Hannah in the Spotlight (5 page)

I squeezed through the gap in the hedge at exactly two minutes to three, the library copy of
Ballet Shoes
tucked under my arm. I found Meg spreading a picnic blanket on the lawn. ‘I hope this is OK,’ she said anxiously. ‘We don’t have any garden furniture yet.’

‘Of course it is,’ I said quickly. ‘Although you should know that Ruby will probably turn it into an exercise mat and start doing her stretches on it.’

Meg laughed. ‘She sure is obsessed with ballet, isn’t she?’

There it was again – something in her voice that didn’t sound Irish. Was it American maybe? I was about to comment, but Meg said, ‘I think I hear the doorbell.’

She returned a minute later with Laura and Ruby.

‘Hi, guys,’ I said. ‘Ready for another meeting of Star Club?’

‘Definitely!’ Ruby did a series of ballet leaps and landed on the rug beside me. ‘Look, that was me being Posy showing her sisters a
pas de chat.
Oh.’ She stopped and looked around. ‘I’m not, like, assuming that I’m Posy or anything.
If anyone else wants to be her that’s fine.’ She lowered her eyes and started playing with the fringe on the rug.

‘Yes, I was thinking I’d like to be Posy, actually,’ Laura said, winking at me.

‘Oh,’ Ruby said, still not looking up.

‘Yes, because I like joking around, just like Posy,’ Laura said. ‘Plus the fact that I’m so graceful, and so good at ballet, of the two-left-feet variety.’ She couldn’t keep it up any longer and suddenly burst out laughing. ‘Ruby, you should see the look on your face!’

Ruby blushed. ‘OK, you had me there! So I can be Posy then?’ She looked from me to Meg, still a bit anxious.

‘Of course you can,’ I reassured her.

‘You’re perfect for it,’ Meg added.

It was my turn to suddenly become very interested in Meg’s rug instead of my friends’ faces. ‘Who does everyone else want to be?’

‘I really don’t mind,’ Laura said. ‘It depends what scenes we’re going to do, really.’

‘I’d quite like to be Petrova,’ Meg said shyly. ‘I really like her character. But I don’t mind if you want to be her, Hannah.’

‘I was hoping to be Pauline, actually,’ I admitted.

‘Looks like we’re sorted, so!’ Laura said. ‘I’m happy to be whatever extra character is needed. I can do all sorts of parts – look.’ She suddenly pulled a series of faces, from
grumpy to miserable to over the moon with excitement, which had us all giggling once again.

We had all brought our copies of the book so we flicked through to scenes we thought we might do. We started reading bits out to each other, trying to get a feel for the characters we were playing.

We were just starting to get somewhere when I realised we had an audience. Maisie was watching us over the hedge.

‘Maisie, what are you doing?’ I demanded.

‘Just watching,’ Maisie said. ‘Can I be in it? I could be the cousin who comes to visit.’

‘There isn’t a cousin,’ I told her.

‘Can I be the dog then? I’m really good at being a dog.’ Maisie’s head disappeared as she got down on all fours and started making barking noises through the hedge. Ruby collapsed into giggles.

‘There isn’t a dog either!’ I told her, marching over to the hedge. ‘Go away please, you’re distracting us.’

Maisie stood up again. ‘I don’t have to go away. I’m only watching. It’s a free country, isn’t it?’ I know she’d heard Zach saying the same thing to Bobby the day before and she’d obviously saved the remark to use later.

‘Maisie!’ I hissed at her. ‘I mean it. Go away or I’m telling Mum.’

‘Fine!’ Maisie stomped off, shouting over her shoulder,
‘It was pretty boring anyway, if you want to know!’

I went back over to my friends, feeling embarrassed. ‘Sorry, guys. She can be a real pain sometimes.’

‘She does make a pretty good dog,’ Ruby giggled.

‘We know where to turn if the plot takes an unexpected twist!’ Meg said.

‘Where were we?’ I asked, wanting to drop the subject of Maisie. ‘Laura, it was your turn I think.’

Laura was struggling a bit with the Russian accent for Madame Fidolia, the head of the theatre school the children were attending.

‘Try watching videos of Russian people speaking on YouTube,’ Meg suggested. ‘It’s a really handy way of practising accents.’

