by Alesha Dixon
The bus comes to a sudden stop and the doors fling open. My foot is trodden on several more times and someone’s wet umbrella hits Beth’s cheek as people quickly bustle past to get out.
“Well, that’s disgusting,” she comments, wiping the droplets of rain and speckles of dirt off her face. “But at least we have some space now.”
It’s such a popular stop that some seats have become available. Once the doors close and the driver sets off, Beth and I carefully make our way down the bus to two free spaces at the back.
“Lovely.” Beth grimaces, feeling the seats before she plonks herself on one. “They’re soaking wet from people’s coats. Prepare to look as though you’ve peed yourself when you get up.”
“I wish I’d got tickets for Naomi’s concert tonight,” I comment, sitting down next to her. “I was in the queue online for ages.”
“She’ll add another date,” Beth assures me. “We’ll get them next time.”
“I am SO excited for Naomi Starr’s concert tonight!” a voice exclaims loudly from the seats in front of us. “Everyone is going! Our whole crew!”
I hadn’t even noticed Ali sitting in front of us next to Noah. I feel an ache when I see her holding up her phone to show Noah her ticket.
“We’ve got amazing seats too,” she adds, pointing out the row letter to him.
“Cool,” he replies, sounding bored. “I can’t remember which ones are her songs.”
“Oh my god, Noah, her songs are the BEST ones! Don’t worry, you can sit next to me – I know all the lyrics, so I’ll be singing along to every one!”
“Wow, lucky you, Noah,” Beth says under her breath.
I stifle a laugh but Ali heard Beth’s muttering and she swivels round in her seat.
“Oh. It’s you.” She sniffs. “Are you going to the concert tonight?”
“Sadly not,” Beth sighs, while I stare down at my shoes, “so we’ll be missing out on both your and Naomi Starr’s singing.”
“Shame you didn’t get tickets. Have fun sitting alone at home,” Ali beams, flicking her hair over her shoulder smugly. “Oh and Ruth—”
“Her name is Ruby,” Beth corrects, scowling. “You’re in several classes with her.”
Ali ignores her and pulls out an envelope from her bag, handing it to me. “Here.”
I glance at Beth wondering what on earth is going on but she looks as baffled as I feel, so I pull out the thick, black card inside. It’s an invitation.
“Your birthday party?” I ask in awe, staring at the gold lettering and the star decoration around the sides. Beth’s jaw has dropped open. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, it’s the Saturday after the talent show final and the theme is stars,” Ali says excitedly. “I’m obviously going as Naomi Starr.”
I’m lost for words. I can’t believe Ali Carlton is inviting me to her birthday party. I’m never invited to birthday parties, except for Beth’s, and they usually just involve me going round to her house with Daisy to watch movies. Obviously, I’ll be asking Ali if Beth can come too, because I would be terrified of going on my own, but the fact that someone as popular as her has noticed me and wants me to be at her party makes me feel so excited.
Maybe I’m not that invisible after all!
“Wow!” I finally say, gripping the invitation tightly as though it might disappear. “Thank you!”
“Cool.” Ali smiles. “So if you could tell him to get a star-themed costume that would be great.”
I snap my head up. “Him?”
“Yeah, your brother. John. A couple of years above us. He is your brother, right?”
“Um. Yeah. Yeah, John’s my brother.”
“That’s what Charlotte said after we bumped into you at the noticeboard yesterday. So, I figured you could pass on the invitation to him at home or whatever. I was going to try to give it to him today at school but he wasn’t around when I handed them out to his friends. I think one of them said he was writing something up for the paper.” She smiles, tilting her head slightly. “He is so geek chic. It’s adorable. Anyway, if you could give that to him I’d really appreciate it.”
“This invitation is for John,” I say slowly, realization dawning on me. “You . . . you want me to pass it on to John, my brother.”
“Yeah.” She gives me a strange look. “You don’t mind, right?”
