by Holly Webb
However much Lily hated to admit it, her mum had been right – of course she still hadn’t forgiven her for interfering, but Lily was starting to feel like Shine was where she was meant to be. It was embarrassing to admit it. And I’m never telling Mum, Lily thought furiously, not knowing whether she was angrier with her mum or herself.
Sara came back in, looking slightly less depressed, and the other three jumped down and went over to her.
“What did she say?” Lily asked anxiously. It would be too much if Ms Purcell had a go at Sara when she was already so upset.
“Was she mad?” Chloe had had a run-in with Ms Purcell earlier in the term and still thought she was totally scary.
“No, she was nice.” Sara sounded surprised. “She was really sympathetic. She said this kind of thing happened more often than I might think and she’s going to ring my mum at her school’s break-time and talk to her.” She shrugged. “Not sure it’ll do any good though. She’s never met my mum.”
Bethany put an arm round Sara’s shoulders. “Well, I’ve never met your mum either but I wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of Ms Purcell. If anyone can make her see sense, Ms Purcell can.”
Sara grinned. “I know. I wish I could be there to hear them. Anyway, do you mind if we talk about something else? Somebody tell me something fun!”
Chloe squeaked. “Oh! I totally forgot. I saw Nathan as I was coming in this morning – he was in early for a piano lesson. He said to say hi. He definitely likes you, Sara!”
Sara couldn’t help blushing happily. Then she sighed. “He won’t when he hears about Mary Poppins though. It sounds so babyish. ‘My mummy says I’m not allowed.’”
Chloe looked apologetic. “Sorry, we were supposed to be getting off the subject. But I don’t think that’s true, Sara. He seems really nice. And it would be very cool to be going out with a Year Eight boy.” She dropped her voice and hissed conspiratorially, “Better than any of this lot!”
Chloe’s face was so funny that Sara and the others couldn’t stop laughing – probably because they were so keyed up by what was happening. They kept breaking out into little sniggers every time one of the boys answered the register and it certainly added an extra spice to double science. Luckily Mrs Taylor wasn’t the strictest of teachers.
But by break-time, Sara had gone quiet again. It was obvious that she was thinking about the principal calling her mum.
“You know what you need?” Lily said sternly, herding everyone to the cafeteria. “Sugar. Come on, I’ve got some sweets.”
Bethany had a chocolate bar as well, so they sliced it up and shared it. Sara was just starting to look a bit less stressed when Lizabeth walked in, a gleeful expression on her face.
“Oh, no,” Lily murmured. She had managed to stand up to Lizabeth the previous week when she was trying to have a go at Sara, but the tall blond girl still really scared her. She seemed to be an expert at picking up on people’s weak points – a skill she was just about to demonstrate.
“So you’re turning down the part then?” Lizabeth got straight to the point. How on earth did she know already?
“No,” snapped Sara, suddenly thinking that if necessary she’d get herself adopted so that she could still take the part.
“That’s not what I heard,” Lizabeth said with a sneer. “Ms Purcell must be really annoyed – this is just about as unprofessional as you can get!”
“More unprofessional than tricking someone into going to the wrong room for their audition because you know they’re better than you?” another voice put in.
Lizabeth swung round angrily and found Nathan behind her.
“Get lost, Lizabeth. If Sara can’t do the part and they’re mad enough to give it to you instead, I’m definitely telling everyone what you did. There’s no way I’m spending six weeks on the same stage as someone like you. So take that smarmy little smile off your face.”
Lizabeth gulped furiously and Nathan glared at her, backed up by all the others.
“No one would believe you,” she spat at last, but she stormed off anyway.
“Have some!” Lily waved the sweet packet at Nathan. “You’ve just earned it.”
“Thanks!” He sat down. “Hey, I love the sour ones.”
“How does everyone know about me not being able to do the part?” Sara asked anxiously.
Nathan shook his head. “Lizabeth’s got Ms Purcell’s office bugged. No, actually Nadia had to go to the staff room about some homework she’d forgotten and she heard Mr Lessing say something about it. It’s true then? I was coming to find you anyway to ask.”
