Sam in the Spotlight

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Mum shouted down. “Don’t you realize how serious this is?”

  I trailed back up to my room and lay on my bed. I could’ve called Crystal to warn her Dad was on his way but I was scared she might do a runner. I wanted Dad to talk to her. I didn’t care if she was mad at me afterwards – I just wanted things to go back to the way they were before.

  Dad was gone for ages. It was awful, waiting. I could hear Mum pacing around, working herself up into a terrible state. After a bit, she came into my room. “How could you go behind my back?” she wailed, wringing her hands. “How long have you two been plotting this together? You’re just as bad as her – you’ll both end up throwing your lives away!”

  It was awful; like she thought me and Crystal were one person and if Crystal messed up then I was going to mess up as well. Not that Crystal had messed up – not in my eyes anyway.

  By the time Dad got back, Mum had driven herself into a total frenzy, going on and on about opportunities and the future and how we only get one chance to make something of ourselves. I felt like shaking her and shouting I am Sam! Sam I am! like when I was a little girl, but I knew it wouldn’t make the slightest difference. Mum had decided I was some sort of CRYSTAL CLONE and that was that.

  “The wedding’s off,” said Dad. We were sitting round the kitchen table – desperate to hear what had happened. “It’s got nothing to do with me,” he went on before Mum could get a word in. “She said they’d had to postpone it for other reasons.”

  “Well, thank heavens for that,” said Mum, her voice shaky. She reached over and put her hand over Dad’s. “When’s she coming home?”

  “She’s not coming home,” said Dad. “She doesn’t even want to see us at the moment.”

  “But I don’t understand,” said Mum. Her eyes filled with tears again and Dad squeezed her hand.

  “Look, Rosy, I don’t understand exactly what went on between the two of you, but Crystal’s very hurt and unless you go and talk to her yourself it’s just going to get worse.”

  “But why’s the wedding off? She’s bought me a dress and everything,” I cried, totally confused. “Mum, why can’t you just go round there and say sorry? I know Crystal’s eighteen and she can live where she wants, but I can’t bear it any more, the way things are between you two. It’s not just you who’s suffering!”

  Mum’s shoulder’s sagged.

  “What is it, Rosy?” said Dad. “Sam’s right. Why can’t you just go round there and say sorry? You’re her mother, for goodness’ sake. It’s up to you to sort this out.”

  “But don’t you see?” said Mum. “If I say sorry she’ll think everything’s okay. All those years of hard work, all that effort, and for what? She was the top of her class. The brightest girl they’d ever had in the school, one teacher said to me. And now she’s selling jewellery at markets. She could be doing anything with her life. Anything! Don’t you get it? If I go round there and say sorry, I’ll never get her back! Never!” Mum scraped back her chair and ran out of the room.

  Dad sat there with his head in his hands. “What a nightmare,” he muttered. “I’ve always tried to do the right thing but it’s all turned out to be such a mess.”

  I went round to give him a hug. I knew it was the wrong moment, but I was dying to ask him about the band. He looked so tired and worn out, it was difficult to imagine it was actually him in those newspaper cuttings. If only I could turn back time – even for a day – just to see what he was really like.

  “I’ll talk to Crystal,” I said. “I’ll try to make her understand that Mum is sorry – she just doesn’t know how to say it.”

  But it looked as if Crystal wasn’t talking to me either. Every time I called her it went straight to voicemail and she obviously had no intention of ringing me back. I didn’t even know if the wedding really was off or if she’d just said that to get rid of Dad.

  “I’ve got to find out what’s going on.” It was Monday morning and I was outside school with Ellie. “I don’t know if the wedding’s cancelled or when Crystal’s going to call me. Mum’s moping around the house like the world’s about to come to an end and Crystal probably feels like she can’t trust me any more anyway.”

  “And what about drama? Does your mum know you’re Laura yet? You don’t want her to stop you doing it at the last minute.”

  I shook my head. “She doesn’t know and there’s no way I could tell her – not now.”

