Maya's Secret

by Holly Webb

  “And she was almost the best,” Poppy giggled. “She’s so cute, she was strutting up and down the hall!”

  “Ali…?” Mr Finlay asked, raising his eyebrows.

  Izzy sighed. “We had to let her. And Lucy, and Elspeth. They were good,” she added glumly.

  “The first rehearsal’s at lunch time today,” Maya told him. “Do you think it’s OK if we chalk a catwalk on the hall floor? If we wipe it off afterwards? Mr Sampson says he’ll put the stage blocks up for us on the day before the show, so we can have a rehearsal on them, but he can’t keep taking them up and down.”

  Mr Finlay grinned. “I should think that bit of floor will be the cleanest it’s ever been. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

  At lunch time the girls hurried over to the hall to arrange things before the rehearsal. For the real show, Mr Finlay would play the music they’d chosen over the proper speakers, but for today they’d agreed to use Maya’s iPod – she had a little set of speakers that her dad had given her.

  Emily had brought some chalk from home, and they put out chairs round the catwalk to give the feel of an audience.

  “I thought there was going to be a proper catwalk.” Ali stalked in, eyeing the chalk lines snottily.

  “There will be on the night,” Maya told her, resisting the urge to snap.

  “It’s hardly worth rehearsing, without a real catwalk,” Lucy agreed, folding her arms, and scuffing at the chalk with her toe.

  “Go away then. The rest of the models can just do another outfit each.”

  Maya, Poppy and Emily stared sideways at Izzy, trying not to look too shocked.

  “Don’t talk to me like that—” Ali started to say, but then the door banged as Miss Grace hurried in, followed by the other models. “Sorry I’m late, girls!” She noted Ali and Izzy facing up to each other, and frowned a little. “Is everything all right?”

  “Is it?” Izzy snapped at Ali.

  “Miss Grace, we haven’t got a proper catwalk, it’s really stupid…” Ali moaned.

  “Of course you haven’t, this is just a practice. Don’t be silly, Ali. Right, Izzy, you’re in charge, I’m only here to make sure no one falls off the imaginary catwalk.” Miss Grace sat down in the audience, and beamed at Izzy.

  Izzy held out her list in a slightly shaky hand. “OK. Emily’s going to be in charge backstage on the night, and the running order goes like this – we start off with Poppy and Maya introducing the whole show, and explaining about Fairtrade clothes. They’ll tell everyone about the campaign to have Fairtrade uniform right at the end, and then the fashion show starts. Lara, you come out first, wearing your school uniform, but with one of the new sweatshirts we’re getting sent.” Lara was the little girl from Reception. Both the companies had said they’d be sending a small sweatshirt. “And James will be with you – Emily’s brother, you know?”

  Lara looked a bit horrified, and so did Miss Grace.

  “I’ve bribed him,” Emily said hurriedly. “And he’s only in this bit. We just need a boy to show the uniform off. If he doesn’t mess up, he gets my week’s sweets. None of the other boys wanted to do it. We did try…”

  “So you have to remember to come in your school dress on the night, OK?” Izzy reminded Lara. “And everybody else, we’ll do you a list of anything you might need to bring. Hairbands and stuff. Different shoes. We’ll give it to you at next week’s rehearsal.”

  “Boring…” Lucy muttered to Ali, and Ali and Elspeth sighed loudly.

  “Just put the music on,” Emily muttered to Maya. “Then maybe they’ll shut up.”

  Maya fiddled with the iPod, and set the music going. She just hoped they’d managed to get things to about the right length. They’d practised walking like models, and timed each other, and then picked all their favourite songs.

  “OK, Lara and James first. Walk slowly down – smile! Twirl – and back up,” Izzy yelled over the music.

  Emily hovered at the other end of the catwalk with the list Tara had emailed them. When they met up at the shop at the weekend, she’d shown them the outfit ideas she was suggesting, although she still had to make the final choices, and add the accessories. “Ali and Elspeth in jeans next. Go! Oi, not you, Lucy…” She hauled Lucy back. “I’ll tell you when to go!”

