Fame (2 page)

‘That's odd,' said Aaron. ‘The gym is usually locked.'

‘Who cares?' said Zeke. ‘Come on, let's use it.'

The gym was the perfect place to practise their dance steps. It had a wooden floor and plenty of space. Aaron loved to dance and he loved
martial arts.
His plan for the audition

was to mix kick-boxing with modern dance. Zeke was a street dancer. His plan for the audition was to mix hip hop moves with techno music.

Zeke started to dance. He pounded his feet on the floor before doing a back flip. ‘What do you think of this?' he asked Aaron.

But he didn't get an answer from Aaron. Instead he heard the voice of their dance teacher.

‘You boys shouldn't be in here,' said Miss Walker.

Zeke and Aaron stopped dancing.

‘It's okay,' said Zeke. ‘There's a notice on the door saying the gym can be used
as
a rehearsal room just for today.'

‘I didn't see any notice on the door,' said Miss Walker.

‘I'll show you,' said Aaron.

They all went to look at the door but the notice was gone.

‘It was there,' said Zeke and Aaron together.

Miss Walker put her hands on her hips. ‘I won't give you a
detention,'
she said. ‘Instead you'll help me. Go to the store room and get out twenty chairs. Set them up in the
courtyard
for a meeting.'

Zeke and Aaron quickly set up the chairs. Then they walked out of the courtyard to a small area of grass. Aaron practised his martial arts dance steps. Zeke practised his back flips and landing without wobbling.

Once again they were stopped by Miss Walker.

‘Why are you boys dancing?' she asked. ‘I told you to set up the chairs.'

‘We did,' said Zeke.

‘I'll show you,' said Aaron.

Miss Walker followed them to the courtyard but the chairs had gone!

‘We did set them up,' said Zeke. ‘We really did!'

Miss Walker was not happy. ‘This is your last chance,' she said. ‘If you don't behave I won't let you try out for
Dance Dance Dance
later. Now set up the chairs, please.'

Aaron and Zeke set up the chairs again. This time they stayed in the courtyard. Now no one could take the chairs away without them seeing.

‘I think someone wants us to get into trouble,' said Zeke.

‘But why?' asked Aaron.

‘Because if we don't audition, then they will have less competition,' said Zeke.

‘I think a teacher put them away,' said Aaron.

‘I think you're wrong. It's someone who doesn't want us to get on TV' said Zeke. ‘But who?'

Once again the bell rang loudly and it was time to get back to class. The boys had to leave the courtyard. What if the chairs disappeared again? This time they were in luck. They met Miss Walker in the hall and told her the chairs were done. All she said was, ‘Hurry up now, or you'll be late for class.'

During their lunch break Aaron and Zeke practised their dancing in the school car park.

‘No one will see us here,' said Zeke.

He was wrong. Miss Walker saw them.

‘Boys,' she said, ‘you look
scruffy.
It just won't do if you want to look good on camera at the audition. I'll make an appointment for you after school at the hair and make-up class. They need students to practise on, and you two need tidying up.'

Zeke was not happy. ‘No-one is touching my hair,' he said. ‘It's taken me years to get it like this.'

Aaron wasn't happy either. ‘Makeup!' he said. ‘No way. What if our mates see us?'

‘Everyone on TV has to wear make-up because of the bright lights,' said Miss Walker. ‘You'll have to get used to that if you are going to be famous TV stars.'

‘We might have to get used to it, but we're not going to like it!' said Zeke.

After classes had ended Aaron and Zeke met up at the bike shed. All Star

High had bikes and cycle helmets that teachers and students could borrow to get to classrooms that were on the other side of town, like the make-up class.

‘This is a waste of time,' said Aaron. ‘We should be practising our moves, not getting our hair done!'

‘But maybe if we look good and dance well too, we'll get chosen to be on TV,' said Zeke.

Aaron took a while to answer. ‘We need to dance together then,' he said. ‘It would look better if we start and finish with the same steps but the middle bit will be different.'

‘Yeah, that makes sense,' said Zeke. ‘That's when I'll do my hip hop techno street dance.'

‘And when I'll do my martial arts modern dance,' said Aaron.

‘Great,' said Zeke. ‘No other dancers can do what we can do. We're going to rock!'

The boys put on their cycle helmets and got on the bikes. They rode out of the front gate at All Star High and started their wobbly ride across town. But they didn't see something strange. A van was following them …

The hair and make-up classroom was easy to find. The boys parked their bikes and went inside.

