Olivia and the Great Escape (9 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Alicia and India Taylor were in Alicia’s office, drinking tea.

“Something’s wrong,” said Alicia. “She’s stopped taking extra classes in jazz and tap, and when she is there, Mrs Merman says that her work has tailed right off.”

“The same in ballet,” said India. “It’s so odd, at the beginning of the term Eel was making extraordinary progress. And I do mean
extraordinary
. You could actually see improvements from lesson to lesson. It was as if she was inspired. But now she seems listless and distracted. You don’t think she’s worried about her dad, do you?”

“Well, both of them do worry about him, of course. We all do. It can’t be easy having Jack as
your father. He’s away such a lot, what he does is dangerous and his successes and failures are so very public. This latest stunt is particularly gruelling, and it’s worse for the girls because it’s being so closely documented by the press. I know it’s stressful for him, but I’m not sure he ever considered how stressful it would be for those of us watching him. I can’t wait for it to be over.”

India smiled to herself. Alicia’s relationship with her son-in-law was often difficult but she had clearly developed a strong affection for him in the year or so since he had turned up destitute at the Swan with Olivia and Eel in tow.

“But I think it’s something more than Jack that is worrying her,” said Alicia.

“I do wonder whether we should have put her forward to audition for the Imperial,” said India.

“I’ve wondered that, too. Jack and I talked about it and we decided against, but of course he was strongly guided by me. Now I feel that perhaps it was a mistake. Maybe it would have answered some of the questions she was asking about her own talent.”

“Have you tried talking to her?”

“Tried and failed,” said Alicia. ‘She’s not called Eel for nothing. She can be a slippery little thing.”

“You could perhaps speak to the Imperial. You know Anna Popova personally, don’t you?”

“But the deadline for applying is long gone and I’m sure the auditions will be over,” said Alicia.

“Probably, but Anna might be prepared just to look at her. As a favour to you.”

“I would feel compromised even asking,” said Alicia.

“I understand,” said India. “And it’s your call. But…” She paused.

“But what?” asked Alicia.

“It would be terrible to see Eel’s talent wither and die.”

After India had gone, Alicia stared out of the window for a long time, her colleague’s words running through her mind.

Georgia put away her music and closed the piano lid. She had done quite enough practice for one day and she still had several weeks before her piano exam. She looked at the clock on her phone. If she hurried, she would have time to
spend a few minutes with Katie and the others before afternoon school began. Katie was going to Yorkshire tomorrow to film her TV series and she wanted to make sure she said goodbye.

Georgia had just put her music into her bag when the door opened and Alex walked in. Georgia was so flustered that she dropped her bag and everything spilled out of it. She turned bright red as a smelly pair of socks she used for jazz class, a half-eaten apple, her hairbrush covered in blonde hairs, four bottles of nail varnish and two biros with badly-chewed ends dropped at his feet. But Alex didn’t seem to mind. He bent down to help her retrieve the items and gave her a devastating smile as he handed her the biros and their hands brushed. Georgia smiled nervously back and her insides felt as if they had melted.

“I’m glad I found you, Georgie,” said Alex. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you alone for ages.”

Georgia blinked and tried to look cool. Olivia hadn’t said anything, but Georgia was certain that something had happened between her and Alex. There was an atmosphere between them in high-wire lessons and the
Dream
rehearsals were full of tension. She’d heard a
rumour flying around the school that Olivia had asked Alex out and he had laughed in her face, but when she had found a way to casually mention this to Aeysha, in the hope she could fill her in on the details, her friend had looked at her as if she was mad and said: “You can believe what you like, Georgia, but I’d put money on it that the source of that rumour is Alex Parks himself.”

Then she had added more gently: “Forget him, Georgia. He’s almost certainly trouble. Set your sights on someone nice. Like Connor. He’s been mad about you ever since you played Cinderella.”

Georgia had bristled and snapped, “When I want romantic advice, I’ll ask for it Aeysha, thank you,” and things had been a bit tense between them for a couple of days. But Aeysha’s unfailing good nature made it hard to be angry with her for long, and Georgia had soon thawed.

Georgia had noticed that Alex stared at Olivia as much as ever but he no longer had that puppy dog look in his eyes that she found so appealing. It was more as if he was appraising Olivia for some other purpose. She tried to
remember Aeysha’s warning words, but Alex’s close proximity made her forget everything except that he was undoubtedly the most beautiful boy she had ever seen.

“Georgia,” he said softly, and his voice was like syrup falling off a spoon. “I really like you, Georgia.” He paused.

Georgia didn’t know what to say, and was horrified to hear her own voice squeaking like Minnie Mouse: “Really?”

“Yes, really,” said Alex gently. “I want to ask you out.” He looked very shy, as if she would be doing him a great honour.

“Me?” breathed Georgia. “You want to go out with me? Just you and me? On our own? Just us?” Georgia realised she was babbling.

“Yes, just you and me. Together,” said Alex. He grinned. “I’ll even pay.”

Georgia felt confused. She had dreamed of this moment and wanted to think that she was the chosen one after all, but she wasn’t a fool. She had witnessed too many of Alex’s lingering looks at Olivia and his complete indifference to her in the past. She needed to ask him about Olivia, but hardly dared.

“And … Livy?” she stuttered.

