Play the Game (21 page)

‘You’re right. I shouldn’t have come to you for advice. I did want to play Juliet,
but I’m not sure I do anymore. Obviously you don’t understand my reasons. I’ll see
you at school.’ I walked out of Tess’s bedroom, holding back my tears.

As I rode home, I thought about what I’d said to Tess. It was true, I didn’t
want
to play Juliet anymore. I felt excited about being the Nurse. I knew Kerry wouldn’t
understand – Freddy probably wouldn’t either – but I had to do what felt right.

At least Jean was excited to see me as I walked in the house. She had a jar of cream
in her hand, and she was grinning madly.

‘Just in time,’ she said. ‘Sit down. We’re going to age you.’

‘Can we do it tomorrow? I’m really tired.’

‘You won’t have to do a thing,’ she said, pushing me into a chair. I shrugged. If
it meant I didn’t have to think about Tess or Juliet for half an hour, then maybe
it was a good thing. Besides, I was sort of intrigued.

‘No moving,’ she said.

I sat perfectly still and let Jean work her magic. It was actually quite relaxing,
sitting in silence while she worked. I checked my phone three times, but there were
no texts from Tess.

As Jean finished, I heard Dad walk down the corridor. Before he could walk into the
room, Jean yelled,‘One second, Dad.’

‘Righto,’ he called back. I loved that he just let us boss him around without barging
in to see what we were doing.

Jean stood back and admired her work. ‘Okay, you can come in.’

‘Presenting … an ugly old crone!’ announced Jean as Dad entered the room.

Dad looked at me and pulled a face. ‘Ergh! What’s happened to you?’

I laughed. ‘It’s called getting into character.’

‘Right, well, I think you’ve nailed it, Jean!’ Dad sounded impressed.

Intrigued, I ran upstairs to see just how bad I looked. As soon as I saw my reflection
I started laughing. I was
so
wrinkly! Jean had done an amazing job. I hoped that
Kerry would let me wear this make-up for the part.

‘What do you think?’ Jean appeared behind me.

‘You’re incredible. It looks so real!’

She shrugged. ‘You were kind of wrinkly to begin with, so it wasn’t that hard.’

I poked my tongue out at her in the mirror. The effect was kind of weird.

‘So, Belle’s had to pull out of the play, and Kerry offered me her part,’ I said
quietly.

Jean eyed me seriously. ‘Are you taking it?’

‘Would you think I was crazy if I said no?’

‘No. I told you, the Nurse is a great part. And besides, I spent a fortune on that
cream!’

I smiled at her. It was nice being able to talk to my sister about this stuff.

‘To be honest, I’ve been getting stage fright during rehearsals. I don’t think I’m
ready for Juliet,’ I admitted, hoping she wouldn’t think I was stupid.

‘I dropped out of drama class because of stage fright,’ she said quietly. ‘It came
on all of a sudden, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.’

‘It’s horrid, isn’t it? I haven’t had it really bad, just frozen lines. But I hate
it,’ I said, feeling strangely pleased that Jean understood. ‘Maybe you could come
back to class sometime? It might be fun.’ I quite liked the idea of hanging out with
my sister a bit more.

‘Yeah, maybe,’ she said.

Then I had an idea. ‘Hey, can you take a photo on my phone?’

She got me to pose, then I scrolled through my contacts until I found the name I
wanted, and hit send.

‘You texting Tess?’

‘Not exactly,’I said. Within seconds, my phone beeped.

Awesome! Does this mean you’re playing the Nurse?

I texted back.

Yep!

The reply came through within seconds:

I’m glad. I like you as the Nurse.

Jean plucked the phone from my hand. ‘Who’s Jackson?’

It was lucky Jean’s make-up
was so thick. I’m pretty sure I was tomato red under all those wrinkles!

All our hard work came down to one night. Opening night. It was so weird having to
sit through classes just like any other day. I sat with Mel in English and she admitted
she was terrified that the bottle of poison would disappear from the props area.
I confessed that I was still suffering from stage fright. We were also both beside
ourselves with excitement.

Tess still wasn’t talking to me. I had no idea if she would come to the play, but
I’d snuck a ticket into her locker that morning. I’d waited behind the bank of lockers
and watched as she opened her locker. I couldn’t see her face as she pulled out the
ticket, so I had no idea how she’d reacted, but I had my fingers crossed that she’d
come.

As I struggled through maths, trying not to look at the clock, I heard another boy
from the play giggling and reciting his lines. Mr Murphy looked up from his desk.
‘If you’re in the play, just go across to the theatre. You’re not getting any work
done and you’re interrupting my class,’ he said, sounding frustrated.

Mel and I dashed straight across to the theatre, where the rest of the cast was starting
to gather. Everyone was chattering loudly. Kerry stopped us in the doorway.

‘I want four laps of the oval before you come in,’ she said, sounding like some crazed
sports teacher. ‘You need to calm down!’

We groaned, but it actually worked – I felt much better by the time I jogged into
the theatre. I wasn’t exactly calm, but at least I wasn’t bursting.

‘Hey Edie, want to run lines for a bit?’ asked Jackson, looking even more nervous
than I was.

‘Sure, but we still have a few hours before we open. How are you with a butter knife?’
I asked.

He shrugged, looking confused. ‘All right. Why?’

I led him into the kitchen, where the students looking after the café were frantically
making sandwiches and cakes.

‘Here, you butter,’ I said to Jackson. He looked relieved to have something to do.

‘Thanks, Edie. I’m so nervous, I can barely think straight.’

‘I can tell,’ I grinned, pointing at the knife. He was holding it the wrong way up.

We must have made about fifty sandwiches. I think it helped. By the time we finished
in the kitchen, Jackson was looking a lot calmer, and I was too.

The girls’ dressing room was in chaos. There was stuff everywhere. I finally found
my costume, but I still had to do my make-up. Jean had offered to come down and do
it for me, but I thought I’d be okay.

I sat down in front of the bank of mirrors. As I reached for the wrinkle cream, my
hand started shaking. I couldn’t apply it smoothly enough. I was about to call Jean
when I heard someone say,‘Here, let me do it.’

It was Zoe, the girl who’d replaced Belle. She took the cream from my hand, smiling. ‘It’s
really hard doing your own make-up.’

I closed my eyes and let her spread the cream across my face, grateful for the chance
to take a breath. As she finished, I opened my eyes.

‘Happy?’ she asked.

‘It’s great – thanks heaps, Zoe!’

The next hour rocketed by and Kerry was soon yelling for us to be quiet. The doors
had opened, and the audience was making their way to their seats.

I found Mel and wished her luck. Jackson gave me a hurried hug before we took our
places. This was it.

My heart was flying as I waited in the wings. The closer it came to my entrance,
the more I wanted to run. I had no idea if I’d even be able to get my lines out. They were all jumbling around
in my head.

Rose, who was playing Lady Capulet, was standing next to me. She nudged me and I
nodded. It was time.

We walked on and took our positions. I heard Rose deliver her line. I was next. I
looked out at the audience – three hundred shadowy faces stared back. I blinked into
the stage lights, gathered up all my nerves, and spoke.

‘Now, by my maidenhead, at twelve year old, I bade her come.’

My voice was too quiet. I could hear Kerry in my head, telling me to project. I looked
up, forced my shoulders back and continued.

‘What, lamb! What, ladybird! God-forbid!

Where’s this girl? What, Juliet!’

As I finished my speech and Zoe came on as Juliet, I felt all my nerves vanish.