Chloe Centre Stage Read online

  For everyone who has tried (and failed!) to teach me to dance – HW

  For my family, who always cheer me on! – MD

  ~

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One: Chloe Lives Her Dream

  Chapter Two: The Most Important Two Hours Ever

  Chapter Three: Old Hands and New Faces

  Chapter Four: Gingers Together

  Chapter Five: Unpleasant Truths

  Chapter Six: Under Suspicion

  Chapter Seven: Shine’s Most Wanted

  Extract from Sara’s Dream Role

  Biography

  Copyright

  “Have you got everything?” Mrs Ford asked again anxiously.

  “Yes, Mum.” Chloe was hardly listening. She was too excited, and anyway, it was at least the third time Mum had asked her.

  Mum was giving Chloe a lift because it was the first day. Chloe had wanted to go on her own, but when she’d suggested it, Mum had been quite upset.

  She’d tried to explain that she’d worked out the route, but Mum and Dad weren’t having it. She knew why – they were so proud of her for getting into the school and they wanted to be a part of it. She was used to them being involved. They came to all her shows, her dad filmed them on his phone. And anyone who came to the house was lucky to get away without being shown Chloe aged three in her dance school show, dressed as a daffodil.

  Chloe’s dad suddenly popped his head out of the kitchen. “You will film her going in, won’t you—”

  “No!” Chloe squawked in horror. No way! She couldn’t imagine anything worse – all the cool people at Shine walking past and sniggering as her mum recorded her going up the steps. “No, Dad. No filming, no photos, no hugging and if we don’t leave now, I’m going on the train without even Mum, ’cos otherwise we’re going to be late.”

  As she’d expected, that put her mum in an immediate panic. She ran out of the door without even bringing the car keys, she was so desperate for Chloe not to be late. Chloe followed her, grinning and carrying her rucksack, her bag of dance clothes and her mum’s handbag.

  Chloe was too excited to be scared, even though this was her first day. She’d been desperate to go somewhere like The Shine School since she’d been six and found out that stage schools existed. Then last year her dance teacher had told her about the audition for Shine and she knew that it would be perfect. Classes in ballet, tap, modern dance, singing and drama (and normal boring subjects as well, of course) and you got to be represented by The Shine Agency. They’d be sending her to fantastic auditions all the time! The school had a world-wide reputation – people came from all over the place to go to it. Going to Shine was Chloe’s dream come true. She couldn’t wait to be there!

  Somehow, seeing the big white stone building that housed The Shine School for the Performing Arts made Chloe feel slightly less confident. She’d been there before, of course, for her audition but that had been during the holidays, and the crowd of students pouring in the doors and milling around on the steps made a big difference. Chloe knew there were only about a hundred and fifty students but they all seemed to be arriving right now… For the first time, Chloe felt new and rather small as she and her mum walked up Abbeyfield Road towards the school.

  She even felt glad that Shine had a uniform. She’d been very disappointed when she’d first found this out. Chloe had assumed that at a stage school you’d be able to wear whatever you wanted. But the information they’d been sent about the school said that the uniform was really important and everyone had to wear it, even the oldest students. Now though, Chloe was thankful to be wearing the smart grey skirt and blazer, burgundy sweater, and burgundy and silver stripey tie – at least she looked like she belonged. If she’d had her own clothes on, she might have worn something that wasn’t quite right…

  Chloe shook herself and marched determinedly towards the big glass doors. What on earth was she thinking? For a start, there was no way that with her perfect dress sense she would ever wear something that wasn’t completely cool. And since when had she cared what anyone else thought anyway? She totally disapproved of school uniform and she was going to tell somebody so, the first opportunity she got.

  Chloe’s temporary grumpiness disappeared as she and her mum went up the steps to the school. She couldn’t help listening in on a fascinating conversation:

  “So the casting director said, ‘Can you swim?’ And I said of course I could, I was a really good swimmer—”

  “Amy Martin, you sink to the bottom of the pool every week!”

