It sounded strange to learn Mrs Beecham’s full name. A bit like when you find out your teacher’s first name. Mrs Beecham suddenly seemed more exotic now that I knew her Russian names.
I settled back to watch the different acts.
The first performance was the cute kindy class. They had dressed up in black leotards with cat ears and tails and drawn whiskers on their faces. They pranced around to a funny song about kitty-cats. Our dance teacher, Miss Demi, stood to the side out the front, doing the actions. Despite this, the kids were all out of time, jumping and pouncing at different moments. One of the boys tripped over his own tail. An adorable girl with both of her front teeth missing had complete stage fright and stood frozen, staring at the judges in terror. I knew exactly how she felt!
The song finished and the twenty little kitty-cats ran off, ears and tails askew. Everyone clapped. The judges scribbled notes.
Next up was a series of kids performing solo. Each one sang pop songs into the microphone, accompanied by a backing track. There were a lot of singers. I began to feel worried. A year three girl played the violin. Oscar played his trumpet solo and Meg’s brother, Jack, did a stockwhip-cracking display.
Connor from my class got up to tell some jokes
‘Knock knock,’ he said.
‘Who’s there?’ roared the crowd.
‘A cow.’
‘A cow who?’ roared the crowd.
‘No silly. Cows don’t whooooo. They mooooo.’
The crowd groaned loudly.
‘Knock knock,’ repeated Connor.
‘Who’s there?’
‘Nanna,’ said Connor.
‘Nanna who?’ came the roared response.
‘Nanna your business!’
He bowed and retired to enthusiastic applause. Mr Tzantzaris laughed. I saw Mrs Beecham wince as though she was in pain. I hoped her arthritis wasn’t bothering her too much.
The senior band, dressed in their white uniforms, played a rousing jazz piece, which Mrs Beecham clearly loved. She scribbled down more notes in her notebook.
Next up was… my sister, Bella, dressed from snout to tail as a ferocious dinosaur. Bella grinned broadly, looking as cute as a cupcake. Then she opened her mouth wide and began to roar as loudly as she could. Bella stomped and chomped and gnashed and clawed as she sang her song.
‘Crash. Crash. Stomp your feet.
Gnash. Gnash. Bare your teeth.
Chomp. Chomp. Slash your claws.
Dance the dinosaur romp. ROARRRR!’
I hunched down, wishing the floorboards would open up so I could disappear into a secret tunnel and escape. No such luck! The two minutes of that song felt like an eternity. Mrs Beecham winced again. Her arthritis must definitely be playing up today.
Mrs Marshall nodded encouragingly. ‘Thanks so much, Bella. Great costume and your enthusiasm is to be congratulated. Now our next act is the Hip-Hop Boyz…’
Bella beamed and bounded off the stage, her tail bouncing behind her.
The stage darkened. Loud rhythmic music began. Boom. Boom. Boom.
The Hip-Hop Boyz swaggered onto the stage, oozing cool confidence. Their dance routine was fast-paced and practised with lots of hops, mock punches and high kicks. The boys finished with a frenetic series of floor spins. They were fantastic.
They sauntered off the stage to the sound of cheering and clapping. They came and sat in front of us again and I tapped Alex on the shoulder.
‘That was brilliant,’ I whispered. ‘You guys will be chosen for sure.’
Alex smiled back. ‘Thanks, Pippa. Good luck for your act. Hope you smash it.’
Luck! We need more than good luck, I thought to myself. We need a miracle!
The next act took me completely by surprise. It was my very own brother, Harry. Or more accurately, it was Harry the Marvellous Magician. He wore his black top hat and swirling cape lined with crimson satin. Underneath was a black evening suit, with a white shirt and a crimson bow tie.
‘I didn’t know Harry was auditioning,’ whispered Charlie.
‘Neither did I. He didn’t mention a word,’ I whispered back as Mrs Marshall introduced him.
Harry carried a small black bag which he placed on a table in the centre of the stage. ‘Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,’ said Harry, bowing to the audience. His voice was loud and clear, carrying to the back of the hall. I thought I detected a tiny tell-tale wobble, showing that my brother might be feeling a tad nervous, but it quickly disappeared.
