Rising Star (6 page)

“Well, don't,” said Lolly, putting her tray down quietly and sitting next to Chloe. “Can't you see she's upset?” She put her arm around Chloe and gave her a hug. “I'm
so
glad to see you,” she said. “Pop and I have been worried sick.”

Danny finished his baguette, pushed back his chair, and got up.

“Girls!” he muttered, and wandered off.

“We were at our house in Gloucestershire for the weekend,” Pop told Chloe. “It's down in a valley. We can
never
get a signal for our cell phones there. It's so boring. So Lolly only got your text on the way back to school.”

“That's why I only texted you back an hour ago,” Lolly explained. “... And you didn't read the message, did you?” she added, seeing Chloe's face.

Chloe shook her head. “I switched my phone off and packed it in my bag this morning,” she explained. “After not hearing from you over the weekend, I thought you definitely wouldn't text me today,” she added awkwardly.

“And after what Tara said on Friday, we were afraid you'd disappear and we'd never see you again!” added Lolly. “You did mention not being able to use the right muscles for singing at the beginning of the term, but we thought that had been fixed.”

“Is it still the same problem?” Pop asked.

Chloe told them all about it. It felt good unburdening herself to the twins. When she'd finished, Lolly gave her another hug.

“We didn't realize it was so serious,” she told Chloe. “You poor thing, suffering all this time in silence. You should have said something.”

“I know,” Chloe admitted sheepishly. “Jess talked to me about that. And don't be mad at Danny for what he said. It's my fault. I really was scared that if I couldn't sing, you might not want to be friends anymore.”

“Huh!” snorted Pop.

“Sorry,” Chloe said in a small voice.

“Don't worry,” Lolly said. “Some people really
are
like that.”

“We liked you right away because you were so ordinary,” Pop told her.

Chloe couldn't help smiling. “Thanks!” she said.

“No, really!” said Pop. “You know what I mean. We meet so many people who only want to be friends because we're well known. We've gotten careful about hanging out with phonies. They only let you down.”

“Sometimes they're quite hard to spot,” Lolly said. “So I'm not surprised you were wary of trusting us. But
we're
not phonies, and we want to help. Tell us what to do and we'll do it!”

Chloe smiled a lopsided smile. If only it were that easy.

They finished their snack and went over to Paddock House. There was no sign of Tara.

“I saw her going over to the practice rooms as we arrived,” Lolly said. “I don't think she went home over the weekend. Her parents are often abroad.”

“We've got to get you singing somehow,” Pop insisted. “I'm sure we can do it.”

“But how?” asked Chloe. “Everything I've tried so far just makes it worse. I'm afraid I won't be able to stay here if I don't work this out soon.” The twins had made Chloe feel so much better, she was beginning to think this fear was groundless, too. But Lolly took it seriously.

“Has Mr. Player said anything like that?” Lolly asked. Chloe shook her head.

“No.”

“I expect he doesn't want you to panic,” Pop said.

“Don't worry,” said Lolly. “You won't get thrown out in your first term. If it was near the end of the first
year,
it might be a bit different.” Chloe felt the fear come creeping back. Surely it wouldn't take
that
long to find the volume she needed!

“It's not as if you have to learn how to
sing
,” mused Pop. “It's just that your voice is too quiet.”

Chloe nodded sadly. “Yes, someone told me that even a baby can cry out loud without being taught and that it's my mind that's stopping me.” Pop clutched Chloe's arm.

“That's it! You need something to get you to yell out loud without thinking. Maybe that would unlock your voice.”

“Mmm,” agreed Lolly. “That's not such a bad idea. Perhaps if someone scared you, you'd yell, and then you could turn the yell into a song.”

“Do you think that might work?” Chloe looked at their anxious faces. “I'll give it a try,” she added bravely. “As long as you don't give me a heart attack!”

“Lolly and I will plan something for you,” Pop assured her in a spooky voice. “Prepare to be v-e-r-y scared!”

