Centre Stage: A Novel

anyone.
    At the end of the quiz, the sixth formers went off into another room to discuss who they would select.
    ‘I bet Harriet’s got in,’ Ally whispered to me.
    I nodded. ‘She was brilliant.’
    Five minutes later, the sixth formers came back in. ‘OK,’ Andy said. ‘We can now tell you who’s been chosen to be in the quiz club.’
    I crossed my fingers. Please let him say Harriet’s name…
    ‘Tania Foggarty, Ben Harvey, Sasha Lawson, Harriet Chase…’
    Yessssss! I grabbed Ally’s arm in excitement. ‘She’s got in!’ I whispered.
    ‘That’s your friend, isn’t it?’ Eve said to Ally.
    Ally nodded.
    Harriet looked totally delighted. But someone wasn’t pleased. Or to be more accurate — three some-ones: Kelly, Leanne and Rachel. None of them had had their names read out. Leanne and Rachel looked as if they didn’t really care, but Kelly looked totally fed up.
    As soon as the names had been read out I jumped off the desk. ‘Come on,’ I said to Ally. ‘Let’s go and see Harriet.’
    But as Ally and I hurried across the room, Ben went up to her. We screeched to a stop.
    ‘Look!’ I hissed, grabbing Ally’s arm.
    We were too far away to hear what Ben was saying but Harriet was smiling and talking animatedly. We edged closer. As we got nearer I could hear Harriet saying, ‘I so nearly answered that question about the Nile wrong but then I remembered the right answer and…’
    ‘Hi, Ben,’ Kelly interrupted, walking up to them. ‘Congratulations.’ She fluttered her mascared eyelashes at him, totally ignoring Harriet. ‘You did really well.’
    Ben smiled. ‘Thanks. Sorry you didn’t get in, Kelly.’
    ‘Never mind.’ Kelly edged round so that her shoulder was almost pushing Harriet out of the way. ‘So what else do you like doing apart from the quiz club, Ben?’
    ‘All sorts,’ Ben said, stepping back a bit so Harriet was included again. ‘I go sailing quite a lot.’
    ‘Really!’ Kelly said all wide-eyed. ‘I’d love to try sailing.’
    I’m sorry, but could she be any more obvious? However, to my relief, Ben didn’t invite her to go sailing with him. ‘Well, um, you should go some time,’ he said, looking awkward. ‘Anyway, look, I’d better catch up with my mates.’ He turned to Harriet. ‘I’ll see you next week, Harriet.’
    Harriet nodded eagerly and Ben disappeared into the crowd.
    Kelly stared after him for a moment and then she turned and hurried back to her friends. I forgot about her.
    ‘Congratulations!’ I exclaimed, racing over to Harriet with Ally.
    ‘You were brilliant!’ Ally cried.
    ‘Thanks,’ Harriet said shyly.
    ‘Ben got in too,’ Ally said. ‘And he likes you!’
    Harriet went pink. ‘He doesn’t,’ she said quickly.
    ‘He does!’ Ally insisted. ‘It was totally obvious when he was talking to you.’
    ‘There’s going to be luuuurve in the quiz club,’ I grinned.
    Harriet looked very hopeful. ‘I can’t wait till the first meeting,’ she grinned back.
    Although I was really pleased that Harriet had got into the quiz club, the downside was that now Kelly had it in for her even more. She, Rachel and Leanne kept giggling and whispering comments whenever Harriet went by or answered a question in class. I just didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t like they were really bullying her but I could tell Harriet was getting upset.
    I told Ally about it. ‘She’s just got to ignore them,’ she said when I rang her on Friday night. ‘If they see she’s not bothered then they’ll stop.’
    ‘But she is bothered,’ I told her. ‘She hardly answered any questions in Maths today.’ I sighed. ‘They’re just such losers. I mean, if I say anything to them they shut up but then they just start again the next day.’
    ‘Harriet needs to say something to them herself,’ Ally said.
    ‘I know,’ I replied. ‘But she just won’t, and she won’t even really talk to me about it.’
    ‘Do you think I should try and speak to her about it tomorrow?’ Ally asked. ‘We’re going to be at the stables all day.’
    ‘Good idea,’ I said. Maybe away from school, Harriet would talk about it more. I hoped so. It was horrible seeing her getting upset.
    ‘I’ll ring you tomorrow,’ Ally said. ‘Tell you how it goes. Good luck at the rehearsal.’
    The rehearsal! My heart pitter-pattered with excitement. ‘Thanks,’ I said, wondering what it was going to be like. One thing was for sure, I couldn’t wait to find