Olivia's First Term (8 page)

Chapter Seventeen

After her conversation with Georgia, Olivia put some effort into finding somewhere she could walk the wire. But she had no luck and she soon lost heart. Most rehearsal spaces in the school were in constant use all day, and even after school and at weekends they were in demand for extra classes and practice sessions.

Space was cramped at the Swan and it wasn't unusual to find someone practising their cello at the bottom of the stairs or even learning lines in a broom cupboard. Olivia had once come across a line of girls tap-dancing in the toilets and an older boy doing one of Hamlet's soliloquies when she had gone to get something from the stationery cupboard. In desperation, Olivia had gone to the park and rigged her wire between
the branches of two trees, but a small crowd had gathered, which she found unnerving, and eventually a park-keeper had arrived and told her grumpily that it was against by-law 426, subsection 212 to tightrope-walk in the park.

It was Georgia who had thought of the rehearsal room at the top of the school, and she had told Eel during their contemporary dance class one afternoon. Immediately after school Eel marched Olivia up the stairs and pointed out the hook by the mirror on the wall next to the door.

She wanted to do something to shake her sister out of her misery. Olivia had taken to walking around with a pained look on her face, as if she had just received a particularly tragic piece of news. Eel hated to see Olivia so unhappy, but she didn't know what she could do about it, she was so busy discovering new friends and new skills. Besides, the routine at the Swan was so punishing that by the time she crawled up the stairs to the flat some evenings, she could barely keep her eyes open. Trying to have a heart-to-heart with Olivia just felt more than she could cope with, particularly when Olivia was so snappy all the time.

Only last night there had been another scene. After supper, Alicia had said, “Now then, Eel, would you like to look at this ballet book with me and I'll read you the story of
Swan Lake
?” Eel didn't hesitate. Straight away she clambered on to Alicia's lap and snuggled down with her thumb in her mouth. Olivia said nothing, but inside she was screaming, “Traitor!”

Alicia saw Olivia's forlorn face. “Why don't you join us?” she said, patting the sofa beside her.

Olivia shook her head. “I hate ballet,” she said, scowling. She got up and went into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Alicia raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She'd waited a while before poking her head around the door, but Olivia pretended to be asleep.

Olivia had lain in bed listening to her gran and Eel laughing, and a tear of self-pity slid down her cheek. It was so unfair. She had tried to look after Eel as much as she could since their mother had died and now when she needed a bit of looking-after, Eel had abandoned her.

“Livy, are you listening? This room's perfect!”
exclaimed Eel, bouncing up and down with excitement. “Georgia says it's almost always free after school or at weekends because it's too small for anything other than voice classes or one-to-ones. You can use that hook for one end of the wire, and there's even a dusty old cupboard that no one ever opens where you can leave your suitcase. And nobody can see in if you remember to pull the blind down.”

“The hook's fine, but what about the other end?” asked Olivia tonelessly.

“There!” said Eel, executing a perfect
jeté
towards the window and pointing to one of the iron spikes on the derelict building next door. Eel beamed. She felt very grown up, helping her big sister.

Olivia looked at the spike through narrowed eyes. “It'll never work,” she said doubtfully.

“It won't if you don't try it,” said Eel impatiently. “What's happened to you, Livy? You say that the only thing that would make your time here at the Swan bearable is if you can practise on the high-wire, but when I show how you can, you just make
excuses.” Then she added fiercely, “I wouldn't ever let anything stop me dancing. I'd rather die.”

“Maybe I've lost my nerve, just like Dad,” said Olivia miserably.

“No, you haven't, you're just feeling sorry for yourself,” returned Eel, looking at her big sister. She saw Olivia's eyes fill with tears.

“I'm so worried about him, Eel. I'm sure he's planning some big stunt, and I know he hasn't got the confidence to pull it off. It could make him do something reckless. But every time I try to talk to him about it when he rings, he changes the subject.”

“The Great Marvello, the world's most fearless tightrope-walker, would never do anything stupid,” said Eel confidently.

