Drama at Silver Spires (13 page)

When it came to the part where I'm so sad about Beth dying, I really forgot where I was until I heard someone in the audience do a little sob, and I realized the tears were rolling down my face. Savannah was crying too and for a moment neither of us could speak so we just hugged each other tight and then someone else in the audience sounded as though they were crying. It was awful. But wonderful. And incredible.

And then it was over and we had to take our bows. We four sisters were the last people of all to bow, and when we ran on the stage the clapping seemed to turn to thunder and people started to stand up, until in the end the whole audience was on its feet. Lots of the girls were whooping and cheering, including my friends, who were all sitting together with some of their parents. I scanned the rows for Mum's face, but it was hard to see because of the lights glaring in my eyes, but then I spotted Roxanne standing on a seat and saw that Mum was on one side of her and Grandma on the other, and…wow! There was Dad too, clapping up high and grinning at me with such a proud look on his face.

Even when Miss Pritchard appeared on the stage and stood between me and Savannah with her arms round our shoulders, the clapping didn't stop, so in the end she had to raise her hands for silence. Then the house lights went on so we could see the audience clearly, and she made a really moving speech telling everyone how wonderful their daughters were and praising all the staff who'd helped with the production, and finishing up with the story of Cara being ill and how I'd stood in for her, and then Cara had got better so we'd finished up sharing the role. As she spoke I thought how straightforward it all sounded, but only three people in the world knew how complicated and emotional it had all been. Cara wasn't even there, but Mia was, and she gave me her best smile, then started off a new round of applause.

There was complete bedlam after the speeches were finished because all the actors rushed into the audience to be with their parents. Roxanne ran towards me for a cuddle, with Mum not far behind, then Grandma kissed me and finally Dad gave me a big bear hug. He said that Miss Carol had made a special phone call to Mum to tell her she'd heard that my dad wasn't going to be at the play but she thought he might want to change his mind because she understood from the drama teacher that I was a real sensation. And Mum had explained to Miss Carol that the moment Dad had heard I'd got a big part he moved mountains to get back a day early from his business trip.

“But the drama teacher was right!” he added, shaking his head as though he couldn't believe it. “You were a total sensation!”

I laughed. “I'm glad you thought I was good, Dad, because then when I show you my report, you might remember that at least I'm good at something.”

My laughter petered out when I saw the serious look on Dad's face. Oh dear, perhaps that wasn't the right moment to bring up my report.

“Georgie, we were chatting with your friend Mia before the show started, and she explained a bit about what you did to cheer up that girl, Cara. So, by my reckoning that's two A stars you've got! One for drama and one for life skills, which is the most important subject of all, I might add!”

Dad had tears in his eyes when he said that and as I leaned against him, Mum wrapped her arms round both of us and spoke into my hair. “I'm so proud of you, Georgie!”

Then suddenly Mia was right there at my side. “Oh, Georgie you were fantastic!” she said, jumping up and down. And I thought for the thousandth time how lucky I was having a best friend like her, especially one who could get me A stars from my dad.

Later Mia and I went up to the dorm together. I was about to go inside when she stopped me.

“What?” I asked.

“Anything different round here?” She was flicking very unsubtle glances at the sign on the door.

I looked at it, expecting to see the alteration I'd made, but instead I saw another alteration. This is what I read.

Katy the Queen of Style

Grace the Sportswoman

Jess the Artist

Mia the Musician

Naomi the Wise One

Georgie the Best Actress in the World

And for some reason the sight of those words made me want to cry. “I didn't think you'd noticed I'd changed it,” I said in a wavery voice.

“Course I noticed!” said Mia looking indignant. “We all did! But
you
obviously didn't notice that
I
changed it again, because it's been like this for the last week! You were fantastic with Cara and you were fantastic in the play!”

“You're pretty fantastic yourself, Mamma Mia,” I said, from the bottom of my heart.

And at that moment my whole world shone brightly as though I was standing in the beam of the most glittering golden spotlight. My very favourite place to be.

It's great going to school at Silver Spires, because I get to be with my friends all the time! Why not organize a special night for all your friends to get together too? I've got some fab ideas for fun stuff you can try, and they're all to do with my favourite thing…acting!

How to hold a film night

Even if you don't like acting yourself, I bet you like watching other people do it, so a film theme night is great fun for everyone! Apart from watching your favourite movies, there are brilliant games you can play that will definitely give you all the giggles. Just pick a theme, grab some DVDs…and don't forget the popcorn!

* The
theme
for your film night could be anything – comedies, musicals, or maybe your favourite actress or actor. Once you've picked one, you can stock up with DVDs, decorations, and even get your friends to dress up, all according to your theme. So ballgowns all round for Hollywood night!

* Play the
Who Am I?
game! Put the name of an actor on a Post-It note and stick it on your friend's forehead so they can't see it. Then they have to ask yes or no questions (like “Have I ever won an Oscar? Was I in a film with Keira Knightley?”) to work out who they are. How many questions will it take them?

