Fliss and Rosie both said their line, but they kind of mumbled it.
“I can’t hear you properly,” I explained. “You’ve got to speak clearly, but be natural too. Imagine that you’re talking to Callum, Fliss. And Rosie, you can pretend that you’re talking to Tiff.”
Tiff is Rosie’s older sister, and I bet you anything that she spends loads of time in the bathroom looking at her skin.
They both tried again, and it did sound a bit better.
“OK, do it again,” I said. “Like this – ‘So that’s why you spend so long in the bathroom!’”
I nearly died when I realised that someone was earwigging. It was one of the women with the clipboards. I don’t know how long she’d been listening to us, but I was sure that she was going to tell us off for being in the cloakroom.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“L-Lyndsey C-Collins,” I stammered.
“You haven’t auditioned yet, have you?” she asked.
“Nope, I’m not going to, I only…” I started to explain.
I thought she was going to be really angry with me, but all she said was, “Oh, but you might as well now that you’re here,” and jotted down my name. “I’ll make sure that you all go in together, how’s that?”
I know it’s stupid, but all I could do was nod. Even though I didn’t really want to audition at all.
When she’d gone, I said to Fliss and Rosie, “I can always disappear just before you go in.”
But I was wrong about that too, because just at that moment Fliss’s mum burst through the doors.
“Quick!” she squeaked, making a grab for Fliss. “We’ve got to the front of the queue, and if you don’t come now we’ll lose our place!”
We all ran out towards the double doors. The woman we’d just seen was talking to Kenny and Frankie, who were giving her their names. When they saw us, they gave her Fliss and Rosie’s names too.
“And of course there’s Lyndsey too!” said the woman.
“Oh, but she’s not auditioning,” said Frankie quickly, but the woman smiled.
“She is now!” she said and winked at me.
After that, everything was a bit of a blur. I didn’t have time to get nervous or anything, because one minute Angel was wishing us all good luck, and the next we were pushed through the doors with a camera in our faces! A really nice man called Greg told us not to be nervous and ran through what we had to say. Then he showed us a mark on the floor where we had to stand. A woman called Stacey was standing in for the older girl who would be in the proper commercial. She said her lines so that we knew where to come in and when to stick out our tongues. And she showed us the bottle we would be holding too. The lighting was really bright when the camera was on, and it took a little while to get used to it. But once we got the hang of it, it was great fun. You felt just like a big famous movie star!
Frankie went first and did a great job – she didn’t mess up at all and Greg seemed really pleased with her. Unfortunately you couldn’t say the same for Kenny. She giggled so much they had to film her four times. That set Rosie off too. I think she was just nervous really. But the second time she said her line it sounded really great, and I could see the woman with the clipboard nodding and writing something down.
Then it was my turn. I went through the line once and I thought that I’d done OK, but Greg said:
“OK, Lyndsey, do you think we could try that again? And can you look at Stacey this time, rather than at the camera? Great!”
So I did it again, and then again when he made me hold the bottle differently. I was exhausted by the end!
“You looked like a real professional!” nodded Rosie with approval when I’d finally finished.
“I don’t know about that,” I replied, mopping my forehead. “I did it wrong enough times!”
Then it was Fliss’s turn. She looked absolutely terrified. My heart was thumping for her because I knew how badly she wanted to act in this commercial. She looked over to where the rest of us were watching and we all gave her the thumbs-up sign. That made her smile and she started to look a bit more relaxed.
“OK Felicity,” said Greg. “You know the words by now. You’re standing on your mark so – action!”
“So that’s bathroom why you’re… sorry!” mumbled Fliss. You could see that she was blushing like a ripe tomato – even through all that make-up.
“Don’t worry, let’s take it from the top again!” said Greg calmly.
“So that’s why, erm, you, erm… sorry, I’ve forgotten the words!” Fliss was getting really panicky, you could tell.
