Olivia's Winter Wonderland (13 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

The next day, Will and Connor were having a great time staking out the entrance to Theo's block. They had both dressed for the part and were wearing dark glasses and raincoats. Will had even borrowed his dad's trilby hat but Olivia had confiscated it, pointing out that they were supposed to be blending in with the crowd, not drawing attention to themselves. A taxi drew up at the entrance, and Theo and Sheridan got out and hurried into the building.

Will called Olivia on his phone. “White Mouse to Olivia. Suspect has just entered the building.”

Olivia ignored the White Mouse nonsense and heaved a sigh of relief. They had been hanging around in the cold all morning. They'd
arrived early, only to see Theo leave his flat almost immediately. Some of the Swans were getting a bit restive but fortunately they were all delighted to see Kasha again, who, much to the Swans' delight, had come armed with signed CDs of his single for all of them. It was, thought Olivia, odd how somebody who the Swans had all been used to seeing every day during the last school year had now taken on such an aura that several of the younger girls were reduced to giggling and blushes when Kasha spoke to them. She had been worried that Theo might not come back for the rest of the day and all their waiting would have been in vain, and that they might not get another chance to speak to him after today.

“Is he alone?” she asked Will down the phone.

“No, Sheridan's with him,” said Will. Olivia sighed. Sheridan would be an added challenge.

“OK, Will, keep watching and if you and Connor see either of them leave, let me know ASAP.” She put her phone in her pocket and turned to the assembled Swans.

“Right, it's now or never.”

Up in the flat Theo and Sheridan were arguing.

“The Swan made me what I am today. Without it I'd be nothing and be nowhere. I feel such a rat for letting Alicia and all those kids down. I'll never be able to look any of them in the eye again,” said Theo.

“Well, you won't have to,” said Sheridan. “I'm dealing with them. Look, Theo, the script I promised you has been couriered over. It's in my bag. They want you very badly and are prepared to pay. It's perfect. A fabulous cameo. Three weeks' filming and then the other project you were waiting on can slot right in afterwards after the Christmas break. Just put the Swan right out of your head.”

“I'll never do that,” said Theo. “There is something called loyalty, Sheridan.”

“I'm loyal to you, Theo, and to my other clients. I do what I think is in your best interests. You're at the top of your game and it's my job to keep you there. It's a tough business, you know. For every one of you, there are ten thousand or a hundred thousand would-be Theo Deacons out there, waiting tables and dreaming. You get no
brownie points for being nice. Now, I've no time for sentimentality. Let the Swan go, Theo. You owe it nothing.”

Theo said nothing. He felt so torn. He knew he owed Sheridan. She had turned his career around when it had seemed to be going nowhere. But he also felt that he owed the Swan.

Sheridan saw his face. “Here, read this,” she said, throwing the script to him. “It's very classy. It'll put a smile back on your face. They need a decision quickly, so read fast, although I already have, so you can just skim the first few pages.”

Theo picked up the script and opened it. He read the first few pages. Sheridan was right. It was a plum part, but he couldn't concentrate. He kept thinking he could hear the sound of children laughing outside in the street, something that always reminded him of the Swan.

“I'll go into the other room to read it,” he said.

In the street below, Pablo was marshalling the Swans.

“Everybody ready?”

“Yes,” they chorused.

“Good, because once we begin, we'll be blocking the road, my little ducklings, and that won't make us popular. You're so experienced now, you should be able to make this
castell
in one single seamless movement; it should be an easy one for you, only six tiers.” He eyed the balcony before turning to Olivia and Eel. “Once the structure is in place, you two will be able to climb to the top and swing on to the balcony with no problem. Right, everyone. Places.” The children who formed the base of the
castell
, known as a
pinya
, moved into their places. “Next tier,” called Pablo, and children climbed on to the shoulders of others.

The structure began to rise into the air like a wedding cake. The third tier of children climbed like mountain goats up on to the shoulders of the other Swans. When the fourth tier began to take their place the children at the bottom of the pyramid, who had all been selected for their strength and dependability, shifted slightly with the pressure. A ripple ran through the entire structure. Pablo looked a little anxious. It was a critical moment, but the
castell
settled again. Pablo signalled for the next tier
of children to climb, and the structure flowed upwards as if like magic. A couple of people who were walking down the street stopped to watch and take pictures and they clapped as the final tier of children took their places. Pablo then nodded at Olivia and Eel, who both climbed to the peak of the
castell
with such fleet-footed certainty that they seemed more like mountain goats than children.

