Centre Stage: A Novel

‘I… er, better go.’ She looked genuinely uncomfortable.
    ‘Wait,’ I said, as she turned. ‘Thanks,’ I told her.
    I smiled tentatively and she smiled back.
    ‘Justine!’ Samantha came stalking over. ‘What are you doing talking to her ? Come on. Let’s go and get our shoes on.’
    Justine shot me an almost apologetic look and hurried off. I stared after her. Why had she come over to me? Had she really meant it when she said I’d danced well? I remembered the way she had smiled at me. It had seemed like a real smile. But then she was good at acting…
    Oh, this was stupid . Suddenly I realized I was fed up with having to be suspicious, fed up with all the ignoring and staying on different sides of the room. I wanted to be friends. And not just Justine and me. I wanted everyone in the two teams to get on. I hated feeling we were always in a competition against each other.
    ‘OK, guys,’ Dizzy called. ‘Time for a warm-up.’
    After the warm-up Claire sat us down and explained that we were going to run through the play, doing all the dances and songs and acting out the scenes that we had rehearsed with her.
    ‘It’ll give Dizzy, Stefan and I a chance to evaluate your progress so far,’ she explained. ‘And, of course, to choose the team that will be performing on the first night. Principals, you’ll be acting alternate scenes for me, apart from the scene at Mr Tumnus’s house. I want to see both Sophie and Justine do that. Justine first and then Sophie. OK.’ She clapped her hands. ‘We’ve got a lot to get through so let’s have you into your positions for the first dance.’
    As the rest of the cast started the first dance I saw Colette whispering something to Mark and Jack. She glanced over at me and, seeing me watching, beckoned me over.
    ‘We’ve got a plan,’ she hissed when I joined them. ‘We’re going to play a trick on Justine in the scene at Mr Tumnus’s house. It should be funny.’
    ‘And hopefully it will put her off so she makes a mess of the scene,’ Mark said. ‘She’s not that great at remembering the lines from that scene anyway. It should make you look even better.’
    ‘What are you going to do?’ I asked, feeling worried. I wasn’t sure I wanted them to play a trick on Justine now.
    ‘Well, you know you have to sit down and have tea with Mr Tumnus?’ Colette said.
    ‘Yes,’ I replied slowly. Part of the scene involved Lucy sitting down and drinking a cup of tea and eating sandwiches with Mr Tumnus.
    ‘And over the last few weeks you’ve been practising with real food?’ Colette continued.
    I nodded.
    ‘Well, we thought we could change the food on the tea table to put Justine off. So we’re going to swap the plain ham sandwiches you normally eat, for ham and —’ she grinned at Jack and Mark — ‘mustard sandwiches. Jack brought some for his lunch.’
    ‘It’s really strong mustard,’ Jack put in. ‘The type that makes your eyes water. We’ll swap them back before you have to do the scene of course, Sophie.’
    ‘It will be so funny to see Justine’s face,’ Colette giggled. ‘She’ll have to try and keep acting and she’ll have a mouthful of mustard!’
    ‘But that’s mean!’ I burst out. It was a horrible trick. ‘Don’t do it. Please. It’s not fair.’
    ‘Whose side are you on?’ Colette said in surprise. ‘Don’t you want our team to look good?’
    ‘Yeah, but not by making Justine eat mustard,’ I protested.
    ‘It’s not that bad,’ Jack said. ‘It’s not like we’re poisoning her or anything.’ He looked at the others. ‘Come on, let’s go and swap the food now while Velda’s out of the theatre.’
    ‘No!’ I protested, but they took no notice.
    Getting up, they went to Jack’s bag and then to the table at the side of the room where all the props were kept. They checked around. Dizzy, Stefan and Claire were all watching the dancing, and Justine’s team were sitting in their usual huddle. No one saw them quickly remove the sandwiches Velda had made and swap them for Jack’s extra-strong mustard ones.
    I felt awful. Poor Justine — and she’d even tried to be nice to me that morning. I bit my fingernails. What could I do? I could swap them back but Colette and the others were bound to see me and try and stop me.
    The dance finished and it was time for the first scene. I headed on to the stage. Worry jumped around inside me and then I remembered. There was one scene when Lucy was off stage for ages