Bright Lights

by Linda Chapman

  He winked at me. I smiled back. He seemed nice.

  After everyone had said their names, the read-through started. Laurence read out the directions at the top of each page and then people took it in turns to say their lines. I was nervous to begin with, but by the time I had reached the end of my first scene I felt OK. One scene flowed into another and soon I hardly noticed the time passing.

  ‘Great!’ Laurence said, when we reached the end. ‘That will do for today. I'll see you at rehearsals and on the set.’

  Everyone stood up.

  ‘So, what did you think of your first read-through?’ Issy said as we picked up our scripts and the call sheets that told us when we were needed over the next few days. ‘I hope you can remember everyone's names,’ she teased.

  ‘I can remember about two of them,’ I admitted.

  Just then Georgina came over. Ignoring me, she turned to Issy. ‘Why didn't you sit with me, Is?’ she said, looking hurt.

  Issy just shrugged. ‘I wanted to sit over here with Sophie.’

  Just then our mums came back into the room.

  ‘Anyway, got to go,’ she said quickly. ‘See you at rehearsal, Georgina!’ She hurried off.

  I hesitated. Georgina was looking quite upset. I felt a bit bad. Maybe I should try to be friendly.

  ‘Well, I'll… er… I'll see you tomorrow,’ I said.

  Georgina shrugged coldly. ‘Whatever.’ She walked away.

  So much for trying to be friends! I frowned at her rudeness. Like it was my fault that Issy had chosen to hang round with me!

  I had gone to join Issy by our mums when Bill came over. ‘Sophie, would you come for a quick costume fitting before you leave, please?’

  I nodded.

  ‘I'll see you at rehearsal, then,’ Issy said. ‘I'm not needed tomorrow, but I'll be there on Monday.’

  ‘OK, I'll see you then,’ I replied.

  We said goodbye and Issy went off with her mum. While Mum waited, I followed Bill into a smaller room where a load of costumes were hanging on rails.

  There was a lady there. She smiled. ‘Hi, I'm Liz, the wardrobe supervisor. I've got some costumes for you to try on.’

  When Liz had finished with me, I went back to Mum, who was now talking to Gillian Grace.

  ‘All done?’ Mum asked as I hurried over.

  I nodded.

  Mum smiled at Gillian. ‘Well, it was lovely to meet you, Gillian. Like I say, I really am a huge fan.’

  Gillian smiled at her. ‘You're too kind.’ She turned her large hazel eyes on me. ‘I'll see you tomorrow for our rehearsal, Sophie. I thought you did very well at the read-through. They're always nerve-racking occasions.’

  ‘I was a bit nervous,’ I admitted. ‘At first anyway.’

  ‘You couldn't tell,’ Gillian said reassuringly. ‘Are you looking forward to rehearsals starting?’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘Well, if you're unsure about anything, just ask me,’ Gillian said, smiling at me warmly.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said, liking her.

  Mum and I said goodbye to her and made our way to the car.

  ‘Goodness, I can't believe I've just met Gillian Grace,’ Mum said, looking quite starry-eyed. ‘Wasn't she nice? ’

  I nodded.

  ‘She's played all the classic roles for women in the theatre,’ Mum said. ‘She's a simply wonderful actress.’

  I frowned. ‘Issy said she isn't that famous.’

  ‘Really?’ Mum looked surprised. ‘Well, I suppose she's not famous in the sense that she usually does plays in the theatre rather than films or TV things and she hardly ever gives interviews. But she's one of our greatest stage actresses.’

  I pictured Gillian Grace in my mind. She was tall and striking, but she didn't look like I'd imagined a great actress would. She'd been wearing dull brown trousers and a green shirt. She hadn't even had any make-up on.

  ‘You're very lucky to have the chance to act with her,’ Mum said. ‘And with all the other actors and actresses involved. This film is going to be an amazing experience for you.’

  I agreed. I couldn't wait!

  *

  As soon as I got home, I rang Harriet. Her dad told me she was at Ally's house, so I rang there.

  Ally picked up the phone. ‘Sophie!’ she exclaimed when she heard my voice. ‘Harriet!’ she shouted. ‘It's Sophie! Come here!’ She spoke to me again. ‘So how was the read-through? What was it like?’

  ‘Brilliant,’ I said.