Sara shrugged miserably. “I – don’t know. My parents don’t want me to do it but Ms Purcell reckoned she might be able to convince my mum.”
“It would be a real shame if you can’t. You’re really good – better than all the others were.” He fidgeted uncomfortably, as though he’d like to say something else. Chloe was just starting to make ‘Let’s get out of here!’ faces at Lily and Bethany when Miss Clare, Ms Purcell’s secretary, appeared at the cafeteria door, clearly looking for someone. Sara was staring at the table like it was the most interesting thing she’d ever seen and didn’t notice, but Bethany bounced up and ran to check who she was searching for. She was back in seconds. “Sara, you have to go to the office now! Come on!”
Everyone grabbed their stuff and raced out of the cafeteria, carrying Sara along with them. They surged down the stairs and arrived at the principal’s office panting and looking hopeful. Miss Clare was back behind her desk, and she grinned.
“You’d better go in, Sara. The rest of you will have to stay out here. And that door’s soundproof, Chloe,” she added, as Chloe attempted to accidentally-on-purpose lean next to it.
It seemed like hours before Sara fumbled her way out of the office, looking blissed out.
“They said yes!”
Lily squawked delightedly, hugging her. “They must have done, for you to look like that!”
Sara nodded happily and beamed at Nathan, who was looking relieved.
“Bad news though – we have to have extra remedial classes to catch up on anything we miss. The school’s going to arrange a tutor for both of us at the theatre, so we can work when we’re not needed in rehearsals.” Strangely enough, Nathan didn’t look too worried by this…
Lily watched her friend thoughtfully. She knew how stressful the audition had been for Sara – even before all these problems with her parents. But just look at her now – Sara’s dreams had come true! Lily was beginning to feel like she might be really missing out.
Everyone was so pleased that Sara would be able to do the part after all – the relief was incredible. It made them giggly for the rest of lunch. Lily stopped worrying about her life choices and just went with the madness. It was nice to zone out and watch Chloe trying to build a lettuce tower from the remains of her salad.
But they all sobered up slightly when they got into the studio for drama class.
Mr Lessing was already there and Ms Shaw was with him, watching interestedly as they poured in. She’d been introduced to all the Year Sevens soon after they arrived at Shine, and everyone wanted to impress her.
Ms Shaw ran The Shine Agency, which represented all the pupils at the school. She was the one currently negotiating Sara’s contract with the Theatre Royal. Was she here because she needed to talk to Sara? But she could have just asked for her to come down to the agency, which was in the building next door, where all the part-time courses were held. Lily knew it was much more likely that she was here scoping out possibles for an audition!
“Why didn’t I brush my hair at lunch?” Chloe moaned, frantically trying to tidy up her curls with her fingers while hiding behind Bethany.
“Don’t lurk behind Bethany, you muppet,” Sara sniggered. “You’re about a foot taller than she is! You look like you’ve been chopped off at the knees.”
“If being a star in musicals makes you this rude all the time, Sara Sinclair, I’ll sabotage yo
ur next audition myself. She isn’t that much taller than me.” Bethany was slightly sensitive about being tiny.
“You’re standing on tiptoe now,” Sara said, giggling.
“I’m not!” Bethany scowled and stood normally again.
“Hey, stop bickering! I want to know why Ms Shaw’s here. Has anyone heard any gossip about a part going?” Lily couldn’t help feeling excited. The timing was kind of weird – the school’s agent was there looking interested, just as Lily had almost decided she was going to turn over a new leaf. Maybe this part was meant for her!
“Nope.” Sara shook her head.
Bethany laughed. “Sara, you haven’t heard anything anyone’s said at all for the last three days!” But she didn’t say it meanly, and Sara grinned and shrugged.
“Yeah, that’s true. Sorry, have I been a pain?”
“Don’t be silly. We’d all be the same,” Lily said lightly, wondering if it might be her turn next. She just had this feeling… “So no one’s heard anything?”
