Rising Star

by Cindy Jefferies

  Chloe couldn’t imagine the twins ever being turned down for a modeling job, but before she could say so, she caught sight of another face she recognized. “There’s Danny!” she said excitedly. “He was at my last school.”

  “He looks nice,” Lolly said. “Let’s go and sit with him. Is he a singer too?”

  “No,” Chloe explained. “He’s a drummer.”

  “Wow! I’ve never met a real drummer before,” said Pop.

  “Come on, then,” Chloe urged the twins. “I’ll introduce you.”

  The day was turning out to be much better than Chloe had imagined. Pop and Lolly were more than making up for having to share with Tara. It was going to be such fun being friends with them.

  3.

  Rising Stars

  Danny was sitting by himself at a small yellow table.

  “Save me a seat,” said Lolly, “while I grab some drinks.”

  “I’ll get food,” said Pop. “You’ll have to save us two seats, Chloe!”

  Chloe and Danny grinned at each other. Although she wasn’t homesick at all now, it was great to see Danny’s familiar face. “You got here all right, then?” she said.

  “Yeah, I just arrived. I haven’t missed the welcome meeting, have I?”

  “No,” Chloe reassured him. “Don’t worry, we haven’t had it yet.”

  Danny looked over at the food line. “I see you’ve made friends already.”

  “I’m sharing a room with them,” said Chloe. “Do you have nice roommates?”

  “Dunno,” Danny said with a shrug. “I just dropped my bag off and came straight over here. This place is a bit different from Beacon Comp,” he added. “It’s more like a hotel than a school.”

  He was right. All the walls were newly painted, the floors were polished, and the beautiful plasterwork on the dining-room ceiling was picked out in blue and gold. But the food bar was the same as at Beacon Comprehensive, and there were enough students talking loudly around the plastic tables to remind Chloe that she really was at school.

  “Here you go!” Pop and Lolly dumped a couple of trays onto the table and sat down on either side of Chloe.

  “Help yourselves,” added Lolly, handing out some plates and pushing a mug of tea and some soda in Chloe’s direction. “I didn’t know what you like to drink,” she added. “Cake?” she offered Danny. “Go on. It looks really good! We got plenty.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” Danny took a piece of chocolate cake. “Have you seen a schedule yet?” he asked Chloe. She shook her head, munching cake.

  “I think they’re up in the hall,” Lolly told him.

  “Oh, right. I’ll go and have a look,” Danny said, finishing his cake and getting up. “I want to see when my first drum lesson is. See you later. Nice to meet you,” he added to the twins awkwardly.

  “Is he always so interested in school?” Pop asked, watching Danny weave his way between the tables and out of the room.

  “Just drum lessons, I think,” Chloe said.

  “There’s nothing wrong with liking classes,” Lolly said.

  Pop laughed. “It’s all right for you!” she told her sister. “You’re good at them! Come on,” she added. “The meeting will be starting any minute. We’d better go!”

  There was no need to follow the signs. The girls tagged on to the cluster of new students filing into the theater. There were only about twenty-five seventh graders including Chloe and the twins. In Chloe’s last school there had been six seventh-grade classes, but here there would probably only be one. Looking around and seeing how few students there were at this school, Chloe realized just how lucky she had been to get her place at Rockley Park.

  The theater was very new and modern. The tiered seating looked comfortable, and the bank of lights over the stage seemed very professional. Chloe stared at the stage in excitement. One day soon, she would be performing right there. She couldn’t wait!

  Mrs. Sharkey, the principal, walked onto the stage and the buzz of excited voices quieted down.

  “Welcome to Rockley Park,” she said, smiling at everyone. “I hope you’ve enjoyed your snack and are beginning to feel at home. Because we only have room for two hundred students here, we are more like a family than a school. But that doesn’t mean we don’t expect you to work hard! The teachers will give you grades for all the usual subjects, like any other school. However”—she paused—“they will also be grading you for your musical endeavors. Every music lesson and every piece of creative work will be assessed, and your progress noted in points. You will also perform at regular school concerts, where your fellow students, as the audience, will have the chance to award you points as well. These points will be added up over each term, and at the end of the school year, the best students will be chosen by the teachers to perform at a special concert called Rising Stars.”

