Musical Star (14 page)

“This is it, choir,” Mr Petrelli said, as we finished our lunchtime rehearsal on Friday afternoon. “Your big moment in the sun, or should I say spotlight? Sorry, that’s the last time I make that pun, I promise!” We all laughed. “I’m so proud of you. When we started on this journey, you were a bunch of tuneless misfits and now somehow you’re the best school choir in the country about to make a TV debut. Don’t forget me when you’re famous, OK?”

“Actually, sir,” Talitha said, glancing around at the rest of us, “we wanted to give you something to say thank you for getting us this far.” The boys rustled about and then after a moment produced a carrier bag.

“You were supposed to wrap it!” Hannah said, rolling her eyes.

“You try gift wrapping – it’s well hard, man,” Gabe said. “We kept ripping the paper.”

“Anyway,” Dakshima said, taking the bag and handing it to Mr Petrelli. “We hope you like it. “It’s a
boxed set of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals. Tristan reckons they are the best.”

“Only we’re not allowed to say so in front of Mr Caruso,” Rohan added.

“Guys,” Mr Petrelli took the box of DVDs out of the bag and looked at the yellow post-it Gabe had stuck on the packaging. “Cheers for everything from us lot, open brackets, the choir, close brackets.”

He smiled at us. “I’m really touched,” he said. “And I really, really hope it isn’t the end of us working together. Every single one of you has found a voice since you’ve been here and I’d hate for any one of you to stop singing.” He paused and coughed. “And if you’re willing, then I’ll be here for choir practice every Wednesday lunchtime. Maybe we’ll even find another competition to enter, or perhaps put on a musical of our own.”

We all looked at each other and nodded.

“Cool,” Gabe said.

“A school play would be great,” I said, nodding at Mr Petrelli’s present. “Maybe we could even try one of those musicals.”

“Actually, Ruby,” Rohan mumbled. “We got you a thing too.”

“Me?” I was surprised.

“Well, we wouldn’t have got anywhere if you hadn’t
got us all dressed up like idiots and prancing around like nutters,” Gabe said. There was another rustle at the back of the room and another carrier bag brought out.

“It’s a special pair of legwarmers,” Dakshima told me. “Talitha and Hannah knitted them – gold and glittery with sequins, just for you. They’re to remind you to never stop doing what you’re good at, OK? Because we all know you’re brilliant.”

I took the glittery legwarmers out of the bag and suddenly my eyes filled up with tears. Maybe it was silly to cry over a pair of legwarmers, maybe I was just being a lovey again and exactly the sort of drama queen that Danny always said I was, but to know that these people believed in me made me the happiest I had been for a long time.

“Blimey, don’t blub,” Gabe said, putting an arm round me.

“Thanks everyone,” I said, sniffing loudly. “Thanks for letting me be part of your choir and your school.”

“We’ll miss you when you go back the Academy,” Dakshima said.

“Go back the Academy?” I echoed. “I’m not doing that – what ever gave you that idea?”

“So get I’ll my full choir back after Easter?” Mr Petrelli asked me.

“Of course you will, sir,” I said. “We’re team aren’t we?”

“Have you got the cheque for the twenty-thousand pounds yet, sir?” Dakshima asked him casually as we walked out of school.

“I think so,” Mr Petrelli said. “All that sort of business goes through the head.”

“Have you cashed it yet?” Dakshima persisted.

“Why?”

“No reason.” Dakshima smiled brightly at Mr Petrelli before mumbling to me, “That Mick Caruso might want it back otherwise.”

“Well, Mrs Petrelli and I have our tickets, we are really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow,” Mr Petrelli called out as he climbed into his car. “Good luck – break a leg!”

“So?” Dakshima asked me.

“So?” I said heavily, full of dread about what I had to do.

“Are you going round there now?” she said. We’d agreed the night before that I should tell Danny first, and then the two of us would go and confront Jade and her dad.

“Going where?” Talitha and Hannah appeared at our shoulders.

“Oh, nowhere—” I began.

“She’s going round to see Danny,” Dakshima told them.

“Oooh, are you going to tell him you
lurve
him,” Talitha teased.

“No!” I said. “I’m just going to ask him something about the show.”

