Shooting Star

Cover Page

Title Page

SPOTLIGHT on Young British Talent

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapten Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Also by Rowan Coleman

Copyright

About the Publisher

W
ho can forget the brilliant reality show talent contest
Spotlight!: Search for a Star
? It had us all glued to our seats, right until the brilliant one-off TV special of
Spotlight! The Musical
featuring the best of new young British talent.

The bad news is that the musical’s writer – rock legend Mick Caruso – has no plans for another series, telling us at
Hiya
!
Bye-a
! it was only ever meant to be a one-off. We wonder if that’s true or if it has something to do with the surprise last-minute withdrawal of his daughter Jade from the line-up, along with teen heart-throb Danny Harvey.

The good news is that the live broadcast was
so
successful that it’s about to be turned into a blockbuster Hollywood musical! Casting is due to start any minute and rumour has it that the stars of the TV special, including Nydia Assimin, Ruby Parker and newcomer Gabe Martinez, are high on the list of preferred actors to win roles. We’ve also heard that sixteen-year-old international superstar Sean Rivers, who retired recently much to the misery of his global army of fans, might well be up for one of the lead roles in the movie!

Will we see Jade Caruso try out for the lead part of Arial again? It seems unlikely, especially as Mick Caruso told
Hiya! Bye-a!
that he’s letting Hollywood get on with it while he concentrates on writing material for his new album, due out next year. And we don’t think Hollywood would want to risk big bucks on an unreliable unknown with no track record.

So who will win a part in the biggest teen musical role in Hollywood? Keep your fingers crossed for the Brits and watch this space!

“This is going to be
mega
,” Nydia said as I watched her jam clothes into her suitcase. It was the night before all of us – me, Nydia, Anne-Marie, Gabe and Sean – were due to fly out to America to do our screen tests for the movie version of
Spotlight!
Nydia was so excited that she hadn’t stopped talking since I arrived to help her choose what to pack, not even to take a breath. “It’s so exciting, all of us in America, all of us going to Hollywood! We can go and look at the big sign and stroll along the Walk of Fame. I know you’ve been before, but this time it’ll be better because we’ll be with you. It will be
so
exciting that I almost don’t even feel nervous about the audition!”

“This is more than an audition,” I reminded her as she finally paused for breath. “It’s a screen test. To see if we look right, more than anything, and if we do then they’ll audition us.”

“I know!” Nydia exclaimed, holding up a red and
white print sundress for my approval. “It’s going to be the best summer holidays ever!”

I wasn’t feeling quite as excited about going to Hollywood as Nydia, Anne-Marie and the rest were. And I wasn’t the only one. Sean felt just as nervous about it as I did, probably even more so – with very good reason.

As for me – well, my first Hollywood experience had been a disaster. I had got a part in this film called
The Lost Treasure of King Arthur.
When it came out, it got terrible reviews, mainly about me and how awful I was. I ended up getting fired from my guest role on American TV drama
Hollywood High
and running away back to London without telling my mum where I was going. And when I got back, I told everyone that I was never acting or auditioning again. I even left the Sylvia Lighthouse Academy for the Performing Arts and started at a normal school instead. But somehow acting seemed to follow me around and before I knew it I was part of the chorus in the TV production of Mick Caruso’s new musical
Spotlight!
and I had enjoyed it. I realised how much I missed acting, dancing and, since joining the choir at Highgate Comprehensive, even singing! So when we were asked to go and screen-test for the Hollywood film version of the musical, I decided to go. It wasn’t until now, when we were actually about to fly off to America,
that I started to feel scared about exactly what that meant. Hollywood hadn’t been kind to me the last time I was there. Why should now be any different?

“I’ve got a feeling we’ll all get a part,” Nydia said, holding up two pairs of sandals and then, after a moment’s thought, throwing them both in her suitcase. “Because they’ve already seen me, Annie and Gabe in the TV special, and they know your work…”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said, grimacing, thinking about all of those hideous reviews.

“Rubbish!” Nydia laughed. “
The Lost Treasure of King Arthur
might not have been a box-office hit, but it’s been at the top of the DVD charts for months now, so you’ve got nothing to worry about. And if Sean makes a comeback – well, the only thing is if Sean gets the lead, then that means Gabe will get a smaller part, but I don’t think he’d mind that much. He’s still not totally sure he wants to be an actor anyway. I think he’s more interested in the trip to LA.”

