Centre Stage: A Novel

a good look.
    I wasn’t the only one to have noticed. ‘What are you wearing, Harriet?’ Ally exclaimed.
    Harriet looked confused. ‘What? It’s my school uniform.’
    ‘But your trousers. They’re awf—’
    ‘They’re a bit short,’ I butted in quickly. Ally can be very blunt at times — too blunt.
    Harriet looked down at her trousers in surprise. ‘No, they’re not.’ She looked at ours and grinned. ‘Just because you two are fashion victims, doesn’t mean I have to be too.’
    ‘We’re not fashion victims,’ Ally said.
    ‘No,’ I said. It wasn’t like we were wearing anything ridiculous; we just wanted to fit in and look like everyone else. I looked at Harriet in confusion. ‘I thought I told you what to wear.’
    She shrugged. ‘You did but I couldn’t be bothered looking around for exactly the right sort of trousers and the right sort of shoes. What does it matter anyway?’
    Ally and I exchanged looks. What did it matter? I’m sorry but what planet was Harriet on?
    ‘At least loosen your tie,’ Ally pleaded.
    ‘OK,’ Harriet sighed. ‘If it makes you happy.’ She loosened her tie slightly and quickly changed the subject. ‘So, are you nervous?’
    We nodded.
    ‘Me too,’ she confessed. ‘I couldn’t sleep last night. I just know I’m going to get lost.’
    ‘At least we’re all in the same form,’ Ally put in.
    ‘Yeah,’ I agreed. We’d been really worried we were going to be split up into different forms at Charles Hope but, on the induction day, we had found out that we were all in form 7GD. It was a major relief. Starting secondary school was going to be scary enough; being in a different form from Ally and Harriet would have been dreadful.
    ‘I wish Justine Wilcox wasn’t with us though,’ Harriet sighed.
    Justine Wilcox had been in the same class as us at primary school. We had never got on with her and her friends. All they ever wanted to talk about were boys and clothes.
    ‘Yeah,’ Ally agreed. She giggled. ‘Do you remember the way she used to hold hands with Kevin in the playground? I mean, how sad was that?’
    ‘She was OK over the summer,’ I reminded them. Justine had been an extra in the film and so we had seen quite a bit of each other. On the film set she had been much friendlier than she had ever been at school. ‘Maybe she’ll be fine this year,’ I said optimistically.
    ‘Yeah and pigs might fly,’ Ally snorted. ‘Justine Wilcox could never be fine.’
    ‘I suppose she might have changed,’ Harriet said, trying to be fair as usual.
    Just then the bus arrived. We hurried to get seats near the back, not too far from Jess. Tom, my fifteen-year-old brother, sat at the back but he ignored me. He nearly always does when he’s with his mates. As I sat down, I noticed quite a few of the people nudging each other and looking at me.
    I felt a bit uncomfortable. I knew it was probably because I’d been in the film. There had been articles in several newspapers, including the local newspaper, about how I’d got the part.
    A girl with cropped bleached hair who looked like she was about Year Nine came over to me. ‘Are you Sophie Tennison?’
    ‘Yes,’ I replied.
    ‘My friend says you’re some sort of film star. Are you?’
    I wasn’t sure what to say. If I said yes, that would make me seem like some huge bighead, but I couldn’t really say no, either. The whole bus seemed to have stopped talking to listen to me. ‘Well, I had the main part in a film,’ I said, feeling my cheeks start to go red. Usually I don’t mind being the centre of attention but this was weird.
    ‘So you must, like, be really rich, then?’ the girl asked. She looked quite tough.
    ‘No,’ I said, feeling more uncomfortable than ever.
    Jessica stood up. ‘She earned some money for the film but most of it’s been put in a bank account and she can’t use it till she’s eighteen,’ she said sharply.
    The blonde girl frowned at her. ‘Who are you?’ she challenged.
    ‘Her sister,’ Jessica said, eyeing her steadily.
    For a moment they both stared at each other. Then, to my relief, the blonde girl seemed to give up on questioning me. With a shrug, she went back to her seat and sat down.
    I looked gratefully at Jess. She smiled quickly and then sat back down again with her friend, Nicole.
    The conversation on the bus started up again. For a moment neither Ally nor Harriet said anything but then they both spoke at once.
    ‘So, where’s Tom today?’