‘That’s a great idea, thanks,’ Laura said.

‘No problem. I used to do it all the time when …’ Meg stopped. ‘When I was in a school play before. I had to play this French woman, and I just couldn’t get the accent right. I ended up watching loads of clips of French actors speaking English until I was practically talking that way inside my head!’

She started demonstrating her French accent, accompanied by lots of dramatic hand gestures. I wondered what it was she had been about to say. One thing was for sure, it wasn’t what she ended up saying.

My train of thought was interrupted by yelling from
next door as Bobby came charging into the garden swinging his lightsaber. Zach followed close behind him, wearing a Jedi knight mask and pointing a toy gun at him.

‘You’ll never get me!’ Bobby shouted at him.

‘Yes I will!’ Zach shouted back. ‘I’ve got supersonic blaster rays!’

I groaned. ‘Sorry, guys.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Laura said. ‘We’ll shut them up if they get too noisy. Let’s go on with the next scene – I’ll practise my Russian accent later.’

Meg and I started reading out some bits of dialogue between Pauline and Petrova, but I kept finding myself distracted by the
Star Wars
battle going on next door, especially when Zach apparently killed Bobby and he had to die with the loudest yells and groans you can imagine. Eventually though I managed to tune them out, and we had a fun afternoon, working out which scenes we’d do, and what parts we needed Laura to play.

I didn’t even notice how much time had gone by until the doorbell started ringing. It was Ruby’s brother coming to call her home for dinner. Ruby rushed off, promising to work out Posy’s dance routine for next time.

Laura and I helped Meg to tidy up, then Laura said, ‘I’d better be going too. Hannah, do you want to walk home with me?’

‘I would but we’re not exactly going in the same direction!’
I pointed out.

‘You’re not in a hurry home though, are you?’ Laura persisted.

‘That’s true.’ Having listened to the boys’ shouting coming over the hedge all afternoon, I definitely wasn’t in a hurry to be back in the middle of that.

‘Thanks for everything, Meg,’ Laura said. ‘We can go to my house next time.’

‘See you then – and I’ll definitely know my first set of lines,’ Meg said with a smile as she opened the front door for us.

Laura waited until we were a little way down the road, then glanced back to check Meg had closed the door behind us. ‘So, what do you think Meg’s story is?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘There’s something strange going on,’ Laura said. ‘She keeps starting to tell us things, and then clamming up. What’s that about?’

‘I’m not sure.’ I knew exactly what Laura meant – I’d been thinking the same thing.

‘I was asking her about her dad the other day, too, and she just changed the subject,’ Laura went on.

‘Oh, I don’t really think you should have asked her that,’ I said. ‘She would tell us if she wanted to.’

I felt a bit protective of Meg. Even though she seemed pretty confident and outgoing, there was something a
bit vulnerable about her, a sort of fragility that I couldn’t quite explain.

Laura shrugged. ‘I just don’t see what the big deal is. If her parents have just split up then why not just tell us – I’ve been there, I could talk to her about it. Even if they split up ages ago and he’s just not involved in her life, why not just say so – it doesn’t have to be this deep dark secret.’

‘Oh my God.’ I stopped still. ‘Laura – what if he’s dead?’

Laura stopped too and looked at me in horror.

‘What if he just died and they moved here for a fresh start? And she doesn’t feel up to talking about him yet?’

Laura groaned. ‘Oh God, I hope it’s not that. Poor Meg, that would be just awful!’

‘I know.’

‘And not exactly helped by me asking her stupid questions.’

‘I know! That’s what I’m trying to say to you!’

Laura was looking so distraught that I tried to reassure her. ‘It’s probably not that. He’s probably walking around somewhere, completely fine, and planning to visit any day now. It could be anything, really. I just think it’s up to Meg how much she wants to tell us.’

‘You’re right,’ Laura admitted. ‘I’m just being nosey. Plus I’m convinced there’s a good story there, and if you want to be a writer you have to always be on the lookout for stories!’

We’d reached the crossroads which is as far as I’m supposed to go. Laura was about to cross, but then she remembered. ‘Oh, right. You’re not allowed to come any further.’

I blushed. Even with my closest friend, who knows exactly what my mum is like, it was embarrassing. ‘It’s probably time to head home anyway, dinner will be ready.’