  I’m going to be a Rising Star, Chloe told herself excitedly. As soon as I possibly can!

  But Mrs. Sharkey hadn’t finished. “The annual Rising Stars concert is important because it is shown on local television, and is watched with great interest by A and R people.”

  A buzz of excited voices ran round the auditorium. Chloe had heard of A&R, though she didn’t know what it stood for, but television ! She couldn’t wait to text Jess. And how proud her parents would be if only she could do it! She must work hard at her singing lessons and perform really well at every concert to get lots of these Rising Stars points.

  “The first school concert will be the Christmas one, at the end of term, so you only have a few weeks to practice.”

  Chloe was too excited about the concert to take in the rest of the talk, so she was glad when Mrs. Sharkey said, “You can make your way back to your rooms now. Pick up your schedules in the hall, and don’t forget to look on the bulletin board for the time of your first individual lessons. Good luck, everyone. I hope you all enjoy your time at Rockley Park School.”

  Everyone was chattering noisily as they pushed out of the theater.

  “What are A and R people?” Chloe quickly asked Lolly.

  “It’s short for Artists and Repertoire. They’re talent scouts,” Lolly said. “They work for recording companies. So it’s really cool if one spots you.”

  “Wow!” Chloe’s head was full of hopes and plans for her performance in the first concert. Should she sing her audition song or would her singing teacher help her choose a new one?

  “Remember audition day?” said Pop as they wandered through the main hall. “And how scared we all were?”

  “I can’t imagine you were scared,” said Chloe, remembering how she’d seen the twins coming confidently down the stairs. “After all, there are two of you, and you’re already so famous.”

  “Not for singing, though,” said Pop. “I was really worried that only one of us might get in. I don’t know what we would have done if that had happened.”

  “Look, Chloe! Your singing lesson is first thing tomorrow!” said Lolly, reading from a list on the board. “It’s before registration, and ours is on Tuesday.”

  They each picked up a seventh-grade schedule and skimmed through them on the way to their room.

  “Dance, three periods a week,” said Pop approvingly. “Songwriting! One period a week. I don’t think I’ll be much good at that.”

  “Music technology,” read Chloe. She remembered the recording studio that had been so fascinating during her guided tour on audition day. “That sounds good.”

  It was fun, unpacking together, in spite of Tara’s grumpy remarks. Chloe discovered that Pop and Lolly had each brought a favorite stuffed animal. And when even Tara propped an ancient teddy on her pillow, Chloe felt able to reveal her own favorite, a monkey that her granny had given her years ago. When Mrs. Pinto, their housemother, came to say good night, they were still all giggling and laughing.

  “Settle down now, girls,” she said. “The bell will ring at seven in the morning, and you don’t want to be tired on your first day.”

  She turned off their li
ght, and Chloe listened to her footsteps going down the hallway to the next room. So much had happened since she’d arrived. She still couldn’t believe that the famous Pop and Lolly were sleeping in the same room with her. But the three of them were getting along so well, Chloe was sure they would be best friends. Somehow, it felt as if they’d known one another for ages. She was bubbling with excitement, too, at the thought of her first singing lesson in the morning. At last, all her dreams of being taken seriously as a singer were about to come true.

  4.

  Singing Lesson

  By 7:30 the next morning, they were in the dining room, choosing their breakfast. They’d just sat down when Danny turned up.

  “Can we sit with you?” he asked. A ginger-haired boy was with him. The boy’s amazing orange hair was long and curly and he had a grin like a clown.

  “Sure,” said the twins together, and Chloe gave Danny a smile.

  “Chloe’s friend, Danny,” Lolly explained to Tara, who was sitting with them.

  “This is Marmaduke. We’re sharing a room,” Danny said as they both sat down.

  “Marmaduke!” That was Tara. “What a ridiculous name.” For someone who looked so sophisticated, she could be awfully rude.