  “I know!” the curly-haired girl giggled. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I get the part. Miss Jones’ll have to give me extra lessons or something. She’s gonna kill me!”

  Chloe gazed enviously at Amy, who looked about thirteen, just a couple of years older than her. She sounded so calm about it all! Chloe could understand exactly what Amy meant though. If she was lucky enough to get a professional audition, she would swear blind she could swim, ride, even juggle if that’s what they wanted. Plenty of time to worry afterwards!

  Chloe smiled to herself as she and her mum went through the glass doors. It felt familiar, like this place belonged to her. She’d known Shine was right ever since she came for the audition. Her dance teacher had brought her, along with Sophie, another girl from her class. Chloe and Sophie had been friendly rivals for years. They always fought for the best role in the Christmas show and Chloe almost always won. But she liked Sophie and thought she was a really good dancer. It had been so nice to have somebody she knew doing the audition too.

  That had been back in January, a whole eight months ago, but Chloe didn’t think she’d ever forget it. Mrs Rose had taken her and Sophie on the train, and they’d been giggly and over-excited the whole way there. It was so hard to believe that the next two hours might mean the rest of their lives were totally different. Once they’d seen the school building, and the big gold sign over the door, they suddenly shut up.

  Chloe narrowed her lips into a thin line. There was no way she was going to mess this up. She had to show the selection committee what she could do. She glanced at Sophie, ready to give her a “Let’s do this!” grin. But then the grin slipped – Sophie had actually gone green. Chloe thought people only did that in books.

  “Are you OK?” she muttered worriedly, and Sophie shook her head.

  “I think I’m going to be sick!” she gasped.

  Mrs Rose steered her into the school. “You stay right there, Chloe,” she called, shooing Sophie towards the toilets. “Back in a minute!”

  It was more like ten minutes. Chloe wasn’t too worried to start with. Sophie was just nervous and nerves took some people that way – she’d be OK in no time. But it was scary standing there on her own, clutching her dance things and watching everyone else streaming by with their parents or teachers. What if they forgot about her? What if she missed her audition? The letter had been so strict – if you were late, you didn’t get another chance. She supposed it was like professional auditions. No one was going to wait around for you if you couldn’t be bothered to get there on time. Chloe was looking anxiously towards the loos, and wondering if she should go and see what was going on, when Mrs Rose and Sophie emerged. She beamed at them, expecting her friend to be back to normal.

  Sophie wasn’t. She wasn’t green any more – her fair skin was grey instead and even her bouncy blond curls were limp. She was leaning against Mrs Rose and she hardly seemed able to walk, let alone dance her way through a strenuous audition. Chloe tried not to let her dismay show in her face – that was the last thing Sophie needed – but it was difficult.

  “Sorry to leave you in the lurch like that. Right! Let’s get on and sign you
both in,” said Mrs Rose, sounding stressed.

  Was Sophie going to audition like that? Chloe didn’t say anything though, just followed as they headed down the corridor. When they stopped in a queue of other girls and boys, all waiting to be ticked off on a massive list, she had a chance to speak to Sophie.

  “Are you feeling better?” she asked.

  “Mmmm. A bit. Sorry. Must have really put you off!” Sophie smiled weakly.

  “No, I was just worried about you. You’ve never had anything like this before, at shows or anything.”

  “I always get really nervous,” Sophie gulped.“I suppose this is worse because it’s just so important. Oh Chloe, I’m not sure I can do the audition feeling like this!”

  To be honest, Chloe didn’t really think Sophie could either, but she could hardly say that, could she? “It’ll be OK,” she said firmly. “The adrenaline will take over. You know what Mrs Rose says – just smile and concentrate on your music, and you’ll remember what to do.”

