by Lyn Gardner
“Surely that’s not a problem, is it?” replied Olivia. “You’ve always been so prolific. You used to be able to make up brilliant songs on the spot.”
“Not any more,” said Kasha bitterly. “The gift has suddenly deserted me.” He looked at Olivia. “I am going to tell you something I haven’t told anyone else. I haven’t written a song for weeks.” He put his head in his hands. “I can’t write one. When I try, all that comes out is rubbish.”
“But surely that happens to lots of writers,” said Olivia, putting an arm around him. “Isn’t it called being blocked? You’ll get over that, I know you will.”
“Well, I’ll have to get over it pretty quick or it’s goodbye to my brilliant career,” said Kasha, and he looked so worried that Olivia hugged him.
Chapter Six
“Georgia!” called Alex. Georgia whirled round. She bit her lip. She was in a hurry, she knew the others were waiting for her, but she couldn’t resist Alex, who was sauntering towards her as if they had all the time in the world and he only had eyes for her.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” he asked.
Georgia looked flustered. “Eh, nowhere,” she said, unconvincingly.
“I’ve never noticed Nowhere on the London A-Z,” said Alex, with a devastating smile. “Can I come to Nowhere with you? Or aren’t I invited?”
Georgia blushed. She had suggested to Olivia and Tom and the others that they invite Alex along with them to Tower Bridge to see the progress that Jack and Pablo were making, but the others hadn’t wanted to. She knew that Aeysha and Katie found him arrogant, Tom hadn’t taken to him at all, while Olivia seemed entirely indifferent.
In fact, Olivia was beginning to find Alex Parks a bit annoying. He seemed to have taken her gran’s suggestion as an invitation to hang out with them all the time, and he kept looking at her in a way that made her feel as if she had suddenly sprouted a second head. Besides, he wasn’t half as good at the high-wire as he seemed to think he was, and although, like a lot of the Swans, she was impressed by his mimicry, she was less impressed by the way he used it. She had recently walked into one of the music practice rooms with Aeysha to find him entertaining Eel, Emmy and some of their friends with a wicked impersonation of Alicia. It had made her feel uncomfortable. So when Georgia had mentioned taking Alex down to Tower Bridge with them, Olivia had frowned and shaken her head.
Seeing Georgia’s disappointed face, Tom had said kindly, “Georgie, let’s go somewhere without Alex for a change. We don’t really know him that well yet, and Jack and Pablo may not like it if we turn up at the river with someone new. Everything’s supposed to be under wraps until the announcement.”
Aeysha and Katie had murmured in agreement and Georgia hadn’t pushed the issue. Now, though, with Alex standing so close to her, looking at her as if she was the only girl in the universe, Georgia wished that she had. Why shouldn’t Alex come with them? He was one of the group now. But she knew that if she just turned up with him, the others would be furious.
“Sorry, Alex,” she said. “If it was up to me, of course you could come with us. But it’s not. Livy’s in charge and she’s not keen.”
“And do you always do what Livy tells you to?” asked Alex, sounding amused.
“Of course not,” said Georgia indignantly. “It’s just … it’s just that this is her thing.”
Alex raised an eyebrow and waited.
“It’s something to do with her dad,” mumbled Georgia.
“Ah, the great Jack Marvell,” said Alex, sounding intrigued. “I was telling my dad about him and how his kids were here at the Swan, and he was really interested.”
“Was he?” said Georgia. “Look, I’ve got to go, the others will be waiting for me.”
“You’d better run along then, like a good girl,” said Alex. “Unless…” He paused. “Unless you want to hang out with me?”
Georgia’s heart gave a leap. Maybe he was interested in her after all? She hardly dared to hope after the way he was always looking at Olivia. How could Livy not notice Alex’s smouldering gaze? Every time Alex looked at Georgia, which was not nearly as often as she would have liked, she felt as if his dark eyes were boring into her soul. In her heart, she knew that it was Livy he was interested in. It was so unfair! Livy clearly couldn’t care less about him. Maybe if she could just be patient, Alex would get fed up with mooning after Livy, and then she’d be there, waiting for him…
“Well, I suppose I could…” she said hesitantly, but she saw a shadow flit across Alex’s face as if he hadn’t really expected her to agree to his offer and he was now regretting it.
