Olivia and the Great Escape (3 page)

Chapter Five

Aeysha strummed the last note on her guitar, looked round the room and smiled. She felt tremendous relief that it had gone so well. Everyone clapped and cheered and in the very front Kasha Kasparian was clapping loudest of them all. It made Aeysha feel really proud that someone who she admired and who was a proven songwriter clearly liked her little effort.

It had been a long morning for Kasha who, at Alicia’s request, had been helping the Swans start work on their compositions. Some were entering in small groups or pairs, others singly like Aeysha. He didn’t really have the time but he was still so in awe of Alicia that he hadn’t dreamed of saying no to her. Besides, Kasha
loved being back at the Swan and had hoped that it might take his mind off other things, maybe even inspire him. The pressure to get his first album finished was intense. Particularly as he had just released a second single that showed every sign of going straight to number one.

Kasha had never realised that being a pop star was such hard work. When he had been at the Swan and immediately after he had left, the music and lyrics had just flowed out of him. He had found writing a song effortless. He had once heard a novelist say that writing a book was as easy as remembering something that hadn’t happened yet, and that’s what writing a song had always felt like to him.

But since his first single had gone to number one, he’d barely had a moment to himself. First there had been the Swan pantomime,
Cinderella
, which he’d loved doing but which had taken a huge amount of time, and now his life was an endless round of publicity shoots, interviews and rehearsals for his upcoming gigs. Then there was all the attention, too. He could no longer walk down Oxford Street or travel on the tube without being besieged by fans.

He didn’t have time to write any new songs.
At least that’s what he kept telling himself. The truth was that the inspiration seemed to have dried up. Every time he sat down at a piano or picked up his guitar, nothing came out. At first it had been frustrating, but now he was starting to feel panicky. What if he could never write another song? At least he had just enough really first class material for the album, but he had drawn on all his best old stuff to create it. If his songwriting gift had really deserted him forever, his career would be over before it had properly begun.

“That’s wonderful, Aeysha, you’re a real talent,” said Kasha. And he meant it. Most of the songs he had heard that morning had been predictable, derivative of recent big hits including his own. But Aeysha’s song, although unpolished, had a really quirky, distinctive quality that marked it out.

“I’m really impressed, Aeysha. It’s genuinely promising. Maybe you could be a singer-songwriter?”

Aeysha smiled shyly. “Nah, I wouldn’t want to perform. I’ve already decided that. It’s not for me, at least not in the long term. That’s why I’m leaving the Swan at the end of the year.
But I’d love to write songs for other people to sing.”

“You can write one for me any time,” said Kasha. “Or maybe we could write one together when I’ve got a bit more time? That would be fun.”

“I’d really love that,” said Aeysha, sincerely. The bell rang for lunch.

“I guess that’s it for today,” said Kasha. “We’ll all meet again in a couple of weeks or so.”

He walked with Aeysha down the curved staircase towards the entrance hall. “Are any of the others around? I’d love to say hello to Georgie and Livy and Tom,” he said.

“Georgia will have gone to the lunchtime high-wire workshop,” said Aeysha.

“Georgia? High-wire? I thought she was scared of heights?” said Kasha, frowning.

“Oh, I don’t think the appeal is the
high-wire
itself,” said Aeysha dryly. “I think the appeal is a boy.”

“Lucky boy,” said Kasha. “Georgia was a beautiful Cinderella.”

“She was,” said Aeysha, “but I’m not sure that Alex Parks is fairytale Prince material. Anyway, I think he might have his eye on
someone else. Listen, you might catch Livy and Tom if they’re not helping out at the workshop.”

But they were nowhere to be seen, although Kasha did get to high-five Eel, who they found asking Mrs Gibbs at reception if any post had come for her dad.

Kasha said goodbye to Aeysha and walked down the steps, and as he did so his phone rang. It was Lucie Groves from his record label. Lucie was always brisk and to the point, as if the usual niceties of conversation were costing her money she felt she could ill afford. Kasha was a bit frightened of her. She had always been pleasant, even effusive towards him, but he had heard stories of acts being suddenly and mysteriously dropped when they had displeased Lucie in some way, or hadn’t been as financially successful as expected. Kasha didn’t think that failure was a word in Lucie’s vocabulary.

“Hi Kash,” she said now. “Listen, we’ve been talking here. We all really love the album, and I know we said it was finished, but we really think it needs one more song to balance the others. Something more down-beat. Maybe a ballad? I’ve booked the studio for three weeks’ time. You should be able to come up with
something really good by then, won’t you?”

“Yep,” said Kasha brightly. “Course.” He ended the call, sank down on the steps of the Swan and looked up at the sky.

“What am I going to do?” he asked out loud.

