The Time of Your Life (11 page)

Cat: Mini-Molls and Giant Peaches

The following Tuesday morning Cat was snoozing
away her last few seconds, visualizing exactly how she
would take the dagger from Macbeth's hands at the end
of the murder scene—

DRRIIINNNNGGGG! DRRIIINNNNGGG!

Cat high-jumped off her bed.

She hated Belle's alarm clock more than she had
ever hated anything in her life – and that
included
pickled gherkins!

They'd devised a system whereby Belle set the alarm
to go off again ten minutes after she went out for her
yoga class or run at 6 a.m. The clever part was that she
positioned it by the door, so that Cat had to get out of
bed to turn it off.

Painful as it was, the system worked. Cat was getting
so organized, she'd soon be graduating from
Time
Management for Dummies
to
Time Management for
Experts.
And Mrs Salmon hadn't found anything to yell
at her about for ages!

DRRIIINNNNGGGG!

Va-a-a-lerieee!

Cat dropped the alarm clock and grabbed her
mobile phone. Her heart was hammering. No one
called at this time unless it was an emergency!

'Hello,' she gasped.

DRIINNNGG!

'Oh good, you're up, dear,' Mum said.

'What's wrong? Has something happened to Fiona?'
Cat panted, imagining her little sister in hospital – or
worse.

'Nothing's wrong. Whatever is that noise?'

'Alarm clock,' Cat said, turning it off.

'I've got some
wonderful
news for you!' Mum
gushed.

Cat sighed, slumping down on the edge of the bed.
If it wasn't a 999-situation, she dreaded to think why
Mum was calling her with a dawn alert.

'You remember Seth Martinez?' Mum asked. 'No?
Well, he's an old friend from my
Star Wars
days, and he's
a casting agent now, and he's just given me the tip-off
that they're casting for a new production of
Bugsy
Malone . .
.'

Cat stared out of the window at the rain. She had a
horrible feeling she knew where this was going.

'. . . and wait till you hear this!' Mum crowed.
'They're auditioning for Tallulah – by invitation only!
Your clever mother has only managed to
wangle you an
invitation –
and it's this afternoon!'

'Mum, I've got a
Macbeth
rehearsal at five. It's a
full run-through. If I'm late this time, I'll be thrown
out!'

'Oh,
Macbeth, Schmacbeth!'
Mum breezed. 'I'll have
you back in plenty of time. This is big-time, Cat, a
career-maker. You could be the next Tallulah!'

Cat wanted to be many things, but
the next
Tallulah –
a gangster's moll in a kids' musical about
black-market custard pies – was definitely
not
one
of them.

But there was no arguing with Mum; she was like
quicksand – the more you struggled, the faster you
sank.

After lunch Cat called at Mrs Butterworth's desk to
sign out for the afternoon. 'Oh yes' – Mrs B smiled,
scooting out from her office – 'your mum phoned to
let us know. Good luck, dear – break a leg!'

'Auditioning for West End shows, Catrin?' Mr
Fortune remarked as he passed on his way to his office.
'I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea with all your
other commitments.'

'You try telling my mum that,' Cat muttered grimly.

'Ah, yes, your mother – a force to be reckoned
with!' he said with a trace of a grin. He'd only met
Mum once, when Cat came for interview, but she'd
clearly made an impression.

Cat heard the horn starting to blare outside. 'You
could say that,' she replied, smiling weakly.

Cat timed the journey. With Mum's rally-driver
technique of 'nipping' into bus lanes and jumping
amber lights along Piccadilly, it took exactly half an
hour through the lashing rain. 'Promise me we'll leave
by quarter past four at the latest,' Cat pleaded, 'so I
won't be late for the rehearsal.'

'Yes, yes, dear,' Mum replied vaguely as she did a
high-speed U-turn across three lanes of traffic and
parked on a double yellow line. 'Now, I've got a lovely
costume for you in the back of the car.'

Cat followed her mother into the theatre. They
found Seth Martinez in the brightly lit foyer,
swigging from a bucket-sized cappuccino and barking
orders to a fleet of assistants. A mountain of a man,
wearing a suntan the shade of a ginger biscuit and a
white linen suit, he air-kissed a spot two feet above
Mum's head. 'Terri, Terri, Terri, great to see ya,' he
drawled. 'This
Bugsy's
gonna fly, baby. We're going to
Broadway with this!'

Cat thought he was kind of smarmy, but he
was
Mum's friend so she smiled politely. Mum looked as if
she would implode with excitement.

Cat made her way across the foyer, which was
swarming with girls dressed up as 1920s nightclub
singers, and signed in with one of the assistants at a
makeshift desk, trying not to panic about the long list
of names ahead of her own, before taking Mum's
costume bag and setting off for the ladies to get
changed.

She pulled the apricot chiffon dress out of the bag.
Mum was right. It
was
lovely.

Lovely for someone six foot tall with the figure of a
drainpipe.

Who didn't have red hair.