‘What are you going to do for the meeting in my house?’ Laura wanted to know.

‘I’ll think of something,’ I muttered. Maybe Meg’s mum could give us a lift – as long as Meg didn’t mention Star Club. Or one of Ruby’s parents. I’d figure something out.

As usual it took us about ten minutes to say goodbye. As I trudged off home, I thought again about what Laura had said. There was a mystery there all right, and the clues were pretty strange ones. And it wasn’t all to do with her missing dad, either. Why didn’t she talk about where they had lived before, and why did she have a slight accent that came out every now and again? What could be going on with Meg?

We’d arranged to have the next meeting of Star Club on Friday afternoon. I was hoping to see the other girls in between, but I was busy helping Mum, Ruby was busy with ballet, and Laura didn’t even answer the phone when I called her. Meg didn’t seem to be around either – when I had a bit of time to spare I sneaked into their garden through the hedge, but there was no sign of her when I peeped in the window.

I did as much as I could on my own though. I typed up the scene we’d worked out together and printed out copies for everyone. I learned all of Pauline’s lines and practised putting in gestures too. The bedroom I shared with Maisie wasn’t exactly ideal for rehearsing – I could only walk a few steps before banging into one of our beds, and that was after picking up all her toys from the floor – but I did my best. All the best artists have to suffer for their art, I told myself, picturing poets struggling to write in garret rooms in Paris, and wildlife photographers crouching in uncomfortable positions under bushes all day long
in the hope of getting that one perfect shot. All I had to juggle with was a cramped bedroom and a noisy bunch of siblings.

By Friday I was really dying to see my friends again and have another rehearsal. I knew Mum wouldn’t mind me spending the afternoon with my friends (I think I’d mentioned the rehearsal about seventeen times). It was looking like another crazy morning in our house though. I was sitting up in bed reading when Dad popped his head around the door. It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet, but there was no chance of a lie-in with Maisie in the bed beside me singing to her teddies.

‘Morning, girls,’ Dad said. ‘Hannah, Mum and Emma are still asleep. Emma kept us awake half the night, crying. She’s teething again.’ Dad had those dark circles under his eyes which he always gets when he’s exhausted.

‘Oh, poor Emma,’ I said. ‘And poor you too!’

‘I know. I just hope I don’t fall asleep in my meeting,’ Dad said, running a hand through his hair and making it stand on end. ‘Try to let Mum sleep if you can. She’s worn out.’

‘I’ll take the others downstairs,’ I told him, scrambling out of bed. ‘It’s a good thing Maisie didn’t wake her with her singing!’

‘I was using my morning singing voice,’ Maisie said. ‘It’s quieter than my afternoon voice.’

‘Thanks, Hannah,’ Dad said. ‘And well done on your lovely, quiet singing, Maisie. Bobby is already downstairs eating breakfast, and Zach’s getting dressed. Just see if you can keep them occupied for an hour or two. I’d better get going.’

I got dressed quickly and took Maisie downstairs for breakfast, deciding it was easier to just leave her in her pyjamas for now. After breakfast I took out some arts and crafts stuff and helped Maisie and Bobby make houses out of shoe boxes. They made a huge mess but at least they were quiet. Zach was totally absorbed in his library book so he was no trouble.

It was ten o’clock by the time Mum came downstairs, looking bleary-eyed. ‘She’s teething,’ Mum said, putting a rosy-cheeked Emma into her highchair. ‘She’ll be a lot better once this new tooth comes through.’

‘I’ll give her her breakfast,’ I told Mum. ‘You go and have a shower, you’ll feel better then.’

‘Thank you, Hannah, that would be great,’ Mum said. ‘But after that you should go out with your friends. You’ve been doing way more than your fair share around here this week, and you need some time off.’

I wasn’t going to argue with that. Mum trudged back upstairs. I heated up some porridge for Emma, making sure it wasn’t too hot. Giving Emma her breakfast is a complicated affair. It involves a little bit of spoonfeeding
her the porridge when she’ll let me (she’d rather just eat it with her hands) and quite a bit of stopping her from picking up the bowl and flinging it on the ground when she’s had enough. Mum gives her those bowls with a rubber base that’s meant to stick on to the highchair tray, but they are not much use against the determined force of Emma.

