Olivia's Winter Wonderland (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

The bus turned the corner and came to a stop.

“I'll get off with you here, Georgie, and walk the rest of the way. It's not far,” said Aeysha. “And it'll give us a bit more time together.”

As they got off the bus, she linked arms with Georgia. Georgia suddenly burst into tears. The girls stopped walking and Aeysha stared at her.

“What's wrong, Georgie? You should be on top of the world. We're both through to the next round. You could be Zelda! Why are you crying?”

“Because I hate myself,” sobbed Georgia.

“Why?” asked Aeysha in a puzzled voice.

“I can't say. It's too horrible,” wept Georgia. “I've done something really terrible.
You'll never forgive me.”

“Of course I'll forgive you, you're my friend. Friends always forgive each other.”

“Not when they've done something this bad.”

“Georgie,” said Aeysha patiently. “Unless you've suddenly turned into a serial killer and have body parts stashed in your sports bag, I can't imagine what you could have done that's so terrible.”

Georgia closed her eyes for a second. “I haven't given you the message that Poppet gave me about your recall audition tomorrow at two thirty p.m.,” said Georgia in a voice so tiny that Aeysha had to strain to hear her.

There was an electric pause and then Aeysha took a deep breath and said, “But you have now, Georgie. You've done the right thing. So it doesn't matter.”

“But I did something even worse. Poppet texted you too, and I deleted it because I wanted you to miss the audition.”

“Ah,” said Aeysha quietly. “That is quite bad. That's old-Katie-Wilkes-Cox bad.” There was a long silence and then she added, “But I haven't missed it. You've 'fessed up. So it doesn't
matter, Georgie.”

She went to hug her but Georgia pulled away. “But it matters to me. It matters to me that I'm turning into such a horrible person, a person who even feels jealous of her best friends. I can see you're not jealous of me; you seem as genuinely pleased about my success in the auditions as you are for yourself. But I'm jealous of you, Aeysha. And it's not just you. When Livy announced that she wasn't going to go up for Zelda, I felt so relieved. I wasn't sorry at all. I was thrilled. I was so worried that she would, and that she would get it rather than me because if anyone was born to play Zelda, it's probably Livy. I was pleased she wasn't auditioning; it felt like one less rival to contend with, one less person I was going to have to beat if I was in with a chance of being Zelda.”

“But you don't think that about all the other girls who have been auditioning from other schools for Zelda, do you?” said Aeysha slowly, as if she was thinking very hard. Georgia shook her head. “It only becomes a problem when your friend is also your rival, doesn't it?”

“Yes,” said Georgia. “I don't mind about all the other girls. I don't know them.” She
started sobbing again. “But if I'm honest, what I feel is even worse still, Aeysha. If I can't get the part, I'd almost prefer one of those other girls to get it than you. I'd feel better now there are just three of us in the running if the girl we don't know got it and we both failed together, than if you got it and I was the one who lost out.” Her eyes were blazing and her face was pale. “There! I've said it. I've said what I really feel, and now you know just how despicable and what a horrible human being I am.” She sank on to a low wall nearby. Aeysha sat down next to her and took her hand.

“But, Georgie, what you feel is natural. Everyone feels jealous of other people. Remember how Livy felt in Edinburgh during the summer when Evie suddenly appeared on the scene? With us, it's even worse because I'm one of your best friends. That's the problem with this business – our friends aren't just our friends, they're also our rivals. It's tough.”

“But most people don't act on their jealousy,” said Georgia. “They might feel those things but they don't try to spoil their best friend's chance like I did.”

“Oh, I don't know,” said Aeysha. “Maybe
if they had the chance and maybe if they thought they could get away with it and never be found out, maybe they would. Maybe we all would. Me included. Maybe you're just being honest in admitting it. My mum once told me about some writer who said, ‘Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.'”

“Ugh, that's horrible,” said Georgia with a shiver. “But it's even more horrible to think it might be true.”

“Look at it this way. You'd be pleased for me if I got selected for the England netball team or I got a book published, wouldn't you?”

Georgia nodded vigorously. “Of course I would.”

“Exactly,” said Aeysha. “Because you don't want to write a book or be really good at netball. The Zelda thing is only a problem because we're both trying to win at the same thing. Oh, this whole audition business is such a horrid process. The more I do it the less convinced I am that it's really for me.”

“But you still want to play Zelda?”

