The Show Must Go On (Bryant Rockwell Book 2) Read online

  The Show Must Go On

  Bryant Rockwell #2

  Jacky Gray

  Bryant Rockwell Series - A pitch-perfect blend of drama and romance for fans of “10 Things I Hate About You” and “Glee.”

  “Snappy, well-pitched and edgy. An enjoyable read which will appeal to anyone who has a sense of humour and an ear for the ironic.” – BV

  “A clean read & cleverly written; the characters are brought to life with intelligence & humour. An entertaining story for all ages.” – PG

  "The characters were treasures, and I loved their bantering relationships. This was an awful lot like being a teenager again!” – KT

  To Ace – for having your finger firmly on the pulse

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters and events other than those clearly in the public domain are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 Jacky Gray

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

  Front coverCopyright © 2017 Icy Sedgwick

  http://www.icysedgwick.com

  First published in 2017

  Found out more at:

  https://twitter.com/jacky_gray

  http://hengistpeoplehorse.blogspot.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/HengistPeopleOfTheHorse

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  Contents

  1 You’re Never Fully Dressed

  2 Open Evening

  3 Why Was She Such a Blimp?

  4 Meet the Cast

  5 I Ain’t No Hero

  6 What More Could a Girl Ask For?

  7 We Could Have Been Anything

  8 Are You Saying I’m a Hunk?

  9 Is She Really Going Out With Him?

  10 Luke’s Surprising Plan

  11 No Stool Pigeon

  12 Luke’s Personal Hell

  13 Nothing But a Thug

  14 Worst Kind of Hero

  15 Why Was Life So Complicated?

  16 Devious Dealings

  17 Guilty Feet Ain’t Got No Rhythm

  18 Never Underestimate the Enemy

  19 Foxes, Cats and Super Heroes

  20 But I’m a Pussycat

  21 The Stratford Trip

  22 If Music Be the Food of Love …

  23 After All These Years

  24 Wine and Roses

  25 Luke’s Got it Bad

  Glossary and Note about UK Schools

  Acknowledgements

  More in the Bryant Rockwell Series

  Also by Jacky Gray – Hengist: People of the Horse

  WorldWiseWriters

  1 You’re Never Fully Dressed

  The butterflies in Liv’s stomach had learnt a new dance routine. A full-on, high-kicking, chorus-line jobbie from a musical such as Moulin Rouge, or her new favourite, La-la Land. Which was kinda appropriate as she waited with her besties to audition for a part in the school production of Bugsy Malone. Liv’s left hand rested in Kat’s death-grip, so her right one crept up to find a twirlable strand of hair. Jude stilled it in a familiar gesture, leaving Liv no choice but to try some deep breathing to calm her restless energy.

  Since finding out about the auditions, the three of them had only two free evenings to put something together because of the many other pulls on their time. Like Jude’s almost daily ice-skating training and Kat’s absolute devotion to her directorial debut for the first GCSE Drama assignment. Nothing special filled Liv’s evenings, making her totally available. Oops. If only her brain wouldn’t persist in thinking in terms of double-entendres, and her foot-shaped mouth wouldn’t insist on broadcasting them to the world. But she was working on it. Amongst other things.

  Miss Maines, the show’s director, gave them the nod and they sprang into action, harmonising to convince the audience of the virtues of wearing a smile. An embarrassment of jazz hands accompanied Kat’s final, “With. Out. A. Smile.” The other two syncopated with their lines about not being fully dressed, popping in front of each other in a classic comedy battle for attention.

  “Lovely, girls. Thank you very much.” The drama teacher’s effusive praise helped a lot. “Very good, especially the choreography. Now, something on your own, please. Kat, you go first.”

  The others stood back as Kat sang the famous tune from Annie in her pure voice. “The sun’ll come out, tomorrow. Betcha bottom dollar …”

  Liv noticed almost every person in the room adopting an indulgent, squishy expression, as though her friend really had made the sun come out. Everyone knew about Kat’s musical superpower, except the girl herself.