  But inside she had a horrible feeling that Sophie’s once-in-a-lifetime chance had already gone…

  Once the secretary had signed them in, everyone was herded into a big waiting room. They’d all been given numbers that they had to pin on to their dance clothes. Chloe and Sophie were thirty-six and thirty-seven. Chloe couldn’t believe how many people there were auditioning. She knew Shine only took about thirty students a year – and this was just one of four days of auditions.

  A stressed-looking woman was explaining the audition routine. “We’re going to see you for dance in groups of ten – ballet first and then tap. Then we’ll move on to hearing your voice pieces and doing some improvisation to see your drama skills after that. So, can the first group, numbers one to ten, follow me to the changing rooms? Parents and teachers wait here, please.”

  Chloe watched enviously as the first ten people got up, nervously searching for bags and saying goodbye to their parents. One of the girls looked almost as ill as Sophie. Chloe wished that she could have been in the first group. She knew that once the audition started she would feel fine, but the waiting was awful. She was sure she could feel her heart thumping all the way round her body.

  It was another half an hour before their group was called to go and change. Chloe was relieved, but she saw the colour fade out of Sophie’s face again as their numbers were called, and she dropped her bag as though her fingers were so numb she could hardly feel them.

  Chloe sprayed her hair to get the dark-red curls to behave and fought it into a bun. Then she examined herself carefully in the mirror. She was wearing her normal dance clothes - pale pink tights and the dark pink leotard with a pink wrap cardigan over the top that all Mrs Rose’s students wore.

  “Is your friend OK?” a voice asked shyly.

  Chloe turned to see a girl sitting on the next bench. She was looking at Sophie, who was sitting beside her and staring at nothing, her face still a pale shade of grey.

  “I don’t think so,” Chloe murmured. “It’s such bad luck! She’s a brilliant dancer and she has a fantastic singing voice, but I just don’t think they’ll see any of it.” She was trying to pin the number on to the back of her leotard as she spoke and the other girl giggled.

  “Here, let me. You’ll put your back out twisting like that.”

  “Thanks. I can do yours for you if you like. Then I think I’d better try and get Soph back on this planet – she looks totally out of it.”

  The girl turned round for Chloe to pin on her label. “Mmmm. Good luck.”

  Just then the secretary popped her head round the door. “Two minutes, girls, and I’ll be back to take you into your ballet audition.”

  The two girls exchanged panicked glances and then looked at Sophie, who hadn’t even noticed the announcement.

  “I’ll help. I can do her hair while you try and get her back with us.”

  “That would be fab,” Chloe said gratefully. The girl had already started to work Sophie’s curls into a French plait and seemed pleased to have something to do. Chloe sat down on the bench next to her friend and took one of her hands. It was freezing.

  “Sophie, listen. We’re about ready to go into the audition. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

  Sophie managed a small smile, but that was all. Chloe put an arm round her shoulders. Sophie felt so tense. How was she ever going to loosen up and dance?

  The door opened again. “Everyone follow me to the studio, please!”

  This was it!

  The studio was enormous, with a sprung wooden floor and mirrors all round the walls. The audition panel were sitting at a table down one side, watching interestedly as they came in. Chloe remembered Mrs Rose saying that the audition started as soon as you walked in the door. She tried to stand confidently and keep her head up.

  One of the school’s ballet teachers took them through a warm-up, walking round the group as they did their stretches. Occasionally she asked someone to lengthen their leg, or pushed down on a shoulder to see how supple someone was. When she came to Chloe, she seemed to be standing there for ages and Chloe had to concentrate on even remembering to breathe. But she didn’t say anything. As they got into line at the barre, Chloe was glad to see that the ritual of the familiar exercises seemed to have brought Sophie back to the real world. She didn’t look fantastic, but she was moving with something of her usual grace.

  Chloe felt herself beginning to relax as the instructions continued. She could do all this – she loved doing all this! Unconsciously she began to smile as they dropped into a series of deep pliés and as the ballet teacher passed her she murmured an appreciative “Nice!”