Greg reminded her of her line and off she went again. This time she said her line perfectly – but dropped the bottle. I felt so bad for her. I mean, there wasn’t anything in it of course, but the top did break off, so they had to find another one to use. And all the time Fliss was just standing there, looking as though she wished the ground would open up and swallow her.
To make matters worse, Kenny started to dig me in the ribs.
“She dyed her hair for this?” she whispered.
I didn’t say anything because I thought that was kind of mean of Kenny. I tried to smile encouragingly at Fliss, but you got the impression that she just wanted to get on with it and get out of there.
On the fourth take Fliss was perfect, which was sort of a relief to all of us.
“I was awful, wasn’t I?” she said unhappily when she came over to join us.
“Not really,” I tried to reassure her. “We all needed more than one go – apart from Frankie.”
“I’m sure they’re used to people being nervous,” said Rosie gently.
“Or acting the fool!” said Frankie, narrowing her eyes at Kenny.
“Oh no!” whispered Fliss. “The woman with the clipboard’s coming over. She’s going to tell me how bad I was, isn’t she?”
“Don’t be daft!” said Kenny, and flicked her hair back in an actressy sort of way. “She’s going to tell me that I’ve got the part!”
We all laughed, but we all sort of held our breath too as the woman walked over to us…
“Now I’d just like to say how great you were today,” the woman began. “I know everything was a bit strange, but you coped really well. We are calling back a few girls for a second audition and I’m happy to say that…”
We all looked at each other in surprise. One of us must have been chosen! My money was on Frankie – or maybe Rosie.
You could have knocked me down with a feather when she said, “… Lyndsey, we’d like you to come and audition for us again!”
I just couldn’t believe it. There must have been some kind of mistake.
“Way to go, Lyndz!” shouted Kenny, punching me on the arm.
The woman with the clipboard explained when they’d like to see me again, but I couldn’t take it in. Fortunately Angel had reappeared and seemed to know the woman, so she jotted down the details for me. I was in a complete daze.
“So that’s why they made you do it again!” squealed Rosie. “You hadn’t made a mess of it at all!”
“And just think – you weren’t even going to audition!” said Frankie in amazement. “It must be fate that you came with us. Isn’t that right Fliss? Fliss?”
But Fliss had gone. We all looked round for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, the room was starting to fill up with the next group of girls.
“She’ll probably be out here!” said Angel decisively. She herded us through another set of doors, and we found ourselves in yet another corridor.
There, at the end of it, were Fliss and her mum. Fliss looked as though she’d been crying, and her mum had her arm around her shoulders.
“There you are!” boomed Angel. “The girls thought they’d lost you!”
Fliss looked up but didn’t say anything.
“Are you walking back to the bus station?” Angel asked Fliss’s mum when we reached them.
Mrs Sidebotham nodded silently.
&nbs
p; “I’ll walk with you then,” she said, leading the way outside. “My car’s finally packed up on me, so I’m relying on good old public transport until I pick up my new one on Monday.”
Kenny asked her what kind of car she was getting, and they talked about that until we got to the bus station. I didn’t join in. I don’t really know anything about cars anyway, but I was worried about Fliss. She looked so upset and she hadn’t spoken to me at all since the audition. I could tell that she was mad at me for being called back, and I didn’t know how to start a conversation without sounding as though I was bragging about it.
“Well, my loves, this is where I leave you!” said Angel as we reached our bus stop. “My stop’s over there. I’ll see you all at class on Wednesday. Well done, Lyndsey!” And she walked off.
“She’s very full of herself, isn’t she? Her and her new car!” grumbled Fliss’s mum. “She should concentrate on teaching you what you need to know for these auditions, instead of throwing you in at the deep end.”
The rest of us looked at each other.
“I don’t think it was Angel’s fault,” said Rosie quietly. “I think we were all a bit nervous, that’s all.”
“I was only nervous because Lyndz had just gone before me,” Fliss piped up. “I wasn’t expecting her to be there. It threw me completely, I couldn’t concentrate.”
