Lucky Break #6 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright Page

  1. Marmalade

  2. Long-suffering Teachers

  3. New Boy

  4. Friends

  5. Mr. Penardos Makes a Point

  6. Turning Over a New Leaf

  7. Picking Up Tips

  8. Bad News for Marmalade

  9. A Friend in Need

  10. An Apology

  11. A Project for Marmalade

  12. Marmalade Has an Idea

  13. A Dance for Jack

  So you want to be a pop star?

  Making it in the music biz

  For more about the Fame School kids, read

  About the Author

  FAME SCHOOL

  Glamour! Talent! Stardom! Fame and fortune could be one step away for the kids of Fame School! All the students at Rockley Park, a school for the pop culture performing arts, are talented, but they still have to work hard. They must keep up their grades, learn about the professional side of the music business, improve their talent, and get along with their classmates. Being a star—and a kid—isn’t easy. Things don’t always go as planned, but one thing’s certain—this group of friends will do their best to sing, dance, and jam their way to the top!

  Who’s the best dancer at Rockley Park?

  “How’s your dance coming along?” Chloe asked Marmalade.

  “Awesome! It’s a lot of fun,” Marmalade answered. “But I want it to be really original, so Mr. Penardos can see how much effort I’m putting into it.”

  “Well, I think you’ve got some competition from Jack,” said Chloe. “His dance is different from anything I’ve seen at Rockley Park. It’s so graceful, like a mixture of ballet and modern dance.”

  Marmalade shook his head. “It’s not good being too much like ballet,” he told her, feeling more and more annoyed that she was so impressed with Jack’s dance.

  “Why not?” she asked.

  Marmalade scrambled for an answer. “Because . . . because he might get teased,” he said.

  “Don’t be silly!” Chloe laughed. “His dancing was amazing. It doesn’t matter what the style is, no one here will laugh at a good performance.” She looked at his grumpy face. “You’re not jealous, are you?” she asked.

  “Of course not!” said Marmalade. “What gave you that idea?”

  For Chris—my one and only big brother

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Young Readers Group,

  345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

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  Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published in Great Britain by Usborne Publishing Ltd., 2005

  Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008

  Copyright © Cindy Jefferies, 2008

  All rights reserved

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Jefferies, Cindy.

  Lucky break / by Cindy Jefferies.

  p. cm.—(Fame school ; bk. 6)

  Summary: Exuberant, daring Marmalade is one of the best dancers at Rockley Park school for

  up-and-coming music stars, but when he starts to show off even more than usual for a new

  student, Marmalade injures his leg and must learn to deal with the consequences of his actions.

  eISBN : 978-1-4406-3318-8

  [1. Dance—Fiction. 2. Boarding schools—Fiction.

  3. Schools—Fiction. 4. Self-control—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.J3587Luc 2008

  [Fic]—dc22

  2007042302

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume

  any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  1. Marmalade

  "Two more Rising Stars points! Two!” Marmaduke Stamp, always known as Marmalade, waggled his wildly corkscrewed red hair in triumph. His friend Danny James smiled, glanced at his own report card, and put it quietly in his bag.

  The two friends couldn’t have been less alike. Marmalade’s long curls, snub nose, and freckled face were as noticeable as his bubbly nature and noisy laugh. Everything about him was larger than life, especially when he’d just gotten a little bit closer to realizing his ambition. He was desperate to dance at the Rising Stars Concert, which was recorded at the local television studios in front of an invited audience of important people from the entertainment industry. Everyone wanted to get in the show, but only the very best would be chosen. Marmalade really hoped that the concert would be his big break.

  Performances at their last school event, an amazing outdoor charity concert organized by Tara Fitzgerald, had counted toward Rising Stars points, and Marmalade had been waiting anxiously all through the midterm vacation to find out how he’d done. Now he knew, and was sure his excitement would make him unstoppable. During the break, he had spent time teaching himself some hip-hop moves and now he wanted to show them to Danny.

  “Watch this!” he said, flipping neatly into a handstand.

  “Wow!” Danny smiled. But Marmalade hadn’t finished. He walked a couple of feet on his hands and then, in one fluid movement, rolled over and jumped back onto his feet. Danny was seriously impressed.

  Marmalade grinned. “Break dancing is the way to go!” he announced. “There are so many cool moves.”

  And with that, he crouched down in the hallway and started to spin on his shoulders. After a couple of spins, he collapsed in a sprawl of arms and legs, getting in the way of several other students.

  Danny laughed. “Maybe you should save it for outside,” he said.

  “For goodness’ sake!” protested Tara, who had to step over him to get past. “What are you doing?”

  Marmalade grinned. He loved to tease Tara, who was often grumpy. “Polishing the floor,” he told her, getting to his feet. “Does it look better now? Actually,” he added to Danny as Tara scowled at him and marched off, “the reason I couldn’t spin correctly was that the floor wasn’t shiny enough. Too much friction. Some B-boys even carry a big piece of cardboard around wherever they go to give themselves a good surface.”

