Free Phoebe Finds Her Voice by Anne-Marie Conway

word you said, did we, Phoebs? It sounded like, ‘Itshnnnnn iknnnn mhhhhhy…’”
    â€œShut up! No, it didn’t!”
    We all started to laugh and for the first time in ages I began to feel happy.
    Back at Ellie’s we moved everything round so that there was space to dance. Her room is tiny and it’s always a complete tip, but if the bed is pushed right up against the wall and the chest-of-drawers goes sideways, we can make quite a good area in the middle.
    â€œRight, Phoebe, you stand here because you’re the shortest,” said Sam, placing me in between her and Ellie. “Ellie, you sing, It’s the middle of the night, keep your eyes closed tight , I’ll sing, You try to fall asleep with all of your might , and Phoebs, you sing, But don’t let the bed-bugs bite . Then we’ll all sing, I said, don’t let the bed-bugs bite .”
    We put on the music and tried it out a few times and it worked really well so we started to make up a dance to go with it. I knew Sam was being bossy but for once I didn’t care. It was so nice to be singing and dancing and mucking about and not thinking about all the stuff that was getting me down that I couldn’t believe it when Ellie’s mum came in with sandwiches and drinks and said it was four-thirty.
    I grabbed a carton of juice and collapsed on the bed. “What do you think about the parts then?”
    â€œMine’s brilliant,” said Sam. “Ice Bomb is easily the best part in the show and I get to do loads of scenes with Adam.”
    â€œYou know, I still don’t really get the whole story,” said Ellie, doing a backbend in the middle of the room.
    â€œWhat do you mean, you still don’t get the whole story?” cried Sam, sitting on top of her and squashing her down to the floor.
    â€œOoof! Get off, you great lump, I can’t breathe!”
    â€œ Just listen a minute, Ellie; it’s important! Baron-Von-Bolt and Ice Bomb run the Dream Factory, and they’ve got loads of money, right? But they’re horribly mean and greedy and they treat their workers really badly. So anyway, Gobstopper decides he’s going to get rid of Baron-Von-Bolt and Ice Bomb and run the factory himself, only he’s really evil as well. But then Lolly – that’s Phoebe – finds out what he’s planning and saves the day.”
    â€œOh, so that means you end up the hero of the show, Phoebe,” said Ellie, from somewhere underneath Sam.
    â€œYeah,” said Sam. “Like, from zero to hero!”
    â€œWhat about Polly?” I said, ignoring Sam. “She’ll be great as Gobstopper, won’t she? She’s exactly like him already.”
    I was dying to tell Ellie about Polly, but not while Sam was there.
    â€œPerfect casting!” said Sam. “I heard her say something really mean about you, today, Phoebe. Something about how quiet you were reading out your lines and that if you were that quiet sitting in a circle, who’d ever hear you in a theatre with an audience?”
    Ellie sat up, looking cross. “Well, I could hear all your lines, Phoebs, and I was sitting a long way away. Hey, have I shown you my new top? I got it as a sort of early Christmas present from my auntie.”
    She jumped up and rummaged around in a pile of clothes that looked as if they’d been there for years and from somewhere near the bottom she pulled out a gorgeous pink top with purple sleeves and collar.
    Sam grabbed it and pulled it on over her T-shirt. “Where did she get this? I love it!”
    â€œCareful, Sam, don’t stretch it! And look, I got matching nail varnish.”
    â€œD’ya know what, Phoebe?” said Sam, as she pulled the top back over her head and dropped it on the pile of clothes. “I swear someone at drama fancies you, but you’ll never guess who it is, not in a billion years.”
    â€œDon’t be stupid,” I said,