Shooting Star (5 page)

“Yeah, I
could
…” Sean said hesitantly.

“I’m just thinking, it takes a long time to cast a musical. There’ll be all sorts of stuff they have to do before filming starts. Find the kids with the right chemistry. Workshop it with the actors, rehearsing, staging the dance scenes, choreography, singing, coaching…”

“So?” Sean asked him, perplexed.

“Well, if you don’t even test for a role you’ll be back in England within a week. But if you test for the film and get a part you’ll be here for weeks. We could spend some serious time together.”

“But I don’t want to be in
Spotlight!
” Sean said.

“I know that, son, but if you make out that you do, go along with it, we would be able to see more of each other. And you’d be giving me the chance to make things up to you, to really be a good dad. You can pull out of the film later on, say you’ve changed your mind at any time. You’re Sean Rivers after all. You can do what you like.”

“Except it’s not very fair to pretend to take a part when you…” I started to interfere again, but Sean spoke over me.

“OK,” he said. My jaw dropped open for a second time and I stared at him.

“Sean!”

“OK, I’ll take the audition, and if I get offered a part…”

“Oh, you will,” Pat Rivers said, and he was probably right.

“Then I’ll stick around for as long as I can, but only until they start rehearsing properly. I’m not going to sign any kind of contract, because I’m serious. I don’t want to be famous any more, Dad.”

“Son, there are some things you can’t change,” Mr Rivers told him with a glint of triumph in his eye.

“We’d better get back before we’re missed,” I said, looking at my watch. Besides I wanted a word alone with Sean.

“Here’s my personal number…” Pat Rivers pushed a business card across the table to Sean. “I’ll see you soon, OK?”

“OK!” Sean said, grinning happily.

“Come on,” I said. “The cab’s still waiting. I hope we’ve got enough money…”

As we stepped out into the night air Sean hugged me so tightly that my feet left the ground.

“Sean!” I said, feeling flustered. “Stop doing that!”

“But I always hug you,” Sean said happily.

“I know, but not now, not when both of us are supposed to be at home in bed and no one – including your girlfriend and my mum – knows that we’re here. It makes me feel…odd.”

“I’m sorry, Rubes,” Sean said, with a shrug that proved he wasn’t. “It’s just that it’s worked out exactly the way I hoped. Dad was really happy to see me and he doesn’t care that I don’t want to work any more. I think when I left him to go live with Mom, it really made him see what matters.”

“Are you sure about that?” I asked him as we climbed back into the cab.

“Yes, of course. He said so – didn’t he?” Sean said.

“Yes, he did. It’s just that, well – Sean, he’s got you to do something that no one, not your mum, not Sylvia Lighthouse, not even Anne-Marie, has been able to do. He’s got you to audition for a film.”

“I’m not mentioned in this magazine either!” Anne-Marie said, as she pored over the copy of
It’s Your Life!
that Mum had brought home to take our minds off things while we waited to find out if any of us were going to be called back for the next round of auditions. “I know it’s an American mag, but you’d have thought they would have spotted my talent by now. I was the star of the TV version of
Spotlight!,
or one of them anyway,
and
I’m Sean Rivers’ girlfriend! When are people going to start noticing
me
?”

We were sitting by the pool trying hard not to listen for the phone. Waiting for news of an audition is one of the worst and best things that I have ever done. It’s a weird mixture of excitement, hope, terror and disappointment because you try to be ready for whatever the result is.

And this morning it was even harder to wait for two reasons. Firstly because it wasn’t only me that was
waiting for news – it was my two best friends as well – and secondly because I had hardly had time to think about what had happened last night with Sean and his dad.

Somehow the two of us had made it home and back to our rooms without being caught, but that didn’t make me feel any better about what had happened. Mr Rivers had seemed as if he meant what he said about wanting Sean back in his life, and Sean was so happy. But I couldn’t help feeling that Mr Rivers was going to end up using and hurting Sean again. I just didn’t know how to explain that to Sean, and so far this morning I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him as he hadn’t come down yet.