‘I am Harry the Marvellous, Master of Magic and Mystery.’ Harry swirled his cape, revealing its shiny crimson lining. ‘Prepare to be awed and amazed as I reveal to you my magical marvels.’
The audience cheered. Harry took his magic wand and a rectangular purple box from his bag of tricks.
‘For my first act, I need to borrow… a mobile phone. Would anyone volunteer to give me their phone?’
The audience laughed. No one volunteered.
‘Mr Tzantzaris?’
‘I don’t think so, Harry,’ replied Mr Tzantzaris, shaking his head with an amused look on his face.
Harry walked over to him and held out his hand.
‘Come on, sir. Don’t be frightened. I almost never lose things permanently.’
Mr Tzantzaris reluctantly handed over his phone. Harry held it up for everyone to see.
‘Now I am going to make Mr T’s phone disappear,’ he announced. He opened the purple box, showing the inside to the audience. Then he slipped the phone into the box and waved his magic wand over it.
‘Abracadabra. Alakazam!’ Harry shouted. He opened the box and tipped it upside down. The mobile phone had disappeared.
Everyone cheered and clapped.
‘Where’s it gone?’ demanded Mr Tzantzaris, pretending to be horrified. ‘I need my phone back!’
Harry made a great show of looking in the box. He waved his wand over the box and opened the lid, but it was still empty.
‘Mmmm,’ he said. ‘Let’s try that again.’
This time, the phone magically reappeared inside the box and Harry handed it back to its rightful owner. Everyone cheered, Mr Tzantzaris loudest of all.
The next trick involved a blue chiffon scarf. Harry waved it around to show that it was an ordinary square scarf.
‘Now I am going to place the scarf inside my magical hand,’ explained Harry, as he carefully stuffed the scarf into his closed fist.
Harry tapped the back of his hand three times with his wand, then opened his fist. His hand was empty. There was a collective ‘ooh’ from the students.
‘It’s gone,’ cried Harry. ‘Now wherever could it be?’
He searched his pockets, then he stepped down from the stage and walked over to the judges’ table.
‘Mrs Beecham, I think you might have it!’
I giggled at the horrified look on Mrs Beecham’s face.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ she insisted. Her Russian accent sounded stronger than usual.
Harry reached behind Mrs Beecham’s neck and whipped the scarf from her collar.
‘It’s magic,’ he cried. Mrs Beecham shrieked with surprise. Harry strode back to the stage, his cape sweeping behind him.
‘And now, for my last and final trick…’ said Harry. He took off his black top hat and waved it around over his head. ‘The greatest magical feat of all.’
The audience craned forward as Harry paused, leaving them all in suspense.
Harry placed his hat upside down on the table. He took his wand and tapped the hat three times.
‘Alakazam. Bobbity boo!’
He put his hand inside the hat… and pulled out a fluffy, white toy bunny!
The crowd roared with appreciation. Harry bowed left then right and then to the judges’ table. Mrs Beecham, Mr Tzantzaris and Mrs Marshall were clapping like mad.
I beamed with pride. Harry’s magic performance had been a mega-hit. My brother had done a simply stupendous job!
Th
e audition was nearly at an end. There were only two more acts to go.
‘And now we have the Fabulous Five,’ announced Mr Tzantzaris.
‘We’re up next,’ whispered Cici. ‘We need to make sure our act is totally unforgettable.’
Unforgettably brilliant or unforgettably awful? I thought to myself. I had a terrible feeling it might be the latter.
Olivia, Willow, Sienna, Jemila and Tash leapt gracefully to their feet and walked up the steps onto the stage. They looked very professional in their matching leotards. The music started, blaring out through the hall. The five girls began their gymnastics routine: dancing, walking on their hands and leaping around the stage.
I looked at Charlie, Cici and Meg in absolute horror. The music that was playing on the stage was ‘Kira Dreaming’, the very same song that we were going to sing in the next act. What a terrible coincidence!
‘What are we going to do?’ I whispered to the girls. ‘We can’t sing the exact same song straight after them?’
‘We have to,’ said Charlie, looking pale. ‘We can’t change it now.’
