Page 26 of A Secret Cornish Wish
‘Yeah, but who is she?’ Mandy asks. ‘I haven’t seen her at school before.’
‘Starting next term apparently,’ Claire replies.
Although I can hear all this going on behind me, I’m not really focused on what they’re saying, I’m more concerned with what’s going on both in front of me on the stage, and also right next to me.
Marnie only sang for a few bars when I felt Rob’s hand loosen its grip on mine. Now she’s well into the chorus, his hand has dropped mine completely while he stares at the vision of effortless elegance on the stage in front of him.
I stand completely still next to him, trying not to feel hurt by his actions, while at the same time trying desperately not to hate the girl singing so beautifully on the stage.
Marnie sure can hold a note, I have to give her that. If Whitney Houston was standing on the stage right now, I don’t think her voice would fill the school hall any better than Marnie’s. But why does Marnie have to be so pretty as well? A fact that has clearly not missed Rob’s attention either. It’s just not fair.
I glance at Rob. His eyes are wide and a little glazed as he watches Marnie, who, now there’s a bridge in the music, is not singing, but tap-dancing instead, and her dancing appears to be just as good as her singing.
I look out into the section of the audience I can see from the wings. Rob is not the only one gazing in awe at Marnie, the audience too seem enchanted by this vision in front of them.
I turn to the Octopi Orchestra and Jenny Meadows meets my gaze. She smiles triumphantly back at me – and suddenly I realise how professional they all look in their crisp white matching outfits, and how silly we probably look with our cobbled-together costumes.
I want to turn around and run. Off this stage, out of this school, to anywhere that isn’t here – standing next to the boy who has only just noticed me, and yet who now apparently only has eyes for someone else.
The performance ends with Marnie giving one more rendition of the chorus. The audience immediately begin to applaud enthusiastically, a few people rise to their feet and there are cheers and whistles. Rob is clapping with them – a bit too keenly for my liking.
Marnie waits for the rest of the orchestra to join her at the front of the stage and then they all take a carefully rehearsed bow together. Then Marnie gives a little wave to acknowledge her admirers, before they all leave the stage together, exiting into the wings opposite.
Mr Stevens pulls the curtains from a rope at the side, and pupils wearing black clothes rush onto the stage and quickly change the Octopi Orchestra’s set for ours. Then before I know what’s happening, my friends are pushing out onto the stage, and I am carried along with them.
‘Places!’ Eddie hisses as I stand dumbstruck on the side of the stage. ‘Frankie! What are you doing? Get on your rock!’
I jump at his voice and see Claire and Mandy already waiting for me in their positions on our papier-mâché rock. I hurriedly dash over and perch myself next to them on top of the grey paint.
Then I look out front, and to my far right I see Rob getting his guitar ready at one end of the stage and, in the middle, Eddie waiting behind his microphone stand.
‘Are you all right, Frankie?’ Claire whispers as the stage lights go down and everything goes very quiet. ‘You seem a bit out of it. Have you got stage fright?’
‘No, I’m fine,’ I whisper just as the curtains are pulled back again and the bright stage lights come on above and in front of us.
The familiar music begins to play, and we launch into our performance.
I feel like I’m in a dream as I perform our carefully practised routine. I can see Eddie loving every minute of being our front man, and Rob to his side enjoying his role as lead guitarist.
Then I realise that the audience, many of whom are parents, know our song well; they begin clapping along and tapping their feet to the music, which only encourages our front man to become even more animated.
While Claire and Mandy perform with smiles on their faces, I feel like I’m on automatic pilot as I sway to the music alongside them. And as we come to the end of the song, and Eddie does a big flourish with his mic stand, it feels to me like we’ve only just begun.
The audience applaud and Eddie encourages us to all take a bow just like the act before us did.
As we line up, I spot Marnie at the side of the stage clapping along with everyone else, but she’s smiling at Rob as she does, and Rob, I’m gutted to see, is smiling back at her.
Leaving the stage, everyone around me is in high spirits, so I excuse myself by saying I just need to pop to the toilet.
After a few moments of trying to collect myself, I emerge from the cubicle, wash my hands and look at my reflection in the mirror, and for the first time ever I see everything that Marnie is and I’m not.
Marnie is pretty. I’m not.
Marnie is elegant. I’m definitely not that.
Marnie is curvy and womanly. I just look like a boy.
Why would Rob ever choose me over Marnie?
