Phoebe Finds Her Voice (8 page)

“I've written the name of your character on the top of your scripts so you'll see who you are in a sec when I hand them out.”

She passed round the scripts and everyone started to talk at once.

“I can't believe I'm Gobstopper. I'd better get used to acting really nasty!”

“I've got to text my mum! She knew how much I wanted to be Fizz-Wiz.”

“But Mandy, does this mean I don't get to wear a dress?”

“Look, Adam, we're doing a song together!”

“This is going to be so wicked!”

I looked around the circle. Everyone seemed to be pretty happy with their parts. My script had “Lolly” written at the top and I quickly flicked through to see how many lines I had. I knew Lolly was the youngest and smallest of all the Sweet-Dreamers, and that at the end of the show she helps Sabine to escape from the Dream Factory.

“Hey, guess what, Frankie? I'm Sherbet, one of the Sweet-Dreamers,” said Monty B, plonking himself down next to me and shoving his script in my face. “But don't worry; I
do
get to wear a dress because I've got an extra part in one of the main songs in Act Two. How about you? If you're a Sweet-Dreamer, and we're like in the same scenes, you could come over to mine to practise.”

I carried on looking through my lines, ignoring Monty B. As if I was going to go over to his! I wanted him to move away from me anyway so he wouldn't notice that my hair was full of shredded, blue tissue. I'd almost got to the end of the script, and was just about to close it, when I spotted something that made me stop dead. On the very last page, right at the very end of the show, there was a short song and it was sung by Lolly…
alone!

“Erm…Miss Howell,” I said, pointing at Lolly's solo in the script. “This must be a mistake, isn't it?”

“No, Phoebe, of course it's not a mistake. At the end of the play Lolly is very upset because she's worried Sabine will forget her when she leaves the Dream Factory, and this is the song she sings about how much she's going to miss her.”

“But
you
said that anyone who wanted a solo singing part
had
to sing by themselves at the auditions, and I never did! Remember? I didn't sing at all. And anyway, I can't sing by myself, you know I can't. I'll never be able to do it. Not ever. Not in a million years. I'll just ruin the whole show, I'll…I'll…”

I was so panicked by now I felt like bashing Miss Howell on the head with my script to make her realize what a
terrible, awful, catastrophic
mistake she'd made. I mean,
me
–
Phoebe Franks
–
sing a solo?

“Of course you won't ruin the show, Phoebe. I wouldn't have given the part to you if I didn't think you could do it. I've heard you sing with the rest of the group – you're going to be awesome. And it
is
only five lines. You'll be fine, trust me.”

She turned back to the rest of the group. “Right, let's start reading through. The show opens with Sabine in the factory. She's sitting there dreaming about the life she wishes she could lead when Lolly wakes up crying because she's had a nightmare.”

She's
had a nightmare? What about me? This was like the worst nightmare ever. It might be
only five lines
to Miss Howell, but to me it was like trying to climb a mountain blindfolded and with my legs tied together – only harder. There was no way I'd ever be able to do it. There was actually more chance of Polly Carter walking right up to me in front of everyone at drama and announcing that she wanted me to be her best friend. In fact…

Monty B nudged me. “Wake up, Frankie, it's your line.”

The rest of the session passed in a blur of fear and dust and at break time Miss Howell went back out to look for Arthur.

“Hey, Phoebe, groovy hairstyle,” Catharine said. She sat down next to me and unwrapped her sandwiches. “Seriously, it really suits you pushed back off your face like that.”

I touched my hair; it was rock hard like a lump of cement.

“You've got a great part, too, aren't you pleased?”

“Yeah, I suppose,” I mumbled. “Except that I've got to sing by myself, which is like the biggest joke.”

“No, it isn't, you'll be wicked.”

Neesha came over and helped herself to some of Catharine's crisps. “I thought for sure I was gonna be Gobstopper but I'm one of the other Jelly-Skulls,” she said, stuffing the crisps in her mouth. “And, oh my God, yeah, have I ever told you about the time when I was actually eating a Gobstopper and I was talking really fast, and I breathed in at the wrong moment and the Gobstopper—”

Just then Ellie burst into the hall. “Mandy's really upset!” she cried, interrupting Neesha. “She's out in the corridor on the phone to Arthur, and she said that if he doesn't get the hall sorted by next week we won't be rehearsing here any more.”

“She's just bluffing,” said Sam. “Anyway, never mind about the hall, I've got a far more serious problem than that. I'm Ice Bomb, the President's wife, which is like the best part, but it means I've got to be married to
Adam
!”

She pulled a face as if it was the most awful thing in the world but I knew she was putting it on. She was crazy about Adam.

“There will be no pulling faces in
my
factory!” Adam called over, grinning at Sam. “No pulling faces, no laughing, no smiling, no talking, no burping and definitely no breathing.”

As he was talking, Monty B crept up behind him and burped right into his ear and then for some reason he turned round and burped into mine.

“Urrghh! That is
so
disgusting,” Polly Carter shrieked. She leaned over and whispered something to some of the other girls, probably something about how stupid my hair looked, and they cracked up.

“Don't worry, Frankie,” Monty B called over his shoulder. “I promise I won't burp when we do our kissing scene.”

I looked at him, horrified. I could feel my face start to burn up. Why was he always doing that? Calling me Frankie and talking to me in front of the others as if we were best friends or something?

“Oh my God, I'm not kidding you, yeah, but I so pity anyone who's got a kissing scene with you, Monty B,” said Neesha, and Polly and her cronies practically fell off the stage laughing.