  They went all through the running order, and the girls’ show ended with all the models posed at the end of the catwalk together (not James, as he’d refused to go on twice without double the sweets). Then the models from the sixth-form college would come on. Tara’s daughter was rehearsing them at the college. They were all going to pose again together at the very end, but rehearsing that would have to wait.

  “How did it look?” Izzy asked Maya and Poppy anxiously.

  “Brilliant – except we’ve still got two songs left from the girls’ bit. Either they need to walk slower, or we’d better cut some out.”

  “I wouldn’t cut any,” Emily called. “They’ve got to change, remember. I bet there might be some places where we’re slow going on.”

  “When do we get to see the clothes?” Lucy asked.

  “Not until the day before,” Maya told her. “Tara, from the shop, she’s going to bring them for the rehearsal after school on the Monday. We’ll check everything fits, and you can practise changing. That’s going to be in the staffroom, and Mrs Angel says we can have the display screens to go between the staff room and the end of the catwalk, like a backstage area. That all gets set up on Monday afternoon, and then Tuesday afternoon there’s the final rehearsal. Oh, and don’t forget to buy tickets,” Maya reminded them.

  “But we get free tickets, don’t we?” Ali demanded.

  “You don’t need a ticket, you’re in it,” Maya pointed out.

  “For our parents!” Ali snapped back. “Performers get free tickets.”

  “No.” Maya rolled her eyes sideways at Emily and Poppy and Izzy, in a “help me!” look.

  “Since when?” Emily asked. “We don’t for school plays. And this is for charity. You need to buy tickets.”

  Ali heaved a massive sigh. “I don’t know why I’m bothering,” she muttered. But it was obvious she wasn’t going to walk out. She’d enjoyed prancing down the catwalk too much.

  “We really need to sell some more tickets,” Emily muttered, as they walked back to the classroom to bolt down their lunch before the end of the break.

  “I know. I’m doing my best,” Maya said apologetically.

  “It’s just going to look so stupid with hardly anyone there!” Emily scowled.

  “Emily! I can’t exactly drag people off the street, you know!”

  “Hey, calm down.” Poppy put a hand on Maya’s arm.

  “She can calm down! I’m doing my best.” Maya felt like crying. They were all working so hard – she had been up till eleven last night, working on the presentation, after she’d told Anna she was going to bed. Why did Emily have to have a go at her?

  “Well, maybe that’s just not good enough!” Emily snapped. “I’ve had two extra rehearsals for the dance group this week. I was finishing my homework on the bus this morning.”

  “I know you were, I told you all the answers!” Maya cried furiously.

  Emily humphed, but it was true. “If it was in the paper, we’d have sold lots of tickets,” she muttered accusingly.

  “I emailed them twice, and I phoned,” Maya hissed. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “She’s doing her best,” Izzy began, but Maya was feeling so upset now that Izzy didn’t really sound as though she meant it.

  “Fine,” she spat. “You do it! This was my idea in the first place, don’t you think I want it to work?” She stormed off back to the classroom, but she didn’t bother getting her lunch, just stashed her iPod in her locker, and shot out to the corridor, barging past Emily and the others coming in. Then she hid in the girls’ loos until the end of lunch, trying to cry without making herself look like she had. It hadn’t worked very well, she realised gloomily, as the bell went and sh
e checked herself in the mirror on the way back to class.

  Emily, Poppy and Izzy were huddled up muttering to each other as she walked in. Poppy smiled at her worriedly, and tried to say something, but Maya didn’t feel like smiling back. She stalked in, and sat down as far round the table from them as she could. And she didn’t talk to them all afternoon, ignoring the whispers and mutterings she could hear from the other side of the table.

  Maya wasn’t sure what she was actually going to do, and an afternoon of science didn’t really help her decide. Was she walking out on the fashion show? She didn’t want to. It had been her idea in the first place! But if the others thought she wasn’t doing her bit, she certainly wasn’t going to beg them to let her back into the gang.

  I won’t… she thought to herself angrily, as she marched out to get on the bus. Why should I? But she could feel the anger slipping away already. She wished she hadn’t lost her temper with Emily so easily. It was because she was tired, and worried too, and Emily had just made her feel worse.

