The Time of Your Life (15 page)

Holly: Lavender Oil, Raspberry Ripple and Polos

Holly settled into the seat next to Gemma. The
Redgrave Theatre was rapidly filling up with smartly
dressed people – all anticipating a fabulous performance
of . . .
The Scottish Play.
No one would dare even
think
the M-word in the theatre tonight!

A small party of butterflies was having a little
sympathy-flutter in her stomach. What if Cat or Ethan
or Nathan forgot their lines, or Belle missed her cue?
What if Lettie's music didn't play or Nick's sound-effects
squawked? What if one of Serena and Lucy's
costumes fell apart and left an actor standing in their
underwear?
So many things could go wrong!
But
nothing
must go wrong. This was a big chance for her friends –
especially Cat – to shine and show their Star Quality in
front of all these important people. It was almost more
nerve-racking than being up on stage herself.

It'll be my chance next term,
Holly thought excitedly.
She was determined to win a part in the Dance
Department's
Nutcracker Sweeties.

Then Gemma nudged her elbow as they heard a
woman's voice behind them. 'I hope Bianca has
remembered her lavender oil. She gets so stressed out
before a big performance, poor lamb . . .'

'That must be Bianca's mother!' Gemma whispered.

Holly nodded. 'No one but her mother could call
Bianca a
poor lamb.'

She couldn't resist turning to look. She saw a
statuesque woman in a severe black and white tailored
dress, with the same platinum-blonde hair and ice-blue
eyes as Bianca, sitting next to a short, round man in a
pinstripe suit.
He must be Bianca's father, head of the
Hayford baby-food empire,
Holly realized.

On impulse, she smiled and introduced herself.

'Pleased to meet you,' Mrs Hayford replied, not
looking
terribly
pleased.

'I've seen some of the rehearsals. Bianca is brilliant
as Hecate,' Holly persisted.

Bianca's mother thawed a little. 'Thank you. Yes,
Bianca is an
exceptionally
talented actress . . .'

Holly suddenly remembered how upset Bianca had
been about little Foo-Foo. Losing a pet must be awful
for the whole family. She felt she
had
to say something.
'I'm so sorry about Bianca's little dog,' she said. 'Poor
Foo-Foo—'

'Dog?'
Mrs Hayford wrinkled her nose in disgust, as
if Holly had suggested that Bianca owned a colony of
dung beetles or a pet tarantula. 'Bianca's never had a
dog!
In fact, she's hated dogs ever since . . .'

'. . . she was nipped by a rogue shih-tzu when she
was five,' Mr Hayford finished for her.

'In a very delicate place,' Bianca's mother added,
pursing her lips. 'She couldn't sit down for weeks.'

'Oh, dear,' Holly murmured. 'I must have been
thinking of someone else.' She turned away to hide the
giggles that were threatening to erupt, and refused to
meet Gemma's eye. Gemma had obviously heard the
conversation and was also quivering with suppressed
laughter. But for Holly, Bianca's unfortunate encounter
with the shih-tzu wasn't the only thing that was
plastering a huge grin across her face – it was the
realization that Bianca had invented the entire
Foo-Foo's-gone-to-the-Great-Poodle-Parlour-in-the-Sky
story after all – just as she had first suspected.

Bianca had tricked Jack.

And
she'd tricked Holly into feeling guilty for
doubting her.

Mrs Hayford was right – Bianca was an
exceptionally
talented actress!

The lights went down and spine-chilling cello music
filled the theatre. Soon Holly was totally swept up in
the dark, menacing mood of the play. It opened with
the three witches in a thunderstorm, plotting their
fateful encounter with Macbeth,
'When shall we three
meet again . .
.' and the action was soon hurtling towards
the crucial scene where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
murder King Duncan in his sleep.

Everything went perfectly. Ethan was gorgeous and
noble as Banquo, even
after
he was murdered and
appeared as a ghost. Belle delivered her Messenger lines
beautifully. Nathan was great as Macduff. But it was
Cat who really stole the show, stunning in her red
and black outfit – ruthless, determined and very,
very dangerous. Holly was overjoyed, and proud of all
of them!

At the end of Act Three, the curtain went down
for the intermission. There was a moment's silence as
the audience returned from the murky world of
witches and ghosts to the reality of queuing for drinks
and ice creams.

But Holly was a girl with a mission more pressing
even than a tub of raspberry ripple. The information
she'd gleaned from Bianca's parents was too important
to keep to herself for a second longer! She stole down
the steps and out through the fire exit, taking a short
cut to the dressing rooms at the back of the stage.
She found Belle in the room she shared with the other
girls playing minor parts, adjusting a lace on her tunic.

