by Lyn Gardner
But she didn’t feel as thrilled as she would have done just a few weeks ago. Then she would have been delighted that all her hard work, and her mum’s, was starting to pay off. She would have loved to see her mum’s tired face light up with pride. But instead she just felt completely numb, because there at the bottom of the list was another name: Katie Wilkes-Cox.
When she had run towards the notice board, she had silently been begging: “Please, please, let my name be there and please, please, let Katie’s not.” But she wasn’t surprised at what she found; for the last few hours, Katie had been wandering around with her cat’s-got-the-cream smile, making Georgia suspect that somehow Katie already knew she had a place in the cast. Katie hadn’t even bothered to come and look at the list.
Georgia rested her hot forehead against the notice board. She realised that Katie made her feel like a helpless little mouse caught between a cat’s paws and she was beginning to hate her for it. She couldn’t think why she had ever wanted to be her friend. She supposed that she must have been seduced by Katie’s pretty face, long golden hair and air of easy entitlement. How she had longed to be the chosen one, how she had savoured every smile tossed in her direction and every conspiratorial giggle. Georgia had never felt like the sort of person who belonged anywhere, so being part of Katie’s gang had made her feel special.
But Georgia increasingly felt that being Katie’s friend was like being under a curse. And it was all her own fault. If she had never bragged and made up that silly, thoughtless lie about New York, a lie that had somehow led to another lie and then another, she wouldn’t have Katie on her back now, constantly testing her and nagging her to bring in the topaz ring to prove how rich she was. The only good thing, thought Georgia, was that although Katie obviously had her suspicions that Georgia had been lying about being rich, she clearly wasn’t entirely certain of the truth and Georgia was doing her best to keep her guessing – only yesterday she had raided her piggy bank for the last few pounds that she had been saving to buy a Christmas present for her mum and used it to get everyone ice creams in the park after school. Ones with chocolate flakes too, as if money was no object!
She heard a noise behind her and spun round. Katie was standing there, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
“Hello, little Miss Georgia Jones,” she said, in a voice that dripped with menace.
Georgia stared at her feet.
“It’s very rude not to answer when someone says hello to you, Georgia – even when you’re a multi-billionaire. Anyone would think you didn’t like me. But I luurve you, Georgia Jones, and your mummy seems to like me very much.”
“What are you talking about, Katie?” asked Georgia hotly.
“We were having a lovely cosy chat this morning, just outside Miss Swan’s office.”
Georgia’s heart sank right down into her toes. So her mum must have come to give notice. She would have to leave the Swan! Her throat felt as if something hard was lodged there. “What did my mum say?” she whispered.
“Oh, nothing much,” said Katie, airily. “Just that she was so poor you were going to have to leave unless old Swan gave you a scholarship, and we all know that she’s never going to do that. Not in a million years.” Katie looked at her watch. “Oh, look! I’m going to be late to meet the others. I’m really looking forward to telling everyone your mum’s sob story about being so poor. It’ll rock.”
“You don’t have to tell them,” said Georgia. “Please don’t be nasty, Katie.”
“What will you do for me, if I don’t?” asked the other girl.
“Whatever you want,” whispered Georgia, refusing to meet Katie’s eye.
“All right,” said Katie with a smile. “I won’t tell everyone that little Miss Georgia Jones is a compulsive fibber and really, really poor. But you’ll have to do some things for me, and you can start with my maths homework.”
When Georgia got home that evening her mum was waiting for her, clearly bursting with excitement. She had cooked Georgia’s favourite food: shepherd’s pie with green peas, and toffee cheesecake for pudding.
“Guess what?” said Mrs Jones. Georgia said nothing; she wasn’t in the mood for playing games.
“Are you tired, darling?” asked her mum. “Sometimes I think the Swan school day is far too long. But I’ve got news, great news, that will perk you up!”
