The Summer of Telling Tales Page 13

‘Nothing,’ I reply.

  Chapter 36

  Grace

  After registration, as Turner dismisses us, Ryan hurries over and tells me the Beachfest organiser rang him last night and wants the band to audition straight after school today.

  ‘Today!’ I whisper aghast. ‘You said next week!’

  ‘Don’t worry, it’ll be OK. If we play all the stuff we played at Ben’s party we’ll sail through. Then once we’re in, we can spend the next few weeks rehearsing for the actual gig.’

  ‘Where’s the audition?’

  ‘Same place. The community hall.’

  ‘OK,’ I tell him nervously, as the bell rings. ‘I’ll meet you there.’

  For the next hour during lessons, I’m in a daze thinking about the audition. I know how important it is to Ryan and don’t want to let him down. At the beginning of morning break I’m hurrying down the corridor to find Ellie to tell her what’s happening, when I see Cait and PJ in the cloakroom, ahead of me.

  ‘Hey, Frosty, your dad know Spielberg?’ PJ calls.

  Wondering what on earth he’s talking about, I speed up hoping to get past them both quickly, but PJ has other ideas and blocks my path.

  Glancing at Cait, he jibes, ‘Your little sister reckons he’s some big shot actor.’

  I disguise the surprise on my face and try to dodge past him but he grabs my arm and swings me round.

  ‘I reckon he does toilet cleaner adverts,’ he says with a snigger. ‘Can’t get paid much if you’re living in some crappy caravan, can he?’

  I try to jerk away my arm but he clings on tightly, smirking all the while.

  ‘PJ, leave her,’ Cait says uncomfortably, but he doesn’t. He makes a grab for my other arm. But this time I’m too quick for him and using the palm of my free hand under his chin, I push his face up and away with all my strength. He loses his balance momentarily and falls back, straight onto Miss Turner.

  ‘Jacobs!’ she snaps, steadying herself, ‘What on earth are you playing at?’

  ‘It was her, Miss, she pushed me,’ PJ says with a scowl, pointing at me.

  Miss Turner glares at me.

  ‘So what’s the story, Miss Smith?’ she demands.

  I open my mouth to try to speak but no sound comes out. My palms are suddenly sweaty and I’ve got that awful queasy feeling. I stand, rooted to the spot, in silence. Ten seconds seem like ten hours. PJ smirks, as I stare back at Miss Turner.

  ‘Well, say something!’

  But I don’t. I can’t.

  ‘Detention, this afternoon,’ she snaps irritably. ‘Both of you.’

  PJ’s face falls.

  ‘But I’m innocent, Miss!’ he pleads. ‘I’ve been assaulted. I’m a victim.’

  ‘Three-thirty. My office,’ says Miss Turner, walking off.

  The second she goes, I run off down the corridor.

  ‘Hey, say something, Frosty Pants . . . I can’t hear you . . .’ PJ taunts, as I dive into the girls’ loos and shut myself into an empty cubicle. It’s smelly and full of graffiti but I don’t care, I can think of only one thing – the audition, straight after school today. I can’t let Ryan down, I think desperately, I just can’t. But no one messes with Miss Turner. What on earth am I going to do?

  Chapter 37

  Ellie

  ‘Grace? You OK?’ I ask.

  ‘No . . . yeah. . . um. . . I can’t meet you after school,’ she tells me as we walk down the corridor together. ‘Something’s come up.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘The band audition . . . and . . .’ She pulls a face. ‘. . . detention with Miss Turner.’

  ‘At the same time?’

  She nods.

  ‘What you going to do?’ I ask horrified. I’ve seen Miss Turner in the dinner hall vaporising noisy pupils at ten paces, and although teachers don’t usually scare me, she gives me the heeby-jeebies.

  ‘Not sure.’

  ‘You’ll be in massive trouble if you don’t go.’

  She suddenly looks at me. ‘Ellie, why have you told everyone that Dad’s an actor?’ she asks out of the blue.

  ‘I had to say something,’ I tell her. ‘People were asking about him – what else could I do?’

  ‘But an actor? In America?’

  ‘What do you want me to say?’ I snap back at her. ‘You want me to tell them the truth?’

  ‘You didn’t have to lie.’

