Lucky Break (5 page)

Half an hour later, Olivia was sitting in the sixth row of the theatre, holding hands with Jackson, waiting to hear the big news.

‘It’s so going to be me,’ Charlotte declared over the excited hubbub of the theatre. She was two rows in front, sitting between Allison and Katie. ‘No one else even came close.’

Jackson squeezed Olivia’s hand and said quietly, ‘Don’t listen to her. Your audition was really good.’

Olivia smiled, but her heart fluttered. There was a real possibility that Charlotte would get the part.

Camilla was up in the sound booth, the little room above the back row of the audience, making her decisions in private.

Jackson chuckled. ‘I especially liked the part where you were talking about me.’

Olivia’s entire body tingled with embarrassment and she hoped she wasn’t going redder than a tomato dunked in ketchup. ‘I couldn’t help it,’ she admitted. ‘I was thinking of you to try to get the romance across.’

He smiled at her and leaned closer. ‘Well, it worked.’

Olivia breathed in.
Is he going to kiss me right now?

Just then, Ivy plopped down in a seat in front of them, facing backwards.

Jackson straightened up and Olivia let out her breath.

‘It won’t be long now,’ Ivy said, still wearing her headphones. ‘I just went up to check with her.’

Olivia gasped. ‘Did you see anything?’

Ivy shook her head. ‘Not a sausage. And I wouldn’t tell you anyway. That would compromise my professional integrity.’

‘Speaking of professional integrity,’ Jackson said, ‘I think some of the itching powder evidence might have gone astray.’

Ivy put on an innocent face. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

The three of them glanced over at Garrick, who was sitting several seats behind them, looking grumpy and hilarious in a red-and-yellow polka-dotted shirt that he’d had to borrow from the costume department.

‘I’m surprised he hasn’t made a fuss about you, Ivy,’ said Olivia.

‘If he did,’ Ivy replied, ‘he would have to admit that he was the person who first brought itching powder into the theatre.’

Olivia heard something crackle in Ivy’s headphones.

‘She’s ready!’ Ivy said and hurried up the centre aisle to the back of the auditorium. She held open one of the doors and Camilla appeared, a dark silhouette against the lights in the lobby. The theatre fell completely silent as she came down the steps to the front of the stage, a thumb hooked into one of her red braces.

‘In my hand,’ she said in an ominous tone, ‘I have the final cast list.’

Being a director really suits Camilla
, thought Olivia.

She glanced at Jackson, who looked as relaxed as if he was waiting to hear what was in the cafeteria for lunch tomorrow. Olivia felt more like she was about to hear whether or not she was going to
be
lunch tomorrow.

‘Thank you all for taking the time to
audition,’ Camilla continued, ‘and please remember: if you don’t get a part, we need lots of support backstage with props and painting sets.’

Olivia glanced around at everyone else in the seats. The girl with the ponytail looked stony-faced and pale, and the boy with the Robin Hood cap looked like he’d won his role already. It was very tense.

Camilla cleared her throat. ‘For the female leads, in the role of Juliet, will be …’

Olivia squeezed Jackson’s hand so hard she made him yelp.

‘Olivia Abbott!’

Over the polite applause, Charlotte glared at Olivia. ‘No way!’

But Olivia refused to let that dampen her spirits. She squealed and clapped and grabbed Jackson in a huge hug, which was awkward with
the arm of the chair between them.

I did it!
she thought.
I’m going to play Juliet… with Jackson playing Romeo! We will finally have our first kiss.

The babble died down and Camilla made her next announcement. ‘The second female lead, the part of the nurse, will be played by Charlotte Brown.’

‘The nurse?’ Charlotte whined. ‘Isn’t she old?’

Camilla ignored her. ‘For the male leads, in the role of Mercutio will be … Jackson Caulfield.’

‘What!’ Olivia said.
Jackson didn’t even audition for that role
, she thought.

The whole audience murmured their surprise.

‘That’s great,’ Jackson said, without a trace of confusion. ‘He’s such a complex character.’

Olivia couldn’t believe it. Jackson seemed genuinely pleased.

