Rising Star (5 page)

Chloe sighed. This wasn't how she had imagined singing lessons at Rockley Park would be. She should be learning how to breathe in the right places, and how to give real feeling to the words she sang, not having to practice being sick! It would have been funny if it weren't so awful.

Mr. Player stopped the music. “Do you have a personal CD player?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, take this,” he said, handing her the jazz CD, “and play it over break. If you feel like humming along to it, fine. But don't force it. One day you'll unlock that fantastic voice of yours, and then all your worries will fade away to nothing. Have a great vacation.”

Chloe put the CD in her bag. She knew he was trying to be kind, but it was obvious that she was getting nowhere.

At long last, Friday came. Chloe was in the homework room, asking Lolly about their English homework, when Danny arrived with his weekend bag, ready for a ride home with Chloe's parents.

“You're not in the concert!” he said to Chloe with concern, slinging his bag down on her desk. In his hand, he had a copy of the concert program that had just been printed.

Oh no!
thought Chloe.
I forgot all about the program.

“What?” Pop squeaked. She stared at Danny. “What do you mean? Of course she's in the concert! I've been trying for ages to get her to tell me the song ... ” She looked over at Chloe. “She said she ... ”

“Is everything all right?” asked Lolly.

Chloe looked desperately from one of her friends to the other, not knowing what to say.

“I . . . didn't . . . ” she said, trying to think of something,
anything,
to make it not so bad. Now she could see it might have been better if she'd been honest with them. But it was too late.

Of course, Tara chose that very moment to arrive.

“Your parents are here,” she said. “In their beat-up old car.” She waved the program in Chloe's face. “Don't suppose you'll be coming back after semester break, will you?” she added spitefully. “Oh?” she said, with a smirk, seeing the twins' astonished faces. “Didn't she tell her
best friends
that she's not good enough to be in the concert? Well, there you are.
I
knew she couldn't hack it!”

“How's the singing going?” Dad asked when they were in the car.

“Fine,” Chloe said, as cheerfully as she was able. Danny looked at her in surprise.

“What about the con...” Chloe gave him a murderous look and he fell silent. After a few moments he said, “Do you know, I have to learn things called rudiments.”

“What are they?” asked Chloe's mom.

“They're all sorts of different rhythms I have to know. They have amazing names, like paradiddle, flam, and ruff.”

“Goodness.”

“They get their names from knitting patterns,” Danny added.

Chloe's mom turned around in her seat and stared at him. “Do they?” she said. “How very odd.”

“They don't really,” he admitted. “That was just something my friend Marmalade told me. He said his granny mutters words like that when she's knitting.”

Chloe's mom laughed. “It sounds as if you have lots of fun at this new school of yours,” she said. “I'm quite envious.”

Danny looked at Chloe and she smiled at him gratefully.

“Thanks,” she whispered as her mom turned away. He shrugged.

“It's okay.”

 

 

It was great to be home. Ben came and bounced on Chloe's bed to wake her the next morning, and she tickled him until he squealed. He was too little to understand all the complications of her life. He didn't care what went on at Rockley Park School. He was simply happy to have his big sister home again, and thought she was perfect just the way she was.

Later on, Jess came over to see Chloe. Chloe had been so looking forward to confiding in her oldest friend, but Jess only wanted to hear about the famous people Chloe had met. She didn't seem to realize how much her friend needed to talk.

“If I give you last month's magazine, will you get Pop 'n' Lolly's autographs for me?” Jess pleaded. “They can sign beside the pictures of themselves. It'll be really cool to take that to school. Everyone will be
so
jealous!” She settled herself more comfortably on Chloe's bed. “Who else do you know?”

“
Jess!
”

“What?”

Chloe looked at her friend miserably. “I need to talk to you. I've got a
huge
problem.” She hesitated, hearing her parents' voices downstairs. “Not here. Let's go for a walk.”

While they dawdled into town, Chloe told Jess all her woes.

“It's not
your
fault,” Jess told Chloe stoutly. “It's because of Mrs. Pendle. You can blame her.”

“But I've still got to find my voice,” Chloe said. “What if the teachers at Rockley Park don't want me anymore? I wouldn't blame them.”

Jess shook her head. “Well,
I
would. They're supposed to be teaching you. They can't just give up.
You're
not giving up. Are you?”

“No!” Chloe bit back her tears. Part of her
was
almost tempted to give up the whole idea of being a pop singer. “I'm not giving up. But Mr. Player told me that I can't be in a concert until I can sing properly. And, I really like Pop and Lolly, but they won't want to be my friends if I'm a failure.”

“Why not?”

“Oh, Jess! Because they're famous. And successful. And they won't want to mix with failures.”

“Is that what they said?”

Chloe tried to be fair. “Well, no, but then, they don't know why I'm not in the concert.”

“You mean you haven't told them?”

Chloe's face told Jess all she needed to know. “I couldn't tell them,” she mumbled, scuffing a few dry leaves underfoot. “Or Mom and Dad.”

“Chloe, you're so
stupid.
” Jess told her. “If you don't tell people your problems, they can't help.”

“I
am
telling
you
,” Chloe said, nearly in tears.

“Yes, but you need to talk to Pop and Lolly to get them on your side. How can they be friends if you don't trust them? It's horrible if a friend doesn't tell you something important.”

They walked on in silence for a few minutes while Chloe digested what Jess had said. Chloe hadn't told Jess immediately when she'd got her place at Rockley Park and that had really hurt poor Jess. Now Chloe had made the same mistake with her Rockley Park friends.

“Do you think I should text them?” she said.