  “It sounds like it would be a pain to have to do that,” said Danny.

  “That’s not the right attitude for a break dancer!” Marmalade insisted, spinning around on one leg, in a movement more like ballet than anything else.

  “Good thing I’m not a dancer, then,” Danny reminded him with a smile.

  Danny was a drummer, and both he and Marmalade were at Rockley Park, the school of their dreams. It was an amazing boarding school that taught students everything they needed to know about making it in the music business, as well as providing all the usual school classes.

  Marmalade had earned a pla
ce at Rockley Park for his talented and exuberant dancing. He had a good singing voice, too, but dance was his life, and his ambition was to star in all the best pop videos.

  “Come on!” he urged Danny. “Let’s see what grades the others got!” He flung his bag over his shoulder and raced off in the direction of the dining hall, leaving Danny to follow behind.

  Marmalade soon caught up with twins Pop and Lolly Lowther—famous for their modeling success—and flung himself between them, draping his arms around their shoulders.

  “Marmalade! Get off!” Pop laughed, wriggling free and smoothing her long, black hair back into place.

  Lolly disentangled herself, too. “What’s up?” she asked.

  “Grades!” Marmalade said, beaming all over his face. “And I did it again. I got two more Rising Stars points. That must make me good enough to dance at the Rising Stars Concert.” He grabbed Lolly again and whirled her around.

  “Maybe,” conceded Pop, avoiding Marmalade and her sister, who were still spinning. “But don’t forget that the final decision isn’t made until nearly the end of the semester. You can’t relax yet.”

  “I know,” Marmalade agreed. He stopped whirling Lolly, let her go, and looked serious for a moment. “But they always want a good mix of students, and there aren’t that many people who are specializing in dance. I have to have a good chance.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Lolly agreed, still catching her breath. “You’re by far the best dancer in our grade. And I know how much you want this chance.”

  “We all do!” her sister protested. “The Rising Stars Concert could be wonderful for our careers too, Lolly. Think of the audience.” She shivered with anticipation. “There’ll be lots of important people there from the music industry, all ready to sign up the best acts! And that’s before the program even goes on the air!”

  “But you’re already famous models,” Marmalade protested. “And you’re halfway to being famous pop stars as well. For me, appearing at a Rising Stars Concert could give me the lucky break I’m looking for.”

  Danny caught up with them, and Lolly turned to him as they all reached the dining room.

  “How were your grades, Danny?” she asked. “Did you get any Rising Stars points?”

  He nodded seriously. “Yes,” he said. “But my math grade was down.”

  “Forget that!” Marmalade told him. “Fess up. How many Rising Stars points did you get? I forgot to ask earlier. I was so excited about my two.”

  Danny looked embarrassed. “I got three,” he admitted.

  “Three!” squealed Pop. “Nobody gets three. I thought two was the most you could get for each subject.”

  Marmalade’s mouth dropped open, and he stared at Danny in amazement, but his generous nature didn’t allow him to be jealous for more than a second or two.

  “Well!” He laughed, clapping Danny on the back. “Thank goodness you’re not a dancer, or I’d have no chance! Good job! Come on, let’s get some food. I’m starving.” He spun around on one leg and headed in through the door toward the lunch line.

  Most of the students were comparing their grades over lunch. And it wasn’t all good news. Rockley Park didn’t allow its students to shirk their academic work, however musically talented they were. Anyone whose grades went down knew that they would have to study hard during the second half of the term to make up lost ground.

  Although Lolly had improved most of her grades, the coolest singer in the class, Chloe Tompkins, needed to work harder at math. And Danny and Tara—who played bass guitar—had not done as well in geography and physics.

  Marmalade was down in most of his academic grades, but nothing could dampen his high spirits. “I’m on my way to the Rising Stars Concert!” he sang as they headed off for their next class, flinging his arms wide and almost hitting Tara in the process.

  Tara ducked just in time and glowered at Marmalade. “Pride comes before a fall,” she warned him angrily.

  But Marmalade wasn’t going to let Tara spoil his mood. “You only fall if you’re not perfectly balanced,” he told her pompously, pirouetting in a more controlled manner. “And as a dancer, I am always well balanced,” he added.

  Tara snorted in derision. “Your body might be balanced,” she said. “But I’m not so sure about your brain. Can’t you see that you’re in the way?” She pushed past him and stalked down the hallway ahead of everyone else.

  “Tara! Don’t leave us!” he called after her in mock despair. “We need you!”

  Chloe giggled. “Don’t tease her, Marmalade,” she protested. “You know she doesn’t like it.”

