Drama at Silver Spires (5 page)

“I didn't know the stage in the theatre was going to be amplified,” I said, trying not to sound sulky. “Couldn't I try the speech again?”

“I'm sorry, Georgie, there isn't time. And even with a quieter delivery, you still wouldn't be quite right for the role. Amy is…certainly exuberant, but in a more subtle, refined way. She has a will of her own but she's not completely…sure of herself. Have a think about Susie Perkins and write it down if you'd like to be considered for that role, all right?” She smiled brightly and tapped the piece of paper that people had written their second choices on. I was desperate to mention about Hannah being my third choice but she'd clearly finished with me. “Cara, would you like to go up?”

There was only one set of steps to the stage so Cara and I had to pass each other. I don't know whether she was looking at me because I stared at the ground. My whole body was trembling, not with disappointment, but with anger. How was I supposed to know that the theatre stage was amplified? I'm not a mind-reader. Why did she tell us about the stage being bigger if she didn't want us to project our voices? I felt like marching straight out of the hall, but I was too curious about Cara's acting to leave without seeing it. Her friends were standing not far in front of me and I saw them whisper to each other behind their hands, and then turn round and look at me as though I was pathetic. Huh! How would they like it if I sniggered and smirked during
their
auditions. Some people are so mean.

“When you're ready.” I saw Miss Pritchard sit up straighter and lean forwards.

I swallowed as Cara began. She didn't have a script either and the words just seemed to dance out of her mouth without any effort. She was doing a different speech from the one I'd done. It was a bit where Amy was supposed to be practically laughing, and I had to admit it was clever the way Cara got the words out while seeming to laugh at the same time. Even so, it was a bit quiet. I could only just hear her from the back and she didn't move around very much, just used her shoulders and head and eyes. Then suddenly she'd finished and the hall was filled with clapping. Everyone had burst into applause. Cara pretended to be embarrassed but then she practically skipped down the stairs and rushed over to her friends, who all patted her on the back and gave her hugs and told her how brilliant she was. Miss Pritchard was engrossed in writing on her notepad, so the room was full of chatter again.

“Phew! Thank goodness that's over!” said Cara, pretending to be exhausted as she smiled round at everyone. Her eyes caught mine and I saw a little mocking gleam in them.

“Aren't you going to change your second choice to Susie Perkins, Georgie? I agree with Miss Pritchard, you'd be good at that.”

One or two of her friends turned away as though they were trying to hide their amusement, and it suddenly struck me that Cara was being sarcastic. My blood boiled. She didn't care about my feelings at all. She just wanted to put me down and make me look a fool.

“No way am I changing my second choice,” I said in a hiss. “Why would I want the stupid Susie Perkins part when I'm easily good enough for Amy? How was I supposed to know that the stage is amplified?” I snapped.

She glared at me then. “Well no one else got up there and yelled out the words, did they?”

The fury inside me was bubbling.

“But if the stage
wasn't
amplified,
they
wouldn't have been heard at the back.”

Cara's face turned into one big sneer then. “It's not a pantomime, Georgie. It's not all about loud voices and great big gestures, you know.” Then she tossed her stupid yellow curls and stalked off.

So did I. Right out of the building.

All the way back to Hazeldean I talked myself into a red-hot temper.
Great big gestures.
Huh! What cheek! Cara made me sick. I did
not
do great big gestures… They were only small… Well okay,
quite
big, but that's because you have to exaggerate things on the stage. It's not like acting in a film. You can't be subtle or the audience won't get it. And why weren't we told before about the stage being amplified? It's not fair on the Year Sevens. And especially not fair on me. I went to loads of trouble to learn all my lines,
and
I learned all Aunt March's and Hannah's lines, just in case… But Susie Perkins. Susie Perkins! I yanked the script out of my bag to see how many lines Susie Perkins had actually got. Then I rammed it straight back in again because I decided I didn't care. I knew it was a pathetic little part and there was no way I was going to settle for that. In fact I didn't want anything more to do with the whole stupid play. Cara Ravenscroft could go and stuff herself and so could Miss Pritchard. More subtle and refined, indeed!

I crashed through the Hazeldean front door and went to find Mia. I expected her to be in one of the practice rooms but she wasn't, and it made me even madder that I had to walk all round the stupid boarding house looking for her. Eventually I realized she must be in the dorm. My legs ached by the time I'd climbed the steps to the third floor, where our dorm is, and I felt too angry to speak to anyone. I shoved open the door and scarcely looked to left or right, just catching glimpses of Mia, Grace and Jess at their desks. Then I climbed up to my bed and flopped onto it, closing my eyes.

For a few seconds there wasn't a sound and I suddenly thought that maybe I'd imagined seeing Mia and the other two. Perhaps I was so mad with anger that I'd turned properly mad and I was seeing ghosts. But a second later Mia coughed.

“Oh dear…Georgie…” she said softly.

Mia knows me better than anyone and she was able to see instantly that something was badly wrong.

“Wh…what…exactly…happened?” Grace asked in the same quiet voice.

I sat up like a jack-in-the-box and felt my rage bubbling up all over again. “I'll tell you what happened. What happened was that Cara was always going to get whatever role she went for because Miss Pritchard thinks she's God's gift to acting, just like everyone else in her fan club does. And loads of people didn't speak up or use enough expression or anything. But
I
was told that I was speaking too loudly because it turns out that the stage in the stupid theatre is amplified and if I'd known that then
obviously
I wouldn't have done it so loudly. And when I said that to the big Oscar-winning Cara Ravenscroft afterwards, she just said, ‘It's not a pantomime, you know!' And I honestly wish I hadn't spent so long learning all those lines. The whole thing's just so totally unfair and I don't want any more to do with it. The end!”

