Hannah in the Spotlight (2 page)

‘OW!’ I didn’t know which bit of me hurt most. It was a close contest between my wrist, which had bent awkwardly as I tried to break my fall, my left knee, which had taken most of my weight when it hit the wooden floor in the hallway, or my right shin, which I had whacked on the step as I fell.
So much for all my safety gear,
I thought.

‘Is that how you always come into people’s houses?’

I looked up to see the girl next door grinning down at me. ‘I was just going to come out and see if you wanted to skate together, but now I think maybe you’re a bit of a liability.’

‘It’s not funny,’ I muttered, rubbing my knee underneath my knee pad, which might have saved me from breaking any bones, but definitely hadn’t stopped it from hurting. ‘What did you go and open the door like that for?’

‘Sorry,’ she said, not sounding like she meant it a bit. ‘I wasn’t exactly expecting you to come crashing through it.’

I sat back and looked up at her properly. She had long blonde hair hanging loose down her back. She was wearing
skinny jeans and a long T-shirt that said ‘MEH’ in really big letters. She smiled at me suddenly, and her smile lit up her whole face. I couldn’t help smiling back.

‘I’m Hannah,’ I told her, getting to my feet, or rather my blades. ‘Sorry about that. It wasn’t exactly how I was planning to introduce myself.’

‘That’s OK,’ she said. ‘I’m Meg. So, do you want to go skating together, or do you need to take a break?’

I was feeling slightly bruised, but I didn’t want to admit it. ‘I’m fine. Do you have rollerblades, then?’

‘Yes, but I’m not exactly sure where. Do you want to come in for a minute while I look?’

‘Sure.’

I followed her down the hall. It’s always funny to see our house in reverse. From the outside Meg’s and my house looked exactly the same, only the opposite way around. Our sitting room window was on the right of the front door and that bit of the house joined on to Meg’s, and the garage was on the left. Meg’s sitting room window was on the left and the garage was on the right. The fronts of the houses were like mirror images of each other.

The insides were completely different though. Meg’s house was painted cream all over – no, not cream – what’s that really sensible plain colour rented houses always are? Oh yes, magnolia of course. The walls were bare, and the rooms seemed so empty, apart from all the boxes I mean
– there were no books on the shelves yet, or ornaments on the mantelpiece, or anything that made it look like it actually belonged to them.

Meg led the way into the family room at the back of the house. Almost the entire floor space was taken up with boxes and bags.

‘I think I know what box they’re in,’ Meg said. ‘Mum didn’t want me to bring them because they’re so bulky and take up so much space, but I knew I’d use them so I talked her into it.’ She ripped the tape from the top of a box and peered inside. ‘Huh – all her tennis stuff! She had room for that all right!’ She held up two tennis rackets and a big sports bag, dumped them on the floor and dived into the box again. ‘All her shoes too. And she thinks I have too many!’ Several pairs of high heels came flying out to land on top of the tennis gear on the floor.

I was trying to work out her accent as she talked. She was Irish all right, but there was a hint of something else there too, I just couldn’t figure it out.

‘Aha!’ Meg lifted out her rollerblades with a triumphant grin. ‘I knew they were here somewhere. And here are all my knee pads and elbow pads and things. Mum insists on me wearing them – I suppose yours is the same?’

‘Oh, yeah,’ I said. ‘She’s very big on knee pads, elbow pads, helmets, seatbelts – all that stuff. I think it’s some kind of a mum law that they have to be obsessed with safety.’

Meg was sitting on the floor pulling on her rollerblades. I suddenly realised how quiet the house was. ‘Where is your mum, anyway?’

‘Oh, she’s gone out for the day. I’ve got the house to myself. It was starting to feel just a teeny bit too quiet, actually.’

‘Oh my God, you’re so lucky!’ I told her. ‘My house has never been quiet for a minute, ever. I can’t actually imagine what it would be like to be the only one at home.’

‘Really?’

I explained about all my siblings. Meg’s eyes widened.

‘Wow, you’re the lucky one!’ she said. ‘I’m an only child. I always wished I had at least one sister to play with.’

I felt a bit bad. I knew I was lucky, really. ‘Oh, I do like having a big family,’ I said quickly. ‘But sometimes I feel like I’d do anything to get five minutes’ peace. I even have to come out to the front garden if I want to read my book because the boys have turned the back garden into a football pitch.’