In the flat, Theo was engrossed in reading the script. He had to admit that Sheridan was right. The part was a gem, small but crucial to the plotting and beautifully written. The sort of cameo that might just get you a best-supporting-actor nomination at the Oscars. He noted that Sheridan had cannily pencilled the figure being offered on the front of the script, no doubt as an incentive. It was breathtaking. He carried on reading.

Sheridan smiled to herself. She was certain that Theo would take the bait. She'd get a very juicy fifteen per cent of his fee too. She might even buy herself another Gucci handbag. She suddenly became aware that something was happening outside in the street and, checking to see that Theo was undisturbed, she made her
way to the balcony's glass doors. She pulled back the muslin curtain, slid open a door and stepped out on to the balcony just as Olivia and Eel emerged over the top.

Sheridan scowled at them and did a double-take as she looked over the edge and saw the
castell
melt away. Several of the Swans waved at her, and Kylie Morris and some of her friends shouted, “Hey, Sheridan!” and when the agent glared at them they produced mouse ears. Sheridan turned puce with rage and Olivia tried not to laugh. She had to say one thing for Kylie: she had a wicked sense of humour. Olivia and Eel moved towards the door. Sheridan stepped in front of it.

“Not so fast, young ladies,” she hissed. “Theo's not in. And if he was here, he wouldn't want to see you. It would do no good anyway. You're wasting your time. He signed up for the new movie an hour ago.”

Olivia felt crushed. They were too late. She turned to signal to the Swans to make another
castell
so they could get down. But Eel didn't move.

“How do we know you're not lying?” asked Eel loudly. “You said he's out, and we
know he's in. We've got the front staked out. You were seen entering together, and no one's seen Theo leave. Our man on the ground would have texted us if he had. You say he's signed a movie deal but I won't believe it until Theo tells us that himself, and that he doesn't want to do the Swan panto.”

“Are you calling me a liar, little girl?” said Sheridan nastily. “Go away, both of you, and stop bothering Theo or I'll call the police. You do realise that you're trespassing? It wouldn't look good for your beloved stage school to have that splashed all over the paper.”

“Are you blackmailing us?” asked Eel, a steely edge to her voice.

“Call it what you want,” said Sheridan, “but I won't be held to ransom by a load of stage-school brats.”

“Two can play at that game,” said Eel. She flipped open her phone. “It looks so much better in HD, of course.”

It was a video of Sheridan standing on one of the seats in the Swan theatre. Her mouth was wide open and she was screaming, her normally perfect hair covered in dust, so she looked like the deranged survivor of some comical cosmic
catastrophe. “It's perfect YouTube stuff. It might even go viral.”

“You little rat,” shouted Sheridan, making a grab for the phone. Olivia looked at her little sister. She had no idea that Eel had taken the video. Eel was behaving as badly as Sheridan; her only excuse was that Sheridan was at least thirty years older than her and should know better. Olivia made a decision. If the only way they were going to get Theo back into the Swan panto was by behaving like this, then it wasn't worth it. She was certain that her gran would be horrified if she knew that Eel had met blackmail with blackmail.

“I'm sorry,” said Olivia. “We made a mistake. We shouldn't have come…” She tailed off. Her throat felt raw. “My sister will delete the video, I promise. If you say Theo is out, he's out. I apologise for us both.” She leaned over the balcony and nodded to Pablo. “We'll leave the way we came in,” she said quietly.

“Which I assume was by parachute,” said Theo, who had appeared soundlessly on the terrace behind them. He walked to the edge and peered over as the
castell
began to rise in the air. “Hey, that's even more amazing than a
parachute.”

The Swans whooped and laughed and broke into a spontaneous rendition of “Please Please Me”, putting their hands together in a beseeching gesture and going down on their knees.

Theo grinned broadly. He looked at Olivia and Eel. “I guess you've come to give me a ticking off. You'd better come in.”

“You can't just invite in anyone who tries to bludgeon their way into your home, Theo,” hissed Sheridan.

“No,” agreed Theo reasonably. “I can't. But Olivia and Eel Marvell aren't just anyone. They're my friends.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Theo sat alone in his flat, thinking. He had sat there so long that night had fallen and the street lamps had come on. He shivered. There was a real chill in the air. It felt as if snow was on the way.

Olivia and Eel had been persuasive, even more persuasive after he had sent a protesting Sheridan away and said that he would call her later.

“We really don't have a chance of making it happen without you, Theo,” said Olivia softly. “You'd be keeping the chance alive. If you say yes, it may help us find a theatre.”

“Yes,” said Eel. “We'd all love you forever, Theo, and go and see all your movies, even if we thought they sounded really boring like that
last one you did, which had all that silly kissing stuff in it.”