Georgia felt hurt. “Actually, no,” she said, mustering as much dignity as she could. “My friends are waiting for me.”
Alex shrugged. “Whatever,” he said nonchalantly, but the way he turned his big sorrowful eyes on her reminded Georgia of a hurt puppy and made her feel as if she’d let him down. She was immediately reeled in again like a fish at the end of a line.
“We could meet up later,” she said, astonished by her own daring.
“Sorry, Georgie, I’m busy later,” said Alex and walked away. She watched him saunter down the corridor and stop to speak to Eel. The two of them seemed to be having a very intense conversation. Georgia wondered what on earth Eel Marvell and Alex Parks had to say to each other.
Georgia walked alongside Olivia and Aeysha as they headed down towards the river. Tom and Katie were a bit ahead. They could see the wire stretched across the river from some distance away.
“I don’t know why we couldn’t have invited Alex,” said Georgia. “He looked really hurt when I said he couldn’t come with us.”
“You didn’t tell him where we were going, did you?” asked Olivia sharply.
“Of course not,” said Georgia crossly. “I know it’s a secret.” She waved a hand at the wire. “But I don’t see why bringing Alex would have hurt. It’s obvious something is going on down here, it won’t be a secret for much longer.”
“Probably not,” said Olivia, “but Jack wants to try and control the announcement, drum up some press interest. He needs all the publicity he can get. The media are more likely to make a big splash of it that way.”
“Since when did you become such a big expert on the media?” said Georgia snappily and she suddenly sped up to join Tom and Katie.
Olivia looked after her, perplexed. “Have I done something to upset Georgie? She’s been really crabby with me all term. I don’t know what’s got into her.”
Aeysha hesitated. She was about to say that maybe Olivia needed to be a bit more aware of the situation with Alex, and be a bit more sensitive to her friend’s feelings, but Jack and Pablo suddenly appeared and Olivia ran towards them.
“Eel didn’t come with you, then?” asked Jack, after he had shown everyone round the site and Olivia had even walked on the wire for a bit. Jack hadn’t let her go very far, certainly not beyond the point where it passed out over the shoreline and across the water. He told her that the wind was ferocious in the middle of the wire.
“No,” said Olivia. “I did ask her if she wanted to come but she said she was busy. I think she and Emmy must be up to something. She was filling in some kind of form, but she hid it from me when I walked into the room. Probably one of those daft ballet-magazine competitions that she and Emmy are always entering. I hope she hasn’t been neglecting you.”
“No,” smiled Jack. “She was down briefly yesterday. But she caught me at a tricky time so I couldn’t give her a lot of attention. We were having a few problems with the rigging so I was rather distracted. She got me to sign some form, a school trip or something, although I don’t know why Alicia didn’t just do it. Anyway, once I signed it she was away and said she’d try and come back today.”
“Maybe she’ll bring Emmy with her later,” said Olivia.
“Maybe,” said Jack. “So, you’ve pretty well seen the entire set up. Unless you want to check out the portaloo?” He waved at a small blue
structure on the shoreline.
“Phew, it’s a relief to see that,” said Tom. “I hadn’t liked to ask how you were going to, ahem, go.”
Jack grinned. “It’s all accounted for. I have to spend twenty-four hours on the wire for thirty days with up to six ten-minute toilet breaks over any twenty-four hour period. But apart from those breaks, I’m going to cook, eat, perform and sleep entirely on the wire. Well, actually I’ll be sleeping in a hammock that I’ll rig underneath the wire every night.”
“I’m really worried you’ll get exhausted. Gran is, too,” said Olivia.
“Well, it’s an endurance feat as much as anything,” said Jack. “I’m not expecting it to be a piece of cake. The thing I’m most worried about is wind. Being buffeted around on the wire day in, day out won’t be fun, and it could be quite unpleasant in the hammock at night. I’ll just have to make sure I don’t fall out.”
