Centre Stage: A Novel

by Linda Chapman

  Dizzy took me through the sequence very closely, showing me every hand and arm movement. I had to repeat it several times but in the end I just about got it.

  ‘That’s better,’ Dizzy said.

  I glanced across the room. Colette, Jack and Mark were watching me curiously. I felt my face flush. ‘Can I go now?’ I asked.

  Dizzy nodded. ‘You mustn’t worry if it takes you a little longer than some of the others to pick up the steps, you know, Sophie. You’ve had less formal training than anyone else. Just ask if you need help.’

  ‘OK,’ I mumbled, but inside I was shaking my head. I wasn’t going to ask for extra help. There was no way I wanted to have to go over dances with the rest of the cast watching. It made me feel like a complete idiot.

  I hurried over to Colette, Mark and Jack.

  ‘Couldn’t you get the sequence?’ Colette said.

  I shook my head.

  ‘Never mind,’ she said kindly. ‘You’ll soon pick it up. I can go through it again with you, if you like.’

  ‘No, I’ll be fine,’ I said brightly. ‘I’ve got it now.’

  I hoped I was right.

  When Dizzy called us back together, I managed the dance just about OK.

  ‘See you tomorrow, Sophie,’ Colette called as I picked up my bag at the end of rehearsal.

  Justine came over to me. She looked a bit awkward and I could tell she was remembering what had happened at lunch. ‘I’ve hardly seen you all day,’ she said.

  ‘It’s been really busy, hasn’t it?’ I said.

  ‘Yeah, but fun,’ she replied. She hesitated. ‘Though I didn’t like the music rehearsal this morning.’

  ‘And I didn’t much like the dancing rehearsal after lunch,’ I admitted. ‘I was useless.’ Somehow I felt I didn’t have to pretend to be better than I was with Justine.

  ‘You weren’t as bad as me with the singing,’ Justine said. ‘I couldn’t get the note at all.’

  ‘You got it in the end,’ I reassured her. ‘You sounded really good. Much better than I was when I danced.’

  ‘You’ll work it out,’ Justine said.

  ‘Justine!’ It was Samantha. ‘Do you want to walk to the bus stop with me?’

  ‘OK,’ Justine replied. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Sophie.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘See you.’ I smiled at Samantha but she ignored me.

  She and Justine walked off. I hoisted my bag on to my shoulder. I had to be positive, I told myself. Justine was right. The dance was going to be fine. I just needed to practise, that was all.

  When I got home, I rang Ally to find out whether she’d had any luck getting Harriet to talk about Kelly picking on her.

  ‘No,’ Ally sighed. ‘She just kept changing the subject. I’m sure it’ll blow over.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess,’ I said slowly.

  ‘So how was your rehearsal?’

  I told her about my day, and she told me how she and Harriet had gone out on a two-hour hack and then helped out with some of the little kids’ riding lessons.

  Finally Mum knocked on my door and said she needed me to get off the phone so she could use the internet.

  Saying goodbye, I went downstairs. My tummy rumbled and I headed for the cupboard where the biscuits were kept. Yum! Jaffa Cakes. My favourite. I pulled out the box eagerly. It was strangely light. Opening it, I saw that someone — and I was betting it wasn’t Mum or Dad — had eaten the Jaffa Cakes and slung the empty packet back. I sighed. Sometimes I could really dream about being an only child.

  Just as I was throwing the empty packet into the bin, Dad and Tom came in. ‘Did you eat all the Jaffa Cakes, Tom?’ I demanded.

  ‘Hi, Soph,’ Tom said, ignoring my question. ‘How’s my favourite little sis’, then?’

  I stared at him. He sounded positively cheerful. ‘What’s up with you?’ I asked suspiciously.

  ‘He’s had some good news,’ Dad said, patting Snowy, who was leaping round his legs like a demented — and very fluffy — bouncy ball.

  A broad grin split Tom’s face. ‘A guy from the Junction is going to come and hear the Blue Lemons play. If he likes us he said we can play at some of the Junction’s under-eighteen nights. And we’ll get paid!’

  ‘That’s brilliant!’ I gasped, Jaffa Cakes forgotten. The Junction was a cool club in town. All Jessica and Tom’s friends went there. ‘When’s he coming to watch you?’