  “Marvellous. Shame we’re not doing Annie, I can definitely see you with red hair and freckles. What about you two? Know anything from Bugsy?”

  Liv stepped forward. She’d sat through the DVD of Tallulah’s signature tune five times last night trying to learn the tricky rhythms and strange chord changes. Glancing down, the sight of her bulging belly nearly made her bolt off the stage. Who would ever want a blob playing the iconic role? Ignoring her inner critic, she covered her deficiencies by sashaying around the stage with seductive actions as she sang about leaving a little reputation behind.

  “Wonderful stuff. Now, Judith, is it?”

  Jude hesitated. Liv knew she struggled to remember the next verse and willed her to go to the chorus. Thankfully, her friend got the message.

  “If you’re lonely, you don’t have to be lonely …” After a slightly pitchy start, Jude cracked it, channelling Jodie Foster’s Tallulah from the original movie. She’d studied the part, and aced the sultry, North Carolina accent.

  “Great. Ok, that’s enough, you three. Next.” The drama teacher added their names to her list, tutting as the mic remained empty. “Come on, hurry up. Don’t be shy, we haven’t got all day.”

  Miss Maines’ expression was a study in mortification as she glanced up from her clipboard to find Drop-Dead-Gorgeous Ray wheeling his chair to the centre of the audition area, thus explaining the delay.

  Liv’s body heated up at the pure chocolate smile he flashed at the three of them. Almost enough to make her give up the edible variety. As if. She watched, enthralled, as he and Hunky-Athlete Luke did a comic double act from Twelfth Night, playing Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. They’d put in some effort; both word perfect and playing it for every last laugh.

  Even the frazzled drama teacher clapped at the end of it. “Brilliant. I don’t suppose either of you jokers sing?”

  They picked up the challenge in an instant, making a credible duet out of the opening song from West Side Story, tossing lines back and forth. Ray’s presence as the gang leader would command any stage, and Luke held his own as a credible wing-man. Their sparky presentation sold “The Jet Song” brilliantly to the audience of hopefuls, who listened with rapt enjoyment.

  As she devoured the performance, Liv’s mind played out a tender scene from the movie, with her as a vibrant Maria to Ray’s conflicted Tony.

  Miss Maines called a halt. “Ok, I’m convinced.” She added the names. “Who’s next? Terry. Give us a couple of lines, please.”

  Tearing her thoughts away from the romantic encounter, Liv caught Terry’s deer-in-headlights expression as he snuck up to the mic. Flicking an angry glare at some girls sniggering behind their hands, she sighed. Someone should tell him that slicked-back hair and a neat tie were the antithesis of cool.

  The minute he opened his mouth, howeve
r, Terry morphed into a fifties pin-up, delivering the classic “Something’s Coming.” He clicked his fingers, all anxiety lost as his infectious delivery engaged every person in the room.

  Captivated, Liv remembered how he showered her with attention on the gang’s recent skating trip. She led the enthusiastic applause at the end.

  “Thanks, Terry. Terrific. Next.” Miss Maines waved her clipboard.

  A mousey year-ten girl approached the front with a nervous cough.

  “Come on, Alison. We’ve got a lot to get through and there’s only today and tomorrow to cast all the lead parts.”

  The poor girl looked as though she wanted to burst into tears, but she started bravely with the opening of “I feel pretty.” Her voice cracked during the fourth line, and she froze; fear had obliviated the words.

  As Liv watched and sympathised, an amazing thing happened. Terry – Painfully-Shy, Wouldn’t-Say-Boo-to-a-Goose, Terry – appeared beside her, feeding her lines which restored her confidence. As they harmonised effortlessly, she added some tentative animation, bringing the song to life.

  Liv watched the drama teacher’s indecision, her pen hovering.

