Читать книгу Ruby Parker: Musical Star - Rowan Coleman - Страница 6

Chapter One

I’m normal now. Ruby Parker, girl – that’s me. Not an audition in sight, not a line to learn or an interview to do, not a single mention in Hiya! Bye-a! for weeks. I haven’t even had any fan mail for over a month. I used to be Ruby Parker, soap star and then for a while I was Ruby Parker, film star. For the briefest moment I was Ruby Parker, Hollywood star – but now I’m none of those things. ’m just Ruby Parker, who goes to an ordinary school and hangs out with ordinary kids.

It did take a bit of getting used to.

When I got back from Hollywood I think I was in shock. I don’t really know what being in shock is, but if it means feeling numb from the inside out, exhausted and frightened all at once, then I was in it. My life had changed completely in the few weeks I was in America and I wasn’t really prepared for how it was going to make me feel. But I decided to leave Sylvia Lighthouse’s Academy for the Performing Arts and give up acting for good, and I meant it. It took a while to persuade mum and dad to support me, and Nydia and Anne-Marie still can’t believe that I decided to come to a new school and leave them behind, but I did it. I gave up my dream because being in Hollywood taught me two things.

First of all it taught me that having a dream isn’t enough to make it come true. Wanting fame and fortune so badly that you feel twisted up inside doesn’t mean you deserve to get it, because you only deserve your dream if you’ve got the talent to make it happen. And secondly it told me about as clearly as possible that I do not have any talent. At least, not nearly enough to deserve my dream.

And that’s why I started at Highgate Comprehensive School three weeks ago, a school that doesn’t even have a drama society, let alone drama lessons. The nearest thing they have to anything theatrical is a choir and I hear even that is terrible. It’s a school where I can feel safe, which is funny really because on my very first day I discovered that someone here is really quite keen to beat me up.

It happened in the first minute of the first hour of my first day. I made mum drop me off round the corner, took a breath and marched the last few metres through the school gate on my own. I thought I was prepared.

I was prepared for the other kids to be a bit curious, to ask me questions about being on the telly and in a movie with famous actors like Imogene Grant or Sean Rivers. I was prepared for the fact that some kids would think I was posh and stuck up because I used to go to Sylvia Lighthouse’s Academy. But I wasn’t prepared for the threats of violence. Yes, that did throw me a bit.

“Are you Ruby Parker?” asked a tall girl, who appeared to be waiting for me.

This is nice, I thought. A welcoming committee. “I am,” I said with a smile, sticking out my hand. “Pleased to meet you!”

“I hate you,” the girl said. Well, more like growled.

I blinked at her. She had a sort of solid-looking body that would probably hurt you if you ran into it. As I was planning to run in the opposite direction, I hoped that wouldn’t be a problem.

“Really?” I asked her, with a grimace. “Was it the film? I know, I was terrible wasn’t I? That’s why I’ve given up acting, I just want to be normal now, like…”

The girl’s face didn’t move. “I just hate you,” she said, poking me in the shoulder with the tip of one long finger. “And I’m going to get you.” Then she turned on her heel, and stormed off.

I stood there staring after her, suddenly not sure that I could get my feet to go into Highgate Comprehensive School after all and wondering about the possibilities of home-schooling, when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“That’s just Adele.” I jumped at the sound of a new voice and a saw another girl standing next to me. “You’re Ruby Parker. I’ve seen you on the telly,” she said. I couldn’t tell if she was friendly or not. “I’m Dakshima, I’m in your class. Adele tries to pick on everyone, but if you show her you’re not scared you’ll be fine. She doesn’t mean it really. It’s just her thing, being scary.”

I stood there stock still as Dakshima began to walk off again. After a few steps she paused and glanced back over her shoulder at me. She heaved a sigh and asked, “Do you want to come in with me?”

“If you don’t mind,” I said, sounding more than a bit pathetic.

“Come on then,” Dakshima said, turning and marching off ahead of me. “I haven’t got all day.”

I followed Dakshima, telling myself that I was doing the right thing, but I still felt sick with nerves and worried about making new friends. After all, I thought I’d made friends with Adrienne Charles at Beaumont High, my school in Hollywood, but she turned out to be my worst enemy and made my life a misery while I was there.

Dakshima doesn’t seem to mind me hanging out with her though. I have lunch with her and her friends, Talitha and Hannah, almost every day, and last week she even called me Rubes. It took a while for people to forget that I am Ruby Parker off the telly, but now I’m old news, like last month’s copy of Hiya! Bye-a!, and the more they forget who I used to be, the easier it is to fit in. Anyway, if you take away the whole fame thing then I really am a very average girl.

The teachers here are very different from the ones at the Academy, but they are mostly OK. I even like the schoolwork. Honestly I do, because when I’m immersed in biology or maths or something that would usually make me tear my hair out with boredom, then I’m not thinking about the past. I’m not thinking about Danny Harvey chucking me for new girl Melody. I’m not thinking about the horrible reviews I got in Hollywood, detailing just how bad an actor I am. And most importantly, I’m not thinking about my dream, or the fact that at almost fourteen-years-old, mine is already so over.

Come and audition for the school choir!

Lunchtime tomorrow in the main hall. Enthusiasm more important than talent. Find out that singing

CAN be fun!

Be there or Be square.

Mr G. Petrelli, Music Teacher.

NB: ATTENDANCE IS COMPULSORY

BY ORDER OF THE HEAD.