“Why haven’t they mentioned me?” Anne-Marie was still complaining. “They’ve mentioned Sean and Hunter Blake – even Danny! And you, Ruby, they never seem to shut up about you, but not me. Why don’t they
ever
mention me?”

“They haven’t mentioned me this time either,” Nydia offered.

“What does a girl have to do to get famous around here?” Anne-Marie slapped the magazine down on the table.

“Don’t ask me,” I said with a shrug. “I did practically everything wrong the last time I was in Hollywood.”

“I need to get Sean to go out somewhere in public
with me.” There was no stopping Anne-Marie in this frame of mind. “Maybe I can get him to take me shopping on Rodeo Drive, and we’d be bound to get snapped by the paps, wouldn’t we, Rubes? Like that time they took that photo of your mum and wrote all those horrible things about her. If I can get Sean to be seen out with me, they’d have to find out who I am and then they’d write about me.”

“You might not want them to write about you, Anne-Marie,” my mum said as she came to join us. She was carrying the cordless phone in her hand, as if she normally took it all round the house with her and wasn’t waiting for a special call that would determine all of our futures at all.

“Well, they wouldn’t write anything rude about
me
!” Anne-Marie reasoned. “I look great!”

“Morning,” Gabe said, wandering out to join us and blinking in the sunshine. “What’s happening today then? Why’s everyone so hyper?”

“Oh, Gabe,” Nydia said, grinning at him. “We’re waiting for the studio to call. Today we either find out we’ve got through to the next stage or we get packed off back home.”

“Home I hope,” Gabe said, grabbing a glass of orange juice and yawning. “It’s too sunny over here. If I get back
before the end of next week I’ll be in time for the preseason trials at football camp.”

“You seem like you’re in a hurry to go home,” Anne-Marie said, raising a brow.

Gabe smiled at Nydia. “There are some good things about Hollywood,” he said, making Anne-Marie and me clutch our throats and gag.

“Girls, that’s enough!” Mum said, chuckling. Just then the phone began trilling in her hand and she almost dropped it. “Goodness!” she said, putting a hand to her chest and looking at it.

“Is that the studio?” Sean’s mum came in and stared at the phone too.

“That will be news,” Mr Martinez said, emerging from the TV room.

All of us stared at the ringing telephone.

“Shouldn’t someone actually answer it?” Anne-Marie asked finally.

Mum jumped into life. “Hello? Yes, this is Mrs Parker. Yes, you can tell me the news for all of the children…”

Twenty minutes later, after Mum had shared the news, we all sat around the pool and looked at each other. We didn’t know how to act.

“It’s completely fine, honest,” Gabe said. “I knew they weren’t going to call me back. I got in there with Anne-Marie and I sort of froze. But you lot should be psyched! You’re all going back and it’s well cool, man.” He grinned and winked at Nydia. “I’m pleased for you.”

“The boy’s right,” Mr Martinez said. “I don’t think Gabe’s mum and sisters would have been that pleased if we’d stayed out here the whole summer. But you girls getting through is brilliant news!”

“It is, isn’t it?” Nydia said, looking at me, the start of a smile curling the corners of her mouth. “This means that the three of us have already beaten at least two hundred people! Now there’s got to be only about fifty going for the lead roles. We’re that close to getting a lead part in a Hollywood film!”

“Well, I’m not surprised,” Anne-Marie said. “I knew we’d be brilliant – especially me!”

“So what do we have to do next?” I asked. I felt sort of odd, as if the news wasn’t really real. It was incredibly exciting news and it took us one step nearer to a part in the film. A film that could change all of our careers forever and make us truly global stars. But I decided it was best not to think about any of that. After all, in show business things have a habit of going wrong when you least expect them. I knew that better than anyone.

