Daring to Dream by Sam Bailey Read Free Book Online

him brain damage and he now has the mental age of a 13-year-old.
    I certainly wasn’t an angel when I was younger and I didn’t walk around with a halo on my head, and I did what I did because of the people who I hung out with. It scares me that these days apparently you can buy an ecstasy tablet for about £3. It’s cheaper than buying a glass of wine. It’s shocking.
    I’m glad there is so much more information available now and a lot of anti-drug campaigns which really hit home to people. All those years ago people were taking drugs and they didn’t really know the dangers, but now everything is very transparent and you know that if you do drugs you’re taking a huge risk.
    Some people will assume that once you’re famous it’s all sex, drugs and rock and roll but I can honestly say that I haven’t been offered drugs since I’ve been in the public eye. I think it’s quite clear I’m not that kind of person so that’s probably why. I would much rather have a cup of tea and an early night and I think people are well aware of that.
    Bexley College was a bit of a strange time. I think because I was going out so much and staying with Michelle all the time, it feels like a bit of a blur. It wasn’t all jazz hands (people walking around being over the top and showbiz) and am-dram like I’d expected; it was pretty laid back. We did a few shows and around Christmas time we put on a production called
Cindy Ryella
, an Essex-girl version of
Cinderella
. Michelle and I played the ugly sisters Sharon and Tracy, and I remember us getting on a bus in our outfits, which consisted of a pink mini-skirt, fur coat and tons of make-up. We stayed in character all the way and everyone on the bus was giggling at us.
    I knew everyone’s lines in the play because I recorded the whole thing on my little karaoke machine at home using different voices for different characters. Then I left blank the parts where my lines were supposed to be. I used to play it back over and over again and speak my lines during the blank bits. I took that tape with me everywhere and by the time we performed the show to an audience I knew the entire thing inside out. At the time we thought the show was West End quality, but if I were to watch it back now I bet it would be bloody awful.
    That karaoke machine was a godsend because I also learnt to harmonise using it. I used to record an entire verse of a song, like Take That’s ‘Pray’, and then play it back. Then I’d put another tape in the other side of the machine and sing over the top of it, so I was harmonising with myself. I usedto do it over and over again and I had all of these tapes filled with different songs.
    I managed to get my diploma at the end of my year-long course, but the whole thing was so relaxed it was more of a laugh than anything. It was the first time I’d been treated like an adult and there was no one taking a register, so I could get away with being late and messing around because no one told you off. If we’d been out clubbing the night before, Michelle and I would roll up around lunchtime and the tutors didn’t say a word. We kind of made our own rules and I loved that.
    Because I’d passed the course I got the opportunity to try out for the Miskin Theatre, which was based in North West Kent College in Dartford. I got accepted and Michelle also got offered a place. We were still good mates but I’d started to kind of distance myself from her a bit. She was still partying a lot and I wanted to get my head down and work hard. I’d had my year of messing around and now I wanted to learn as much as I could about performing.
    On my first day at Miskin Theatre we were told we had to decide if we wanted to do acting, dancing or music, and not surprisingly I chose music. I met a girl called Lucy on the course and we had so much in common. We started working together a lot and from then on we