“Eel!” said Olivia. “You're not helping.”

“Actually,” said Theo with a grin, “Eel's right. I'm fed up of romcoms. I want to do something meaty.”

“There you are,” said Eel. “You should do
Cinderella
, and now Amber's out of it and poor Sebastian too, you could play who you like, even Cinders, but I wouldn't advise that cos she's really soppy. At least, Amber made her seem soppy. You could be Baron Hard-Up! If you played Baron Hard-Up, Jon would let you do as much tap dancing as you wanted.”

Theo smiled. “What would Sheridan say?”

“But it's your life, Theo, not Sheridan's,” said Olivia seriously.

“Yes, but she's supposed to be looking out for me.” He sighed. “I don't know. I'm very tempted by your offer.” And he was. Like the movie cameo, Baron Hard-Up was a small but beautifully written role with lots of comedy. “But where would we perform?”

“Gran's still trying to find somewhere,” said Olivia. “She's put out lots of feelers, and
I've got an idea of somewhere that might work but I have to tread very carefully.”

“So,” said Theo slowly, “you're asking me to turn down the movie and loads of dosh and commit to something that might never happen, that's just a pipe dream?”

“In a nutshell, yes,” said Eel. Then she added, “But dreams do sometimes come true.”

Olivia had looked at him very seriously with her compelling dark eyes and said simply, “It's an act of faith, Theo. It's about making something happen.”

“All right,” said Theo. “I'm not promising I'll do it, but I am promising to think about it.”

“Thank you,” said Olivia. She and Eel got up to go.

Theo stood up too, and handed Eel an envelope. “You'd better take the tickets for the skating … just in case I don't see you again before…”

But although Eel's eyes lit up when she saw the envelope, she shook her head firmly. “No, Theo. You keep them. Think of it as an act of faith. That I believe you're going to be there in the panto and be there skating with us at Somerset House.”

After they had gone, Theo did what he had promised to do and thought hard. Olivia and Eel were right. The Swan panto would collapse as surely as the theatre roof without his presence. It made Theo feel needed. One of the things he knew about his profession was that however famous you were, you were always replaceable. If he didn't sign up for the movie, somebody else would. It wouldn't just be cancelled. But if he dropped out of
Cinderella
, that would be the end of it. Sheridan might say that the movie people wanted him really badly and the amount they were prepared to pay for a cameo reflected that. But he also knew that if he said no, they'd just move on to the next actor on their wish list.

But what if this movie was his big break? The business was full of stories of actors and actresses who had turned down plum roles that had then been the making of someone else. And what if he said no to the movie, and then
Cinderella
couldn't find a theatre? He'd have turned down a perfectly good opportunity for nothing. He sat in the fading light, his mind drifting, and he remembered being back at the
Swan and sitting in Alicia's office. He'd been sixteen going on seventeen and he'd just been turned down for a place at every leading drama school in the country. He had always been a bit of a golden boy at the Swan and he had thought he was going to stroll into RADA, but he hadn't even got past the first audition. He was devastated and completely demoralised.

He had railed for a while and Alicia had listened quietly and said little, until he said, “That's it. I'm giving up, there's no point in going on.”

There was a pause.

“Yes, maybe you should, Theo,” said Alicia quietly. “If that's what you want.”

Theo had stared, astonished, at Alicia. It was as if she had just thrown a hand grenade into the room. He had expected Alicia to protest at his intention to give up on acting and tell him how talented he was.

“But … but … but …”

“Look, Theo,” said Alicia, “if you're going to let the first knock-back affect you so badly, then maybe acting isn't the profession for you. It's hard out there. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones; maybe you won't. But you won't
know unless you try it and make things happen for yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, nobody else will. You've got to get out there and work, Theo, because nobody is just going to hand everything to you on a plate. Go out there and do it, or don't. Apply to RADA again next year, or don't. But don't whine about it. It's your choice. You always have a choice.”

“You always have a choice,” murmured Theo to himself. Well, he was making his. He rang Sheridan and spoke to her swiftly and firmly for a couple of moments. He went and made himself a cup of tea and as he carried it towards his chair, his phone rang. Sheridan's name flashed up on the screen. He was tempted not to answer, but he was glad he did.

“How unexpectedly obliging of them to offer more time,” he said.

As soon as the call finished he called Alicia. “You have very persuasive granddaughters. Count me in on
Cinderella
but on three conditions,” he said. “I want to play Baron Hard-Up and I want a tap solo with a
42nd Street
-style chorus behind me, and you need to find a venue by midnight on Hallowe'en. That's the cut-off point. Otherwise I'll do the movie.”