Centre Stage: A Novel

normal but then they’d started a band called the Blue Lemons and now they were all growing their hair. They looked totally weird.
    What’s the matter with boys? I thought. Why are there so few normal ones?
    When the bus stopped we all piled off. Ally and Harriet had arranged to come back to mine.
    ‘Are you coming home, Tom?’ Jess called as Tom slouched off the bus.
    ‘Nah. Going to Raj’s,’ Tom replied.
    Harriet giggled as we headed for my house with Jess and Dan. ‘Doesn’t Tom’s hair look funny?’
    ‘Just a bit!’ I grinned. It was about level with his nose and thick and bushy. He had to keep pushing it back all the time.
    ‘I think it looks quite cool,’ Ally said.
    ‘It’s got waves like a girl’s,’ I said.
    ‘Tom’s such a poser,’ Jess said, shaking her head. ‘Him and all his mates.’ She smiled soppily at Dan. ‘I’m so glad you’re not like that.’
    I saw Dan’s hand tighten slightly on Jessica’s. The reason they’d broken up over the summer was that Jessica had kissed the lead singer in Tom’s band. For a while she’d got really into the heavy, nu-metal type of music that they played, but now she was back with Dan and back to listening to r’n’b and pop again.
    We reached our cottage. It’s down a small, quiet street behind the church. There’s a front door but no one ever uses it. We always go in through the wooden gate at the side of the house. As soon as we opened the gate, Baxter and Wilson, our two Labradors, bounded out of the back door and down the paved yard.
    ‘Hey, boys,’ I said as they greeted us, their tails thwacking into our legs, their tongues licking our hands.
    There was a yapping sound and a little West Highland White terrier came racing down from the garden.
    ‘Is this a dog your mum’s looking after?’ Ally said, bending down to ruffle his head.
    I nodded. In the summer my mum had started a pet-sitting business called Purr-fect for Pets. It was going really well and she had lots of animals to look after. ‘He’s called Snowy and he’s really friendly. He’s staying with us for two weeks.’
    ‘Hi there,’ Mum said, coming to the back door. ‘How was your first day, then?’
    ‘OK,’ I called, fighting my way past the dogs and into the kitchen. ‘But Ally’s not in the same form as us.’
    ‘Oh no,’ Mum said, looking concerned. ‘How did that happen? I thought you were all going to be together.’
    ‘We were but then things were rearranged,’ Ally replied gloomily. Jessica and Dan headed into the playroom to watch the TV while Ally, Harriet and I all sat down and Ally told Mum the story.
    ‘It’s not fair,’ she said while Mum got out apple juice for all of us from the fridge. ‘It’s horrid being in a different form from Sophie and Harriet.’
    ‘It must be,’ Mum sympathized. ‘But I’m sure you’ll make new friends quickly.’
    Ally didn’t look convinced.
    ‘You will,’ Mum told her. ‘And look on the bright side, then you’ll have your new friends in your form and you’ll still be friends with Sophie and Harriet.’
    ‘I guess,’ Ally sighed. She looked at me and Harriet. ‘But you’re not to go off together just because you’re in a different form to me.’ She sounded as if she was teasing but I saw the worried look in her eyes.
    Harriet seemed to see it too. ‘Of course we won’t,’ she put in quickly. ‘We’ll always be your friends, Ally.’
    ‘Always and for ever!’ I said. ‘We’re best friends and being in different forms isn’t going to change that.’
    Ally smiled. ‘Thanks.’
    Mum fetched some biscuits and we stood up to go through to the lounge. ‘Hang on, Sophie,’ Mum said quickly. ‘Before I forget, you need to get your jazz shoes out tonight and see if they still fit. You’ll need them for the audition on Saturday.’
    ‘Has the play got dancing in it, then?’ Ally asked me.
    ‘Yeah.’ My tummy flipped as if I had just gone too fast over a hill in a car. I really wasn’t looking forward to the dancing audition. I mean, I can dance a bit but I’m not brilliant. When I was seven I started going to dance lessons in our village hall. I did the classes for three years but then I started getting bored and gave up six months ago. I was a bit worried in case the dance steps at the audition were really hard. ‘I hope the dancing at the audition isn’t too difficult.’
    ‘I’m sure it won’t be,’ Mum reassured me. ‘Sheila Blake, the casting director, knows