Free Rebecca's Rules by Anna Carey Page A

her head,’ I said. ‘And now she thinks she really is talented.’
    ‘Well, maybe she is,’ said Alice. ‘I mean, she could be. We’ve never actually heard her sing. Or seen her act. And remember, she was going to sing with the band last night before the whole angry pony thing.’
    ‘That doesn’t prove anything,’ I said. ‘Even if Vanessa couldn’t sing, she wouldn’t let it stop her from showing off.’
    ‘True,’ said Jessie, and then Ms Byrne, the English teacher who always organises the school show, walked onto the hall’s stage. I wish she was our English teacher, she seems much more normal than Mrs Harrington
    ‘Welcome, second years!’ she said cheerfully. ‘I hope you’re all very excited about this year’s wonderful musical. I know you’re all going to be great, so let’s get started. You’re all going to sing a bit of a song you’ve prepared, and then we’re goingto act out a bit of a scene together. Okay? And don’t worry if you don’t get a big part − there’ll be room for everyone else in the chorus.’
    Vanessa looked even more pleased with herself than ever, as if she already knew she was going to get a big part. Which, in fairness, turned out to be true. Unfortunately.
    ‘Right, said Ms Byrne. ‘The first up is … Karen Rodgers!’ Karen grinned nervously at Alison in a way that made her look like an actual human being as opposed to a mean bitch who likes mocking other girls for what their annoying mothers do.
    ‘What are you going to sing, Karen?’ asked Ms Byrne, as Karen took to the stage.
    ‘“Don’t Stop Believin”,’ said Karen.
    I have to admit that I was hoping she’d be terrible. I mean, she’d been so awful to me when my mum’s book came out that I was looking forward to seeing her make a fool of herself. But I didn’t get my wish, because she wasn’t bad at all. And then Ms Byrne gave her the script and they acted out a few lines and she was quite good at that too. I was shocked. When she finished Ms Byrne looked pleased and said ‘Very good, Karen, you’ve got us off to a great start.’
    Then a girl from 2:3 called Katie went up and sang ‘Tomorrow’ and on it went. I started to get more and more nervous. Loads of the girls could sing pretty well, and some of them were really good actors too. It started to dawn on me that I mightn’t have a chance of getting even a tiny speaking part. Alice sang very well, as usual, and Ms Byrne assured her that if she wanted to be in the chorus her plaster wasn’t a problem.
    Then Jessie was called up and sang ‘Who Will Buy This Wonderful Morning?’ from
Oliver
. But I barely noticed her acting because she had written her name down just before me which meant that I was next. And it seemed like just a second later that I heard Ms Byrne saying ‘Very good, Miss King. Now, Rebecca Rafferty, you’re up next.’
    The good thing about being in a band is that even though we’ve only played one gig, I’m not as nervous about getting up on a stage as I used to be. I mean, after you’ve fallen off a drum stool in front of a huge crowd of people, nothing can really faze you. So when I found myself actually up on the stage, I sort of stopped feeling nervous and just sang the lullaby from
Mary Poppins
as well as I could. Which was quite well, if I say so myself. The theatre is in my blood, after all. Then Ms Byrne gave me the script. It was the scene where Mary Poppins tellsthe kids that she’s practically perfect in every way. I had to do a few lines as Mary and a few as one of the kids. And that was it. I was feeling quite pleased, and Jessie whispered to me that I’d done really well. But I didn’t get to say thanks because Vanessa was striding confidently onto the stage as though she were a big star and we’d all been waiting for her.
    ‘Hi, everyone!’ she said, before Ms Byrne could say anything. ‘I’m going to sing “Memories” from
Cats
.’
    Alice, Jessie and I looked at each other and rolled our