Danny's brow furrowed slightly.
“No?” he asked.
“No. It was Angel's.”
He smiled that sweet, slow smile again.
“Ruby, did you mean what you said before? On the phone? About liking me?”
I swallowed and bit my lip. “Well, yeah, but it's OK because I'm used to liking people who don't like me ⦔
“But I
do
like you. I really do,” Danny said slowly, as if the words were hard to get out. “I've liked you since the school play. I always thought you were cool, and different from the other girls. And, well, one of the reasons I went for this part is because I thought we might get to know each other a bit better. But then it all kept going wrong and it was obvious you fancied Justin. And then when we had lunch the other day I sort of thought maybe then â¦but, well â¦I do like you, Ruby. That's what I'm trying to say.”
I stared at him for a long moment before I realized that probably wasn't my most attractive look.
“Say something!” he said, laughing nervously.
“I â¦it's just that I've never had anyone like me back before. It's a bit of a shock.” I made an effort to bring my eyebrows back down to the middle of my forehead.
“Ruby! Liz is waiting for you!” one of the runners hollered to me after clattering through the fire door.
“Well, I do like you. A lot,” Danny said. “I think you're amazing, Ruby. And, well, I thoughtâI was wondering if you might, you know â¦be my girlfriend? That is, if you meant what you said.”
I looked over my shoulder at the door I should have been going through right at that moment. I had never once been late to the set in all the years that I'd worked on the showâeven when I'd been so into Barbies that I'd had six of them in my dressing room.
I looked back at Danny. “I'd really like that,” I said.
And then I think time stood still.
I couldn't hear anything and the world around us seemed to melt away. Taking my hand in his, Danny leaned in and kissed me. My heart leaped and my stomach swirled with butterflies. And it was
perfect
. My first kiss was perfect.
“Ruby?” It was Liz's voice that broke the spell.
“Ruby â¦oh!” She disappeared inside quickly. Danny and I broke apart.
“I have to go,” I said, grinning like a maniac.
“OK,” he said. “I'll wait, shall I, until you're finished.”
I almost couldn't believe this was happening to meâthat this was really happening to
me
and it wasn't just a scene that someone else had scripted.
“Yes, please,” I said happily. “Wait for me.” And then I ran into the studio, pausing at the door to look over my shoulder. And it was then that I saw the one thing I never thought I'd
ever
see Danny Harvey do.
He was tap-dancing up the auction house steps.
A
s we all filed into the hall for the first assembly of the new school year, I looked over my shoulder and caught Danny's eye. He winked at me and smiled and my tummy did a little jump. Danny Harvey was a great boyfriendâa funny, kind, and sweet boyfriend who I could actually talk to. Even Nydia thought so after we all went bowling together: her, me, Anne-Marie, and Michael Henderson. (She never did chuck him.) The rest of the summer break went so quickly after that first kiss with Dannyâtoo quickly.
When we got back to school, I thought there'd be dramas about me and Danny, and about Anne-Marie suddenly becoming friends with Nydia and me. But there hasn't been. After Nydia and I spent hours and hours practicing our catty comebacks and writing them down in a notebook so we wouldn't forget them like we always used to (Nydia's idea), we didn't need any of them at all. It wasn't as if Jade and Menakshi and the gang suddenly wanted to hang out with us and paint our nails, but they didn't make nasty comments about us every time we saw them or write stuff about us in their notebooks. All those months of feeling isolated and peculiar just vanished as if they'd never happened in the first place. And it seemed to me that everyone was rather glad about thatâalmost relieved. I mean, it takes up a lot of energy being so nasty. It might have been because they saw the light and realized what great girls Nydia and I are. It might have been because Anne-Marie flits between their group and ours, gradually drawing us all closer together.
Or it could be because I left the show at the end of the season and I will never go back (although Liz says she will always keep a door open for me anyway), so I haven't been going on about my job all the time.
Dad was fine with my decision. He was the first person I told (after Nydia and then Dannyâoh, and Anne-Marie) because I knew how Mum would react and I wanted to talk it over with him first. When I went round to his flat, I felt a bit guilty, like I was going behind her back. But then I realized that if he had still been living at home, I would have talked to him first anyway. He was still my dad. I was still allowed to confide in him.
He'd handed me a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice and listened to me as I explained why I wanted to leave.
“It's just that I think I need a change, Dadâa challenge. I think I need to go through what everyone else at school is doingâgoing up for auditions, even if I don't get them, experiencing different things, and learning more. I've been on the show so long, I'm almost stuck there.”
Dad furrowed his brow.
“Well, I agree with you, Ruby. But are you sure this is your idea and not this
Danny's
?” He said Danny's name cautiously, and I smiled to myself. I knew Mum would be fine about Danny and terrible about me leaving
Kensington Heights
, and I knew that Dad would be exactly the opposite.
“Yes, it's my idea,” I told him firmly. “It's what
I
want.”
Dad nodded. “You know, some people leave soaps and are never heard of again by the public. That could be youâyou understand that?”
I nodded. “Yes, Dad. But it's better to take the chance, don't you think? It was more or less luck that got me the job on the show, and I was too young to even know it. I want it to be
talent
that gets me my next job.”
He smiled at me. “I'm happy for you, Ruby, I really am. You make me very proud.” He gave me a little hug and then coughed and looked a bit embarrassed.
“Now, about this Danny ⦔
“Oh, Dad.” I rolled my eyes. “I'm thirteen, not completely mental, OK? I'm not going to jump into bed with him, I'm not going to elope with him, I'm not going to smoke or do drugs or rob a bank with him, OK? He's just a really nice boy and I like him. We have fun.”
My dad looked like he was about to say something and then he closed his mouth.