“About what?” asked a familiar voice behind him. “Was the workshop so awful you need celestial help?”

Kasha looked round with a smile on his face. He always had time for Livy Marvell. She came and sat down beside him.

“No, Livy,” he said. “The workshop was fine. In fact, Aeysha’s song was brilliant. That girl really can write. Not just tunes, lyrics too.”

“She’s a genius, that’s why,” said Olivia. “But is everything all right, Kasha? You sounded a bit desperate.”

“I was just thinking out loud,” said Kasha. “It was nothing really.”

“Nothing will come of nothing,”
said Olivia lightly.

Kasha frowned. “Wait, don’t tell me…” His face lit up.
“King Lear?”

Olivia nodded. She read a lot of Shakespeare.

Kasha sighed. “Well, the old boy was right about nothing coming of nothing. My record company just called and they want another song for the album. But they want it, like, yesterday.”

“Surely that’s not a problem, is it?” replied Olivia. “You’ve always been so prolific. You used to be able to make up brilliant songs on the spot.”

“Not any more,” said Kasha bitterly. “The gift has suddenly deserted me.” He looked at Olivia. “I am going to tell you something I haven’t told anyone else. I haven’t written a song for weeks.” He put his head in his hands. “I
can’t
write one. When I try, all that comes out is rubbish.”

“But surely that happens to lots of writers,” said Olivia, putting an arm around him. “Isn’t it called being blocked? You’ll get over that, I know you will.”

“Well, I’ll have to get over it pretty quick or it’s goodbye to my brilliant career,” said Kasha, and he looked so worried that Olivia hugged him.

Chapter Six

“Georgia!” called Alex. Georgia whirled round. She bit her lip. She was in a hurry, she knew the others were waiting for her, but she couldn’t resist Alex, who was sauntering towards her as if they had all the time in the world and he only had eyes for her.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” he asked.

Georgia looked flustered. “Eh, nowhere,” she said, unconvincingly.

“I’ve never noticed Nowhere on the London A-Z,” said Alex, with a devastating smile. “Can I come to Nowhere with you? Or aren’t I invited?”

Georgia blushed. She had suggested to Olivia and Tom and the others that they invite
Alex along with them to Tower Bridge to see the progress that Jack and Pablo were making, but the others hadn’t wanted to. She knew that Aeysha and Katie found him arrogant, Tom hadn’t taken to him at all, while Olivia seemed entirely indifferent.

In fact, Olivia was beginning to find Alex Parks a bit annoying. He seemed to have taken her gran’s suggestion as an invitation to hang out with them all the time, and he kept looking at her in a way that made her feel as if she had suddenly sprouted a second head. Besides, he wasn’t half as good at the high-wire as he seemed to think he was, and although, like a lot of the Swans, she was impressed by his mimicry, she was less impressed by the way he used it. She had recently walked into one of the music practice rooms with Aeysha to find him entertaining Eel, Emmy and some of their friends with a wicked impersonation of Alicia. It had made her feel uncomfortable. So when Georgia had mentioned taking Alex down to Tower Bridge with them, Olivia had frowned and shaken her head.

Seeing Georgia’s disappointed face, Tom had said kindly, “Georgie, let’s go somewhere
without Alex for a change. We don’t really know him that well yet, and Jack and Pablo may not like it if we turn up at the river with someone new. Everything’s supposed to be under wraps until the announcement.”

Aeysha and Katie had murmured in agreement and Georgia hadn’t pushed the issue. Now, though, with Alex standing so close to her, looking at her as if she was the only girl in the universe, Georgia wished that she had. Why shouldn’t Alex come with them? He was one of the group now. But she knew that if she just turned up with him, the others would be furious.

“Sorry, Alex,” she said. “If it was up to me, of course you could come with us. But it’s not. Livy’s in charge and she’s not keen.”

“And do you always do what Livy tells you to?” asked Alex, sounding amused.

“Of course not,” said Georgia indignantly. “It’s just … it’s just that this is her thing.”

Alex raised an eyebrow and waited.

“It’s something to do with her dad,” mumbled Georgia.

“Ah, the great Jack Marvell,” said Alex, sounding intrigued. “I was telling my dad about
him and how his kids were here at the Swan, and he was really interested.”

“Was he?” said Georgia. “Look, I’ve got to go, the others will be waiting for me.”

“You’d better run along then, like a good girl,” said Alex. “Unless…” He paused. “Unless you want to hang out with me?”