Meg finished putting on all her gear, and we skated slowly to the front door. Normally Mum doesn’t let me wear my rollerblades inside. But there were no grown-ups around to warn us about the wooden floor getting marked, so I glided along, enjoying the smooth feel of it underneath the blades.

‘Oh,’ Meg said, stopping so suddenly that I almost
crashed into her. I grabbed onto the banister instead. One crash in their hallway was more than enough for one day. ‘What time is it? Sadie is supposed to be coming over to check on me at lunchtime.’

‘Don’t worry, it’s only eleven. Who’s Sadie?’

‘She’s my granny. I call her Sadie because Granny doesn’t seem to suit her! That’s OK then, I’ve got ages.’

We skated down the drive and started doing slow laps of the green. It was a bit quieter now – must have been snack time for the little kids – so it was easier to get around.

‘So where did you used to live?’ I asked her.

‘Oh, we move around a lot,’ Meg said vaguely. ‘How about you – have you always lived in Carrickbeg?’

‘Yes, my whole life,’ I said. ‘And your house has always been rented out, so we’ve had tons of different neighbours. The last lot were a big group of students, and they were really noisy. Mum was so glad when they moved.’

‘Well, she needn’t worry about us!’ Meg said. ‘It’s just me and Mum, and we’re pretty quiet.’

‘What made you move to Carrickbeg?’

‘Mum grew up here. She moved away when she went to college. My granny and grandad still live here, so Mum wanted to be near them when, um …’ She hesitated, then quickly said, ‘when she decided to move. We used to come here a lot for holidays, but it’s a few years now since we’ve been back. Sadie is so happy to have us near.’

‘So is Meg short for Megan then?’ I asked her.

Meg made a face. ‘I wish! My real name is Margaret, after my aunt. But if you EVER tell anyone …’

I laughed. ‘I won’t! Meg is much nicer. Makes me think of
Little Women
.’

‘Oh, I love
Little Women
!’ Meg said. ‘Although I think I like Amy better than Meg. I always think Amy is a bit more real – Meg’s just too good to be true sometimes!’

‘Laura’s favourite is Jo,’ I said. ‘She wants to be a writer some day, so she just loves reading about Jo and how she keeps on writing stories and trying to get them published. Laura’s one of my best friends,’ I added in explanation.

‘Does she live on the green too?’ Meg asked.

‘No, she’s a bit further away. Ruby lives just over there,’ I added, pointing to Ruby’s house about ten doors down from Meg’s, and on a bend so that it was facing the green from a different angle. ‘But we can’t call for her.’ I explained about ballet camp.

‘Are you going to any camps?’ Meg asked.

‘No.’ I sighed. ‘I’d have loved to go to drama.’

‘Oh, do you like acting?’

‘I love it. It’s my favourite thing in school – I just wish we could do it more often. Did you do much in your old school?’

‘A bit. I love it too,’ Meg said. ‘That feeling of transforming yourself into someone else, getting right inside
their mind and the way they speak and move.’

‘Exactly!’ I beamed at her. It was so great to meet someone who understood just how I felt about acting.

By the time we’d circled the green a few times I’d told Meg all about my closest friends, Laura and Ruby, my crazy family and how I was dreading having to spend the summer holidays being an unpaid babysitter to my siblings. I kind of realised after a while that I’d been doing most of the talking, though. It wasn’t that Meg was quiet, more that she kept asking questions about me, and she didn’t volunteer very much information about herself. She didn’t mention her dad, and she didn’t seem to want to talk about why she and her mum had moved to Carrickbeg.

‘Hannah!’ It was Mum calling. ‘I need you!’

‘I’ll only be a minute,’ I told Meg. I was surprised Mum had actually remembered that she’d promised to call me in in case I needed to escape.

‘It’s OK, Mum,’ I told her as I reached the door. ‘Meg’s really nice, I don’t need you to call me in.’

‘What? Oh, that’s good,’ Mum said, ‘but actually, I need you anyway, I’m afraid. I’ve just remembered the boys are supposed to be going to a birthday party, and I’ve just put Emma down for a nap. Can you mind her and Maisie while I bring the boys?’

‘OK.’ I looked back at Meg, who suddenly looked kind
of lonely. ‘Is it OK if I ask Meg to come in?’

‘Yes, of course. Hurry up though, I really need to get going. We should have been there ten minutes ago.’

I called to Meg and started taking off my rollerblades as I explained to her that big sister duty was calling again.

‘Mum says you can come in and hang out with me while I’m babysitting,’ I told her quickly.

