Sam in the Spotlight (8 page)

I lay down on my bed, the envelope safe under my pillow. If Crystal didn't call me soon, or come and see me at school…well, I would just have to go and find her myself.

As soon as we got to drama the next Saturday, Phoebe, Polly and I made a sort of barrier around Ellie while she slipped Arthur's letter onto the piano by Mandy's things. It was all my idea of course and it worked brilliantly. Mandy was busy talking to one of the parents, so she definitely didn't see what we were up to. It was impossible to concentrate after that though. Every time she went anywhere near the piano we all held our breath, waiting to see what would happen – but then she'd pick up a pen or grab her script and not even notice the letter at all.

Just before break she called us over to the piano to teach us the second song in the show, “Clueless”. She picked up the music and was just about to sit down when she finally spotted the scruffy piece of paper. The others carried on chatting, waiting for her to start playing but the four of us froze, our eyes fixed firmly on her face as she read Arthur's love letter.

Her eyes opened wider and wider and her mouth went all twitchy at the corners, as if she was trying very hard not to laugh. I had to breathe really deeply not to burst out laughing myself and I didn't dare look over at Ellie. When Mandy finished reading, she stood there for a minute, biting her lip, then she folded the letter up and put it inside her bag.

“Okay,” she said. “Let's make a start.”

“I really hope Arthur comes in later,” whispered Polly. “I can't wait to see what she says.”

“Or what sign she gives him,” I whispered back and I had to bury my face in my script to stop myself snorting.

“Clueless” is the song Monty B and Phoebe sing when they arrive at the castle to solve the mystery of the phantom face – but the point of the song is that they really don't have a clue about anything. Monty B comes onstage with this massive magnifying glass, as if he's searching for evidence, and Phoebe follows on behind with a pen and a little book, ready to make a note of anything he finds.

They sing the first part of the song by themselves as they arrive, and then the rest of us join in with the second chorus.

Phoebe is brilliant at singing and Monty B's just got one of those faces that makes you laugh even when he's not trying to be funny. They'd obviously practised it together during the week because they'd added all these hilarious, slapstick actions, and at one point Mandy had to stop playing the piano, she was laughing so much.

“Oh my goodness, it's perfect casting,” she said, wiping her eyes. “Just don't get too carried away, will you, Monty B?”

“
Stick to the script!
” said Monty B, saluting.

When we'd learned the chorus and sung it through a few times, Mandy sent us off in groups to practise the scene leading up to the song. I had to team up with Adam and Sara, worse luck. I tried to get Sara on her own to warn her not to say anything stupid about me and Adam, but Adam came straight over before I could talk to her.

“Look after Sara, would you, Sam?” said Mandy as we clambered onto the stage to get away from the others. “It is her first production, don't forget.”

“And her last with any luck!” I muttered to myself.

Adam was wearing his black beanie hat and black Dr. Martens boots and he looked so cool I had to force myself not to stare at him. I kept thinking about what Eddie said, about Adam liking someone at drama, and I couldn't help wondering if Polly was right and it might be me after all.

“You wouldn't believe how much Riley has grown,” he said to me as we grabbed some chairs and sat down. “I think my mum's going to ring your aunt at some point today to let her know she can come and pick him up this afternoon. Why don't you come with her and we can go over some of our scenes together?”

“Oh, I've heard
all
about Riley,” said Sara. I shot her a look. “Oh, he's just the most gorgeous, cute, adorable thing that I've ever seen in my life! That's what you said the other day, wasn't it, Sam? Or maybe you weren't talking about
Riley
at all?” She snorted into her script.

“Drop it, Sara. Let's just do the scene. Mandy's going to come over in a minute.” I put my hands up to my cheeks to try and cool them down. I was going to kill Sara later. She might be jealous of me but I wish she'd just keep her mouth shut. And there was no way I was going back round to Adam's. There was a limit to the amount of times I was willing to make an idiot of myself.

We had a go at setting the scene ourselves and were just in the middle of showing Mandy what we'd done when Arthur came in.

“All hard at work,” he boomed. “That's what I like to see.”

“Is everything okay?” said Mandy, blushing a bit.

“Couldn't be better,” said Arthur.

He didn't say anything else for a minute and neither did Mandy.

“So…” she said in the end, prompting him to get on with it.

“So…the thing is, Mandy my dear, I was just wondering if I might ask you something… ahem…in private.”

Mandy started to blush even more. “I'm sorry, Arthur, but I can't just walk out and leave the children.”

“Oh, not to worry,” said Arthur, backing out of the room. “I'll catch you later on, if I may. It won't take a second.”

He swung round and swooped out of the room, his funny black cape flying out behind him. Mandy just stood there, staring at the door. She was probably trying to work out how quickly she could escape at the end of the session. I looked over at Ellie and she raised her eyebrows, grinning.