Beth shifts uncomfortably in her seat next to me. She knows exactly what’s just gone through my head and I can’t bear that she’s aware of my mistake. My cheeks begin to burn with embarrassment. I’m so stupid. Ali doesn’t even get my name right, so why would she be inviting me to her party? People like me do NOT get invited to Ali Carlton’s parties.
“Yeah, of course,” I croak, shoving the invitation back in its envelope and into my bag. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”
“This is my stop,” Ali announces, getting to her feet. “Come on, Noah. Everyone is meeting at my house so my parents can take us to the concert. We don’t want to be late! This is going to be so much FUN!”
I watch her flounce off the bus, Noah in tow, and put up a pink, glittery umbrella before she links her arm through his and they head off down the road, laughing.
“You OK?” Beth asks gently.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“She did that on purpose,” she says accusingly. “I know she did. She could have said it was for John as soon as she gave it to you, or asked one of his friends to pass it on.”
“It’s fine. I was being stupid.”
“Her party is going to suck anyway. How about the night of her party, we do something really cool? Like, find out where Naomi Starr is going to be and then get a picture with her. Can you imagine Ali’s face if she saw that?”
I smile warmly at her. I don’t deserve Beth.
“That sounds great.” I pull myself to my feet using the handrail as the bus begins to slow to the next stop. “I’m getting off here.”
Beth frowns. “We’re two stops away from home.”
“I’m heading to the library for a bit,” I say, giving her a wave.
“Have fun, nerd!” she calls out after me as I make my way down the bus.
The doors fling open and I step out right into the middle of a deep puddle.
“ARGH!”
I jump on to the pavement but it’s too late. My shoes are sopping wet and the cold water seeps into my socks. I even hear the driver chuckling to himself as the doors close behind me and the bus pulls away. Then, while I’m standing in the pouring rain, I go to get my umbrella and realize I’ve left it on the bus.
“Oh, COME ON!” I yell out to no one before legging it towards the library.
The public library near where I live is my favourite place to go when I’ve had a bad day. It’s so peaceful and quiet, the complete opposite to home. I can think in there. And the librarian, Rose, is really nice and welcoming. She has dark, curly hair and big, round glasses, and always wears brightly coloured scarves.
“Hello, Ruby!” She beams at me as I burst through the door, my hair plastered to my face from the rain. “Oh dear. Forgot your umbrella today? And a coat from the looks of it.”
“I left my umbrella on the bus.”
“Well, you can dry off in here. It’s nice to see you! No one has come in all afternoon. So, how have you been? How’s school?”
I push my hair back from my forehead and come over to her desk, which is a jumble of books and paper.
“Fine, thanks.”
She peers at me through her glasses. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I say, shrugging. “I need a book for my history homework on—”
“Ruby” – she holds up her hand – “something is up, I can tell. You’ve lost your usual . . . spark.”
“I don’t have a spark.”
“Yes, you do! You have a wonderful, bright spark. But you’re trying to hide it today. Why?”
I shake my head at her, smiling. “You’re mad.”
; “Always.” She grins. “Come on, tell me what’s up.”
“It’s nothing, really. Sometimes I feel . . . invisible. My friend, Beth, says I need to have more confidence, but it’s hard to feel confident when people who are in the same class as you can’t even remember your name, right?”
“Yes, it is hard,” Rose agrees. “I wonder whether you need a little help in seeing yourself.”
“Seeing myself? What are you talking about? I can already see myself in a mirror or whatever.”
“Not quite what I meant,” she chuckles, opening one of the desk drawers and pulling out a hardback book. She holds it out to me. “Here.”
I take the book and look at the title on the cover in bold, swirly writing: HOW TO SHINE.
“What is this?” I ask, turning it over to read the back. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“It’s an unusual book I found a long time ago; there aren’t many copies around but I’m lucky enough to have got my hands on two. I found it very helpful and I think you will, too. It’s all about growing in confidence and believing in yourself. Give it a try and let me know what you think of it. Lots of tips and good advice in there.”
