Rising Star Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Acknowledgements

  Dedication

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1. - New School

  Chapter 2. - Friends

  Chapter 3. - Rising Stars

  Chapter 4. - Singing Lesson

  Chapter 5. - Chloe Has a Problem

  Chapter 6. - A Disappointing Week

  Chapter 7. - Fair-Weather Friends?

  Chapter 8. - Home for the Weekend

  Chapter 9. - In Search of a Voice

  Chapter 10. - Alarms and Decisions

  Chapter 11. - Making the Best of It

  Chapter 12. - Danny’s Good Turn

  Chapter 13. - An Awful Fright

  Chapter 14. - What Friends Are For

  Chapter 15. - Chloe’s Voice

  So you want to be a pop star?

  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. Being a star—and a kid—isn’t easy. They have to keep up their grades, learn about the professional side of the music business, improve their talent, and get along with their classmates. 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!

  Will Chloe find her voice in time?

  Mr. Player folded his arms and leaned against the piano. “Getting your voice in shape is far more important than thinking of performing,” he said. “There will be other concerts . . . when you’ve learned to use your voice properly.”

  Chloe stared at him in horror. “But I have to do the concert,” she told him. “I can’t possibly miss it!”

  “Listen to me,” he said. “You have the potential to be an excellent singer, but you’ll only make trouble for yourself if you try to perform now. Get your technique right first; then you can sing in concerts. Now, don’t let me hear any more about it.”

  Chloe stumbled through the rest of her lesson in a daze. Not sing at the concert? She had to sing. Everyone was performing. She’d die of shame if Mr. Player wouldn’t allow her to take part. She could imagine what Tara would say. And what about those precious Rising Stars points?

  Thanks to John Acock, Natalie Powers,

  Seb, Ben, Joss and George of Stitch and

  Yellow Shark Studios in Cheltenham.

  For my daughter Rebecca, with much love

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Young Readers Group,

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

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario,

  Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

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  (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

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  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,

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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, 2007

  Copyright © Cindy Jefferies, 2005

  All rights reserved

  CIP Data is available.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-11884-9

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  1.

  New School

  The limousine swished past the wrought-iron gates and up the drive. It drew to a halt with a crunch of gravel outside the impressive front entrance. Chloe got out to the cheers of her fans, who had waited all day to see their favorite pop star.

  Well, it was a nice thought. But today’s reality wasn’t quite as exciting as Chloe’s daydream. There were plenty of cool cars arriving at Rockley Park School, but Chloe’s family owned a rather old sedan with a cracked bumper, not a limousine. Never mind. One day the dream might come true. After all, this was only Chloe’s first day at her new school. Winning a scholarship to this very special place might be the first step to pop stardom. Because, as well as all the usual lessons, this school taught everything that a singer needed to know!

  Rockley Park was a school for aspiring pop stars, songwriters, and musicians. It was full of students who were really talented and determined to get to the top. Here, Chloe would get all the voice training she needed, as well as learning how to dance, record her own songs, and all the technical stuff she would need for a career in the music industry.

  Chloe peered out of the car. Her dad had followed the signs and pulled up outside a new building at the back of beautiful old Rockley Park House. This was Paddock House, where all the seventh- and eighth-grade girls slept. A long row of windows looked out over the parking lot and the fields beyond. One of those windows might be Chloe’s room....

  “Well,” said Mom. “We’re here.” Chloe’s little brother, Ben, had been asleep, but as Chloe opened the door and scrambled out, he woke up.

  “Me, too,” he demanded, and Chloe leaned in to undo his seat belt.

  “Don’t let him run off,” Mom warned. “You know what he’s like.” But Ben was still too sleepy to run anywhere. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and watched some people nearby unloading a large trunk from the back of a four-wheel-drive. Chloe wished she could have a trunk, but they were far too expensive—her family just couldn’t afford one. Dad leaned over and took out the shabby suitcase they’d packed Chloe’s belongings in. Chloe grabbed two full plastic bags, and Mom picked up Ben.

  Chloe had been waiting impatiently for this day ever since she’d found out that she’d won a scholarship. But now that she’d arrived, she had mixed feelings. Thank goodness Danny James, a drummer from her old school, had won a place as well. At least there would be one face here she would recognize.

  “Excited?” asked Dad. Chloe nodded, but it certainly wasn’t just excitement she was feeling. There was a whole cloud of butterflies fluttering about in her stomach and a lot of unanswered questions in her head. Would she be homesick? Would she be able to make friends? Would she find the schoolwork too difficult? Most important of all, was she a good enough singer to make it to the top?

  A woman with dark, curly hair was at the front door.

  “Welcome to Paddock House,” she said, shaking hands with Chloe and her parents. “You are ...?” she asked Chloe cheerfully.