* Entertain your friends with your best
impression
! Do a famous line, or even act out a whole scene from a film and see who's first to guess the title. Whoever gets it right gets the next turn!

* Have a
competition
to see how many films each person can think of that feature a particular actor – whoever gets the most wins. (And I always think chocolate's a great prize!) You can try other themes too, e.g., how many films can you think of with a colour in the title?

So what are you waiting for? Grab your friends and have some School Friends fun!

Now turn the page for a sneak preview of the next unmissable School Friends story…

I love this moment of walking through to the school pool from the changing room. My whole body comes alive, even more than it does on the athletics field. Maybe it's something about the smell, or the steamy atmosphere, or the beautiful pale green water that reminds me of the sea back home in Thailand. Whatever it is, I love it. I always find my footsteps speeding up, because I'm so desperate to get into the water and swim and swim. But this time Jess's hand on my arm stopped me in my tracks.

“Grace, look!” she said in her dreamy voice. Her eyes were on the far window, which goes right from the floor to the ceiling. “Look at that sun shining in. Isn't it beautiful? The water looks like liquid gold up at the deep end, doesn't it?”

I smiled at my best friend. “I bet you'll do a painting of that later, won't you?”

But she didn't answer because she was lost in a little Jess-daydream. By now there were quite a few people in the pool. I hadn't seen anyone diving in yet, though, so I decided not to do that either. It might have seemed like I was showing off and that was the last thing I wanted anyone to think.

Mrs. Mellor, our lovely PE teacher, was hurrying people out of the changing room while the lifeguard sat on high and watched over us all. I went down the steps and felt the cold water rising up around me, and although it made me shiver, it was a shiver I loved. It took me straight back to swimming in the sea in Thailand over the Christmas holidays. This is the beginning of the spring term at Silver Spires, which is the most perfect boarding school in the world, and here I am about to start our very first swimming lesson, because last term we didn't have any actual timetabled swimming. I should be totally happy, but there's just a small chunk of happiness missing because I can't help feeling a bit homesick. My mum and dad and my big sister seem so far away when I'm in England. I know I've got my lovely group of friends, including my very best friend, Jess, and I also know I'll soon be back in boarding-school mode, but it's only the second term of boarding for all us Year Sevens so we're still getting used to it.

“Oh no! This is torture!” came good old Georgie's voice. I glanced over to see her hunched up at the top of the steps.

“The quicker you get in, the quicker the torture – as you call it – will be over!” said Mrs. Mellor firmly. She clapped her hands. “Chop-chop, everyone! Five minutes' free swimming to get used to the water and then we'll start the lesson.” She went over to help someone tighten their goggles a bit, then turned back round. “Georgie Henderson, your challenge this term is never to be the last one in the pool.”

Georgie didn't answer, just hunched her shoulders even more and folded her arms, while her best friend Mia jigged up and down in the pool in front of her. “You'll get used to it really quickly, honestly!” I heard her say, as I set off to the deep end, doing front crawl.

I was concentrating hard on making my body as narrow and straight as possible, bringing my arms right over my head and cutting through the water with the side of my hand, while keeping my legs and feet strong. My parents wanted me to have swimming coaching during the holidays but in the end I only had three sessions because our lovely Christmas celebrations went on for so long this year, with lots of visitors and outings. It was hard leaving those hot sunny days of fun behind and coming back to the cold English weather.

When I got to the deep end I stopped and looked around. If I half closed my eyes the surface of the pool looked like pale green silk with loads of brightly coloured balls floating all over it. We have to wear hats for swimming and each boarding house here at Silver Spires has got its own colour. My five close friends and I are in one of the Year Seven dormitories in Hazeldean House and we've all got purple hats. The girls from Willowhaven wear green hats, Beech House wear blue, Forest Ash, red, Elmhurst, white and Oakley, yellow. I love it that girls from all the different houses are mixed together completely randomly for things like sport and music and art. Then for maths, science and English lessons we're in top, second and third sets.

Mrs. Mellor blew her whistle to announce that we'd only got another two minutes of free swimming and I suddenly realized I was starting to shiver because I'd been still for a while and wasn't fully warmed up. I set off back to the shallow end doing the fastest crawl I could manage and then turned round and headed straight back to the deep end, trying to do the proper breathing on every third stroke, but not managing it very well because breathing for the crawl stroke is my biggest weakness. I'd almost completed the second length when, through the blur of the water, I noticed a blue hat coming up on my left. Someone from Beech House was swimming really fast. We touched the side at exactly the same time and when she turned to face me, I realized it was a girl called Felissia Streeter. I smiled at her, but all I got back was a cold stare and I felt horrible shivers pushing through the lovely warmth I'd gathered during my hard swim. I didn't know what that look was about and I don't like it when I don't understand things.