Stagefright (24 page)

“Where’s Peter?” asked Hailie, looking around for the one missing member of Stagefright.

“He left already.”

“Without saying goodbye?”

Hailie sulked. Peter’s sexuality was as big a mystery as it had ever been.

Velvet was thinking that Roula had gone home as well, until she appeared, beaming. “I finally found someone who’s my type!”

She was holding hands with Sofia Ritano.

“You did an amazing job with the lights and the sound, Sofia,” Velvet said, and she meant it.

Sofia shrugged. “I work for a sound equipment place on weekends. I want to be a sound engineer when I leave school.”

They all had coffee and cake and turned their thoughts to the future.

“We could do another production next year,” Hailie said.

“Yeah,” Roula said. “We’ve already got over three hundred bucks for costumes.”

“What will we do?”

“Something with more songs,” Taleb suggested. “A big musical.”

“We should write our own story,” Hailie said.

“But half of us won’t be here. Drago’s expelled, this is Jesus’s last year and Velvet’s going to Endeavour.”

The mood changed as they realised they couldn’t recreate the same experience, and that next year would be different.

“Maybe I’ll fail and have to repeat Year 12,” Jesus said hopefully.

Velvet thought it was entirely possible, as he had sat his Year 12 exams among all the rehearsal and performance mayhem.

“I’ll get my social worker to grovel to Slinky.” Drago draped an arm over Mei’s shoulder. “And my foster mother to bawl in his office. I’ll be back.”

They all looked at Velvet.

“What about you, Corduroy?” Drago asked.

“Oh, I decided to stay anyway. Endeavour is too far away. I’d have to catch two trams and a bus to get there.”

Drago winked at Taleb. “Very sensible.”

At midnight parents came back to collect the performers. They all hugged each other, not just the girls, even though they’d all be back at school the next day. Taleb kissed Velvet goodnight in front of everybody, including her parents.

“I hope you haven’t given up your plans to go to university, darling,” Velvet’s mother said.

“Don’t worry, Mum, I’m not going to fail. I finished most of my assignments during the holidays. I’ve just got a Mandarin test, and Miss Ryan’s given me an extension for my humanities assignment.”

Miss Ryan had also told them they would be getting grades on their reports for cultural studies, instead of the “pass” that students had got in previous years. She said they would all get As – even Drago.

As they drove out of the car park, the school looked better in the dark, with the orange streetlights reflecting in the windows. Taleb rode past them on his bike with his guitar slung across his back. Velvet clutched her autographed program and the plectrum he had given her for luck. It hadn’t been such a bad year after all.

C
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SON
is the author of the internationally bestselling and award-winning Dragonkeeper series as well as over thirty other much-loved books. Carole embarked on her writing career at the age of 40, happily leaving behind her previous employment as a laboratory technician in jobs involving blood and brains. She has been making up for lost time ever since. Carole is married and has a daughter, and she lives in inner-city Melbourne.

Carole’s website is
carolewilkinson.com.au

Not many authors get the chance to rewrite their very first novel. I did with this book.

It was Maryann Ballantyne who gave me my “big break” by commissioning
Stagefright
for the Rave series, published for the educational market back in 1996.

Fast forward fifteen years to 2011 and Maryann, now my publisher, was cleaning out her office and came across a copy of the original
Stagefright
and reread it. “I think you should update it, Carole,” she said, the next time she saw me.

I didn’t need asking twice. And I had a lot of fun revisiting Yarrabank High and its least favourite students.

So firstly, I want to thank Maryann for starting my writing career, for commissioning both editions of this book, and for everything in between.

My daughter Lili hasn’t quite forgiven me for stealing this story idea from her teenage life (how was I to know she’d end up being a YA author?). Nevertheless, she did read an early draft and made many insightful comments. I’d also like to thank Anna-Grace Hopkins for sharing her vast knowledge of musical theatre with me, and Miles Kelly for helping me out with slang.

I should probably also thank Miss Ellis, my fourth-year high-school English teacher. She was fresh out of teachers college and the boys gave her hell, but she managed to make Shakespeare’s
Richard the Third
stick in my mind.

When I discovered that Mary Verney had seen the recent production of
Richard the Third
starring Kevin Spacey (twice), I knew I was in good hands. Thanks to Mary for her editing skills and also to Amy Daoud for her lovely design.

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