Polly Plays Her Part (3 page)

Diane laughed. “It's called pesto, Polly,” she said. “It's Italian. Haven't you ever had it before? It's made from basil leaves.”

“I don't care what sort of leaves it's made from. I'm not eating it,
all right
?”

Just then Jake squealed and banged his spoon and another lump of orange goo flew right into my face. Dad and Diane burst out laughing, clapping their hands as if he'd done something really clever.

“Oh, Polly, he's so excited to have you here,” cried Diane. “You should be honoured!”

Back in my room I waited until everyone was asleep before I logged on to
THWACKERS.
I played for hours, improving my score each time, until by the time I logged off I'd moved up to second place on the leader board. At some point I heard Jake wake up because he'd lost his stupid dummy again. I heard Dad pleading with Diane to get up to sort him out and I heard her talking to him in her simpery, soppy baby voice, but I just played on – eliminating the bad guys as fast as they appeared on the screen:

THWACK!

THWACK!

THWACK!

I was shattered the next morning. Diane fussed about me at breakfast, but the minute Jake started to howl from upstairs, she dashed out of the room and left me to get on by myself. I gulped down my cereal and raced off down the road to make sure Cosmo was okay.

He was waiting for me outside number 25. We sat on the doorstep and I told him all about the slimy, green spaghetti and how Diane was trying to poison me and how it wouldn't be long until we were back together again. He stared at me with his huge, tawny-coloured eyes and I swear he understood every word.

“Don't worry, Cosmo,” I said, giving him the biggest cuddle. “I'll soon get Mum to change her mind about Spain and then I'll move back home and everything will go back to how it was before.”

I didn't really believe that for a second, but I couldn't bear to see him so sad.

Dad drove me up to drama in his van. You have to climb up really high to get into the front and when I was younger we used to play this stupid game that Dad was the King and I was his precious Princess Polly and we'd drive around looking down on everyone in our kingdom, checking that everything was in order. “Where to, Princess Polly?” he'd say in this silly posh voice. “Your wish is my command.”

We didn't say much on the way to drama today – well, I didn't anyway. Dad went on and on about how well I was settling in and how I was still his
Princess Polly,
but I just stared out of the window trying to work out how I was going to stop Mum from going away. As soon as we arrived, I scrambled down from the van and disappeared inside.

It was strange walking back into drama and seeing everyone after the break – especially as so much had changed since last term. Phoebe was over by the piano with Ellie, Sam and Monty B. Ellie used to be Phoebe's best friend – they'd been friends since nursery – but when they started Woodville Secondary, Ellie became best friends with Sam, and Phoebe was left tagging along after them.

Now Phoebe and I were starting to get close and I could just imagine us being really good friends – if it wasn't for the
Great
Montgomery Brown – also known as the
Not
-So-Great Monty B. He was Phoebe's next-door neighbour years and years ago and, basically, he's got the BIGGEST crush on her. She swears blind he hasn't, but it's so obvious.

They were all laughing their heads off about something, but as soon as Phoebe spotted me she came straight over and gave me a quick hug.

“Let's go over to the others,” she said, pulling me back towards them, but I shook my head. I still felt weird around Phoebe's friends after last term when I was so mean to her. She might have forgotten about it, but there's no way they had – especially Monty B. And anyway, I was dying to tell her about Diane and the green spaghetti.

I was just about to launch into the whole story when Mandy called us over to sit in a circle. Her hair was a little bit longer than before the holidays and a perfectly ordinary brown colour.

“Hi, guys,” she said, grinning. “It's
so
great to see you all. I really missed you over the holidays, believe it or not!”

I looked around the circle at all the old faces and a couple of new ones I didn't recognize.

“What's happened to your hair, Mandy?” said Monty B. “I'm sure last time we saw you it was a sort of psychedelic shade of purple.”

She pulled a face. “I'm not allowed to dye it for a bit, worse luck. The hairdresser said it was in such a shocking state it was in danger of falling out at any minute!”

Monty B ran his hand through his bright red hair. “I was going to stop dying mine as well,” he said, “but Phoebe literally begged me not to.”

“No I didn't!” Phoebe cried, slapping him. “You can shave it right off for all I care!”

“Okay, okay, enough about hair,” said Mandy. “I actually spent most of the break working on our new production, CRASH! It's a fantastic adventure story all about how dangerous computers can be.”

“Have you got the scripts with you today?” Sam called out. “I hope there are loads of big parts!”

“I have but, before we get started, I want to welcome Sandeep and Rachel, who've joined Star Makers today.”

Phoebe squeezed my hand. “It's so nice not being new this term, isn't it?” she whispered. I nodded, smiling. It was nice not being new but it was even nicer being friends with Phoebe.

“We're going to go round the circle and say our names and three facts about ourselves. Your favourite colour, something you did in the holidays, anything. I'll go first, and then we'll carry on round to the right.”

The new girl looked a bit worried.

“Don't worry, Rachel,” said Mandy, noticing straight away. “You can just say your name if you prefer. Okay, let's start. I'm Mandy. My favourite film is
The Wizard of Oz.
I love banana and Marmite sandwiches and my middle name is George, because my parents were secretly hoping I'd be a boy.”

“Have I ever told you what
my
middle name is?” said Monty B.

“Oh my God, yeah, it's not Bumble, is it?” said one of the older girls, Neesha. “You know, as in, Monty Bumble
B
!”

“No it's not actually,” said Monty B. “My parents aren't
that
stupid!”