Gabe was a boy from the Highgate Comprehensive choir. He’s a really good singer, but it had taken us a while to persuade him that he could wear dance clothes and still be cool. He was only ever meant to be in the chorus, like me, but Dakshima (my best friend at Highgate Comp) and I found out that Mick Caruso had
been cheating, using a thing called an Auto-tune Miracle Microphone. This made his daughter Jade and my ex-boyfriend Danny sound as if they could sing, when really they couldn’t. Gabe and Nydia took over the lead roles and so they both got invited to the auditions. But Gabe still loves football more than singing and, to be honest, he got more excited about the thought of a trial for Arsenal’s youth squad.

Sean on the other hand would never do the screen test. I knew he wouldn’t because he’d told me and only me. It was our secret.

He’d told me the truth earlier that day. It was the last day of term and I’d been walking out of school with Dakshima, Adele, Gabe and some others when I spotted him waiting for me on the other side of the road, leaning up against a brick wall. At one time it would have taken precisely fifteen seconds for Sean to have been ripped to shreds by the hordes of teenage schoolgirls who were all madly in love with him. But recently the girls of Highgate Comp had got used to the fact that one of their number hung out with former international teen heart-throb Sean Rivers. So nowadays all they did was pretend not to notice him and then giggle hysterically once he was out of sight.

“Hiya,” Dakshima said casually, as he fell into step beside us.

“Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked him with a smile.

“Well, the Academy broke up yesterday and Anne-Marie’s shopping her head off for clothes to take to Hollywood, because apparently the fifteen closets-worth she already has aren’t enough, so I thought that maybe you’d like to go get an ice cream with me,” Sean said.

“Sounds cool,” Dakshima said happily.

“Um, actually,” Sean looked sideways at me. “It was really just Ruby I wanted to talk to.” He treated Dakshima to one of his sweetest smiles. “It’s nothing personal; just some stuff I want to tell her about the trip – totally boring stuff…”

“Ooh, secrets,” Dakshima teased him, but with a smile. “What secret could you and Ruby have? I hope Anne-Marie knows or else there’ll be trouble…”

“Do I need to come then?” asked Gabe. “Only I can’t because I said I’d play footy down the sports centre. Under sixteens five-aside tournament.”

“Don’t worry,” Sean told him. “It’s nothing important.”

“I’m off then,” Gabe said, winking at me. “See you at the airport.”

“Hey! Wait for me,” Dakshima said. “I might as
well come and watch you if this lot are going to be all film starry.”

After they had gone I looked at Sean.

“Just boring stuff?” I asked him. “I’ve never heard such a lame excuse in my life. What’s the real deal?”

“Hollywood,” Sean had said. “I’ve decided that I’m going with you.”

“You are?” I was shocked. “I mean, that’s great. It’ll be a lot of fun to have you on the trip and Anne-Marie will be thrilled. But you seemed so certain that you didn’t want to try and get a part in the film. That you were happy with how your life is now.”

“I am, but…” Sean began before trailing off as we approached the ice-cream van.

“Has Anne-Marie finally got you to give in?” I asked him. Anne-Marie Chance was one of my best friends, but as funny and kind and as loyal as she could be, she had never really got used to the idea that her boyfriend was the
former
international teen heart-throb Sean Rivers. They had been going out together for nearly a year now and she never tired of telling us over and over again that Sean was wasted, hiding himself away in school in England, and that he should be back out there, taking charge of his career and making the most of his talents. Since Sylvia Lighthouse told Sean that he’d been offered
the chance to screen-test for
Spotlight!
too, Anne-Marie had badgered him non-stop in a bid to get him to come to Hollywood with the rest of us.

“It’s not Anne-Marie.” He paused as he paid the ice-cream man for two ninety-nines.

“Then what is it?” I asked him, puzzled. “Why are you going back?”

Since moving to London, Sean had seemed like such a happy, settled person, not at all like the troubled boy I’d met on the set of
The Lost Treasure of King Arthur.
We had nearly fallen out the last time I went to Hollywood because I’d accidentally given away his secret location to the world press during an interview on national TV, but even then in the end he’d ended up being a really good friend to me. I hadn’t seen him look this worried since and that worried me. I realised I cared about Sean a lot.

“It’s Dad,” Sean said simply, with a shrug.