“Yes,” said Aeysha. “But if I don't, and you do, I will be genuinely pleased for you. Really.”

“I feel better,” said Georgia. “It was killing me not being able to say how I felt. I felt like a bottle of fizzy drink that had been shaken hard but not opened.” She smiled at Aeysha. “And if you get it and I don't, I really will try to be pleased for you too. But it may be a bit of a struggle for me.”

“That just shows what a nice person you are, Georgie.”

They walked in companionable silence for a minute until they were outside Georgia's house. “Aeysha, do you think you
would
like to write a book one day?”

Aeysha thought for a moment. “I think I would,” she said seriously. “But I can tell you one thing I know for certain: I'm never going to get selected for the England netball team.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Olivia, Tom and Eel stood outside the block of flats and peered nervously through the door.

“It's really posh,” hissed Eel. “It's even got a doorman. Actually, it's got two. Actually, they look less like doormen than human guard dogs. I bet you didn't think of that.”

Olivia made a face. She hadn't thought Theo's apartment block would be quite so grand. She had imagined it would be like any other block of flats, which had the numbers of the flats and sometimes even the names of the residents with an intercom by the front door of the building. She had been worried that when they rang the bell Theo would be out, or that he wouldn't want to talk to them at first, but she had never envisaged that they wouldn't even be
able to get near him.

Despite their fancy clothes, the doormen looked as fierce as Rottweilers. Getting past them wouldn't be easy. One was sitting at a desk watching CCTV footage of the corridors of the building and the other was meeting and greeting visitors. The children watched the entrance for a few minutes and saw several people enter. It was clear that they were being asked for their names before the doorman rang ahead to see whether he should let the people up.

“Maybe we should just go in and say that we're expected,” said Tom.

“But we're not,” said Olivia reasonably. “He won't even talk to Gran. Sheridan rang to say that Theo was withdrawing from
Cinderella
, and he hasn't returned any of Gran's calls since. Which I think is really rude and cowardly.”

“But he did send her that enormous bunch of flowers with a message that said how sorry he was,” said Eel. “You could tell the flowers were incredibly expensive because they were really exotic colours and looked incredibly evil. One of them is bright red and spiky and looks just like Sheridan when she's in a bad mood.”

“Which is always. I bet she chose them,”
said Olivia gloomily. “I bet he doesn't even know he sent them. It's all just for show. It doesn't mean anything.” Then she added furiously, “I thought Theo was better than that.”

“Look,” said Tom, convinced that Olivia was about to begin on another tirade about Theo's lack of loyalty to the Swan and her gran, who had done so much to help his career. “Why don't I go in, give my name and see if I get in? If I do, then we can get you two in too.”

“I don't know,” brooded Olivia. “We lose the element of surprise. It's so easy to say no to somebody when you don't have to do it face to face. I just thought that if we could see him, we'd be able to persuade him to change his mind.” She looked thoughtful. “I wonder if there's a back entrance to the building.”

“It'll be locked,” said Tom.

“Worth a look,” said Olivia. They walked down a small side street to the back of the building. The sky was overcast and there was a bite to the wind as if it was warning that winter was on its way. They found the back door, which was, as Tom had guessed, closed and locked from the inside. They looked up at the building as it rose above them. High above ground level
some of the flats had balconies with window boxes and gaily coloured flowers.

“They haven't got a very nice view,” said Olivia. “You're just looking on to the side of the department store next door.”

“Look, that one's Theo's,” said Eel, pointing excitedly upwards to a balcony on the third floor.

“How can you possibly know?” asked Tom curiously.

Eel smiled confidently. “Look what he's using to grow his flowers in.”

“Tap shoes,” said Olivia excitedly. “I think you're right, Eel. And look, that flag waving outside is the Elsinore flag. Remember we saw it, Tom, when Gran took us to see Theo play
Hamlet
at the National Theatre. It
must
be Theo's flat.” She looked around and her eye fell on an open window in the department store opposite. It was on the same level as Theo's balcony and through it they could just glimpse a woman looking into a mirror as she put on her lipstick. Olivia's eyes lit up. She glanced at the window to the ladies' loo for a bit longer and then back at the balcony as if assessing something.

Tom suddenly looked worried. “I know
what you're thinking, Liv Marvell, and you'd better think again,” he said.

