Starring Meg

by Mac a'Bháird, Natasha;

  ‘That’s if everyone hasn’t already seen the posters,’ Ruby muttered.

  ‘Maybe they won’t have. Maybe there’s only the one poster,’ I said, feeling hopeful. I really wanted to believe Laura’s plan would work – that it could all be played down if I handled it right. Maybe Dad wasn’t the only one in our family who could spin a story the way they wanted to.

  ‘I’m surprised Tracey didn’t know already, actually,’ Ruby said. ‘You know, with her aunt being a journalist and everything.’

  Hannah snorted. ‘Mum says you can’t call what she does journalism. She’s just a gossip columnist, always spying on celebrities.’

  A cold chill swept over me. ‘Tracey’s aunt?’ I said. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes, she’s always telling us stories she’s heard about this celebrity or that one,’ Hannah said. ‘Half of them are made up.’

  ‘I did wonder if she was the one who told everyone about your mum and dad,’ Laura said.

  ‘No, she can’t have been,’ I said. ‘She was actually upset that I hadn’t told her first. Although …’ I stopped, remembering how Tracey had later insisted to Jamie that she had known.

  Ruby looked confused. ‘But I thought Isabel said she’d been talking to Tracey about it that morning before school. In fact, I’m sure Isabel said she’d heard it from Tracey in the first place.’

  ‘But that doesn’t make any sense,’ I said, feeling as confused as Ruby looked. ‘Why would she tell people and then pretend to me that she hadn’t known?’

  Hannah, Ruby and Laura were all looking at each other as if each of them was hoping someone else would answer.

  ‘What’s going on, guys?’ I asked. ‘Do you all know something I don’t?’

  Hannah spoke hesitantly. ‘We didn’t know whether we should say anything. You seemed to be getting on well with Tracey, and we didn’t want to sort of turn you against her or whatever. But she’s been pretty mean to us a few times in the past. She’s nice to people’s faces, but then says horrible things about them behind their backs. Well, except for me. She’s horrible to my face too – but usually only when there aren’t other people from school around.’

  ‘I guess she has more opportunities to be mean to you because you live so near each other,’ Ruby said. She turned to me. ‘She’s always mocking things like Hannah being from a big family and everything. As if there’s anything wrong with that!’

  ‘She’s too sneaky to be nasty in front of big groups of people,’ Laura said shrewdly. ‘It doesn’t go with the image she’s trying to give off. Or what she’ll do is, she’ll say something that sounds like a compliment but she’s actually being mean. Like she said to me one time, “That’s a lovely dress you’re wearing. My granny has one just like it.” She wants people to think she’s nice, but she’s really just looking out for number one. And she’s a bit obsessed with celebrities, actually.’

  ‘Oh my God. I had no idea,’ I said, my mind racing. This could explain so much. And if Tracey really had known about my parents before everyone else, maybe that was why she had been so keen to be friends with me? Maybe – and this was a truly freaky thought – she had actually known that I was Daisy Sheridan all along?

  Ruby voiced what I was thinking. ‘Do you think she knew you were Daisy Sheridan? Maybe she heard about you from her aunt, and she wants to be friends with you because you’re famous.’

  ‘Maybe she’s spying on you for her aunt!’ Laura said, her eyes widening. ‘Looking for bits of gossip she can pass on, hoping she might be invited to your house or even to some celebrity party.’

  I remembered what I’d overheard Tracey saying, that I was going to invite her to a film premiere. Maybe that wasn’t just something she’d made up to impress Jamie – maybe it was something she was really trying to engineer.

  ‘Oh Laura, not spy stories again!’ Hannah said, groaning. ‘You’ve got a wild imagination. No one would go to those lengths – not even Tracey.’

  But I wasn’t so sure. ‘They would, you know,’ I said slowly. ‘I’ve heard all sorts of stories like that. An actress Mum knows started going out with a guy who seemed really nice, but she found out later that he was telling the paparazzi where they’d be going on dates so they could come along and take photos. He wasn’t really interested in her as a person at all. This is what I was afraid of, in a way, and why Mum was so keen for me to keep my identity secret at school. Once people know you’re famous, it’s hard to know who your real friends are, and who’s just hanging around with you because they want a bit of the glamour and excitement.’