  “Don’t tell me you two are talking again,” said Phoebe, walking over. “This is like the best news ever.”

  “Yeah, well Sam was right about Eddie all along,” said Ellie, pulling a face. “He’s history as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Best place for him,” I said. But it was going to take a miracle to sort out everything else.

  I didn’t hear anything from Crystal over the next few days. She obviously thought I’d blabbed to Mum and betrayed her and that’s why she wasn’t returning my calls. I hated not knowing where she was or how to get in touch with her. I swore that the second I heard from her I was going to force her to tell me where she lived so at least I’d know where to find her the next time she gave me the silent treatment.

  On Thursday morning I was sitting in French when Ellie burst in late. I could see straight away that something was up. She was trying to mouth something to me across the room but I couldn’t make out what it was. Madame Blanc gave me a look, so I shook my head at Ellie and went back to the exercise I was doing. She was easily one of the strictest teachers in the school and getting into trouble was the last thing I needed right then if I was going to keep Mum off my back.

  A few minutes later Tara Perkins passed me a note. I didn’t even have time to see what it said before Madame Blanc whipped it out of my hand.

  “Passing notes in class,” she snapped, tearing the grubby piece of paper into tiny pieces. “Detention for both of you, after school tomorrow, my room.”

  “But I didn’t do anything,” I pleaded. Mum was going to flip if she found out I had a detention. Madame Blanc raised one eyebrow and turned away. I could get down on my knees and beg and it wouldn’t make the slightest difference. She’d never backed down on a detention in her life.

  Ellie looked over at me, shrugging. She looked really upset. “Sorry,” she mouthed. “Talk to you later.”

  I didn’t catch up with her until lunchtime. We’re in different sets for English and maths, so I had to wait all morning to find out what the note said and why she’d come in looking so het up. I grabbed a sandwich and went over to where the others were sitting.

  “I know why Crystal’s not getting married!” Ellie blurted out before I’d even sat down. “Look!” She took a newspaper out of her bag and pointed to a tiny article at the bottom of the entertainment pages. The headline said:

  Garlic Pickers to Play on Malone’s

  Special Day

  “No way,” I breathed, scanning the article. Suddenly it all made sense. Sophia Malone had asked The Garlic Pickers to play a special set at her wedding. That must’ve been what the meeting was about that day I was in the park with Crystal. And that was obviously why they’d postponed their own wedding. There’s no way Crystal would let Tyler miss an opportunity like that.

  “What are you actually talking about?” said Phoebe. “We haven’t got a clue, have we, Polly?” Polly shook her head.

  I filled them in on the whole story. From when Crystal’s invitation arrived until the other day when Mum found it under my mattress. I explained about Crystal and Tyler’s wedding and Sophia Malone’s wedding and how they were both on the same day. “Crystal bought me a dress and everything,” I said. “This awful pink tutu thing that itches like crazy.”

  “Never mind about your itchy dress!” shrieked Polly. “Are you telling me that your sister is going out with someone from The Garlic Pickers and you never told us?”

  I shook my head, shrugging. “He was just Crystal’s boyfriend and they hadn’t even been togethe
r for that long when she moved out.”

  “But you know what this means, don’t you?” said Ellie. We all looked at her. “Your mum and Tyler will both be at the wedding and if you’re there as well you could do something to get them talking. Get your mum to realize that Crystal and Tyler are serious.”

  “Yeah, and maybe you could get me an autograph at the same time,” said Polly. “The drummer in The Garlic Pickers is really hot.”

  “Ellie, you’re a genius!” I said, ignoring Polly. “That’s exactly what I’ve got to do. Crystal might be there as well and if she is it’ll be the perfect place to get Mum to see that’s she’s been wrong about them all along.”

  “Why don’t we all come and help your mum with the flowers?” said Polly. “We wouldn’t even care if we got paid, would we, Phoebs?”

  “Not if we got to meet The Garlic Pickers!” said Phoebe. “We’d actually pay her!”

  “You guys – this is serious!” I said, but I couldn’t help grinning.