We spent the rest of the session reading through the script and learning one of the main songs in the show,
Scream!
Arthur never turned up at all, Tara Perkins had to go home early because the dust had made her wheezy, and it was actually a huge relief at one o'clock to get out into the fresh air.

“Why don't you come over to mine, Phoebs?” said Ellie, rolling up her script and using it as a telescope to try and spot her mum. “Sam's coming and my mum said you can both stay for tea.”

“Okay. I'll just ask my dad, hang on a sec.”

Dad seemed a bit upset. He mumbled something about how he never gets to see me any more, and how he had something important to ask me, but that if I
really
wanted to go it was okay, he'd tell me later. I could've pointed out that he never seems all that bothered about seeing me when he's got something important on at the centre, like renaming himself for instance, but I just jumped into the car with Ellie and Sam before he could change his mind.

“I know what we could do when we get back to yours, Ellie,” said Sam. “Let's start making up a dance to
Don't Let the Bed-Bugs Bite
and then show it to Mandy next week.”

“Oh yeah, I love that one,” said Ellie, peeling a banana and then stuffing a huge piece into her mouth. “It's like my favourite song in the whole show.”

Sam screwed up her face. “Oh
gross
, Ellie! I can see your banana all mushed up in your mouth, it's disgusting! And we didn't understand a word you said, did we, Phoebs? It sounded like, ‘Itshnnnnn iknnnn mhhhhhy…'”

“Shut up! No, it didn't!”

We all started to laugh and for the first time in ages I began to feel happy.

Back at Ellie's we moved everything round so that there was space to dance. Her room is tiny and it's always a complete tip, but if the bed is pushed right up against the wall and the chest-of-drawers goes sideways, we can make quite a good area in the middle.

“Right, Phoebe, you stand here because you're the shortest,” said Sam, placing me in between her and Ellie. “Ellie, you sing,
It's the middle of the night, keep your eyes closed tight
, I'll sing,
You try to fall asleep with all of your might
, and Phoebs, you sing,
But don't let the bed-bugs bite
. Then we'll
all
sing,
I said, don't let the bed-bugs bite
.”

We put on the music and tried it out a few times and it worked really well so we started to make up a dance to go with it. I knew Sam was being bossy but for once I didn't care. It was so nice to be singing and dancing and mucking about and not thinking about all the stuff that was getting me down that I couldn't believe it when Ellie's mum came in with sandwiches and drinks and said it was four-thirty.

I grabbed a carton of juice and collapsed on the bed. “What do you think about the parts then?”

“Mine's brilliant,” said Sam. “Ice Bomb is easily the best part in the show
and
I get to do loads of scenes with Adam.”

“You know, I still don't really get the whole story,” said Ellie, doing a backbend in the middle of the room.

“What do you mean, you still don't get the whole story?” cried Sam, sitting on top of her and squashing her down to the floor.

“Ooof! Get off, you great lump, I can't breathe!”

“
Just listen a minute, Ellie; it's important!
Baron-Von-Bolt and Ice Bomb run the Dream Factory, and they've got loads of money, right? But they're horribly mean and greedy and they treat their workers really badly. So anyway, Gobstopper decides he's going to get rid of Baron-Von-Bolt and Ice Bomb and run the factory himself, only he's really evil as well. But then Lolly – that's
Phoebe
– finds out what he's planning and saves the day.”

“Oh, so that means you end up the hero of the show, Phoebe,” said Ellie, from somewhere underneath Sam.

“Yeah,” said Sam. “Like, from zero to hero!”

“What about Polly?” I said, ignoring Sam. “She'll be great as Gobstopper, won't she? She's exactly like him already.”

I was dying to tell Ellie about Polly, but not while Sam was there.

“Perfect casting!” said Sam. “I heard her say something really mean about you, today, Phoebe. Something about how quiet you were reading out your lines and that if you were that quiet sitting in a circle, who'd ever hear you in a theatre with an audience?”

Ellie sat up, looking cross. “Well, I could hear
all
your lines, Phoebs, and I was sitting a long way away. Hey, have I shown you my new top? I got it as a sort of early Christmas present from my auntie.”

She jumped up and rummaged around in a pile of clothes that looked as if they'd been there for years and from somewhere near the bottom she pulled out a gorgeous pink top with purple sleeves and collar.

Sam grabbed it and pulled it on over her T-shirt. “Where did she get this? I
love
it!”

“Careful, Sam, don't stretch it! And look, I got matching nail varnish.”

“D'ya know what, Phoebe?” said Sam, as she pulled the top back over her head and dropped it on the pile of clothes. “I swear someone at drama fancies you, but you'll never guess who it is, not in a billion years.”

“Don't be stupid,” I said, blushing. “No one fancies me.”

“No, I'm dead serious,” she said. “It must be your new hairstyle –
the sleeked-back look
. I noticed him staring at you today, like
all
the time. Okay, I'll give you a clue. His name begins with M and he's quite fit, in a weird sort of way, but don't worry it's not The Mad McDermott. Come on, take a guess.”

“It's not Monty B, is it?” said Ellie.

“Shut up,” I said, trying to run my hands through my hair. It wouldn't surprise me if Monty B
was
staring at me. He was probably wondering why I had a massive lump of cement instead of a head.

“I can't bear Monty B,” I said. “He's such an idiot. He burped right in my ear at break time.”

“But that's because he loves you!” shrieked Sam. And they both collapsed back on the bed, clutching hold of each other in hysterics.

As soon as I got home I locked myself in the bathroom and washed all the gel and tissue out of my hair. If I was going to transform myself it was pretty clear I was going to have to do it without Donny's help. He might be able to work his magic with a flashy smile and a load of hair gel, but it obviously wasn't going to work for me.