Cat stuffed the dress back in the bag. Mum had been
playing the audition song on the way in the car. Cat
actually quite liked it. She would stand up and sing it,
just to keep Mum happy, but there was
no way
she was
going to look like a giant peach while she was doing it.

She trailed back out into the foyer, which was still
full of mini-molls sending texts, drinking bottled water
and flicking their feather boas.

'I'm not wearing that dress. End of story,' Cat stated
as she sat down.

Mum wrinkled her nose at Cat's short black dress
and leather jacket. 'We'll see about that. Oh, and Seth
says it's going to be at least an hour before they can
see you.'

Cat groaned. She looked at her watch. It was now
2.45. If she was seen in one hour, and it took fifteen
minutes to belt through
My Name Is Tallulah
and
answer a few questions, they'd be out of there by four
o'clock. That should be OK.
Just!
She pulled out her
Macbeth
script and tried to focus.

An hour passed. Cat checked her watch for the
millionth time. They were still in the foyer and only a
few names had been called. There had been a flurry of
excitement when one of the Tallulahs fainted on stage
and was stretchered out. As a result, the casting panel
were now behind schedule, the assistant explained, and
there was very little chance that Cat would be seen
before 4.15.

Cat felt as if she were standing on the edge of a
cliff, with the ground starting to crumble away
beneath her feet.
She was going to be dashed to pieces on
the rocks far below!
If she was late for the
Macbeth
rehearsal, Mr Sharpe would definitely throw her
off the production. Mayu would gleefully take over
her role and Cat would lose her chance to play
Lady Macbeth in her first ever Garrick Shakespeare
production – and to wow all the important theatrical
agents and reviewers in the audience with her
acting skills.

Macbeth
was the first step towards her most-talented-young-actress
big dream and she couldn't
let it slip away.

I need a backup plan, and I need it fast!
she thought.

She took out her mobile phone and started writing
a text message.

Holly: Improvise!

Meanwhile, Holly was in a core jazz dance class,
working on sequences of turns, kicks and jumps inspired
by dance numbers from the musical
Chicago.

'. . .
and take a break!'
Miss LeClair shouted,
halfway through the lesson. Holly sank down onto
the bench, then leaped up as something buzzed
underneath her like a giant bumblebee. She was sitting
on her sweatshirt, and her mobile phone was in the
pocket. Students weren't allowed to use phones
in class, but Holly couldn't resist a quick peek to see
who was texting her.

URGENT – POSS NT BACK
4
MACB. NEED U GO
2
REDGRAVE
@ 5 &
B ME
4
FEW MINS, CAT X

Holly was worried. This sounded like trouble.

'Excuse me, Miss LeClair,' she called, hopping . . .'

She ran into the nearest bathroom and dialled Cat's
number. 'What's up?'

'I'm stuck here,' Cat groaned. 'If I'm not back by
five, can you go and sign in for me and shut yourself
in my dressing room. Just make a lot of noise so it
sounds like I'm getting ready. Lady Macbeth isn't on
stage until near the end of Act One – I'll be back by
then—'

'But what if you're
not
back?' Holly asked. 'There's
no way I'm going on stage or anything!'

'I
will
be, I promise.
Please, Hols.
If Mr Sharpe
suspects I'm even a second late, my days as Lady
Macbeth will be over.'

Holly really didn't want to see that happen to her
friend. 'Well . . . OK then,' she agreed reluctantly.

The class ended at four thirty. Holly couldn't tell Belle
about Cat's message in the changing room in case she
was overheard, but as soon as they emerged into the
courtyard, she pulled Belle into a corner behind a large
shrub and hurriedly explained the dilemma. As she was
doing so, another text appeared on her phone:
Still here!
Do it plse!

'Sign in for her?' Belle gasped. 'It's a bit risky. If
Mr Sharpe finds out, Cat'll be in even
more
trouble
than if she just showed up late.'

Holly nodded. Belle had a point. 'Perhaps Cat
could just phone Mr Sharpe and explain the
problem . . .' she suggested.

But Belle shook her head. 'No! I saw Mr Sharpe's
reaction last time she was late. Explaining won't do her
any good!'

'So we'll just have to go through with this sign-in-and-pretend-to-be-Cat
scheme then,' Holly said,
trying her best to sound upbeat. 'I'm sure she'll be back
in a few minutes anyway.'

'I guess so,' Belle agreed. 'We can't let her be thrown
out of the play.'

Holly smiled at her. She knew how much Belle
hated breaking the rules, but neither of them wanted to
let Cat down.
'All for one!'
she proclaimed, in her best
Three Musketeers
voice.

'And one for all!'
Belle rallied, with a swashbuckling
flourish as they stepped out from behind the bush,
nearly crashing into Nick and Lettie, who were
hurrying past on their way to the Redgrave.

'Whoa! You two been at the blue Smarties again?'
Nick joked.

Holly smiled weakly.
I have a bad feeling about this,
she thought.