  Miss Maines huffed a sigh. “Right. Got there in the end. Any more from West Side Story? I’m beginning to think we chose the wrong musical.”

  Liv glanced round to find Ray smiling at her. He winked and she knew he was remembering when they’d duetted with that very same song on his first day at Bryant Rockwell, two weeks ago. Gosh, was it really only that long? She worked it out in her head. Yep, this time two weeks ago she’d never laid eyes on Ray Donelly; yet a part of her felt as though she’d known him forever. He’d certainly put a cat among their little group of pigeons, but so far, he treated them all equally, teasing and flirting with each in turn. With a winning smile, he’d declared he only wanted their company as friends.

  Ray had a lot in common with Liv: not only a warped sense of humour and a love of old musicals, but also an interest in the sciences and an apparent dislike of sports. She had a sneaking suspicion that, in his case, this developed purely because of his disability. Hers, however, arose because she was fat, unfit and totally uncoordinated. But not for much longer if her plan worked.

  “Wake up, Daisy Daydream. You’re missing the fun.”

  Where did Kat get her quaint little expressions from? “There’s only room for one DD around here.” Liv touched her nose, still tender from the hockey stick her arch-rival had smashed in her face a few days earlier.

  “Oh, right. Sorry. I wouldn’t dream of comparing you to Dirty Diana.” Kat gave a little shudder as she peered at the light bruising.

  “Hey, you don’t think she’ll be auditioning, do you?” Jude scanned the room with comic horror.

  “Maybe as the dreadful opera singer, screeching away.” Liv couldn’t resist the snark – it had way more control over her tongue than she did.

  “Now, now girls, put the claws away.” Luke’s reprimand was unexpected.

  “You’re not standing up for her again, are you?” Jude’s eyebrows were at least three centimetres higher than normal as she teased her geography partner. “You don’t have to take this being nice to her thing too seriously, you know. It’s only when she’s around.”

  “I know. But I think you should be more careful; you never know who’s listening.” He glared pointedly at Alison, who stood a little way off with Terry, both of them blushing as he received her tentative thanks. “You wouldn’t want to ruin Liv’s plan before it gets off the ground, would you?”

  “Surely you don’t think she’d have anything to do with Dirty Diana?” Jude hissed at him in a low tone. “She looks far too … what’s the word?”

  “Innocent. But she is Diana’s cousin; I think that speaks for itself.”

  “You don’t suppose she sent her to spy on us?” Jude took a pitch at the Drama Queen crown, prompting a bevy of rolled eyes.

  They watched as the next few hopefuls sang snatches of chart songs.

  Liv noticed Terry sitting with Alison and frowned, trying to decide how she felt about it. Two days ago he asked her to go to Stratford. She couldn’t be sure, but it could have been a date. Maybe she should be jealous, but her quiet voice of reason said he was only being nice, his default setting. She focussed on the last batch, all drama brats singing songs from musicals.

  At the end of the session, Miss Maines thanked everybody for their efforts and said the lists should be up on the notice board after tomorrow’s audition. “Please be vigilant, the first rehearsal is on Thursday lunchtime.”

  Liv crossed her fingers they’d all be there.

  2 Open Evening

  As if the show wasn’t enough, almost every lesson involved preparations for the up-and-coming open evening. Even the crusty biology teacher spent five minutes at the beginning of the lesson asking for volunteers to help set up the experiments and displays in the lab on the following Wednesday afternoon. She didn’t get a very good response initially because many of them had already promised to help in other subjects, so she asked everyone already helping to raise their hands and picked all three of the others.

  They must have been hoping to get away with it and were obviously annoyed at being picked in this way, but too afraid of her to argue. All except Tom Clarkson, who adopted an air of phoney innocence as he asked what would happen if they didn’t turn up because they were off sick or something.

  “I don’t imagine there would be the slightest possibility of that, Tom. Especially after you’ve warned me in advance. You can rest assured I’d be straight round to your house to make sure whatever bug you had specifically excluded you from a little gentle activity.”