  I could tell from my friends’ faces that they were convinced – even Hannah.

  ‘Well, whatever happens, you can count on us, Meg,’ she told me, and the other two chimed in in agreement. ‘We’re Star Club – and we stick together.’

  Our hot chocolates were long since finished. The waitress was hovering over our table, obviously keen to clear it with other shoppers waiting to sit down.

  ‘What time is it?’ I asked. ‘We’re supposed to meet Mum.’

  Hannah checked her watch. ‘Eek, we’re late.’

  ‘Don’t say anything to Mum, will you?’ I asked my friends. ‘About the poster, I mean. Hopefully she hasn’t seen it. I’d rather tell her at home, when we’re on our own. She’s going to be so shocked.’

  ‘We won’t,’ Ruby promised.

  ‘We’d better get going,’ I said. ‘We’ve been here ages! And we didn’t even get a chance to shop for an outfit for you, Ruby.’

  ‘That’s OK,’ Ruby said. ‘I’ll ask Mum to bring me tomorrow after ballet.’

  Mum was waiting outside Cowtown Café, several bulging shopping bags at her feet. She was humming to herself as she looked around for us, and she seemed so relaxed I knew she couldn’t have seen the poster.

  ‘Sorry we’re late, Mum,’ I told her. ‘We were chatting and lost track of time.’

  ‘Oh, you girls and your chatting!’ Mum said, rolling her eyes, but not looking at all cross. ‘Never mind, let’s get a seat, shall we? I’m ready for some lunch after my busy morning of shopping. Actually, I’m gasping for a cup of tea.’

  ‘Did you get the shoes?’ I asked, examining the bags.

  ‘Yes – in red and in silver,’ Mum confessed. ‘I simply couldn’t resist. They’re too adorable for words!’

  We showed Mum everything we’d bought too, and she made me and Hannah try on our ugly stepsister accessories while we waited for our lunch to arrive. Laura put on her Auntie Faye voice to order lunch which Mum thought was hilarious – she had no idea Laura was modelling it on her.

  We had so much fun I managed to put the film poster right out of my mind. It was only when we were driving home that I started to worry about how I was going to tell Mum the news.

  ‘Well, this has been fabulous, darlings, but I’d better get you home,’ Mum told my friends. ‘Your parents will be thinking I’ve kidnapped you!’

  Ruby stifled a giggle, and I knew she was thinking of the time Laura was convinced Mum had kidnapped me.

  Mum took no notice. ‘I’ll drop Hannah and Ruby home first, then you, Laura, because Meg and I are going to see her grandparents.’

  ‘Oh, great,’ I said. Maybe it would be easier to break the news to Mum with Sadie and Grandad around for support.

  ‘I think Grandad wants you to read Ophelia’s lines for him again, darling,’ Mum told me. ‘No rest for the wicked!’

  She pulled up outside Ruby’s house, and Ruby and Hannah got out.

  ‘Thanks so much, Cordelia,’ Ruby said. ‘I had a fabulous time.’

  ‘Me too,’ Hannah said. Then she whispered to me, ‘Good luck!’ before waving us off.

  We dropped Laura home and then Mum parked outside Sadie’s house. We were just getting out of the car when Sadie came rushing out of the house, waving a newspaper at us. ‘Cordelia! Why didn’t you tell us?’

  ‘Tell you what?’ Mum pushed her sunglasses up on her head, looking puzzled.

 
; ‘About the film, of course!’

  ‘She doesn’t know, Sadie,’ I said quickly.

  ‘I don’t know what?’ Mum demanded. She looked from me to Sadie and then back to me again, her expression changing from bewildered to cross. ‘Will someone please tell me what’s going on?’

  ‘Let’s go inside,’ I said. The last thing I wanted was for Laura to be spying on us from across the road. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d used her location across from Sadie’s to mount a secret spying mission.

  Mum took no notice, taking the paper from Sadie and scanning it quickly. Looking over her shoulder, I saw the same image from the film poster we’d seen in town, taking up a whole page in the newspaper.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Mum said, the colour draining from her face. ‘Oh my GOD! I’m going to bloody kill him!’

  She scrunched up the newspaper in her hand and stalked into the house, leaving Sadie and me to look at each other in shock.

