Lights, Camera, Dance! Read online

  Chapter Four

  ‘You want me to come in for an interview?’ I took a step back and almost sat down in shock.

  ‘Cleaned out your ears lately, Ash?’ Jay asked. ‘I mean, I heard her the third time she said it. What about you, Benji?’

  ‘Loud and clear.’ Benji grinned.

  ‘Sorry,’ I stammered. ‘I just never thought you’d pick me.’

  ‘But I was a shoo-in, of course,’ Benji joked.

  ‘Truth is, Ash,’ said Brittany, ‘you caught Dream Big’s eye when we saw you modelling for Danceworks’ new hip hop range. “Who is this funky young girl with a tonne of personality?” we were asking. And everyone was raving about Silver Shoes and how you danced here. So we had to come and check it out ourselves.’ She gave me a big lipsticky grin. ‘It’s so exciting that you can actually dance, as well.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Well, Jay’s a really good teacher.’ I gave him a playful swat. ‘It’s just a shame how ugly he is.’

  ‘I work hard to look this bad,’ he joked.

  ‘You and Benji have a fresh, commercial appeal,’ Brittany continued. ‘And you also have chemistry together. We can tell you’re great friends.’

  ‘Only because he pays me,’ I said.

  ‘Only because I feel sorry for you,’ Benji shot back.

  ‘Oh, children,’ sighed Jay.

  Brittany looked at him in a way that was more than a little flirty. ‘Would both of you like to come in for an interview?’ she asked me and Benji. ‘We can have a chat, tell you about the agency, and discuss what kind of auditions and gigs we’ll set you guys up with.’

  ‘It really is very nice that you picked us,’ said Benji, turning on the charm with his big, dark, shining eyes all puppy dog-ish.

  I was thinking the same thing myself, but I was also hoping it wouldn’t ruffle any feathers with Jasmine and the other girls who’d been really excited about the idea of an agent.

  Especially Ellie.

  ‘How does Friday afternoon sound?’ Brittany asked. ‘Ashley, you at four; Benji, you at four-thirty?’

  ‘That should be okay,’ I said. I suddenly felt very shy. ‘Thank you, Miss Clover,’ I added.

  ‘Oh please.’ She laughed. ‘Brittany is fine.’ She gave us the address of Dream Big and, after a few more details, Benji and I were released into the world outside Silver Shoes (sometimes I forget that it exists!).

  I gave Benji a friendly nudge in the side. ‘How about that, hey?’

  Benji tried to play Mr Cool again but then he broke out into a huge grin and did a back somersault into the air.

  ‘Riding along on my coat-tails,’ I teased him. ‘She came to find me and got you in the bargain.’

  Benji brushed some imaginary dust off his shoulder. ‘The ladies can’t resist,’ he said. ‘Especially when they see me on camera.’ He ducked past an overgrown rosebush and walked down the old church path to the entrance gates. ‘I wonder what kind of auditions we’ll get.’

  ‘Hi Benji,’ said a syrupy voice. He looked up.

  Indianna and Daisy were hanging around the gate. Both girls had given me a hard time when I used to go to Dance Art Academy (our enemy school), before I changed to Silver Shoes. They were the classically trained dancers while I was just Ashley, always adding my own style to our routines and, as they once told me, ‘being an attention-seeker to make up for my lack of talent’.

  They still gave me greasies whenever we saw each other at competitions. It was getting really old and I was sick of having to keep defending myself.

  ‘Benji?’ said the sweet little voice again.

  ‘Hello,’ he said, and kept walking.

  ‘You look nice today,’ said Indianna, jumping off the fence. ‘Your hair looks cool.’

  ‘Really cool,’ Daisy added, shaking her own glossy black plait over her shoulder.

  ‘Thanks,’ Benji mumbled.

  ‘What about my rockin’ cut?’ I asked. ‘These split ends are stealing the show.’

  Indianna didn’t even look my way while Daisy gave me the tiniest glance from under her eyelids.

  ‘Jasmine told us at school today that Brittany Clover’s been into Silver Shoes,’ Indianna said.

  ‘She’s a really good agent,’ Daisy added. ‘The best.’

  ‘Yeah she seemed all right,’ said Benji, shuffling his feet. ‘Come on, Ash –’

  ‘We know,’ said Indianna, sliding up closer like off jelly oozing out of the bowl. ‘Because she’s our agent too.’

