Or it could be because I left the show at the end of the season and I will never go back (although Liz says she will always keep a door open for me anyway), so I haven’t been going on about my job all the time.
Dad was fine with my decision. He was the first person I told (after Nydia and then Danny—oh, and Anne-Marie) because I knew how Mum would react and I wanted to talk it over with him first. When I went round to his flat, I felt a bit guilty, like I was going behind her back. But then I realized that if he had still been living at home, I would have talked to him first anyway. He was still my dad. I was still allowed to confide in him.
He’d handed me a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice and listened to me as I explained why I wanted to leave.
“It’s just that I think I need a change, Dad—a challenge. I think I need to go through what everyone else at school is doing—going up for auditions, even if I don’t get them, experiencing different things, and learning more. I’ve been on the show so long, I’m almost stuck there.”
Dad furrowed his brow.
“Well, I agree with you, Ruby. But are you sure this is your idea and not this Danny’s?” He said Danny’s name cautiously, and I smiled to myself. I knew Mum would be fine about Danny and terrible about me leaving Kensington Heights, and I knew that Dad would be exactly the opposite.
“Yes, it’s my idea,” I told him firmly. “It’s what I want.”
Dad nodded. “You know, some people leave soaps and are never heard of again by the public. That could be you—you understand that?”
I nodded. “Yes, Dad. But it’s better to take the chance, don’t you think? It was more or less luck that got me the job on the show, and I was too young to even know it. I want it to be talent that gets me my next job.”
He smiled at me. “I’m happy for you, Ruby, I really am. You make me very proud.” He gave me a little hug and then coughed and looked a bit embarrassed.
“Now, about this Danny …”
“Oh, Dad.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m thirteen, not completely mental, OK? I’m not going to jump into bed with him, I’m not going to elope with him, I’m not going to smoke or do drugs or rob a bank with him, OK? He’s just a really nice boy and I like him. We have fun.”
My dad looked like he was about to say something and then he closed his mouth.
“OK,” he said reluctantly. “Bring him round sometime.”
“I will,” I said.
Mum tried to talk me out of it.
“But, Ruby, you are the luckiest girl in the world!
Do you know how lucky you are? Millions of girls would kill to do what you’re doing; all the girls in your school would.”
I thought of Anne-Marie secretly hating me for being so smug about Kensington Heights.
“How many times do you think you’ve asked me that, Mum? I think I know how lucky I am,” I said. “But …I need a change.” Then I told her all the things I told Dad, but she didn’t seem to see.
“But you’re secure there,” she insisted. “You don’t have to worry about getting rejected, and Liz said she’d do anything to keep you on.”
I shrugged again and looked at Everest. He winked at me (or possibly at my sandwich). “I know, but …” A thought crossed my mind. “Do we need the money?” I asked her. “For us, and the school fees, I mean?”
Mum shook her head quickly and sat down at the table. “No, no, love. It’s not that. There’s enough for you to stay there until you’ve done your exams. It’s not the money. It’s you I’m worried about. You have what most actors dream of—steady work. Out there in the big world there’s rejection after rejection. It’s tough, Ruby, and it hurts. Do you really want that? And why now?”
I looked into her eyes.
“I don’t know.” I thought for a moment. “No, I do know. I used to want things to always be the same, and I couldn’t wait to be grown up and be in control of my own life. But now everything’s changed and I realize it’s going to be OK. Maybe even better. I know you and Dad aren’t together and it’s hard and sad and different, but I also know that we’re going to be fine. I want to make some of my own changes. This is what I want. And besides …” I left the bit I knew she’d like the best till last. “I want to put school first for a while anyway.” I smiled at her. “And if I do get knocked back, I’ll just keep on going. That’s the thing about dreams, isn’t it, Mum? You have to follow them, right?”
Mum smiled and picked up my hand.
“Ruby Parker,” she said, “you are an amazing girl.”
And that was it, I thought as I settled down to listen to Sylvia Lighthouse lecture us for the millionth time on dedication and determination. All the ups and downs, all the roller-coaster rides of the last few weeks were gradually flattening out. Things were going to be nice and quiet and just normal for the foreseeable future. Ruby Parker hits the small time.