Georgia still said nothing, but her mother didn’t notice. She rushed on. “I went to see Miss Swan today and she’s very kindly awarded you a full scholarship. Isn’t it wonderful! You can stay on at the Swan with all your friends and carry on your training. I thought maybe you’d like to invite a friend over for a sleepover at the weekend to celebrate. Maybe Katie? She’s so lovely. She told me you confided in her. She sounds like a real friend.”
To her puzzlement, Georgia burst into tears and rushed upstairs, refusing to come down to eat her supper. Later Mrs Jones went upstairs and sat on the edge of Georgia’s bed, stroking her hair gently.
“Georgia, is everything all right at school? You would tell me, darling, if you were unhappy at the Swan or being bullied, wouldn’t you? We could sort it out, whatever it is that’s going on.”
For a moment, Georgia wanted to sit up and fling her arms around her mum and tell her everything that was happening and how unhappy Katie was making her. But she knew her mother had enough on her plate with her job and her money worries. Besides, it would also mean telling her mum about how she had lied about them going to New York and being rich, and she couldn’t bear the thought of her mum being disappointed in her. So she said nothing and just curled up into a miserable little ball instead.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Miss Swan stood in front of the assembled school, which was gathered once again in the theatre. As always, she looked around the room before speaking.
She was pleased to see that Olivia was looking a little more cheerful and quite clearly had struck up a real friendship with Tom McCavity. She wondered what on earth the two of them talked about together, but she was delighted to see the bloom in her granddaughter’s cheeks.
Georgia looked more pale and wan than ever. Her marks in her schoolwork seemed to be suffering, too. Alicia was surprised. She had thought that getting a scholarship would have given Georgia confidence but it seemed to have had the opposite effect. She wondered if the child was ill.
Katie, on the other hand, was blooming. She looked glossier than ever and she had been as good as her word when it came to pulling her socks up academically. Her homework had been coming in on time and some of it had been very good indeed. Sometimes, thought Alicia, it was right to go against your instincts.
She cleared her throat.
“Good morning. And it is a good morning. As I’m sure you all know by now, the Swan is through to the final stages of the competition for a place in the Children’s Royal Spectacular. Our performance was the hit of last week’s televised show! Congratulations to everyone involved. We’re all very proud of you and we’re confident that we can make it to the show in front of the Queen, provided everyone keeps working hard over the next two weeks. There will be no let-up in rehearsals and, as I’m sure you have all remembered, midterm tests start tomorrow. I know you will all do your best.
“Now to other news: I’m delighted to announce that one of our most talented and hard-working students, our very popular head girl, Abbie Cardew, has been cast as Liesl in The Sound of Music! I know that you will all join with me in congratulating her.”
The entire theatre broke into cheers. Abbie blushed, looking pleased.
“Right, everyone,” continued the headmistress. “There’s lots to be done, so back to work!”
Olivia was alone in her form room, using the computer. She shouldn’t have been there as it was out of bounds at lunchtime while the midterm tests were on, but she was desperate to try and find out some news of Jack. His silence was becoming increasingly ominous. He had sent them a postcard saying that he would be away for a little while, but
three weeks had gone by since then, and she could see that even Alicia was worried by his lack of contact.
But Olivia had even more reason for anxiety; she was certain that Jack was about to undertake a major stunt, something so amazing, so dangerous, that it would grab the attention of the world’s media.
She had been putting “Jack Marvell” and “Great Marvello” into search engines for twenty minutes and, although they had thrown up thousands of results about past feats, there was no whisper about an upcoming stunt. It was something of a relief. She shut down the computer and was just about to leave when she heard a noise outside the door and the unmistakable sound of Katie Wilkes-Cox’s voice. Katie was the last person Olivia wanted to catch her in the room. She squeezed herself in the small space between the desk and the radiator just as the door opened.
“Katie, please don’t do this,” whispered Georgia urgently as they entered the room.