“I’m sorry!” I mumbled. I didn’t really see how I could be responsible for Fliss forgetting her words, but I wasn’t going to argue.
“Well, I’m really pleased for Lyndz,” said Frankie, squeezing my arm. “I just hope she does as well in her second audition.”
Fliss’s lip started to wobble again, so we changed the subject. It was a relief when our bus came. It was kind of busy so we didn’t talk to each other much. I was glad really. I wanted to forget the whole audition thing for a while.
When we got back to Cuddington, we had to go and get our stuff from Fliss’s and ring our parents so that they could come and collect us.
As we walked up the path, Andy called out, “Well, how did it go?”
But Fliss’s mum said, “Don’t!” and shut him up with a look.
All the time we were there, Fliss just sulked in her room. She wouldn’t speak to any of us – it was dead embarrassing. Kenny tried to jolly her up by tickling her, but Fliss just snapped, “Oh grow up!” and locked herself in the bathroom.
I prayed for Dad to hurry up, but of course we live the furthest away so he was the last to arrive. When each of the others left they gave me an encouraging grin, and said, “Well done!” But I still felt awful.
When Dad finally came, Fliss was still in the bathroom and her mum was trying to coax her out. I heard her telling Fliss it was a stupid commercial anyway, which didn’t exactly make me feel great. I was so glad when we were finally driving home.
“You look done in!” Dad commented. “How did the audition go? Did anyone get the part?”
“No, but someone got asked to the second audition,” I said.
“That’s great! Who?”
“Actually, it was me,” I admitted quietly.
Dad nearly swerved off the road he was so surprised. I had to tell him all about it, and then I had to tell Mum and Ben and Spike when I got in. Ben seemed really impressed. Stuart and Tom just laughed when I told them.
“You? On TV?” they screamed. “It’ll be like some horror film!”
Mum made them shut up and they had to do all my share of the chores for the rest of the weekend too. So I guess it wasn’t all bad.
It was one thing putting up with my brothers and their stupid comments – I’m used to that. It was different having to get used to Fliss not speaking to me at all. I knew that it was going to be difficult when I went into the playground on Monday morning and Fliss took one look at me and walked off in the other direction.
Kenny said, “Just ignore her Lyndz, she’s being a big baby!”
But it wasn’t easy. I hate there being any trouble between us, and when the others fall out I always try to sort things out.
“It isn’t as though you’ve done anything wrong,” Frankie assured me. “Her ego’s taken a bit of a bruising, that’s all. She’ll get over it.”
But to be honest with you, I didn’t think she would. And I didn’t want her hating me for ever. Fliss didn’t speak to me at all on Monday. And on Tuesday, I could feel her staring at me but whenever I looked at her she just looked away. On Wednesday she was totally awful, and got me into trouble with Mrs Weaver. That made the others mad too. At least she’d been speaking to them, but as soon as they saw how spiteful she was being they decided that they’d do the same to her. It was really, really awful. There was so much bad feeling about – and it was all my fault.
I felt really sick when we turned up to drama class in the evening, but Fliss wasn’t there which I suppose was no surprise. Angel was really great – she told everyone in the group about the audition, but she didn’t make a big deal about it. Then we just went through some improvisation exercises, but my heart wasn’t in it. After the class Angel called me to her.
“The audition is on Saturday at the same place and you have to be there at 11 o’clock. Is that all right?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Would you like me to give you a lift?” she asked.
“No, it’s OK,” piped up Kenny, who had been listening. “We’ll all be going together.”
“Yeah, for moral support!” chimed in Frankie. “Like Lyndz did for us!”
Frankie, Kenny and Rosie were all standing there grinning like big Cheshire cats.
“That’s great!” laughed Angel. “I’ll see you all there then.”
When we got outside, I took a deep breath and said, “Thanks for wanting to come with me, but I don’t think I’m going to go to the audition.”