“Not a thing.” Chloe shook her head vigorously, which completely undid all her frantic fingercombing. “Oh well. They’ll just have to want the Little Orphan Annie look.”
“Is everyone here yet?” Mr Lessing looked up from his papers. “OK everyone, I’m sure you’ll have noticed that Ms Shaw is here. And yes, she is on the lookout for audition candidates.” A small flurry of excitement ran through the class as various people said they’d told other people so. “But this doesn’t mean we’ll be doing anything different. Ms Shaw will just be observing. Then towards the end of the class, she and I will have a quick discussion about who we think she should be shortlisting to audition for this particular part. Any questions?”
Carmen, one of the twins, shyly put up her hand.
“Yes, Carmen?”
“Are we allowed to know what the part is?” she asked excitedly. Mr Lessing looked at Ms Shaw, who nodded, and smiled at Carmen.
“There are two. It’s a new TV drama, Little Women. We’ve been asked to send girls to audition for the parts of Beth and Amy. There are quite a few smaller parts too – for boys and girls. Most of you probably know the story?”
Some of the girls nodded but most of the boys looked blank.
“I suppose it is a bit of an old book. There’ve been a couple of films too, but this is a really exciting new series. Big budget too. Wonderful locations and costumes, a real experience for anyone involved.” Ms Shaw sounded delighted about it all.
Chloe exchanged an eager look with Ella, Carmen’s twin. Lily remembered talking to Ella on their very first day about how much they both loved costume drama – anything that involved serious dressing up!
Lily stared at Ms Shaw, biting her lip between her teeth. Little Women had been one of her favourite books since they’d read bits of it last year at school. She’d bought her own copy to read the rest and it had made her cry, even if it had been written nearly a hundred and fifty years ago. She loved the story of the four sisters, who’d lived during the American Civil War. Almost everything the March girls did was old-fashioned and odd and nothing like Lily’s life, but she loved their big, funny family and how different they all were. She just had to be shortlisted for this audition – even if her mum would never let her hear the end of it!
“So everybody needs to be showing their full potential in this class!” Was it Lily’s imagination or was Mr Lessing looking at her when he said that? Maybe he’d noticed that she hadn’t really been trying! Lily focused on doing her absolute best.
They’d started working on character development over the last couple of classes. They had a book of short scenes and Mr Lessing divided them up into groups to work on one together, often getting them to swap the parts round in the middle or do other things that made them think about the words they were actually saying. He’d said last time that you couldn’t really understand a scene properly unless you’d played all the different parts in it. Lily wasn’t totally sure he was right – there must be some parts that depended on not understanding the other person’s point of view? How could you act an argument if you agreed with the person you were meant to be fighting with? But when she had said that to Mr Lessing, he just beamed at her infuriatingly and said that was where the acting came in.
Today, he put Lily in a group with Chloe, Ella and Sam, a friend of Chloe’s whose hair was just about redder than hers. He was even more of a joker than Chloe too. Lily hoped they were both going to behave – today’s class wasn’t for messing around, however funny they usually were.
Luckily Sam seemed too grumpy for jokes. “More parts for girls!” he muttered. “When’s the starring role in the next Bond film coming along? That’s what I want to know!”
“You’d make a great evil sidekick,” Chloe agreed. “There ought to be more ginger villains.” She put her head to one side and gazed at Sam, who was glaring crossly at her. “Yeah, that’s the perfect evil face, I can see it working.”
“Chloe!” Lily hissed crossly. “Ms Shaw’s here, remember! We need to concentrate!”
Chloe looked surprised. “OK. OK! Since you’re so keen. Which one of these are we doing?”
“Page thirty-four.” Lily sighed and Ella gave her a sympathetic look. Chloe was lovely but ditzy. And it was hard to tell, but grumpy Sam might just be even worse than hyper Sam…
It was time for drastic action. “Sam, there’s a great part in this for you,” Lily said sweetly, modelling herself on her mum, who could charm people into doing almost anything. “Not quite James Bond but a gangster. Then Ella can be your sidekick, and Chloe and me will do the two girls. OK? We’ll probably have to swap in a bit anyway.”