“OK,” he said reluctantly. “Bring him round sometime.”
“I will,” I said.
Mum tried to talk me out of it.
“But, Ruby, you are the luckiest girl in the world!
Do you know how lucky you are? Millions of girls would
kill
to do what you're doing; all the girls in your school would.”
I thought of Anne-Marie secretly hating me for being so smug about
Kensington Heights
.
“How many times do you think you've asked me that, Mum? I think I know how lucky I am,” I said. “But â¦I need a change.” Then I told her all the things I told Dad, but she didn't seem to see.
“But you're secure there,” she insisted. “You don't have to worry about getting rejected, and Liz said she'd do anything to keep you on.”
I shrugged again and looked at Everest. He winked at me (or possibly at my sandwich). “I know, but ⦔ A thought crossed my mind. “Do we need the money?” I asked her. “For us, and the school fees, I mean?”
Mum shook her head quickly and sat down at the table. “No, no, love. It's not that. There's enough for you to stay there until you've done your exams. It's not the money. It's
you
I'm worried about. You have what most actors dream ofâsteady work. Out there in the big world there's rejection after rejection. It's tough, Ruby, and it hurts. Do you really want that? And why now?”
I looked into her eyes.
“I don't know.” I thought for a moment. “No, I
do
know. I used to want things to always be the same, and I couldn't wait to be grown up and be in control of my own life. But now everything's changed and I realize it's going to be OK. Maybe even better. I know you and Dad aren't together and it's hard and sad and different, but I also know that we're going to be fine. I want to make some of my own changes. This is what I want. And besides ⦔ I left the bit I knew she'd like the best till last. “I want to put school first for a while anyway.” I smiled at her. “And if I do get knocked back, I'll just keep on going. That's the thing about dreams, isn't it, Mum? You have to follow them, right?”
Mum smiled and picked up my hand.
“Ruby Parker,” she said, “you are an amazing girl.”
And that was it,
I thought as I settled down to listen to Sylvia Lighthouse lecture us for the millionth time on dedication and determination. All the ups and downs, all the roller-coaster rides of the last few weeks were gradually flattening out. Things were going to be nice and quiet and just normal for the foreseeable future. Ruby Parker hits the small time.
“Students.” The buzzing in the hall died as Sylvia Lighthouse began to speak. “I have an announcement to make. Usually I would do this sort of thing in private, but on this occasion I think it merits an announcement.”
Sylvia Lighthouse looked around the hall with her gimlet eyes. I wondered if she was going to expel some one. You could never tell until the last minute if she was pleased or cross with you.
“Yesterday I spoke with a Mr. Art Dubrovnik ⦔ A murmur swept around the hall. I turned to Nydia, my eyes wide. “As you may know, Mr. Dubrovnik is one of Hollywood's leading directors, with two Academy Awards under his belt.” Nydia and I exchanged impressed looks. “Later on this year he will commence directing his latest film to be set in London. It will star Imogen Grant.”
Nydia's eyes widened. “Imogen Grant! A real, proper movie star!” she whispered along with everyone else in the hall.
“Quiet, please!” Sylvia Lighthouse's tone stopped the murmur dead.
“Mr. Dubrovnik wishes to cast a young girl between the ages of twelve and fourteen to play alongside Ms. Grant in the film. I'm afraid I don't know very much about the part yet, but all will be revealed, I'm sure. Now, there will not be open auditions as there is limited time, so Mr. Dubrovnik has asked me to pick six girls from this school to screen-test for him. There will also be twelve more girls from other â¦sources.” Sylvia Lighthouse wrinkled her nose with distaste at the thought of other stage schools. “It was a hard choiceâyou are all very talentedâso please don't be disappointed if you're not on the list.” She coughed and all the girls in the school between twelve and fourteen sat on the edge of their seats.
“Scarlett James.”
One of the girls in the year below us screamed.
“Silence, please!” Sylvia Lighthouse bellowed. “Any further commotion and
none
of you will be going. Do you understand?”
The whole school held its breath.
“Now, the remaining five: Anne-Marie Chance, Nydia Assimin, Selena Rivers, Olivia Green, and Ruby Parker.”
Silence echoed throughout the hall.
“Will those six girls please come and see me in my study at break?” Sylvia looked at all of us. “You may applaud.”
Anne-Marie and Nydia and I flung our arms around each other and screamed.
“Me! She picked me!” Nydia said. “I've been picked!
Something has happened to me!”
“It's amazing. All three of us!” I said, laughing. “It's a miracle!”
“I knowâand not because of my dad, either!” Anne-Marie laughed.
“We'll be up against each other, though,” I said as we walked out of the hall with our arms around each other. “Only one person will get it. It might not even be one of us.”
Nydia linked her arm though mine and then Anne-Marie's. “I know,” she said. “But we get to try, don't we? We get to try!”
“And whoever gets it, we'll all be happy, right?”
Anne-Marie asked. Nydia and I nodded. “Even if it's none of us.”
The bell rang for first period and Danny ran up behind us and took my hand, drawing me a couple of paces back from the others.
“So, next stop Hollywood, hey, Rube?” he said with a grin.
“Who knows?” I said, smiling at him. “And to think I was going to have a quiet life.”
Rowan Coleman
, a self-proclaimed soap-opera addict, desperately wanted to attend stage school while growing up and to become an actress. Although she decided to pursue a glamorous career in writing instead, she did have the chance to visit the set of a soap opera when researching this book. While she has written five novels for adults, this is her first novel for teens. Rowan Coleman lives in Hertfordshire, England, with her husband, Erol, and their daughter, Lily.
You can visit her online at www.rubyparker.co.uk
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Ruby Parker Hits the Small Time
Copyright © 2005 by Rowan Coleman
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