Catharine went next. She's in Year Nine and she had the main part in our first show last term. “I've got two sisters,” she said. “I'm allergic to pink marshmallows and I raised forty-five pounds in the holiday, doing a charity swim.”

Rachel said her name and smiled. She was really pretty with rosy cheeks and dimples and I don't know why, but she annoyed me straight away – flashing her dimples at everyone like that.

Monty B was sitting next to Rachel. “My name's Monty B,” he said. “I'm not allergic to pink marshmallows but I
am
seriously allergic to pink. I can't even be in the same room as something pink without feeling sick. It's ever since I had to wear that tutu in the last show. The awful thing is, my nan's knitting me these pink socks for my birthday and I don't know how to tell her that I won't be able to wear them. It's terrible really because—”

“I said FACTS,” said Mandy, laughing. “Not a load of made-up nonsense.”

“But it's all true,” insisted Monty B. “That tutu has scarred me for life.”

“Ah bless,” said Neesha. “It's just
tu tu
sad.”

“You will not believe this, Mandy,” said Ellie, when it got to her turn. “But I actually
lost
my brother during the holidays.”

“That doesn't surprise me in the slightest, Ellie Matthews,” said Mandy, shaking her head. “A week doesn't go by without you losing something. I presume you found him again.”

“I did, and luckily it was before my mum and dad realized he was lost. Oh, I'm Ellie by the way,” she said, smiling round at Sandeep and Rachel.

Sandeep was really cool-looking, with his long, shiny black hair tied back in a pony tail.

“I'm Sandeep and I'm in Year Nine,” he said. “I
love
acting, but I've never done any singing or dancing, so I'll probably make a total idiot of myself.”

“Don't worry,” I said. “We've got Monty B for that.”

“Very funny,” said Monty B, but Sandeep burst out laughing and winked at me.

I didn't have a clue what to say when it got to my turn. I wasn't about to tell everyone that my mum was leaving me to go and live in Spain and that I'd been forced to live with my dad and his wicked girlfriend. The last thing I wanted was for everyone to feel sorry for me, but I couldn't think of anything else. I sat there looking down at my lap.

“Shall we come back to you, Polly?” said Mandy. “Give you a bit more time?”

“No, it's okay,” I said. I took a deep breath and looked up. Sandeep winked at me again and Rachel flashed her dimples. “My name's Polly,” I said, as if I didn't have a care in the world. “I've got an amazing cat called Cosmo who understands everything I say to him. My mum's going to work in Spain but it's brilliant because I'm going to visit her there on holiday
all the time
and I've got a new brother called Jake who's easily the most gorgeous baby in the world.”

Phoebe gave me a funny look, but I turned to face the other way.

When we'd gone all the way round the circle we did the rapping name-game and then we did some other games in groups. I stayed as far away from Phoebe as I could – I didn't want her to start asking me about what I'd said. She paired up with Rachel and they seemed to be having a great time together, laughing and mucking around. I nearly went over to see what the big joke was, but just then Mandy called us back to the circle to tell us more about CRASH!

“Basically, it's about this sad and very lonely girl called Marcia Moon. She's in her room playing her favourite game on her computer when she accidentally types in a secret code, and from that moment on things start to go very wrong.”

“But why is the main character always a girl?” complained Monty B. “Can't she be called Marc instead of Marcia?”

“Well, technically speaking I suppose she could,” said Mandy. “But Marcia's not the only good part. There are the viruses – led by the most lethal virus of all, Cydore. And then there's Tarn – the boy who's been trapped inside the computer game for years – and heaps more. I'll hand the scripts out after break and we'll have a read-through.”

“What did you say all that stuff for?” said Phoebe, as we walked to the back of the hall with our bags. “You know, about your mum leaving and about Jake? I thought you said you couldn't stand him.”

“Listen, I haven't told you about Diane trying to poison me last night,” I said, changing the subject.

“
Poison you?
” said Phoebe. “What do you mean?”

I told her all about the green slime, and how Diane was trying to be really nice to cover up how she really felt about me moving in.

“You never know,” said Phoebe, shrugging. “I mean, maybe she's okay about you being there?”

“
What?
” I stared at her. “
No way!
You don't know what you're talking about.”

“
Okay,
I'm just saying.”

Just then Monty B came over to sit with us.

“Come on then,” said Phoebe. “What's your middle name?”

“It's top secret, I'm afraid. If I tell you, I'll have to kill you.”

“Go on. Just tell me the first letter.”

“No, Phoebs! I mean it, I'm not saying.”

“You're lucky he's even sitting with you,” said Adam, coming over with Sam and Ellie. “I mean, you are wearing a pink top, Phoebe.” Adam's in Year Nine and he's really cute. Sam and Ellie were both crazy about him last term, giggling like idiots every time he even spoke to them, but I had a funny feeling Sandeep was going to be the latest Star Makers' heart-throb.

“I was joking about the pink thing,” said Monty B. “I loved wearing that tutu, didn't I, Phoebs?”

“How should I know?” said Phoebe, giggling.

“Because you know
everything
about me.” Phoebe shook her finger at him. “Except your middle name,” she said.

I sat there watching them muck about. I could've joined in, I suppose, but I didn't want to. Now that Phoebe and I were friends, I couldn't help feeling a bit jealous of Monty B and the others. I wanted to talk to her about Cosmo, and my mum leaving and stuff, but I knew I'd never get her to myself – not with everyone else hanging around.

“The show sounds amazing, doesn't it?” said Sam. “I really,
really
want to be Marcia – not that I'd ever be stupid enough to give out my personal details on the computer.”