by Katy Cannon
When did he get so perceptive?
“I guess it’s for my dad too. Since he left… I don’t get to see him much. But if I got the part, I’d see him at work every day.” And his new girlfriend, I supposed. But I didn’t think that was going to last long, anyway. Mum was right – this was his midlife crisis. I just wanted him to get over it and remember he had a daughter.
“I get that. I don’t see my mum much these days, either. She always seems to be in surgery… Wait. The audition’s on a Saturday? How are you going to escape Mabel for that? Assuming you get picked, of course.”
“I’ll get picked,” I said breezily, glad the subject had shifted back to a more comfortable zone. “And I’m sure something will turn up.”
Hal flopped on to his back on the grass, one arm over his eyes. “I’m going to end up pretending there’s some vital science trip we both need to go on next weekend, aren’t I?”
I patted his shoulder. “I knew I could count on you. I’ll leave you to figure out the details.”
He shifted his arm so he could peer at me past it. “You know I’m not doing this for you, right?”
“I know, I know,” I said. “It’s all for the love of Alice.”
That made him turn bright red. At least, the parts of his face I could still see. “It’s not… I’m not… We haven’t…”
“Don’t get yourself all worked up, Hal.” I lay down beside him, resting on one elbow, and dropped my voice to a conspiratorial tone. “As it happens, I think the two of you would be a perfect match.” Much better than the Antonio guy she’d been crushing on all summer, given what she’d told me.
“Really?” Hal sat bolt upright. “You do?”
“I do. And what’s more, I think Alice does too.” Well, I thought she would once I convinced her, which was almost the same thing.
Hal blinked at me, obviously stunned into silence by the revelation.
“Just leave the matchmaking to me, Hal. You can focus on setting up my alibi for Saturday.”
He nodded enthusiastically, and I silently thanked Alice for whatever power she held over him. Hal’s crush had definitely made my scheming this summer a lot easier.
“Come on,” I said, jumping to my feet and holding out a hand to pull him up. “Break’s over. Time to get back to work. I still need to find a costume crown for playing the queen.”
ALICE: Good luck with the showcase tomorrow! Or, wait – break a leg. Right?
WILLA: Yeah. Although I’m relying more on talent than luck anyway.
ALICE: And promise me – no more instagram pics.
WILLA: Triple promise.
WILLA: Hal says ‘hi’ btw. He actually blushed when he asked me to tell you.
ALICE: Oh God. Tell me you’re not leading him on?
WILLA: Would I do that?
ALICE: Yes.
ALICE: I mean it, Willa. Do not promise him a date with me, or even hint that I might want to go on one. OK?
WILLA: Yeah, yeah, fine. But I think you’re making a mistake. You two would be a *perfect* match.
ALICE: You mean we’d be a convenient match for your plans.
WILLA: That too…
ALICE: Seriously. He’s a nice guy, but I really don’t think of Hal that way.
ALICE: Like, at all.
The last twenty-four hours before the showcase disappeared in a rush of activity and last minute panic. And then, almost before I knew it, it was Friday afternoon – and time for our showcase. Hal was up in the tech box with Billie, so I was on my own in the wings with the other actors. We all watched as Vincent did a big welcome speech for all the parents and family who’d come to watch us. I couldn’t invite Mabel, of course, but it didn’t matter. The only person who I cared about was out there in the audience somewhere – the Heatherside casting agent.
“You better not screw this up for me, Willa,” Tuppence whispered in my ear. I tried to look behind me without actually moving, and spotted Ryan beside her.
“I’m more concerned about you forgetting your lines again like you did in the tech this morning,” I murmured back. “Or Ryan spotting a mirror somewhere and being too taken in by his own image to act at all.”
I was sure Tuppence had more to say to me, but then the audience were applauding, the curtain was opening, and it was, officially, show time.
Ninety minutes later it was all over.
“You did it!” Hal came racing backstage and threw his arms round me in a huge hug, before I’d even got my costume crown off. Then he let go and shoved a piece of paper in my face. “The casting agent gave Vincent a list of names she wants to see tomorrow and you’re on it! Billie sent me to pin it up on the board for you all.”
“Let me see that!” Tuppence pushed past the rest of the kids crowding around to snatch the paper from Hal’s hand. But not before I’d read my name at the top of it.
I’d done it. I’d actually done it. Deep down, I wasn’t sure I’d truly believed I could pull it off. But I had.
Sinking down to sit on the edge of a trunk full of costumes in the dressing room, I barely heard Tuppence’s nasal tones reading out the three other names of people who’d been called back – herself, of course, and Ryan and Bethany.
Instead, I pulled my phone from my pocket and started a new text to Alice to tell her the good news.
“We should have a photo!” Tuppence squealed. “The four of us!” Apparently she’d forgotten her concerns about me wrecking things for her, now everything had worked out well.
Before I could object, she grabbed the phone from my hand and tossed it to Hal, who fumbled then caught it. “OK, then. Smile.”
He lifted the phone and went to press the home button to switch it over to camera. And it was then, as I watched his face fall, that I realized something terrible.
My text conversation with Alice from the night before, all about Hal, was still on the screen.