“WHAT?” they all yelled in my face. “You’ve got to!”
“I’m not sure it’s worth it,” I tried to explain. “Maybe if I don’t go, Fliss will speak to me again and everything will be like it used to be.”
“Now, I may sound like old whingey-knickers herself,” declared Kenny, “but that’s not fair. Why should you give up on something just because Fliss doesn’t like it?”
“Kenny’s right,” said Frankie. “If everybody thought like that, nobody’d ever do anything. You’ve got to go for it, Lyndz.”
“Yeah, you’re just too nice,” agreed Rosie.
I knew they were right, but I just felt so bad about everything. Even Mum knew that something was bugging me when I got home, so I had to tell her what was going on.
“We’ve never fallen out like this before,” I explained miserably. “And it’s all my fault. I never wanted to go for the audition in the first place, and it’s like I’ve stolen Fliss’s dream or something.”
“I think you’re just being a bit dramatic,” Mum decided, before adding, “which I suppose is quite appropriate under the circumstances!”
Even I had to laugh at that.
“I think your friends are right, Lyndz,” said Mum seriously. “If you would really like to audition again then you’ve got to do it. If you don’t, you’ll always wonder what would have happened.”
“But what about Fliss?” I asked.
“I think she’ll come round soon enough. It’s only jealousy, and if I know Fliss she’ll have a bee in her bonnet about something else next week. Besides, I think she’d miss your sleepovers too much!”
I knew that Mum was right. I was excited about the audition and I did want to do it. And I was sure that Fliss would come round in the end – I just wanted her to come round now!
But to be honest with you, that didn’t look too likely at all. At school on Thursday and Friday she was as awful as ever. She even started going round with Alana ‘Banana’ Palmer, who’s this dopey friend of the dreaded M&Ms. At least Frankie started talking to Fliss again though. They even teamed up in PE. And I saw Rosie talking to her too. I was glad that the others were friends with her aga
in, but I did feel a bit left out.
After school on Friday I walked to the gates with Frankie, Kenny and Rosie.
“Mum’s going to drive me to the audition tomorrow,” I told them. “We’re leaving at 9.30, so if you want to come with us can you be at my place by then?”
“Sure can!” said Kenny.
“We’ll be there!” said Rosie. “See you, Lyndz, must go!”
She and Kenny ran off down the road.
“Will you be OK waiting for your dad by yourself?” asked Frankie. “Only there’s something I’ve got to do.”
I said that of course I would, and she ran off as well. Fortunately Dad wasn’t too long.
As we were driving home, we passed Rosie, Kenny and Frankie walking down the road – with Fliss. I couldn’t believe it. I know that it’s stupid, but I felt really upset. It was as though they were all going behind my back. I just hoped that they weren’t all having a sleepover together without me. The only reason I hadn’t organised one was that I knew that Fliss wouldn’t come, and I didn’t think it would be fair to have one without her.
Seeing all the others together like that really played on my mind all evening. I didn’t want to talk about it, so when anyone asked why I was so quiet I just told them that I was nervous about the audition.
“Ooh, get her!” laughed Tom. “She thinks she’s a big star already!”
Even when I went to bed I couldn’t sleep, and that is unheard of. Mum always jokes that I’d probably sleep through an earthquake! But that night I tossed and turned so much I made myself dizzy. I just couldn’t help feeling that I’d split up the Sleepover Club, and that I was the one who’d end up being left out.
As I said before, I’m usually really wide-awake and cheerful when it’s time to get up. Well the next morning I was mega grumpy. Even worse Chan Kenny first thing in the morning, and believe me – that’s saying something. It was probably because I hadn’t slept all night. And also because the first thing I thought about was the others. I knew that I’d upset Fliss and I’d convinced myself that the others had started to take her side in things. So if they’d taken her side, there was no way they were going to show up for my audition.
TV Stars! Page 5