‘Well, here’s the thing,’ I said. I was almost afraid to say the next part in case they didn’t like it. ‘You know the way I was really hoping to go to drama camp … well, I just thought, why don’t we have a sort of drama camp of our own? Ruby, you know all about being on the stage because of your ballet, and Laura, you’re really good at writing, so you could help us come up with scripts and things like that. And Meg likes acting too, so we’ve got everything we need.’
I stopped talking and looked around to see everyone’s reaction.
‘I think it’s a great idea!’ Meg said. ‘We could have rehearsals and plan a show. Laura could write something for us, or we could just adapt a story we know, like a fairytale or something.’
I smiled at her in relief and looked at the other two. They were smiling too – phew!
‘Brilliant,’ Laura said.
‘I love it,’ Ruby said.
I couldn’t help bouncing up and down in my chair. ‘Yay! I can’t wait to get started!’
Chapter Four
‘Right,’ I said. ‘We need to decide a few things. Like, what’s our name going to be? Where are we going to meet? How often should we meet? What’s the first thing we should focus on?’
Mum says I can be a bit bossy sometimes. I do try not to be. But I’m good at organising things and getting things done. And, without wanting to sound conceited or anything, I do have a lot of good ideas.
‘Well, we can meet in each other’s gardens as long as the weather’s OK,’ Ruby said. ‘Maybe we can take it in turns to be the host.’
‘I wish we had a clubhouse,’ I said. ‘I don’t suppose anyone has an old garden shed they’ve forgotten to tell me about?’
‘No, and if we did it would be full of junk,’ Laura said.
‘Anyway, outdoors is going to be better than a shed. We’ll need a lot of space for acting,’ Meg said. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about.
‘OK, that makes sense,’ I admitted. ‘So how often should we meet?’
‘Obviously, the answer is as often as possible. Is twice a day too much?’ Laura asked innocently.
The others laughed. ‘I think that might be a bit much even for Hannah,’ Ruby said. ‘How about three times a week to get started and we’ll see how that goes?’
‘That sounds good,’ I said. ‘But can we meet again tomorrow just so we can get started properly? That’ll give us all a bit of time to come up with some more ideas. Like what we’re going to do. I don’t want us to just sit around talking about acting, I want us to actually do something!’
‘We could put on a show for our parents and grannies and grandads,’ suggested Laura.
‘Or something for the little kids on the green that would keep them entertained,’ said Ruby.
‘We could charge a small entrance fee and give the money to charity,’ said Meg.
Soon everyone was talking at once, wanting to share all their ideas for our new club. By the time Ruby’s little brother called around to say their mum wanted her home, we had a definite agenda for our next meeting. We’d elect club officers (that was my idea), decide on a club name (my idea too), and plan a schedule of meetings and where they would be held (also my idea. Actually, I may as well admit that most of the ideas were mine). Meg said that everyone should bring along some suggestions about what we’d like to act in, and we could talk about that too.
This was so exciting. I couldn’t wait to really get started.
After the others had all left I got out a new notebook and my favourite sparkly pen. I had a whole stack of unused notebooks on my bookshelf, because people are always giving me them as presents – probably because they know I like organising things and making plans. I chose one with a pink cover decorated with silver stars. It looked like the perfect kind of notebook for starting a drama club.
Soon my hand hurt from writing, I had scribbled down so much. I had so many ideas my hand could hardly keep up! I just hoped I’d be able to read them the next day. My handwriting isn’t the neatest anyway, and when I’m in a huge hurry to get everything down it can get pretty scribbly.
After a while I realised I’d better go down and help Mum – it was getting to that time of day when she’s trying to make the dinner, Emma is cranky because she’s hungry, Maisie keeps getting under her feet, and the boys start fighting. So I took them all out to the garden and organised a big game of hide and seek to keep them occupied. Even Emma joined in, though I had to carry her on my hip, and she wasn’t much good at staying quiet, so we ended up doing most of the seeking.
‘Thanks, Hannah,’ Mum said, kissing me on the top of the head as we trooped in for dinner. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’
I felt a bit guilty. Would it make things harder for Mum if I started spending as much time as I wanted to on the club?