“No, Eel, you're right. The Great Marvello wouldn't take a stupid risk, but Jack Marvell, penniless single father of two, might. I think he's pretty desperate for us all to be together again, and desperate to prove to Alicia and to himself that he can do it.” Olivia sighed. “If only I could think of a way of making some money.”

“Well, when I'm the world's most famous dancer, I'll have lots of money,” said Eel, clowning
around to distract her sister. “But you'll have to wait until I'm grown up, then I'll give you all my spare millions.” She smiled, pleased with her own generosity. “Come on. Let's see if that spike will hold.”

“I'm too tired, Eel,” said Olivia. “All that silly prancing around all day is knackering.”

But Eel wasn't listening. She picked up one end of the wire and attached it to the hook. Then, holding the other end, she leaned out of the window and aimed for the spike on the building next door. She had to have a couple of goes, but at last she succeeded and clapped her own prowess. Then she moved a chair close to the wire, jumped up and wobbled along it like a jelly in a high wind.

“See?” she said. “I'm right. It's completely perfect.” She leapt down and curtsied to an unseen audience. Olivia walked slowly over to the wire and jumped on. She took several steps forwards and then several backwards. She did a flip, and as she straightened up again, Eel could see Olivia's eyes shining as if she had been brought back to life after a long, long sleep, like Sleeping Beauty.

“Eel, thank you, you're a genius.”

“I know,” said Eel smugly, and she did a little twirl.

Chapter Eighteen

An Indian summer had arrived in London. It was surprisingly hot for so late in the year. In the top rehearsal room Olivia was perched on the wire, watched by Eel, who every now and again exploded into pirouettes, whirling around the room like a dervish and admiring her reflection in the mirrors. The windows were wide open to let what little air there was into the space. The bird from the nest was sitting on the rehearsal-room window sill, pecking at the remains of a biscuit. It was becoming tamer and tamer by the day, often appearing on the verge of flying right into the room. Olivia's face was flushed with triumph as she walked across the wire. It felt good to be back on the tightrope; it was where she had always felt most at home.

Olivia spent every spare moment secretly practising her tightrope-walking, and although she was still unhappy and anxious about their father, when she was on the wire her misery and worry receded to a distant dull ache. Sometimes she forgot about everything and leapt along the wire as if she was flying like a bird. Even her dancing improved a little, although she was still in the lowest classes for all her dance lessons, quite alone now among the younger children because Eel had already moved up two grades.

Olivia finished doing a tumble on the tightrope. Eel clapped appreciatively. She looked at the clock.

“I've got a private dance lesson. Can you get the wire off the spike on your own?” This required real patience to ease it off each time.

“No problem, I seem to have got the knack at last. You go, I want to practise a little more,” said Olivia.

Eel slipped away and Olivia got back on the wire, soon lost in the effort of trying to do a particularly difficult manoeuvre that involved walking on her hands. Several times she slipped, but at last she succeeded. She jumped down from the wire, elated.

She was startled by the sound of clapping and spun round, realising that she'd again forgotten to close the blinds on the observation glass. There had been a few times during the last week when she'd had the feeling that somebody was watching her, and she'd worried that it was Katie and her gang. But it couldn't be Katie today, because everyone knew she was having a swimming-pool party. Olivia looked round and was confronted by a shock of red hair and the wide smile of Tom McCavity, who opened the door and sauntered in.

“Have you been spying on me?” asked Olivia furiously. “I suppose you came to have a laugh. Everybody else does, so why shouldn't you join in the fun too?”

“Whoa!” said Tom, backing away with his hands raised. “You really are very fierce, Olivia Marvell. I think you probably take after your gran more than you realise.” He grinned. “Actually, I just came to get my homework diary. I left it here after voice class yesterday, and I'm very glad I did. You're a bit of a dark horse. That was some display of tightrope-walking. It was awesome!”

“You're not teasing me?” said Olivia
uncertainly, her voice full of suspicion. Tom shook his head vigorously.