  ‘How amazing if we all got into the same agency together,’ Daisy said, stepping in between me and Benji.

  ‘I’m really good, Daisy,’ I said. ‘Thanks for asking.’

  Daisy turned her shoulder. ‘Oh, sorry. Hi Ashley. I didn’t see you there.’

  ‘When I don’t want to see certain people I go invisible,’ I said. ‘Comes in handy.’

  ‘Whatever.’ Daisy turned back to Benji. ‘Well, Indy and me just wanted to let you know we hope Brittany picks you.’

  ‘Indy and I,’ I corrected her cheerily.

  ‘Yep,’ said Indianna, rolling her eyes. ‘If you like, I can …’

  ‘Sorry, girls,’ Benji said, breaking free of their tentacle arms. ‘Ash and I gotta go to, uh …’

  ‘Feed my pet whale,’ I filled in for him. ‘And she doesn’t like to be kept waiting. See you round. It was so nice to see you again.’

  ‘Feed my pet whale?’ Benji muttered as we speed-walked away.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, swinging my backpack. ‘That’s what I call Bridget all the time.’

  Chapter Five

  At jazz class on Wednesday afternoon my Silver Shoes girls were in fine form.

  ‘Did the meeting with the agent go well, Ash?’ asked Paige. She wobbled in the elbow stand she was trying to hold, failed, and fell down in an impressive mix of a chest and face plant. Being Paige, though, she somehow still made it look cute.

  ‘It wasn’t at all like the horror stories I’ve heard,’ I grunted, trying to keep my own body upright. It isn’t easy when you’re balancing on your elbows with your torso in the air and your legs are meant to be splitting over you. ‘Both Brittany and her mum, Kristina – she’s the owner of Dream Big – were really nice. I can’t wait till I start auditioning.’

  ‘What did you talk about?’ asked Ellie. ‘Did you see anyone famous? Come on, tell me all.’ She was up in her own elbow stand, almost perfect. Only her legs were wobbling a bit.

  ‘It was just me and Bridge, and Brittany and Kristina,’ I said. ‘I didn’t see anyone else.’

  ‘Bridget went with you?’ asked Riley. She had perfected her elbow stand weeks ago, so she wasn’t even trying to do one. Instead, she was sitting in the corner (behind all of us, so Miss Caroline wouldn’t see), rebraiding her curly hair.

  ‘Yeah, Mum and Dad were working,’ I said, trying to sound like I didn’t care. ‘Guess what? Brittany asked if Bridge was my mother! You should have seen her face.’

  ‘What did the agent’s office look like?’ Ellie prompted. ‘What did they say?’ Her eyes flickered across to Paige, who had just gone back up into her elbow stand. ‘Your hips are too far over your shoulders, Paigey. Try not to arch your back so much and you won’t wobble.’

  ‘It was an ordinary house,’ I said. ‘A rich house, very old, and they’d turned the front of it into offices. And we talked about, like, the kind of jobs I’d get submitted for and all that.’ I didn’t want to sound like I was bragging. It had been very exciting, of course, but I didn’t want to rub it in Ellie’s face.

  Ellie sighed and slowly came back down to her knees. ‘Well, that’s nice,’ she said. Riley gave her a knowing look. ‘It is!’ Ellie protested. ‘And I want everyone to know that I’m not mad that Ashley got an audition and I didn’t.’ She pushed back the strands of curly blonde hair that had escaped from her ponytail.

  ‘You do deserve it, Ash,’ said Riley.

  ‘Nobody hip hops like you,’ Ellie said. She cl
apped excitedly at Paige. ‘That’s it, Paige! See, when you don’t bend so far you have more control in your arms!’

  ‘Eek!’ squealed Paige. ‘How do I get out of it?’

  Ellie laughed and supported Paige’s back and legs as she came out of the elbow stand. ‘I really wanted to leave you there,’ she teased.

  ‘Gosh,’ said Paige, her cheeks rosier than usual. ‘All the blood went to my head. I felt like I was going to faint.’

  ‘I thought you only felt like that when Benji walked into the room,’ said Riley, still casually braiding her hair.

  ‘Be quiet!’ Paige said. ‘Stop making things up!’ But the shy smile that spread over her cute little doll-face told us all we needed to know.

  ‘Beeeenjiiiii,’ whispered Riley, darting a look at Paige. ‘Oh, that’s right, Benji’s got the same agent as Ash. Soon you might have a famous boyfriend!’