Olivia shivered as she watched the dark water swirling against the supports of the bridge. “But you will be wearing a safety harness, won’t you, Dad, so if you did fall out, you wouldn’t plummet into the river and drown?”
Her father laughed. “Of course I will, chick, what do you think I am, mad?”
“I do sometimes,” admitted Olivia.
“Ha!” said Tom. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!”
Chapter Seven
“Eel! Eel!” Emmy was calling her friend. “Where are you going? You’re heading the wrong way for extra tap.”
Eel swung round on the stairs. “I’m not coming, Ems.”
Emmy’s face fell. “But why? You love tap. Are you ill?”
Eel shook her head. “I think I’ve just gone off it a bit, Emmy. I really want to concentrate on my ballet this term. I’ve been doing some reading. Lots of people think that if you want to be a ballerina, you need to specialise as soon as possible. Tap, jazz, all those other forms of dance are just a distraction.”
Emmy frowned. “But you love them so much.”
Eel sighed. “I do, but maybe sometimes you have to make sacrifices to be the best at something.”
“My mum says there’s plenty of time to specialise. She’s going to talk to Miss Swan and Miss Taylor about whether I’ve got a chance of getting into the Imperial or the Royal Ballet when I’m eleven.” Emmy’s eyes were shining. “That would be mint. We could go together.” She paused. “But I’m not sure I could bear to leave the Swan. I’ve been here since I was seven. It would be harder still for you, Eel. The Swan’s your home. It’s lucky we don’t have to think about it for a couple of years.”
For some reason, Eel seemed to find it difficult to meet her friend’s eye. “I’ve got to go, Ems, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She turned and continued walking up the stairs towards the flat. Emmy stared after her, a hurt and slightly puzzled look on her face. Why was Eel behaving so strangely?
Once in the flat, Eel checked that nobody else was around, went into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She felt bad about Emmy. Having a secret she couldn’t share meant that she had to keep pushing her best friend away. She hated that.
She felt under the mattress of her bed and pulled out the large, thick cream envelope. Just holding it felt exciting. She had poured over the prospectus for the Imperial with its pictures of eager-faced children at the barre and the elegant swan-necked older pupils. There was something thrilling about thinking that one day she might be amongst their number.
Eel pulled out the prospectus and carefully took out the application form. It was signed and dated by Jack on the final page. Seeing his signature made her feel shabby because she had lied to him to get it. For a moment, she hesitated. Then she took a deep breath and began to finish filling in the form in her best handwriting. She knew what she was doing was sneaky and wrong, but she just had to know whether she really did have the talent to be a ballerina. If Gran and Miss Taylor wouldn’t tell her, then auditioning for the Imperial was the only way she was going to find out.
Chapter Eight
“How happy some o’er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so; He will not know what all but he do know…”
Georgia continued to the end of the speech from Act One of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Georgia, as Helena, was expressing her despair that the boy she really liked, Demetrius, only had eyes for her friend, Hermia. Everyone was spellbound, including Olivia, who had been cast as Hermia. She glanced at Connor, who was playing Lysander. He seemed to be completely mesmerised by Georgia’s performance.
Only Alex, who was playing Demetrius, appeared not to be gripped. He was riffling through his script, looking bored. There was a tiny silence as Georgia reached the end of the speech before the final bell for the afternoon rang. The class broke into delighted applause.
“Thank you, Georgia,” said Sebastian Shaw, “that was lovely. It really felt as if you were feeling every single word. And thank you, Livy, Con and Alex, too. The scene is really coming together. Well done all of you. We’ll move on to the Fairy scenes tomorrow, so anyone involved in those needs to check over their lines tonight and make sure they are word perfect. You can’t put the effort into acting if you are putting it into remembering the script.”
Olivia went to get her bag, which was hanging over the back of her chair. She saw Alex looking at her intently, but she ignored him and grinned at Tom, who winked back at her. Alex was really getting on her nerves. Even little things he did irritated her, but worst of all was the fact that he called her Liv. Jack and Tom were the only people in the world who were allowed to call her that. Even Eel had always called her Livy.
