Polly Plays Her Part (5 page)

I didn't mind being at Dad and Diane's so much now that I had a plan. Instead of playing
THWACKERS
that night, I read right through CRASH! and chose a scene for my audition. I wanted to do something really dramatic to try and convince Mandy I was the right person for the part. The best scene was in Act Two, when Marcia meets Tarn for the first time inside the computer.

Marcia's running down the inside of an electric cable trying to get away from Cydore, the deadliest of all the viruses, when Tarn appears suddenly and helps her escape. Tarn tells Marcia that he's been trying to crack the secret code for years and that real time stands still when you're inside the game.

They make a pact to look out for each other and, even though Marcia is trapped, she actually feels less lonely stuck in the computer with Tarn than she does in her real life.

When Dad came in to say goodnight he offered to read Tarn's part, so I could practise properly, but I shook my head. “No thanks.”

“Come on, Princess Polly. It might help you with the audition.”

“What do you care? Anyway, I'm
not
your princess and I don't need any help. Not from you.”

Dad sighed and walked over to the door. I could see he was upset, but that was his problem. He stopped in the doorway and turned to look at me.

“You know, I was in a play once at school,” he said. “I had to kiss this girl, Kelly Bates, but it was a nightmare. She kept making this really stupid face, screwing up her eyes and sticking her head forward, as if kissing me was the worst thing in the world. There was no way I could do it. I nearly burst trying not to laugh every time I even looked at her.

“‘For pity's sake, Simon – just kiss her!' Mrs. Mulbury, the drama teacher would shout, but I couldn't. For years after that all my mates used to tease me about it. ‘For pity's sake, Simon, just kiss her!' they'd shout out whenever a girl walked past us –
any
girl. It put me off acting for life!”

He looked over at me with his head on the side, practically pleading with me to say something. I tried to imagine him on the stage with Kelly Bates, trying not to laugh, and I nearly smiled – but I forced myself not to.

“Well, give me a shout if you change your mind. I don't mind acting again if it's to help my princess.”

He hung around by the door for ages, as if I was going to change my mind that second.

“Can you close the door behind you?” I said in the end. The longer he stood there the closer I came to saying sorry, or throwing myself into his arms for a cuddle, and there was no way I was going to do that.

In the morning, I didn't even hang about to eat breakfast. I raced straight off to see Cosmo. If my plan worked, and I got Mum to change her mind about Spain, it would only be another couple of weeks until I could move back in.

“You'd best stay here in the meantime,” I said, cuddling him on the doorstep. “There's no point putting you through all that upheaval for such a short amount of time, is there – you'll only end up confused.”

He pushed his face right into mine, over and over.

“I miss you too, Cosmo,” I said, sighing. “But the auditions are on Saturday so we should find out our parts before Mum's due to leave. I reckon we're talking two weeks tops.”

We cuddled for a bit longer and then I went inside to see Mum. She was in the kitchen listening to her Learn Spanish in a Month CD.

“
Hola
,
Polly!
” she cried as I came in. “
Buenos dias.
”

“Can I have some breakfast?” I said. I put a slice of bread in the toaster.

“That means, ‘Hello, Polly, good morning.' What do you think of my accent?” She pulled a face and groaned. “I know, I know, it's dreadful. No one's going to understand a word I say. How about this then?
Cómo te llamas?
”

“Is there any peanut butter?” I rummaged through the cupboard. “Why is there
never
anything to eat in this house any more?”

“Come on, Polly.
Cómo te llamas?
That means, ‘What is your name?' You have to say,
Me llamo Polly.
Repeat it after
me
.”

“You already know my name and anyway
I'm
not going to Spain so
I
don't need to learn Spanish. Why don't
you
repeat
that
after me!” I pressed stop on the CD player and put on some really loud music.

Mum turned it off and sat me down at the table.

“Don't be like that, Pol. I know how upsetting this is for you and I'm going to miss you like mad, but it won't be as bad as you think.”

“You keep saying that, but it's not you who has to live at Dad's with
Desperate Di
and
The Great Baby Jake.
”

Mum's eyes filled with tears and I was sorry as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

“More like
Desperate Me
, dumped on my own doorstep,” she sniffed.

“You're not desperate!” I cried. “It shouldn't be you running away from the street. It's so unfair.”

It went on like that for the rest of the week. Dad trying to be my best friend and Mum twittering on about her accent and her Spanish phrases one minute and collapsing in tears the next.

“They're driving me insane,” I said to Phoebe on Wednesday at school. “You should have heard Dad at breakfast this morning, talking to me as if I was one of his mates, asking me for advice about this removals job he's got on. He never used to talk to me about stuff like that before I moved in there.”

“I don't know why you're complaining. My dad's so busy he doesn't even notice I'm there half the time.”

