Centre Stage: A Novel

week. Ally was moved to a different form but we’re going to all stay friends. Apart from that, everything’s OK. I’ll e-mail you after the auditions. I better go and clean my jazz shoes now.
Lots of love, Sophie xxx
    I sent the message, turned the computer off and went to fetch the tube of black shoe polish.
    My jazz shoes were on my bedroom floor. The toes were scuffed, so I picked them up and began to polish them. As I squeezed on the black shiny liquid, the words from the speech I was going to do at the auditions bubbled up inside my head.
    Oh, Melchisedec. It’s been a long day — a very long, hard day…
    Melchisedec is Sara’s pet rat. She is talking to him in her attic bedroom. She is feeling cold and exhausted and wishing her father was still alive.
    As I ran through the lines, I shut my eyes and imagined saying them on the stage at the Palace Theatre. It would be very different from being on a film set where film crew surround you all the time, even if you’re the only actor in the scene. But I was sure it would be OK. When I’m acting I seem to forget where I am. I know it sounds weird but it’s as if everything fades away and I become the person I’m pretending to be.
    Imagining myself on stage, excitement flickered through me. I couldn’t wait…
    All right, so maybe cleaning shoes with your eyes shut isn’t the brainiest thing to do. Amidst the thoughts of the audition, it slowly dawned on me that my hand felt damp. My eyes snapped open. There was black polish all over my fingers. I’d been so lost in my thoughts about the audition that I’d been obliviously spreading shoe polish over my hand. A very cool look — not!
    ‘Great,’ I sighed. Dumping the shoes on the floor, I went to the bathroom and began to wash my hands.
    But as I scrubbed at my fingers, my thoughts drifted back to the auditions. Just what were they going to be like?

Chapter Four
    STAGE DOOR . The faded black letters stood out against the dirty-white background of the sign.
    ‘I suppose this must be it,’ Mum said.
    I looked around. We were standing outside a grey door in an alleyway behind the theatre. ‘Are you sure?’ I said to Mum. It didn’t look anything like the grand gold-painted front entrance of the theatre.
    Mum checked the letter in her hand. ‘Yes, the instructions say to go to the stage door in Victoria Street. This seems to be it. Come on, let’s go in.’
    She turned the handle. A man with a beard and a ponytail was sitting behind a glass panel at a desk. He smiled. ‘Here for the auditions?’
    So we were in the right place, after all.
    ‘It’s Sophie Tennison,’ Mum said, pointing to the list of names he had in front of him.
    The man ticked my name off the list. ‘Fine. Just go through that door there and straight to the stage.’
    He pressed a button and we walked through a small door and into a high-ceilinged corridor.
    I’d never been backstage at a proper theatre before. There were long black curtains hanging from the ceiling and pieces of scenery stacked by the walls. I felt a thrill of excitement.
    A woman with short dark hair came over. She was carrying a clipboard and looked super-efficient. ‘Hello, I take it you’re here for the auditions?’ she said briskly. ‘I’m Velda Brown, the company manager. Can I take your name, please?’
    ‘Sophie Tennison,’ I told her.
    Velda scanned down her list. ‘Yes, here you are. You’re auditioning to play Lucy?’
    I nodded.
    ‘Well, good luck,’ she told me. ‘Now, Mrs Tennison,’ she said, turning to Mum, ‘the auditions are going to be taking up most of the day. You’re very welcome to stay but, if you’d prefer, you can just leave Sophie here and come back later — about three o’clock.’
    Mum looked at me.
    ‘I don’t mind,’ I said. And to my amazement I realized I actually meant it. Being in the theatre felt somehow right. It sounds weird, I know, but I felt like I belonged there.
    ‘Well, if you’re sure, I’ll go and do some shopping, then,’ Mum said. ‘I’ll come back this afternoon. Good luck!’
    She gave me a hug and left.
    ‘We’ll be starting very shortly,’ Velda informed me. ‘Why don’t you join the others?’
    I walked slowly on to the stage. There were about twenty other people there. A lot of them seemed to know each other and they stood in small groups, talking. None of them took any notice of me.
    I looked out into the auditorium. There were rows and rows of empty red seats.