  Chloe glowed and felt the concentrated envy of nine other people burning into her back. After the barre work, they had to learn a short sequence of steps to dance across the centre of the room – and that was it. Chloe felt confused as she saw the clock on her way out. That had taken half an hour? It didn’t seem possible.

  They were whisked back to the changing room to put on leggings and T-shirts for tap, and then off to another studio with yet another scary panel of judges. But if anything, the tap session was even more fun, playing a weird kind of follow-my-leader round the studio, trying to keep up with the teacher. Half of them were in hysterics by the end and Chloe completely forgot about the judges until she was heading out of the door.

  “Right! Change into your track pants and put a sweater on, then follow the signs to the cafeteria. There are snacks out for you there. Then it’s singing. We’ll call you one at a time for that.”

  Chloe fell on the biscuits and drinks as though she hadn’t seen food for weeks. Even Sophie nibbled on a digestive, but she was looking down.

  “Feeling better?” Chloe nudged her.

  “Yeah. But it’s too late! I was useless in the ballet, totally wooden. They’ll never want me.”

  “You’ve still got the singing and the drama – you could pull it off,” put in the other girl, who had come over by now and was smiling encouragingly. “Ouch – did you hear that? How flat is that girl!” They could hear the singing auditions going on in a room close by.

  “You’ll be better than that, Soph!” Chloe agreed.

  Sophie grinned. “Well, it wouldn’t be hard! I just feel like I’ve already messed it up though.”

  “Never give up,” said Chloe firmly.

  “Bethany Adams!” a voice called.

  “That’s me.”

  Chloe had seen how good Bethany was at ballet and tap – she had fantastic timing. What was her voice like?

  It was good – better than good. She and Sophie sat awestruck as the silvery notes floated down the corridor.

  “I might as well go home now,” Sophie sighed. “She’s awesome!”

  Chloe looked around the hallway again, remembering the audition and poor Sophie’s green face. She’d been right – she hadn’t got in, even though she said they’d sent her a really nice letter. Sophie was going to her local secondary school, but she swore she was keeping on
with dance, and she was going to do as much drama and music as she could at school. Maybe she’d be able to do a drama course when she was sixteen.

  Chloe had meant to grab Bethany and ask for her phone number after the drama part of the audition, but everyone was sent off a few at a time as the audition finished, and she only saw her in the distance. So she had no idea whether Bethany would be at Shine or not. Chloe guessed she would though – unless Bethany had some kind of mystery acting phobia, like she turned into a statue as soon as she tried to move on a stage, there was no way that voice and that dancing weren’t getting in.

  “I wonder where we need to go,” murmured Chloe’s mum, looking around as boys and girls in the grey and burgundy uniforms surged past her.

  “All I have to do is sign in and go to my classroom, Mum, like it said in the letter. You can leave me to it.”

  “But Chloe, all these people – don’t you want me to come with you?” Her mum sounded worried, and a bit disappointed, but Chloe really wanted her to leave! As soon as she was gone, she could be a real Shine student – not just a new girl hanging around with her mum like a baby. All Chloe wanted was to get on with it.

  She gave her mum a big hug. “Thanks so much for driving me. But I’ll be fine on my own now, honestly. I’ll tell you all about it tonight.”

  She practically shooed her mum out of the door. After waving her off, she turned back into the school hall and sighed happily, gazing all around and taking it in. She was here at last!

  Just then a tall woman with pale skin and fabulous long dark hair flung open the glass door and marched in as though she expected everyone to rush to meet her. As soon as she was through the door, she stopped and posed, waiting for people to notice her. She was very familiar somehow, as though Chloe had seen her lots of times before, but she just couldn’t quite place her. Behind the woman – looking as though she would rather be almost anywhere else – was a girl who looked very like her. She had the same nearly black hair and very white skin, but none of the commanding presence. The girl was in Shine uniform, so Chloe guessed this was another new girl.