  “I think it’s really romantic anyway,” said Ellie. “Crystal and Tyler getting married and him being in a band – it’s like out of the movies or something.”

  I glanced at Ellie. “Talking of romantic, we haven’t told them about Arthur and Mrs. Beagle.”

  Phoebe and Polly practically wet themselves as I described Arthur practising his proposal. “Honestly, it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard,” Polly spluttered. “Especially as Mandy is convinced Arthur is in love with her.”

  It was so brilliant to be laughing and mucking about all together after the last few weeks. I was never going to fall out with Ellie again, no matter what.

  “Listen, Sam, I am so sorry about the detention,” she said as we made our way back to class. “I always read the entertainment pages while I’m eating breakfast and I saw that article and I thought I was going to burst if I didn’t tell you.”

  “It’s okay, Ellie. In fact it couldn’t be better. Well, as long as my mum doesn’t find out!”

  But of course Mum did find out. I don’t know how I ever thought I was going to hide it from her. Madame Blanc always calls the parents to let them know she’s keeping their child late at school so Mum knew all about the detention before I even got home that day. It’s not like I could talk my way out of it either because I wasn’t about to tell her about Ellie and the newspaper article and how The Garlic Pickers had been asked to play at Sophia Malone’s wedding.

  She called me into the kitchen the second I walked through the door. She was sitting at the table with her head in her hands, as if she’d just heard someone had died or something.

  “A detention, Sam! I’m so disappointed. Honestly, what were you doing?”

  “I didn’t do anything. Madame Blanc caught Ellie passing me a note, but it was nothing to do with me. I didn’t even see what the note said.” I dropped my bag on the floor and sank down into a chair.

  “Passing notes! For goodness’ sake – how old are you? And you’ve always been so good at languages. Don’t you like French any more?”

  “I do, Mum. I love French, but Madame Blanc is so strict you only have to breathe and she’s on your case.”

  Mum rolled her eyes. “But you promised me you were taking your work seriously this year…”

  “I am, Mum. I’m trying so hard…”

  She waved her arm at me as if she didn’t want to hear any more. “Well, anyway, I’ve made an appointment with your form teacher.”

  “What do you mean?” I could feel the colour drain out of my face.

  “It’s nothing to get worked up about. I just want to find out what’s really going on.”

  “What are you talking about? There’s nothing going on. I’m working so hard and I’m actually in the top set for all my core subjects.” I glared at her across the table. “When is the meeting anyway?”

  “It’s next Friday morning, but I don’t want you fretting about it all week. If you’re doing as well as you say you are then you’ve got nothing to be worried about, have you?”

  But I was worried. Mum was on the warpath. She was desperate to find a reason to stop me going to drama and getting this detention could easily be it. Ellie was gutted when I told her the next morning. “It’s all my fault,” she wailed. “Why don’t I ever think before I do things?”

  “Don’t be stupid. If you hadn’t seen the article I wouldn’t even know The Garlic Pickers were going to be at the wedding.”

  “What do you think Mr. Bayliss will say anyway? It’s not like you’ve been in loads of trouble or anything.”

  “I know, but remember I told you my mum’s been dying to get me this tutor who only has a Saturday slot? Well, I swear this is going to be all the excuse she needs.”

  I couldn’t stop thinking about it the next day at drama. I knew my lines inside out, but I was so worried about the meeting I kept losing track of where we were. Mandy was standing in front of the stage encouraging us to speak out and stay in character, and all I could think about was how this could be my last show ever at Star Makers. There just didn’t seem to be much point if Mum was going to stop me coming anyway.

  “What’s going on, Sam?” said Mandy. “You’ve been so good with your lines up until now.”

  “It’s not the lines,” I muttered. “It’s just other stuff.”

  “I bet I know what it is,” said Sara.

  I gave her a look. “No, you don’t.”

  Suddenly Monty B leaped onto the stage, landing right in front of me. “Detective Biscuit’s on the case, he’ll soon sort out your gloomy face.”

  “It wouldn’t be gloomy if you’d just get out of my face.”