Alex gave an amused grin. “Ancient history.” He took a step nearer. “I’ve been a fool, Georgie, but I’ve had my eyes opened. You’ve been there all along, right under my nose, and I was so stupid that I didn’t notice before. But now I have. You’re the one.”

Georgia felt as if all her bones had magically been transformed into feathers.

“So will you come out with me, Georgie?”

Georgia realised that Alex was still holding her smelly socks. She turned crimson with embarrassment, grabbed them out of his hand and blurted: “Yes, please.”

Alex flashed his irresistible smile. “Good.” He ambled towards the door, where he stopped and turned. “For the time being, let’s just keep this between you and me, shall we? We don’t want to be fodder for the gossips, do we?”

Georgia nodded. “I’d hate that.”

“Me too,” smiled Alex, and then he was gone. Georgia stood for a moment, staring after him, and then she slid down the wall with shock and excitement, absentmindedly stuffing her dirty socks into her mouth. It was a second or two before she realised what she had done and spat them out again.

Chapter Twenty

There was a big crowd down at the river. It was a blustery day with a chill in the air, but the winter sun was trying to peep out from behind the clouds. The electronic board announced that it was day fourteen of the river challenge. Both men were almost halfway through. Olivia, Eel and the others were watching Jack on the wire. He was walking up and down it on his hands. The crowd roared their approval. He flipped back on to his feet and doffed his cap to the audience. Then he took five balls out of his coat pocket and began to juggle with them. The crowd clapped wildly.

Lots of people were taking videos that would soon find their way on to YouTube. The onlookers always liked it best when Jack was
most active. During the three tense days when Jack’s chest infection seemed to have the better of him, the crowd had drifted away, and people had complained on social networking sites that Jack Marvell was boring, and that Viktor Ivanov was offering much better entertainment by Waterloo Bridge. But Jack was well and truly wooing them back. After he finished the juggling, he balanced a board on the wire and proceeded to crack eggs into a bowl and whisk them.

“What’s he doing?” asked Tom, puzzled.

Olivia shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said, watching him add flour and milk to the eggs.

“Maybe he’s baking a cake,” said Eel.

“I don’t think so,” said Aeysha. “He can’t possibly have an oven out there.”

The crowd was intrigued, too, wondering what Jack was up to. He set up a little gas-burner on the board, put a small frying pan on top and poured in a little of the mixture.

“Of course!” exclaimed Georgia. “It’s Shrove Tuesday. He’s making pancakes!” She smiled at Olivia and said: “Your dad, he’s so clever. What a brilliant thing to do.”

Olivia grinned back at Georgia. Her friend had seemed so much happier during the last
few days, and all the snippiness seemed to have entirely disappeared. Clearly telling Alex she wasn’t interested in him had been the right thing for Olivia to do. She only wished she had noticed and done something about it earlier. She hated to think she had done anything to make Georgia unhappy, however unwittingly. Her friends were more important to her than Alex Parks’ feelings.

Jack was now clowning around and tossing pancakes high up into the air. To the delight of the crowd, he started throwing them down to the police in the river launch that was circling under the wire, and to a group of press photographers in a motor boat.

“This is more like it,” said Pablo, happily. “Your dad is back on top form. I have to admit there were a couple of days when I was really worried. Not just about his chest but about his state of mind, too. It’s lonely out there on the wire, day after day, hour after hour. You need the crowd to help you.”

“But there was no real possibility of him giving up, was there?” asked Tom.

“Well, after that stuff in the papers it was touch and go,” said Pablo. “It’s clear that Viktor’s
strategy, or rather his manager’s strategy, is to psych Jack out, and he almost succeeded.”

“But maybe,” said Olivia slowly, “that means that Ethan Rees doesn’t think much of Viktor’s staying power.”

Pablo grinned. “That’s exactly what I think.” He tapped the side of his nose and said, “Anyway, we’ve got a trick or two up our sleeve.”

“But they’re not dirty tricks?” asked Aeysha.

“No, course not,” said Pablo, quickly. “Just more where the pancakes came from.”

“Tell us,” said Eel excitedly.

“Be patient,” said Pablo. “Your dad is coming in for ten minutes very soon. He can tell you all.”

Eel was sitting on Jack’s knee, playing with his hair.

“You really are better?” asked Olivia, anxiously.

“Never fitter,” said Jack, with a grin. “I had a little wobble, but it’s passed. I’m good.”

“I’m sorry, Dad,” said Eel, looking stricken.

He smiled at her, puzzled. “Don’t be sorry, Eel, it wasn’t your fault that the Viktor camp
managed to get a tidbit of information about my state of health to use to his advantage. It’s just a reminder that we have to be really careful about letting information out of the camp. We need to play our cards close to our chest.”

“So does that mean you can’t tell us about the big stunt you’ve got planned for Friday night?” asked Tom.

Jack smiled. “I can risk it. You are Livy and Eel’s friends, and I know you are all completely trustworthy. Besides, in this instance we actually need you to spread the word. We need to encourage people to come down here at 9pm on Friday with the promise that something amazing is going to happen. We won’t tell people what it is, but we will try and pique their interest. We want a big crowd so we can really give them a good show.”

“But what are you going to do?” asked everyone, excitedly.

Jack leaned forward to whisper. “I’m going to give them a firework display. I’m going to create a river of fire across the wire. Things are really going to go with a bang. That’s the big secret.”