It wasn't long before a huge Christmas tree went up in the main hall. Some people had brought decorations from home and hung them around the homework room to cheer it up. The whole atmosphere in the school was changing as the term galloped on toward Christmas. Everyone was getting more and more excited about the concert, and rehearsals were going on in every available practice room. Even Judge Jim's usually quiet courtyard often had someone there, trying a new riff on guitar or singing the same phrase over and over again. It was difficult for the teachers of the usual school subjects to get the students to concentrate.

“There's more to chemistry than hair products!” Mrs. Pinto complained one day when several boys wouldn't stop talking about which gel was best to produce seriously spiky hair for their performance.

Although Chloe was the only student in her grade not taking part in the concert, she was just as jumpy as everyone else, but for a different reason. Pop and Lolly had enlisted everyone's help in their scheme to help Chloe find her voice, but far from helping, it was fast turning her into a nervous wreck.

The favorite ploy was jumping out at her, and Chloe was getting mighty tired of being ambushed everywhere she went. She took to spending time in the recording studio, where Mr. Timms wouldn't tolerate such behavior. Although she wasn't allowed to do much, she loved just sitting in a corner and watching the vocalists, who stood alone in the small booth while they sang into the microphone. She could see what an important partnership it was between the performers and the engineer if a really good recording was to be made. But she couldn't stay in the recording studio all the time, and even going to bed wasn't safe ... One evening Tara put a huge, black spider on Chloe's bed. Chloe didn't like spiders very much, though she wouldn't normally have been terrified. But as it set off at a canter over the quilt en route for Chloe's pillow, Pop let out a tremendous scream. She cowered in a corner pointing at Chloe's bed. Chloe assumed it was another trick and didn't take too much notice, but then Lolly started too.

“Ssspider. Chloe.
Spider!
” Lolly wasn't
that
good an actress. Chloe glanced down to see the thing just about to run over her hand. She jumped up in a panic, and the poor spider hurtled over the edge of the bed and dropped to the floor with an audible plop. Pop and Lolly took ages to calm down. They totally refused to go to bed until Mrs. Pinto had retrieved the poor creature from under the bed. The housemother had to get down on her hands and knees and catch it with a postcard and a glass, while a giggling Chloe shone a flashlight so she could see what she was doing.

The next day, at lunch, Marmalade put a large black beetle on Chloe's tray while she wasn't looking. It ran out from under her napkin while she was carrying the tray, and her nerves were so jangled she dropped the whole thing!

“It's no use,” Danny said, once everyone had helped clear up the mess and they were sitting down for their meal. “We're only making things worse. It's obvious that Chloe doesn't scream when she's afraid. We'll have to think of something else.”

Chloe heaved a sigh of relief. It was good to know she wasn't going to be subjected to any more scares. But the problem with her voice hadn't gone away.

One afternoon, Chloe went to her favorite spot to try once again all the exercises and tips Mr. Player had recommended. Although lots of people wandered beside the lake, hardly anyone bothered to walk around the far side. Here, sheltered by trees, she ran through everything he had taught her.

She relaxed her shoulders and neck, and imagined her tummy muscles pushing all the air out of her lungs. She pretended she had to sing to someone on the other side of the water, and for a moment her voice did seem to carry a bit farther. Then it faltered, along with her confidence, and she could tell that not even the ducks swimming near the shore were impressed.

Ankle-deep in crunchy, winter leaves, Chloe stared out over the lake. Rockley Park School looked lovely in the thin sunlight. She could imagine how the house must have looked in days gone by. There would have been carriages rolling along the gravel drive, and ladies in long dresses walking with their friends and having tea on the lawn. Her heart was filled with affection for the place, and although she'd been a student for only a few weeks, the last thing she wanted was to leave.

She thought about what Mr. Watkins, her old music teacher, had said when her parents were worried about her career choice.