  “Don’t start arguing again, please,” said Mandy. “Remember how we’re all supposed to be pulling together as a team.”

  “Oh, I know, let’s do some more of those trust games,” Sara piped up.

  “Er…let’s not,” I said. “Anyway I’m fine now.”

  We started the scene again and somehow I managed to keep up with where we were. I loved being Laura. In fact, I loved everything about the show. Mum might think acting was just a hobby, but it meant the world to me. The only downer was that I had to do most of my scenes with Adam – but it’s not like we had to kiss onstage or anything embarrassing like that. And anyway, my latest strategy of Ignoring Him Completely seemed to be working quite well.

  The scene we were practising was my favourite in the whole show. It’s when Laura finally solves the mystery of the phantom face. Detective Biscuit keeps saying that April must have come to a sorry end and the butler must be guilty, even though he swears blind he wasn’t there the day she went missing. But Laura works out that the butler has an identical twin brother who April was madly in love with and that they’d run off together. That’s why it seemed as if the butler was in two places at the same time.

  “Hang on,” said Monty B as the scene finished. “I was just about to work that out myself, wasn’t I, Phoebs?”

  “What are you talking about?” said Phoebe.

  Monty B waved his notebook at her. “You know, all the clues we collected and—”

  “Oh my God, yeah,” said Neesha, “you do realize this isn’t real? That you’re not really collecting clues.”

  “I might be,” said Monty B. “I am a detective, you know.”

  Neesha rolled her eyes. “Can someone please tell him it’s only a play.”

  “But break it to him gently,” said Adam. “You don’t want to shatter all his illusions. It’s like telling someone that there’s no such thing as fairies!”

  “What do you mean?” cried Sara, turning pink.

  “She still believes in fairies, I’m afraid,” said Phoebe. “And the man in the moon!”

  Sara opened her mouth to say something but Mandy held up her hand. “Enough!” she said. “I want you to all start taking this seriously. The dress rehearsal is in two weeks’ time and there’s still so much to do.”

  Two weeks? My brain went into overdrive. The wedding was in two
weeks. How could the wedding and the dress rehearsal both be on the same day? It was crazy. I’d known the dress rehearsal was coming up, obviously, but I must’ve blocked the exact date out of my mind!

  Mandy took a deep breath. “Look, let’s have a quick break and then I want you all back onstage – and I want you focused!”

  I went to grab my stuff from the front of the stage, but Mandy called me over to the piano.

  “Do you want to talk about what’s worrying you, Sam? It would be such a shame if something outside drama affected your performance – especially since you’ve got such a big part.”

  I shook my head. “It’s okay. I know all my lines. I won’t let you down.”

  “I know you won’t, sweetheart. That’s not what I meant. It’s just that you seem to have lost some of your confidence lately, that’s all.”

  I thought about the wedding and Crystal, and the detention and the tutor. I could’ve told Mandy, I suppose, and got her to talk to Mum, but I knew it wouldn’t make the slightest difference. Mum just didn’t get how important acting was to me and she never would.

  I started to make up some rubbish about having too much homework, but then Arthur burst in, looking very flustered.

  “Oh hello, Mandy my dear, you haven’t seen June this morning, have you?”

  Mandy shook her head. “Sorry, Arthur, you’ve lost me.”

  “June Beagle? Mrs. Beagle? You remember.”

  Mandy sighed. “Oh yes, Mrs. Beagle. I didn’t realize her first name was June.”

  “Oh yes…June by name, June by nature,” said Arthur.

  “Are you okay, Arthur?” said Mandy, looking at him strangely.

  “Top of the world, Mandy. But if you do happen to see her at any point, please could you mention that I was looking for her? Church business,” he added, tapping his nose.

  Mandy nodded and turned back to me, trying to keep a straight face.

  “Now where were we, Sam?”

  “Don’t worry, Mandy. I’ll just go off and practise the next scene so I don’t mess up again later.”

  I scooted back over to the others before she could say anything. If Mum decided to stop me coming to Star Makers, there was nothing Mandy could do about it.