Olivia and the others crowded into the corridor, which was full of Swans heading towards the cloakrooms, either to gather their things and head for home or to change for the extra dance, music or circus workshops that they took after school. Georgia had been waylaid by Connor who was talking to her quietly but passionately. She was shaking her head, and kept giving sideways glances towards Alex as if she was eager to get away.
Aeysha and Katie peeled off for the girls’ cloakrooms.
“Georgia was great as Helena, wasn’t she?” said Katie generously.
‘Yes,” said Aeysha. “Funny and sad at the same time, and so completely lovelorn.” She hesitated, then said, “But I’m not sure it was all acting.”
“I did wonder,” said Katie.
“If you think about it,” said Aeysha, “the beginning of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a bit like real life at the moment. Georgia’s keen on Alex who only has eyes for Olivia. In Dream, Helena wants Demetrius who wants Hermia who isn’t interested in him. Mr Shaw’s casting is spot on.”
“Are you quite sure Livy isn’t interested in Alex?” asked Katie. “She’s not just playing it really cool?”
Aeysha shook her head. “I don’t think she knows how to play it cool, it’s not Livy’s style at all. She always wears her heart on her sleeve, and anyway, I’m sure she would have told one of us if she was interested in Alex. She’s just too busy doing her own stuff on the wire and trapeze and worrying about Jack to give him a second thought. But the thing is, I suspect her total lack of interest is probably a big part of her appeal. I guess Alex Parks isn’t used to being ignored by girls.”
“I can see why,” said Katie, “although he’s not my type. Too full of himself.”
“Alex is used to having girls swooning all over him,” continued Aeysha, “but then along comes Livy who’s lovely and not in the slightest bit interested. She’s a challenge!”
“Whereas Georgia is completely gorgeous, but no challenge at all.”
“Precisely,” said Aeysha. “But you know what really worries me?” Katie shook her head. “In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena and Hermia’s friendship is almost destroyed. I couldn’t bear it if that happened to Livy and Georgia. It would ruin everything. No boy, and particularly not Mr full-of-himself Alex Parks, is worth falling out with one of your best friends.”
&nb
sp; The two girls went out of the cloakroom.
“There you are!” said Olivia. “Are you two going to your contemporary class?”
“Yes,” said Aeysha.
“Do you want to meet up at the café after?”
They nodded.
“Great,” said Olivia. “Because I’m going to help Pablo with after-school high-wire.”
“I’m just on my way there now,” smiled Alex, who had suddenly appeared behind them. “I’ll walk with you, Liv.”
Olivia started to shrug, but remembered her manners. “OK.” But then she suddenly turned back. “Oh, sorry Alex, I’ve just remembered I need a quick word with Tom. Don’t wait for me, I’ll catch you up.”
“Do you want me to take your bag for you, Liv?” asked Alex, eagerly.
A look of puzzlement crossed Olivia’s face. “Why on earth would you want to do that?” she asked.
Aeysha and Katie watched Olivia and Alex walk in different directions, then burst out laughing.
“Oh dear,” said Aeysha. “If it wasn’t for poor Georgia’s feelings, it would be really funny. Better than a play, almost.”
Chapter Nine
“Eel! Eel!” There was no answer. Olivia had looked in all Eel’s usual haunts and hadn’t found her, and eventually she had gone up to the flat on the off-chance that Eel had slipped up there at lunch time for some reason. She had passed her Gran on the stairs and had asked her if she knew where Eel was.
“Probably with Emmy,” replied Alicia. But Olivia had found Emmy in the dance studio with some of her other friends and had asked her if she knew where her little sister was. Emmy had shaken her head. “She keeps going off on her own,” she’d said a little sadly. “She’s even given up coming to extra tap. I thought she must be really sick to miss extra tap. But she said that she was just giving tap a bit of a rest for a while.”
Olivia had looked at Emmy’s wan face. “You two haven’t fallen out, have you?” she’d asked gently.