Olivia's Curtain Call (9 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Katie and Georgia were both more than a little confused. They were at another audition for the improvised movie,
Family Life
. There were two pairs of girls left in the running, and each had been split up. Now Georgia was paired with Ava, and Katie with Carly. Meeting the other girls had been a little difficult, full of awkward pauses and bland pleasantries. After all, both pairs knew they were competing for the same roles. It was most disconcerting.

After so much time working together, both Katie and Georgia were bereft to find themselves apart and trying to pretend to be someone else’s sister. When Lara had proposed that they try it, Carly and Ava had been surprisingly enthusiastic, but both Katie and
Georgia felt puzzled and off-kilter. They had spent ages trying to feel their way into behaving like sisters, and to be separated at this stage felt plain wrong. It made Katie think of what Olivia had said about how she felt about Eel, as if her sister was a physical part of her.

Georgia tried to smile at Lara, to show that she was a professional and because she couldn’t bear to let Katie down, but her eyes glistened with tears. She knew that she didn’t want to play one of the sisters in the movie if the other girl wasn’t Katie. She glanced at Katie, who still looked as cool as ever. She wondered if Katie felt the same as she did, or if for Katie the chance to be in a movie would override all her loyalty towards her.

For a moment Georgia remembered the moment at the Newbies concert when a blindly ambitious Katie had pushed her off the stage and taken the starring role away from her. Then Georgia blushed because she remember how she had almost torpedoed Aeysha’s chance of getting the role they were both up for by not telling her about a call back. If anyone had asked, she would have said that Aeysha felt like a sister to her, but when push came to shove
she had still let ambition rule her heart. Just as Katie had. Maybe, in showbusiness, ambition would always win out over everything else. She glanced again at Katie, who still wasn’t giving anything away.

The afternoon passed slowly and uncomfortably as she pretended to be Ava’s sister. But it just wasn’t right. She didn’t
feel
like Ava’s sister. She was just acting being Ava’s sister and acting badly. She knew that she was blowing it for both herself and Katie by being so awful and that made her feel even more miserable. After today she was certain Lara would decide that Ava and Carly were the only possible pairing. Unless, of course, Katie and Carly had that mysterious thing called chemistry. Georgia wished she could watch them, but Lara had put the pairs into different rooms and was flitting between the two with her assistant and various other members of the movie team. After a couple of hours Lara asked them to wait alone in different rooms; then she called them in to see her one by one…

Lara watched Georgia leave the room. Georgia’s shoulders were drooping. She looked defeated.
There was only one person in the quartet left to see: Katie. There was a lot riding on this. The results of the afternoon so far had been very interesting indeed. Lara thought it was as much a test of her improvisational method of creating a movie as it was of the girls themselves. She looked up as Katie came into the room, and smiled. Katie’s pretty cat-like eyes were cautious.

“Sit down, Katie,” said Lara. Katie’s heart was speeding like an express train. She wondered where Georgia was. Surely if they had or hadn’t got it, they would be told together? It was all so strange, although perhaps no stranger than the entire audition process had been so far.

“Katie, I have just one question I want to ask,” said Lara. Katie nodded. Her head felt light, as if somebody had drained all the air from the room.

“So,” began Lara, “I was most intrigued by the pairings this afternoon, and as a result of what happened today, the question I want to ask you is this: would you consider doing the movie with Carly as your sister?”

Katie’s eyes opened wide in shock, and before a heartbeat had passed she stood up, knocking her chair over, and shouted angrily,
“Of course not! You must be insane. After everything that Georgia and I have been through together to get these roles, I couldn’t do that to her! It would feel like stabbing my sister in the heart. You can stuff your silly movie!” She turned and stormed out of the room.

Lara leaned back on her chair and a big smile crossed her face. Her mind was made up.

Chapter Seventeen

Abbie suddenly broke off from the “gallop apace” speech, looked wildly around the rehearsal room and ran for the door. Kasha raced after her, followed by Tish.

A buzz of astonishment broke out in the room. Jon put his head in his hands. The
Romeo and Juliet
rehearsals were rapidly turning into a complete fiasco. Maybe his director friends who had said he was mad when he’d told them he was casting teenagers in the lead roles had been right. He was beginning to feel more like a babysitter than a director. Kasha had suddenly become incredibly self-conscious, as if he doubted his own ability to say even the simplest line. Jon could almost date the day the fatal lack of confidence had set in. He remembered
discussing Kasha and Abbie with Tish while she cleaned the revolting kitchen. It was almost as if Kasha had heard every word.

But it was Abbie who was the real problem. She was proving unexpectedly fragile and was prone to breaking down under the smallest stress. Jon was really worried about her. If she couldn’t cope in rehearsals, how was she going to cope when they actually got in front of an audience? He was beginning to wonder whether he might have to cancel the first few previews. She had bags under her eyes and seemed to be getting thinner with every day that passed. She just wasn’t the same smart, cheerful girl he’d worked with in the past. That Abbie was full of life; this one was sleepwalking through the role. She looked permanently exhausted.

