Annabel's Starring Role (2 page)

Chapter Two

Annabel couldn't believe that there were two whole days of school to get through before the auditions. How could she be expected to cope with stupid stuff like the periodic table and equilateral triangles, for heaven's sake? She was clearly not in the mood at all for school that Monday, and Katie cast an anxious eye over her as they walked across the school grounds on their way to the last lesson of the morning.

“Bel, you need to be sensible. It's French, and you know what Mr Hatton's like. He'll have a real go at you if you mess around with him like you were in science. Even Mrs Stafford was looking at you funny, and she never tells
anyone
off.”

This was true. Mr Hatton was well known as a teacher that you didn't want to get on the wrong side of. He also appeared to be distinctly suspicious of the triplets, as if he was convinced they were plotting something all the time. Annabel had had a real run-in with him a few weeks earlier, when she'd entirely forgotten to learn her French vocab for a test, so normally Katie's warning would have sobered her up. Today, though, she just felt too buzzy and excited to care much, and only managed to calm down enough to give her sister a withering look.

“Stop
fussing
,
Katie! You're so boring.” She stalked ahead of Katie and the others into the classroom. Katie grimaced at Becky – this was typical Annabel. Then she sighed. Why did she feel like she was going to be mopping up the mess any minute?

It was unfortunate that the scramble for seats had left the triplets at a table right next to Max Cooper and his mates. Max was Public Enemy Number One as far as they were concerned – on days when they managed to avoid blonde brat Amy Mannering, anyway. Max took every opportunity he could to get at the triplets. He especially had it in for Katie, as she'd got him into big trouble a while back after he deliberately injured her in a football match. Max's dad had gone ballistic at Max after Mrs Ryan phoned him to complain, and Max was still holding a grudge.

“Oh, great. It's the
triplets
.
Ben, pass me your rucksack, I need something to be sick in.”

Ben, who wasn't nearly as horrible as Max, snickered uneasily, and tried not to look nervous. Katie and Annabel were both well known for giving as good as they got.

“How's your leg, Katie? Awww, did you need Mummy to kiss it better?”

Katie was just drawing breath to blast Max with a detailed description of the close family relationship between him and a very backward slug when Annabel got in first.

“Shut up, bug-brain! Go on, be sick – at least it'll mean you're not talking.”

At that moment Mr Hatton came in, and Annabel had the sense to turn round and look innocent – although her angelic expression only made the French teacher give her a suspicious look.

Max was obviously in the same devil-may-care mood as Annabel, because he spent the whole lesson hissing insults at her, and kicking her chair in the most irritating way. And somehow he managed it without Mr Hatton noticing. So when Annabel finally lost her temper literally two minutes before the end of the lesson – it was the fourth time Max had pulled her hair – and emptied her pencil sharpener over his head, Mr Hatton was not understanding. He had the good sense to put Max in detention, but he put Annabel in too – for Tuesday after school.

“But Mr Hatton, you can't – I—”

“Quiet!” Mr Hatton refused to listen. In fact he threatened to give Annabel a detention every Tuesday for the rest of the term if she didn't shut up. So she shut up.

To make everything worse, as soon as the bell went Amy sauntered over with a gloating little smile. “Oh, Annabel! I can't believe he gave you a detention for tomorrow! You must be
so
disappointed. You and your sisters would definitely have got parts – I'm sure Ms Loftus could have rewritten Cinderella so that I had three Ugly Sisters.” Amy paused, waiting for a comeback, but for once Annabel was too shocked to argue. Amy smiled perfectly and went to the door, purring over her shoulder, “Never mind, there's always next year. And don't worry, I'll explain to Ms Loftus that you couldn't make the audition.”

Annabel watched blankly as Amy disappeared with a last maddening flick of strawberry-blonde hair. So much for Annabel the star. Not only was she going to miss the chance to try for Cinderella, it was clear that Amy thought she was going to be the lead. Amy Mannering to get
her
part? It was unbearable.