“Don’t be dumb, Georgia. I can’t risk failing the maths exam. I’ll get kicked off the Children’s Spectacular team. Old Swan made that quite clear. Which sucks, by the way. I’m clearly one of the stars, so what does it matter that I can’t do algebra?”
“You could do it if you only tried. You’re not stupid,” said Georgia seriously.
Katie spun round furiously. “No, Georgia Jones, I’m not stupid. In fact, I’m rather smart. Which is why I’m going to sneak a look at the questions and you’re going to tell me the answers.”
“But you won’t be able to show your workings out,” said Georgia.
“It doesn’t matter. Just as long as I pass,” said Katie impatiently. “Look, are you going to help me find the test or do I have to reveal your nasty little secret to the whole school?”
“Cheating is wrong,” said Georgia, sounding near to tears.
“Oh, and lying isn’t?” said Katie. She opened the cupboard. “Look, here are the test papers. We’ll take one. Nobody will notice it’s missing. They always have more copies than they need. And then you can work out the answers for me tonight, come in early, and I’ll learn them in time for the test after break. And make sure that when you do the test yourself you put in some stupid mistakes like you do on the homework so the answers aren’t the same.”
“I can’t do this, Katie, I won’t do it…” whimpered Georgia.
“Oh, but you will, little Miss Georgia Jones, you will. And by the way, you’d better bring in your mum’s famous ring. Next Wednesday, I think, the day we get the test results. I can’t imagine why, but it appears that some of the others are having serious doubts about whether it really exists.”
They left the room. Olivia waited for a moment, shocked by what she’d heard, and deep in thought. She didn’t know what to do. If she did nothing, Katie might get away with cheating and would also continue to bully poor Georgia. But if she went and told Miss Swan what she’d heard, she would be guilty of snitching and she wouldn’t just get Katie into deep trouble, but Georgia too.
She’d also have to explain what she’d been doing in the room in the first place and things wouldn’t look good for her. She wouldn’t put it past Katie to twist the truth and say that she and Georgia had discovered Olivia in the act of cheating. Olivia felt really anxious and she was more worried still when she tried to creep out of the room unseen only to find Katie lolling against the wall opposite, smiling.
“Well, well, well. I had a feeling there was someone else in the room so I thought I’d just hang around. Lucky I did.” She leaned forward and hissed, “You dare mention a word about this, Liver Marvell, and I’ll clip your wings forever.” Then with a toss of her hair she was gone.
Olivia stared after her. She had thought Georgia was weak for allowing herself to be manipulated by Katie, but she wondered if she was really any better. She felt a real wave of sympathy for Georgia.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The music came to an end, and the children took their bow. Alicia Swan stood up.
“Thank you very much everyone. That was excellent. Rehearsal dismissed. Please go back and join your Wednesday afternoon classes, they’ll be starting in five minutes.”
The children filed away. When the last child had gone, Alicia turned to the little group sitting in the stalls. It was made up of several members of staff, including Mr Shaw and Stella Hanbury, as well as the head girl, Abbie, who had also been invited to the rehearsal. There was a tiny silence and then Alicia said crisply, “So, do you see what I mean?”
“It’s good, very good,” ventured Sebastian Shaw.
“Oh, yes, it’s good. Excellent even, but it’s not excellent enough. At least, not to get us through to the finals. It doesn’t have that indefinable spark. It lacks something, but I don’t know what it is,” said Alicia.
She turned to Abbie. “I invited you, my dear, because I know that you have a good eye, and you are young and so have a different perspective. Do you know what it is that is missing?”
Abbie blushed. It was thrilling that Miss Swan thought that her opinion mattered, but a bit daunting too. She was worried that she might seem rude if she told the truth. She looked into Miss Swan’s expectant face and summoned all her courage.