“They’ve asked that you go in tomorrow for audition workshops,” Mum told us. “They’ll try you out in different groups. Test you to see which actors work best together. I think there are all sorts – singing, dance, acting. It will be a long day, but a fabulous one. I’ll phone the Academy and tell Ms Lighthouse. She’ll be thrilled!”

“Morning,” Sean greeted us as he ambled out to the pool. “I heard the phone,” he said as he stretched. “Good news?”

“For everyone but me,” Gabe said with a shrug. “And that’s kind of good news anyway.”

“Well, I have some news too,” Sean said.

I sat up a bit and looked at him. Was he going to tell his mum about seeing his dad? On the one hand I sort of hoped he was, but on the other I was imagining the seventy-five years or so that I would be grounded for sneaking out of the house and going across Hollywood late at night.

“I feel fine today,” Sean said. “So if the studio can fit me in for a screen test then I’m ready.”

“Are you sure? Why would you want to do that?” I asked him, perhaps a little too quickly.

“Why? Because it’s what he’s here for, Ruby!” Anne-Marie told me, jumping up and hugging Sean. “This is brilliant news, Sean! Do you want me to come with you?”

Sean smiled at her. “No, you stay here and rest. You’ll need all your energy for tomorrow. I’ll go in with Mom. It’ll be cool.”

Mrs Rivers looked at Sean for a long moment and then put her arm around his shoulder.

“Are you sure that this is what you want, Sean?” she asked him, looking into his eyes. “Only when you came down with that sore throat yesterday I thought it was nature’s way of telling us you weren’t ready to act again. The only person you have to do this for is you. What I or Anne-Marie or the whole world thinks isn’t important. Is it, Anne-Marie?”

“Um, well…no, no, it’s not,” Anne-Marie frowned, but agreed.

“Only do this if it’s what you really, really want,” Sean’s mum told him.

Sean paused and I wondered if I was the only one who could see the mixture of guilt and worry on his face. But then he turned on his world-famous Sean Rivers smile and it made us believe the impossible.

“Mom,” he said, “this is what I really,
really
want.”

“We’ve got a whole day with nothing to do,” Anne-Marie said, after we had all waved Sean off, wishing him luck
and telling him we hoped he’d break a leg. “Shall we go shopping?”

“Not me,” Nydia said as we walked back into the house. “I haven’t got any money and besides…” She looked over to where Gabe was playing football with his dad. “Gabe’s flying back tomorrow.”

“When
did
you decide that you liked Gabe, by the way?” I asked Nydia. We had trailed into the TV room and Anne-Marie had put C! the Celebrity Channel on. “And what happened to Greg? You never said you were going to chuck him.”

“I didn’t chuck him really,” Nydia said. “We just stopped calling and texting. Then when me and Gabe were suddenly thrown into the leads for
Spotlight!
, we got on really well…”

“Has he been your secret boyfriend all this time?” Anne-Marie challenged her.

“No!” Nydia said. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know if he liked me, and anyway, after the show I didn’t really see him. But when we came out here and we hung out a bit, he asked me out, if you must know!”

“Of course we must know, we’re your best friends! It’s the law that you tell us everything,” I said, instantly feeling guilty about what I had not told Anne-Marie. “Anyway I think it’s cool.”

“It is sweet,” Anne-Marie agreed. “Sean was my secret boyfriend when we started going out together. Do you remember – when the whole world thought it was Ruby he liked?” Anne-Marie giggled as if the idea of Sean liking me was impossible. Which it was, I supposed. “Me and Sean are a perfect couple.”

“Really?” I asked her, worried about how interested I sounded, not to mention felt. “How do you know?”

“Because…” Anne-Marie trailed off as she thought about it. “Just look at us!” she exclaimed.

“Do you, you know…like, love him?” I asked her.

She laughed, tossing her golden curls over her shoulder. “Yes, I do. I love that he’s going to go and audition for a part in
Spotlight! The Movie Musical.
I love that he makes me laugh and that when we walk down the road together every other girl within a five-mile radius practically drops dead from jealousy. He’s perfect for me and I’m perfect for him.”

