Keeping it Real

by Annie Dalton

  I took a shaky breath. “Sky, you think you’re in love, but I’m your friend, plus I’m an angel, and I’m telling you he’s just playing with you, girl! He doesn’t really care about you, you know! No decent boy would make you run around these streets in the middle of the night.”

  I could hear my voice getting husky.

  “I was so scared for you, last night, Sky. I was scared for all you guys. I didn’t think I could be more scared until I saw that—”

  I caught myself before I started to describe the eerie comings and goings in the school annexe. This flash of fear wasn’t anything I could put into words, but it had something to do with that disturbingly passive vibe my friend was putting out. I felt that even mentioning the Dark Powers just then could make them pop up right there in the Nolans’ kitchen. Something bad had happened to Sky, something that had left her wide open to any dark vibe that blew in off the street. So many people had let her down, and now she seemed lost - she’d forgotten who she was. She’d just given up on herself.

  “Everyone leaves me,” she’d sobbed out that night.

  You’d think that wouldn’t you, if your dad walks out and your so-called mother sees nothing wrong with abandoning you for an entire weekend in a dangerous city?

  You left her too, Melanie, whispered the dark angels who’d come to live at the back of my mind. I tuned them out, quick as a flash. I was here now wasn’t I? And unlike those other people who’d disappointed Sky, I was going to take proper care of my friend; more importantly, I was going to teach her how to take care of herself.

  I didn’t care what Brice, Helix or anyone said. My first task was to help my friend get back her old feisty self-confidence.

  I decided to start by just beaming positivity.

  “You’re such a star, Sky,” I said in my warmest, most upbeat voice. “Do you know that? All you need is some really basic cosmic info, then you’ll be like, untouchable. A few minutes a day, that’s all it’ll take, but you’ll be amazed at the results.”

  Yeah, I know it sounded like I was recommending heavenly beauty products, but with Sky how she was, it could be dangerous to get into anything too heavy. I was giving her like the fuzzy pink version of Cosmic Survival for Humans - Lesson 1.

  With Sky I basically stressed over and over that she wasn’t alone. “It sounds so simple! But, once you’ve grasped this one basic fact, I swear, your whole Universe will be like, transformed.”

  Sky abruptly brushed past me on her way out of the kitchen.

  Still talking, I followed her into the sitting room, where she’d left the gas fire full on. She crouched down, holding out blue-tinged hands to the flames.

  For all the response I was getting, she might have had her earphones in. I felt like she could, technically, hear me, but some deeply suspicious part of Sky was deleting my words as fast as I put them out.

  But even when my mate turned on the TV and started flicking through channels, I refused to be depressed.

  Sky had taken a lot of knocks. You couldn’t expect her to turn into a PODS-kicking undercover angel in just one lesson!

  She finally settled for an MTV channel. An old feel-good music video came on. “Where is the Love?” by the Black Eyed Peas.

  “This is just the kind of thing I’ve been talking about,” I said in my new, upbeat voice. “Here’s you thinking you’re all alone in the Universe, and you get this major sign, don’t you see! You know why that happens, babe? It’s because everything is totally connected! That’s why, if we ask the Universe for—”

  “You should stop now,” Helix interrupted.

  “But I haven’t told her about the cosmic strings—”

  “Tell her tomorrow,” said Helix gently. “You’re getting overtired.”

  Until she pointed it out, I hadn’t noticed how weird I was feeling: drained and muzzy-headed. Teaching angel skills to humans who aren’t actually listening uses up more energy than you’d think. I badly needed to rest, but I felt bad about leaving Sky alone again.

  “You’re going to be OK, sweetie,” I told her one last time. “One day you’ll wake up and you’ll absolutely know why you’re here and who you are. It’s not your fault you’ve got cosmic amnesia. Lola—”

  “Enough!” insisted Helix.

  “You’re magic, Sky,” I told my friend stubbornly, as I slung my Agency bag over my shoulder. “Deep deep down inside, you’re pure magic.”

  Back at the Agency house, Jools was pottering in the kitchen.

  “Hiya,” I said, in a feeble little voice.