“To practise the kissing scene with you in case Jade breaks her mouth?” Hannah giggled, making Dakshima laugh.

“I am just going to talk to him, that’s all,” I said, stoutly walking way from the group. “Now good day to you all.”

“Good day!” the girls shrieked with laughter.

“You lovey types are all the same,” Dakshima called after me as I trudged down the street. “Good luck, Rubes!”

“Thanks,” I said under my breath. “I’m going to need it.”

“Ruby,” Danny said. “Wow, I was just going to call you.”

“Were you?” I asked nervously.

“I thought you might want to meet me in the café for a hot chocolate.” Danny said. “You know, just to talk and hang out.”

“Good,” I said, with a shy smile. “Because I’m not sure you’re allowed to do much else in a café.”

Danny laughed. “So,” he said smiling at me. “You’re here again.”

“Yes I am,” I said. I was getting a distinct feeling of
dejá vu,
sure that Danny and I had had almost this exact exchange the last time I tried to tell him about the Auto-tune Miracle Microphone. That last conversation hadn’t worked out so well; we had fallen out without even even making up to begin with, and I still hadn’t managed to tell him.

What ever happened now, I knew that this time I had to tell him, however it ended. If I failed, Danny Harvey, a boy that I still really cared about, would find out the truth for himself on Saturday night in front of an audience of thousands.

“Danny,” I said, steeling myself, “I’ve come to tell you something important.”

“Really?” Danny’s smile grew uncertain, probably because I sounded so serious. “OK,” he said slowly. “But would you mind if I told you something important first? Because if you hear what I’ve got to say, it might change what you’ve got to say.”

“I don’t think it will…” I said uncomfortably.

“Please, Ruby,” Danny said. I shrugged and nodded. “It’s just that I wanted to say sorry for dumping you for Melody. I was an idiot…again.”

“Pardon?” I blinked at him, realising ten seconds too late that he was trying to apologise for breaking up with me.

“Yes,” Danny took a step closer. “When you went away I felt jealous and left out and all that stuff with Sean was more of an excuse from me to be angry with you than a proper reason. I suppose I did get a bit bigheaded about the number one and
Kensington Heights
and all that. And I suppose I thought you didn’t care about me any more. Pretty immature right?”

I paused to take in what he had just said. “Well, yes, actually,” I had to agree.

“The thing is,” Danny went on. “I really miss hanging out with you, and maybe you came round here to tell me that you don’t want to hang out with me, or that you don’t like me. But whatever you say, I wanted to tell you that I do still like you. A lot.” Danny shrugged. “Your turn.”

I looked at Danny’s dark eyes sparkling at me and said the truth out loud.

“Danny…you can’t actually sing.” The words tumbled out of my mouth. “The only reason you’re the lead in the show is because Jade wants you there. She got her dad to give you the part so that she could get her claws into you. When you sing it’s not your real voice that you are hearing come out of the speakers. It’s fed through a thing called an Auto-tune Miracle Microphone that adjusts your voice instantly and makes you sound really good.”

I paused to take a breath and glanced at the expression on Danny’s face. It was very quiet and still.

“When you recorded your hit single, you know they tweaked your voice in the recording studio – you told me. And you know when before you said that in your head you always sound terrible when you sing?” I went on, unable to stop talking, like my voice was a runaway train careering downhill towards disaster. “Well, that’s because you
do
sound terrible. Look, you’re an amazing boy and a great actor and even an OK dancer, but you really
can’t
sing. And neither can Jade. And me and Dakshima just thought we should tell everyone what we know – starting with you…”

Finally I came juddering to a halt and braced myself.

Danny laughed uneasily. “Look, that’s not funny.” he said.

“I know,” I said miserably. “But it’s true. Dakshima and I found out during the auditions. We sneaked upstairs to try and peek at the judges and you were one of the people we saw. We
heard
you sing without a microphone and you weren’t good, Danny. But Mick Caruso told you that you were and that you were going through the live final. We heard him tell Elaine Emmerson that he was putting you through not because you could sing but because Jade wanted you to play the
part of Sebastian opposite her Arial. I’m not trying to hurt you, Danny, because that’s totally the last thing I want to do, but Dakshima and I can’t keep it to ourselves any more. Jade doesn’t deserve that part. She and her dad have cheated to make sure she gets everything she wants, including you as her leading man.”

