Olivia's First Term (15 page)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Now Abbie, Sebastian and Alicia were seated in the rehearsal room waiting for the second performance of the day. Sebastian had rigged up a couple of lights, and William Todd, who was a brilliant pianist and composer, was improvising some background music. The lights went down and came up again and there in the spotlight on the high-wire were Olivia and Tom, acting out the moment during the Capulet masked ball when the two lovers meet for the first time.

Alicia leaned forward in her seat and a tiny meow of surprise escaped her lips as Olivia began to speak. Olivia didn't notice her grandmother's reaction. She noticed nothing except her Romeo moving towards her on the high-wire. Her brain knew it was just good old 
Tom, but her heart and soul responded as if he was a boy she had only just met and fallen in love with. She danced along the rope and tumbled so the audience suddenly realised for the very first time what the phrase “head over heels in love” really meant.

The scene continued as Olivia moved lithely down the wire using her dexterity to mask Tom's lack of wire-walking experience in a way that made it seem as if his physical uncertainty was simply the awkwardness of first love. It felt exhilarating, as if their heads, hearts and bodies were totally synchronised.

This
, thought Olivia to herself,
must have been what it was like for my mum and dad when they first met
, and she hoped one day when she was older she'd feel a love for someone with the same passion and intensity.

Her body curled around Tom's on the wire, their palms touched and it was as if there had been an exchange of electricity between them. Afterwards, in what became a Swan legend, some in the audience swore they'd actually seen a flash as their fingertips touched. To Olivia, it felt as though there had been. It felt as if both she and her Romeo were lit up from inside. They
were completely, heart-breakingly luminous.

In a demonstration of perfect control, Olivia cartwheeled backwards along the wire until the two lovers were standing at opposite ends, separated from each other by a void made up of their parents' enmity. Suddenly, there was silence.

Olivia and Tom jumped down from the tightrope. Olivia felt completely drained and dazed, as if she'd run a marathon. She couldn't bear to look in the direction of her grandmother. But then there was a flash of green velvet. Alicia was on her feet. Tears were pouring down her face. She began clapping and calling “Bravo!” and everyone else clapped and screamed their approval, too.

Olivia took a step towards Alicia. Alicia took Olivia's hand and said, “You are a great actress like your mother, but you have one talent that she did not: you are a great tightrope-walker like your father. The combination is irresistible. Olivia, I was wrong about tightrope-walking. It's a skill and an art, and your father has taught you well. He must be a very great artist, and you will be, too.”  

Half an hour later, Olivia, Tom, Abbie and Sebastian were sitting excitedly in Alicia's study together and Eel was jumping around.

“It will work, I'm absolutely confident,” said Alicia. “It honours Shakespeare's words but also intensifies them, as if distilling the very essence of first love itself. It was like watching joy, and it will make the audience feel joyful too if we frame it in just the right way. We'll get the rest of the cast to play the guests at the masked ball in a cross-discipline dance sequence, and we will put Olivia and Tom centre stage on the high-wire, a moment of stillness in the swirl of the dance followed by an explosion of love. We need to keep it very simple but with the right costumes, lighting and music, it will be very effective and completely original.”

“But Olivia wasn't already in our team, so I'm not sure that we are allowed to use her,” said Sebastian.

“I've checked the rules,” said Abbie. “We won't be disqualified for doing it. You're allowed one substitution up until the finals, and now that Katie has gone, Olivia can take her place.”

Everyone looked at Olivia.

“That is, if Olivia will do us the kindness of
taking part,” said Alicia. “I don't want to force you, Olivia. It's a big favour to ask. Nobody will think less of you if you decide you don't want to do it. You haven't exactly had a good time here since you arrived.”

“Of course, she'll do it,” piped up Eel. “The honour of the Swan and the Marvell family is at stake.”

“Well,” said Olivia with a smile, “if you put it that way, how could I possibly refuse? Yes, I'll do it, but on one condition.”

“What's that?” asked Alicia.

“That I can give up baby ballet and carry on high-wire walking with Tom.”

“It's a deal,” agreed Alicia.

“There's something else,” said Olivia. “You've got to help us find Dad before he does something silly.”

Chapter Forty

Olivia, Eel, Tom, Georgia and Aeysha sat with Abbie in a steamy café, eating iced buns. An old TV on the counter was tuned to a rolling news channel. Very soon they would have to set off for the Palladium, where the final of the Children's Royal Spectacular was being televised, to meet up with the rest of the cast who were going there straight from school. They had been to the costumiers to see the dress that Abbie was going to wear to play Liesl in
The Sound of Music
. It was a treat decreed by Miss Swan, who had said that as Olivia and Tom had been working
nonstop
over the last thirty-six hours, they deserved a break. They had been told that they could invite along a couple of others so Eel, Aeysha and Georgia had come, too.