“Your dad?” I asked him with surprise. “Has he been trying to bully you, Sean? Because if he has you have to tell someone.”

Sean had lived with his dad after his parents split up, because his dad had told Sean that his mum didn’t want him any more. Pat Rivers had kept Sean and his mum apart for years. While filming
The Lost Treasure of King
Arthur
I’d realised exactly how cruelly Sean’s dad treated him, making him work all year round and sometimes even hitting him. It was because of Pat Rivers that Sean had decided that the world would never see his amazing acting talent ever again. He’d had enough of celebrity life.

That was why his answer was so confusing. How could the man who drove him out of show business get him to go back to it?”

“No, he hasn’t been in touch,” Sean said with a shrug. “And in a way that’s why I want to go to Hollywood.”

I was so surprised by what he said that I’d forgotten to eat the ice cream and now it was dribbling down my elbow. I licked my wrist as I waited for him to continue.

“I haven’t seen Dad in nearly a year,” Sean said, studying his trainers as we sat down on the grass. “At first he tried to contact me, but Mum returned all of his letters and stopped his calls. And for a long time that was the way I wanted it, but now…”

“You’ve changed your mind?” I asked in amazement. “After everything he did?”

“He’s my dad, Ruby,” Sean said. “Yes, he was a terrible dad, but he’s the only one I have. I thought that maybe now he doesn’t have my career to obsess over, he might have changed. I’ve been wondering if we can make up.”

“And the only way you can think of to make that
happen is to go back to being in films again?” I asked. “Because you know, Sean, if you go up for the lead in
Spotlight!
you will get it. No one else will stand a chance. And before you know it you’ll be walking the red carpet and dodging the paparazzi again, and if you get back together with your dad…well, have you forgotten how hard he made your life?”

Sean shook his head. “That’s the point. I don’t want my life to go back to how it was. I don’t want a part in
Spotlight!
I don’t want any of that. All I want is the chance to see my dad and talk to him. And my dad’s in Hollywood. But I told Mom I’d screen-test and see how it goes.”

“And she thought that was a good idea?” I asked.

“She said if it’s what I really want then she’ll support me,” Sean said, not meeting my gaze.

“But it’s
not
what you really want, is it?” I said, trying hard to understand. “Why don’t you just tell her that you want to see your dad? I’m sure she’d be fine with it, help you make the arrangements and everything.”

“No…I can’t,” Sean said quickly. “The last time Dad was around, Mom ran away. I didn’t see her for years and years. The only reason she found me again was because of you. It’s not like your parents, Ruby. Even though they’ve split up they still like each other, care about each other even. Mine
hate
each other. My mom
doesn’t want me to have anything to do with Dad ever again. And I thought I felt that way too, for a while.”

“And now you don’t?”

“Now I don’t know how I feel,” Sean said. “But I know Mom would never let me see Dad. The only way I’m going to get the chance to see if he’s changed is if I go to Hollywood and pretend that I want to audition for that part.”

“And try and see your dad in secret?” He nodded.

“But what are you going to do when they offer you the part?” I asked. “It’ll be the biggest news in Hollywood since – well, since you quit acting.”

“I’ll worry about that if it happens,” Sean said, smiling at me, but with none of the usual sparkle. “Right now I have to figure out a way to see my dad once we get there.”

“I can’t help feeling that your plan is nearly as bad as my plan to run away from Hollywood to London in the middle of the night,” I told him.

“Maybe, but it’s the only plan I’ve got,” Sean said ruefully.

“Have you told Anne-Marie?” I tried to imagine what my friend would think about his crazy scheme.

“Nope,” Sean said. “I haven’t told anyone but you, Ruby Parker.”

“Why me?” I asked, feeling pleased and worried at the same time.

Sean smiled at me, and this time there was a real warmth that was difficult to resist. “Because I know I can trust you. And besides, every hero needs a sidekick, right?”

“Oh, so now I’m your sidekick!” I’d said, unable to stop myself smiling back.

“You bet,” Sean said. “And so much more.”

I’d walked back from the park and round to Nydia’s house feeling confused and worried. I was glad Sean had talked to me, but I had seen how mean his dad was to him. I didn’t know if it was a good idea for Sean to try and contact him, especially without his mum knowing. But Sean had trusted me with his secret, me alone, and I knew that as one of his best friends, I would keep that secret and help him in whatever way I could.

But I had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t going to be easy.