But wait
, she thought.
This is ridiculous – he’s the
most famous young movie star in the whole world! How can he not have gotten the lead?

Camilla called for quiet, but the audience kept muttering about who could possibly have the lead role if Jackson didn’t.

But Jackson is a professional! Who at this school could possibly have out-acted him
? Olivia wondered.

Suddenly, a shrill whistle pierced the air, making everyone shut up. ‘I said: quiet, please.’ Camilla took her two fingers out of her mouth. ‘Thank you. In the role of Romeo, will be … Garrick Stephens.’

‘Yessss!’ shouted Garrick, leaping out of his seat.

‘Double what!’ Olivia said. ‘Garrick is Romeo?’

‘The supporting roles will be posted outside momentarily.’ Camilla had to shout over the noise of the auditionees – some disappointed at not getting lead roles but most chattering about Garrick. ‘Will the four leads please stay behind
for a briefing? The rest of you may go.’

Olivia was stunned. Garrick had spent his entire audition twitching and hopping all over the place … He was awful! At one point, he was actually
lying down
on the stage! She couldn’t make sense of it, but made her way up to the front, following Jackson through the dispersing crowd.

‘You might be wondering,’ Camilla said when the four of them had gathered around, ‘why the roles were cast in this way.’

Olivia held herself back from shouting, ‘You bet I am!’

‘If you’ll follow me, I have something to show you.’ She led the small group up the side steps on to the stage. She paused before taking them into the wings. ‘You may have heard that my production of
Romeo and Juliet
was going to have a “twist”,’ she said and the four of them nodded. ‘Well –’

Before Camilla could continue, the theatre doors banged open and in strode their stuffy English teacher, Mr Wagenbach, closely followed by Amy Teller. Mr Wagenbach brandished a stack of papers that looked like a script and his face was the same shade of aubergine as his tie.

‘H-how could you?’ he spluttered as he stomped up the stage steps. ‘This so-called “adaptation” of
Romeo and Juliet
is an abomination!’

Olivia was stunned, but Camilla looked completely composed.

‘How can you cast the most famous lovers in all of literature as aliens and robots?’ he shouted.

Robots?
Olivia thought.
What is he talking about?

‘If you would just calm down, sir,’ Camilla began.

‘I will not calm down, young lady!’ he ranted. ‘You cannot set one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays in outer space! I have a mind to
cancel this production with immediate effect.’

It finally hit Olivia – the twist Camilla had been about to reveal was that the play had a sci-fi theme. She truly was making it her own.

Does this mean I have to learn cyborg?
Olivia wondered, knowing her friend was fluent in the Cyborg Beta language.

Amy Teller had been nudging closer and closer to Jackson. She straightened her green tailored jacket. ‘If you think that Jackson Caulfield is going to waste his time in the lead role of this nonsense, you should think again.’

Camilla narrowed her eyes. ‘I’m pleased to inform you that Garrick Stevens will be playing the lead in my play.’

Both adults turned to stare at the lanky, oddly dressed person who, up until then, had been doodling on his jeans in black pen.

He waved, accidentally dropping the pen.
‘That’s me.’ Then he reached over his shoulder to scratch his back.

Amy whipped her head back to Camilla. ‘You are kidding me.’

‘I get to play Mercutio,’ Jackson put in.

Amy gasped. ‘But he dies halfway through.’

Jackson turned to Camilla. ‘And I have to say thank you for the opportunity. You should know that I am
fully committed
to this production.’ He looked at Amy pointedly. ‘And all my other engagements will be cancelled until after closing night.’

Amy looked like a goldfish. Her mouth kept opening and closing, with no sound coming out.

Camilla nodded. ‘Thank you.’ Then she turned to the adults. ‘Look, I am aware that Shakespeare in outer space isn’t how it’s usually done, but that is the best thing about his plays. They are
universal, and his stories and characters are so rich they can be brought to life anywhere.’

Mr Wagenbach’s purple faded to lilac.

Camilla kept going. ‘Changing the setting will open his message to a wider audience, who might not otherwise appreciate the quality of his writing. I want the school – no, the world – to see how powerful it can be.’

