Drama at Silver Spires (8 page)

“But…Georgie…I never know where you are these days, and even when you're right beside me I feel as though you're on another planet, sometimes.” Mia's voice seemed to have shrunk and she looked really fed up, which instantly made me hate myself for being such a terrible best friend. I so wished I could admit that I'd been to the rehearsal, that I was reading
Little Women,
that I couldn't stop thinking about the play the whole time and that I really, really regretted being a stupid idiot and turning down a chance at a perfectly good part at the auditions. And finally, I'd give anything,
anything
in the world to make the clocks go back so I could change my ridiculous impulsive behaviour.

But I couldn't turn the clocks back. And neither could I bring myself to admit everything to my friends. I was too ashamed.

Too ashamed by far.

I sat at the back during quite a few rehearsals after that first one, without Miss Pritchard or anyone knowing I was there. I felt guilty about not telling Mia, but it would have been too awkward trying to explain why I wanted to keep going. I'd studied the script so much that I knew loads of it by heart, especially Amy's part, and sometimes it was hard to stay silent when I was desperate to prompt people who forgot a line, or hold in a sigh if anyone said a line badly.

It was during a rehearsal of a scene where Amy has loads to say, that I noticed Cara's voice sounding a bit weak and scratchy.

It was obvious Miss Pritchard was anxious. “Is your throat hurting, Cara?”

Cara nodded. “Everyone's got coughs and colds and things at Beech House.”

“Well, just say the lines quietly for today. The last thing we need is for you to lose your voice with the performances getting nearer.”

So Cara did as she was told and people kept on missing their cues because they couldn't hear her properly. It was the most frustrating thing in the world, sitting there, knowing most of the lines and feeling certain I could have stood in and taken over the part. And of course, the moment that thought took root in my head I couldn't stop it growing and growing, feeding off my excitement. I started planning what to say to Miss Pritchard… '
Scuse me, Miss Pritchard, but I know all Cara's lines…
or maybe '
Scuse me, Miss Pritchard, I can easily take over if you want…
But what if she was furious at discovering I was attending a rehearsal when I wasn't in the play? It might be breaking the school rules. And even if it wasn't, I guessed she'd be cross that I hadn't asked permission to watch.

During the next few minutes Miss Pritchard had to stop the action three times to tell Cara to try and speak a teeny bit louder so the other actors could hear her, but it was obvious from the way Cara kept putting her hand on her throat that it was hurting her. It was on the fourth time that I simply couldn't restrain myself, and blurted out, “I'll do Cara's part if you want, Miss Pritchard – just to save her voice… I think I can…”

Miss Pritchard swung round and I saw her expression harden when she spotted me at the back. “How long have you been sitting up there? It's Georgie, isn't it?”

“Yes…I was just…watching.”

“So I gather. You know, you're not supposed to watch rehearsals when you're not in the play.”

“Sorry…yes, sorry, I mean, no…I didn't realize… only the thing is, I know some of the lines so I thought…I might be able to help, you see.”

She nodded. “Right…” And for a brilliant moment I thought that was a signal for me to take over, so I jumped up, but she put her hand up like a traffic cop. “Whoa there!”

A few sniggers broke out on the stage but I tried to ignore them.

Miss Pritchard spoke briskly. “Thank you for the offer, Georgie, but I'm afraid it's not
quite
as easy as all that.”

I caught Cara smiling to herself as Miss Pritchard turned back to the stage, and there were more sniggers, which made my temper rage because it was like she was sharing a joke with all the actors about the pathetic girl who thought she could step in and take over a main role, just like that. The final straw that made my blood boil was when Cara stared straight at me, tipped her head on one side and gave me a deliberately fake smile with mean eyes. She might as well have just come out and said,
You are such a loser.

Miss Pritchard looked at her watch and it was as though I'd never spoken. “I think the best thing would be to skip this scene and move to the next one. Cara, go and see what Matron says you need for your throat. Who is your matron by the way?”

“Mrs. Bradley.”

“Right. I'll have a word with her. Throat sweets will do you good too. But most importantly, I want you to make a conscious effort to rest your voice at all times. Got that?”

Cara put on her most sugary expression and did a little croaky cough as she left the theatre. Then Miss Pritchard clapped her hands and raised her voice, getting everyone organized as quickly as possible for the next scene, and I crept out of the back door, feeling the disappointment and the sadness start to mix in with my anger and weigh me down, like they had after my audition. There wasn't any point in anything any more. I'd been so hoping that something might happen to give me a chance to be in the play after all. But now that chance was dead and buried.

I looked at my watch. Mia had probably gone down to Pets' Place to see her guinea pigs, Porgy and Bess. Katy might have gone with her to see Buddy, her rabbit. They often went at this time of day, after piano practice or clubs or whatever they'd been doing after school. I'm not all that into animals and I'm always joking with them about how mad they are, wanting to keep stinky pets that need feeding and cleaning out all the time. But plodding off to find them right now, I didn't think they were mad at all. In fact I even wished I had a pet myself. Just something to cuddle.

The door to the shed felt quite stiff, unless it was only me not having the knack of how to open it, but then it suddenly gave way and I kind of catapulted in and practically knocked Naomi over.

“What the…”

“Oh sorry!”

“Georgie!” Mia was just putting one of her guinea pigs back in its hutch. She looked pretty amazed to see me.

“Hi…I…er…thought I'd find you here,” I stammered.

“Wonders will never cease!” smiled Katy. Then she dumped Buddy in my arms. “Here. Have a hold.”