“Originality,” she said, stuttering over the word. “What it lacks is originality.” Then she added quickly, “Of course, it’s very good, just as you’d expect from the Swan, but that’s part of the problem, it is exactly what people have come to expect from us. It’s not the least bit surprising…” Her voice trailed off and she felt embarrassed for speaking so plainly in front of her teachers, but she saw them nodding and Alicia Swan’s face had cracked into a wide smile.
“You’re quite right, Abbie. I’m so pleased I asked you to join us. You’ve cleverly put your finger on the problem. What we’ve produced is of the highest quality, but it’s way too predictable. If the Swan is going to win a top-three place in the final, then we are going to have to come up with something that will surprise everyone. Something that nobody would expect from us.”
“But there are only two days to go!” said Stella Hanbury anxiously. “Surely it’s too late to change things now?”
“It’s never too late,” said Alicia. “I only wish I knew what to change it to. All ideas will be gratefully received.” She looked at her watch. “Classes are about to start; we must all go. But now we’ve identified the problem we need to come up with some solutions without delay.”
Chapter Thirty
As soon as the rehearsal ended, Katie detached herself from the others and ran quickly to the stairs that led to the upper rehearsal room. She peered furtively through the observation window. Just as she had expected, it was empty. Katie smiled to herself. All her weeks of spying on Olivia and Tom were proving useful. She was glad that she had kept their secret to herself.
It was payback time for Miss Olivia Marvell. She didn’t trust her. She had seen Olivia’s face when the maths test results had been announced and Katie had come top of the class. “A quite remarkable performance,” said Mr Baldwin, the maths teacher, with a slightly puzzled air. For a moment Katie had thought that Olivia was going to say something there and then. She couldn’t live with the risk. Olivia wasn’t popular, but she wasn’t disliked the way she had been at the start of term, particularly now that she was friends with Tom McCavity, whom everyone liked. But there was also something about her quiet, serious manner that carried authority. Something had to be done about her, something that would totally destroy her credibility in case she had any ideas about snitching on Katie. Katie smiled. She had thought of just the thing.
Katie walked over to the cupboard where Olivia hid the suitcase with her high-wire. She put her hand in her pocket, pulled out a pair of diamond and pearl earrings and then slipped them into the bottom of Olivia’s case. Katie left the room quickly and ran lightly down the stairs, mingling with the throng that was beginning to gather on the landing below. Nobody saw her come down the stairs and rejoin the group of shrieking children, nobody except Georgia, who noticed Katie’s strange
cat-like smile.
Katie saw her looking. “Say anything, and you’re pet food,” she said in a threatening whisper.
Georgia was puzzled. What could Katie have been doing up there that was so mysterious?
At that moment Miss Hanbury arrived with Abbie, who liked to observe and help out in classes whenever she had a free period. Miss Hanbury shooed them all up the stairs towards the upper rehearsal room for voice class. As she entered the room, she sniffed and announced, “Yuk! Sweaty bodies,” before striding over to the windows and flinging them wide open. “That’s better.”
She turned to the class. “Please put any valuables on the window sill. We don’t want any jewellery getting in the way or change jingling in pockets. All on the window sill, please.”
Georgia felt in her pocket for her mum’s garnet and topaz ring, and ran over and placed it carefully in the corner of the window sill. She had borrowed it from her mum’s dressing table without asking, and now she fervently wished that she hadn’t. Nobody, least of all Katie, had seemed particularly interested when she’d shown it to everyone during first break. They had all been much more interested in Katie’s mum’s diamond and pearl earrings, which had made the little ring look a bit pathetic.
Georgia knew that Katie had brought the earrings in deliberately to make the ring look insignificant, but she was just pleased that for once Katie didn’t needle her about it. It was as if Katie was distracted by something more important. Whatever it was, Georgia was grateful; she was desperate for the day to end so she could get the ring safely back on her mum’s dressing table before she noticed it had gone.
“Your mum’s ring really is pretty,” said Aeysha, placing a little pearl necklace she usually wore around her neck next to it. Several other children put small piles of change on the window sill.