  ‘Did you meet anyone famous?’ Ally asked.

  ‘Lots of people. There was Sasha Knowles and then this girl, Issy. She's Alice in The Fortune Hunters. She's really nice and…’

  ‘What's she saying?’ I heard Harriet ask in the background. ‘We've been thinking about you all day, Soph!’ she called.

  ‘Why don't you come over?’ Ally said to me. ‘Mum's said we can have a sleepover. We can talk properly then.’

  ‘OK. I'll just ask,’ I said. I turned. Mum was tidying up around the sofa. ‘Mum, Ally's having a sleepover tonight. Can I go?’

  To my astonishment, Mum shook her head.

  ‘Why not?’ I demanded.

  ‘I'm sorry, love, but I really don't think it's wise,’ Mum said. ‘Not while you're working. You have to be at rehearsals at nine tomorrow morning – you'll be far too tired if you've been up half the night talking.’ She saw my face. ‘Look, maybe next weekend. You've got Sunday off, so it won't matter if you're tired then.’

  ‘But that's a whole week away!’ I protested. ‘You mean I can't sleep over in the week at all, even though it's the holidays?’

  ‘Not while you're working on the film,’ Mum said.

  I stared at her in frustration, but I could tell from the tone of her voice that there was no point arguing. ‘I can't come,’ I said to Ally.

  ‘I heard,’ she said.

  ‘What's up?’ Harriet asked.

  ‘Sophie's mum won't let her come,’ Ally replied.

  Harriet took the phone. ‘That's awful.’

  ‘I know,’ I said. I felt all sort of hollow inside. I hated the thought of the two of them staying at Ally's without me.

  ‘We could cancel it,’ Harriet suggested.

  Part of me wanted to say yes, but I knew that would be mean. ‘No, no, you stay,’ I heard myself saying.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Harriet asked worriedly.

  ‘Yeah, sure,’ I replied.

  ‘It won't be nearly as good without you,’ Harriet said.

  ‘Look, I've got to go,’ I said quickly. The sympathy in her voice was making me feel like crying. ‘Have a good time.’

  I put the phone down and Mum came over to me. ‘I'm sorry, love,’ she said. ‘Look, tell you what. Why don't you invite them over for a sleepover here next Saturday? We'll make it a special night. You can have whatever food you like and I'll take you all to the video shop.’

  ‘OK,’ I said, but although it was nice of Mum, it didn't change that fact that Ally and Harriet were going to be staying together tonight.

  Mum smiled. ‘That's settled, then. Now, can I get you a drink or a snack before supper?’

  I shook my head. ‘I'm going to my room.’

  I walked slowly up the stairs. All the excitement I had been feeling after the read-through had gone flat. Maybe doing this film wasn't so wonderful after all…

  I stopped the thought right there. Was I mad? Of course doing the film was wonderful. It was the best thing that had ever happened to me. It was like having a dream come true.

  Wasn't it?

  Chapter Nine

  ‘Good, good! Yes, that's it! It's getting there!’ Laurence said. He was sitting behind a desk, watching intently as Alan and I rehearsed our first scene together.

  We had only been rehearsing for half an hour but the first pages of my script were already covered in instructions saying things like ‘move to the right’, ‘look out of the window' and ‘act v. sad’. The way it worked was Laurence spoke to us about what he
wanted us to do in the scene and then we went through it until he was happy. Alan had told me to write everything down so that I remembered it when we started actually filming the scenes.

  ‘Great,’ Laurence said as Alan and I ran through the scene for the fifth time. ‘That worked well. Remember that.’ He glanced round at Steve, who was sitting beside him. ‘We'll do scene four now.’

  Steve stood up. ‘Scene four, everyone, please!’ he called.

  ‘We're not in this scene, so take a break now,’ Alan said to me. ‘But stay in the room in case you're needed.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said gratefully.

  He seemed to be going out of his way to make sure that I knew what to do. But then so was everyone. All the cast and crew were being really friendly.

  Taking my script, I went over and sat by Mum.

  At lunch time, I saw Issy walking across the hotel lawn with her mum.

  Issy's face broke into a grin when she saw me. ‘Sophie! How are rehearsals going?’

  ‘Great,’ I said.

  ‘Do you want to come and see my room?’ she asked eagerly. ‘It's really big.’