“But it's definitely possible. I can hook the wire over the rail of the balcony and, providing I can find somewhere to attach the wire in the Ladies', I reckon I could get across easily enough,” said Olivia.

“Too dangerous, Liv. It's different when it's a matter of life and death, but this isn't. Why don't we just lay siege to the building and ambush Theo when he goes in or comes out?”

“Because he'll just leap into a taxi and brush us off,” said Olivia.

“Tom's right, Livy. It's much too dangerous to walk the high-wire to the balcony,” said Eel, and Olivia could see the anxiety in her little sister's eyes.

“We have to think of something else,” she said frowning.

“Hey, what are you three doing here?” said a familiar voice.

Olivia, Eel and Tom spun round.

“Kasha!” said Tom, and he and Kasha grinned and gave each other a high-five. No one had seen Kasha since Edinburgh, and that was before his chart success. Eel squealed and
gave him a hug. Kasha looked over to Olivia and smiled. He had always had time for Olivia Marvell.

“Hi, Livy,” he said softly. “How you doing?”

Olivia suddenly felt shy. Last term Kasha had been at school with them, but now he seemed incredibly grown up. During the summer when he had been with them at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, he had just been Kasha. Now he had a number-one single and was famous. Girls screamed at him. He suddenly felt a world away from them. He looked different too. He was wearing shades even though it wasn't at all sunny, he had his coat collar pulled up and a woolly hat pulled down.

“I'm fine,” she said. “But are you planning to rob a bank or something?”

Kasha grinned and removed his dark glasses. “Looks like it, doesn't it? I keep expecting to get arrested.” He sighed. “But it's the only way I can go out at the moment. Since the single went to number one, I'm jumped on everywhere I go. You know, I used to dream about being famous, but I never thought about not being able to walk down the street or pop
out to get a coffee without people wanting a piece of you. I even went out with a false beard and walking stick the other day. I can tell you I was thanking Sebastian Shaw for all those acting lessons; they've come in super-useful.”

“But surely you've got what you always wanted? Are you complaining about your glamorous life, mate?” asked Tom good-naturedly.

“No,” said Kasha. “I know I'm dead lucky and I'm loving every minute. But I would like to be able to pop out to buy a bag of crisps or go out with a girl without somebody taking a photograph.”

“We all saw the picture of you and Abbie in the paper,” said Tom.

“Is Abbie your new girlfriend?” asked Eel.

“Eel!” said Olivia, embarrassed by her sister's directness.

“No,” said Kasha. “Abbie and I have known each other forever. We started at the Swan on the same day when we were seven. We were both so nervous we hid together in the cupboard in the girls' cloakroom and Miss Swan had to coax us out with chocolate.”

“And now you're a pop star and Abbie will probably be famous too when her movie is out next year,” said Eel.

“But I just still feel like me,” said Kasha seriously, and Olivia thought that he suddenly looked very young and vulnerable. He was only a couple of years older than her. “Anyway, you lot haven't answered my question. What are you doing here? You look as if you're staking out this block of flats.”

“We are, we're staking out Theo Deacon,” said Eel, and she quickly explained about the Swan panto, the roof falling in and Theo's withdrawal. “Livy thinks we might be able to persuade him to reconsider.”

“If we could only get to talk to him face to face,” said Olivia.

“Liv,” said Tom, “is stupidly keen to walk the high-wire across to his balcony from that window. Eel and I were just trying to stop her.”

Kasha shook his head. “For a bright girl you sure have some daft ideas, Livy. I'd hate you to die so young. It would be such a waste.”

“I wasn't planning on falling, and anyway do you have a better idea?” asked Olivia hotly.

Kasha grinned. “Actually, I think I do. Is
Pablo still teaching
castells
at the Swan?” They nodded. “Good. Time to mobilise. It's Saturday tomorrow. Do you think you can get everyone to come down here?”

They nodded again and Olivia said delightedly, “Kasha Kasparian, you're not just a pretty face, you've got brains too!”

“I know,” said Kasha with a grin. “But, Livy, even if you can persuade Theo to do the panto, you still don't have a theatre.”

“I know,” said Olivia looking serious. “But Gran and I are working on that. Maybe the sensible thing would have been to say it's impossible and just give up. But I wanted to make something happen, and I can only do that one piece at a time. It's like building a
castell
; each individual piece or person has to be exactly in the right place to build something taller and stronger.”