny asked her, shocked.

  “Of course I know,” Jade said, looking at him unhappily. “I just don’t know how she knows how terrified I am of walking out on that set in front of millions of people and singing. I’m all right in rehearsal, but to actually do it? I just don’t know if I’m ready, Danny. Something doesn’t feel quite right, but how can I explain that to Dad? How can I let everyone else down because of my nerves? I don’t know how I’m going to get through on the night.”