Olivia, Jemila, Sienna and Willow froze as Tash did a spectacular solo across the centre of the stage, tumbling and backflipping. The audience roared with appreciation.
All the girls slid into perfectly timed splits. They jumped to their feet and rolled into their whirling circle of successive cartwheels. I could see members of the audience jigging along to the music.
I was watching the girls spinning around when I saw one of them wobble as she neared the edge of the stage. She tried to right herself and then cartwheeled right off the edge. The girl screamed as she fell. I couldn’t quite see who it was but it sounded like Tash. The other four girls stopped cartwheeling and rushed over to her.
Mrs Marshall leapt to her feet and dashed over to where the girl lay sprawled on the floor, sobbing. Another teacher rushed to her aid. Someone ran to the office to fetch the school nurse. All the kids were craning their heads to see, whispering about the accident. Mrs Beecham hobbled over with her walking stick to see if she could help.
Mr Tzantzaris turned off the music player and took the microphone.
‘Attention please, students,’ he said. ‘Can we all be patient and quiet while we check that Tash is all right? Nurse Nguyen will be here in just a moment.’
The students quietened down for a moment and then the babble gradually rose again. The school nurse huffed in, carrying her medical kit and an icepack.
From where we were sitting, we could see Nurse Nguyen checking Tash carefully.
‘I hope she’ll be all right,’ I whispered to Charlie.
‘That must have hurt a lot,’ she replied.
Fortunately, it seemed that Tash hadn’t injured herself too badly. Mrs Marshall and Nurse Nguyen helped Tash to a nearby chair where she sat with an icepack on her knee. Olivia, Sienna, Tash and Jemila crowded around her for a moment until Mrs Marshall sent them to sit down.
The nurse had a whispered consultation with the three judges. Mr Tzantzaris took the microphone and stood on the stage. Everyone quietened down again.
‘Nurse Nguyen says that Tash will be fine.’ There was an outburst of cheering and clapping.
I gave a huge sigh of relief. I really liked Tash and hated to think she might have been seriously hurt.
‘But Tash will need to go to the hospital for an X-ray to make sure she hasn’t broken anything. In the meantime, we will push on with our audition. We have one more act to watch…’
My heart sank. I realised that I was secretly hoping that the rest of the audition would be cancelled.
‘Can we please welcome to the stage…’ Mr Tzantzaris glanced down at his run sheet. ‘The Sassy Sisters!’
Charlie, Cici and Meg jumped to their feet. Charlie leaned down and grabbed my hand, her eyes shining with excitement. ‘Come on, Pippa.’
I walked reluctantly towards the stage, following my friends. My sundress felt all sweaty, sticking to the back of my legs. My mouth was so dry it felt like it was stuffed with Kira Beach sand. I took a shaky breath as we climbed the steps onto the stage.
Meg and I fetched two high stools that were waiting for us behind the curtains and lugged them onto the stage. Cici and Charlie sat on the stools and tuned their guitars. Meg and I stood on either side of them, holding the microphones.
Cici took the microphone from Meg. ‘Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are the Sassy Sisters, and this is one of our favourite songs – “Kira Dreaming”.’
There was a round of applause.
Charlie and Cici began to play the opening chords. I took another raspy breath and licked my lips. My heart was hammering so loudly I thought everyone in the hall must be able to hear it. I glanced towards the judges’ table. Mrs Beecham gave me an encouraging smile. I grimaced back.
And then – I dropped the microphone. It just slipped out of my sweaty hand. The mic hit the stage with a loud clang. The noise was amplified throughout the hall, followed by a ripple of laughter. My whole body went scorching hot with embarrassment and I scrambled down on all fours to pick it up. Charlie looked at me in absolute horror. The girls stopped playing.
‘Sorry,’ I mumbled, glancing at the others in panic. I knew this was a terrible idea. Why on earth had I let the girls talk me into this?
Meg flashed me a reassuring smile. I heard Charlie start the countdown again. ‘One, two, three…’ Her voice sounded wobbly. Cici and Charlie began playing the opening chords, then the three of them began to sing. I just kind of opened my mouth and pretended. I thought the girls would do a better job without me.