  ‘She really didn’t know?’ Sadie asked.

  ‘No,’ I said softly.

  ‘But you did?’

  I shook my head. ‘I saw a poster in town this morning, that’s the first I heard of it. Dad must have given the go-ahead without asking Mum.’

  Sadie’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Good heavens. No wonder Cordelia’s annoyed. Come on, let’s go in.’

  Inside, Mum had picked up Sadie’s landline and was pushing her finger into the keypad as if she wanted to stab it.

  ‘Cordelia, why don’t you have a nice cup of tea first?’ Sadie said in a soothing tone. ‘I’ll put the kettle on.’

  ‘No thanks, Sadie,’ Mum said through clenched teeth. ‘Tea isn’t going to solve this one.’ She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Dad to answer the phone.

  ‘Yes, I bloody know what time it is!’ she said into the phone.

  Sadie’s hall clock read half past two. That meant it was just half past six in Los Angeles. Dad would have been fast asleep and certainly not expecting to be woken by an angry phone call.

  ‘What do you think you’re playing at, Doug?’ Mum was practically screaming now. ‘How dare you put our daughter’s photo on that poster without my permission? You know I’m supposed to have approval on anything like that. I specifically put it in her contract that publicity work had to go through me! And when were you planning on telling me that the film’s release date had been brought forward? Did you just think it was a good idea to let me find out from the sodding newspaper?’

  Sadie put her arm around my shoulder and guided me into the kitchen. ‘Come on, darling,’ she whispered. ‘I’m sure you could do with a cup of tea even if Mum doesn’t want one.’

  I went into the kitchen with Sadie, torn between wanting to know what was going on and not wanting to hear Mum and Dad screaming at each other.

  Grandad was pacing up and down the garden, his script in his hand. He saw me through the kitchen window and came in, smiling. ‘Hello, poppet. Where’s your mum?’

  ‘On the phone to Dad,’ I said.

  Sadie quickly told Grandad what was going on, moving back and forth across the kitchen making a pot of tea as she did so. Grandad’s frown grew deeper as Sadie explained.

  I sank down in a chair, suddenly feeling exhausted. Grandad came over and sat beside me, taking my hand in his. ‘There now pet, don’t you worry. Mum and Dad will sort it out.’

  ‘They can’t though, can they?’ I said. ‘It’s too late. Dad’s totally gone behind Mum’s back, and it’s not like we can take down the posters or burn all the newspapers, is it? Everyone in school is going to see this, and I’m going to have no chance of just being a normal kid.’

  Grandad sighed and looked to Sadie for help. Sadie came over and sat down on the other side of me, rubbing my back. ‘Well, maybe not, but you were never going to be just a normal kid, now were you, Meg?’ she asked me. ‘I said all along that it was unrealistic of Cordelia to think you could be, with your talent. Why, from the moment you could talk you could copy all the voices on your TV programmes – don’t you remember, John?’

  ‘I certainly do,’ Grandad said. ‘You had Peppa Pig down to perfection – I used to think there was a little English piggy in my sitting room, telling her brother not to be silly.’

  In spite of myself I laughed at the memory. I used to love Peppa Pig and the way she jumped up and down in muddy puddles, and I did remember trying to copy her voice from when I was very small.

  ‘I used to wish I could be Peppa Pig,’ I said. ‘And then Cinderella, and Sophie from The BFG, and Roberta from The Railway Children.’

  ‘And that’s the beauty of being an actress, darling,’ Sadie said. ‘You get a chance to be all these different people, live all these different lives instead of just the one.’

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘I love that. It’s just the other stuff I could happily live without.’

  ‘It kind of goes with the territory, though,’ Sadie said, patting my hand. ‘Being an actress means living in the spotlight – at least, if you want to really succeed at it.’

  ‘But I don’t know if I really do want it, if that’s what it means.’ I turned to Grandad. ‘Grandad, it’s like you always say, it’s the thrill of the live audience that makes it so special for me. I don’t want to be in the newspaper or see my poster up in town when I’m shopping with my friends. None of that stuff matters to me. I don’t mind being Daisy when I’m on the stage – but I just want to be Meg the rest of the time.’

  ‘We know, poppet,’ Grandad said.

