Sam in the Spotlight (6 page)

“What's going on?” I said.

“I've had a really exciting day at work!” Mum grinned, practically bubbling over with excitement. She took a sip of champagne. “Remember I told you about Sophia Malone getting married…well this woman called Lavender rang – she's the wedding planner – and she's only chosen
Everything's Rosy
to do the flowers!”

“You're kidding, Mum, that's amazing! Sophia Malone! I saw her in that TV drama just a few weeks ago and she was brilliant.”

“I'm so proud of you, Rosy,” said Dad, beaming. “Just imagine –
Everything's Rosy
doing the flowers for someone so well known. You'll get tons of publicity.”

“I know,” said Mum. “It's like a dream come true.”

Mum had built up
Everything's Rosy
from nothing, all by herself. She'd worked all hours of the day and night, from when it was just a tiny florist on a little alley off the high street to the huge success it was today.

“Well done, Mum. There's no stopping you now!” I was really proud of her too.

“Everything's rosy for Rosy!” joked Dad and he began to sing some song from years ago, dancing Mum round the room.

“When is the wedding?” I said as they twirled around me. “It's not on Christmas Day or something daft like that, is it?”

“No, it's before Christmas.” Mum pulled away from Dad and fished her diary out of her bag. “It's at the end of November,” she said, leafing through the pages. I fixed my eyes on the diary, desperately trying to remember the date of Crystal's wedding. It was definitely in November but I couldn't remember the exact date. What was it? What
was
it?

“Here it is,” said Mum. “Saturday the 28th of November.”

I raced upstairs and pulled out Crystal's invitation. I kept on staring at it as if somehow by magic the date would change. But no, it was still there, as clear as anything. Crystal and Tyler were getting married on Saturday the 28th of November. I grabbed my phone to call Crystal. My hands were actually trembling and it was difficult to press the numbers properly. I managed it eventually but there was a loud click and it went straight to voicemail. “
Call me
,” I hissed. “I
need to talk to you. It's urgent – like
really
urgent!
”

I kept checking my phone every five seconds but she didn't call back. How was I supposed to keep quiet now? I
had
to tell Mum. They might be in the middle of some massive row and she might think Tyler was a total waste of space but there's no way she'd want to miss Crystal's actual wedding.

Mum was making breakfast when I came down in the morning.

“Pinch me to make sure I'm not dreaming,” she said, laughing. “I hardly slept a wink.”

“You're not dreaming,” I said. And even if she was, it was all about to turn into one massive nightmare. Sophia Malone and Crystal were both getting married in eight weeks' time on exactly the same day.

“I've got a little surprise of my own,” Dad announced suddenly. He took an envelope out of his pocket and waved it about in front of Mum's face.

“What's that?” she asked suspiciously. “You know I don't like surprises.”

“Paris!” said Dad. “Just the two of us!” He looked over and winked at me.

“You mean for our anniversary?” said Mum, frowning. “But what about Sam and the shop and—”

“Rosy! It's only a week. Our first time away on our own since the girls were born. Bella can go to the cattery. Mags said Sam can stay with her
and
she's offered to keep an eye on the shop. I was going to tell you yesterday but you were so excited about the wedding and everything.”

Mum started to smile. “Well, I have always dreamed about going to Paris,” she said, clasping the tickets to her chest. “And I've been working so hard.”

“So have I!” I complained. “But no one's whisking me off to Paris for a week!”

“Ahh, poor Sam,” teased Dad. “Hey, aren't you finding out your parts at drama today?”

“Yeah, but I'm not expecting anything that great,” I said as casually as I could. “It's a brilliant show though. It's all about ghosts and phantom faces at the window.”

“Well, just as long as you don't start letting your work slip,” said Mum. “No big parts – remember?”

Dad shot her a look. “Come on, Rosy. It's Saturday, let her think about something apart from school for a few minutes at least!”

I gave Dad a grateful smile. Then I remembered the Great Wedding Clash and bit my lip.

“Hey, Mum, you know Sophia Malone's wedding, will you actually be going – you know, like
on
the day?”

“Of course,” said Mum. “We'll be there all morning dressing the church and then they're going to whisk us off to some secret location to dress the tables. It's going to be a massive job. I might need your help actually. You'll have to miss drama that day if Mandy doesn't mind.”

Missing drama was the least of my worries. What about missing Crystal's wedding?

I tried to call Crystal again on the way to drama. Where
was
she? Maybe the wedding invitation really was one big wind-up. That was just the sort of silly stunt she would pull. She'd do anything for a laugh, even if it left everyone else in a total tizz. I left her another message and hurried along the road to drama.

Ellie was waiting for me outside the hall.

“You'll never guess where I went yesterday after school,” I said, giving her a quick hug. “But you mustn't tell a soul…do you swear?”

“Swear,” she said, giggling. “Come on, tell.”

I looked round to make sure no one was listening. “Adam's house!”

“Don't talk rubbish.
You went round to Adam's?
”

“Yes, but I'll tell you why later. Come on, let's go up, we're getting our parts today.”

“Sam! You can't just say that and then stop – I'll go mad. Come on, give me a clue…”

“No clues,” I said, running up the stairs. “I'll tell you later, I promise.”

Adam was already in the hall when we got up there.

“Hi, Sam,” he said, coming straight over.

“How's Riley?” I asked, trying very hard not to blush. I'd actually slapped on a load of extra-light face powder before I left the house to try and tone my cheeks down a bit.

“Gorgeous as ever. I gave him a great big kiss from you before I left this morning.”

