Centre Stage: A Novel

almost wished she had had a go at me. The disappointment in her gaze was horrible.
    I bit my lip and looked down. Oh, please , I prayed desperately. Please let me be OK tomorrow night!

Chapter Eighteen
    ‘We’d better win,’ Ally said to me and Eve as we found three seats near the front of our school hall.
    It was a huge relief to be at the quiz competition that night, and to be able to think of something apart from the play. I looked at the stage. Four teams from four different schools were sitting there. Harriet was with Ben, a Year Eight girl called Anna and a Year Seven boy called Nikhil. She saw us and waved. We all waved back.
    Good luck , I mouthed at her.
    She smiled nervously.
    Ally sat down and sighed. ‘I can’t believe it’s a Friday night and we’re back at school. We could be at the Junction tonight hearing Tom and his band play.’
    ‘We’d never have got in, and anyway,’ I looked at her sternly, ‘you know you’d rather be here supporting Harriet.’
    Ally looked like she was actually giving it serious thought. ‘Well…’ she mused. She grinned at my outraged expression. ‘I’m just joking. Of course I’d rather be here. Even if we could have got in at the Junction, I wouldn’t have gone. This is Harriet’s big night.’
    I smiled at her.
    ‘So, has Tom sorted out his hair?’ Eve asked as we settled down.
    ‘Yeah, he went to the hairdresser again today,’ I told her.
    ‘What did she do to his hair?’ Ally asked.
    ‘She dyed it dark brown again but she also gave him this red spray-on colour to use. It washes in and washes out. He gelled it up tonight into spikes for the gig and he coloured the end of each spike red.’
    ‘That sounds cool,’ Ally said.
    I nodded. It had actually looked really good. ‘Yeah,’ I started to say but just then something — or rather someone — caught my eye. ‘Look, Kelly’s here!’
    ‘And Leanne and Rachel,’ Eve pointed out.
    ‘I bet Kelly’s come to try and ask Ben out again,’ I said. ‘I don’t know why she doesn’t just give up.’
    Kelly, Leanne and Rachel sat a few rows away from us. They kept giggling and waving at Ben. He smiled briefly but then ignored them.
    After about ten minutes the quiz began. Mr Johnson, our deputy head, was the quiz master. Sitting at a desk he read out the questions. If the contestants thought they knew the answers they had to press a buzzer which made a light in front of them light up. If they got the answer right then their team got to answer three questions as a team.
    I’d thought it was going to be boring — I mean, quizzes about stuff like science and history and geography aren’t my idea of fun — but it was actually exciting. The four teams were all really good. They kept pressing their buzzers halfway through the questions and Mr Johnson hardly gave them time to think.
    Harriet was brilliant. She looked a bit nervous to start with but as soon as she had answered a few questions correctly she really got into it. In fact, she and Ben seemed to be competing for who could press their buzzer the quickest.
    Gradually it became clear that the competition was going to be won by either our school or the team from St Mary’s.
    ‘Just one minute left,’ Mr Johnson announced, glancing at the clock on the wall. ‘And Charles Hope and St Mary’s are joint leaders with two hundred points each, so for ten points and a chance of three bonus questions…’ He paused before reading the question and I saw the members of both teams glance nervously at each other. This could be the deciding question.
    I leant forwards. Could our team do it? Come on , I thought, come on!
    Mr Johnson looked around. ‘Who was the first Tudor king of…’
    He hadn’t even got the fifth word out before Harriet’s buzzer went off.
    ‘Harriet, Charles Hope!’ Mr Johnson called.
    ‘Henry the Seventh,’ Harriet answered quickly.
    ‘Correct. The first Tudor king of England was Henry the Seventh,’ Mr Johnson said.
    ‘Yes!’ I saw Ben exclaim, clenching his fists. Harriet grinned at him in delight.
    The people in the audience who were supporting Charles Hope clapped and cheered.
    ‘Your three bonus questions start now,’ Mr Johnson said. ‘Who was Henry the Eighth’s first wife?’
    ‘Catherine of Aragon,’ Ben called out.
    Mr Johnson nodded.
    ‘Who was on the throne before Elizabeth the First?’
    ‘Mary the First,’ Harriet answered.
    Mr Johnson nodded again. ‘And which king was responsible for the