  ‘Two weeks,’ Tom replied. He ran his hand through his hair enthusiastically. ‘This could be the start of something. Something really big.’

  ‘Well, as long as it doesn’t interfere with your schoolwork,’ Dad warned. ‘You know it’s really important you do well in your GCSEs this year.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah,’ Tom said airily. He rolled his eyes at me, in a way that said parents and then he smiled. ‘So, you want some Jaffa Cakes?’ I nodded and he reached into his pocket. ‘Tell you what, I’ll go to the post office and buy you some, then.’

  I almost fell through the floor in astonishment. Wow, he really was in a good mood.

  The next day we had an acting rehearsal. Only the principals were called in and the room seemed very quiet compared to the day before. Claire began by showing us a model of the set with all the scenery.

  ‘Now, get out your scripts,’ she told us at last. ‘We’ll read through scene one and then block it.’

  I knew from filming that blocking meant walking through the scene. Claire told us when and where to move and we had to write it in our scripts so that we wouldn’t forget.

  Justine’s team blocked scene one while my team sat and watched and made notes.

  ‘We’ll swap over for the next scene,’ Claire told us.

  It was odd hearing Justine reading out Lucy’s words. She said some of the lines differently from how I would have. Sometimes she sounded happy when I thought Lucy would be more thoughtful and sometimes she just seemed to put the wrong emphasis on the words.

  When it was my team’s turn to block scene two, I jumped out of my chair eagerly. I couldn’t wait to have a go. In the second scene the children explore the house and find the wardrobe which eventually leads them to the magical land of Narnia. I think I did quite well. Claire certainly seemed pleased.

  ‘That was excellent, Sophie,’ she told me. ‘You really seem to have got under the skin of Lucy. You actually made me believe in her. Well done.’

  For a moment I wondered if Claire was just being nice because I was the youngest, but then I realized that she hadn’t praised Justine in the same way in the scene before.

  My doubts were further pushed away when Claire told us to take a ten-minute break, and Colette and the boys hurried over.

  ‘That was really good, Sophie!’ Colette exclaimed. ‘You were just like Lucy should be.’

  ‘Yeah, you were great,’ Jack said, looking really impressed. ‘I felt like you were really my little sister.’

  ‘We’re so lucky to have you as our Lucy,’ Colette said, shooting a look in the other team’s direction. ‘Justine’s nowhere near as good as you.’

  I could feel myself glowing. It was brilliant to have Colette and the others looking really pleased to have me in their team again. I made a resolution. From now on, that was the way it was going to stay.

  Chapter Nine

  ‘The Junction!’ Ally exclaimed, when I announced Tom’s news the next day on our way into school. She’s really into music and I knew she’d be very impressed. ‘That’s so cool!’

  ‘What’s the Junction?’ Harriet asked.

  ‘It’s a club in town. It does under-eighteen nights,’ I explained. ‘Jessica and her friends go. You have to be at least fourteen to get in.’

  ‘So, when’s this guy coming to see them?’ Ally asked.

  ‘Two weeks,’ I replied.

  Harriet giggled. She looked definitely unimpressed. ‘I wonder what Tom and his mates will wear. I bet they’ll look really stupid.’

  I grinned at her. ‘Of course. I mean it is Tom we’re talki
ng about.’

  Just then, Eve from Ally’s class came into the cloakroom.

  ‘Hi, Eve,’ Ally said. ‘You’ll never guess what — Sophie was just telling us that the band her brother Tom is in might get to play at the Junction.’

  ‘Wow!’ Eve said, looking at me. ‘That’s brilliant! My cousin’s in a band and they used to play there. He’s gone to university now.’

  ‘Your cousin’s in a band?’ Ally questioned, looking interested. ‘What’s it called?’

  ‘The Scream,’ Eve replied. ‘They’re really good. They’ve just got a record deal.’ She hung up her coat. ‘They’re doing some gigs around here at Christmas time. One of them’s for charity at our village hall.’ She looked almost shyly at Ally. ‘I could try and get you a ticket as well if you like.’

  ‘Yeah!’ Ally said eagerly.

  Eve smiled at her. ‘Are you coming into the classroom?’

  Ally hesitated and looked at Harriet and me. She had got into the habit of coming into our classroom before morning registration. ‘Umm… yeah, I guess. I’ll… er, see you two later.’