“But
are
you?” I asked thoughtfully.

“Pardon?” said Anne-Marie.

“I mean you are,” I said hastily. “You are perfect for him, of course. Come on then – let’s go shopping.”

Anne-Marie can shop better than anyone else I know. Maybe it helps that she has a lot of money, or that her mother is a fashion designer and her dad is a
movie producer. But I don’t think it’s any of that. I think it’s just in her genes – like Gabe can keep a football up in the air longer than anyone else in the school and Nydia can sing a top C without even having to try that hard. Anne-Marie is good at a lot of things, but shopping is her natural gift.

As we went from Guess to Banana Republic, Gap and Esprit, and all the other cool shops that seemed so much better here than they did at home, Anne-Marie scanned the rails like a hawk looking for prey. She didn’t browse or um and ah over things. She just knew what to pick up and she was never wrong. And it wasn’t just for herself – she picked out outfits for me and Nydia too. She knew all our measurements, down to our shoes, and she knew exactly what colours suited all of us.

“You’re best in berry colours,” she said, holding a deep purple dress up against me. “I suit pastels and white. And Nydia, well, she can wear almost any colour. Let’s get you this dress and her this yellow one – she will look so cute in it!”

“We can’t afford these,” I said, checking the tag.

“I can,” Anne-Marie said, waving her mum’s charge card at me. “Mummy sent me this so I could take care of my expenses while I was here.”

“I don’t think your expenses include buying clothes for your friends,” I said.

“No, but she won’t know that. She probably won’t even read the statement,” Anne-Marie said, suddenly looking quite sad. “I’m going to buy them anyway, so you’ll have to wear them otherwise it will be a waste.”

She sounded like a spoilt brat, but I could see from looking at her that the thought of an endless pot of money didn’t make her happy.

“Have you heard from your mum?” I asked.

Anne-Marie had been certain that she would see her mum while she was in Hollywood. She’d been secretly looking forward to it ever since we all found out we were coming. She hadn’t said anything; she wasn’t the sort of person to talk about personal feelings all that much. But ever since we’d arrived she’d been checking her phone for messages and missed calls, or asking if anyone had called for her. So far nobody had.

“No,” Anne-Marie sighed, sitting down suddenly on the edge of a pedestal usually reserved for mannequins. I settled down next to her and put my arm around her. “Nothing, not an e-mail or anything. I left her a message about us getting called back for second auditions, but she hasn’t replied.”

“What about your dad?”

Anne-Marie shook her head. “He’s in Budapest. I knew I wasn’t going to see him, but Mummy said she’d come if she could. Oh, look, I’m being ridiculous. I’m sure she’ll visit – I just wish she’d call and tell me when…”

“You miss her, don’t you?” I asked. It was hard for me to imagine Anne-Marie with her mum, because I’d never actually met her properly. She wasn’t like my mum, Nydia’s or even Sean’s. Mums that were almost a part of my daily life. She was a bit like those photos that are already in a photo frame when you buy it from a shop. You know the person in the picture isn’t real. And that’s how I felt about Anne-Marie’s mum; she didn’t seem real.

A few years ago I remember her coming to an open day at the Academy. She was tall like Anne-Marie, with the same curly blonde hair. She had arrived, breezed around the school as if she owned it and then left. And I think she might have left without saying goodbye to Anne-Marie although I wasn’t sure.

My mum was always around whether I wanted her to be or not.

“I don’t know if I miss her,” Anne-Marie said quietly. “I miss having a mum like yours. Someone to tell me what to do, to talk about stuff with. But the weird thing is, Ruby, I don’t know if I miss
my
mum or just
a
mum.
After all I hardly ever see her. I don’t blame her or anything. Some mums are more mumsy than others…but I just sometimes wish…” She looked at me sideways. “Can I tell you something?” she asked.