Olivia was impressed. Her friend knew exactly what to say to win over the teacher. It was almost a call to arms, an impassioned advertisement for Mr Wagenbach’s favourite playwright.

‘Perhaps …’ he began. ‘Perhaps you are right.’

Amy Teller rolled her eyes.

‘I was hasty in my judgement,’ he decided. ‘You carry on, Camilla. Our school – and our drama department – is lucky to have someone like you.’

‘Thank you,’ she said politely.

‘I want approval over the costume,’ demanded Amy.

Camilla crossed her arms. ‘I’m willing to offer consultation, but that’s as far as it goes.’

Olivia was impressed with how well Camilla could handle the fireball that was Jackson’s manager.
I wouldn’t want to have to negotiate with either of them
, Olivia thought.

‘Consultation is for D-listers,’ Amy retorted. ‘Jackson is an A-plus-lister.’

‘I have faith in my director, Amy,’ Jackson said, stepping to Camilla’s defence. ‘She has the most invested in this production, and I’m sure everything will look great.’

Amy narrowed her eyes. ‘Well, I’m not calling
Inside Hollywood
until I see the costumes.’

As Amy and Mr Wagenbach left the theatre, Camilla turned back to her actors.

Charlotte looked like a balloon about to pop.
‘What
were they talking about?’ she demanded.

‘That’s what I was trying to tell you,’ Camilla explained. ‘Come with me.’ She pushed aside a heavy black curtain and walked through the wings. She opened a side door into the costume room and led the small group to a rack near the back.

‘This will be a Coal Knightley-inspired version of
Romeo and Juliet.
The words and the story are pretty much the same, but the Capulets are robots and the Montagues are aliens. It’s going to be awesome!’

Garrick looked confused. ‘Aliens?’

‘Haven’t you guys seen that awesome 1950s movie
Forbidden Planet
?’ she said enthusiastically. ‘It was sci-fi Shakespeare and a total cult phenomenon.’

Olivia shook her head. ‘Sorry.’ She stared at the metallic outfits and tentacle-like arms that
were hanging from the rack. Sci-fi Shakespeare was definitely going to be … memorable.

‘Garrick, your twitchy audition was even better than I could have imagined for the part of Romeo – or Romezog, as you will be called,’ Camilla said.

‘Romezog, huh?’ Garrick said. ‘Will there still be all the kissing?’

‘The script isn’t changing much from the original,’ Camilla confirmed.

‘Oh yes!’ Garrick punched the air.

‘Oh no,’ Olivia groaned.

‘Congratulations on being Juliet, Olivia,’ Charlotte said, smirking.

‘Actually, it’s Julietron,’ Camilla corrected, pulling a short, plastic skirt and stiff sleeveless top off the rack and handing it to Olivia. It looked like a cheerleader’s outfit that had been dipped in liquid gold.

Cool
, Olivia thought.

‘Charlotte, you will be Nanny-bot and wear this.’ She handed her a grey wig and a padded, shapeless dress made of silver fabric with pink rose appliqués ironed all over it.

‘Blech.’ Charlotte turned up her nose.

‘And, you, Jackson will be Merc-X88.’ She handed him a futuristic-looking knight costume where the helmet had tubes to join it to the breastplate. ‘As a relative of the Prince, you’re not an alien or a robot.’

‘I’m a cyborg,’ he said. ‘I’m both!’

‘Exactly,’ Camilla confirmed. She turned to Garrick. ‘You will be required to wear this.’

Romezog’s costume was green and had four arms on each side that were strung together to move whenever he moved his arms. There was also a hat with big eyes on springs, bouncing all over the place.

‘I can handle that,’ Garrick said, leering at Olivia. He blew her a kiss.

It turned her stomach.

Today should have been the best day ever. She had actually won the role of Juliet – plus she had a fabulous costume – but she hadn’t even considered that Jackson wouldn’t get the role of Romeo.

Now, not only was she
not
going to have her first kiss with Jackson while performing the most famous love story in the world – it was going to be with Garrick Stevens … dressed as an octopus.

Life couldn’t get much worse.