  Emily didn’t sit with her on the bus – of course she didn’t. Maya watched her walk up the aisle and hesitate for just a second, but then she flounced past and sat on her own. Maya spent the whole journey home with her nose pressed against the window so that no one could see she was crying again.

  She opened the front door, and slung her bag on to the floor wearily. Then she realised that the hallway was full of luggage. Of course! Mum and Dad were home!

  She’d only just made the connection when her mum hurtled out of the kitchen and hugged her. It was so nice that Maya started crying all over again.

  “Maya! What’s the matter, sweetie?” Her mum held her at arms’ length, looking at her worriedly. “Did you miss us?”

  “No … I mean, yes. But that’s not why I’m crying,” Maya sniffed.

  “Tell me.” Her mum sat down on the stairs, and pulled Maya down next to her.

  Maya sighed. There was such a lot to explain. She’d spoken to her mum on Skype a few times, and texted her, but she hadn’t told her about the fashion show. Maya wasn’t sure why, although their calls had always been pretty short because Mum was working. Dad had started thinking about some new lyrics while he was out there, and Maya got the feeling he wasn’t listening that hard when they’d talked. And she’d wanted to save it as a surprise. Some surprise. Large tears ran down her nose.

  “The project – remember we talked about it?”

  “Fairtrade?”

  “Uh-huh. We’re doing a fashion show, at school. Two weeks from now, on Tuesday night.”

  “A fashion show?” Her mum sounded confused. “But … how?”

  “I asked Tara, from the Daisy shop, if she’d do it with us. We went to see what it was like, and I thought of the show while we were there. We’re raising money to help build a school in Bangladesh.”

  “But Maya, that’s amazing!”

  Maya sighed. “It is, isn’t it? Except I’ve messed it all up. No one’s coming. We’ve just about sold enough tickets to pay the caretaker to open up the school, but the hall’s going to be almost empty. It’ll look so stupid. Ali and the others will never let us forget it, and Emily and Poppy and Izzy hate me!”

  “OK, slow down.” Her mum was frowning. “Forget Ali, I can’t stand that girl and I’ve never even met her. Why do Emily and the others hate you?”

  “I’m in charge of publicity. Me and Poppy, but Poppy drew the poster and everything. I’m supposed to get us in the paper, and they won’t email me back.”

  “Typical,” her mum muttered. “Local papers are always like that. But that’s not your fault, Maya.”

  “Emily had a go at me about it. She sort of said it was…”

  “How sort of?” Her mum hugged her tighter.

  “I suppose I went off on one a bit…” Maya admitted. “But she was being mean. She does that, though…”

  “Uh-huh. But you still like her.”

  Maya’s bag beeped, and she reached down to grab her phone, frowning at the strange number.

  borrowed mum’s phone 2 say sorry. will u sit with me tmrw? E xxx

  Maya laughed, feeling suddenly shaky with relief. Emily didn’t hate her after all.

  “Is that from Emily?”

  “She says she’s sorry.” Maya leaned against her mum’s shoulder. She was so tired her bones felt wobbly. “I’ll text her back in a minute.” She keyed the message in, her fingers shaking a bit from relief.

  ok. sorry I lost it. M xxx

  “That doesn’t actually solve your problem, though,” her mum said thoughtfully.

  “You really know how to cheer me up…” Maya whispered. But it was true. Even if she and Emily were friends again, they still had an awful lot of tickets to sell.

  “You know I said I’d love to help with your project?” her mum asked quietly.

  “Mmm?”

  “Well, there is one way we could get some publicity pretty easily.”

  Maya blinked at her. And then she realised what her mum was talking about. India Kell just had to say that she was supporting their little fashion show, and it would definitely get in the local paper. It would probably be on the front page.

  “Oh… Would you do that?”

  “Of course I would, if you want me to. I’d love to, Maya, I think it’s brilliant, what you’re doing. It would be such a shame if more people didn’t get to hear about it.” She was silent for a minute. “But it’s just what you didn’t want.”

  Maya nodded. “I know. It wasn’t going to work for much longer, though. I hate not being able to talk about you to my friends. And I really want to be able to have them round.”