We couldn't talk about Arthur or the letter at break because Monty B, Catharine and Neesha were sitting with us. Sara was sitting on the other side of the hall with Tara – the further away the better as far as I was concerned – and Adam was helping Sandeep sort out a game for later on in the session.

“Don't forget you're coming out with Eddie today,” said Ellie. “What do you feel like doing?”

I shrugged, shaking my head. I didn't feel like doing anything, not with Eddie.

“Are you guys coming as well?” she asked Polly and Phoebe. “We could go up to the shopping centre if you want.”

“I can't,” said Phoebe, “not unless you want Sara tagging along.”

“Why does your mum keep getting you to look after her?” said Polly.

Phoebe sighed. “It's difficult, you know, because my dad always goes to his meditation centre on Saturday afternoons, so if Mum goes to work someone has to stay in and look after Sara.”

“Well, I'll come over to yours if you want, Sugar, my sweet,” said Monty B. “We can practise our song and some of our scenes.”

“That sounds fun. I'll come too,” I said quickly.

“No you won't,” said Ellie, jutting her chin out. “A deal's a deal.”

After break we sang the opening number and then put all the scenes together leading up to “Clueless”. I tried really hard not to let the fact that I was onstage with Adam affect my performance. My voice did wobble a few times and my heart was racing, but Laura has to sound slightly scared about the face at the window anyway so it didn't really matter. I mean if you're serious about acting, you can't let a little thing like acting with a drop-dead gorgeous Year Ten boy put you off!

We finished the session with Sandeep's game. He'd written out a list of ten forfeits and Mandy divided us up into four teams. Each team had a copy of the forfeits and a pile of numbers from “l” to “10”.

I was in team four and so was Ellie, but the others in our team were Neesha, Adam and Sara! I knew Adam would be on my team before Mandy even called out the numbers. I was doomed!

I looked down at the list of forfeits.

NO WAY. I couldn't play a game like this with Adam. Some of the tasks were so embarrassing I felt dizzy just reading them. I decided to disappear into the loo until the end of the session. I started to edge towards the door, but before I could make my escape Adam grabbed my arm and pulled me over to where the rest of the team were waiting.

Sandeep explained that we had to take turns to run into the middle, pick up a number from our pile, run back to our team and perform the task that matched the number. The first team to finish all their numbers was the winner.

I volunteered to go first – just to get it over with! I ran into the middle of the hall, praying I wouldn't pick anything too awful.

“WHAT NUMBER? WHAT NUMBER?” Adam shouted, as I dashed back to my team.

I looked down at my scrap of paper. “Erm… three.”

He scanned the sheet of tasks.

“Quick! Jump on my back, Sam! You've got to go round the hall on someone's back and I'm the strongest.”

He bent down, and I just about managed to clamber onto his back with a bit of help from Neesha and Ellie. It all happened so fast I didn't have time to think about how embarrassing it was.

“Don't drop me!” I shrieked, and then held on for dear life as Adam tore round the hall, trying not to bump into anyone. On the way we passed Catharine, who was shuffling around on her bum, and Monty B proposing to Phoebe!

My next turn was even worse. I picked up number ten, which meant I had to tell everyone in my group I loved them – one by one. I could feel the blood rush to my face as I mumbled “I love you” to Ellie, Neesha, Sara and –
Oh My God –
Adam!

“Speak up, Sam,” said Sara. “I can hardly hear you!”

I forced the words out through my teeth
again
and collapsed down next to Ellie. Drama had turned into the biggest nightmare since Mandy decided to let Sara join – and since my
hormones had gone haywire.
It's like I was on automatic pilot. I only had to think about Adam and my face turned beetroot, and there didn't seem to be anything I could do about it!

“Hey, it's a shame Arthur's not playing,” said Ellie. “He could declare his undying love for Mandy! He could even propose!” Then she leaped up ready for her turn, crashing into Adam, who had run back with number one and was making a big show of proposing to Neesha. It's just as well he didn't propose to me, because there's no way I would've said yes, not in a billion years.

When we went downstairs at the end of the session, Arthur was waiting for Mandy, Eddie was waiting for Ellie, and Aunty Mags was waiting for me.

“Come on! We're going to get Riley!” she cried, grabbing me and pulling me towards the car. “Adam's mum called me this morning and it's all been arranged. We've just got to pop to the pet shop and make sure we've got everything we need and then we'll head straight over.”

I looked across at Eddie, smirking at me from under his baseball cap, and I decided very quickly that a visit to Adam's, however embarrassing, would be better than spending the whole afternoon with Ellie and Eddie. He was starting to give me the creeps, big time. I explained to Ellie and gave her a quick hug. She wasn't happy, but at least she could see I had a real excuse.

“I'll see you a bit later then, Sam,” said Adam. “And bring your script.”

I nodded and mumbled something pathetic.

Mandy was parked right by Aunty Mags and the last thing I heard her say to Arthur before we drove off was that he'd have to catch her another time because she had an urgent appointment – at the dentist!