“This is different,” I muttered. “Anyway, have you chosen a scene yet? For the auditions?”

Phoebe took her script out of her school bag.

“I'm going to do this one from Act Two,” she said, showing me. “It's when Marcia meets the main character from the computer game. Her name's Rainbow, remember? I'll read it through now if you want. I could really do with the practice.”

We walked over to a corner of the playground so no one else could hear. She didn't sound very confident and I could tell she was worried.

“Do you actually want to be Marcia?” I asked when she'd finished.

“I'm not bothered really – I just want a big singing part. You know how much I love singing. How about you?”

“I'm not bothered either,” I said. I felt bad about lying to Phoebe but I was too scared to tell her how desperate I was to be Marcia, just in case the whole plan went wrong.

We practised for a bit longer until Ellie and Sam came over to see what we were doing. Sam grabbed hold of Phoebe's script and clutched it to her chest.

“I can't
wait
for Saturday,” she said, dramatically. “I bet you anything I'm going to be Marcia and Adam's going to be Tarn.” She was so sure of herself it was as if she could see straight into the future. “Or maybe the new boy, Sandeep, will be Tarn. Did you see the way he kept winking at me last week?”

“Make your mind up,” said Ellie. “I thought it was Adam you fancied! And anyway, he was winking at everyone. He probably had something in his eye.”

We all burst out laughing and Ellie started to wink at Sam.

“Oh, Sam, you're so beautiful,” she crooned, winking and blinking like mad. “Your silky hair, your gorgeous curvy figure, your…erm…healthy, pink gums!”

“
What!
” spluttered Phoebe, laughing so much I thought she was going to choke. “
Healthy pink gums?
”

“I ran out of things to say,” said Ellie, shrugging her shoulders and grinning. “Anyway I bet
some
boys notice how healthy your gums are. That's what my mum always says when she's nagging me to brush my teeth!”

Later that afternoon, I was upstairs at Dad's practising my scene when Jake started to howl. I tried to carry on but the crying got louder and louder and even with my door closed it was as if he was screaming right into my ear. It went on and on and I was just about to storm downstairs when Diane burst into my room clutching hold of Jake in one hand and a manky, old tea towel in the other.

“Give me a hand, would you, Polly?” she shouted over Jake. “He's in a right state and I'm trying to get his tea cooked.” She was in a state as well. Her top was covered in milky stains and she looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

“I'm in the middle of practising something for drama,” I said. “I'll come and help in a bit.”

“I'll just pop him down here then,” she said, totally ignoring me. “There you go, sweetheart.” She lay him down on the rug next to my bed. “It's his teeth,” she went on. “He's got a big one coming through at the back and it must be killing him. I'll call up when his tea's ready.”

Jake carried on screaming through all of this, banging his little fists on the rug and rolling from side to side.

“Thanks,” said Diane, and she disappeared back downstairs.

I tried to carry on learning my scene but it was impossible. If I thought the screaming was loud when it was coming from downstairs, it was totally deafening right there in my tiny room.

“Come on, Jake,” I muttered. “It can't hurt that much, can it? It's only a tooth!”

I glanced around for something to distract him. I'd never looked after a baby before – it had always been just me and Mum and Dad at home. The only thing lying about was Boo, my old beanie-bear. I picked him up and held him just above Jake's head, wiggling and waggling Boo about to try and get his attention. For a minute, Jake just carried on wailing, his eyes closed and his fists curled up tight, but then, as he stopped to draw breath, he opened his eyes just a fraction and one of his tiny hands reached up for Boo. I lifted Boo a bit higher and carried on wiggling and he opened his eyes wider and reached up with both hands.

After a bit I stopped wiggling and he looked at me with a slightly puzzled expression on his face. I thought he might start crying again, so I wiggled Boo some more and Jake started to pump his podgy legs in and out, making little squealy noises like a mouse. Every time I stopped wiggling he stopped pumping and fixed me with his huge green eyes. So I wiggled again and he pumped again and after three or four more times, he started to giggle.

I was so busy wiggling I didn't hear Diane come back up. “Tea's ready,” she said, coming in the room. She stopped at the door and stared. “Polly, you're a star! Look at him giggling away!”

She picked up Jake, who immediately struggled to get down. He reached across her for Boo, his bottom lip starting to wobble. “Oh, can I bring your beanie-bear down, do you mind?” said Diane. “Just to keep him happy while he's eating.”

I shrugged and handed him over. Jake clutched Boo to his chest and started to suck on his ear. I nearly grabbed him back, but I couldn't stand the thought of the screaming starting up all over again. That night I walked past Dad and Diane's room where Jake was sleeping in his cot. He was lying on his back holding on to Boo for dear life, sucking away at his mangled ear – just like I used to when I was a baby.