  “Chloe Tompkins.”

  “Right, Chloe. I’m Mrs. Pinto, your housemother. Any problems or worries, you come to me, and if you don’t want to do that, Mrs. O’Flannery over in the health center will help you out.” She checked the list she was holding. “Now, your room is on the first floor, at the end of the corridor. There will be four of you in there, all seventh graders, of
course. Come along. I’ll show you the way.”

  Chloe’s family all traipsed along behind Mrs. Pinto.

  It was chaotic in the house. There were lots of fire doors that were stiff to open, and the stairs and hallways were full of other girls and their parents, all loaded with belongings, trying to squeeze past one another. You could tell the new girls easily. They were the ones that looked lost, with harassed parents attached. The older girls were much more lively. They greeted one another with squeals of delight and got in the way of everyone else by hugging one another enthusiastically.

  “Do move out of the way, girls,” Mrs. Pinto told a group of four chattering together excitedly. “Go and get some tea if you’ve unpacked. You can catch up with all your news in the dining room.”

  Eventually, Mrs. Pinto opened yet another door and stood aside to let Chloe and her family in.

  “Here you are,” she said. “It looks as if the two beds by the window have already been taken, so choose which one you’d like on the other side and get settled in. Refreshments are in the dining room in the main house when you’re ready. I usually suggest that parents say good-bye here,” she said to Chloe’s mom. “Do come into the kitchen downstairs for a cup of tea with the rest of the parents, though, before you head for home. It’s on the right by the front door.”

  “Do you want us to help you unpack?” asked Chloe’s mom once Mrs. Pinto had gone.

  “No, thanks,” said Chloe.

  Dad could see how she felt. “Come on,” he said to his wife, who was hovering around, looking helpless. “Chloe needs to get settled. I expect her new roommates will be back soon. Hey! Don’t do that,” he added, going over to Ben. Chloe’s little brother was jumping up and down on one of the beds by the window. “That belongs to some other famous pop star.”

  “Dad! No one here will be famous for years and years,” Chloe said.

  They all hugged one another, and Mom kept telling Chloe to be sure to ask if she needed help, to eat sensibly, to put her clothes away neatly... until Dad practically had to drag her out.

  “Bye!” she said again at the door. “Don’t lose that cell phone, okay? Call us tomorrow so we know how you’re doing and we’ll see you in three weeks. Take care, now!”

  Then they were gone.

  Chloe went to look out of the window. There were sheep in a nearby field, and some crows were cawing in a group of tall trees. It was a very different view from the one at home, which was all houses and small gardens. She went and sat down on one of the available beds, the one farthest from the door, and swung her legs, trying to work out how she felt. A bit of her wished she was in the car with her family, going back home, but mostly she was thinking about her new life. She had a fantastic chance now, and she couldn’t wait to start her singing lessons, but first of all, she had to meet her roommates.

  A tall, thin girl had appeared in the doorway, with a stylish black leather bag over her shoulder. Following her was a man in overalls pushing an ancient, battered trunk on a dolly.

  “Put it there,” the girl told him regally, pointing to the floor by the only spare bed. He dumped the trunk on the floor and disappeared. She didn’t seem to have her parents with her.

  The girl stared at Chloe for a moment and Chloe’s heart sank. Of all the people to be sharing with! This was the girl who had been so horrible to Chloe on audition day. Tara! Chloe would have known her disapproving face anywhere. What a rotten start to her new life. Sharing with Tara was going to be awful!

  2.

  Friends

  “Hi,” drawled Tara, looking away. She didn’t seem to have recognized Chloe, but it was plain she wasn’t interested in being friendly.

  “Hi,” Chloe muttered in reply, and picked up one of her plastic bags. She was just about to empty it onto the bed when two more girls arrived, the ones who had already taken the best beds. Chloe glanced up at them and hastily looked away again. Oh no! This was terrible. How could she possibly make friends with these two? They were Pop ’n’ Lolly, the famous model twins who had been featured in Chloe’s magazine last month!

  Chloe had passed Pop ’n’ Lolly on the stairs on audition day and had wondered what they were doing at Rockley Park. It hadn’t occurred to her that they might have been there for an audition, too. Chloe knew Pop and Lolly were the same age as she was. She’d read loads about them in her magazine, but it hadn’t said they were coming to Rockley Park. How wrong had Chloe been to tell her dad that no one here would be famous for years. How awful if she and Danny turned out to be the only ordinary people at this school.

  Pop and Lolly were greeting Tara as an old friend. Chloe swallowed nervously. It was getting worse. She could see how it was going to be. It would be three against one. Perhaps if they were all horrible to her, she could ask to be moved to a different room.

