Free Centre Stage: A Novel by Linda Chapman

good. Neither of them said a word to the other and when we left to go back to the theatre they totally ignored each other.
    I hung back, intending to walk with Justine — she’d been quiet ever since she’d had to sing on her own – but Colette came over. ‘What are you doing?’ she said. ‘Come on. We’re waiting for you.’
    Seeing Mark and Jack standing by the door, I hesitated and then, deciding to speak to Justine at lunchtime, I joined my team. ‘God, did you hear Samantha?’ Colette said in a low voice to Mark as we walked down the stairs. ‘She thinks she’s so cool!’
    ‘She is good at singing,’ he said.
    ‘Yeah, but there’s no need to deafen us all,’ Colette retorted.
    Mark looked at me. ‘Just ignore Colette when she gets on to the subject of Samantha. The two of them hate each other.’
    ‘She hates me,’ Colette said.
    ‘Whatever,’ Mark said, looking mildly exasperated.
    ‘It’s ever since last summer,’ Colette told me. ‘Our year did a production of The Wizard of Oz . She was Dorothy and I was her understudy. Well, on the week of the performance she got chickenpox and couldn’t perform so I had to be Dorothy instead. Lots of people said I was better than her and she’s hated me ever since.’
    I nodded, not knowing what to say.
    ‘She’s been saying that in this play she’s going to make sure her team’s chosen to perform on the first night,’ Colette said. ‘So we’ve just got to be better than them, Sophie.’
    ‘We will be,’ Mark said. ‘Sophie’s going to be a much better Lucy than their Lucy.’
    ‘Justine,’ I said.
    ‘Whatever her name is,’ Mark went on, ‘she really couldn’t hold those notes.’
    Colette smiled at me. ‘I am so glad you’re in our team, Sophie!’
    I forced a smile.
    I hoped she was still going to think that after we had our first dancing rehearsal!

Chapter Eight
    ‘Here we go!’ Dizzy shouted above the music. ‘And five, six, seven, eight…’
    I ran forwards, aware of Colette, Mark and Jack in a line behind me. Little steps, little steps, I thought as I stopped and began to run on the spot.
    To my right I could see Justine’s team doing the same.
    The music changed and I ran to a different area.
    This wasn’t hard at all. The only difficult thing was remembering when to run and when to stop. We were going to be dressed in hats and coats and carrying bags and we had to look like we were running from one place to another.
    ‘That’s great,’ Dizzy said as the music ended. ‘Well done, all of you.’
    The breath rushed out of me. I hadn’t made a mistake. Big relief!
    ‘Time for lunch,’ Dizzy announced. ‘We’ll meet back here at one thirty.’
    *
    We had all brought packed lunches and we ate them in the school canteen. Seeing Justine sitting by herself at a big table by the window, I headed over.
    ‘Hi,’ I said.
    She smiled. ‘Hi, Sophie. Do you want to sit here?’
    ‘Yeah,’ I replied.
    But just then, Samantha, David and Xav came over.
    David and Xav smiled at me but Samantha fixed me with a cold look. ‘Your team’s over there,’ she said pointedly.
    I looked round. Colette, Mark and Jack were sitting on the opposite side of the room. They beckoned me over.
    ‘Well, are you going over to them?’ Samantha said.
    Could she have made it any clearer that I wasn’t wanted?
    I glanced at Justine but she just looked embarrassed and didn’t say anything. Blushing, I picked up my lunch and walked over to Colette and the others. It wasn’t fair. Samantha might not get on with Colette but why did she have to be mean to me too?
    ‘What were you doing over there?’ Colette asked.
    ‘Nothing,’ I muttered, sitting down.
    ‘I wouldn’t try and be friends with them,’ Colette advised. ‘Samantha’s a real cow.’
    Unpacking my sandwiches, I glanced across at the other team. Samantha caught my look and stared back challengingly. I looked quickly away. She really didn’t seem to like me, that was for