'Quick, Belle,' Holly whispered. 'Come with me to
Cat's room. I've got something to tell you, and Cat
won't want to miss it!'

Frowning with curiosity, Belle followed Holly along
the passage. Holly knocked and entered to find Cat
changing costumes, ready for the sleepwalking scene.
'What's up?' she asked as she popped her head out of
the top of a long white nightgown.

'OK, news just in,' Holly announced. 'I've spoken to
Bianca's parents.
Foo-Foo didn't die!'

'You mean . . . they saved him?' Belle asked, her eyes
wide with surprise. 'Like, from a coma or something?'

'No-o-o.
I mean Foo-Foo didn't
die
because he never
even
existed
in the first place. Bianca made the whole
thing up. She tricked Jack.'

Cat and Belle both stared at Holly in amazement.
'Are you sure?' Belle gasped.

She nodded. 'Absolutely!'

Cat laughed. 'Wow! Amazing! Bianca is an even
better actress than we thought.'

'Not as good as you though! You were brilliant, Cat!'
Holly said, suddenly remembering that Cat was in the
middle of a vitally important play and still had a scene
to do. 'Now we'll leave you in peace and talk later . . .'

She dragged Belle out of Cat's dressing room into
the corridor. 'Belle, now we know Bianca was tricking
Jack, why don't you go and talk to him?' she suggested.

'Er, well, maybe . . . I'll think about it . . .' Belle's
voice trailed off.

Holly looked up and saw Jack buying mints at the
vending machine. She turned to give Belle an encouraging
no-time-like-the-present smile. They were even
dressed in identical Messenger costumes. This was
obviously the perfect romantic moment.

But Belle had disappeared!

This is ridiculous!
Holly thought. She was going to
have to tell Jack about Bianca's trickery or these two
were never going to make it to the Tower of London!
But then she hesitated. Would telling Jack be the right
thing to do? She had a high-speed debate with her
conscience. If someone she thought was a good friend
had deceived her, would she want to know about it?
Yes, she would!
But was she interfering?
Yes, she was!
But
if Belle and Cat hadn't interfered in
her
love life, she
might never have got together with Ethan . . .

Holly reached a decision just as Jack looked up.
'Jack,' she said, 'can I talk to you for a moment?'

'Sure.' He grinned, slouching against the machine
and offering her a Polo.

Holly went over and checked for eavesdroppers
before speaking very quietly, 'Bianca was lying to you
about the dog . . .' she began, and quickly recounted
the whole story.

Jack stared at her in silence throughout. 'I can't
believe it!' he said, rubbing his forehead.

'I'm sorry. I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't
certain,' Holly explained.

'No, I mean I just can't get my head round it! I
knew Bianca had a bit of a thing about Belle. But
I thought it was just, you know, friendly rivalry.'

'Yeah, like Harry Potter had a friendly rivalry with
Voldemort!' Holly laughed grimly.

'But I never realized Bianca could stoop so low.
She's been lying to me all along to get my
sympathy!'

'So maybe you could try talking to Belle again?'
Holly coaxed.

Jack kicked the base of the vending machine in
exasperation. 'Chance would be a fine thing! She's
acting as if I've got rabies or something. I can't get
near her.'

Holly nodded. That was certainly true! But she was
sure that if she could just bypass Belle's force-field of
embarrassment and get them alone in the same room
together for five minutes, everything would work
out . . .

Suddenly she came to another decision.
Now I've
started down this matchmaker route, I may as well go the
whole hog,
she thought. 'Meet us in Cat's dressing room
straight after the play,' she whispered.

Jack shrugged. 'OK, but don't hold your breath.
Belle will probably climb out the window when she
sees me.'

My work here is done!
Holly thought as she slipped
back into the theatre and found her seat, accepting the
slightly melted ice cream that Gemma offered her.

The house lights dimmed and the Witches' sinister
theme music struck up again.

Holly smiled happily.

There was no window in Cat's dressing room!

Cat: The Best Feeling in the World

Cat took a deep breath and stepped out on stage again.

She
was
Lady Macbeth.

She stumbled across the stage in her ghostly white
nightgown, trying to wash away the blood of
King Duncan.
But the blood kept coming back.
She
could tell from that special, magical theatre-silence
that the audience was spellbound. Everyone could
see
the blood – a red spotlight playing across her
hands – just as Lady Macbeth could see it in her
tormented hallucination.
'Here's the smell of the blood
still . . .
'

After her scene, Cat waited in the wings for the play
to end, in a limbo of suspended elation. As the final
curtain fell, she could hear the swell of applause. The
curtain rose and everyone ran onstage to take their
bows. Finally it was her turn. Catching Luke's eye, she
jogged out to join him centre stage, took his hand,
walked forward and . . .