  Chloe shook the contents of her plastic bag onto the bed and started sorting it out. Those twins needn’t think she would suck up to them because they were famous. Just because she had plastic bags and shabby suitcases, it didn’t mean she wasn’t as good as they were!

  She stuck out her chin defiantly and picked up some photographs. One, in a frame, was of her and her best friend, Jess, pretending to be pop singers. Chloe had thought it was a great picture when she was at home. Now she was afraid these girls would think it was stupid, and laugh at her.

  The other picture, of her and Ben, was less embarrassing. She propped it up against the lamp on her bedside table and tried to stop wishing she was at home.

  “Hi!”

  Chloe was too busy being determined not to feel homesick to realize that one of the twins was talking to her.

  “Hi,” the girl said again, coming over to Chloe’s side of the room. Chloe looked up and the photo of her and Ben chose that moment to slide off the table and onto the floor. “I’ll get it!” the girl offered. Chloe didn’t know if it was Pop or Lolly.

  While the famous twin was crouching on the floor, reaching for the photograph, Chloe watched curiously. It was odd, seeing someone so well known scrambling about on the floor by her bed. It made Chloe feel a bit as if she were on the Ferris wheel at a fair—it was like that moment, just before you swoosh down, when your stomach isn’t quite sure how it feels.

  The girl grabbed the photo and got up, flicking her long, shiny black hair behind her shoulders. Even close up she was amazingly beautiful, with her almond eyes and flawless, coffee-colored complexion. She made Chloe feel terribly plain and dull.

  “Here it is! Oh! Is that you with your little brother?” She plonked herself down on the bed by Chloe. “Isn’t he gorgeous ... What’s his name?”

  “Ben,” said Chloe, furious with herself for feeling so shy.

  “I’m Poppy, by the way, but everyone calls me Pop.

  My face is fatter than my sister’s, and she has a little mole on her cheek. That’s how you tell us apart!”

  “I’m Chloe,” said Chloe, wondering if the other twin chattered as much as this one.

  “Well, hi, Chloe! Pleased to meet you,” Pop said. “Hey, Lol!” she called to her sister. “Come over here!” In a moment, the other twin was peering at the picture of Ben sitting on Chloe’s lap in the garden. “This is Chloe,” Pop introduced them. “Chloe, this is my crazy twin sister, Polly, known as Lolly ’cause that was the only way I could say her name when I was little!”

  “Ah, he’s so sweet,” said Lolly, shoving Chloe’s belongings aside and sitting down, too.

  “Not always,” said Chloe.

  “I wish I had a little brother. He can’t be worse than Lolly,” Pop told her. “She’s so annoying sometimes.”

  “Only when you’re annoying me,” Lolly replied.

  “See what I mean?” said Pop. “She’s impossible!”

  “Don’t tell Chloe how horrible we are, Pop, or she won’t want to be friends,” said Lolly mildly. She picked up the other photograph. “Who’s this?”

  Chloe blushed. “My friend Jess and me.”

  “She looks ni
ce,” Lolly commented, and put the picture down. Pop giggled and grinned at Chloe. “We’ve got lots of pictures like that. We love dressing up, too!”

  Chloe couldn’t believe what was happening. Pop and Lolly, the famous twin models, were being friendly with her. Perhaps things would be all right after all.

  “Hey, Tara,” Lolly called over. “Come and look at this sweet picture of Chloe’s brother.” Without turning around, Tara muttered something that Chloe couldn’t catch.

  Lolly shrugged. “Pay no attention to Tara,” she whispered in Chloe’s ear. “She’s a bit weird, but she’s all right once you get used to her. Her mother’s a fashion journalist, and sometimes we’ve been dragged to the same parties by our parents.”

  “Snacks!” said Pop. “That’s what I want. Come on.

  I’m starved!” So the three of them left Tara unpacking her trunk and headed over to the main house.

  It was fun being with Pop and Lolly. Lots of people stared at the twins. They were so famous almost everyone recognized them.

  “Just ignore them,” Lolly told Chloe. But Chloe found herself starting to giggle.

  “They all know who you are,” she muttered to Pop. “But they must be wondering who I am!”

  “You’re the next big thing!” said Pop firmly.

  “Absolutely!” agreed Lolly, pulling Chloe’s arm through hers. “What have you come to Rockley Park to study?”

  “Singing,” said Chloe.

  “Like us! So you’re the next pop diva, then,” Pop said with a grin. “You must be, because I say so. And I’m never wrong,” she added grandly.

  “We’ve come to study here because our agent said we should add another string to our bow,” Lolly told Chloe.

  “After all, modeling work doesn’t last forever!” said Pop. “Sooner or later, magazines will want new faces.”