Katie looked at Annabel's white face and bit back the I-told-you-so-type comment she was very tempted by. It was clear that Annabel didn't need telling. Becky put an arm round her sister, and wisely didn't even try saying something comforting. Saima looked rather lost – how could she go and audition without Annabel when they'd planned it all together?

Annabel stopped staring after Amy and looked round at them all. Her gaze settled on Katie, almost hopefully. The oldest of the triplets, she was often the one to sort things out for her sisters. But Katie didn't seem to be bursting with ideas – she just looked sympathetic and that was no use at all.

Becky looked back and forth between the two of them, unable to bear Annabel's defeated expression.

“Look, why don't we go and explain to Mr Hatton, and see if he'll change the day? I mean, if he understood…” Her voice petered out as she realized that everyone was staring at her as though she was mad. “Well, he might,” she added defensively.

“Mr Hatton?” said Katie in a disbelieving voice, and Becky gave up.

The triplets moved round school in a depressed bunch for the rest of that day. Annabel was normally so sparkly and funny that when she was down it really affected the others.

They spent Monday evening desperately trying to think of something they could do. Annabel knew there was no point asking Mum to intervene. After she'd got into trouble with Mr Hatton the last time, and then a couple of other teachers had written sarcastic comments on her homework, Mum had had a serious talk with Bel about concentrating and being sensible. When they got home from school she had to give Mum the detention slip to sign, and she looked so disappointed that Annabel just wanted to cry. Mum had been so excited about her being in the play the day before, and now Annabel would have to explain that she'd missed the auditions. Oh, it just wasn't fair.

They had loads of Science homework that had to be in on Tuesday morning but Annabel was in no state to do it. Katie and Becky decided to fake her handwriting after realizing that she'd spent a whole hour sitting on the stairs (her homework spot) doing nothing except stare at the banisters. They dragged her upstairs, so that she at least had some company, and set about working out some Annabel-style mistakes.

On Tuesday Amy's gloating little smile made everything ten times worse for Annabel. Every time she turned round Amy seemed to be there – smiling. By last lesson that afternoon, Annabel was positively drooping – even her hair seemed to have lost some of its glossy silkiness. She hadn't had the energy to curl it that morning like she often did, and it was trailing across her shoulders, without any fancy clips even. She wandered gloomily out of the classroom after Becky and Katie and Saima and the others, her shoulders getting lower and lower as they walked down the corridor past the main hall. Lots of people from Years Seven, Eight and Nine were gathering excitedly outside the hall, and there was a buzz of nervous chatter filling the corridor as they waited for Ms Loftus. Katie looked apologetically back at Annabel. Going past the hall was the quickest route to the classroom where Annabel's detention was being held, but she wished she'd thought to take another route. Annabel actually flinched when she heard Amy's sharp laugh from the middle of the crowd.

But seeing Amy's knowing smile stopped Katie dead. She grabbed Annabel's arm and signalled fiercely to Becky and the others to follow her, then she shot off back up the corridor, dragging Annabel like a limp fish.

“What? What's going on?” Becky panted, as she caught up with Katie at one of the window alcoves back round the corner from the hall.

“I've got it! You can go to the audition, Bel! It just struck me as I saw that idiot Amy. There's no way I'm letting her be in that play when you can't!”

Annabel only managed a feeble lift of one eyebrow, but everyone else was more enthusiastic.

“What are you going to do?” squeaked Saima excitedly. She really hadn't been looking forward to auditioning without Annabel.

“Yes, what?” asked Megan, shrugging. “I mean, Annabel can't be in two places at once.”

“Can't she?” Katie grinned evilly. “Why not?”

Megan, Saima and Fran looked blank, but Becky jumped off the radiator where she'd been perched, and gave Katie a hug. “Of course! Katie, you're a genius. Isn't she, Bel?”

A little of Annabel's usual sparkle seemed to come back. “Would you really do it? You mean it?” she asked disbelievingly. “You could get into big trouble if you're caught. And so would I, I suppose.”

“Caught doing
what
?”
demanded Saima, looking back and forth between the triplets.