“You’re crazy!” Danny flared up. “I’m not stupid. I know that you can change the way a voice sounds in a recording studio, but you can’t do that day after day at rehearsals. Or on the live final. I was singing
live,
Ruby.”

“Into an Auto-tune Miracle Microphone,” I said. “Haven’t you noticed that you and Jade always have a different style of microphone? And that you are the
only
ones who do? That’s what makes you sound so good.”

“You are lying.” Danny shook his head and I could see fury boiling in his dark eyes. “You’ve been in rehearsal with us for weeks, Ruby. We’ve all heard the same thing.”

“Because you were always wearing the microphone…” I thought for a moment. “Come with me and I’ll prove it.”

“What? Go where with you?” Danny asked me.

“To the rehearsal studio.” I explained, looking at my watch and wondering how long it would be before Mum noticed I was late. “Where I can show you the truth.”

It took some persuading to get Eileen, the security lady, to let us in unsupervised, but once I explained to her that I’d left my mum’s birthday present in the studio and that her birthday was today, she let us in. I had fifteen minutes and no more because children weren’t allowed unaccompanied in the building and she’d get fired if anyone found out.

“You are getting very good at lying in your old age,” Danny said, as he followed me towards our rehearsal room. The building wasn’t empty, there were other rehearsals for other shows, both TV and theatre, going on all over the building. Our mission was to try and avoid being spotted by any of them.

“I don’t
want
to have to lie or come out here, when I know Mum is going to kill me for being late and not telling her where I’ve gone. She’ll probably think I’ve caught a flight to Acapulco or somewhere,” I told him in a low voice as we crept along the corridors. “And then I’ll get the talk about whether I’m happy and if I’m planning another stupid trip, so I am
never
late, because I never want Mum to worry that much about me again. Except for now, because I have to make you see the truth.
That’s
how serious this is.”

We entered the room and I switched on a couple of
lights. Once I could see well enough, I turned on both sets of microphone receivers, hooking them up to the speakers like I had seen the engineer do a hundred times.

Using some of the special tape that was used to fix the microphones to just below our hairlines, I fixed both types on to Danny, who submitted despite his anger. Standing close, we looked at each other for a second in the half light and I couldn’t help thinking that the moment could have been so different. But it was too late to turn back now.

“This is ridiculous,” he said.

“Is it?” I asked him, going to the control panel. “Then why are you here? You must know that something isn’t quite right or you wouldn’t have come with me.” I turned up one of the microphones.

“This is the Auto-tune Miracle Microphone,” I told him. “Go on, sing.”

His eyes flashing, Danny let rip a few lines from, ‘Love Gets it Wrong Every Time.’

I got the distinct impression that he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t worry about that now. I had to stay focused.

“That sounded really good,” I told him. “Now I’m turning the Auto-tune off, and the regular microphone on. Try again.”

Danny only managed to sing a few words before
stuttering to a stop. “It’s broken,” he said, ripping the mic off.

“It’s not, Danny.” I picked it up and sang a few bars into it. My voice sounded exactly like it always did.

Danny bent his head and crossed his arms across his chest for a moment, before looking up at me. “They’ve lied to me,” he said quietly. “Made a right fool of me and manipulated me.”

“Yes,” I said reluctantly.

“And you’ve known for weeks, Ruby,” he continued accusingly. “You’ve known all this time and you didn’t tell me. I bet you thought it was hilarious that I was making such a fool of myself.”

“Danny please – it’s not like that!” I protested. “I
did
try and tell you, but you got the wrong end of the stick and then we started to be friends again I didn’t want us falling out again.”

“So why are you telling me now?” Danny asked me. “Why couldn’t you wait until the show was finished.”

“Because you and Jade have got parts in a show that you don’t really deserve and people like Nydia are missing out. Besides, if I didn’t tell you Dakshima was planning to turn off your microphones during your first duet, and then the whole world would have found out the truth in the worst possible way. And I couldn’t let that
happen to you, or Jade – even if you both hate me for it.”

“You’re both crazy!” Danny exclaimed angrily.

“We’re not. We’re just trying to do the right thing. Can’t you see that?”