I’d just decided it was time to move on to toast when the doorbell rang.

‘I’ll get it!’ shouted a voice from under the table. I hadn’t even realised Maisie was in there.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked her.

‘Feeding my teddies,’ Maisie said. I looked under the table cloth and saw that she’d lined them up on a couple of chairs and had a bowl of cereal from which she was pretending to feed them. From the looks of things the teddies were being a lot more cooperative than Emma.

Maisie scrambled out and made for the door, but Zach was charging down the stairs.

‘I said I was getting it!’ Maisie roared at him.

‘You’re not allowed answer the door, you’re too little,’ Zach said.

‘I am so allowed, if I check who it is first!’ Maisie argued.

Emma had just about worked the bowl free. I snatched it away from her just in time. I really didn’t need porridge everywhere. Emma let out a cry of protest.

The doorbell rang again.

‘Well, SOMEONE answer it please!’ I called.

I heard scuffles, but I was too busy trying to soothe Emma to go and investigate. Zach and Maisie came tumbling into the room, each of them complaining loudly about the other.

‘Zach never lets me open the door!’

‘Maisie’s too little! She should let me do it!’

‘OK, OK,’ I said. ‘Did one of you actually answer the door?’

‘Eventually!’ It was Meg, looking a little bit overwhelmed. ‘Wow. I think I’ll come through the hedge the next time,’ she joked.

‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘They always fight over answering the door.’

Zach went stomping off upstairs again. Maisie ran after him, still complaining.

I handed Emma a piece of toast. She stopped crying and quickly started gumming it.

‘I just came over to see if you’re free this morning,’ Meg said. ‘I’m going over to Sadie’s house, and I thought you might like to come with me. She’s got a great dressing-up box, and I thought we could have a look for some costumes for the show.’

‘Oh, I’d love to,’ I said. I glanced around the kitchen. It looked a little bit like a bomb had hit it. While I’d been occupied with Emma, Maisie had obviously brought her
whole tea set in from the playroom to feed her teddies, dropping pieces here and there along the way. One half of the table was covered with arts and crafts stuff from earlier, and someone had spilled a bottle of glue on the floor and then run off and left it. All our breakfast dishes were still left by the sink, and open boxes of cereal and cartons of juice and milk sat on the other counter.

Meg followed my look. ‘I’ll help you clean up if you like,’ she offered.

I sighed. ‘Thanks Meg, that would be great. I should really make them all come and clean up after themselves, but it’s more hassle than it’s worth. Sometimes it’s just easier to do it myself.’

Meg started loading the dishwasher, and I cleared up the art stuff. As I was mopping up the glue Maisie reappeared. ‘Maisie, can you tidy up your tea set please?’ I asked her.

‘I’m still playing with it,’ Maisie objected.

‘Well, put it all together at least,’ I said. ‘People are going to step on it and break it the way it’s all over the floor.’

Maisie grumbled a bit, but started picking up after herself.

Emma had finished her toast and was banging on her highchair tray with her spoon. She seemed happy enough so I left her where she was while I put away the breakfast things. I wiped down the counters with a cloth and looked around. ‘Much better! Thanks for your help Meg.’

‘No problem,’ Meg said. ‘So do you think you’ll be allowed go?’

‘I think so. I just need to wait until Mum’s ready.’ I heard the shower being switched off, so I knew she wouldn’t be much longer.

The only thing that needed cleaning now was Emma. She’d managed to get porridge all over her babygro and even in her hair. I wet a facecloth under the tap and started cleaning her up, chatting to Meg all the while.

‘I typed up that scene we were practising the last day so we could have a clean copy each. I know everyone had their own lines scribbled down, but I thought we’d need a proper copy.’

‘Good idea, it’s not much use in knowing your own lines if you don’t know where they come in,’ Meg said. ‘I’ve been learning mine, but I’m not sure of all the cues.’

‘I bet Ruby hasn’t practised anything except her ballet steps,’ I said, smiling.

I lifted Emma out of the highchair and sat her on my knee, playing clap handies with her.

Meg was watching me in fascination. ‘I don’t know how you do it,’ she suddenly blurted out. ‘I mean, how do you know how to do all this stuff? I wouldn’t know where to start with a baby.’