  ‘He’s not my boyfriend!’ Paige squeaked again.

  Riley laughed and reached out to give her a hug. ‘Can I be the bridesmaid at the wedding?’ she asked.

  ‘I’d like to be the flower girl,’ Ellie added.

  ‘I’d like to be the groom,’ I joked. ‘But I guess that role’s already taken.’

  Paige just shook her head.

  ‘Thank you, Ellie,’ I said, to give poor Paige a break. ‘You’re the one who told me about the agent, so I didn’t want you to think that I’d stolen the idea or anything.’

  ‘That’s fine,’ said Ellie, standing up and extending into a leg mount. ‘Besides, she was the wrong agent for me. I need one that focuses on musical theatre alone. A true theatrical manager, not just some commercial agent who submits you for anything. I want to be known as a Broadway star, not the face of some random bubble bath.’ She gave me a grin. ‘No offence, Ash. And that doesn’t mean, of course, that I won’t be mad if you don’t sneak me onto the set when you get a job.’

  ‘I’ve got the back door codes already,’ I said.

  Tove dropped down beside me then. I noticed Ellie give her a look like she was a cockroach that had just fallen from the sky.

  ‘Hey Ash,’ Tove said.

  ‘Hey,’ I replied.

  ‘Jasmine and I were talking to some girls from Dance Art at school today,’ she said. ‘They told us you got accepted into Dream Big. That’s awesome!’

  ‘Thanks, Tove,’ I said. ‘You can’t keep a secret for long when Dance Art’s around!’

  ‘Well –’ Tove cleared her throat ‘– I just wanted to give you a heads up ’cause they don’t seem too happy about it. They were saying things like you’d better watch out at auditions and stuff, and they’ve been with the agent longer than you so you better think twice if you reckon you can just worm your way in.’ She shrugged. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Oh, that’s not your fault,’ I said, giving her a smile.

  But a small, sinking feeling began to nudge the very outside of my stomach.

  Even at a different school, I would never escape Dance Art.

  Chapter Six

  ‘Ashley, do you want some bread with your peanut butter?’ Riley looked at the thick layer of peanut buttery goodness I was spreading on my sandwich and screwed up her nose.

  ‘You be quiet, Riley,’ I said cheerfully. ‘I’ve got the peanut butter to butter to bread ratio all figured out.’

  Riley sat down at my kitchen bench and picked up her own sandwich. ‘That isn’t right,’ she said.

  ‘Riley,’ I teased, ‘you wanted avocado and cheese. That’s what I made you. There’s no use having food envy now.’

  Paige giggled from where she was sitting and eating her own sandwich, which had raspberry jam on it. Ellie didn’t have a sandwich because she had heard (probably from Cadence) that the starch in bread clogged up your throat and she didn’t want to ruin her singing. Instead she was eating pineapple, from some can I’d found at the bottom of the pantry. I didn’t tell her it was probably a year past the use-by date.

  ‘So, Ash,’ Ellie said, spearing a chunk of pineapple and squinting at it with the look she usually saves for Jasmine, ‘have you heard from your agent yet? Any jobs?’

  ‘It’s only been a few days!’ Paige said, wiping jam from her cheek.

  Ellie shrugged. ‘I just hope those Dance Art girls aren’t at auditions too,’ she said. ‘Ugh, as if auditions aren’t bad enough, imagine having to see them all the time.’

  ‘Yeah, I can’t get rid of them,’ I said, the tone of my voice hiding how worried I really was. ‘Anyway, I’m sure I’ll hear from Brittany soon. It’s not like –’

  At that moment the phone rang.

  We all froze and looked at each other. Riley had avocado smushed on her lip.

  ‘Ash,’ hollered Bridget from somewhere down the hall. ‘Can you get that?’

  ‘Get it yourself!’ I called back.

  ‘No, you get it, Ash,’ Ellie said, her big green eyes dancing. ‘It might be your agent!’

  ‘I doubt it,’ I said, taking a bite of my sandwich.

  ‘Ashley, get the phone!’ Bridget screamed again.

  ‘Why can’t you get it?’

  ‘I’m busy!’

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘Cleaning the bathroom,’ Bridget yelled.

  Well, that was a lie. Bridget would rather get dumped by Brimax than clean the bathroom.

  I sighed and got up, wiping crumbs from my mouth. Then I went out into the hall and picked up the phone.