  Jools didn’t say a word, just pulled out a chair and made me sit down. Fetching a tiny bottle from the first-aid box, she sent it whizzing across the table. “Two drops,” she ordered. “No more than that or it’ll blow your head off!”

  I dripped exactly two drops cautiously on my tongue.

  “Woo!” I shook myself like a puppy. “That feels better!”

  “Angel drops!” grinned Jools. “An Earth Angel’s best friend, closely followed by chocolate! Speaking of which—”

  Jools quickly washed out two mugs and made us both some hot chocolate. It was out of a packet but I didn’t care; it felt so good to be taken care of.

  “Where’s Brice?” I asked cautiously.

  “He… do you know, I’m actually not sure,” she smiled. “But he left you a note.”

  Jools handed me a torn piece of paper. I unfolded it cautiously. No ‘Dear Mel’. No signature. Just seven words in Brice’s thick black scrawl.

  Sorry I called you a good fairy.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I woke on Sunday morning to find my inner angel had switched my plans in the night. Instead of giving Sky her intensive coaching session on cosmic string theory, Helix had decided I was spending my day in a school with an inter-dimensional leak, watching the drama group rehearsing Grease.

  When I emerged from the bathroom, washed and dressed, I was surprised to see Jools sitting on the stairs in her PJs.

  She took a breath. “Mel, everyone’s so impressed with what you’re doing for your friends - if it’s OK, we’d like to help.”

  I was so grateful I didn’t know whether to kiss her or cry. The EAs were already working all around the clock, yet they were willing to stretch to give my friends the help they needed.

  “You realise this is going to be REALLY scary?” I called after Jools, as she disappeared into the bathroom.

  Jools spun, looking anxious. “You mean the leak?”

  I giggled. “I was thinking of Karmen singing ‘Beauty School Dropout!’”

  Jools and I set off walking to my old school, chatting and giggling. Outside the Cosmic Cafe, Nikos, the owner, was taking off the security grille, ready to open up for Sunday customers. I couldn’t resist.

  “Hiya!” I called. “It’s Mel, Des’s girl!! I’m visiting Earth!”

  I saw him smile to himself, as if he were enjoying a private joke, then he calmly disappeared back into the cafe.

  I almost fell over. “Did he hear me?”

  Jools chuckled. “We have some humans on our side you know! Nikos is a sweet guy. Really looks out for the local kids.”

  We’d reached the noisy dual carriageway.

  “You never told me how the angel lessons went?” Jools said, raising her voice above the roar of traffic.

  “I think it kind of went OK with Jax,” I told her and suddenly I started pouring out my worries about Sky.

  “That first night, I know she heard me, Jools! Then her boyfriend rang and - bosh! - we’re back to square one.”

  “Any idea who the boyfriend is?” she asked.

  “No - and I don’t want to,” I flashed. “You know what upsets me? None of this would be happening if the Pinks hadn’t broken up. We kept each other on track, you know. Now they’re all over the place!”

  Jools suddenly got busy rearranging her scarf. I had an uneasy feeling she was getting ready to tell me some home truths.

  “When you talk about your friends,” s
he said tentatively, “I almost get the feeling you were like, the magic glue that was holding everything together.”

  I felt a dark rushing in my head, as if all the Dark angels had taken off at once. For a moment I felt actually physically sick. Because if I was the Shocking Pinks’ glue and I suddenly wasn’t around, that meant, it meant—

  Jools quickly put her arm around me. She let me cry for a little while, then I felt her rubbing my back.

  “You do know none of this is your fault? You died, Melanie! It was out of your control!”

  “I just get so scared for them,” I choked. “We know the score, Jools, but they have NO idea! I mean, those creeps came out in the cold to watch Jax fight, and yesterday at Sky’s—”

  Jools made me look at her. “I’m going to tell you something, angel girl,” she said fiercely. “No matter what happens to your friends, I want you to remember this, OK?”

  “OK,” I quavered.

  “It’s going to take time, maybe years, but they will come through this, Melanie, and they’ll be all the stronger for it.”