  ‘Yes . . . I did.’ I can feel the anger bubbling up inside me. ‘Grace, we’ve got a brand new life now. We can be anyone we want. You’ve got Ryan, I’ve never seen Mum so happy – and for the first time ever . . . I’ve actually got friends.’

  ‘So what happens when all these friends find out you’ve just spun them a story?’

  ‘They won’t. I’m not going to let anything or anyone spoil things. I don’t want to be a nobody again, OK?’

  ‘What you talking about?’

  ‘I’m a totally different person here. I’m Elle Smith, the girl everyone thinks is great.’

  ‘Ellie, be careful.’

  ‘Don’t tell me what to do, cos I’m not listening.’

  I spin around and stride off, leaving her standing. I head out to the playground and find Abs, Ruby and Freya. From the look on their faces I guess the rumours have reached them too.

  ‘Cait’s been telling everyone you’re not moving to that house on the downs,’ Abs says.

  I take a deep breath. ‘It’s true,’ I tell them.

  ‘What?’ asks Freya, surprised.

  ‘I was pretty upset last week . . . didn’t want to say anything but Dad messed up and someone else got the house,’ I say with a disappointed shrug. ‘I suppose Cait’s got it in for me now, and is telling everyone I’m a liar and I was never moving there in the first place.’

  ‘She is.’

  ‘Thought she might. She doesn’t like me being Princess Caraboo, either.’

  ‘She’s just jealous!’ says Freya.

  ‘She’s a good actress and she thought she’d get the part,’ I say. ‘She must really hate me now. I suppose I’ll just have to get used to her spreading more tales about me.’

  ‘Well, we won’t be listening!’ Ruby tells me firmly.

  ‘What a cow!’ Freya adds crossly.

  ‘Yeah. I’m not going to ask her to my party next month,’ Ruby says.

  ‘She wouldn’t come anyway,’ says Abs. ‘She’s always hanging around with PJ now – she doesn’t care about her old friends.’

  ‘Well, that suits me fine,’ says Ruby.

  ‘Shhh, she’s over there,’ says Abs suddenly.

  ‘Who cares,’ says Freya. ‘Let’s go before she makes up something else about Elle.’

  Freya links arms with me but as we all pass Cait sitting on her own, I catch her eye and remember what it was like not having friends to chat and giggle and hang out with, and suddenly I don’t feel like ‘Elle the girl everyone thinks is great’ any more. I just feel mean and small and rotten.

  Chapter 38

  Grace

  I walk down to Turner’s office after the bell goes for the end of school, with a sick feeling in my stomach. I peer inside and spot her busily tapping away on her computer, waiting for the day’s wrongdoers to troop in. I’m about to step through the doorway and sit down quietly when, to my surprise, I turn around. As if my feet and legs no longer belong to me and are moving of their own accord, I stride off back up the corridor, through the entrance, across the playground and out of the school gates. I break into a run and don’t stop running until I get home.

  I’m shaking as I lean underneath the back of the caravan, find the key Mum always hides inside the old metal watering can and quickly let myself in. I give Bruno a quick cuddle then collect my violin, lock up and hurry back along the path by the stones and down into town till I arrive at the community hall. I’m seriously out of breath when I see Ryan, Darren and Kev outside unloading their gear from Darren’s mum’s car.

  ‘Good luck, my darling!’ Darr
en’s mum says, grabbing him enthusiastically around the neck and giving him a huge smacker of a kiss, daubing his already bright red cheeks with her lipstick.

  ‘Gerofff!’ he yells, breaking free and wiping his face as Kev sniggers away behind him.

  Ryan rushes up to me. ‘Ready?’ he asks with an eager smile.

  I nod, smiling to hide my nervousness, then help him carry everything inside.

  We discover we’re last on the audition list. Ryan is pleased because this means we can check out the competition, but waiting around just gives me more time to worry about Miss Turner and how angry she’ll be when I don’t turn up for detention.

  Finally, the first band appears on stage. Thirty seconds into their performance, we exchange relieved glances and then exaggerated grimaces as we realise they’re not very good at all. The second group is worse still and Kev’s quietly boasting about a walkover, but then the following four bands are totally brilliant and we begin to worry that we have some serious rivals. Only three under-eighteen bands will have the chance to play at the festival, all the others being older groups or bigger names.