  ‘Hello, Ashley speaking,’ I said, my voice all thick and cloggy from the peanut butter.

  ‘Hello Ash!’ said the bright voice of Brittany Clover on the other end. ‘How you doing?’

  I coughed and tried to swallow the doughy lumps in my throat. ‘Oh hey,’ I said. ‘Not too bad, thanks.’

  ‘Who is it?’ asked Ellie, standing up and leaning towards me.

  ‘Shhhhh, Ellie, let her talk,’ Paige said, tugging on Ellie’s arm.

  ‘It’s my agent,’ I mouthed to them, trying to listen to what Brittany was saying.

  ‘What?’ said Ellie.

  ‘My agent,’ I mumbled. Ellie leapt up onto her seat, sending the pineapple tin flying.

  ‘It’s her agent! She’s got an audition!’ Ellie yelled.

  ‘Shush,’ Paige said.

  ‘You want your pineapple back?’ Riley said, wiping a glob from her forehead.

  ‘Guys!’ I hissed, waving at them to be quiet so I could hear Brittany.

  ‘… very impressed,’ she continued, ‘And the really good news is they’re familiar with you from the Danceworks ads, so they’re extra excited for you to audition.’

  ‘Oh great,’ I said, switching the phone to my other ear in case that made it easier to hear over Ellie’s squeals. ‘I guess you can’t really escape me with my face all over their store window. Reports say it has turned some young girls off dancing for life.’

  Brittany laughed, but not in the fake way like Jasmine does when Ellie gives her a compliment that’s actually an insult. Brittany laughed as though she really enjoyed it. That was one of the things I liked best about her.

  ‘So the audition is for a music video?’ I asked, trying to backtrack.

  ‘Yep,’ Brittany said. ‘We have the concept here. It looks amazing. Do you have access to an email? I’ll send it through for you.’

  ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Sorry, who was it for again?’

  ‘Fine China,’ said Brittany.

  I couldn’t speak.

  ‘Do you know him?’ asked Brittany. ‘He’s an Aussie R ‘n’ B and hip hop star who’s had some success overseas.’

  My mouth still wouldn’t work.

  ‘Ashley?’ said Brittany.

  ‘I know him,’ I finally managed.

  ‘Who? Who?’ Ellie said, bouncing up and down in her seat.

  I sure did know him. He was only one of my favourite hip hop artists ever! And he could dance like no one else. His video clips had been running up the internet data Bridget was so worried about.

  My a
gent had got me an audition to be in the music video of Fine China, a real life hip hop superstar.

  Suddenly all the nerves I’d ever felt hit me in a rush.

  It was a dream come true.

  Chapter Seven

  ‘Oh my gosh, Benji! I’m so glad you’re here! I was wondering if you got an audition, too.’ I flung myself onto the shabby couch next to him and pushed a rubber fern out of my face.

  ‘Sure did,’ Benji said, shifting over to make room for me. ‘Hey Ash. Good to see ya.’ He wiped his hands along the thighs of his favourite hip hop pants.

  ‘Nervous?’ I asked.

  ‘Nah,’ he said, pushing his cap sideways. But we both knew better.

  We were at the audition for Fine China’s music video. It was in this big studio warehouse in the industrial part of Bayside. I had butterflies. I’d only started dancing hip hop about six months ago. What if I totally choked in front of Fine China? He was my hero.

  ‘You think Fine China’s gonna be dancing with us?’ I asked, reaching up to turn Benji’s cap around.

  He ducked out of it and swept his hair back in a way that I knew made Paige’s heart go all fluttery. He was a cute kid, I guess. But to me he was just big old Benji, like an annoying but lovable brother.

  ‘Leave off, Ash,’ he said. ‘Dunno. Maybe. That’d be cool.’

  ‘Could be distracting,’ I said.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Benji. He wiped his hands again and looked about him. Kids were walking past us or sitting down on other couches, waiting to go into the audition. I could see Benji sussing out if they were competition.

  Suddenly he jumped up and went over to the water cooler.

  ‘You want a drink, Ash?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, thanks,’ I said.

  He got two cups from the upside down pile, dropped one, kicked it behind the cooler, got another, and then shakily filled them with both hands. He was just turning round to bring a cup back to me when some hideous monster attacked him from the side.

  ‘Hi there, Benji,’ cooed Indianna, ready with her pouty lips and big bambi eyes.