Katie grinned, and pulled off the band that was holding her hair in a tight knot at the back of her neck. Then she combed her hair out with her fingers, while Annabel fossicked through her bag for a brush and some lipgloss. Thirty seconds later, Saima and the others were beginning to get the idea. No one would be able to tell which one was which – especially after they swapped Annabel's green cardigan for Katie's sweatshirt.

“You're really going to owe me for this, Bel, just remember,” Katie warned. “Go on – you need to get to the hall quick. We'll see you later. Break a leg!”

Annabel hugged her, and then raced back down the corridor, closely followed by Saima. Annabel the star was back!

 

Katie was feeling pretty nervous as she sat down in the classroom where Annabel's detention was being held. She really hoped she could pull this off, otherwise she and Bel were in big trouble. She'd just have to pray that neither Max nor Mr Jones suspected anything.

She looked down at her sheet of paper – she was supposed to be writing an essay on responsible behaviour, but it was difficult to concentrate. For a start, she could see Max over the other side of the room, and even the sight of him was annoying – and whenever he could catch her eye he pulled faces and mouthed insults at her. When the triplets' mum had phoned up Max's dad to complain about him injuring Katie, she'd got off the phone looking really sad, and told them they should try and be understanding to Max. His mum had died two years before, and he and his dad were on their own. That was all very well, Katie thought, and they did try and remember, but it didn't make him any less horrible. She scowled at Max as he stuck his tongue out at her
again
.
Ha! Mr Jones, who was taking detention, had spotted him, and given him a freezing glare. Max studiously bent over his essay.

Katie managed another sentence –
I
could have hurt somebody accidentally 
–
honestly, how on earth was she meant to get a whole sheet of paper out of this? She decided to write bigger. She was sure no one was going to read it, anyway. The only thing more boring than writing these stupid essays would be reading them, and Mr Jones looked as though he just wanted to go home.

The other problem was that Katie couldn't stop wondering how the audition was going. She grinned to herself. Annabel's face when she'd realized what Katie was suggesting – she'd gone from dejected to glitter princess in about two seconds flat. Katie was sure she'd be brilliant; she just hoped that her sister would get the part she wanted. And that Amy wouldn't…

She came out of her daydream to find Mr Jones staring straight at her and looking cross. “Annabel! How many times do I need to ask you? Stop staring into space and get back to work, please.”

Katie gaped at him, and then suddenly, nervously, remembered that she
was
supposed to be Annabel and started writing fast.

 

The real Annabel was onstage at that very moment, and loving it – especially because she could see Amy seething. As Annabel and Saima had dashed into the hall, Amy's face had fallen dramatically. She obviously couldn't understand how Annabel had escaped detention, and she just couldn't take her eyes off her. At the start of the auditions Ms Loftus had got them to read a bit of the play, swapping round parts until everyone had had a go, while she made loads of notes. Now they'd gone on to dancing. She'd explained that everyone in the play would need to sing and dance a bit (at which some of the boys looked decidedly less than keen) and main characters would have solos. Then she'd demonstrated a few steps that she wanted everyone to do, while Mr Becket, one of the music staff, played the piano. Annabel and Saima had looked at each other and grinned – the steps were so easy! The routine they'd been practising on Sunday was much more complicated. When Ms Loftus called for six volunteers to have a go, their hands shot up. Ms Loftus coaxed four more girls up onstage. Annabel and Saima muttered together while they waited for Ms Loftus to finish going through the steps once more for one of the other girls who'd suddenly gone into a fit of the jitters. Obviously they couldn't change the steps she'd asked them to do – she might think they'd just got them wrong – but surely they could add a little something? “We just need to do it perfectly,” said Saima, shaking her head. “And maybe add some finishing touches. I mean, Ms Loftus is an OK dancer” – Saima said this with her head on one side, critically watching the Drama teacher's efforts – “but she's doing nothing with her hands, look. And her head position is just messy.”

Annabel giggled. Saima sounded so like their ballet teacher, Mrs Flowers, it was uncanny. But she saw Saima's point. What they needed to do was take those rather boring steps and make them look like something really special.