Hannah in the Spotlight (12 page)

Two hours later we had said goodbye to all of Maisie’s party guests. The last of the paper cups and popcorn wrappers had been cleared up, along with all the Pass the Parcel layers. Emma was napping, Bobby and Maisie were opening Maisie’s presents and giving them marks out of ten, and Zach had disappeared upstairs. Mum and Dad had invited Meg’s parents to stay for coffee, and all four were inside talking. The four members of Star Club had the garden to ourselves at last. Ruby and I were lying flat on our backs on a rug, exhausted. Laura had a mirror propped up in front of her and was taking all the grips out of her hair, and Meg was sitting in the grass making a daisy chain.

‘So are you going to tell us the rest of the story then
Meg?’ I asked her at last. ‘Do you miss Hollywood?’

‘No.’ Meg sounded very definite. ‘Hollywood isn’t for me. And Mum hates it. She’s really a stage actress, but she got a part in a film and we moved out there. Then Dad got some work there too as a director. He had done some TV work in Ireland and the UK before, and a chance came up for him to direct a film. But Mum didn’t like film work – she much prefers acting in front of a live audience. She comes from a theatrical family, you see. Sadie was an actress – she still gets parts sometimes, actually – and Grandad was a classical Shakespearean actor. They both did lots of behind the scenes work too – you have to sometimes because there isn’t always enough acting work.’

‘So that’s why Sadie has all that stuff in her attic!’ I said. ‘I did wonder why she had such a huge collection of clothes and random stuff.’

Meg looked embarrassed. ‘I know. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth. I just knew if I started talking about it the family background would all come out, and Mum didn’t want me to say anything. All of those costumes and props come from different productions Sadie and Grandad were involved in over the years.’

‘So did your mum want to come back to Ireland to work in theatre again?’ Laura asked.

‘Actually she really just wanted to have an ordinary life for a while,’ Meg said. ‘Get a job in an office and be home
every evening to make dinner! She started saying I needed a normal upbringing and that it wasn’t good for me to be dragged from one place to another all the time and that the Hollywood lifestyle wasn’t good for a twelve-year-old. But Dad was just starting to get regular work and he didn’t want to move, so they kept rowing about it. Then after, well, other stuff happened, Mum just flipped and said that was it, she was taking me home to Carrickbeg to have a break from all the craziness.’

‘And then the first thing you do is make friends with me and join a drama club,’ I said, suddenly understanding just how Cordelia must have felt.

Meg laughed. ‘I know. Now you know why Mum was so weird about it!’

I felt like I was watching Meg transform before my eyes as she told us more about her former life in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. I still felt like she was holding something back, but it looked like we were going to have to wait to find out what that was.

I looked around at the scattered remains of our show – Ruby’s ballet bag, the boys’ lightsabers, Maisie’s dog ears, a programme someone had left behind on a chair. ‘I can’t believe it’s all over,’ I said.

‘I know! It feels like we’ve been building up to it for so long,’ Ruby said. ‘I can’t believe I’m not going to be Posy any more.’

‘I’m really going to miss Petrova,’ Meg said sadly.

‘I’m NOT going to miss Madame Fidolia’s hair,’ Laura said, removing the final hair grip and flinging it onto the grass.

I grinned at her. I’d used so much hairspray that her hair still stayed plastered back to her head in a sticky blob.

‘There’s only one thing for it,’ I said suddenly, scrambling to my feet. ‘We’re going to have to start planning our next show!’

When Natasha was young her absolute favourite thing was reading everything she could get her hands on. Her second favourite thing was persuading her sister, brothers and neighbours to sing, dance and act with her in different shows that they performed for their parents and anyone else who would watch. Natasha loved her speech and drama classes (way more than school) and studied it right up to diploma level, taking part in various musicals and pantomimes along the way. One of her favourite books was
Ballet Shoes
, and she has read it so many times her copy is almost falling apart. As Natasha’s siblings are now too old to be made take part in performances, she decided to create Star Club instead, and she is really enjoying writing about the kind of club she would have loved to join herself.

Also by this author,
Missing Ellen
.

Photograph by Helen Williams