Rowan Coleman - Ruby Parker - Film Star

“The fickle finger of fame moved on,” Danny said, doing a passable impersonation of Sylvia Lighthouse delivering the catchphrase that seemed to be closest to her heart.

Anne-Marie and I looked at each other.

“But if it’s bad news for both of us, it will definitely be in her office,” I said.

“What if it’s only good news for one of you?” Nydia, who had been quiet until that moment, asked me. “What then?”

“She’ll call us into her office and tell us together,” Anne-Marie said before I could answer. “And there won’t be any hard feelings, will there, Ruby? I’ll be as happy if Ruby gets the part as if I do.”

There were a few muttered “Yeah, rights”, groans and giggles at that.

“I will!” Anne-Marie protested.

“Well it might be neither of us,” I said simply. “Those other girls they saw this afternoon might be exactly what they were looking for.”

I thought about what it would mean to get the part of Polly Harris in The Lost Treasure of King Arthur and my insides did a series of complicated Olympic-gold-medal-winning gymnastics. I took a breath and steadied my voice.

“And anyway, if one of us does get it, it means really big changes. Going away from school and home for ages. Getting an on-set tutor! It will all be really different. Maybe it would be better not to get it,” I said, feeling suddenly anxious.

Nydia looked at me sharply.

“You don’t mean that,” she said darkly. I half-smiled.

“I don’t suppose I do,” I said, “but it is a scary thought!” Normally Nydia would have caught my half-smile and stretched it into a full-sized one as she returned it to me. But this time she didn’t smile back at me.

As everyone else filed back to class, I had fallen into step with Nydia, letting Anne-Marie and the others walk ahead.

“Nydia,” I said. “You’re cross with me.”

“I’m not.” Nydia was terrible at lying.

“You so are,” I said reproachfully. “You didn’t call me to wish me good luck like you did Anne-Marie.”

Nydia rolled her eyes.

“Because I know that you don’t need any luck,” she said sharply.

I stopped walking.

“What do you mean I don’t need any luck?” I asked her. Nydia stopped too and turned round to look at me.

“Well,” she said, “you got called back. You got called back when you did the worst audition in the history of the world! Why? Because you are Ruby Parker. I don’t think you even had to audition really; I think they would have given you the part whatever. This whole thing was probably just one big publicity stunt for the film.”

I stared at her and thought about what Art Dubrovnik had said to me that morning, and my heart sank. You’ve got history, Ruby, you’ve worked in TV. But then I remembered what else he had said.

“I got called back because Imogene Grant liked my audition,” I said. “She said I had something about me that might be right for the part. That’s why I got called back. Because what the star says goes.” Nydia raised an eyebrow.

“So not because you were any good then?” she asked me, turning on her heel and walking off down the corridor.

“Nydia!” I called after her. “I can’t believe you are being like this!”

“I was better than you,” she said as I caught up with her. “I was better than you, but I didn’t get called back because I’m big and ugly and nobody in the world would believe that a big fat girl was Imogene Grant’s sister!”

“Nydia, I…” I didn’t know what to say. I remembered how I felt when I looked at Anne-Marie, so tall and pretty and blonde, sparkling like a diamond when she came out of the audition. I felt like the ugly duckling then, and I suppose Nydia must have felt the same since the moment she didn’t get called back.

“Nydia,” I said, “maybe you’re right. Maybe it isn’t fair. You probably were better than me. And it probably does have something to do with Kensington Heights. But—what could I have done about that? Not gone to the audition? Said, ‘No thanks very much, I’ll pass’?”

Nydia shook her head and looked at her feet, sighing heavily.

“I’ve got an audition,” she said in a quiet voice. “Ms Lighthouse put me forward for it. It’s for three episodes of Holby City. It’s a proper part, with lines and everything. A lot of lines actually.”

“Nydia! Your first ever speaking part. I bet you’re excited!” I hugged her impulsively, but she didn’t hug me back. “That’s wonderful,” I said, a little less enthusiastically.

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