  ‘I'll just go and ask,’ I said.

  I ran back to Mum, who was sitting on a wooden bench in the shade.

  ‘OK,’ she said when I told her what I wanted. ‘But remember that rehearsals start again at two.’

  I nodded and went upstairs with Issy.

  Her room was huge. It had a big window that looked over the garden, a television and a separate bathroom. There were hair and make-up things all over the desk and Issy had put up some photographs. There were lots of her and her friends in pantomimes and shows.

  ‘Going to stage school must be cool,’ I said. ‘Do you learn all about acting and stuff?’

  ‘Yeah, we do acting, dancing and singing classes.’

  ‘Instead of real lessons?’ I asked.

  ‘No. We still have to do maths and things, worse luck,’ Issy replied. ‘We just do the other classes as well.’

  I sighed enviously. ‘I'd love to go. Does… does Georgina go to stage school too?’

  Issy nodded. ‘She's been acting since she was really little.’ She grinned. ‘Something she'll remind you of over and over again.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

  ‘Oh, she's always going on about the things she's been in.’ Issy went to her desk and started to put on some silvery-white eyeshadow. ‘Just you wait. She'll be telling you all about it soon.’

  ‘Do you really not like her, then?’ I asked curiously.

  Issy shrugged. ‘She's OK, I guess. I mean, I don't hate her or anything, but she can be a bit weird.’ She flashed a smile at me from the mirror. ‘I like you more.’

  I felt delighted.

  ‘So, what's your school like?’ Issy said, picking up her mascara.

  ‘Just normal. It's not very big, but I like it. Well, I did,’ I said, remembering. ‘I'm not going there any more. I'll be starting secondary school in the autumn.’

  ‘Me too,’ Issy said. ‘But at my school it's still part of the same school. It's just called the senior department.’ She looked at me earnestly. ‘Are you worried about starting at a new school?’

  ‘A bit,’ I admitted. ‘We had an induction day and it was all right. It was just really big. I'm sure I'm going to get lost or something. It seems ages away, though. I mean, there's all the filming first.’

  I watched as Issy applied mascara. She looked so confident. If I ever use mascara I usually end up with big black blobs under my eyelashes.

  ‘You've got loads of make-up,’ I said, looking enviously at all the pots.

  ‘This colour would suit you,’ she said, picking up a pot of pale-pink lip-gloss. ‘Try it.’

  I reached out with my finger, but Issy pulled the pot away.

  ‘No, you have to use a brush, otherwise it'll smudge round your mouth,’ she said. ‘Look, like this.’

  She picked up a lip brush and, dipping it into the little pot, she carefully filled in her lips.

  ‘You try now,’ she instructed, handing me another brush.

  I copied her.

  ‘It looks good,’ she said, smiling as I finished.

  I smiled back at her. She was so cool. She seemed to know about everything!

  After I'd put the lip-gloss on, I sat on her bed and we talked and talked. I was enjoying myself so much that I almost forgot to go back to rehearsals, but Issy's mum knocked on the door to remind me.

  Saying goodbye, I ran down the stairs and raced along the corridor to the rehearsal room. Luckily I got there just before 2 o'clock.

  Georgina was already in the rehearsal room. Her white-blonde hair was tied back in a long plait and she wearing a dark-blue tracksuit.

  I paused. OK, Issy had said she was a bit strange and she hadn't been friendly the day before, but I don't like not getting on with people. Deciding to try again, I went over.

  ‘Hi.’

  Georgina hesitated and then, to my relief, smiled. ‘Hi.’

  I wondered what to say next. ‘Umm… are you looking forward to rehearsals?’

  Georgina nodded. ‘How have they been this morning?’

  ‘Good,’ I replied.

  I grinned. This was going OK. Maybe we could all be friends.

  Georgina looked at me and I looked at her. Neither of us seemed to know what to say next.

  I racked my brains. It's odd how with some people you feel you can talk about anything and with others you just don't seem to have anything to talk about at all. Suddenly I remembered what Issy had said about Georgina liking to talk about the parts she'd played.

  ‘Issy said you've done quite a bit of acting before?’ I said.