At the theatre, Belle signed in on the line marked
BELLE
MADISON: CASTLE MESSENGER
while Holly scrawled
something vaguely like Cat's signature next to
CATRIN
WICKHAM: LADY M
. Then they ducked into Cat's
dressing room – luckily, playing the female lead, Cat
had her own private room. Holly slammed the door
and leaned back against it.

'Now what?' Belle asked.

'You go and change into your Messenger costume,'
Holly whispered. 'I'll stay here and clatter about a bit
until you get back.'

Belle slipped out of the door. 'See you later,
Cat!'
she
yelled over her shoulder.

Holly tried Cat's mobile number to see how much
longer she would be, but it went straight to voicemail.
'Help!' she squeaked to it before hanging up. She
rattled coat hangers along the rail for a few minutes,
then pressed her ear to the door, just as Belle opened it
and slipped in.

'They're starting in a few minutes,' she whispered,
wide-eyed with panic. 'Duncan wants everyone who's
in Act One to go to the wings. Have you heard from
Cat yet?'

Holly grimaced. 'No!'

Belle opened the door a crack and peeped out.
Holly held her breath as she heard Mayu's little-girl
voice. 'Is something wrong with Cat?' she simpered.
'Duncan's looking for her. If there's a problem, I don't
mind standing in—'

'Nope, no problem at all,' Belle replied breezily.
'She's just having a few issues with her costume.
How
are you getting on in there, Cat?'
she shouted as she
slammed the door shut. 'It's starting to get messy out
there,' she whispered urgently, turning back to Holly.
'What are we going to do?'

'We could set off the fire alarm,' Holly suggested.

Belle shook her head. 'Won't work! As soon as we
get to the assembly point they'd count us and find Cat
missing.'

'Oh, no,' Holly groaned, clutching her head in her
hands.
'Think!'

'What about flooding the toilets?' Belle said.

'It'd take too long—'

'I've got it!' Belle exclaimed, jumping up and down
on the spot. 'I'll ask Nick to help – he could pretend
there's a problem with the sound system. It could buy
us some time . . .'

'Genius!' Holly grinned. 'I'll keep trying Cat's mobile.'

'See you in the wings in a moment, Cat!'
Belle yelled as
she ran out of the dressing room.

'All cast for Act One on stage immediately,'
the tannoy
blared.

A few moments later, the air was torn apart by a
deafening electronic screech.
'Arggh!'
Holly yelped,
clapping her hands over her ears. By the sound of it,
Nick had agreed to Belle's plan.

A few moments later, Belle reappeared, grinning.
'OK, Nick's on board. Now we just have to wait for
Ca—
Arggh!'
She screamed as the sound system
produced another high-pitched squeal, followed by a
series of booms, a clap of thunder and a swirl of
bagpipes.

Still Cat didn't arrive or answer her phone.

The chaotic noises finally stopped. Holly and Belle
looked at each other bleakly. They were running out of
ideas. And time.

Then there was a knock at the door. Holly's heart
leaped into her mouth.

'Cat, Belle, hurry up!'
Nathan shouted. 'Mr Sharpe's
given up on the sound system and he's going to start
Act One now!' He sounded desperate. He obviously
had no idea what was going on, but there was no time
to explain.

'We'll be there in a minute!' Belle called.

Holly and Belle both jumped as Holly's phone
rang. 'Cat, where are you?' she hissed, switching to
speaker-phone so that Belle could hear. 'Please tell us
you're back!'

'I'm next in line to audition . . .'

'This is crazy!' Belle groaned. 'We can't stall any
longer!'

'You'll have to go on stage and pretend to be me,'
Cat said.

'No-o-o,' Holly whimpered. 'I can't!'

'Belle can't do it – she's a Messenger and we're in
the same scene together. You're my only chance,
Hols—'

'Cat, have you completely lost your mind?' Belle
snapped. 'Do you think people won't notice? Holly's
got a completely different accent, she's about a foot
shorter, she's black and you're white . . .'

'. . . and I can't even act . . .' Holly added sorrowfully.

'Improvise! You could wrap my big cloak round
you, wear high heels, pretend you've got a cold.
And you've helped me practise so much, you know all
the lines!'

'I know all the words to
Thriller –
it doesn't mean
I'm Michael Jackson!' Holly snorted.

'Look, I've got to go,' Cat said. 'You'll be
brilliant,
Hols.'

Holly stared at the phone in dismay. Cat had
hung up.

Belle laughed. 'That's the
craziest
plan I've ever
heard!'

'Yeah, I know!' Holly sighed, rolling her eyes. 'It's
totally gaga! But,' she added slowly, 'I haven't got a
better one . . .'

'Me neither,' Belle agreed.

'How did we let Cat talk us into this?' Holly asked.

Belle shrugged her shoulders.
'All for one!'

'And all for a one-way ticket to Mr Fortune's office
if we're not careful!' Holly said. 'Come on, we'd better
get started on my disguise if we're going to have
any
chance of pulling this off . . .'