  None of us said anything for a minute. Sadie gave everyone a hot drop of tea, and offered me a biscuit, but I shook my head – I didn’t feel like eating.

  ‘I still can’t believe Dad would do this without telling us,’ I said at last. ‘And without telling Mum!’

  ‘I’m sure your dad had his reasons, dear,’ Sadie said. ‘Cordelia isn’t always the easiest person to deal with, I’ll be the first to admit that.’

  ‘You don’t have to stick up for him,’ I told her. ‘I’m totally on Mum’s side here.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it.’ Mum had come into the kitchen just in time to hear what I’d said.

  Sadie poured her a cup of tea and Mum took a big sip before asking, ‘Did you know about this, Meg?’

  ‘Not until today,’ I said. ‘I saw a poster in town. I was going to tell you when we got here.’

  Mum leaned over and hugged me. ‘You poor darling. You must have been so worried. Where did you see the poster? What did your friends say?’

  I told Mum everything, including Laura’s ‘damage limitation’ plan. Mum perked up at once when she heard this.

  ‘That sounds like an excellent idea. Clever Laura,’ she said.

  ‘Mum … what about Dad?’ I asked.

  ‘What about him?’ Mum asked, tapping on the table with her long polished fingernail.

  ‘Just … are you guys OK?’

  Mum gave a little laugh. ‘Depends what you mean by OK.’

  ‘Now don’t you worry, darling,’ Sadie said. ‘Mum and Dad will sort things out. Won’t you, Cordelia?’ she added in a warning tone.

  ‘Yes, yes, of course,’ Mum said. ‘Don’t worry, darling. This will all blow over.’

  I hoped she was right.

  The rest of Saturday was pretty quiet. Feeling pretty shellshocked after all the craziness, I didn’t want to go out again, just pottered around the house.

  On Sunday morning we woke up to lashing rain. Mum and I stayed in our pyjamas and curled up on the couch to watch TV, glad we didn’t need to go outside. Mum put on Strictly Come Dancing, which we’d recorded the night before because I was too tired to stay up after the sleepover. It’s our favourite programme to watch together – we each have our favourite stars and we give everyone marks on their performance and try to guess what the judges will say.

  ‘That’s got to be the best dance so far,’ Mum said, as a guy from a boy band hugged his partner after they finished their jive.

  ‘Oh, no!’ I said. ‘
It wasn’t as good as the rhumba by that TV chef. And the weather lady’s cha-cha-cha was even better!’

  ‘No way!’ said Mum. ‘Look at the hip action! Divine, darling. Ah, if I was twenty years younger …’

  ‘Mum!’ I protested. ‘Gross!’

  Just then we heard a rustling noise outside and the sound of a key being put in the door.

  I looked at Mum. ‘Are you expecting Sadie?’

  ‘No.’ Mum threw aside the blanket she had wrapped around her, got up and went to the sitting room door. I followed her.

  Dad was standing in the hall, rain dripping off his light jacket, his wet hair matted to his head. He held out his arms. ‘My two favourite girls!’

  I held back a little, fully expecting Mum to start shouting again. But instead she ran to him and threw herself into his arms, crying ‘Doug darling!’ and not seeming to care in the least that her pyjamas were getting all wet. Dad held her tight and kissed her hair and her face and murmured into her ear while she clung onto him.

  At last the two of them seemed to remember that I was there too. ‘Meg, come and give your old man a hug,’ Dad said, holding out one arm to me while still holding tight to Mum with the other.

  I hesitated a moment, but then moved in, letting Dad put his arm around me too.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Meg,’ Dad said into my hair. ‘I’m sorry, Cordelia. I never meant for you to find out the way you did. I felt terrible when I got your phone call yesterday. After you hung up I booked the first flight home that I could get.’

  ‘That’s so romantic,’ Mum breathed.

  I rolled my eyes. Yesterday she had been ready to kill him – and now this. The two of them were like a pair of teenagers sometimes.

  ‘How about we go out for a nice brunch, and I’ll explain everything to you?’ Dad suggested, letting go of us at last to take off his wet jacket. ‘Isn’t there a diner just up the road?’

  ‘Good idea,’ Mum said. ‘Meg, why don’t you run upstairs and get dressed, darling.’