“Katie Wilkes-Cox said you had been in some kind of travelling freak show, but Katie's a snobby little cow. I knew from Mr Shaw that your dad is a high-wire walker and somebody else said you'd been in a circus too, but quite honestly I doubted that. I've seen you dancing, and I didn't believe that anyone who could trip over their own feet quite so often as you do could possibly be in a circus, unless perhaps they were a clown, and you always look far too serious for that.” Olivia opened her mouth indignantly, but Tom put up a hand to silence her. “But, hey, clearly I was wrong.” He beamed, and it was as if the room was full of light. “You're brilliant. Completely amazing. Do you think you could teach me?”

“Well, I could try,” said Olivia shyly, surprising herself.

“Right,” said Tom. “There's no time like the present. Let's get started.”

“OK,” said Olivia, getting carried along by his enthusiasm. “But it's our secret. My gran must never find out. She hates anything to do with the circus.”

“Oh,” said Tom, “so you're not her spy, then?”

Olivia burst out laughing. “Wherever did you get that idea? It's ludicrous. We hardly talk. I think she hates me because I don't have a talent like Eel.”

“Oh, but you do,” said Tom. “Everyone can dance to a greater or lesser degree. But very few people can walk the high-wire, and you're one of them. I'm dead impressed.”

Chapter Nineteen

A few miles away, Georgia was lazing beside Katie's swimming pool, sipping a sparkling peach juice. The smell of barbecuing chicken wafted across the garden. She and some of the other girls in the class had been invited to spend the day at the Wilkes-Cox home.

“Only the select few, the people who really count,” said Katie loudly, as she handed out the invites at the end of maths on Friday morning.

“Oh, so not the people who actually
can
count,” said Tom, with a wicked smile.

Katie blushed and looked annoyed. She had hoped that nobody had noticed that she'd come bottom of the class again in a maths test. Maintaining good standards in schoolwork was part of the deal at the Swan. Pupils who fell 
behind in their academic classes were barred from attending auditions for professional work and couldn't participate in the many concerts and performances that the school put on until they'd caught up.

Katie had set her heart on being part of the Swan team this year for the Children's Royal Spectacular, particularly as it meant appearing on TV. She wasn't going to let an inability to grasp basic algebra stand in the way of stardom. Her dad had said that algebra didn't matter and he was quite sure that Miss Swan must make exceptions for really talented pupils. She barged past Tom to give Georgia her invitation.

“For my special and loyal friend, Georgia,” said Katie, pointedly. Georgia felt as if Katie's words were more of a threat than a compliment, and a look of uncertainty crossed her face. Katie grabbed her hard by the wrist, and hissed, “No excuses, Georgia,” so intimidatingly that Georgia felt almost frightened.

Now, as she sat by the swimming pool listening to the other girls chatting all around her, she realised that she felt intensely lonely. Katie's sly behaviour towards Olivia was making her feel more and more uncomfortable.

Georgia felt sorry for Olivia and admired the way she never answered back to any of the taunts. After her encounter with Olivia in the practice room, she had suggested to Katie that they stop picking on her, but Katie had looked at Georgia as if she was something the cat had brought in and said, “Please yourself, but don't expect me to be your friend. You only want to suck up to her because she's old Swan's granddaughter. Unfortunately, she's the talentless one. That Eel girl may be worth making a friend of, although I sincerely doubt she's half as gifted as people say she is, but Liver Duckface Swan is a total waste of space. She can't dance, she can't sing. She can't do anything. I reckon when old Swan eventually twigs quite how useless she is, she'll pack her off to school somewhere else. She won't want her holding back the children with real star potential like us.”

Georgia was so thrilled by Katie's “like us” that she let the matter drop. She knew that she was a coward for going along with Katie and, even though she tried to play as small a part as possible in tormenting Olivia, she felt guilty every time they were in a room together. Once
or twice she had given Olivia a rueful little smile, not at all surprised to get back only a stony stare.