  Watching Ally head off with Eve felt strange.

  ‘Eve seems nice, doesn’t she?’ Harriet said slowly.

  ‘Yeah,’ I agreed, feeling weird. ‘Yeah, she does.’

  We walked towards our classroom. ‘So, when’s your next rehearsal?’ Harriet asked me.

  ‘Tomorrow night,’ I replied. ‘It’s another dancing rehearsal, worse luck.’

  Harriet looked at me sympathetically. I’d told her all about being picked out on Saturday as we’d travelled to school on the bus. ‘You’ll get better at the dancing,’ she said comfortingly. ‘You just need to practise.’

  I nodded in determination. Yes, I thought. That’s all I need to do.

  Over the next two weeks I practised and practised. Every night after school I went over the dances and, to my relief, I seemed to be managing to keep up with the others. But then, one Tuesday night, Dizzy broke the news about Lucy’s ballet solo.

  ‘OK, tonight you’re going to start learning your solo,’ she said to me and Justine as everyone else took a drinks’ break.

  ‘Solo?’ I echoed.

  Dizzy nodded. ‘It comes in the scene at Mr Tumnus’s house. After you have had tea you dance a kind of ballet.’

  ‘Cool!’ Justine said, looking really pleased. ‘I love ballet.’

  I gulped. This sounded difficult.

  Dizzy seemed to see the worry on my face. ‘Don’t look like that, Sophie; you’ll manage just fine. Although it’s going to be based on ballet-style movements I’m not expecting either of you to look like trained ballet dancers. In fact, what I want you to look like is a little girl dancing naturally out of sheer joy.’ She went to the tape player. ‘Now I’ll play you the music and show you the dance.’

  I felt slightly better. And then I saw Dizzy dance.

  As she spun and jumped my mouth dropped open. I was going to have to do that? It was impossible. There were pirouettes, lots of jumps and an arabesque — that’s where you balance on one leg with the other leg out behind you. I was never going to be able to do it.

  As the music ended and Dizzy spun to a halt, her arms outstretched, the watching dancers all clapped and cheered and a few of the boys wolf-whistled. She grinned at them. ‘OK, OK, settle down, guys.’ Then she turned to Justine and me. ‘Right, now it’s your turn.’

  I felt rooted to the ground in horror. She wanted me to do that — in front of everyone!

  I swallowed. This was a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare.

  ‘You start over here, feet in fifth position,’ Dizzy instructed. ‘Come on, Sophie,’ she called as Justine eagerly hurried over and stood in fifth position, her right foot neatly placed in front of her left, her toes turned out.

  I walked towards them, feeling sick.

  ‘So, from fifth position,’ Dizzy said, walking slowly through the first sequence of steps, ‘you start with a simple glissande derrière, so that’s a demi-plié, slide your left foot to second position, raise your left foot and spring, as you land stretch your right foot off the ground and then slide it back to a demi-plié in fifth…’

  What? I stood motionless as Justine followed the instructions easily.

  ‘Come on, Sophie, what are you waiting for?’ Dizzy frowned.

  It took me four attempts to get that first sequence even vaguely right.

  ‘It’s not that hard,’ Dizzy told me. ‘Just try and relax.’

  Relax? With everyone watching me?

  ‘OK, and on to the next sequence,’ Dizzy said. ‘It’s an assemblé dessus followed by two changements.’

  It was the worst fifteen minutes of my life. I just couldn’t get the dance at all. It was partly because it was quite difficult and partly because I could feel everyone watching. As I made mistake after mistake, I got more and more tense and that made my dancing even worse. I saw people whispering to each other. I was sure they were talking about me.

  ‘OK, maybe we’ll call it a day for now,’ Dizzy said, to my utter relief. ‘Justine, that was great. Just remember to keep your body as straight as possible in the changements. Sophie,’ she turned to me, a slight frown on her face, ‘I’ll go through it again with you on Sunday. You’re obviously finding it difficult. But don’t worry. You’ll get it in the end — it’s really not that hard.’

  I wanted to drop through the floor with embarrassment.

  ‘Off you go and sit down now,’ Dizzy said.

  I hurried back to my seat, my cheeks burning.

  Justine caught up with me. ‘Sophie. Wait!’

  I stopped.