It seemed like three o’clock the next day would NEVER arrive. I decided to pop over to Meg’s after breakfast so I could tell her some of my ideas, but when I rang the doorbell her mum, Cordelia, told me they were about to go shopping. Cordelia was young and very glamorous-looking, with blonde hair like Meg’s and designer sunglasses perched on top of her head. She was the sort of person who called everyone darling (even me, who she’d only just met) and she spoke so quickly it almost made my head spin.
‘So sorry for stealing her away, Hannah darling!’ she said with a smile. ‘But it’s quite the clothing emergency! Meg simply has nothing to wear!’
‘Don’t exaggerate, Mum,’ Meg said. ‘I just need some warm stuff,’ she told me. ‘Pretty much all I packed was light dresses, shorts and T-shirts. So we’ve got to stock up on leggings and hoodies and stuff.’
‘And I simply must find something more suitable to wear for my interviews,’ Cordelia added. ‘I mean, tell me truly, Hannah darling, would you offer me a job in this sort of outfit?’
I thought she looked pretty amazing in her lightweight white jumper, skinny jeans and high-heeled boots, but I didn’t need to say anything as Cordelia immediately answered her own question. ‘Of course you wouldn’t! It’s absolutely essential that one looks the part when applying for a job in an office. I’m a little out of practice, but I’m sure with the right look I’ll be able to convince someone to take me on.’
‘Hannah, have you seen Maisie?’ It was Mum, standing at our garden wall and shading her eyes from the sun.
‘No – has she disappeared again?’ Maisie has a habit of disappearing when someone is annoying her, and she seems to go completely deaf to anyone calling her. ‘I’ll come and help you look for her.’
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ Mum said to Cordelia. ‘I’m Claire, by the way.’
‘Cordelia,’ Meg’s mum told her, extending a long elegant arm to shake hands across the garden wall. ‘So nice to meet you.’
‘You must come over for coffee some day,’ Mum said, smoothing down her hair a little self-consciously. ‘I’d ask you in now, but I’m afraid the place is a bit of a mess.’
‘Oh, don’t worry, darling, we’re off to the shops just now anyway. Meg here has got absolutely nothing to wear – I’d forgotten how changeable the Irish summers can be.’
‘I’m sure summers were much nicer when we were young,’ Mum agreed.
Meg and I grinned at each other – that was exactly the kind of thing parents always say.
‘Mustn’t keep you,’ Cordelia said to Mum. ‘Come along, Meg, darling.’
‘There’s something familiar about her,’ Mum said, watching them drive away. ‘Where did you say they used to live?’
‘I’m not actually sure. But Cordelia grew up in Carrickbeg – maybe you knew her when you were kids?’
‘Maybe.’ Mum had already moved on. ‘I’d better go and look for Maisie. I can’t think where she’s got to.’
‘I’ll help you,’ I said.
I headed upstairs, still wondering about Meg and her family. I couldn’t help being curious, but I didn’t want to pry. Someone like Tracey Dunne would have just com
e right out and asked Meg where they used to live, and why they’d moved, and where her dad was, and she wouldn’t have stopped until Meg told her everything she needed to know. Then she’d have used the information against her in one of her nasty little schemes. I knew Meg didn’t need that kind of pressure. Whatever was going on, Meg would tell us when she was ready. Sometimes talking is what being friends is all about, but sometimes being a good friend means knowing when to shut up too.
I found Maisie in the first place I looked – our room, where she was sitting on her bed, arms folded and bottom lip stuck out.
‘Mum, she’s here,’ I shouted down the stairs. ‘Maisie, didn’t you hear Mum calling?’
Maisie unfolded her arms so that she could pointedly fold them again to let me know she was cross. I tried not to smile.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘Zach and Bobby are playing Star Wars again and they said I can only play if I’m Princess Leia. I want to be Luke Skywalker, but Bobby says he’s always Luke Skywalker. Then I said I’d be Rey instead, but Zach said they’re not playing that bit today. It’s not fair, they’re always ganging up on me!’