“Wait!” I jumped forwards to try to grab it from him, but he held it up higher, where I couldn’t reach. I could see him mouthing the words as he read, though, and remembered everything I’d written. Everything Alice had written.
Suddenly, his crush didn’t seem so funny any more.
“Are we going to take this photo or not?” Tuppence snapped.
Hal looked down at me. “Why not? You all deserve each other.” He flipped my phone to camera, and took a shot of the four of us – Tuppence and Ryan smiling brightly, Bethany looking confused, and me staring pleadingly at him.
Then he threw the phone back to me, picked up his bag, and walked out without another word.
I’d really, really screwed this up.
And I had no idea how to fix it.
“Are you going to go after him?” Bethany asked, and I jerked into action.
“Go after him. Yes.” Leaving the others setting up for the after-show party, I dashed down the stairs to the stage door, hoping I could catch him.
But when I got there, Billie stood in front of the door, blocking my way.
“He doesn’t want to speak to you, Willa,” she said softly. “I don’t know what happened between you two, but he asked me to make sure you didn’t follow him.”
“I need… I need to apologize. Or explain.” I darted to one side to try to get past her, but Billie was quicker than me.
“Leave it until tomorrow,” Billie advised. “Let him calm down a bit first. Besides, don’t you have a party to get to? I heard there’s plenty to celebrate.”
“I guess.” We’d told Mabel there was a get-together for all the science camp people tonight, so she wasn’t expecting me home until later.
“Just don’t party too hard. You’ve got the audition tomorrow, remember.”
As if I was likely to forget.
She handed me an envelope with my name on, and I opened it to find all the instructions for the audition the next day. I shoved it into my bag to look at later.
I trudged back up the stairs to where I could hear the others celebrating – not just the
four of us who’d been invited to the audition, but all of us. Our showcase had been a huge success. Hardly anything had gone wrong, and the audience seemed to have enjoyed it. We all deserved to celebrate our two weeks at the theatre, especially since it might be the last time some of us ever saw each other.
“Willa! Get in here!” Daisy – who’d been in my group when I was directing, and asked for my help with her own showcase piece – appeared in the doorway at the top of the stairs, beckoning me up. “Come on! We’re celebrating!”
Billie was right. I should enjoy the party. I’d worked hard for this, I deserved to celebrate. Even if Hal was upset about a few stupid text messages.
By the time I reached Daisy at the top of the stairs, I’d managed to convince myself that Hal was overreacting and that it would all be fine tomorrow.
I woke a few days later to my phone ringing – and saw Dad’s picture on the screen. He must be on shore again for a day or two if he was video calling. I’d have to warn Willa.
Quickly, I scrambled to sit up and angle my phone so that all he could see behind me was the same blank wall. Then I pressed Answer.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Hi, Starfish!”
Even thousands of miles away, Dad could still make me smile. “You haven’t called me that in years.”
“I know. But I saw a particularly beautiful one yesterday morning and it reminded me of you.”
“It’s still going well, then?”
Lots of enthusiastic nodding. Dad looked tanned, relaxed, happy even.
“But never mind me! How’s it going there? In London. And … and with Mabel.”
There was something in his voice. Or maybe his face. A hopefulness I hadn’t seen before.
“It’s fine.” I thought back to Willa’s texts about the things she’d been doing in London. “Mabel seems … really nice, actually.”
Relief flooded Dad’s face. “Oh, I’m so glad you think so, Alice. She is something really special, isn’t she?”
Oh no.
Suddenly, the truth hit me. Dad wasn’t just trialling Mabel out because he thought I needed a woman’s influence. She wasn’t just an old friend who’d become something more because I needed a mother. He really liked her.
Maybe even loved her.
I’d assumed that Dad had started dating again for my benefit. But suddenly, I saw there was a lot more to it.
“She’s great,” I said, forcing a smile. “So, um, do you expect we’ll be seeing a lot of her when you get back?”
Please say no. Please say no.
Because if he didn’t, all our plans were ruined. We only had another week of the swap left. After that…
“I hope so,” Dad said. “But maybe it’s something we can talk about when I’m home, yeah? I don’t want to rush you into anything.”
Which meant there was definitely something to be rushed into.
Now what did I do?
Willa had been supposed to be putting Mabel off the idea of being a step-mother altogether – but her texts from London seemed to show them getting on better than I’d imagined. Did I ask her to step up the annoyance factor like we’d planned? Or would that break my dad’s heart?
I couldn’t do that.
Although if I didn’t… Some day, somehow, my dad was going to find out the truth about my summer. And so was Mabel.
What would happen then?
Dad and I chatted for a bit longer, even though my attention was only half on the conversation. The minute he hung up I sent Willa a quick message to update her on everything. Then I lay back on the bed and tried to figure out what to do next.
When there’s too many problems to deal with, there’s only one thing to do.
I knew Mum’s voice wasn’t really floating in on the breeze through the window. But I could hear her so clearly in my head. I smiled to myself. One thing I hadn’t let go into the flow of the waterfall, after all.
Take one thing at a time. What can you do right now to make something, anything, better?
