Starring Meg

by Mac a'Bháird, Natasha;

  Miss Brennan’s expression didn’t change. ‘That’s very nice I’m sure, but that doesn’t explain why my class are out in the yard five minutes after the bell has gone. Please try to remember you’re the oldest class in the school and we expect you to set a good example to the younger children. What would the junior infants think if they saw sixth class swarming around like a colony of demented wasps instead of lining up neatly?’

  ‘Sorry, Miss,’ Isabel murmured, moving swiftly back into her place.

  Miss Brennan waited until everyone had lined up behind Tracey, who still hadn’t moved, then she marched to the head of the line herself to lead us into the classroom.

  I wondered for a minute why she hadn’t shown any reaction to what Isabel had told her. Maybe she thought Isabel was making it up? But then it hit me that Mum must have told the school so they would be prepared for something like this. Although none of us could have expected it to happen so soon.

  How had it got out? Surely none of my Star Club friends had said anything, not after me reminding them again. Not after me being so cross when Hannah had almost given it away on the first day. But then I remembered how she had let it slip without meaning to – maybe something like that had happened again?

  I tried to calm myself down, taking some deep breaths as we walked down the corridor. Hannah and Ruby, ignoring the rule about walking in single file, were still closely pressed on either side of me. I found their presence both comforting and worrying. Could I really trust them, or was it one of them who had let me down?

  When we got to the classroom I sank into my seat, trying not to catch anyone’s eye. Beside me, Tracey’s gaze was fixed firmly on the front of the classroom.

  ‘All right class, I think we’ll skip news today and go straight to maths,’ Miss Brennan said, calmly ignoring the groans that followed this. ‘Take out your homework please and we’ll see how you got on.’

  Tracey waited until Miss Brennan’s back was turned as she began working out some of the sums on the white-board. Then she whispered, ‘So it is true then.’

  I didn’t bother going through with the charade of asking what she meant. ‘Yes,’ I said quietly.

  She turned to me with a look of deep hurt in her eyes. ‘But you said it was all a joke about Hollywood.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I wanted to tell you, but Mum insisted we keep it a secret.’

  ‘I felt like an idiot this morning when Isabel asked me if it was true,’ Tracey said in a small, sad voice. ‘I said, “Of course it’s not true because Meg and I are such good friends, she would never have lied to me.”’

  ‘I know, Tracey. I’m really sorry …’

  ‘I told Isabel, “I’ve gone out of my way to be kind to Meg since she moved in, and even though for some reason she doesn’t want to walk to school with me I’ve kept trying to be as helpful as I can. I’ve refused to listen to Hannah when she was saying nasty things about Meg, because she’s my friend.”’

  ‘Tracey …’

  ‘I wish you could have trusted me, Meg,’ she went on quietly. ‘I’d never blab someone’s secrets to the whole class like other people do. I wouldn’t have told anyone if you asked me not to. I thought we were friends.’

  ‘We are,’ I said lamely.

  ‘I hope so,’ Tracey said, her tone suddenly lighter again. ‘I can see that you really need a friend right now, because the people you thought you could trust – Hannah and the others – have let you down, haven’t they? Telling everyone your secret?’

  I said nothing. I didn’t know what to think any more.

  At break time, the second Miss Brennan said we could go outside, I bolted for the door before anyone else had even left their seat. I raced down the corridor, completely ignoring the rule about no running indoors. I had to get outside before anyone else could see where I was going.

  Our school has three different yards – one for the three youngest classes, one for the three middle classes, and the smallest one for the two oldest classes. But I didn’t go to the fifth and sixth class yard as usual. I’d seen something in the junior yard that I’d meant to explore – a little gap in the hedge that made me think of the secret passage into Hannah’s garden. I didn’t know if it led anywhere, but this seemed like a good time to find out.

  I reached the hedge just before the first of the junior and senior infants got into their yard and squeezed my way through. It was a lot tighter than the way into Hannah’s garden, which had gotten wider with all our trips back and forth. But that meant no one else had been through here recently, which was just what I wanted.