They worked on the scene for a couple of minutes and Sam cheered up when he got to use his terrible over-the-top New York accent.
Mr Lessing was working his way around the groups, getting everyone to try different things. Ms Shaw was wandering about too, and Lily couldn’t help keeping an anxious eye on her. What was she looking for? Was there anything Lily should be trying to do? Probably ignoring her… Lily returned to concentrating on the scene, trying to sound like the silly, giggly high-society girl who hadn’t realized she was actually being kidnapped.
“That’s good, Lily.” She jumped as Mr Lessing spoke just behind her – she hadn’t noticed him. “Now try doing it as though actually you know perfectly well what’s going on but you’re just pretending to be stupid.”
Lily nodded. “So they can escape? OK.”
“Do I know?” Chloe asked eagerly. This was the best thing about acting classes – trying out all these different tricks.
“Umm, no. See if you can stay being dim,” Mr Lessing said thoughtfully.
“Shouldn’t be hard,” growled Sam, getting his revenge.
“Thank you, Sam. You and Ella try and up the menace, please. More like you’re mafia villains.”
Mr Lessing listened appreciatively as they went through the scene again. He nodded. “Nice. Now, swap all the parts round. You try being the gangster this time, Lily.” Then he disappeared to watch the next lot.
“You better not think I’m playing one of those stupid girls,” Sam said just as Ms Shaw walked past, and Lily could have murdered him, which would have been in character at least.
About ten minutes before the end of the lesson, Mr Lessing and Ms Shaw huddled themselves in a corner with a load of notes Ms Shaw had been making. Everyone tried desperately to hear what they were saying, while looking as though they were still carrying on with the gangster scene. Lily’s group practically went to pieces, with her and Ella and Chloe all whispering their lines in case they could catch anything from the other side of the studio. Lily was pretty certain Ms Shaw had just pointed at their group. What was Mr Lessing saying?
“All right, gather round all of you – the suspense is over!” Mr Lessing was grinning. “Ms Shaw would like to have a word.”
The agent smiled at everyone. “I’m sorry that this is a very short shortlist – we’re sending peopl
e to audition from other years as well, of course. For the moment, I think we’ll be considering, let me see –” she checked her list – “Chloe, Emily and Lauren. Don’t worry, the rest of you, I’m sure there’ll be lots of other chances soon. I’ll sort out audition times for those three and let you know.”
Lily was frozen. She could see Bethany and Sara and the twins hugging Chloe, and congratulating Emily and Lauren, but she just couldn’t make herself join in. She’d been so sure about being shortlisted! It had been her audition! It felt like it still should be. What had Chloe done that she hadn’t? Mr Lessing had said that she’d done really well in the scene, hadn’t he?
She realized that Chloe was looking at her, clearly expecting her to say something, and she forced herself to smile. “Well done!” she whispered, totally failing to sound as though she was pleased. Then she gave herself a little shake. She wasn’t being fair on Chloe – but it was just so hard! She met a sympathetic look from Bethany and felt even worse. Was her disappointment that obvious? She summoned up every ounce of acting ability she owned – which was quite a lot – and gave Chloe a much more realistic grin. “So which of the little women are you going to be? The snotty little one or the saintly one who nearly dies?” she asked, and Chloe looked relieved.
“Nearly time for the bell, everyone, you can go early today,” Mr Lessing called. “See you on Friday.”
He waved them out and started packing up his things. Bethany, Sara and Chloe were heading for the door, chatting eagerly about Chloe’s fantastic luck. Lily trailed after them. Then suddenly she turned back. “Keep going! I just want to ask Mr Lessing something – I’ll catch you up at registration,” she called.
Bethany looked back curiously, but Lily just waved and kept going. Lily dithered about near the door, pretending to look for something in her bag until everyone else had gone, and then she approached Mr Lessing, who was chatting with Ms Shaw. Lily had no idea what she was going to say – she was hoping that something would just come to her.