I couldn’t do anything about Dad or Mabel, and Willa hadn’t even answered my text yet.
But I was still in Italy, having the summer of my life, with people I cared about. And just for once, I was going to live in the moment and do what I loved.
I was going to go and see the sea.
We’d been planning to go to the beach for the day ever since I arrived in Italy, but there were so many other things to do – around the farm, in the village, not to mention our trek out to the waterfall – that we hadn’t made it yet.
Well, maybe today was the day.
Jumping up from the bed, I went to ask Luca and Rosa if they wanted to go to the beach.
Everything else would just have to wait.
It was nearly eleven before the party broke up – and I was determined to stay until the end. People congratulated me, or thanked me for my help with their showcase scenes, and I smiled and smiled and took all the praise. I’m not entirely sure what I thought I was proving, but I was definitely going to prove it. I should have been prepping for the audition the next day, but I wasn’t thinking about that. Or Hal, or Mabel, or Alice, or anything or anybody except myself.
I’d spent too much time being Alice this summer already. Willa would stay and party.
Eventually, Vincent and Billie ushered us all out of the theatre, checking that we all had our phones with us, and a plan for getting safely home. Since mine was supposed to be going home with Hal, I had to come up with a quick lie, but with my acting skills of course they believed me.
Most people’s parents had gone out for dinner while we celebrated, then had returned to collect their offspring. They all seemed to disappear into the night before I’d even figured out where I was going. Everything looked different at night.
With Hal already gone, I walked to the Tube on my own, suddenly very aware of how dark the night was, despite the street lights. I’d expected the streets to be empty, but they weren’t, and every passing figure made me tense up.
I shouldn’t be out here alone, I realized.
I wasn’t scared, exactly. OK, fine, maybe I was, a little bit.
I pulled my light summer jacket tight round me, wishing I had the leather one Alice had taken to Italy with her. Even summer evenings in London could get chilly, and it had been a grey day. I looked up at the darkened sky, wondering if it was going to rain – which was why I didn’t see the figure approaching from the side until it was too late.
Suddenly, my bag was wrenched from my shoulder, the straps scratching my neck as the thief grabbed it and yanked it away.
“Hey!” I spun round, trying to grab it back, but my hands closed on empty air. They were already halfway down the street before I even thought to follow. I chased them for a few seconds, before realizing that chasing a bag snatcher probably wasn’t the best idea, and stopped.
I’d never find them now anyway. My bag – along with my purse, my phone, my keys and my Oyster card – was gone.
I started retracing my steps, trying to stave off the panic that was settling in my chest. I’d head back to the theatre. Maybe Billie and Vincent would still be there, and they could help me.
“I’ll be fine,” I whispered to myself. “I made it to London this summer on my own. I can figure this out too.”
But when I got to the Old Row Theatre, it was in darkness, the doors firmly locked. Now what?
Slow down and take deep breaths. Alice’s advice on what to do when freaking out floated into my head.
I wanted to call Hal. Or Alice. Or Mabel. Or even my mum.
I wanted someone else to tell me what to do for once, even though I’d spent my whole summer trying to stop them doing just that.
I didn’t have Mabel or Hal’s number now my phone was gone, and there was no one else I could call in London. And apart from Alice and Hal – and Billie, sort of – nobody else even knew that Willa Andrews was in the country.
If I went missing, they wouldn’t even know to look for me
. They’d be looking for Alice Wright.
That stopped the giggling.
I dropped down to sit on the steps of the theatre, the full horror of my situation sinking in at last.
I wanted Mabel. I wanted to go home.
I don’t know how long I sat there before I heard someone ask, “Are you OK, miss?” but it was long enough for me to get chilled to the bone.
I looked up into the face of a policewoman, and almost cried with relief.
“Could you help me get home?”
Riding in a police car through London at night was kind of fun. Finding Mabel waiting up for me wasn’t.
“Oh, thank God you’re OK,” she said, folding me into a hug, as the policewoman left, having explained the situation to Mabel. “I was so worried. And how terrifying! Having your bag snatched in the street like that!”
“I was fine.” I wriggled out of her arms. “I was with Hal, but he had to go home a little bit early. But you know, he left me with the other science camp guys.”
At that, Mabel stopped, and took a step back, looking at me with raised eyebrows.
“Alice, I called Hal three hours ago looking for you. He said he hadn’t seen you since seven thirty. He’s been calling every half-hour to check if you’re back yet. In fact, I should let him know you’re safe.”
Even furious with me, Hal had worried about me. Even though I’d lied to him about Alice, and used him all summer to get what I wanted.
“So.” Mabel put her phone down and stared at me. “Do you want to tell me where you really were tonight?”
I winced, and looked down at my feet. There were too many lies to unpick and I was running out of energy for coming up with new ones…
Mabel sighed. “I think we should talk about this tomorrow. After we’ve both had some sleep.”
“Mabel, I’m—”
“Bed, Alice,” she said, exhaustion in her voice. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
I woke up late the next day. Washing and dressing quickly, I tiptoed down the stairs – if Mabel was working, I really didn’t want to disturb her. I wasn’t exactly desperate for our talk.