“Thanks so much, Rose.” I study the front cover. It looks old and a bit outdated. “You really think reading this will help me?”
“Worth a shot. I found it useful.” She shrugs. “It helped me to see that when you have faith in yourself, anything can happen.”
“Really? Like what?”
Suddenly, the door to the library swings open with such force, it hits the wall with a bang.
A girl marches in wearing large sunglasses, her clothes completely soaked through. I gasp, dropping the book when I look up and see who it is.
Naomi Starr.
CHAPTER SIX
I’m in trouble. Big trouble.
And to make matters worse, I’m completely lost and in some kind of library that smells like dust and looks like it was last decorated in the 1950s.
Ew.
“I need a car,” I inform the woman behind the desk, who is blinking at me through thick-rimmed glasses. “As soon as possible. Thank you.”
There’s a girl standing next to the librarian’s desk staring at me open-mouthed. I pretend not to notice her. She’s clearly star-struck and I have no time for crazy fans right now.
“Excuse me?” the librarian says, raising her eyebrows.
“A car, please. Right away.” I take my sunglasses off to look her right in the eye so she knows that I’m not in the mood for any dawdling.
“I’m afraid this is a library. Not a taxi service. But I can direct you to the nearest bus stop or taxi rank.”
“Look,” I begin, trying to be as patient as possible, “I need a car urgently and I can’t go wandering around or waiting at a bus stop, OK? The paparazzi will be surrounding this place any minute because I saw someone take a photo of me as I got off the bus and, trust me, it never takes them long to track me down once it’s up on social media. I don’t have my phone so I need you to call me a car. Please. It’s an emergency.”
The librarian inhales deeply and then says, “All right, let me see if I can call a local taxi company,” before disappearing into a small office behind her.
The girl in front of the desk slowly bends down to pick up the book that she dropped and then continues to stare at me. I’m used to people going weird around me, so I simply ignore her, focusing instead on how I’m going to get to the car once it arrives without the press getting photos of my hair looking this bad thanks to the pouring rain.
This is a nightmare. I wasn’t lying to the librarian when I said it is an emergency. It really is.
I knew when I woke up this morning that it was going to be a bad day. Mum and I had a huge fight last night when I got back from the spa.
“How COULD you?!” she kept saying over and over. “How could you?”
Like I’d done something really bad. But why was it such a big deal? I proved yesterday morning that I knew the dance steps perfectly, so it’s not like I needed to rehearse any more. And if they weren’t interested in any of my new ideas for performing MY songs, then why was it so important for me to be there? The backing dancers could rehearse without me no problem. I was so angry at her for yelling at me in front of everyone.
“I needed a BREAK!” I told her, storming up the stairs. “Everyone tells me what to do all the time and I felt TRAPPED.”
“Your concert is tomorrow night, Naomi!” she cried back, coming up the stairs after me.
I slammed the bedroom door behind me but she came waltzing in. She has no respect for my privacy.
“You really let me down today. Do you know how worried I was when I didn’t know where you were?”
“Oh please, Mum. I told Kelly to let you know that I was fine and didn’t want to be disturbed.”
“And what about Martin?” she growled, folding her arms.
“What about Martin?”
“He is freaking out, Naomi! He wanted to rehearse all day! What about the dancers? Everyone is terrified about the concert tomorrow! You’re performing in front of thousands of people! You have to be prepared!”
“Mum, you are really disturbing my Zen,” I told her calmly, sitting down on my silk sheets. “Please leave and shut the door behind you.”
She exhaled and then said in a quiet, gentler voice, “It’s a busy time for you right now and I need you to be dedicated. I know it’s hard work – I remember what it was like when I was doing world tours and I felt like I didn’t have time to breathe! But this is what you have to do to succeed in this industry. Please don’t pull a stunt like today ever again. It’s not fair on anybody.”