He wondered whether she’d split up with her boyfriend or something. Or maybe she was sick? Perhaps he should quietly suggest that she saw a doctor? He stood up and followed the others into the kitchen. Abbie was slumped in a chair, draining a huge glass of water and asking for another. Kasha had his hands on her shoulders and was rubbing her neck. This gesture struck Jon as odd, and he suddenly
realised he never saw Kasha and Abbie touch each other, not even to brush hands, except when they were called upon to be physically close during performance. It was as though they went out of their way to avoid it. That’s when something went ping in Jon’s brain.

“I’m going to be sick,” said Abbie suddenly, and she stood up unsteadily and took a step towards the sink. She quivered, stumbled backwards and started to fall to the floor. Kasha caught her just in time. He said later that it was like catching a feather.

He laid Abbie gently on the floor. She was as white as a sheet. Tish bent down beside her. She’d done a first-aid course and her partner was a paramedic so she was pretty good in an emergency. She frowned and tapped Abbie’s face gently, but there was no response. Tish looked worried. “Call an ambulance,” she said to Jon.

Tish nodded at Kasha. “Help me put her in the recovery position,” she said, feeling for Abbie’s pulse. Jon was speaking urgently into his phone and giving the address of the rehearsal room. Abbie still hadn’t stirred.

Kasha’s initial shock had turned to horror.
He was bending over her, whispering urgently to her. “Abbie! Abbie! Please don’t be dead. I love you. I love you. Oh, baby, baby, please don’t be dead.”

“She’s not dead,” said Tish. “I can feel her pulse. But I think it might be more than a faint. There’s something seriously wrong.” She looked sharply at Kasha. “You know her. Has she been different at all over the last week or so?”

Kasha looked helpless. “She kept saying how tired she felt. I just thought it was stress. She’s lost weight too, and she’s been drinking loads and loads of water. I joked that she was going to drink the taps dry like the tiger in
The Tiger Who Came to Tea
.” Tears began to fall down his cheeks. “After the show closed, we were going to run away and get married. We’ll have both turned eighteen by then. We were going to live happily ever after. In a cottage in the country. With a dog. An Airedale terrier. Like those push-along dogs that you have as a kid. Just us and the dog. We were going to close the door on the world. You see, we love each other.”

He said it so simply and so hopelessly that Tish blinked back tears and Jon put his arm around the thin shoulders of the teenage
boy. There was the sound of an approaching siren and within minutes the room was full of paramedics. Very quickly they had Abbie strapped to a stretcher and were moving her into the ambulance. The other actors were huddled in a shocked, silent group at the door. Kasha wanted to go with Abbie but the paramedics wouldn’t allow it, so Jon said that he’d drive him to the hospital. While Kasha was getting his things, Jon turned to Tish. “Is she going to be all right?” he asked.

Tish shrugged helplessly. “I’m no doctor, Jon. But I think so. It’s only a guess, but it could be type-one diabetes. She’s the right sort of age for onset.”

“And?” asked Jon.

“It can be managed so that she can live a normal life. She’d still be able to act. Get married and live in that cottage with Kasha and their dog. She’d just have to take her medication and look after herself. But if it is diabetes, it could take time to get it stabilised. She’s not going to be playing Juliet any time soon.”

Jon nodded. “It doesn’t matter about the production. I just want to know that she’s going to be OK. At least it explains why she was so
terrible. The poor kid was sick.”

Tish smiled. “And we also now know why Kasha and Abbie weren’t giving the parts their all. Their acting skills are even better than we thought. How could neither of us not have noticed what was going on? As soon as Kasha spilled the beans, it was so obvious that they’ve been trying to hide their relationship.”

“Yes,” said Jon. “Little did we know
Romeo and Juliet
was being played out for real under our very noses. But what still puzzles me is
why
they feel they’ve got to keep it a secret? Maybe Kasha will enlighten me on the way to the hospital.”

Chapter Eighteen

“I can’t believe it,” beamed Georgia. “I thought we’d blown it when Lara paired us up with Carly and Ava.”

“But it was some kind of test,” said Katie. “To find out just how loyal we were to each other.”

“Sneaky,” said Tom.

Georgia and Katie had just come out of Alicia’s office where Huff and Lara had told them that they were going to play the sisters in
Family Life
and that shooting would begin at the end of term. They had immediately rounded up the others to tell them their good news.

“Yes,” said Katie. “It
was
sneaky. Miss Swan looked pretty disapproving, but she was so delighted for us, she didn’t make too much
of a fuss. Turns out what swung it was that both Georgie and I refused to work with one of the others, whereas both Carly and Ava were prepared to ditch the other if it meant getting cast. Which just goes to show that blood isn’t always thicker than water.”

“The other thing is that all those weird auditions were also part of the scripting process, so a lot of the things we did and said will find their way into the script.”

“So you’ve also been writing the movie,” observed Aeysha.

“I guess so,” said Katie. “Maybe we should demand a writing credit?”

“I’m just thrilled to be in a film! Even if it is quite a strange one,” said Georgia, her eyes shining.