  On the other side of the hedge was the high wall that surrounded the school – and that was it. Just a narrow space in between – no magic door to the other side, no secret garden to escape to. But if I’d timed it right, and I was pretty sure that I had, then no one knew I was here. And that was all I needed.

  An old packing crate, probably thrown in behind the hedge after some school fête and then forgotten about, made a seat. Not very comfortable, but it would do. Safe at last from all those prying eyes that I’d felt watching me in the classroom all morning, I felt the tears starting to flow down my cheeks. Sitting down, I took out Sadie’s locket and let the chain run through my fingers, pretending she was beside me to make me feel better.

  The yard was filling up with kids now, the shouts and cries sounding slightly muffled through the hedge, games of catch being started and clamouring to other kids to join in. I stayed where I was, the hedge a solid green barrier between the real world and me.

  ‘Meg!’ That sounded like Ruby’s voice. Was she in the junior yard? How did they know I was here? I didn’t answer. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to get warm. In my rush I hadn’t brought my jacket and it was starting to feel a bit chilly.

  ‘Meg, where are you? Meg!’

  Now it was Hannah. I stayed quiet. They couldn’t know where I was – maybe they would give up and go away. I didn’t want to talk to anyone.

  Suddenly Laura’s head appeared through the hedge right beside me. I gasped in fright.

  ‘You guys, she’s here!’ Laura squeezed herself in and sat down beside me, putting her arm around me.

  Next moment, Ruby appeared, and by the time Hannah had squished in too the space felt narrower than ever.

  In spite of myself, I laughed. ‘Well, this is cosy,’ I said. ‘So much for finding a top secret hideaway. How did you find me?’

  ‘We knew you wouldn’t have left the school, so we just kept looking,’ Laura said. ‘Then I saw the gap in the hedge.’

  ‘I hope no one else followed you,’ I said.

  ‘No, I don’t think so, it’s only the small kids out there,’ Hannah said. ‘Meg, are you OK? We’re worried about you.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I just don’t want to deal with all this. I can’t face the attention.’

  ‘It’ll all be forgotten soon,’ Laura said. ‘It’s just one of those things, everyone’s so excited today, but in a few days they’ll have moved on to something else.’

  ‘Do you really think so?’ I asked, trying to wipe away my tears with my sleeve. Hannah fished around in her pocket and found me a tissue which I gratefully accepted.

  ‘Definitely,’ Hannah said. ‘It’s like when Aaron won a trip to see an Ireland match and the whole class was talking about it, but by the next day it was old news.’

  I sniffed and wiped my nose with the tissue. No one said anything for a minute. Then I said, quietly but feeling determined to ask, ‘How do you think people found out, anyway? You guys didn’t say anything?’

  ‘No, of course we didn’t,’ Ruby said at once. ‘We promised we wouldn’t, Meg, and we didn’t.’

  She looked around at the other two, who were shaking their heads vigorously. Hannah was blushing again but she said, ‘I swear I didn’t, Meg. I’ve been so careful ever since I made that mistake on the first day of school. I even warned my parents not to say anything – that’s why I was so embarrass
ed when my dad started going on about the acting dynasty the other day.’

  ‘Oh, that.’ I thought back to what Hannah’s dad had said when I called for her. I’d been too busy feeling jealous of how interested he was in our show to really take much notice of what he’d said about my family.

  ‘It’s probably just one of those small town things, Meg,’ Laura said. ‘People must know your granny and grandad, and maybe they even saw your mum in the theatre when she used to live in Ireland, before you came back this time I mean. You couldn’t have kept it a secret forever in a place like Carrickbeg.’

  ‘That’s true,’ I admitted. ‘I just thought with having a different surname from my mum’s family people mightn’t make the connection right away. Howard is my dad’s surname, of course, and he’s not famous. Not yet anyway!’

  ‘We’re just going to have to tell people to stop making morons of themselves,’ Hannah said decisively. ‘Flocking around you like you’re some kind of superstar! It’s ridiculous.’