My face started to burn up. There was no way the powder could hide my blushes now.
Did he have to mention kissing?

“Who's Riley?” said Ellie, her eyes so wide they were practically popping out of her head.

“We'd better go and find your bag,” I muttered, grabbing her arm and steering her away from Adam.

“I haven't lost my bag!” she said, stumbling after me. “Did you fall on your head or something?”

“I fell on my head once,” said Monty B, coming up from behind us. “I was trying to see what I looked like upside down in the mirror, but when I bent down to put my head between my legs I tipped right over.”

“I want to know
everything,
” hissed Ellie, ignoring Monty B. “Who's Riley? And what were you doing round at Adam's?”

But just then Mandy called us over.

“I've sorted out all the parts,” she said, when we were sitting in a circle. “It wasn't easy and I've even had to add an extra character, but it's done and I'm happy so let's get on with it.”

“I'll explain everything at Phoebe's,” I whispered to Ellie. “You are still coming, aren't you?”

“Course.”

I'd hardly thought about the show for days – my head had been so filled up with Crystal and the wedding. But I was still desperate to be Laura, whatever Mum thought about it. Mandy grabbed her folder from the piano and was about to read out the cast list when Arthur came bursting in, looking a bit frantic.

“I'm so sorry to interrupt you, Mandy,” he said. “But I've lost something, you see, and it's vitally important it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.”

“Oh dear, what is it? I didn't see anything when I arrived this morning.”

“Maybe it's his breakfast,” Ellie whispered. “Most of it seems to be in his beard.”

“I can't actually say what it is,” said Arthur. “It's very private, I'm afraid. But
please,
if you find anything at all that you think might belong to me, return it to my office as a matter of great urgency.”

“It might help if we knew what we were looking for…” Mandy started to say, but Arthur was already halfway out of the hall, muttering something to himself.

“Never a dull moment,” said Mandy. “Now where were we?”

“You were just about to tell us about the extra part,” said Phoebe.

“Oh yes. I decided to write in an extra part and it's for Sara…”

“
Me?
” said Sara, turning pink with excitement.

Mandy nodded, smiling. “Well, you were so good at acting Laura's part, I decided to add in a younger sister called Rianna. Laura and Ben's younger sister, if you see what I mean.”

“You mean you wrote a part especially for
me
?”

Phoebe groaned. “I'll never hear the last of this,” she said. “Couldn't she just be one of the servants or something?”

“I've got a
main
part, actually,” said Sara, “so why don't
you
go off and be one of the servants?”

“There's nothing wrong with being a servant,” said Mandy, quickly. “
All
the parts are important, every single one.”

“Oh, I know. It's just that Phoebe's such a pain.
Someone
has to put her in her place.”

“I've been saying that for years,” said Monty B.

“Shut up,” said Phoebe, hitting him.

“Right,” said Mandy. “So Sara is Rianna, Monty B, you're Mr. Biscuit the detective—”

“But I thought you said I wasn't allowed to be Mr. Biscuit,” teased Monty B. “And that you were going to change his name.”

“I know, I know, but you were so funny I can't really see anyone else doing it. But listen to me, Monty B, you have
got
to stick to the script!”

Monty B did a silly salute. “I swear on my life, Mandy. Stick to the script. That will be my mantra from this day forward. I don't mean stick to it like glue, obviously, because that would be stupid. Just stick to it word for word. Listen, I'll start right now.
Stick to the script. Stick to the
—”

Mandy held up her hand. “Enough!” she said. “We get it! Phoebe, you're Mr. Biscuit's assistant, Sugar, and Ellie, I'd like you to be Flora the castle cook and maid. Neesha, you've actually got two parts because you're the butler
and
the butler's identical twin brother.”

“Oh my God, yeah, does that mean I'm the murderer?”

“Well, we're supposed to
think
it's a murder but in actual fact April has fallen in love and run off with the butler's identical twin.”

I looked across at Adam. He was showing Catharine something in his script and she glanced up at him, smiling. She was always hanging around him at drama and I wondered if she fancied him as well. I dragged my eyes back to Neesha.

“So why is there a ghost at the window then, if she hasn't actually died?” she was saying.

“It's not real,” said Mandy. “It's just April's face tormenting the butler from the past. That's why it's a phantom, not a ghost.”

Neesha grinned. “I so don't have a clue what you're on about, Mandy, but it sounds wicked!”

“Now what about you, Sam?” Mandy looked over at me. “Who did you say you wanted to be again?”

I opened my mouth, and closed it again. I'd told her so many times. “W-what do you mean,
who do I want to be?
” I stammered. “I kept telling you, over and over. Don't you remember? I really—”

“I'm just kidding,” she laughed. “Sam, you're going to be Laura, well done.” She handed me a script, smiling.

“Yes!” I punched the air. “I'm Laura! I'm Laura!” I got up and did a little victory dance around Ellie.

“Where's Sandeep by the way?” said Mandy, frowning. “He hasn't rung me to say he couldn't make it today. Does anyone know?”

Just at that second we heard the downstairs door slam.

“That'll be him,” I said, practically skipping round the hall in excitement. “Is he Ben? Is that what you were going to say? I've got to tell him.”

I rushed over to the door, expecting to hear Sandeep's feet flying up the stairs, but there was nothing.

“Hang on a minute, what on earth was that?” said Mandy. There was a weird clunking noise. Someone was coming up the stairs, but it sounded as if they were dragging something very heavy behind them.
Clunk, drag, clunk, drag, clunk, drag.
..