Centre Stage: A Novel

out, windmill and hands up…
    I could do it. A thrill raced through me. I was dancing and doing just fine.
    And round and to the side and back and spin…
    At last the piece of music came to an end and Dizzy pressed the stop button on the CD player. ‘Right, two minutes, then I’ll watch you. This half of the room first,’ she said, indicating my half of the line.
    I pushed my hair back from my damp forehead. I can do this , I thought determinedly.
    ‘First group!’ Dizzy called.
    I walked over to the centre of the room with five of the other girls, Justine included.
    Standing by the CD player, Dizzy turned the music on and counted us in again. ‘Five, six, seven, eight!’
    The music blasted out. Concentrating hard but remembering to smile and look as if I was enjoying it, I spun and stepped and twirled. As I finished the final spin I felt a huge rush of relief. I’d done it! OK, I probably hadn’t been as perfect as some of the others but at least I hadn’t gone majorly wrong.
    ‘Great,’ Dizzy said, writing down some notes on a clipboard she was holding. ‘Next group into position!’
    Ten minutes later the audition was over. As I walked out of the rehearsal room relief buzzed through me. I’d got through the dancing audition and, miracle of miracles, I hadn’t made a fool of myself!
    We went to another room with a small canteen in it and waited there while Stefan, the musical director, took us out in groups of four.
    The musical auditions were in a small room with a piano. Stefan played a number of scales and we had to sing them and then he taught us the chorus of one of the songs in the show. We had to sing it back to him — first together and then one at a time.
    I was in a group with Justine and the two other girls who were auditioning to be Lucy. I think I did OK. Stefan seemed pleased and I only had to sing the chorus once. Justine and one of the other girls had to sing it three times before they got it right.
    At the end of the day we all went on to the stage. People were talking excitedly, catching up on how each other’s auditions had been. I looked into the auditorium and saw that most people’s parents had arrived. Mum was there. Seeing me looking, she waved. I waved back but then Claire walked on to the stage and we all fell silent.
    ‘Well, that’s it for today,’ Claire said, smiling at us. ‘It’s been great to see you all. Dizzy, Stefan and I are now going to get together and make some decisions. Thank you all very much for coming. We’ll be in touch in the next few days.’
    She and Dizzy and Stefan smiled and then walked off.
    That was it. It was all over. There was a pause and then everyone started to move. The noise level rose as parents stood up in the auditorium and people began to gather their bags and coats from the wings.
    Justine came over to me. ‘Well, I’ll see you soon, I guess,’ she said to me. ‘Hopefully at the rehearsals!’
    ‘Fingers crossed!’ I smiled.
    We said goodbye and I went to meet Mum.
    ‘Well, how was it?’ she asked.
    ‘OK, I think,’ I replied.
    ‘Well, let’s go,’ Mum said. ‘You can tell me everything you’ve been doing on the way back home.’
    I looked round the theatre. I didn’t want to leave. Now I’d spent the day here I wanted the part of Lucy more than ever. I wanted to be on that stage, to act in front of a real audience.
    ‘Sophie?’ Mum said.
    ‘Coming,’ I sighed reluctantly.
    I followed her out of the auditorium. Walking out of the theatre’s front doors and on to the busy, bright, Saturday streets, I felt like I had been in another world.
    My world , I thought, and I was filled with a sudden desperate longing. I just had to get the part of Lucy — I had to!

Chapter Five
    ‘Now write down four places — two you’d like to go to and two you wouldn’t,’ Ally instructed, sitting cross-legged on her bed.
    I scribbled down Alton Towers, ice skating, school and the North Pole on the four pieces of paper in front of me.
    Harriet, Ally and I were sleeping over at Ally’s house. Over supper, I’d told Ally and Harriet all about the audition — and Justine, of course. Now we were in Ally’s bedroom playing one of those games where you find out who your ideal boyfriend is and what your perfect date would be like. You know the type.
    Ally put the pieces of paper in a mug and placed it next to the other mug on her bedside table. That mug had boys’ names in — we’d each had to write down two boys we