  Finally it’s our turn and we climb up on stage. The next five minutes are a complete blur. Darren keeps a low profile thanks to Ryan’s earlier threat that if anyone leaps off the stage, he’ll personally pull their arms and legs off, but he still manages to bounce from corner to corner like a hyperactive kangaroo. We’re halfway through our song when out of the corner of my eye I notice someone walk in the back of the hall.

  To my horror, I realise it’s Miss Turner and immediately play a couple of wrong notes. Ryan glances over, surprised. I quickly recover and continue playing as she stands at the back, her arms folded, staring at us with that severe look on her face. All of a sudden it’s hard work making my fingers play the notes I want them to. Darren is freaked too and freezes like a rabbit caught in headlights but somehow we manage to get through the rest of the song without totally falling apart.

  We finish our audition and the judges start to confer in whispers while we head back to our seats to wait for the results. Miss Turner approaches us. She’s folding a sheet of paper that she’s been writing on.

  ‘Bravo, Miss Smith,’ she says. ‘All in all, quite a performance. You will be in detention for the rest of this week to make up for the one you’ve missed today. Give this to your parents. I look forward to meeting them,’ she adds, handing me the note.

  ‘Uh oh,’ I hear Darren mumble.’ Someone’s in deep —’

  ‘Darren!’ Miss Turner snaps, walking off.

  ‘Nothing, Miss. Sorry, Miss,’ Darren grovels.

  Ryan looks at me. ‘Thank you,’ he says.

  We have to wait another ten minutes before the judges make their final decision.

  ‘OK, everyone,’ calls a guy dressed completely in black and wearing sunglasses even though it’s dark and gloomy in the hall, ‘this is a really hard call because the talent here today is truly amazing, so some of you are going to go home disappointed. The bands we want to play at the festival this year are, Song Guild, Curly Boys and . . . The Damage.

  Ryan, Kev and Darren let out excited whoops.

  ‘We’re in!’ says Ryan, hugging me tightly.

  ‘Yeaaaaaaoooo! I love you, mate!’ Darren yells, leaping up and hugging the guy in black, accidentally knocking the sunglasses off his face as he reels back in alarm.

  ‘Sorry . . .’ Darren mutters. ‘Bit overexcited.’

  Chapter 39

  Ellie

  When I get back from the play rehearsal, Mum is already home but there’s no sign of Grace.

  ‘What’s up?’ I ask, seeing her sitting at the table.

  She doesn’t reply so I glance at the note lying in front of her. It’s from Miss Turner, saying Grace has failed to attend a detention today; she’s extremely concerned about her behaviour, and wants to see Mum or Dad as soon as possible.

  ‘Grace only bunked off because she had an audition,’ I say.

  ‘Audition?’ asks Mum, puzzled.

  ‘She’s in a band.’

  ‘Grace?’

  ‘Yeah. They’re really good. Thanks to her.’

  Mum picks up the note and stares at it. ‘But what on earth has she done to be in so much trouble at school?’

  ‘Nothing. Turner picks on her because she won’t talk.’

  Mum gives a long sigh.

  ‘Why won’t Grace talk to you either?’ I ask. ‘I mean, I can understand other people but . . . ’

  Mum doesn’t answer for a few seconds, but pulls a face and shakes her head.

  ‘I let her down,’ she says finally.

  ‘How come?’

  ‘A couple of years ago I promised her I’d speak to someone about your dad.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I got scared. Really frightened. I realised if I said anything, you and Grace might be taken away from me. Your dad was always threatening me he’d make it happen. And more than anything else in the world I couldn’t bear that. So I kept quiet. Put up with everything, hoping it might get better one day. But it didn’t, it just got worse. I fell out with Anna and then Gran died – I had nowhere to go and no money and so . . . I stayed.’

  Mum cups her face in her hands and I know she’s crying. The door of our bedroom clicks open and Grace appears. She puts her arms around Mum and buries her face in her neck.

  ‘I’m sorry, Grace. But to lose you and Ellie would have been the end of my world,’ Mum whispers. ‘I couldn’t do it.’

  ‘For goodness’ sake, speak to her Grace!’ I snap. ‘Say something!’

  Grace tries to speak but no words come out. Instead she hugs Mum tighter.