“Do I have to?” I said, wrinkling my nose, because that's what they expected me to do. But really I loved the feel of the heavy bundle of fur.

“Look at Bess!” said Mia, coming over in a bit of a hurry to show me some new marking on her pet's fur. “It definitely wasn't this dark before.”

“It's what happens in the winter,” Katy said, sounding knowledgeable. Then she spoiled it. “Actually I don't know what I'm talking about.”

Naomi laughed and so did I, but then I stopped abruptly because the memory of how fed up I was had started to seep back into this new little patch of happiness.

“Supper time,” said Naomi, looking at her watch. “Let's go. I'm starving.”

Katy grabbed Buddy off me, buried her nose in his fur and said, “Night night, my beautiful Buddy. Sleep tight, and if the bugs bite, bite 'em back!”

Then there was a flurry of stroking and blowing kisses to every single animal in the place and next moment we were out in the cold air, Katy and Naomi jogging on ahead and Mia and me walking behind. The nearer we got to the dining hall, the more I felt the big gloom taking me over. At least Mia hadn't asked me where I'd been or why I'd suddenly come along to Pets' Place – we'd just talked about winter and that had led to Christmas and what presents we were hoping to get. Maybe that explained my gloom, because there wasn't a single thing I wanted that could be wrapped up and put in a stocking.

I had the feeling something bad was going to happen from the moment we walked into the dining hall and saw Cara talking to her friends. There were six of them all leaning forwards in a tight little knot listening with big eyes as Cara held everyone's attention in her usual way. Part of me felt like marching over there and saying, “Huh! Call that saving your voice, Cara?” but the bigger part of me was afraid of what she might be telling them.

It was when I was on pudding that I found out. Two of Cara's friends threw me a quick glance as they walked past our table, then sniggered really obviously.

“What's so funny?” Katy asked them indignantly.

“Nothing!” they told her. Then they went, but not before giving me another sneer.

Katy turned to me, looking horrified. “Why are they looking at you like that?”

My heart was beating faster but I shrugged and tried to sound as though I couldn't care less. “I dunno…Cara's probably made some joke about me not being in the play. I tell you, she's so immature…”

“
I'm
immature! Yeah right!”

I looked up and felt my face drain. Cara was standing there, hands on hips, giving me a nasty evil stare and I knew there was worse to come.

Her voice was croaky, and even disappeared altogether once, but it was still perfectly clear what she was saying. “Fancy thinking you can interrupt a rehearsal and ask to take over a main role when you're not even in the play.” She leaned forwards and practically spat at me. “And
why
aren't you in the play? I'll
tell
you why. Because you went into a pathetic little stress when you found out you weren't good enough for a main part, and refused to take the part of Susie Perkins, because you thought you were too good for a minor role. You think you're so special, Georgie Henderson, but you're
not
! Fancy asking to stand in for me. Like
that
would ever happen!”

Then she gave me a final glare and walked off. I had no idea what to do or say so I sat there completely rigid with a hurting throat, and waited to see what happened. And what happened was that Mia's arm went round me on one side and Naomi's on the other side, so then my throat hurt even more, but I used all my strength to stop myself from crying.

“She's horrible,” said Mia.

“And she's a liar,” said Katy, crossly.

“Yes—” Jess started to join in, but I interrupted her in a flat voice because I'd just kind of given in.

“She's not actually.”

For once Katy sounded unsure of herself. “Wh… what?”

“I agree she's horrible,” I carried on in that same dead voice, “but actually…” I sighed. “…she's not a liar.”

So then everyone was stuck for what to say.

It was Naomi who broke the uncomfortable silence. “Let's talk about it somewhere else.”

“Yes, in the dorm after prep,” Mia finished off, patting my shoulder before she took her arm away. “We'll have a friendship meeting.”

So that's what we did.

I somehow got through prep, and then as soon as it was over we sat on the rug in the middle of the dorm and I spilled everything out to them, all about how stupid I'd been to turn down the chance to play the role of Susie Perkins, how sad I was not to be involved with the play, and how pathetic I was to care so much. And they looked at me with big sympathetic eyes, which made me so grateful because I didn't deserve to have these lovely friends supporting me after the way I'd behaved.

“I know you won't believe me,” I said in a small voice, “but I really
am
good at acting. I just did a rubbish audition because I tried to do it in the same way I'd always acted at primary, and it's obviously a much harder play. Also, Miss Pritchard said we had to bear in mind that the theatre is bigger than the hall, and I thought she was trying to get us to really speak up, but now I think about it, I reckon she probably only said that for the people who are shy and naturally much quieter than me. It's embarrassing to think how loudly I must have yelled out those lines in the audition, actually! And now, I just can't stop thinking about the play the whole time.”

“I knew you were still interested in it,” said Katy, “because I saw
Little Women
on your desk.”

“Yeah, me too,” said Jess.

That gave me a bit of a shock. I didn't think anyone had noticed. “Have you seen me reading the script as well?” I asked, feeling a bit stupid.

“The script? You've got a copy of the script?” asked Mia.

I nodded. “I photocopied it from Rebecca's. Remember when you saw me give hers back to her?”

Katy frowned as though she was trying to work out a difficult maths problem. “So, you mean, you
have
been going to rehearsals?”

I felt my face getting hot as I nodded. “Mmm.”

“Didn't Miss Pritchard mind?” was all Mia said.

“She didn't realize I was there…until today.”

There was another silence and I guessed this was the moment when they were all remembering those words of Cara's…
Fancy asking to stand in for me. Like
that
would ever happen!
It was so embarrassing I felt like getting under my duvet, curling into a tight ball and refusing to come out.