There was another silence, except that we could probably all still hear those last two words of mine hanging in the air. They sounded stupid. I wish I hadn't said them. But I didn't regret anything else I'd said.

I flopped back down again and the next minute Mia was sitting beside me. “Oh, poor, poor Georgie! That was really cruel of Cara to say that.”

I looked at the wall because I didn't feel like seeing Mia's sympathetic eyes. I knew it'd make me too sad.

“But did Miss Pritchard actually say that Cara had definitely got the part?” asked Jess.

“No, but it's obvious she has.”

“Was there anyone else auditioning for Amy apart from you two?” asked Mia.

“No.”

“Well then, you might still be in with a chance,” said Jess.

“Did you do it as well as you did it for me?” asked Mia.

They just didn't get it, and it was making me even crosser. “Look, I told you, I never stood a chance against Cara!”

“But even if you don't get Amy, you'll get Aunt March or Hannah, I expect,” said Mia, in her cheeriest voice, and I realized I still had to explain about Pooh-sie Perkins, only I absolutely did not feel like it right then.

Naomi and Katy came in at that moment and I groaned and buried my head in the pillow.

“How did you get on?” they shrieked, but I guess Mia or one of the others must have signalled to them that it wasn't a good question to be asking because the dorm was suddenly embarrassingly silent. Then after a moment it filled up with false-sounding chatter, and Mia gave my shoulder a quick pat before climbing down from my bed, which made me feel like a dog.

I spent the rest of the evening wishing that this day would hurry up and be over. I just couldn't stop thinking about the auditions, and every time I pictured Cara's face sneering at me or heard Miss Pritchard's voice saying those awful words to me, I filled up with anger, which made it impossible to concentrate on prep or even telly. I think supper was the worst time of all because I had to suffer the sight of Cara, still showing off with all her friends. Even though she was at a table on the other side of the dining hall from where we were all sitting, I could tell she was making sure she was the centre of attention the whole time by the way she talked more than anyone else and kept tossing her head and running her fingers through her hair.

“Forget about Cara,” said Naomi, following my eyes. “She's just not worth worrying about.”

And I tried. I really tried.

Waking up the following morning was absolutely terrible. I was still as angry as ever. But the anger was heavier because it was mixed with sadness. This was the day when Miss Pritchard was going to put the list up and everyone who'd auditioned would find out how they'd got on. I was just wondering whether there was any chance at all that my friends might forget about the whole subject of the play, when Mia shook my shoulder.

“Come on, Georgie! Up you get! You should be excited. You'll find out what part you got today!”

This time when I thought back to the auditions I just felt flat. There was no way I'd get a part because I hadn't changed my second choice to Susie Perkins, and Miss Pritchard would have said if she'd thought I'd be good at any other part.

“I won't get a part,” I said firmly.

“Let's go and look at break time, shall we?” said Naomi, as though I hadn't spoken.

I didn't mean to sound horrible but the last thing I wanted was for my friends to know how useless I was and all feel sorry for me. “What do you mean ‘
we
'? I'll go on my own, okay?”

“Are you sure?” asked Mia gently.

I nodded, trying to ignore the hurt look on her face, and went off to the bathroom.

It was English first lesson, which is one of my better subjects because the teacher makes everything really interesting and we sometimes get to act out bits of plays or read a poem or a short story out loud. There was no way I could have read anything out loud this morning, not after what happened yesterday. Anyway, I was too tense about the thought of the cast list going up. But the English lesson was okay because we plotted stories in pairs, and Mia came up with most of the ideas. After English it was maths. I don't think I took in a single fact in that maths lesson, which wasn't going to do me any favours when it came to prep that night, and neither would it help my end-of-term report. At the back of my mind I was starting to dread showing Mum and Dad my report, but only at the very back. The rest of my mind was taken up with thoughts of the play.

When the bell went for morning break, my heart started racing. Mia and the others walked up to the main building with me then waited outside while I went in. Lots of Year Nines were standing in front of the noticeboard, all talking excitedly and prodding the list. I couldn't bring myself to look with so many people there, so I faked a big interest in the photos on the opposite wall and waited till the Year Nines had started to drift away. Then I turned round just as Cara and her fan club appeared. There was nowhere to escape to, apart from the drama hall, but even that was impossible because I could see from looking through the glass panels at the top of the door that something was going on in there. So I started studying the photos again and hoped that everyone would be so taken up with the list of parts that no one would spot me.

“Yes, you've got it! Well done!” said one of Cara's friends. And my blood ran cold.

“Thanks,” said Cara coolly.

After that they talked about the small parts that Cara's friends had got. Then there was a sudden flurry of whispers and I realized they must have finally noticed me, so I turned round wearing my most laid-back expression and found them all staring at me.

“Congratulations, Cara!” I said in a throwaway voice, and then I made for the door, as though my mission at the photograph noticeboard was complete.

“Your name isn't on the list at all,” Cara came straight back at me, which felt like a stab in the stomach. “Don't you wish you'd gone for the part of Susie Perkins?” she added.

“No I don't!” I snapped, wishing she'd get off my case. It was like she was still trying to rub it in.

“But don't you even want to know who did get the part?” she went on.