“And what about what’s fair on me?” I pulled my eye mask on and settled into my squishy pillows. “As I said, I needed a break.”
“About the concert tomorrow. . .”
“It will be fine, Mum. Don’t worry,” I assured her, which I thought was very kind of me considering I was angry at her for completely ruining the calm aura I’d achieved at the spa. “Everything will be fine.”
But I was wrong. Very wrong. It was NOT fine.
This morning I was woken up at an OBSCENE hour. Mum came barrelling through the door, turned on the lights and then in came Simon with a cup of coffee, already looking apologetic.
“What’s happening?” I said, bleary-eyed and dazed. “Is the house on fire?”
“What? Why would the house be on fire?” Mum said chirpily, drawing back the curtains.
“Because why else would I need to be up at four a.m.?” I replied, having pulled my eye mask up and examined the time on my phone.
“You have rehearsals this morning.”
“What? No, I don’t. We don’t have sound testing until this afternoon.”
“Well, the plans changed when you decided to skip almost an entire day of rehearsals yesterday,” she said in a strained tone. “There’s a lot to do and we only have today to do it, now.”
I groaned, put my eye mask back on and pulled the duvet over my head. “No.”
She came to sit down on the edge of my bed and gently pulled the duvet away. “Naomi, I know it’s been a bit crazy recently and I was thinking about it last night. You’re right.”
I lifted my eye mask to peer at her. “Huh?”
“You’re right. You deserve a break. You’ve had a lot on.”
“You . . . you’re agreeing with me?”
“I thought we could make a deal.”
“I’m listening.”
“If you get up now, work hard at the rehearsals today and the concert tonight, I will cancel everything for tomorrow. You can have the day off and you can do whatever you like. I’ll book out the spa for you or we can go shopping . . . whatever you want to do. Up to you.”
I sat up, not sure if this was some kind of joke. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a day off.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes,” she said. “It will be good for you to relax
before the concert in Berlin. But you also have a lot of people counting on you today, including all your fans, so I need you to give your all. What do you think?”
I pretended to think about it for a second. “All right. Deal.”
I jumped out of bed then, ready to get to work. I haven’t been able to make any decisions for myself for a long time and the idea of having a day off to do whatever I wanted sounded perfect.
And everything had been going to plan. I was on time for rehearsals and I didn’t complain too much about how early it was. I put up with Martin’s grating voice and only yelled back at him a couple of times; I didn’t send back the disgusting lunch that Simon got me, even though I could barely eat it; I was patient throughout the HUNDREDS of boring soundchecks; I only complained once about the lighting checks taking years to complete; I didn’t say anything when my costume designer pinched my skin by accident as she made a last minute adjustment to one of my dresses for the concert; and I even held back when my make-up artist finished my look for tonight’s show.
“What do you think?” she said when she was done.
I thought it was TERRIBLE. The eyeliner was wonky, the eyeshadow was the wrong shade and she’d decided to “mix it up” by choosing a new lip colour. She had chosen badly.
“Naomi, you look FANTASTIC,” Mum said, beaming at me from her chair.
My mum is a very good liar.
Anyway, I put up with ALL of that because of the deal I’d made with Mum. I held up my side of the bargain. And then, as I was starting my vocal warm-ups, it all went wrong.
“Can I speak to you for a moment?” Mum asked sheepishly, pulling me away from the piano and my vocal coach.
“Do you think I sound flat? I think I sound flat. Can someone get me a water? Simon! Can you get me a water, please? I sound flat. Simon! Wait! Can I also get a sparkling elderflower? Quickly, please, my throat is dry.”
“Naomi, you sound great,” Mum assured me. “About tomo—”
“And can you have a word with the sound guys?” I sighed. “The earpiece was SO uncomfortable in rehearsals; I’m sure they didn’t fit it right. Honestly, you’d think in an arena this big they’d have professionals working here.”