3.
Rising Stars
Danny was sitting by himself at a small yellow table.
“Save me a seat,” said Lolly, “while I grab some drinks.”
“I’ll get food,” said Pop. “You’ll have to save us two seats, Chloe!”
Chloe and Danny grinned at each other. Although she wasn’t homesick at all now, it was great to see Danny’s familiar face. “You got here all right, then?” she said.
“Yeah, I just arrived. I haven’t missed the welcome meeting, have I?”
“No,” Chloe reassured him. “Don’t worry, we haven’t had it yet.”
Danny looked over at the food line. “I see you’ve made friends already.”
“I’m sharing a room with them,” said Chloe. “Do you have nice roommates?”
“Dunno,” Danny said with a shrug. “I just dropped my bag off and came straight over here. This place is a bit different from Beacon Comp,” he added. “It’s more like a hotel than a school.”
He was right. All the walls were newly painted, the floors were polished, and the beautiful plasterwork on the dining-room ceiling was picked out in blue and gold. But the food bar was the same as at Beacon Comprehensive, and there were enough students talking loudly around the plastic tables to remind Chloe that she really was at school.
“Here you go!” Pop and Lolly dumped a couple of trays onto the table and sat down on either side of Chloe.
“Help yourselves,” added Lolly, handing out some plates and pushing a mug of tea and some soda in Chloe’s direction. “I didn’t know what you like to drink,” she added. “Cake?” she offered Danny. “Go on. It looks really good! We got plenty.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Danny took a piece of chocolate cake. “Have you seen a schedule yet?” he asked Chloe. She shook her head, munching cake.
“I think they’re up in the hall,” Lolly told him.
“Oh, right. I’ll go and have a look,” Danny said, finishing his cake and getting up. “I want to see when my first drum lesson is. See you later. Nice to meet you,” he added to the twins awkwardly.
“Is he always so interested in school?” Pop asked, watching Danny weave his way between the tables and out of the room.
“Just drum lessons, I think,” Chloe said.
“There’s nothing wrong with liking classes,” Lolly said.
Pop laughed. “It’s all right for you!” she told her sister. “You’re good at them! Come on,” she added. “The meeting will be starting any minute. We’d better go!”
There was no need to follow the signs. The girls tagged on to the cluster of new students filing into the theater. There were only about twenty-five seventh graders including Chloe and the twins. In Chloe’s last school there had been six seventh-grade classes, but here there would probably only be one. Looking around and seeing how few students there were at this school, Chloe realized just how lucky she had been to get her place at Rockley Park.
The theater was very new and modern. The tiered seating looked comfortable, and the bank of lights over the stage seemed very professional. Chloe stared at the stage in excitement. One day soon, she would be performing right there. She couldn’t wait!
Mrs. Sharkey, the principal, walked onto the stage and the buzz of excited voices quieted down.
“Welcome to Rockley Park,” she said, smiling at everyone. “I hope you’ve enjoyed your snack and are beginning to feel at home. Because we only have room for two hundred students here, we are more like a family than a school. But that doesn’t mean we don’t expect you to work hard! The teachers will give you grades for all the usual subjects, like any other school. However”—she paused—“they will also be grading you for your musical endeavors. Every music lesson and every piece of creative work will be assessed, and your progress noted in points. You will also perform at regular school concerts, where your fellow students, as the audience, will have the chance to award you points as well. These points will be added up over each term, and at the end of the school year, the best students will be chosen by the teachers to perform at a special concert called Rising Stars.”
I’m going to be a Rising Star, Chloe told herself excitedly. As soon as I possibly can!
But Mrs. Sharkey hadn’t finished. “The annual Rising Stars concert is important because it is shown on local television, and is watched with great interest by A and R people.”
A buzz of excited voices ran round the auditorium. Chloe had heard of A&R, though she didn’t know what it stood for, but television ! She couldn’t wait to text Jess. And how proud her parents would be if only she could do it! She must work hard at her singing lessons and perform really well at every concert to get lots of these Rising Stars points.
“The first school concert will be the Christmas one, at the end of term, so you only have a few weeks to practice.”
Chloe was too excited about the concert to take in the rest of the talk, so she was glad when Mrs. Sharkey said, “You can make your way back to your rooms now. Pick up your schedules in the hall, and don’t forget to look on the bulletin board for the time of your first individual lessons. Good luck, everyone. I hope you all enjoy your time at Rockley Park School.”
Everyone was chattering noisily as they pushed out of the theater.
“What are A and R people?” Chloe quickly asked Lolly.
“It’s short for Artists and Repertoire. They’re talent scouts,” Lolly said. “They work for recording companies. So it’s really cool if one spots you.”
“Wow!” Chloe’s head was full of hopes and plans for her performance in the first concert. Should she sing her audition song or would her singing teacher help her choose a new one?
“Remember audition day?” said Pop as they wandered through the main hall. “And how scared we all were?”
“I can’t imagine you were scared,” said Chloe, remembering how she’d seen the twins coming confidently down the stairs. “After all, there are two of you, and you’re already so famous.”
“Not for singing, though,” said Pop. “I was really worried that only one of us might get in. I don’t know what we would have done if that had happened.”
“Look, Chloe! Your singing lesson is first thing tomorrow!” said Lolly, reading from a list on the board. “It’s before registration, and ours is on Tuesday.”
They each picked up a seventh-grade schedule and skimmed through them on the way to their room.
“Dance, three periods a week,” said Pop approvingly. “Songwriting! One period a week. I don’t think I’ll be much good at that.”
“Music technology,” read Chloe. She remembered the recording studio that had been so fascinating during her guided tour on audition day. “That sounds good.”
It was fun, unpacking together, in spite of Tara’s grumpy remarks. Chloe discovered that Pop and Lolly had each brought a favorite stuffed animal. And when even Tara propped an ancient teddy on her pillow, Chloe felt able to reveal her own favorite, a monkey that her granny had given her years ago. When Mrs. Pinto, their housemother, came to say good night, they were still all giggling and laughing.
“Settle down now, girls,” she said. “The bell will ring at seven in the morning, and you don’t want to be tired on your first day.”
She turned off their light, and Chloe listened to her footsteps going down the hallway to the next room. So much had happened since she’d arrived. She still couldn’t believe that the famous Pop and Lolly were sleeping in the same room with her. But the three of them were getting along so well, Chloe was sure they would be best friends. Somehow, it felt as if they’d known one another for ages. She was bubbling with excitement, too, at the thought of her first singing lesson in the morning. At last, all her dreams of being taken seriously as a singer were about to come true.