Centre Stage: A Novel

shouted at, do what you’re asked when you’re asked and otherwise keep out of the way.’
    It sounded terrifying. I glanced around and was glad to see I wasn’t the only one looking apprehensive.
    Velda seemed to see our worried faces. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said more kindly. ‘I’m just warning you. Technical rehearsals are always difficult and it’s best you’re prepared. The technicians here are really good fun, but they’ve been working non-stop for three days and nights to get the set and lights and sound up and ready, so they’re all tired and a bit grouchy. Once the show starts you’ll see a different side to them. But for now, just do what you’re asked and don’t even think about complaining.’ She pointed to a black box on the wall. ‘Lauren will call through the tannoy system when you’re needed,’ she said. ‘Otherwise just stay down here with Jackie and Rona.’ She smiled at the two women from Clawson Academy who were going to be chaperoning us while we were in the theatre. ‘And don’t make too much noise. Now let me show you your dressing rooms.’
    I never thought I would ever get bored with standing on a stage, but after six hours of hanging around, saying a few lines and then hanging around some more while the technicians hurried about or shouted to each other, I was more than ready to go home.
    ‘Do you know which team is going to be needed for the dress rehearsal on Friday night?’ I asked Velda on my way out.
    ‘Claire hasn’t said yet,’ Velda said. ‘But I think it will probably be your team. The plan is to have one dress rehearsal tomorrow afternoon about three o’clock and one tomorrow evening. I’d imagine Claire will want your team to do tomorrow evening, seeing as you’ll be doing the first night. However, it will depend a bit on how the technical rehearsal goes. If we over-run then, the plans might need to be changed. I’ll let you know tomorrow morning.’
    ‘Thanks,’ I said, my heart sinking. I wanted to go to the quiz competition and support Harriet but the chance of that looked to be very small indeed.
    However, the next morning, when I arrived at the theatre, I was greeted with good news. Well, good for me anyway. The stage crew had had problems with some of the scenery the night before, which meant that the technical rehearsal was running way behind schedule. It now looked as if the dress rehearsals weren’t going to take place until the next day.
    ‘It’s going to be very difficult,’ Velda told us. ‘We’ll be very pushed for time but we’ll have one dress rehearsal in the morning, that will be with the red team, and then one in the afternoon with the blue team.’
    ‘But the show’s tomorrow night,’ Mark said.
    ‘Yes. Like I say, we’re going to be pushed for time. You’ll only have a couple of hours or so between the dress rehearsal finishing and the first performance starting — but then it’s going to be the same when you’re doing a matinee and evening performance.’
    ‘So what about today?’ I asked. ‘What are we doing?’
    ‘The same as yesterday,’ Velda said. ‘You’ll be here until three and then the red team will come and take over.’
    ‘So that means we won’t get a chance to have a proper rehearsal today?’ a girl in the chorus, called Tania, asked.
    ‘I’m afraid not,’ Velda replied. ‘It’ll just be more starting and stopping.’
    ‘So we’ve only really got the dress rehearsal left,’ Colette said.
    As Velda nodded, the delight I’d been feeling at being able to get to the quiz competition faded abruptly. No more practising, just the dress rehearsal! But… but… but I wasn’t good enough. Images of the last dreadful rehearsal on Wednesday came back to me. Help , I thought, suddenly feeling as quivery as a pile of jelly. What am I going to do?
    *
    Dizzy did find time when the crew went to the pub for lunch to let us practise the dances on the stage. But my mind seemed to be switched on to panic mode and I made loads of mistakes.
    ‘Sophie, come on!’ Dizzy shouted as I went into a spin a couple of beats too late. ‘Keep up!’
    And step, two, three and forwards . The instructions pounded around in my head. I felt stiff and tense. Oh, no , I thought as I missed a lunge to the side, Dizzy’s going to kill me .
    But she didn’t. Afterwards she just looked at me and shook her head. ‘I’m not going to say anything, Sophie. I just hope you don’t perform like that tomorrow night.’
    I