“Students.” The buzzing in the hall died as Sylvia Lighthouse began to speak. “I have an announcement to make. Usually I would do this sort of thing in private, but on this occasion I think it merits an announcement.”
Sylvia Lighthouse looked around the hall with her gimlet eyes. I wondered if she was going to expel some one. You could never tell until the last minute if she was pleased or cross with you.
“Yesterday I spoke with a Mr. Art Dubrovnik …” A murmur swept around the hall. I turned to Nydia, my eyes wide. “As you may know, Mr. Dubrovnik is one of Hollywood’s leading directors, with two Academy Awards under his belt.” Nydia and I exchanged impressed looks. “Later on this year he will commence directing his latest film to be set in London. It will star Imogen Grant.”
Nydia’s eyes widened. “Imogen Grant! A real, proper movie star!” she whispered along with everyone else in the hall.
“Quiet, please!” Sylvia Lighthouse’s tone stopped the murmur dead.
“Mr. Dubrovnik wishes to cast a young girl between the ages of twelve and fourteen to play alongside Ms. Grant in the film. I’m afraid I don’t know very much about the part yet, but all will be revealed, I’m sure. Now, there will not be open auditions as there is limited time, so Mr. Dubrovnik has asked me to pick six girls from this school to screen-test for him. There will also be twelve more girls from other …sources.” Sylvia Lighthouse wrinkled her nose with distaste at the thought of other stage schools. “It was a hard choice—you are all very talented—so please don’t be disappointed if you’re not on the list.” She coughed and all the girls in the school between twelve and fourteen sat on the edge of their seats.
“Scarlett James.”
One of the girls in the year below us screamed.
“Silence, please!” Sylvia Lighthouse bellowed. “Any further commotion and none of you will be going. Do you understand?”
The whole school held its breath.
“Now, the remaining five: Anne-Marie Chance, Nydia Assimin, Selena Rivers, Olivia Green, and Ruby Parker.”
Silence echoed throughout the hall.
“Will those six girls please come and see me in my study at break?” Sylvia looked at all of us. “You may applaud.”
Anne-Marie and Nydia and I flung our arms around each other and screamed.
“Me! She picked me!” Nydia said. “I’ve been picked!
Something has happened to me!”
“It’s amazing. All three of us!” I said, laughing. “It’s a miracle!”
“I know—and not because of my dad, either!” Anne-Marie laughed.
“We’ll be up against each other, though,” I said as we walked out of the hall with our arms around each other. “Only one person will get it. It might not even be one of us.”
Nydia linked her arm though mine and then Anne-Marie’s. “I know,” she said. “But we get to try, don’t we? We get to try!”
“And whoever gets it, we’ll all be happy, right?”
Anne-Marie asked. Nydia and I nodded. “Even if it’s none of us.”
The bell rang for first period and Danny ran up behind u
s and took my hand, drawing me a couple of paces back from the others.
“So, next stop Hollywood, hey, Rube?” he said with a grin.
“Who knows?” I said, smiling at him. “And to think I was going to have a quiet life.”
About the Author
Rowan Coleman, a self-proclaimed soap-opera addict, desperately wanted to attend stage school while growing up and to become an actress. Although she decided to pursue a glamorous career in writing instead, she did have the chance to visit the set of a soap opera when researching this book. While she has written five novels for adults, this is her first novel for teens. Rowan Coleman lives in Hertfordshire, England, with her husband, Erol, and their daughter, Lily. You can visit her online at www.rubyparker.co.uk
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Credits Page
Jacket art © 2007 by Amy Saidens
Jacket design by Amy Ryan
Copyright
HarperTempest is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Ruby Parker Hits the Small Time
Copyright © 2005 by Rowan Coleman
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © February 2009 ISBN: 9780061881350
Version 03112015
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
FIRST U.S. EDITION
Originally published in Great Britain by
HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2005.
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON M4W 1A8, Canada
www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London W6 8JB, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com
Ruby Parker Hits the Small Time Page 14