Georgia’s heart gave a leap. Maybe he was interested in her after all? She hardly dared to hope after the way he was always looking at Olivia. How could Livy not notice Alex’s smouldering gaze? Every time Alex looked at Georgia, which was not nearly as often as she would have liked, she felt as if his dark eyes were boring into her soul. In her heart, she knew that it was Livy he was interested in. It was so unfair! Livy clearly couldn’t care less about him. Maybe if she could just be patient, Alex would get fed up with mooning after Livy, and then she’d be there, waiting for him…

“Well, I suppose I could…” she said hesitantly, but she saw a shadow flit across Alex’s face as if he hadn’t really expected her to agree to his offer and he was now regretting it.

Georgia felt hurt. “Actually, no,” she said, mustering as much dignity as she could. “My
friends are waiting for me.”

Alex shrugged. “Whatever,” he said nonchalantly, but the way he turned his big sorrowful eyes on her reminded Georgia of a hurt puppy and made her feel as if she’d let him down. She was immediately reeled in again like a fish at the end of a line.

“We could meet up later,” she said, astonished by her own daring.

“Sorry, Georgie, I’m busy later,” said Alex and walked away. She watched him saunter down the corridor and stop to speak to Eel. The two of them seemed to be having a very intense conversation. Georgia wondered what on earth Eel Marvell and Alex Parks had to say to each other.

Georgia walked alongside Olivia and Aeysha as they headed down towards the river. Tom and Katie were a bit ahead. They could see the wire stretched across the river from some distance away.

“I don’t know why we couldn’t have invited Alex,” said Georgia. “He looked really hurt when I said he couldn’t come with us.”

“You didn’t tell him where we were going,
did you?” asked Olivia sharply.

“Of course not,” said Georgia crossly. “I know it’s a secret.” She waved a hand at the wire. “But I don’t see why bringing Alex would have hurt. It’s obvious
something
is going on down here, it won’t be a secret for much longer.”

“Probably not,” said Olivia, “but Jack wants to try and control the announcement, drum up some press interest. He needs all the publicity he can get. The media are more likely to make a big splash of it that way.”

“Since when did you become such a big expert on the media?” said Georgia snappily and she suddenly sped up to join Tom and Katie.

Olivia looked after her, perplexed. “Have I done something to upset Georgie? She’s been really crabby with me all term. I don’t know what’s got into her.”

Aeysha hesitated. She was about to say that maybe Olivia needed to be a bit more aware of the situation with Alex, and be a bit more sensitive to her friend’s feelings, but Jack and Pablo suddenly appeared and Olivia ran towards them.

“Eel didn’t come with you, then?” asked Jack, after he had shown everyone round the
site and Olivia had even walked on the wire for a bit. Jack hadn’t let her go very far, certainly not beyond the point where it passed out over the shoreline and across the water. He told her that the wind was ferocious in the middle of the wire.

“No,” said Olivia. “I did ask her if she wanted to come but she said she was busy. I think she and Emmy must be up to something. She was filling in some kind of form, but she hid it from me when I walked into the room. Probably one of those daft ballet-magazine competitions that she and Emmy are always entering. I hope she hasn’t been neglecting you.”

“No,” smiled Jack. “She was down briefly yesterday. But she caught me at a tricky time so I couldn’t give her a lot of attention. We were having a few problems with the rigging so I was rather distracted. She got me to sign some form, a school trip or something, although I don’t know why Alicia didn’t just do it. Anyway, once I signed it she was away and said she’d try and come back today.”

“Maybe she’ll bring Emmy with her later,” said Olivia.

“Maybe,” said Jack. “So, you’ve pretty well
seen the entire set up. Unless you want to check out the portaloo?” He waved at a small blue structure on the shoreline.

“Phew, it’s a relief to see that,” said Tom. “I hadn’t liked to ask how you were going to, ahem,
go
.”

Jack grinned. “It’s all accounted for. I have to spend twenty-four hours on the wire for thirty days with up to six ten-minute toilet breaks over any twenty-four hour period. But apart from those breaks, I’m going to cook, eat, perform and sleep entirely on the wire. Well, actually I’ll be sleeping in a hammock that I’ll rig underneath the wire every night.”

“I’m really worried you’ll get exhausted. Gran is, too,” said Olivia.

“Well, it’s an endurance feat as much as anything,” said Jack. “I’m not expecting it to be a piece of cake. The thing I’m most worried about is wind. Being buffeted around on the wire day in, day out won’t be fun, and it could be quite unpleasant in the hammock at night. I’ll just have to make sure I don’t fall out.”

Olivia shivered as she watched the dark water swirling against the supports of the bridge. “But you will be wearing a safety
harness, won’t you, Dad, so if you did fall out, you wouldn’t plummet into the river and drown?”

Her father laughed. “Of course I will, chick, what do you think I am, mad?”

“I do sometimes,” admitted Olivia.

“Ha!” said Tom. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!”