  “Actually, I’m usually called—”

  “With your silly orange hair, you should be called Marmalade!”

  Chloe caught her breath. It was a clever nickname, but it was cruel of Tara to suggest it. Maybe he was really sensitive about his hair. Some people were. But she needn’t have worried. Marmaduke burst into laughter and his curly hair flopped about like a mop.

  “Well done! Mind you, you had my real name to help you,” he said. “Most people think up the nickname Marmalade before they know what I’m really called. So you weren’t that clever. I use it as my stage name. Marmalade Stamp, delighted to meet you!”

  He tried to shake her hand in a jokey manner, but she folded her arms and glared at him. Chloe was very impressed that he’d defused Tara’s nastiness, and made her feel silly instead.

  Marmalade shrugged and shook hands with everyone else instead. All the time his hair was bobbing and flopping all over the place.

  “Delighted,” he kept saying. It sounded so old-fashioned, and really funny. But Chloe kept looking at the clock, and was becoming rather nervous.

  “I have to go,” she said, jumping up from her seat and leaving her breakfast unfinished. “I’ll see you later. I’ve got my singing lesson now.” The butterflies were back, fluttering about in her stomach.

  She hadn’t forgotten how to get to Mr. Player’s room. But she hesitated outside. The last time she’d been here was audition day. In some ways, that day had been a disaster, but in spite of messing up the audition, she had won a scholarship, and here she was, all set to be a real singer. This was the beginning of the Big Chance she had waited so long for. She must make the most of it. She took a deep breath, tapped at the door, and walked in.

  Mr. Player had long fair hair that fell over his very blue eyes. He was about her parents’ age and still really good-looking. He had been a pop singer himself some years ago, but he’d given up performing to be a teacher. Chloe’s mom had some of his CDs at home and had dug them out to show Chloe. It had been weird to see her teacher’s face on the cover of a CD!

  “Well, Chloe,” said Mr. Player. “It’s nice to see you again. Are you all settled in?”

  Chloe nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

  “Can you give me a moment to read your notes?”

  Chloe looked around the room while she waited for him to read the notes he had in a folder. She remembered the grand piano, and the pianist, Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones looked up from a book she was reading and gave Chloe a friendly smile.

  The room was beautiful. It was quite large, with tall windows and a high ceiling. A thick green carpet covered most of the polished floorboards, and at the end of the room a full-length mirror stood next to a watercooler. Near the piano was a shelf with an expensive-looking stereo system on it.

  “Your notes say that you haven’t had any voice training before,” said Mr. Player. “Don’t worry!” he added, seeing the expression on her face. “It’s not important. And it means you won’t be able to complain that I’m not as good as your last teacher!” He smiled. He was trying to put her at ease. Chloe relaxed a bit and smiled back.

  “Right. There are a couple of things before we start. Over there, you’ve probably noticed the watercooler. Some people like to have a drink with them when they sing and others don’t. I’m happy either way. All I ask is that if you do, you pour the water at the beginning of the lesson and let it come up to room temperature before you drink it. It’s better for your voice that way.”

  Chloe hesitated. She didn’t know whether she would need a drink or not.

  “I tell you what,” Mr. Player said, seeing her uncertainty. “Why don’t you go and get some anyway? It won’t matter if you don’t drink it.” So Chloe went over to the watercooler and filled a paper cup.

  “There’s a coaster here.” He showed her. “Don’t put it straight onto the piano or Mrs. Jones will yell at us!” Mrs. Jones smiled at Chloe again, and Chloe smiled nervously back.

  “Let’s do some humming,” said Mr. Player. “It’s important to warm up your voice before you use it, and humming is a good exercise to start with.” He nodded to Mrs. Jones and she played a chord on the piano. “I’ll hum with you.”

  Together they hummed up and down, a few notes at a time. Chloe started enjoying herself. It was fun. Every now and then she carried on alone while Mr. Player gave her advice. “Relax. Keep your shoulders down. That’s good.”