‘Really? That would be great!’ Her face fell. ‘Oh, I’d better not actually, Sadie is coming over soon.’

‘Oh, yeah.’ I felt disappointed. ‘How about we meet up later, then? We can call for Ruby too.’

‘Great! Let’s do that.’

I watched as Meg skated back to her own house. Then Maisie called me to come and play teddies.

Not teddies again! I thought to myself, trying to suppress a sigh.

The morning had turned out better than I had been expecting, and I felt pretty sure I had made a new friend in Meg. Maybe she could help me with my summer project – whatever it turned out to be. One thing was for sure, I needed to come up with something fast, or this babysitting thing could turn into a full-time job.

All the time I was minding the girls, my mind was busily working away on a plan. Mum called me right after she dropped the boys at the party and said since she was out anyway she might as well go to Tesco, and did I mind looking after the girls for a bit longer? I said I didn’t mind and she could go ahead. It was true, I didn’t mind, not really. Being the oldest in the family does mean you have to help out sometimes, and I do actually like playing with Maisie and looking after Emma. I just didn’t want the whole holidays to go by without me having done anything except play teddies, find lost soothers and break up rows. That would make a pretty boring ‘What I did in my holidays’ essay when I went back to school.

I kept thinking of Meg, all alone next door. It must be strange to move somewhere new and leave all your friends behind. I’ve lived in Carrickbeg all my life and I can’t really imagine what it would be like if Mum and Dad suddenly announced we were moving to a new town. I’d miss Ruby and Laura so much and all the things we do
together. I wondered if Meg was missing her friends and her old life.

I saw a stylish-looking older lady with short, neat grey hair making her way up Meg’s driveway. She was wearing high heels and a brightly coloured pashmina fastened at the front with a diamanté brooch. I could see why Meg called her Sadie – it was hard to imagine anyone calling her Granny.

Unbelievably, Maisie was tired of teddies. ‘Will you read to me?’ she asked.

‘OK,’ I agreed. ‘Go and get your Secret Seven book.’ We were working our way through the Secret Seven series together. I’d really enjoyed those books when I was a bit younger, and now it was nice to get a chance to read them again and see Maisie enjoying them too.

It was when we were curled up together reading about the adventures of Peter, Janet and all the rest that my super, brilliant, fantastic idea came to me. We should form a club! We’d need a clubhouse of some kind, and a secret password, and ways to get messages to each other. We’d each have our own job to do, and we’d hold regular meetings, and keep records in a secret journal.

‘Han – nah!’ Maisie was using her whiniest voice. I realised I’d stopped reading.

‘Sorry, Maisie! I was just daydreaming there for a minute,’ I told her. ‘Why don’t you read a little bit now,
and I’ll listen? I’ll help you if you get stuck.’

Maisie took the book and started reading. My mind wandered off again. What would we do in the club, though? I was old enough to realise that the type of mysteries that the Secret Seven and the Five Findouters were always solving didn’t really crop up like that all the time in real life. I wasn’t sure I was cut out for life as a detective, anyway. Sitting in a café spying on people might be fun, but I wasn’t so keen on the idea of snooping round old cottages in the dead of night, or trying to stay hidden while following someone on a bike, or having to dress up as a tramp to listen in on secret conversations.

Then I thought about wanting to go to drama camp. Was there some way I could put the ideas together? We wouldn’t have a teacher, of course, or even a big group, but was there something we could do on our own?

‘HANNAH!’ Maisie was stuck on a word and I hadn’t noticed.

‘OK, Maisie, show me where you’ve got to,’ I told her. I’d just have to work out the details later. But I felt the surge of happiness that having a new plan always brings.

As soon as Mum got home I hopped over the garden wall to knock on Meg’s front door. The older lady I’d seen going in earlier answered it.

‘Hello, I’m Hannah, I live next door. I just wanted a quick word with Meg if that’s all right.’

The lady smiled. ‘I’m Sadie. Nice to meet you, Hannah.’ She called over her shoulder to Meg, who appeared from the kitchen. ‘Don’t be too long, Meg. I’m just putting lunch on the table.’

‘Sorry to interrupt,’ I said to Meg. ‘I was just wondering if you can come over this afternoon?’

‘Sure,’ she said. ‘What have you got in mind?’

‘I’ll explain everything later. Come over to my house about 2.30, OK?’

‘See you then!’ Meg said, smiling as she closed the door.