I’d been involved in enough Star Wars arguments to know there was no point in trying to interfere. ‘Why don’t you and I play something else?’ I suggested instead. ‘A board game?’
‘OK – can we play Monopoly?’
Maisie always wants to play Monopoly even though she’s only five and she doesn’t understand it properly. She keeps putting houses on train stations and charging people extra, and she gets annoyed if anyone else tries to buy the pink section because it’s her favourite colour so she thinks she should be the only one allowed to own it.
‘Only if you play properly,’ I warned her.
‘Of course I will.’ Maisie was already leading the way downstairs. ‘I always play properly. It’s other people who don’t understand the rules.’
Monopoly is a LONG game. Especially when played the Maisie way. I started to get a bit worried when it got near to lunchtime that it wasn’t going to finish, but then I landed on one of Maisie’s illegal hotels and she cleared me out of all my cash.
After lunch I ran upstairs to get changed. I felt like the first meeting of a drama club required a dramatic outfit. I tried on lots of different combinations while Maisie watched and gave me her opinion. Soon most of my clothes were in a pile on my bed. Finally we settled on denim shorts over purple tights, a black top with seagulls printed all over it and a deep pink cardigan.
‘You need something with feathers too.’ Maisie was very definite on that point. ‘Feathers are dramatic.’
She rummaged around in her bedside locker and pulled out a hairslide with big pink feathers on it. She insisted on me trying it on. Actually, it looked pretty good.
‘Now do I look dramatic enough?’ I asked her.
‘You look great!’ she said with a big smile.
‘Thanks, Maisie.’ I gave her a hug.
Maisie’s smile had turned a bit wistful. ‘Can I come to your meeting too, or is it just for big girls?’
‘Sorry, Maisie. It’s just for big girls,’ I told her. I felt bad – she was so interested in the whole idea. ‘I’ll tell you all about it when I get home, OK? And if we’re doing a show maybe you can help me with my costume.’
‘OK,’ Maisie said, sighing.
I looked at my watch. ‘I’d better get going!’ We were meeting at Ruby’s house today, and I’d said I’d call for Meg first. I grabbed my notebook and pen and raced down the stairs.
Chapter Five
Cordelia answered the door. She was wearing a navy pinstripe jacket and matching knee-length skirt and a white blouse, and she looked so different from earlier that I couldn’t help staring.
‘Hannah, what do you think?’ she said, giving a little twirl.
‘Lovely,’ I said.
‘Now you would definitely want to hire me, wouldn’t you?’ Cordelia beamed. ‘Heavens, imagine me holding down a nine-to-five job! It’s too funny!’
‘You haven’t got the job yet, Mum,’ Meg said as she appeared behind her. ‘You still need to do the interview.’
‘Oh, that’s just a small detail,’ Cordelia said, waving her hand as if the interview was barely worth thinking about now that she had her perfect work outfit. ‘What are you girls up to, anyway?’
‘We’re forming a drama club,’ I told her, surprised that Meg hadn’t said anything.
Too late I saw the look on Meg’s face. For some reason I didn’t understand, she clearly hadn’t planned on telling her mum what we were up to.
Cordelia’s carefree expression vanished. She looked at Meg, worry etched on her face. ‘Oh, Meg, do you think that’s a good idea, darling?’
‘Really, Mum, it’s fine,’ Meg told her. ‘It’s just four girls getting together to share our ideas and stuff. We’re not going to be appearing in the town hall or anything like that!’
‘My mum says it should keep us out of trouble for a bit,’ I joked, trying to lighten the mood. Whatever was going on there was a real tension in the air. Cordelia was still frowning, and Meg wouldn’t look at her. She grabbed her hoodie from the bottom of the stairs and stepped out past her.
‘Just … be careful, OK?’ Cordelia said.
‘I will,’ Meg said, sighing.
We walked towards Ruby’s. Neither of us said anything for a minute. All the questions were whirling around in my head once again. Why on earth would Meg’s mum not want her to be in a drama club? She didn’t mind us hanging out together – she certainly didn’t seem like one of those mums who thought you should spend all your holidays visiting relatives or something – so what was the problem with the club? Suddenly I found myself blurting out, ‘Why didn’t you want your mum to know what we’re doing?’