  By the time they stopped humming, Chloe’s lips were buzzing. She took a sip of water, feeling very grown up and professional.

  “Okay. Now let’s do some scales so I can remind myself of your range. No pressure, just sing each note as Mrs. Jones plays it. Don’t strain your voice. If there are any notes you can’t reach, just leave them out.”

  Well, that didn’t sound too difficult. Chloe had done it before. She la-la’d her way up the scales as Mrs. Jones played them on the piano. She went quite a long way but eventually she had to stop.

  Mr. Player picked up a pen and marked the notes in her folder where it lay on top of the piano.

  “Well done!” he said. “You’re singing well up the scale. Now let’s try going down.”

  So they did, and Mr. Player was even more pleased. “Yes,” he said, marking her notes again. “Most impressive. You do have a remarkable range, and you’re hitting the notes quite accurately. Can you read music?”

  Chloe shook her head worriedly. “No.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he assured her. “I only wondered. Let’s see how accurate you are when we play random notes...Yes, good. That’s very good,” he went on as the notes came in any order for her to sing.

  Chloe smiled. This was proving easier than she’d thought, but Mr. Player wasn’t smiling anymore. In fact, he looked a bit concerned.

  “There’s just one thing,” he said. “Why are you only using your throat to sing?”

  Chloe frowned. Didn’t everyone use their throat? What else was she supposed to use?

  But it wasn’t a joke. From the expression on his face, it was obvious that Mr. Player thought she was doing something very wrong indeed!

  5.

  Chloe Has a Problem

  “Maybe you’re singing from your throat because you’re nervous,” Mr. Player suggested to Chloe. “But you can’t get enough power singing this way. You need to be able to sing much more loudly for me. Are you feeling nervous?”

  “A bit,” she admitted. But she hadn’t been while she’d been singing. She’d gotten over her nervousness and had been enjoying the humming and scales. She was nervous now only because Mr. Player was unhappy with how she was singing.

  “Let’s try a nursery rhyme,” he suggested. “Maybe you’ve been worrying too much about getting the pitch right. Do you know ‘Baa Baa Black She
ep’? Let’s hear it good and loud. Pretend you’re singing it to a little boy all the way down there by the mirror.”

  Chloe looked at the mirror. She tried to imagine singing to Ben, but if he were there he’d come racing up the room and throw his arms round her knees. Now she was nervous and homesick!

  Mr. Player smiled encouragingly. “Come on, Chloe. Don’t worry about being in tune. Just give me some volume.”

  Now, volume hadn’t been Chloe’s thing since she was eight years old and her elementary school teacher hadn’t let her sing in the choir. She’d said Chloe’s voice didn’t fit in with the rest of the children’s voices. In a way, the teacher had been right. Chloe’s voice didn’t fit, but only because it had been so powerful, and so much louder than all the others. She hadn’t sung out of tune.

  At home, it was almost as bad. Once Ben had been born, Chloe couldn’t sing loudly because of disturbing her baby brother’s sleep. Over the years, she’d gotten out of the habit of singing in anything much more than a loud whisper. Had she forgotten how to do it?

  “Come on, Chloe,” urged Mr. Player. “Give it all you’ve got!”

  She tried but he winced.

  “Now you’re shouting,” he complained. “And even your shout isn’t very loud.”

  “Sorry,” Chloe mumbled. This was terrible. How could she make her voice louder? Her first voice lesson was going dreadfully.

  “It’s all right,” Mr. Player said. “Don’t panic. But you’ll have to work on this. You’re going to need power as well as your excellent range to sing professionally. Even using a microphone, to get real expression into a song you need to be able to sing quietly and power away as well.” Chloe nodded miserably.

  “The school day is about to start,” he said, looking at his watch. “And we haven’t gotten through as much as I’d hoped. Never mind. Don’t you ever sing loudly?”

  Chloe shook her head. “I’ve always just sung in my room because my teacher in elementary school, Mrs. Pendle, said my voice didn’t fit the choir. And I have to keep quiet because of my little brother,” she explained.