  ‘Or maybe you should just try to get used to it!’ Laura said. ‘I mean, when Star Club gets famous, we’re all going to be surrounded by reporters every time we walk out the door! We’ll be like that Daisy person Maeve was talking about.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Ruby giggled. ‘We’ll have to have our hair and make-up done just to pop down to the shops.’

  ‘Yes, and everyone’s going to want to get our autographs, and take selfies with us,’ Hannah said. ‘We should really start practising our poses now. Which do you think is my best angle?’

  The girls started messing around, posing in different positions, and making me laugh. I felt bad for even thinking one of them could have told people about my parents when they’d promised not to. Laura was probably right – it was just a small town thing.

  All of a sudden I realised that everything had gone quiet in the yard outside the hedge. I parted a few branches and peeped out. The yard was empty!

  ‘We must have missed the bell,’ I said. ‘I’m so sorry, I’ll have got you all in trouble.’

  ‘This was more important,’ Laura said at once.

  ‘I’m sure Miss Brennan will understand,’ Hannah said.

  Even Ruby, who hates getting into trouble, was nodding.

  ‘We’d better go,’ I said. ‘Do I look like I’ve been crying?’

  ‘No,’ said Hannah and Ruby together, but Laura said, ‘Yes’ and then the other two admitted that yes I did a bit.

  ‘You can splash your face with water when we get in,’ Hannah said.

  She led the way out. We ran as quickly as we could through the infant yard, not looking to see if anyone was watching us out the classroom windows. The others waited while I ducked into the bathroom to wash my face. I examined my eyes in the mirror. Still a bit red, but they’d have to do. I grabbed some toilet paper and stuffed it up my sleeve in case I needed it, then we hurried down the corridor to our classroom.

  I waited for Miss Brennan to start scolding, prepared to take the blame and defend my three friends who were just looking after me. But to all of our surprise Miss Brennan just said, ‘Into your places quickly, girls, and take out your history copies please. We’re doing some brainstorming for our School Centenary projects.’

  We didn’t need to be told twice. I wondered what was going on. Did Miss Brennan realise I just needed to get away for a few minutes? I looked up at her as she passed by my desk, checking over everyone’s work, and she gave me the tiniest wink.

  * * *

  After school, I was on my way out the side door with Hannah and Ruby when I realised I’d forgotten the book I needed for my project.

  ‘I’d better go back and get it,’ I said. ‘Otherwise I won’t be able to do my homework.’

  ‘We’ll wait for you,’ Hannah said.

  ‘No, you guys go on,’ I told her, knowing Hannah’s mum would want her home to help out.

  I didn’t wait for her to answer, turning quickly back towards our classroom. I knew Miss Brennan wouldn’t be there, as she had headed towards the office after seeing us out, but the classroom would still be open because she’d asked Tracey and Jamie to stay behind and put away the art things. I should be able to grab my book quickly and maybe even catch up with the others.

  Outside the classroom door, I caught the sound of voices. I was about to go in, but I stopped dead when I heard my own name.

  ‘So you knew about Meg’s family already then?’ That was Jamie’s voice.

  ‘Of course,’ Tracey said. ‘Meg tells me everything.’

  ‘But I thought I heard you saying you were upset she hadn’t told you.’

  Tracey laughed. ‘No, you must have misunderstood. Of course I knew already. I’ve been over to Meg’s house loads of times, and her mum is always so nice to me. She’s not like you’d imagine a famous actress to be, you know? She’s so friendly and down to earth. And her dad is great fun, always goofing around. They’re so glad Meg and I are friends. They’re planning on inviting me to their next film premiere. It would be nice company for Meg to have someone her own age there. That’s what her mum said, anyway.’

  ‘Wow, lucky you.’ Jamie seemed to be hanging on her every word.

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could Tracey make up all that stuff? Why would she lie like that?

  ‘Anyway, we’d better get going, that’s everything done now,’ Tracey said.

  Not wanting her to know I’d overheard, I turned and ran. My project could wait. This was all just too weird.

  I’d never been so glad it was Friday. It was such a relief to forget all about school for a while and just hang out with my Star Club friends. We all met up in my house to have another rehearsal.