‘Hello, boys,' said Kate, the student hairdresser. ‘Miss Walker has told me you need make-up and hair for a TV audition. Come and sit by the basins. Meg and I will wash and shampoo your hair.'

Zeke relaxed a bit. His hair would just be clean and neat for the audition. In a few days he would be back to looking as he always did. Or so he thought.

Zeke and Aaron took off the cycle helmets and sat down. They tipped their heads back into the basins and started to relax. The water was warm and the girls were quick at putting on the shampoo and rinsing it off again. Soon they were sitting up with their hair wrapped up in towels. Meg led them over to some seats in front of mirrors.

‘Now before we dry your hair, let's have a look at those fingernails,' said Meg. ‘Ooh, Kate, look! They're in a such a mess. We can't let you boys out of here with nails like this. You just sit here and let us make your nails look amazing!'

‘Err, no, it's all right thanks …' started Aaron. It was no good. Meg and Kate wouldn't take ‘no' for an answer. They were already sitting next to the boys, filing and trimming their nails.

Zeke was really grumpy and moaned to Aaron, ‘Oh man, this is like being a girl! I am so glad no-one can see us like this.'

‘Too right,' said Aaron. ‘But my hands do feel nice and soft now.'

‘Loser!' grumbled Zeke. ‘Erm, we still have to go and practise before the audition. Have you nearly finished?'

‘Yes, just the make-up and hair drying to go!' said Kate. She and Meg rubbed cream on to their faces and used a brush to dab powder on to their cheeks. Both boys were trying not to jump out of their chairs and run back to school. Their faces felt thick with heavy make-up and they looked bright orange.

‘Are you sure this is what people wear on TV?' said Aaron. ‘I look like a freak!'

‘Oh, yes,' said Meg. ‘The TV lights are very bright. You have to have lots of colour and powder on your face or you'll look too pale or too shiny. We'll just dry your hair and then you'll be ready for your audition.'

‘I guess they know what they're doing …' said Aaron to Zeke as Kate and Meg pulled the towels off their heads.

Both girls gave a scream. ‘Oh no!' they cried out.

‘This is so bad,' Kate said.

Aaron turned his head and looked at Zeke. Zeke turned his head and looked at Aaron. A look of horror spread across their faces.

‘Our hair is pink!' cried out Zeke.

‘Wash it out,' said Aaron. ‘Now.'

‘Err … we can't wash it out,' said Meg. ‘That's pink
dye.
There must have been a mix-up. Someone must have put bright pink dye in the wrong bottle.'

Kate held up the bottle. It had ‘Shampoo' written on the label.

‘I'm so sorry. I thought we were using shampoo, not dye. But after a blow dry it won't look as bad.'

Kate was right. It didn't look as bad but it still looked terrible. The two boys looked like clowns wearing pink wigs.

‘We can fix it,' said Meg. ‘We can put a dark dye on your hair to cover the pink, but it would take few hours.'

‘But we have to get back to school in time for the audition,' grumbled Aaron. ‘There's no time to fix this now. Thanks for nothing.'

They stormed out of the classroom.

‘We look so stupid,' said Zeke.

‘I know,' said Aaron. ‘But the cycle helmets will hide most of our hair.'

‘But what about when we get back to school and have to take the helmets off?' said Zeke.

‘Maybe we can say pink hair is part of our act,' said Aaron.

Once they were outside they put on the cycle helmets. Aaron looked up the road. Zeke looked down the road. They both looked across the road. There was one white van, but the bikes had gone.

‘What do we do? Call the police?” said Zeke.

‘No. We're running out of time,' said Aaron.

‘I know,' said Zeke, looking at his watch. ‘The auditions start in thirty minutes.'

‘The bus isn't due for an hour,' said Aaron, ‘so that's out.'

‘We could get a taxi,' Zeke suggested.

Aaron shook his head. ‘I haven't got any money.'

‘I haven't got any money either,' said Zeke.

‘It's no good, we're just going to have to run back to school,' said Aaron.

‘If we run fast we will just make the audition in time,' said Zeke. ‘Let's go!'

The boys ran as fast as they could back to All Star High. They got hotter and hotter and soon sweat was running down their faces as they ran. The sweat left
streaks
in their make-up and stung their eyes but they didn't stop. At last they ran up the front steps of All Star High and down the hall towards the main Dance Studio. Zeke rubbed his eyes and looked at his watch. It was past 5 o'clock. The auditions must have started.

‘Nice hair, is it
April Fool's Day?'
called out a boy with spiky red hair who was putting jelly in his locker.