  ‘Look,’ she said sympathetically. ‘I know you haven’t done much ballet. If you want you can come to my house and we can…’

  ‘Way to go, Justine!’ Samantha interrupted, hurrying over. ‘You looked brilliant!’ She glanced at me and there was a triumphant smirk on her face. ‘Guess we know now which team’s going to be picked to perform on opening night.’

  I’d thought I couldn’t feel any worse. But I’d been wrong.

  ‘Come on, Jus,’ Samantha said to Justine. ‘Come and sit with me, David and Xav. We’re going through our lines in the first scene.’ Justine looked at me but Samantha linked arms with her. ‘Come on!’ she insisted.

  I slowly made my way back to where Colette, Jack and Mark were sitting. ‘That didn’t look much fun,’ Jack said, giving me a wry smile.

  ‘No,’ I muttered.

  ‘You’ll pick it up,’ Colette said breezily, but I heard a note of worry in her voice. Oh great; she thought I was going to let the team down too.

  Picking up my script, I pretended to study my lines but the words blurred as I blinked away the tears of humiliation prickling my eyes.

  Thankfully the rest of the rehearsal wasn’t too bad. When the chorus had finished learning the dance in the Queen’s palace we all started learning moves for the big battle scene. Although it was set to music, it was more like acting than dancing and as I pretended to be Lucy in the midst of the battle I felt myself starting to relax. The moves came easily and by the time we finished for the night I was actually enjoying myself.

  ‘That was more like it,’ Dizzy said, coming over to me as everyone started to get their bags. ‘When you relax you dance really well, Sophie. Now, go home and I’ll see you on the weekend.’

  I headed for the door. I could see Mum in the foyer. I had just reached her when Velda came up to me.

  ‘Sophie, I’ve had calls from journalists who’ve heard about you being Lucy in the play. They know about you being in the film and they want to do articles on you, if that’s OK?’

  If it was OK! Excitement leapt inside me at the thought of being interviewed. ‘Yeah… yeah, it’s fine,’ I replied.

  ‘Which papers are they from?’ Mum asked.

  Velda checked her clipboard. ‘It’s the two local papers — the Loughborough Echo and the Nottingham Evening Post. I’ll try and arrange it so that they both interv
iew Sophie on Saturday.’

  ‘How exciting,’ Mum said to me.

  ‘I’m sure they won’t be the only interviews Sophie has to do,’ Velda told her. ‘There are bound to be magazine and radio interviews nearer the time too. It’s a good story — local girl comes from nowhere to take the lead in a film and then gets the main part in a big Christmas show. It’ll be great publicity for us. People are bound to want to come and see the local film star. Anyway, see you on Saturday, Sophie.’

  I nodded. Velda’s words had made my stomach suddenly go all squirmy. Not the bit about seeing me on Saturday of course, but her comment that lots of people were going to come and see the play because of me. Help! They’d all be expecting me to be perfect. But what about my dancing? What if I made a total mess of things on stage?

  I followed Mum to the car feeling almost sick.

  ‘Sophie?’ Mum frowned as we got into the car. ‘Are you OK? You’re being very quiet.’

  ‘I… I’m fine,’ I mumbled.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Mum asked, looking at me closely.

  I nodded. I didn’t want to talk about it. ‘I’m just tired,’ I lied.

  To my relief Mum seemed to accept this. ‘It is late, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘And you’ve got school tomorrow. Come on, let’s go home.’

  ‘It’s going to be really strange being interviewed,’ I said to Ally and Harriet the next day as we sat on the wall at breaktime.

  ‘Yeah,’ Harriet said. ‘But I guess you’re going to have to get used to it. When the film comes out you’re probably going to be asked to do loads of interviews.’

  ‘Maybe you’ll be on TV,’ Ally said. ‘You know, something like SMTV.’

  Weird! But I knew she was right. I really could be on telly. I felt like pinching myself. It was hard to believe how much my life had changed in the last few months. I opened my mouth, about to admit to Ally and Harriet how worried I felt about people coming to watch me thinking I was going to be perfect, but just then Eve came over and I changed my mind.

  ‘Hi,’ she said, smiling at us all. ‘Ally, I’ve just seen Nikita, you know, the sixth former who organizes the art club. We’re doing papier mâché or something this lunchtime and she said she needs help tearing up lots of newspaper. I’m going to go and give her a hand — do you want to come?’