  I wasn’t actually sure if Jax or Sky had years, the way they were going on. But I felt genuinely comforted. Not just because of the pep talk, but because I realised I’d made a really lovely friend.

  We’d crossed the invisible boundary into the dodgy part of Bell Meadow. A boy in a huge coat barged past, visibly stressing; you could hear him huffing to himself. He went storming through the school gates.

  The school looked surprisingly normal by daylight. A burned-out car was smouldering in the loading bay, but then that’s fairly normal for Park Hall.

  “Hopefully it won’t feel too bad inside today,” Jools sighed. “We’ve sent guys in to do cosmic sweeps, plus we’ve been pumping in vibes. That should slow things down.”

  “I don’t suppose anyone’s figured out how to fix this leak?” I asked anxiously.

  “You know what I woke up thinking?” she asked suddenly. “I thought, maybe the leak isn’t up to us to fix.”

  “You think we need to call in the Big Guys in Suits?”

  “Just the opposite,” she smiled. “This might sound a bit radical, but I think maybe it’s down to these kids.”

  Mr Lupton had told them to be there by half past nine.

  When Jools and I walked into the hall at 9.35, exactly two kids had turned up - Karmen and the stressed boy who’d passed us earlier.

  “No one’s coming, man,” he complained. “They’re all cosy in their beds. Like we’d be if we had any sense,” he added darkly.

  I didn’t think I’d seen this boy at the rehearsal, but something about him seemed oddly familiar. He had unusual eyebrows, black and sort of slanting. If he wasn’t so mean and moody, he’d be almost good-looking.

  From the way Karmen was pretending not to look at him, she thought so too! “They’re coming, Jordie,” she insisted. “They promised.”

  “Because they wanted you out of their face!” he flashed.

  “Perhaps I’ll give them till ten,” Mr Lupton said bravely.

  At that moment, three disdainful-looking girls strolled in, closely followed by four boys. The boys were all yawning and looking fed up.

  It looked like the drama teacher was still at least ten kids short of an actual musical.

  Jools and I had been sitting on the stage, boosting the light levels to discourage any lurking hell critters that got overlooked in the sweep.

  “Poor Mr Lupton,” I sighed. “He’s been trying to get this production off the ground since he started teaching.”

  Jools pulled a face “Why is he so fixated on this musical?”

  “I think maybe he did it in college?”

  She rolled her eyes. “How many centuries ago?”

  ”Jools!” I giggled.

  “Look, he’s a lovely guy, but anyone can see he didn’t grow up round here. He never had to lie awake listening to police helicopters and emergency sirens stressing up the place! These kids need something they can genuinely relate to.” She gestured out into the hall. “Now that’s their style!”

  Two boys had begun body popping to pass the time. Egged on by shouts from the girls, their moves got steadily slicker and more outrageous.

  Jordie suddenly came striding purposefully towards the stage. He vaulted up and grabbed a mike off the stand.

  “Check, check,” he said experimentally, then he shut his eyes and in a surprisingly good voice, belted out, “PRESSURE! The Park Hall youths dem under too much pressure!”

  All the kids except Karmen clapped and cheered.

  “You know that, man, serious pressure!” one of the body poppers yelled back.

  Jordie started jabbing his fingers at a huge, imaginary audience, as he began to rap. Plenty of white boys at my school thought they could rap. The difference was this white boy was actually good.

  Next time I looked the girls had kind of casually drifted up on to the stage where they started doing some really chilled street-dancing. They still looked disdainful, but now it kind of fitted with the ambience.

  Jordie had shrugged his coat almost off his shoulders as he prowled around the stage still spouting lyrics. The other boys were calling out, half-mocking, half-genuinely impressed. Even Mr Lupton was smiling and clapping (usually missing the beat, bless him).

  By this time the vibe coming off Jordie was totally electric. Completely gripped by his performance, I only half-registered a stealthy creak as the door opened just wide enough for a latecomer to slip into the hall.

  My heart gave a tiny jump. I’d had a totally mad idea. I turned to Jools. “Wouldn’t it be great if Mr Lupton would just drop the musical,” I bubbled, “and let the kids put on their own show?”