“Oh, Abbie, your dress is
soooo
beautiful,” sighed Georgia. “I wish I could wear a dress like that on stage.”

“You will one day, Georgia, if you keep working really hard,” replied Abbie. “In any case, maybe Miss Swan will put you up to play one of the children in
The Sound of Music
? They'll be holding auditions at the start of next term. Your singing has really come on beautifully. I'm sure you could do it.”

“Could I?” said Georgia, looking both chuffed and worried at the same time.

“You could,” replied Eel firmly, “but only if you believe in yourself.”

“You mean a hundred per cent, like you believe in yourself, Eel?” teased Tom.

“Yes,” said Eel, so seriously that everyone burst out laughing. “I'm the bestest.”

“Best,” said Olivia with a weary smile.

“Actually, she's got a point,” said Abbie. “You do need a bit of self-belief in this business, because you get so many knocks along the way. I don't mean self-belief in a Katie Wilkes-Cox way, but in an understanding your real strengths and weaknesses way. I've been up for loads of roles that I haven't got and you just have to learn
to live with it and realise that if you don't get the part, it's not necessarily because you're no good, but it's because you're just not what the director is looking for. It doesn't make you a failure.”

Tom opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment Olivia stood up so suddenly that she knocked her lemonade over. She had gone quite pale and was pointing at the TV. The others turned to look. On the screen there were grainy pictures of Tower Bridge and large crowds pointing upwards, and the newscaster was saying that some kind of unauthorised stunt was taking place. A man appeared to be tightrope-walking across a wire stretched between the very pinnacle of the bridge's two towers!

All traffic on the road and down the river had been stopped and large crowds had gathered to watch. A camera zoomed upwards and captured the unmistakable image of the Great Marvello in its sights.

“Tower Bridge. It's just round the corner, isn't it?” said Olivia urgently.

“Yep, just a couple of minutes away,” confirmed Abbie.

“You've got to show us the way!” exclaimed Olivia

“We've no time,” said Abbie, anxiously looking at her watch. “We've got to get to the Palladium.” She saw Olivia's stricken face and the determined set of her mouth, and Abbie knew that Olivia would never be persuaded to leave for the Palladium until she had seen her father.

Chapter Forty-One

They ran through the streets towards Tower Bridge. As they drew closer, they could see the flashing blue lights of fire engines and police cars. They pushed their way through the crowds, who were all pointing upwards at the man on the wire. He was dressed like an old-fashioned silent-movie star with a bowler hat and a walking stick and he appeared to be holding a sack over his shoulder. He was doing a slapstick comedy routine, at one moment appearing astonished by his own prowess and at the next on the brink of falling off the wire.

The crowd gasped as he appeared to lose his balance, and then broke into fits of laughter as he did the splits and raised his bowler hat to them. 

Olivia ran onwards, followed by the others. She passed a blonde TV reporter who was talking into a camera. “Experts believe that the stunt has been some time in the planning because of the intense preparation required and that the wire must have been put in place secretly last night—” The reporter broke off to listen to some information that was being fed to her through her earpiece.

“Breaking news,” she continued. “The daredevil on the wire has been identified as Jack Marvell, otherwise known as the Great Marvello, who has pulled off similar feats in several capital cities across the world. He was thought to have retired from the limelight to run his own circus. Marvell is the widower of the great classical actress Toni Swan, who died tragically…”

The crowds were getting thicker, but Olivia threaded her way through towards the base of one of the towers until she was right at the front behind a police cordon. The others struggled in her wake but eventually caught up with her. Up above, Jack waddled along the wire, scratched his head as if puzzled, and started juggling with his stick and two balls he'd produced from his
pocket. The crowd broke into gales of laughter.

“Look, Livy, he's doing fine. Are you satisfied now? There's nothing to worry about. Let's go or we won't get to the Palladium in time to go on,” said Eel.

“All right,” said Olivia reluctantly.

The others began to weave their way back through the crowd. As Olivia turned to join them, the crowd gasped and some people screamed. Olivia swung round again, just in time to see that Jack had momentarily lost his balance. But he just as quickly righted himself again. The crowd waited. He took a faltering step forward and stopped, a tiny solitary figure alone against the great desolate expanse of grey sky. Seconds passed and turned into minutes and still the figure didn't move. It was as if he had been frozen in mid-air.