I shrugged. ‘I’m just used to it, I suppose. Maisie’s nearly six now, but I used to help out with her when
she was a baby too.’

Mum came into the kitchen. She looked much better after her shower, even though she hadn’t bothered drying her hair properly.

‘Oh, hi, Meg, nice to see you,’ she said, self-consciously running a hand through her hair. She looked around the kitchen. ‘I was about to apologise for the mess, but you’ve cleaned everything up, Hannah, you star!’

‘Meg helped me,’ I said.

‘I had an ulterior motive,’ Meg said with a grin. ‘I’m hoping to steal Hannah away for the morning – would that be OK? We want to go to my granny’s house to look at some costumes.’

‘Sure,’ Mum said, taking Emma from me. ‘Where does your granny live?’

‘She’s over in Glencar, but Mum will give us a lift,’ Meg explained. ‘She’s not starting her new job until Monday.’

‘What time do you want me home?’ I asked.

‘Oh, there’s no hurry,’ Mum said. ‘Take your time. We’re going to have a quiet day here today, we’ve done enough rushing around lately. Just give me a ring if you’re not going to be home for lunch.’

Bobby burst into the room. ‘Hannah, can you help me find my Jedi mask? Zach says he didn’t take it, but I know he did.’

‘Hannah’s going out,’ Mum said firmly. ‘I’ll talk to Zach.’
She turned to me. ‘Go on, go quickly before something else happens!’

I didn’t need to be told twice. I grabbed my hoodie and my Star Club notebook, and Meg and I hurried out the door.

I closed the front door behind us. ‘Freedom!’ I tossed the notebook in the air and caught it again.

Meg giggled. ‘Now we just need to get past my mum.’

‘Oh, you haven’t asked her?’ I said in surprise.

‘No, but it’ll be fine. Just don’t tell her why we’re going to Sadie’s, OK?’

Meg hopped over the wall and put her key in the front door. I followed her in. Cordelia was at the kitchen table, tapping away at her laptop, a mug of coffee beside her on the table. She looked up and smiled when we came in.

‘Oh, darling, there you are,’ she said. ‘I’m just trying to figure out how to work this computer program. It’s really quite confusing. I don’t know why they have to make things so complicated these days.’

‘Won’t they give you training when you start next week?’ Meg asked her.

Cordelia wrinkled up her nose. ‘I may have told them I knew how to use it already. In fact, there’s a chance I mentioned something about several years’ experience.’

‘Mum!’ exclaimed Meg. ‘You shouldn’t lie about stuff like that!’

‘Oh, it’s just a teeny little lie,’ Cordelia said. ‘I desperately wanted the job you see.’

‘What happens when they ask you to do something on Monday and you haven’t a clue how it works?’ Meg asked.

‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,’ Cordelia said breezily. ‘I’m sure a quick crash course today will bring me right up to speed. What are you two up to today, anyway? No dramatics I hope?’ She laughed.

‘No, we’re just hanging out,’ Meg said quickly. ‘Actually, I said I’d go over to Sadie’s this morning, and Hannah’s going to come with me. Could you give us a lift?’

‘Sure. I need a break from this dreary old swotting anyway,’ Cordelia said.

She stood up and drained the last of her coffee, then reached for her car keys and headed for the door.

I couldn’t help thinking how different things were for Meg, being an only child. If I asked Mum for a lift somewhere, I’d get the third degree about why I needed to go, and then even if she did say she’d bring me we’d have to get all the others into the car too, and that would most likely involve feeding Emma first and changing her nappy and waiting for the bigger three to find all the toys and books they couldn’t possibly manage without for a short car trip. Meg just had to ask her mum, and a minute later we were getting into the car.

I got into the back seat and Meg sat up front beside her mum.

‘I’ll probably spend most of the day on the computer, so why don’t you see if Sadie can keep you for lunch?’ Cordelia suggested as we pulled out of the drive.

‘OK, I will. And then maybe we can call over to Laura’s afterwards, she lives just across the road from Sadie.’

Meg caught my eye in the rearview mirror and gave me a teeny smile. Clearly this had been her plan all along. I smiled back. Meg was a pretty good person to have on my team.