Stagefright by Carole Wilkinson Read Free Book Online Page B

of the Night” full blast so that she didn’t have to listen to the gory details.

    “Settling in at school are you, darling?” Velvet’s mother said when she got home.
    “No.”
    “You seem a bit happier.”
    “I’m in a drama group. We’re going to put on a play.”
    “Lovely. Are there some nice young people in the drama group?” Velvet’s mother didn’t like saying “kids”.
    “Nice? Not exactly.”
    “Why don’t you bring them home for afternoon tea one day?”
    “Afternoon tea! Mother, they aren’t that civilised. Drago would probably break the china.”
    “Drago? Is that a nickname?”
    “No, Mother, it’s his real name. He’s a bit of a creep. Taleb’s okay though.”
    “Aren’t there any girls, darling?”
    “Yeah, there’s Roula and Hailie.”
    “Hailie.” Velvet’s mother latched onto the one Anglo-sounding name. “Is she your friend?”
    “I haven’t got any friends, I told you. And Hailie doesn’t have girlfriends, only boyfriends. She’s got her claws out for Peter.”
    “Peter?”
    “He’s Vietnamese. And then there’s Jesus …”
    “Surely the teachers don’t approve of you calling a boy Jesus!”
    “That’s his name. He’s from some African country.”
    “Aren’t there any Australian children at this school?”
    “Mum, they’re all Australian.”

C H A P TE R 10
    Velvet arranged lunchtime meetings with Drago twice a week, so they could work on the first act. The sun was shining and Velvet suggested they sit on the oval. She preferred to be out in the open, just in case he tried anything.
    They were working on the scene where Richard reveals how he’s going to convince King Edward that Clarence is about to kill the little princes. Velvet soon realised that Hailie was right. Drago could barely read, but he did have a good memory. If she read his speeches out to him and explained the difficult words, he had quite a knack for picking out phrases from the original and mixing them with modern speech. They’d just got to the bit where Clarence enters when Taleb walked past.
    “‘Dive, thoughts, down to my soul, here Clarence comes’,” Velvet quoted and ventured a smile. Taleb stopped but he didn’t smile back.
    “We just got to your entrance in the play.”
    “Yeah?” He was watching some Year 7s play baseball, so it didn’t look like he was talking to them. “What do I have to say?”
    “You’re upset that your brother King Edward is sending you to the Tower of London.”
    “Why’s he doing that?”
    “Richard has spread a rumour that there’s a prophecy saying his sons, the little princes, will be killed by someone whose name begins with the letter G.”
    “But I thought my name was Clarence.”
    “George, Duke of Clarence. Just like Richard is the Duke of Gloucester. They call him Gloucester until he becomes king.”
    “Does everybody in this play have two names?”
    “Pretty much.”
    “Hey, the prophecy comes true,” Drago said, “because Gloucester kills the kids. Right?”
    “Yes.”
    “I get it.” Drago looked pleased that he’d been able to understand something.
    Velvet tried to get Taleb back into the conversation. “The prophecy. Sounds like a good name for a song.”
    “Maybe,” Taleb said and walked away.
    Drago was still poring over the script.
    “I could help you with your reading, if you like,” Velvet suggested.
    “I don’t need any help.”

    It was the first cold day for the year. Suddenly winter didn’t seem far away. T6 was freezing and rain dripped steadily from a hole in the ceiling into a misshapen bowl left behind by an embarrassed ceramics student. The girls were arguing about who should be Lady Anne.
    “I’m the one with the drama experience,” Velvet said.
    “Yeah, but you don’t know anything about modern music,” Hailie said.
    “What’s that got to do with it?”
    “I’m the one with royal blood,” Roula said. “I should be the one to play her.”
    Velvet was searching YouTube for Lady