Now I just needed to get hold of the other two. I looked at my watch. Still only one o’clock, so I couldn’t call over for Ruby just yet. I could drop a note in for her though, so she’d see it as soon as she got home from ballet camp. I’d have to call Laura from the landline at home. Ruby and I reckon we are the only twelve-year-olds in the entire country who don’t have mobile phones. Mum says I don’t need one until I go to secondary school next year. Laura has one, but she says it’s not much use when she can’t text her two best friends.

I just had time to phone Laura and tell her about the plan, then I rushed to help Mum unpack the groceries and make the lunch. The boys were getting a lift home from the party, so at least she didn’t have to worry about that.

Mum said it was fine if I asked the girls over that afternoon, and she promised to keep Maisie occupied if I
wanted to use my room. I wasn’t so sure about that one. Keeping Maisie occupied is not easy, especially when you have three other children to look after too. I decided the garden was the best option, unless it started raining or something.

At quarter past two, I dragged the garden table into the middle of the lawn. Actually, that’s where it’s supposed to live, but the boys keep moving it because it gets in the way of their games. I set up four chairs and got a cloth to wipe away all the cobwebs – it had been a while since we used it, and it looked like the spiders had taken it over. I got out my notebook and pen, and I filled a jug with juice and put it on a tray with four glasses.

The doorbell rang and I rushed to answer it.

‘Hey,’ said Ruby. ‘I got your note – hope you don’t mind me being early!’

‘No, it’s great! Come on in – you can help me with the biscuits and stuff.’

Ruby followed me in, saying hello to Mum and Emma as she passed. I’ve known Ruby since we were three years old. Our mothers met at toddler group. I’m maybe not as close to her as I am to Laura, but that’s not because we don’t get on or anything. It’s really just because Ruby spends so much of her time on her ballet. As well as the normal classes she gets extra one-on-one lessons from the head of the ballet school, and she seems to spend most of
the school holidays at a ballet camp. When she has a show coming up she has all these extra rehearsals, and she’s forever doing exercises or stretches or something at home too. Ballet is the number one thing in her life, and Laura and I and her other friends are always going to come second to that. We don’t mind though. We’re really proud of Ruby, and when she is free to hang out with us, she’s great fun.

Laura is super-talented too. Like I explained to Meg, she wants to be a writer when she grows up. Actually, she’s a writer already, just not a published one yet. She goes through these dreamy phases when she’s starting a new story, and gets completely caught up in the world of her characters. The rest of the time though, she’s pretty normal, and she doesn’t let it take over her life in quite the same way as Ruby’s ballet does.

I don’t have a special talent like my two best friends. Sometimes I wonder, if I got the right training and practised really really hard, if I could be good at drama. When I read a book or see a film that I love, I sometimes imagine myself playing that part, and what it would be like to be on the stage.

Ruby had just finished emptying a packet of biscuits onto a plate when the doorbell rang again. I was glad to see it was Laura – I wanted to tell them both about Meg before she got here.

‘Hey, come on in! We’re just waiting for Meg, then
we’ve got the full group,’ I told her.

‘Oh, who’s Meg?’ Laura asked.

‘She just moved in next door. I only met her this morning, but she’s really nice.’ I watched Laura’s face carefully. When we were younger, she used to be a bit jealous if she thought I was making new friends without her. She’d kind of grown out of that, but I still felt a bit nervous. I didn’t want her deciding she didn’t like Meg before she’d even met her.

I needn’t have worried, though. ‘Oh, that’s great,’ Laura said. ‘Remember you were worried it would be more screaming brats moving in next door!’

In the kitchen, Bobby was showing Ruby his latest kick-boxing move.

‘Look, Ruby, you stand here,’ he instructed her. ‘Now watch.’

He took a couple of steps back, then screeched, ‘Hi – YA!’ and came running towards her, jumping and kicking his leg in the air at the same time.

Ruby screamed and then giggled. ‘Wow, Bobby. You’re getting really good at that.’

‘Why don’t you show Zach?’ I suggested.

‘But I want to show Ruby what comes next,’ Bobby said.

‘Another time maybe. I need Ruby now,’ I told him.

‘OK,’ Bobby sighed. He went running off, shouting to
Zach to come and practise with him.

‘Quick, let’s go outside before they come back,’ I said.

I picked up the tray and Ruby opened the patio door so I could carry it out to the back garden. I liked being the host – it made me feel very grown-up.

We settled down at the table.

‘So what’s this big plan you mentioned?’ Ruby wanted to know. ‘It sounded really mysterious in your note.’