Their singing wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t that great either. I’d heard them sing much better when we were painting.
After all the polished performances by the other kids and the excitement of Tash’s accident, our song fell rather flat. The girls seemed to hurry through it to get it done as quickly as possible. It wasn’t helped by the fact that part way through our song Mrs Nguyen helped Tash out of the hall. Everybody craned their necks and whispered madly as they watched her hobble out. Mr Tzantzaris had to stand up and glare at everyone to get them to settle down.
It was with great relief that we sang the last note. The audience clapped politely and we scurried off the stage.
‘Well, we did it,’ said Meg encouragingly.
‘I just felt happy that it was finally over.
‘Not brilliantly,’ said Cici, looking really disappointed. ‘I’m glad Ruby didn’t hear that effort.’
‘There’s no way we’ll be invited to sing at the concert after that,’ said Charlie. She looked like she was fighting back tears. ‘It was terrible.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, feeling a wave of guilt. ‘I didn’t mean to drop the mic. I just felt so nervous.’
Charlie didn’t look at me. She stared really intently at the curtains.
Meg squeezed my arm. ‘It was an accident. You couldn’t help it.’
We took our seats. Olivia shot a glance at me. I couldn’t tell if it was a look of sympathy or if she was secretly enjoying my embarrassment.
Mrs Beecham, Mr Tzantzaris and Mrs Marshall were conferring, reading their notes and discussing their thoughts on which acts should be performed at the VIP concert.
It seemed the three couldn’t agree. The discussion looked quite heated as Mrs Beecham stubbornly shook her head. Mrs Marshall glanced over towards where we were seated in the audience, then whispered madly. Mr Tzantzaris threw his arms in the air. At last Mrs Beecham nodded her head.
She stood up, leaning on her stick, and hobbled onto the stage. She seemed to grow taller as she stood there and took the microphone.
‘Girls and boys of Kira Cove Primary School,’ said Mrs Beecham. ‘It has been such an honour to be one of the judges at your talent quest. There was such a broad range of performances showcased today, from singing to gymnastics, to magic and my greatest love – dance! It has been a difficult decision to choose only five acts to perform on Friday.’<
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Mrs Beecham looked around the hall.
‘But after much discussion, the winning acts are: The Kindy Kitty-cats, the Kira Cove Senior Band, the Hip-Hop Boyz, Harry the Marvellous Magician… And finally, the Fabulous Five gymnastics troupe.’
There was a roar of approval from the students as each act was announced. The Kindy Kitty-cats wriggled with excitement. The Hip-Hop Boyz high-fived each other. Only the four remaining gymnasts from the Fabulous Five were looking gloomy, despite their win.
Charlie slumped beside me, her whole body drooping with disappointment.
‘Never mind,’ I said to her.
‘I know you don’t care,’ said Charlie, her voice shaking with emotion. ‘You made it quite clear you didn’t want to do it, and you didn’t even try to sing up there.’
‘I… I…’ I began. But I didn’t know what to say. Charlie was obviously very upset with me.
Charlie turned away and sniffed. Meg gave her a hug. Charlie shrugged it off and wriggled away.
Mrs Marshall took the microphone and called for attention.
‘Thanks so much to all the students who auditioned,’ she said. ‘I can see that a lot of effort went into planning acts, preparing costumes and rehearsing. It takes a lot of courage to get up in front of the whole school and perform – and you all did a marvellous job.’
Everyone cheered and clapped, except the Sassy Sisters. We were too disheartened.
‘Now we’re going to have an early mark today, so let’s all go back to our classrooms to pack up,’ said Mrs Marshall. There was more applause as the kids realised that they could go home early. Everyone jumped to their feet and crowded out of the hall. I climbed to my feet more slowly, feeling upset and confused.
As I stood up I felt really light-headed. I suddenly realised I’d hardly eaten anything since yesterday. I closed my eyes to steady myself.
Charlie raced off and I tried to catch up with her to talk, but I couldn’t fight my way through the throngs. I was separated from Meg and Cici too.
Outside in the playground I looked around but the girls had disappeared. My heart sank. Were all three girls furious with me for mucking up our act? Would they ever talk to me again?
Kira Dreaming Page 5