“Good idea,” said Jess. “Say you'll explain on Sunday night. Go on. Do it now!” Jess was always so enthusiastic. She was hard to resist. So Chloe dug the cell out of her bag. After a moment's thought, she sent the text to Lolly. Chloe thought she was the calmer, more understanding of the twins. All Chloe could do now was to keep her fingers crossed for a friendly reply.

It was ages since Chloe and Jess had been shopping together. Chloe had almost forgotten how much fun it could be. They went into the music store and almost immediately Jess found something in the bargain section that made her giggle.

“Look!” she said. Chloe looked.
Jeremy Player, On My Own Tonite,
was the title on the CD. There was a picture of her teacher looking a lot younger, gazing soulfully into the distance. “Do you want to get it?” asked Jess.

“No way!” said Chloe, laughing. It was rather embarrassing to see Mr. Player on such a cheesy CD.

“Who else do you know who might have a CD out?” said Jess. She was like a terrier, sniffing out any hint of celebrity. Chloe told her about Judge Jim Henson.

“Will he be under
H
or
J
?” said Jess, riffling through the racks.

“I don't know,” Chloe said uncertainly. “He's played guitar with lots of famous people over the years, but I don't know if he ever made any records of his own. Don't look under pop, Jess. He's a rock musician!”

Jess moved over to rock. “Here!” she said, almost right away. “
Judge Jim and Friends.
” She waved the case excitedly, and Chloe took it.

It was him!
Her
friend, too. Judge Jim Henson! In the picture, he was sitting on a plain wooden chair with his old guitar, the one he'd been restringing the other day. He was smiling his warm, easy smile, almost as if it were just for her.

“Wow! I don't really like rock music, but even
I've
heard of lots of these people,” squealed Jess, grabbing the CD again so she could read the back. “Eric Clapton, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix—all these people playing with Judge Jim Henson. And you
know
him!” Chloe nodded. It
was
amazing.

Chloe felt renewed determination flood through her. She was almost part of this world. She couldn't bear to fail now that she had a chance to make it as a pop star. She
had
to get her voice working properly. Her ambition was everything to her,
everything
!

In the park, Jess and Chloe tried the throwing-up exercise that Mr. Player had suggested, but by then they were in a very silly mood, and even Chloe couldn't take it seriously, so they went on the swings instead.

It was good to spend some time away from her troubles, but later on, after Jess had gone home and Ben was in bed, Chloe decided to talk to her mom and dad about her singing problems.

“I'm supposed to sing from
here,
” she explained, putting her hands on her tummy to show them. “And when I do the breathing exercises Mr. Player has given me, I can feel the muscles working. But as soon as I sing I can't seem to make them work anymore. I go straight back to singing from my throat.”

“But you did have a loud singing voice when you were younger,” Dad said. “I can remember you belting out things like ‘Happy Birthday' when you were little.”

“Yes,” Mom agreed. “I used to wonder where you kept that huge sound. You were only seven or eight. You must have been using your tummy muscles then. It couldn't have all come from your throat!”

Dad put his arms around Chloe and gave her a big hug. “I wish I could wave a magic wand and help you,” he said. “But I don't know anything about singing. I'm sure it'll come out right in the end, though.”

“I did want to sing in the end-of-term concert,” Chloe said sadly.

“You do as Mr. Player tells you,” Mom advised. “I'm sure he knows best.”

“And don't forget,” Dad said, “we love you anyway, whatever happens.”

It was good to know that her family was behind her. But as Saturday stretched into Sunday afternoon, a lead weight settled in Chloe's stomach. It was almost time to go back to school, and still there was no message from Pop or Lolly. Nothing would stop Chloe from working toward her ambition, but it would be very hard to keep being cheerful if she'd lost her two best school friends.

It was so hard going back to Rockley Park not knowing what Pop and Lolly thought of her. Danny was as friendly as ever during the journey, but when they arrived Chloe chickened out of dropping her bag off at Paddock House. She didn't feel brave enough to face the girls yet. She stuck with Danny and they went in for a snack together.

“So what's going on?” he asked, chomping on a baguette. It had been obvious that Chloe hadn't wanted to talk in front of her parents in the car and so he was still in the dark about what was wrong.

She took a deep breath. “I can't sing at the concert because I can't make my voice loud enough,” she said.

“Oh. Don't worry.” He took another mouthful. Splinters of crust and shreds of salad fell onto his plate. Chloe stared at him.

“Don't worry! Is that all?” she demanded.

Danny shrugged. “You're in the right place to get all the help you need. What's the problem?”

Chloe couldn't believe it. Danny could be
so
dense sometimes.

“Rising Stars points, for a start!” she said.

“True,” he acknowledged, nodding. “But there will be other concerts. And my drum teacher told me that teachers' decisions throughout the term are more important than the points awarded by the students at concerts. Anything else?” he asked, in his new capacity as problem solver. Chloe took a deep breath. Why was he being so irritating? He seemed determined to see her huge problem as a fuss about nothing.

“Only that I'm a failure and so Pop and Lolly probably won't want to be friends with me anymore.” Chloe hated the way she was sounding so pathetic, but she was near to tears, and couldn't help her voice wobbling. Danny put the remains of his baguette down and looked at Chloe.

“Who'd want friends like that?” he asked. “
I
wouldn't.”

Chloe tried to explain. “That's all very well, but—”

“Here, let's ask them,” he butted in. “Hey, Pop! You wouldn't stop being friends with Chloe if she couldn't sing, would you?”

To Chloe's horror, Pop and Lolly were in the dining room, coming their way. Practically everyone in the room must have heard what Danny had said! Chloe rubbed her eyes furiously and tried to look as if she didn't care.

Pop banged her tray down on the table and plonked herself angrily into the chair opposite Chloe.

“Honestly! What a
horrible
thing to say, Danny!”

“What have
I
done?” Danny asked. “I was only—”