  Mum came out to the garden to bring us all some snacks. ‘Here you go, darlings! I’m sure you must be absolutely starving. I know I always feel like I could eat an elephant after a tough rehearsal.’

  ‘You know, your mum is really more like a cool auntie than a mum,’ Laura said thoughtfully, after Mum had gone. ‘I think I’m going to model Auntie Faye on her. You don’t mind, do you, Meg?’

  ‘No,’ I said, laughing. ‘This could be interesting!’

  The rehearsal went well.

  ‘That was good, wasn’t it?’ I said to Hannah as we were saying goodbye. ‘I feel like it’s starting to come together now.’

  ‘Thank goodness, too,’ Hannah said. ‘Miss Brennan says she wants to see what we’ve done on Monday.’

  ‘Did she? I didn’t hear her. Maybe it was when she sent me out on a message,’ I said, remembering that she’d given me a note to bring down to the secretary’s office.

  ‘It must have been,’ Hannah said. ‘I think she’s going to choose the group to represent the class on Monday.’

  ‘Really?’ I asked, my stomach flipping over. This was it – I was just going to have to go over and tell Tracey now. Even if she was being weird, it wasn’t fair to have her still planning her piece around me.

  ‘Don’t look so nervous!’ Hannah said, misunderstanding my worry. ‘We’re doing really well now. I’m sure she’s going to pick us!’

  ‘Fingers crossed!’ I said, forcing myself to smile.

  I waited until they’d all gone, then, not wanting to give myself time to chicken out, I went straight over to Tracey’s house and rang her doorbell.

  Tracey opened the door, giving me one of her beaming smiles, which I noticed never seemed to quite reach her eyes. ‘Meg! I was just talking to Jamie about the sketch earlier. We’re really going to need to have a rehearsal with you as soon as possible!’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Tracey,’ I said, feeling worse than ever. ‘I should have told you earlier. I said I’d do it with some of the other girls. Do you think you and Jamie can manage without me?’

  Tracey’s smile disappeared and for a moment quite a nasty look came into her eyes. But before I even had time to react she simply looked hurt, just like she had that morning. ‘Well, I suppose we’ll have to, won’t we? I wish you’
d told me sooner though – we were counting on you.’

  ‘Sorry,’ I said again. ‘I know I should have.’

  ‘Never mind,’ Tracey said. ‘I’m sure we’ll get to do another project together. Well, I’d better go. Mum’s just putting out dinner.’

  ‘OK – have a nice weekend,’ I said, but Tracey had already closed the door.

  * * *

  By Monday everyone seemed to be pretty much over the news about Mum and Dad. I did have a couple of kids from fourth class ask me if I knew Katy Perry, but that was about it.

  Miss Brennan got everyone to do their sketches for the whole class. Everyone had chosen such different topics, it made for interesting viewing to see what they’d all come up with. Rilwan, whose family comes from Nigeria, had got some of his friends to do a sketch with him based on a Nigerian legend. They’d even got some traditional costumes – they looked fantastic. Sean played the guitar and he and his friends had put some music into their piece, which made it stand out. I didn’t like Tracey and Jamie’s piece very much, though. They did the X Factor sketch Tracey had been planning – they skipped the bit Tracey had wanted me to do, with the wannabe pop star singing really badly, and just went straight to the judges’ comments. That could have worked fine, but they really didn’t seem to have given the dialogue a lot of thought. I knew they thought they were being funny with all their mean comments about the singer, but it just came across as boring and repetitive. I felt a bit bad though – maybe if I’d joined in we could have made it better. Then I remembered all the mad things Tracey had told Jamie about me, and stopped feeling guilty.

  Isabel and Aoife’s sketch was especially good – they had chosen to act a piece about children coming to Carrickbeg National School when it first opened a hundred years ago. I was sure Miss Brennan would pick them because of the centenary theme – but I was wrong.

  ‘Well, you were all absolutely wonderful, but we can only have one winner – or one group, I should say,’ Miss Brennan said. ‘The piece which will represent our class at the School Centenary next week is – Cinderella!’