. . . the applause grew louder and louder as they
raised their hands and bowed. Louder still, with cheers
and whistles, and then there was movement.
It was a
standing ovation.

Suddenly Mr Sharpe and Mr Fortune were standing
on either side of her, placing bouquets in her arms.

Hardly able to breathe, Cat scanned the rows of
smiling faces. Mum had promised to come, but Cat
hadn't been able to spot her in the audience yet. She
could see Holly and Gemma . . . And then she saw her.
Mum was standing on her chair to see over the crowd,
clapping and cheering. And there was Fiona, waving
from her wheelchair in the aisle, and Dad and Danny
and Kieran too.

They had all come to see her!

Cat was overflowing with joy and pride. The hard
work, the nerves,
the treadmill –
it was all worth it for
this moment! She knew she had given the performance
of her life and that she was one step nearer to her
dream of becoming a superstar.

A serious, classical Shakespearean superstar, of
course!

This was the best feeling in the world!

When Cat arrived back at her dressing room, Holly
and Belle were already waiting to scoop her up in a
celebratory group hug.

There was a knock at the door.

'Oh, hello,' Cat panted, a little surprised to see Jack.
'Come in and join the celebrations!'

Jack stepped hesitantly into the room, the door
swinging shut behind him. Belle stood there, frozen to
the spot, a
bedazzled
look on her face.

Suddenly Cat felt her elbow being grabbed. 'Come
on, Cat,' Holly said. 'We've got to go. I just remembered
that really important . . . er, important
thing
we've got
to do . . .'

'N-no, don't go,' Belle stammered.

'Oh yes,
that
really important thing . . .' Cat grinned,
suddenly catching onto Holly's cunning plan. 'Yep, off
we go . . .'

As she pulled open the door, Bianca almost fell
into the room on top of her – she must have been
crouching outside with her eye pressed to the
keyhole.

'Jack!'
Bianca called, in a voice like a rapier dipped
in honey, as she jostled past Cat and Holly. 'Whatever
are you doing in
here?
My parents are dying to meet
you . . .'

'Er, no thanks,' Jack replied, without even turning to
look at her. 'I'm busy right now.'

'Come on, Ja-a-a-ck – I thought we were best
friends . . .' Bianca wheedled.

'Yeah, so did I,' Jack replied coldly. 'Shut the door on
your way out, would you, Bianca?'

Cat was flabbergasted. Jack usually obeyed Bianca's
every wish! Bianca was obviously just as shocked. She
stepped back to join them in the corridor, shutting the
door as if in a trance.

'You told him?' Cat whispered.

Holly nodded.

'What
precisely
did you tell him?' Bianca demanded.

'Oh, just something interesting your parents said.
About Foo-Foo,' Holly replied innocently.

'You . . . you . . . you . .
.' Bianca spluttered, her face
contorting with rage at being caught out in her lies.
Cat hadn't seen anything so scary since the New
Zealand rugby team doing the haka.

'Ah, there you are, Cat!' came a cheery voice.

Cat turned to see her mum click-clacking towards
her in her high heels, as bright as a budgie in an
extravagant blue and orange silk dress. 'You were
tremendous,
darling.
Everyone's
talking about how
fabulous
you were!' she crowed, her eyes swimming
with tears of pride. 'Ooh, give us a hug,' she said,
enveloping Cat in her arms and squeezing her tight.
'My little star!'

'Little?' Cat laughed, resting her chin on the top of
Mum's red curls. Out of the corner of her eye she
noticed Bianca turn on her heel and march off down
the corridor.

'I'm sorry, darling,' Mum gulped. 'I was being a
pushy old dragon – I can see that now. This is where
you belong. I'm so proud of you.'

'No,
I'm
sorry, Mum, for . . . well, being a stroppy
cow,' Cat told her, holding back tears. It felt so good to
be back on the same side again.

'Now, come on, let's get to the after-show party,'
Mum said. 'I've left Fiona with Dad and the boys. I
couldn't get her chair down the steps. Heaven knows
where they'll end up! You know your dad couldn't find
his way out of a paper bag . . .'

'You go on ahead, Mum. I'll catch you up.' Cat
pointed at her Lady Macbeth white nightgown. 'It's not
a pyjama party. I'll have to change.' She turned to Holly
and grinned. 'And I think my dressing room's going to
be occupied for a few minutes.'