  ‘It’s all right, love,’ Mum says. ‘It’s my fault. You trusted me. I don’t blame you one bit.’

  She takes a deep breath and folds up the letter.

  ‘And don’t worry about this. I’ll go and see this Miss Turner tomorrow and find out what terrible things you’ve been up to at school.’

  Grace nods and tries to smile.

  ‘That’s better. Well, she can’t eat me, can she?’ Mum asks.

  Grace and I exchange glances. Turner would have her for breakfast with a fried egg on top.

  But the next day Mum is as good as her word. She dresses in a pair of smart black trousers and a neat long-sleeved blouse, clothes she hasn’t worn since she was with Dad. She brushes her hair carefully and puts on her full make-up.

  ‘My armour,’ she says with a determined expression, as she pulls on her coat. ‘Don’t worry, Grace, I’ll sort this out. Everything’s going to be all right.’

  She leaves half an hour before us so she can catch Miss Turner before school starts.

  When we arrive, we see her coming out of Turner’s office.

  Her face is pale but she still has that same determined look as she walks calmly down to the school entrance and meets us by the doorway.

  ‘What happened?’ I ask.

  ‘Nothing. I just told her that Grace is a hard-working, conscientious student who always does her best, and that’s good enough for me.’ Mum takes a deep breath and I see her hands are shaking. ‘And now I’m going to go home, change out of these clothes and make myself a very strong cup of tea.’

  She smiles at us both and turns to go.

  ‘Mum . . .’ Grace calls after her in barely a whisper.

  Stopping in her tracks, Mum slowly turns and looks at her. Grace opens her mouth but it’s a good two seconds before any words come out.

  ‘I . . . I’ll see you later then,’ she says finally.

  Mum bites her lip, blinks back the tears filling her eyes and nods. Then she quickly hurries off, through the playground and out of the school gates, threading her way around everyone rushing in as the school bell sounds.

  Chapter 40

  Grace

  I’ve wanted to speak to Mum for so long. Saying those few words was like lifting a curse on me. First Ryan, and now Mum; soon I’ll be able to talk to anyone I want. I walk
into registration and spot Ryan. I’m expecting him to be on a high from getting through the audition but he’s sitting at a desk, his hand propped on his chin, staring out of the window. I take the seat next to him and lean over.

  ‘What’s up?’ I whisper.

  He shrugs.

  ‘Nothing, everything’s cool,’ he mumbles.

  ‘Are we rehearsing tonight?’

  ‘No.’

  He looks down, avoiding my eye.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  He doesn’t answer. He just shakes his head slightly. I’m worried now.

  ‘Is it your dad?’

  ‘No, he’s . . . he’s OK.’

  ‘So what’s going on?’

  ‘Nothing! Stop asking.’

  Puzzled and hurt by the sharpness in his voice, and the complete change in him, I back away as Miss Turner comes in and the noise level in the room immediately dips into silence.

  I glance over at Ryan throughout registration but he keeps his head down and doesn’t look up once. Although Turner’s as abrupt and sarcastic as ever, I notice she no longer tries to bully me into speaking. When she dismisses us, Ryan hurries out without waiting for me like he usually does.

  PJ comes over.

  ‘Dumped you then, has he?’ he says with a smirk. ‘Typical Ryan. Short attention span.’

  I stare at him horrified. What’s he talking about?

  ‘Plenty more fish in the sea,’ he adds, as I rush out of the classroom.

  For the rest of the morning I tie myself up in knots thinking about Ryan and wondering what could be wrong. At lunch-break I sit on the bench where we always meet but there’s no sign of him. Ellie waves to me as she comes out of the art room. She’s laughing and chatting, enjoying being the centre of attention. She seems so . . . so confident now. And there’s such a determined look in her eye, like she’s going to be in charge, whatever.

  Over the other side of the playground I spot PJ. He grins at me, and makes an exaggerated thumbs up gesture. I get up and go inside.

  Chapter 41

  Ellie

  As I head off to rehearsals, I see Cait standing against the wall outside the hall, hanging around for PJ probably. She’s been staring at me weirdly all day, right from first thing this morning in registration – a sort of knowing, smug expression, like she’s waiting for just the right moment to pounce. The skin on the back of my neck prickles uncomfortably and I feel on edge. I plan on ignoring her, but as I walk past she calls after me.