  “They’re good enough friends that you don’t mind them knowing, then?”

  “I think so. Even Izzy, and I’ve only really known her a couple of weeks.” Maya slumped forward, leaning her chin on her arms. “It isn’t just them, though. It would mean everybody knows.”

  Her mum sighed. “I know. But it’s your friends that matter, Maya. The important thing is that you know your friends won’t change when you tell them the truth.”

  Maya sniffed. “We might sell out of tickets,” she muttered.

  “If you don’t, I’ll be having words with my agent. So… Yes? I can go and phone her office now if you like. Get a publicist on to it.”

  “OK.” Maya sat up slowly. “I’d better tell the others tomorrow.”

  EIGHT

  Emily climbed on to the bus looking a bit nervous, and she hesitated next to Maya’s seat, as if she wasn’t sure it was OK to sit down.

  Maya patted it. “Come on.”

  “So you’re still talking to me, then?” Emily muttered.

  “If you’re talking to me…”

  “I was being really unfair. I sort of knew it anyway, and then Poppy called me last night. She said you’d been doing loads of work, and I shouldn’t have gone on at you. Anyway, I’m really sorry. And I know it was all your idea. You can’t give up on it, Maya, it’s special.”

  “I know. I don’t want to. I think I’ve sorted out the problem with the tickets, too.” Maya smiled, and then sighed.

  “How?” Emily asked excitedly. “Did you get an answer out of the local paper? Are they going to put it in?”

  “Yeah. Kind of. Do you mind if I wait till we get to school and tell you all in one go? It’s a bit difficult to explain.”

  Emily nodded slowly, and there was an uncomfortable silence for a couple of minutes. “How’s the dancing going?” Maya asked at last.

  “It’s good,” Emily muttered. “Lily and Maisie, you know, the twins in Year Five? They do a ballet duet together, they said did we want them to do it at the show. I said probably. Was that all right?”

  “Sounds good to me.” Maya twirled her hair round her fingers nervously. She really hoped her friends weren’t going to be too weird about her news. She felt odd chatting with Emily the rest of the way to school – they both seemed to be trying too hard, and there were great big gaps, and then
they’d both try to talk at once. It was as though they’d forgotten how to talk to each other properly.

  They hurried off the bus, and Maya hated feeling relieved.

  “So, do you want to find Poppy and Izzy then?” Emily asked uncomfortably.

  “Mm. Sorry, Emily. I know I’m being weird.”

  Emily shrugged, but Maya suspected her feelings were hurt, and she sighed miserably. This was going to be a disaster.

  “You’re talking to each other then?” Poppy asked, smiling with relief, as she and Izzy saw them coming.

  “Um, yes.” Or trying to, anyway, Maya added silently to herself.

  “Maya wants to tell us all something,” Emily muttered. She was obviously trying not to sound grumpy, and Maya grinned at her gratefully.

  Maya perched on the railings outside the main door, and looked round at the others, all staring at her. “I think I’ve sorted the publicity out. I mean, we’re going to get lots of it.”

  “Really? That’s amazing!” Poppy beamed at her. “How?”

  Maya was silent for a moment, eyeing her shoes. Eventually she dragged her eyes up again. “My mum got her agent to call the paper. And the local TV news as well.”

  “Her agent?” Emily repeated.

  “Well, her publicist, I think.”

  “What’s that?” Poppy whispered to Emily, but not quietly enough.

  “It’s someone who makes sure Mum’s in the news enough. And for the right things.”

  “Is your mum an actress?” Izzy asked, frowning.

  Poppy nodded as she finally understood. “Is this why you never talk about her?”

  “Sort of. But she’s not actually an actress, she’s a singer.” Maya took a deep breath. “She doesn’t use my dad’s name, and I do, so her surname isn’t Knight like me. She’s India Kell.”

  All three of them stared at her.

  “You might not have heard of her,” Maya added uncertainly. “She’s a singer…”

  “Of course we’ve heard of her!” Emily snapped. “Your mum’s India Kell? Really? Maya, if you’re having us on, I’m going to kill you.”