“Miss Swan described it as being an ‘art house movie’. It’s not the sort of thing that Huff normally gets involved in, but apparently he’s known Lara since she won a prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and so he did it as a favour. He says she’s going to win more prizes. So maybe it will turn out that
Family Life
is a good project to be involved with. Maybe it will launch our careers?”

“Or maybe it will disappear without trace?” said Georgia gloomily.

“I don’t really care either way,” said Katie, looking fondly at Georgia. “It will just be lovely to spend so much time with Georgie and work together on something really cool.”

“Yes,” said Georgia, grinning at her friend. “I’m going to love that too. It’s being paid to spend time with your best friend.”

“Just think,” said Tom. “Liv and I will be touring around Europe together this summer with Jack, and you two will be making a movie. It’s all so exciting.”

“It is,” said Aeysha lightly. “And there I’ll be, all on my own, swotting up on chemistry to make sure I’m up to speed when I start my new school.” She gave a wry little smile. “I just know I’m going to be the envy of all my glamorous friends.”

Olivia frowned. Aeysha’s tone was light and jokey but she wondered whether her friend was having second thoughts about leaving the Swan.

Aeysha looked around Alicia’s office. Was this the last time she would ever sit in this cosy little
room with its paisley throws? As the term had gone on, Aeysha had found herself beginning to count off all the last times she would do something. She’d already stood in her last first-day-of-term assembly, she had auditioned for her last role in acting class, and she had calculated that there were only twenty-nine school lunches left to eat. It made her feel sad.

Life at the Swan would go on without her. Olivia, Tom, Katie and Georgia were already making plans for life after she’d gone. She knew it was normal. The world wouldn’t stop turning because she had left a school. But it still felt strange to think of it all happening without her.

Of course she would come back and visit – she knew that. But it wouldn’t be the same as being part of the Swan. She wouldn’t be up to speed on the gossip; she wouldn’t know any of the new kids or teachers. She felt an unexpected tear slip down her cheek.

Alicia put a cup of peppermint tea down on the desk in front of Aeysha and, instead of going to sit behind the desk, she pulled another chair closer to Aeysha and took the girl’s hand.

“It’s hard to say goodbye,” said Alicia softly.

Aeysha nodded.

“I understand,” said Alicia. “It would be easier to stay, wouldn’t it? Stay here where everything is familiar, where you know that everyone likes you, and admires your talents. Where you have close friends. Where your path is clear. It’s far harder to strike out on your own, to begin again. To risk that you might be lonely, or discover that you’ve done the wrong thing, made the wrong decision.”

“I was so certain,” said Aeysha. “I thought so hard about leaving and what it would mean. I knew it would be tough but I thought I was making the right decision for me. I love the Swan, I love Georgie and the others. But it’s a vocational school and I know I don’t want to be an actor, a dancer, a singer, or even a
tightrope-walker
. I don’t want my life to be in other people’s hands, the people who do the choosing. I want to make my own destiny. I want to be the one who chooses.”

Alicia nodded understandingly.

“But,” added Aeysha passionately, “I never thought that when the moment came to leave it would be so hard.”

“Change is difficult,” agreed Alicia. “I’ll tell
you a secret, Aeysha. I loathe change. I would do anything to avoid it. I like things to go on in the same cosy fashion that they always have. And yet however much I’ve resisted change, it’s always turned out to be a good thing when it has been forced on me. I couldn’t see a future when arthritis finished my stage career; I thought my life was over.

“But it made me start the Swan. I longed to have contact with my grandchildren, but I certainly never wanted them to come and live with me. I liked living on my own, having a place to retreat after dealing with children all day. But having Livy and Eel living with me has transformed my life, and all for the better. It has felt like an unexpected gift, even though I know it can’t go on forever.

“Most of us are like thistles in the wind, blown hither and thither by circumstance and whatever fate throws at us, but you, Aeysha, are one of the rare and courageous ones who think hard about what you really want, and who won’t settle for the easy option.”

“But what if I’m wrong?” whispered Aeysha. “What if I’ve made the wrong decision?”

“Better than making no decisions at all,
better than just drifting along,” said Alicia. She smiled. “I could tell you that there is still a place for you at the Swan if you decide to stay. I could tell you that if you hate your new school and wish to return to the Swan you will be able to do so. And I would be telling you the truth. For you, Aeysha, the door will always be open. But I don’t think you need that kind of safety net. You’re an exceptionally clever girl, Aeysha, and a kind one too, and courageous. Eel would say that you are a Matilda, someone who defies the idea that life is fixed and that you can’t change it. Matilda writes her own happy ending; you are writing yours.”

“But I don’t feel happy,” said Aeysha.

“That’s because what you are doing is difficult. Most of us let fate or other people write our stories. We worry too much about what our friends think, so we don’t say and do the things we really believe. We want to fit in with the crowd and be part of it, go with the flow. Aeysha, I have such confidence in you. I know that you are a girl who is going to write her own life. The sooner you get going, the better.”

Aeysha smiled. Alicia had said exactly the right thing. She suddenly felt reinvigorated.
“I’m going to try,” she said fiercely. “I’m going to make you proud of me, Miss Swan.”

“Aeysha, I am already enormously proud of you.”