Centre Stage: A Novel

formers ran a tuck shop at breaktime. There was a mad scrum round the serving hatch.
    ‘I’ll go and queue — or push,’ Harriet said, still looking starry-eyed. ‘What do you want?’
    We handed over our money and told her our orders — cheese Quavers for me and pickled onion Monster Munch for Ally — and Harriet went to join the crush.
    Ally and I wandered over to a table to wait. ‘Ben was really nice, wasn’t he?’ I said.
    Ally nodded but she was frowning slightly and I had a feeling that there was something on her mind. I was right.
    ‘What was going on with those girls from your class — you know, just before Ben came along?’
    ‘You mean Kelly, Rachel and Leanne?’
    Ally nodded.
    I shot a look at the tuck queue to make sure Harriet was well out of earshot. ‘They’ve been picking on Harriet,’ I said in a low voice. ‘I mean not much, just laughing a bit at her trousers and giggling when she answers questions. And, well, they called her a teacher’s pet today after registration.’
    ‘Morons.’ Ally frowned.
    I nodded in agreement. ‘Did you see how quickly they signed up for the quiz club when Ben put his name down?’
    ‘Yeah,’ Ally said. ‘I mean, how obvious was that? They only did it because they fancy him.’
    Just then Harriet came back over. We quickly shut up. Too quickly. ‘What are you talking about?’ she asked suspiciously.
    ‘Just about… about the weekend,’ Ally lied. ‘Sophie was telling me about her audition. So what time’s it on at, Soph?’
    ‘I’ve got to be there at ten,’ I said, trying to make it seem like we’d been talking about it all along. ‘It lasts all day. They’re going to split us into groups for the acting, singing and dancing auditions. I’m dreading the dancing.’
    To my relief Harriet stopped looking suspicious. She smiled. ‘I don’t know why. I bet you’ll get the part. You’ll have to ring us and tell us what happened as soon as you get back.’
    ‘I know, why don’t I ask if you can both stay over on Saturday night?’ Ally said.
    ‘OK,’ I agreed. We often have sleepovers at the weekends.
    ‘I’ll ask Mum tonight,’ Ally promised.
    Yap, yap! Yap, yap!
    ‘Not again, Snowy,’ I said as, for about the twentieth time, a rubber hamburger was plonked in my lap. ‘Aren’t you bored yet?’
    ‘He’s just a bundle of energy,’ Mum said, shaking her head. ‘He never seems to stop. Maybe another walk will help tire him out. I’ve got to drop Tom to band practice but I’ll take him out afterwards.’
    Just then the door that led to the lounge opened and Tom came in. ‘Can we go now, Mum?’
    I stared. ‘What are you wearing!’
    ‘What?’ Tom said, looking down at his clothes. He was wearing a hoody that was about three sizes too big, baggy black trousers with chains strung across them and two belts.
    ‘You look stupid,’ I giggled. ‘Why do you need two belts?’
    ‘It’s cool,’ Tom answered.
    I grinned. ‘Yeah. In some sort of parallel universe.’
    Tom frowned at me. ‘Like you’d know.’
    ‘OK, OK,’ Mum said, holding up her hands before an argument could develop. ‘Come on, Tom,’ she said, getting her car keys.
    Tom walked out of the house and down to the gate.
    ‘Now, did you try on your jazz shoes yesterday?’ Mum said to me.
    I nodded. ‘They still fit.’
    ‘Good. Well, make sure you give them a clean before tomorrow morning. Oh and there’s an e-mail for you. It’s from Issy. See you later.’
    As Mum headed after Tom, I went to the computer and switched it on. What was Issy’s e-mail about?
    It was short but then Issy’s e-mails always were.
    Hi Soph. Good luck for the audition! I’ll be thinking of you. I start filming in a week’s time. Can’t wait! Anyway, e-mail me SOON! I’m missing you!!!!!!
    Love and hugs, Issy xxxxxx
    I smiled. It was cool she’d remembered about my audition. She might not have written much but I was used to that. Although Issy had promised that we would stay best friends when filming ended, she never rang me and her e-mails were always short. I didn’t mind though. After all, I had Harriet and Ally.
    I e-mailed a reply.
    Hi Issy. Thanks for the e-mail. I’m doing one of Sara’s speeches from the film for the audition - the one where she’s talking to Melchisedec in the attic. It should be OK although I’m dreading the dancing audition. Keep your fingers crossed for me!! Anyway, how’s school? Ally, Harriet and I had a complete nightmare this