  Jools just lit up. “Melanie that is such a brilliant—!” She broke off and I saw her eyes go wide with shock. “Is that Jax at the back there?”

  It’s not surprising Jools was confused. I was confused - and Jax was my friend! This was a totally new version of Eve Jackson. In her soft winter sweater and slouchy velvet jeans, with a knitted beany pulled down over her hair, this girl could have posed for one of those ‘celebs off-duty’ shots in style zines.

  My earth-angel buddy pretended to smack me round the head. ‘“Ooh, I don’t know, Jools. I think maybe my angel lessons went OK, Jools.’ Melanie! She’s like a different person!”

  I was speechless. I believe in this stuff, I really do, I just hadn’t expected it to work so FAST.

  Not only had Jax left off her gangster jacket, she’d taken out every stud except one. It takes more than a few studs to turn a girl into a gangster of course; what made me know this change was real was the look in her eyes. Just once or twice, in our Shocking Pink days, I’d seen my friend’s eyes shine like this.

  Jax watched the kids on the stage for a while, moving her body slightly to the driving rattatat of Jordie’s lyrics, then she made her way to the front of the hall, where Mr Lupton was talking to an increasingly depressed Karmen.

  “Hi, girl,” Jax greeted her quietly.

  “Hi.” Karmen didn’t even look at her. “Nice of you to come along and say I told you so!”

  “Only I didn’t,” Jax told her quietly. “You did your best, you know. I just think you’ve all been—” she stopped.

  “No, go ahead, stick the knife in,” Karmen said in a cold voice. “You know you’re dying to!”

  Jax took a breath. “I just think you’ve all been barking up the wrong tree. No offence, sir,” she said to Mr Lupton, “but your musical sucks, basically.”

  “I feel forced to agree,” he said in a tired voice. “I really think it’s time to call it a day.”

  “We can’t give up now!” Karmen’s voice came out like a despairing wail. “We’ve got to find a way to make this work!”

  “Because of Mel?” Jax said softly.

  Karmen suddenly buried her face in her hands. “We’ve got to, we’ve just got to,” she sobbed. “It meant so much to her, Jax, but we were so worried about losing our cred
, we wouldn’t even give it a try, and now Mel’s dead!”

  I was turning hot and cold.

  What made it so much worse is that I wasn’t even that sold on being a Pink Lady in the first place. But now I was dead, Karms remembered a passing whim as like, my dying wish.

  My poor friend was putting herself through the wringer, all because - for a whole ten minutes - I’d fancied dressing up in a cute retro jacket so I could flirt with Kelsey Hickman!

  Karms was weeping openly now. “I miss her, Jax! I really miss her and I really miss the Shocking Pinks.”

  To my horror Jax’s eyes filled with tears. “I miss her too,” she gulped.

  Jools and I clutched each other’s hands in disbelief.

  My friends were hugging.

  Jax swiped away her tears, trying to pull herself together. “Karms, don’t laugh, but when I came in just now I had this mad idea. I know you want to do something for Mel, but why can’t it be something she’d be proud of, something classy that we’d all be proud of?”

  “Like Shakespeare you mean?” Karmen quavered.

  Jax gave a tearful laugh. “Haven’t you even noticed what’s happening on that stage?”

  “One little white boy is not a show, Jax!”

  “Karmen, wake up! Loads of kids in this school perform in garage bands or whatever.”

  “You seriously think we can put on a new show in two weeks?”

  “Why not?” Mr Lupton chipped in unexpectedly. “As you said yourself, they build gardens in a poxy weekend on TV!”

  “But they know what they’re doing,” Karms objected.

  “And again, thank you children of Park Hall!” he said humorously.

  “I meant we’d be doing this totally from scratch,” she explained.

  “Karmen, it will just snowball, girl, trust me! Kids will text their mates and - bosh! - you’ve got your show!”

  The kids on the stage had clocked that something was going on and came ambling down into the hall.

  “Whassup?” demanded Jordie. “You guys plotting a revolution?”

  Jax’s eyes glinted. “We’re gonna kill Mr Lupton’s musical!”

  He snorted. “That musical been dead a while, man.”