‘It’s … it’s complicated, Hannah,’ Meg said, not looking at me. ‘I can’t really explain it just yet. I will some day, OK?’
‘OK,’ I said. I didn’t know what else I could say. I wished Meg would just tell me what was going on.
Laura was just arriving on her bike when we got to Ruby’s. Laura lives a few streets away, and she’s allowed to cycle over here to meet up with us. I, on the other hand, am not allowed to cycle over to hers because of crossing the main road. Mum says maybe when I start sixth class in September. I’m not sure how that’s going to make it magically safer for me to cross the road, but that’s Mum for you. And it’s not like Laura is any more careful than me – actually, if anything she’s less careful. When she’s got a new idea for a story rattling around in her brain she goes into a world of her own and could quite easily cycle right into the road, thinking she was in the middle of a field in wartime France or something like that. But her mum is a bit more laidback than mine about letting her do things. It’s probably something to do with her being the youngest instead of the oldest like me.
‘Great, you guys are early! Come on in!’
Ruby led the way up to her room, which is the pinkest room in the history of the earth. Everything in it is pink, from the walls to the curtains to the duvet cover, and even the tassles on the lampshade. It’s a bit girly for my taste, but it suits Ruby, and it certainly makes the right backdrop to the ballet posters all over her walls.
We all found somewhere to sit. Meg sank into a beanbag on the floor, and Laura sat beside her on a fluffy cushion (pink, of course). I took the desk chair because it made me feel more official, although I turned it around so that I had my back to the desk and was facing the others. Ruby stretched out on her side on her bed, unselfconsciously lifting one leg as high as she could and holding it there, before gracefully lowering it again. She repeated this a few times, hardly seeming aware of what she was doing. I smiled to myself.
‘Right,’ I said, ‘we’re all here, so I hereby call to order the first meeting of … oh. What are we calling ourselves? Maybe that should be the first item on the agenda. Has anyone got any suggestions?’
‘How about Woodland Green Dr
ama Club?’ Ruby suggested.
‘Or Woodland Green Players,’ said Meg. ‘Drama groups are often called players.’
I tried to think of a tactful way to say I thought it sounded like a pretty boring name, but thankfully Laura came to my rescue.
‘That makes it sound like anyone who lives in Woodland Green can join,’ she pointed out. ‘We don’t want that. Also, you might remember I’m not actually from Woodland Green, so unless you want me to leave and one of your neighbours to join …’
‘That’s a good point, actually,’ Meg admitted.
‘It’s also a bit too … grown-up,’ I said, managing to find a more diplomatic word than boring. ‘We’re just kids doing this for fun, so we should have a fun name.’
‘How about something like Fame Club?’ suggested Laura. ‘Fame was this eighties TV show about teenagers who wanted to be on the stage. My mum used to love it, she has all the DVDs.’
‘It’s on the right track, but I think we need an original idea if we can manage it,’ I said.
I was tapping my notebook with my sparkly pen as I spoke. I glanced down at the starry pattern on the notebook, and that’s when inspiration struck. ‘How about Star Club?’
‘That’s perfect!’ Ruby said.
‘Yes, I like it,’ Laura said slowly. ‘It’s fun, and it’s not too restrictive. It could include Ruby’s ballet as well, not just drama.’
Meg was nodding too. ‘Sounds just right. Nice one, Hannah.’
I wrote it in big letters at the top of my page: STAR CLUB. It looked great!
‘OK. I hereby call the first meeting of Star Club to order. Now, has anyone got any ideas for us?’
I was dying to share my ideas, but I was determined not to take over the meeting, so I wanted to let everyone else go first.
‘Could we try to put on a ballet?’ Ruby said. ‘Just a simple one,’ she added quickly, seeing all our faces.
‘No way,’ Laura said. ‘I did ballet for two years, and I hated it. I begged Mum to let me stop, and it was only when the teacher told her I had two left feet that she finally gave in. I’m just no good at it.’
Hannah in the Spotlight Page 3