  Several people in the class began to giggle as she added, “I’m sure your parents would be happy to release you into my care for the afternoon.”

  For once, the cocky lad seemed quashed by the second public put-down in the last few weeks. Maybe the teachers had organised some sort of vendetta to reduce his disruptive influence. Liv was idly thinking about what a good match he’d make for their arch-rival Diana when she caught him staring at her with a strange expression on his face.

  Oh, no. It was happening again. Either she was wearing her thoughts across her face in big capital letters, or she was simply getting paranoid because of her guilty nature. I think it’s the second one this time, Tranter. You were, ARE, staring at him!! The voice of her conscience spoke so loudly she almost jumped as she turned back to her book. How come no one else heard this Jiminy Cricket impersonator? She shook her head and tried to concentrate on the instructions about how much iodine solution to add to the test-tube.

  At the end of the day, they all met by the lockers. Jude was bursting to tell her news. “You’ll never guess who sat next to Luke in economics.”

  Liv indulged Jude’s love of mysteries. “You’re right, I’ll never guess.”

  “Do the initials DD ring any bells?”

  “How do you know?” Liv grinned. “You were sitting next to Ray in biology; or should I start rumours about you two?”

  “We had no choice.” Jude’s tone oozed indignation. “We did the preparation together last week, remember.”

  “I told Jude.” Luke answered Liv’s initial question. “Big mistake. You girls are dreadful for gossip. So what if Diana sat next to me? There were no free desks.” Under their scrutiny, the end of his sentence rose. He calmed it down with an attempt at nonchalance. “The sixth form needed the computers so we had to squeeze into the careers room; you know how small that is.”

  Kat winked at him. “Squeezed up next to you, eh? I bet you enjoyed that – NOT!!!” Jude and Liv joined in as she said “NOT.” It was one of their in-jokes, courtesy of Kat’s fascination with retro TV shows.

  Luke gave it up as a bad job and turned his back on the girls as he thanked Ray for his help with the rehearsals the night before.

  “No probs, mate. You’re a natural at comedy. Just avoid the soppy stuff.”

  “Tell me about it.”
Luke grinned, slipping into his New York hoodlum accent. “Except this lot want me to make nice with the Diana broad.”

  Ray joined him. “So you just dress up sweet and smart, buddy boy.”

  “And walk tall.” They acted out the lines all the way to the first verse of “The Jet Song,” reprising their audition piece.

  Jude shook her head. “How did you find time to watch the whole movie and do all the Shakespeare stuff?”

  “Just the first scene.” Ray grinned at Luke. “We had to rewind it loads to get the tune to the song.”

  “Even so, you did really well, both of you. Kudos.” Jude’s smile seemed to be aimed more at Luke than Ray.

  Ray grinned back. “Yeah, Miss Maines was well impressed.”

  “We’ll see.” Luke shrugged.

  “Stop being so modest, it’s totally out of character.”

  He grinned. “And you’d know everything about character acting.”

  “Of course. You don’t think I sleep through drama class do you?”

  “Well, I didn’t like to say ...” Luke side-stepped her friendly cuff and ran off as Kat chased him to get a better shot. He wove in and out of the crowds and stopped to give a cheeky wave before disappearing out of the door.

  Liv shook her head and rolled her eyes halfway to the ceiling. Those two were always winding each other up, they’d lived next door to each other since they were kids, but it wasn’t a boy/girl-next-door thing, they were just good friends. Apart from a rough patch last year after his mum died …

  Her train of thought got rudely derailed by the strange expression on Jude’s face as she watched them depart. Hang on a sec, what was that all about? Jude couldn’t be jealous of Kat’s easy relationship with Luke. Not with all the attention Ray lavished on her; they were definitely a good match. Ok, Jude was the poster girl for the PE department with all her sporting achievements whereas he languished in a wheelchair. But only temporarily according to the head at his old school.