  In geography, Marmalade was in too much of a silly mood to pay attention. Apart from dance lessons, he found most of the work difficult, even when he was trying hard, and when he got excited about his dancing, he found it impossible to concentrate. His geography teacher wasn’t impressed by his behavior, and he was reprimanded in English as well. Everyone was supposed to be writing poetry about their favorite things, but Marmalade’s goofy efforts had almost the whole class giggling.

  “Dance is lovely,” he read out loud when it was his turn. “Dance is fun. Especially when Tara does it and falls on her bum.”

  But Tara wasn’t laughing, and neither was their teacher. “That isn’t poetry,” Mrs. Hale told Marmalade. “It’s just a silly rhyme, and it doesn’t even scan properly. You’re not trying.”

  “I am,” he protested, rolling his eyes wildly and making the class laugh even harder.

  His teacher wasn’t impressed. “I want six sensible lines about dance by tomorrow afternoon, or you’ll end up in more trouble,” she told him. “You’re not usually this silly, Marmalade. What’s gotten into you today?”

  “Rising Stars points,” he told her. “I got two more this time. I’m ahead of the other dancers in my group and I just know I’m going to dance at the Rising Stars Concert at the end of the semester.”

  “Well, that’s very good news for you,” the teacher agreed. “And I’m not surprised you’re excited. But do try not to disrupt classes. It’s not fair to the other students, however much they enjoy your clowning around. And with your grades, you can’t afford to waste class time either.”

  “That was lucky,” Danny told him after class. “I thought you were really going to get into trouble.”

  Marmalade smiled at his friend. “I’m an artist!” he said, launching himself into a tremendous jump and turning in midair. He landed neatly beside Danny with a huge grin on his face. “English and geography grades won’t make the slightest difference when I’m making pop videos,” he said. “I don’t care how much the teachers grumble. Nothing is going to stop me now. No matter what happens, I’m going to be dancing in the Rising Stars Concert. I just know it!”

  2. Long-suffering Teachers

  In biology, they were studying how an eye worked and Mrs. Pinto, the science teacher, wanted to show the class some slides. “Marmalade, will you pull the blinds down, please?” she asked.

  He leaped up, knocking over his stool with a clatter and sliding into the workbench in front of the window.

  Some people started giggling, but Mrs. Pinto looked upset. “You can’t afford to fool around in my class,” she told him, “or you’ll get an even worse grade next time. Now pick up that stool and sit down.”

  It was no use. When Marmalade was in this sort of mood, he found it impossible to behave. Everything seemed funny to him.

  His whispered comments during the slide show were too quiet for Mrs. Pinto to hear, but they made it difficult for his friends not to laugh out loud. Lolly, who loved biology, and was trying hard to concentrate, got very frustrated.

  “Be quiet,” she hissed. She leaned over and poked Marmalade in the back, but if she’d hoped this would make him behave, she was sadly mistaken. Instead, he wildly overreacted.

  “Ooh!” he yelped, jerking upright and looking so affronted that the people closest to him burst out laughing.

  By now, Mrs. Pinto was really angry
and sent him outside for the rest of the period. “If you can’t behave, you’re not welcome in my class,” she told Marmalade. “You can sit outside until we’re finished, and you’ll have to make up the work later.”

  “I don’t care,” Marmalade told Danny afterward. “Mrs. Pinto has no feelings!” His imitation of Mrs. Pinto yelling at him had Danny in fits of laughter.

  The next class was general dance. For the first couple of years at Rockley Park, all the students were required to study dance as part of their education. It was an excellent way to keep in shape, and helped to develop poise and balance. For the dedicated dance students, there were extra classes as a special group, when they studied modern dance, jazz, and Marmalade’s favorite, freestyle, which suited his imagination and energy so well. But today, the lesson was for the whole class, and less demanding of Marmalade’s talents. He always enjoyed dancing, so he was happy to cruise along in this class, but his favorite time of all was when the dance teacher, Mr. Penardos, gave him some one-on-one instruction in the special dance group. That was when he worked his hardest and learned the most.

  Everyone was full of energy after the midterm break, so when they had completed their warming-up stretches, Mr. Penardos put on some bouncy music and got everyone to jog in place for a few minutes.

  “Keep it going!” he urged. “Follow me. Arms up two . . . three . . . and down two . . . three . . . Step forward, ver’ nice, Pop, and back two . . . three . . .”

  As they worked their way through a simple routine, Marmalade didn’t bother to concentrate much. He could do the movements almost without thinking. While they were having a brief rest, he nudged the boy next to him, Martin, who was another talented dancer.

  “I bet I can imitate people while I’m dancing,” Marmalade said. “I’ve been watching them. Everyone does the movements slightly differently.”

  “Go on, then,” Martin encouraged him. “Do Tara. She should be easy enough.”

  Marmalade stood up and glared out into space. Then he began to jog stiffly. He looked exactly like Tara when she was concentrating hard doing something that she didn’t really like.