Centre Stage: A Novel

everything had all gone wrong?
    Avoiding her eyes, I leant forwards and turned on the radio. As the music blasted out I leant back in my seat and looked out of the window. I didn’t think I’d ever felt more alone in my whole life.
    As soon as I got home I went up to my bedroom and, closing the door, threw myself on my bed. I was going to be a complete failure in the show. I was going to let my team down — let everyone down. Tears sprang to my eyes. No one in my family understood. There was nobody I could talk to. I thought about e-mailing Issy. At least she knew about acting and dancing, but my stomach shrank at the thought of telling her how useless I was. She was so confident and successful. What would she think of me when she found out I was such a failure?
    I could talk to Harriet . As soon as the thought formed, I knew it was true but how could I pour my heart out to Harriet when she was still not speaking to me?
    Oh this is stupid , I thought suddenly. Why are we arguing? We’re best friends. So what if she wants to pull out of the quiz team because of what people think? It might be dumb but it’s her choice.
    I made up my mind. I was going to sort things out with her. We’d been friends too long to argue over whether she should be in the quiz team or not.
    ‘Sophie! Ally’s on the phone,’ Mum called.
    I hurried downstairs. Maybe Ally had managed to smooth things over with Harriet.
    ‘Hi,’ I said quickly, taking the phone from Mum. ‘How did it go today?’
    ‘Not well,’ Ally admitted. ‘She wouldn’t talk about the quiz team at all and when I told her she was stupid to drop out she got in a real mood. She’s not talking to me now, either. What are we going to do?’
    ‘We’re going to go round there and make up with her,’ I said. ‘I’m fed up with arguing. I want us all to be friends again and if that means accepting that she isn’t going to be on the quiz team then I guess that’s what we’ve got to do.’
    ‘It is?’ Ally said uncertainly.
    ‘It’s better than arguing with her,’ I told her. ‘I’ll meet you by the post office in five minutes. Let’s go and sort this out.’
    ‘OK,’ Ally agreed.
    Five minutes later we met up. ‘What if she doesn’t want to speak to us?’ Ally said anxiously.
    ‘We’ll make her,’ I said, feeling filled with determination. Everything else might be going wrong in my life, but my friendship with Harriet wasn’t going to. ‘Come on!’ I marched to Harriet’s house and rang the bell.
    Harriet answered the door. As soon as she saw us she frowned. ‘Go away!’ she muttered. She tried to shut the door but I stepped into the doorway, stopping her.
    ‘Harriet, wait,’ I said. ‘We’re sorry. We shouldn’t have tried to tell you what to do. It’s up to you if you want to pull out of the quiz team.’
    ‘Yeah,’ Ally said. ‘We don’t want to argue with you any more. Can’t we just be friends again?’
    Harriet looked taken aback but then she nodded and her face relaxed. ‘I don’t want to argue with you either. Come in.’
    We followed her up to her bedroom.
    ‘I’m really sorry if I upset you the other day,’ I said.
    ‘It’s OK,’ she said, sitting down on her bed. ‘I know you didn’t mean to.’ She sighed. ‘It’s just really hard having Kelly and the others making comments the whole time. I know they’re just messing around and I shouldn’t get upset but I do.’ She looked at her knees.
    Ally joined her on the bed and I sank down on to the beanbag by the bedside table.
    ‘The more upset you get the more they’re going to pick on you,’ Ally advised her.
    ‘I know.’ Harriet rubbed her forehead. ‘I hate secondary school.’
    ‘It isn’t that bad,’ I said.
    ‘It is,’ Harriet told me. ‘It’s all about wearing the right things and about being cool enough.’
    ‘It isn’t,’ I protested. ‘I mean, OK, you have to try and fit in a bit if you don’t want to get picked on, but it’s not like you have to change what you’re really like.’
    ‘Sophie’s right,’ Ally said, backing me up. ‘Yes, it helps to wear the right kind of clothes, but that’s just on the outside; you don’t have to change what you’re like on the inside. You can still be you.’ She smiled. ‘You do look loads better with your new trousers and shoes.’
    ‘They haven’t stopped Kelly picking on me,’ Harriet said with a sigh.
    ‘She only picks on you because you react,’ Ally commented. ‘If you