‘Yeah, I’m dying to know too. Your plans are always either completely brilliant, or else they land us in a lot of trouble,’ Laura said with a laugh.

‘Like the time you decided we should have a yard sale to surprise our parents, only you sold a whole lot of things you weren’t supposed to,’ Ruby giggled.

‘Like your dad’s favourite tie,’ Laura said. ‘And your mum’s sunglasses.’

‘And a cake tin belonging to your granny,’ Ruby said.

‘And the book my mum was in the middle of reading,’ Laura added.

‘The book was your idea!’ I pointed out. I pretended to be cross. ‘Fine, if you don’t want to hear my brilliant plan, I won’t tell you.’

‘Of course we do,’ Laura said in a soothing tone. ‘We’ll just be a bit better prepared this time, and put all our valuables in a safe place.’

‘Please tell us, I’m dying to hear now!’ Ruby said.

‘I’ll tell you everything when Meg gets here,’ I promised. ‘Actually, it’s only the start of a plan. I need you guys to help me turn it into a proper one.’

‘Hey.’ It was Meg, peeping over the hedge between our two gardens, and looking a little shy.

‘Hi, Meg! Have you found the secret passage in our garden?’

It wasn’t really a secret passage, but I was still in an Enid Blyton kind of mood. I showed her the gap in the hedge where she could squeeze through. It’s my favourite sneaky hiding place when I’m playing hide and seek with my brothers.

‘This is great!’ Meg said, emerging from the hedge into our garden. ‘So much handier than going all the way round to the front door.’

I brought her over to the table where the others were looking at her curiously, Laura shading her eyes from the sun with her hand.

‘This is Ruby, and this is Laura,’ I said. ‘Guys, this is Meg.’

‘Hi,’ they all said.

‘Meg just moved in next door,’ I explained.

‘Are your parents busy unpacking?’ Ruby said.

‘Oh, it’s just me and Mum,’ Meg said.

‘My parents are separated too,’ Laura told her. ‘It sucks at first, but you kind of get used to it.’

A funny look crossed Meg’s face. I had already worked
out that she wasn’t ready to talk about whatever was going on in her family, so I thought I’d better change the subject.

‘So I wanted you all to come over because I’ve got this idea,’ I said. ‘I think we should form a club.’

I sat back, waiting for them all to exclaim in delight at the idea.

No one said anything.

‘What kind of a club?’ Laura asked at last.

‘This isn’t going to be one of your Secret Seven type ideas again, is it?’ Ruby said, sounding sceptical.

I remembered then that I’d tried to set up a club with Ruby and Laura ages ago. It was supposed to be like the Secret Seven, but as there were only three of us I christened us the Terrific Three. We made membership badges and drew up a club code, and we had to use a secret password to get into each other’s bedrooms. The idea kind of fizzled out when we realised there just weren’t any mysteries out there which we could solve. Well, not unless you count the mystery of who had stolen Laura’s Easter egg, and we already knew that the answer to that was her big sister Andrea, except we couldn’t prove it because she’d eaten the evidence.

‘Of course not,’ I said, trying to sound as dignified as possible. ‘We were only little kids then. This is something different. We’d have regular meetings, and we’d all have different jobs in the club. It would be kind of like a summer
project, only a fun one, not like you have in school, and our parents would have to let us meet up with each other because it would be club business.’

‘I like that idea,’ Ruby said slowly. ‘I mean, ballet camp is going to take up a lot of my time, so if I want to see you guys it would be good to have something I need to go to so Mum doesn’t say “oh, not now”, or “maybe after dinner” or whatever.’

‘Yes, but … said Laura, ‘… you still haven’t said what we’re actually going to DO.’

‘Well, here’s the thing,’ I said. I was almost afraid to say the next part in case they didn’t like it. ‘You know the way I was really hoping to go to drama camp … well, I just thought, why don’t we have a sort of drama camp of our own? Ruby, you know all about being on the stage because of your ballet, and Laura, you’re really good at writing, so you could help us come up with scripts and things like that. And Meg likes acting too, so we’ve got everything we need.’

I stopped talking and looked around to see everyone’s reaction.

‘I think it’s a great idea!’ Meg said. ‘We could have rehearsals and plan a show. Laura could write something for us, or we could just adapt a story we know, like a fairytale or something.’

I smiled at her in relief and looked at the other two.
They were smiling too – phew!

‘Brilliant,’ Laura said.

‘I love it,’ Ruby said.

I couldn’t help bouncing up and down in my chair. ‘Yay! I can’t wait to get started!’