Perhaps it was time she realized that what Judge Jim had told her was true. She
couldn't
always have everything she wanted. She had gotten in to Rockley Park, but maybe her voice would
never
work well for her again.

She picked up a large chestnut leaf and twirled it between her fingers. Even if she
couldn't
sing, she still wanted to stay here. She was certain of that. The thought of returning to her old school and leaving this life behind was too awful to contemplate. Was there something else she might be good at? How about becoming a recording engineer? She found the technical side of things really interesting.

Chloe dropped the leaf and sighed. It would be very hard recording other singers when she wanted to be one herself. She didn't know what the future might bring, but she knew that she wouldn't give up on singing. Chloe could never, ever do that. She would
always
hope. And as she headed back to Paddock House, Chloe was at least sure of one thing. She had wonderful friends, who really cared about her, and that was worth an awful lot. Now she must be a generous friend to them, and try not to be jealous when they were able to perform at the concert, and she wasn't.

“Well, I've done
everything
Mr. Player has taught me this term and I
still
can't sing out loud,” Chloe announced.

Lolly, who was sitting on her bed, reading, flopped back with a huge sigh. “Well, you've done all you can for now, Chloe. I'm sure you'll get points from Mr. Player for determination and dedication even if you don't get any for actually performing. He couldn't ask for a more hardworking student. I wish I was as brave as you.”

“You don't have anything to be brave about,” Chloe said. “Your life is perfect.”

“Is that what you think?” said Lolly. She ignored Chloe's surprised expression and changed the subject. “Come and tell me what you think of this.” She opened her closet and took out a dress in dreamy shades of green and blue.

“It's gorgeous!” Chloe held it up admiringly.

“I brought it from home for my performance. Pop has one the same in reds and yellows.”

“I've never seen anything like it!” Chloe said, letting the silky fabric run through her hands.

“Just as well Mommy is rich,” sniffed Tara from the doorway. Pop followed her into the room and poked her in the back.

“Actually,” said Pop, “we earned these. We were supposed to be paid for modeling them, but we asked if we could have the dresses instead.”

“It was a freezing day in the middle of winter and we had to wear them on the beach in Brighton,” Lolly said. “It was for a summer feature in a magazine, but they always do them months in advance. I was so cold I thought my nose was going to drop off!”

“Remember how we kept slipping on the pebbles in those silly shoes we had to wear?” Pop reminded her. “You fell over and got a mark on your dress. Everyone was furious.”

“So was I,” Lolly said. “I got a terrible bruise on my butt!”

“What are you wearing for the concert, Tara?” asked Pop.

“Black, of course,” she replied.

“Don't you ever get a bit, well, tired of black?” said Lolly. “I know it's really sophisticated and everything, but ... all the time?”

The thought struck Chloe that Tara looked a bit like the spider she'd put on Chloe's bed. She was all spindly arms and legs, and her black mohair sweater gave her quite a spidery body. It was hard not to giggle.

Tara smoothed her hands down her skintight black jeans and scowled. “Black suits my personality,” she said.

Pop snorted. “That's true!”

“How are your rehearsals going?” Lolly asked, ignoring her sister. “You're playing with Danny, aren't you?”

Tara glared at Pop for a moment before she replied. “I'm perfect,” she boasted. “But Danny isn't practicing enough. We need to work together more, but I can never get him to agree when.” Chloe couldn't believe
that
for a moment. Danny
lived
for his drums. If he wasn't meeting Tara to practice, then there must be a good reason.

Chloe tried hard not to let the thought enter her mind, but she found herself not wanting Tara to do well at the concert. In fact, it wasn't only Tara. To have unkind thoughts about her would be understandable, but a small part of Chloe wanted
everyone
to perform badly. She kept telling herself not to feel this way, but the hope kept creeping into her mind. If
she
couldn't perform at all, why should anyone else do well? Better still, why couldn't something happen to get the concert canceled entirely? It wasn't very nice having these thoughts. She was jealous, plain and simple. It was horrible, but true.