Centre Stage: A Novel

bathroom door and tried the handle but it was locked.
    ‘Oi! I’m in here!’ Tom shouted through the door.
    ‘Still!’ I exclaimed, joining Ally. Tom had been in the bathroom three quarters of an hour ago when I’d tried to go to the toilet. ‘What are you doing in there?’ I demanded.
    Tom didn’t reply.
    I gave up. ‘Just use the toilet in Mum and Dad’s room,’ I told Ally. The rest of us trooped downstairs. ‘And people say girls spend ages in the bathroom,’ I commented.
    ‘Maybe he’s painting his nails,’ Harriet giggled.
    Jessica was in the lounge working on the computer. ‘You mean to say Tom’s still in the bathroom?’ she said, looking up.
    I nodded.
    ‘He is so annoying.’ Jessica frowned. ‘He knows I want to wash my hair and he’s been in there almost an hour.’
    ‘What’s he doing?’ I said.
    Jessica shook her head in exasperation. ‘Probably trying out a new look for next Friday.’
    ‘Next Friday?’ I echoed, wondering what Tom was doing next weekend.
    ‘It’s his gig at the Junction,’ Jessica informed me.
    My eyes widened. Of course! I’d been so caught up with rehearsals and everything else I’d forgotten that Tom’s band were about to perform at the Junction. I felt suddenly guilty. It was a really important night for him. ‘Are you going to go and watch?’ I asked Jess.
    ‘Yeah,’ she answered. ‘So I’ll give you all the goss’.’
    I nodded. ‘You’d better!’ I carried on through into the kitchen with Eve and Harriet.
    ‘You’re so lucky, Sophie,’ Eve said, sitting down at the kitchen table. ‘Your family’s so cool.’
    Cool! Us? ‘We’re just normal.’ I frowned.
    ‘Normal?’ Eve exclaimed. ‘Your brother’s in a band, your sister looks like a model, you’ve been in a film and now you’re in a theatre show. That is definitely cool!’
    I didn’t know what to say. Maybe if it had been someone else’s family I would have thought the same but I certainly didn’t feel that cool. I hurried to the fridge to hide my embarrassment. ‘Coke?’ I said, getting out a huge bottle.
    Eve nodded. ‘Yes, please.’
    Harriet fetched some glasses. ‘How’s the play going anyway? We’ve all got tickets for the first night.’
    ‘We managed to get seats together,’ Eve said. ‘They’re near the front.’
    ‘What are you talking about?’ Ally asked, joining us.
    ‘We were just telling Sophie we’ve all got tickets for the first night of her play,’ Eve replied.
    ‘Lots of other people from school are coming too,’ Harriet added.
    ‘Oh, great,’ I groaned. ‘Everyone can laugh at how useless my dancing is.’
    Harriet frowned. ‘But I thought you said your dancing was getting better.’
    ‘It is,’ I sighed. ‘But I still make mistakes quite a lot of the time. And now there’s just one week to go…’
    ‘Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!’
    We all jumped as a muffled yell from upstairs interrupted me. It sounded like Tom.
    Shooting a worried look at the others I dashed through to the lounge. ‘Tom?’ I called as they piled after me.
    Jessica was standing up by the computer.
    ‘Was that Tom?’ I demanded.
    She nodded. ‘Yeah, I don’t know what made him shout like…’
    ‘ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!’ Tom appeared at the top of the staircase. He was wearing nothing but an old blue towel around his waist — but that wasn’t what made my eyes widen.
    ‘Your hair!’ Jessica gasped.
    My hands flew to my mouth. ‘Your hair,’ I echoed in a squeak.
    Behind me, I heard my friends trying to stifle their giggles.
    Tom looked down at us from the top of the staircase, an alarmed expression on his face. His hair, long enough now to reach just past his nose, was dripping with water.
    It also happened to be the exact same colour as a tangerine!

Chapter Seventeen
    ‘What have you done?’ Jessica gaped.
    ‘I tried to dye my hair,’ Tom said, coming down the stairs two at a time. He hurriedly hitched up his towel as he saw my friends. ‘It was supposed to go blond, you know white-blond, like Chester Bennington or Eminem, but look!’ He ran a hand through his unmistakably orange hair.
    ‘Yeah, it doesn’t exactly look like Eminem,’ Jessica commented. A giggle burst out of her. ‘More like Coco the clown!’
    ‘Or Chris Evans!’ Ally gasped.
    That was it. A snort escaped me, and the next second, me, Jessica, Ally, Harriet and Eve were shrieking with laughter.
    ‘I can’t believe you’ve dyed your hair orange, Tom!’ I exclaimed.
    ‘It