  Georgina's face instantly lit up. ‘Oh, yeah. Loads,’ she said, tossing her plaits back. ‘I've been in episodes of The Bill and Casualty and Grange Hill and I did lots of commercials when I was younger. You've probably seen them. Remember this?’ she said, putting her head on one side and smiling broadly. ‘Yum, yum,’ she declared. ‘I love the taste of Honey-coated Sugar Corn Puffs in my tum!’ She stood up and burst into a little song and tap dance. ‘Honey-coated Sugar Corn Puffs in my tum!’ She broke off and looked at me questioningly. ‘Well?’

  ‘I… I think I remember,’ I lied, looking round and seeing that everyone in the room was giving us surprised looks.

  I edged my chair away slightly. OK, Issy was right. Georgina was definitely weird! Maybe my idea of us all being friends wasn't going to work after all.

  Georgina beamed at me. ‘Do you want to see the advert I did for toilet rolls?’

  ‘Maybe later,’ I gulped.

  She tucked her arm through mine. ‘You know Ermyngarde and Sara are best friends in the film. Well, maybe we should be best friends too.’

  I smiled weakly.

  To my total relief, Laurence clapped his hands. ‘Back to work, guys. Scene twelve. That's Sophie and Gillian, please.’

  ‘See you later.’ Georgina smiled.

  ‘Yeah, later,’ I said, and thankfully I hurried away to join Gillian and Laurence on the set.

  *

  We rehearsed all afternoon. By the time Mum and I got home at 6 o'clock I felt completely exhausted.

  ‘You look worn out,’ Mum said as I sat down at the kitchen table.

  ‘I am,’ I admitted. ‘There's just so much to try and remember, and I don't want to get anything wrong.’

  Baxter and Wilson wagged their tails at me. Baxter pushed his black nose on to my lap and whined. I sighed. It was my turn to feed the animals.

  ‘In a minute, Bax,’ I said.

  ‘It's OK. I'll feed them tonight,’ Mum said.

  ‘Thanks, Mum,’ I said gratefully.

  After supper I flopped down on the sofa and turned on the TV. Dad looked at me.

  ‘Shouldn't you be going through your lines for tomorrow, Sophie?’ he asked.

  He was right.

  I dragged myself off the sofa and went upstairs with my script. It was quiet b
ecause both Jessica and Tom were out. Jessica had gone to watch the band practise again, but it was obvious that was just an excuse to see Zak.

  I started to read through the scenes I would be rehearsing the next day but I couldn't concentrate. I found myself thinking about Ally and Harriet. How had their sleepover been the night before? I couldn't stop thinking about it, so in the end I went to the phone and rang Harriet.

  ‘Sophie!’ she said. ‘How was the rehearsal?’

  ‘Good,’ I said. ‘We did loads of different scenes. How was the sleepover?’

  ‘Brilliant! Though not as good as if you'd been there, of course,’ Harriet added hastily.

  ‘What… what did you do?’ I asked.

  ‘We had a barbecue,’ Harriet replied, ‘and made ice-cream sundaes with lemonade, Ribena and ice cream. And when we went to bed we had a pillow fight and one of the pillows burst and went everywhere. You should have seen Ally's face. We had to try and hide all the feathers under the bed so her mum didn't see them! It was really funny.’

  ‘Yeah, it sounds it,’ I managed to say.

  I felt myself beginning to wish that I hadn't rung. It was really weird hearing about them having fun without me. Hadn't they missed me at all?

  ‘We really missed you, though, Soph,’ Harriet said, spookily seeming to read my thoughts. ‘And we talked about next weekend. Ally said you might be allowed to sleepover then.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, feeling a bit more cheerful. ‘In fact, Mum said you can both come here.’

  ‘Cool!’ Harriet said. ‘We'll have a great time. Umm…’ She hesitated and I could tell she had something she wanted to ask. ‘You… you don't mind if Ally comes and stays at mine tomorrow, do you?’

  Er… yes! I wanted to say.

  ‘I mean, I don't want you to think we're going off together or anything. It's just we're both going riding and –’

  ‘It's fine,’ I interrupted sharply.

  There was a pause.

  ‘Sophie?’ Harriet said softly.

  She sounded so concerned that I immediately felt really mean for being annoyed. It wasn't her and Ally's fault that I wasn't allowed to stay over.

  ‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Look, it's fine. I really don't mind.’ I tried hard to make it sound like I meant it.

  ‘OK. Well, if you're sure,’ Harriet said.