Olivia moved forward, squashing herself up against the police cordon and one of the policemen put a restraining hand on her shoulder. Olivia looked desperately around. She had to get to her father and help him before he fell from the wire. The crowd were murmuring, wondering what was going on. Still the tiny figure didn't move. Abbie, Eel and the others
had made their way back to Olivia, who was staring purposefully at the wall of policemen in front of her.

“I've got to get through,” she said desperately to the policeman in front of her. “That's my dad up there.” The policeman shook his head disbelievingly.

At that moment, the crowd gasped. Buffeted by the high winds, Jack had almost tumbled off. He took another tiny step and faltered again. Apprehension passed through the crowd. Olivia was terrified, convinced that Jack was having a breakdown on the wire as he had before. She had to help him before he became completely paralysed in mid-air, unable to move either forwards or backwards, and easy prey for the rising wind that would knock him off his perch. She refused to think about the dark swirling waters of the river below, with its terrifying current that could drag a man to his death in seconds.

“Create a diversion!” she whispered urgently to the others. Eel immediately let out a loud scream and fell to the ground. The rest of them looked at each other for a split second and then did the same. Their acting was so
convincing that the policemen broke the cordon and moved towards them to see what was causing the disturbance.

Olivia immediately seized her chance. She broke forward, dodged two policemen who tried to catch her, and ran to the tower at such speed that she knocked straight into the policewoman guarding the door at its base, winding her badly. Olivia entered the tower, slammed the door shut behind her, realised that the key was still in the lock and quickly turned it.

From outside she heard somebody shout her name.

“Olivia! It's me, Pablo. Let me in.” She ignored him. She climbed as fast as she could up the stairs. At the top she was met by another policeman, who tried to grab her but she kicked his shins so hard that he doubled over in pain. She squeezed through the window, looking for where Jack had fixed the wire so she could climb to the very pinnacle of the tower and on to the tightrope.

The policeman had recovered and was shouting for help as he grabbed her feet and pulled. But Olivia kicked out as hard as she could
and he let go. In that moment she scrambled out on to the tower, clambered up the final couple of metres and stepped out on to the wire.

“Come back!” called the policeman, but it was too late; his words were blown away on the wind as Olivia took another step forward. She shivered. She had never been on a wire in such treacherous conditions; the wind seemed to be delighting in trying to whip her off. She took another careful step and looked up. At the other end of the wire, she saw her father's face, his eyes wide, his mouth gaping in astonishment and horror. He shook his head as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Then he shook his head again, as if forbidding her to come any closer.

The wind caught her and it felt as if someone had punched her very hard in the small of the back. She steadied herself and tried not to think about the immense drop beneath her and the dark waters below. She took another step forward, gaining confidence, and took several more. She was only ten metres or so from Jack. She took another step towards him, smiled and put out her arms. He broke into a smile and put out his arms. She waved and he waved back.
Then Jack began moving nimbly towards her as if he hadn't a care in the world.

Down below in the gathering darkness, the crowd erupted with excitement. They thought this must all be part of the act. One person on the tightrope had been thrilling enough but two meant double the excitement! They roared their approval. The TV journalist became hyperactive, throwing her arms around madly, and the TV cameras zoomed in as Olivia and Jack hugged in the middle of the wire.

“What on earth do you think you're doing?” he shouted.

“Trying to help you,” Olivia yelled back.

“Well, as you're here, you'd better make yourself useful,” her dad grinned. “Hold these,” and he passed her the sack and the cane. Before she could stop him, he had flipped over and was standing on his hands. He tumbled his way along the wire and back in an exhilarating display of acrobatics. The crowd whooped and clapped. He pointed to the sack, and Olivia opened it and pulled out a unicycle.

As she handed it to him, he shouted, “You'll find an umbrella in there too. Once I'm mounted and away, open it up and give it a twirl.” Olivia
watched her father mount the unicycle and find his balance. He began to pedal. Down below, the crowd cheered and thousands of camera phones flashed. Olivia pulled out the umbrella, which was unexpectedly heavy. Taking care so it wasn't caught by the wind, she opened it. Showers of silver and gold confetti fell from the inside down on to the heads of the crowds below, who went crazy.

Jack dismounted from the unicycle, took his daughter's hand tightly in his own and they bowed together. The crowd screamed and shouted their approval.

Jack kissed Olivia's cheek. “I couldn't have done it without you, chick,” he said