You Don't Know Me by Sophia Bennett Read Free Book Online Page B

wouldn’t.’
    He blushes, then looks angry and miserable, as indeed he should. Weirdo stalker.
    â€˜So it was you and your geeky friends who voted for us,’ I murmur, trying to make sense of it all.
    â€˜Ye-es,’ he agrees, shifting about and not meeting our eyes.
    â€˜That doesn’t make sense. How do you explain us getting so many votes? There aren’t that many geeks in school.’
    He twitches nervously.
    â€˜I . . . It just . . . snowballed.’
    For a moment, he looks up and I catch a flash of something behind his eyes. There’s something else: something he’s not telling us.
    â€˜Snowballed how?’ Jodie challenges.
    He stares back at the floor.
    â€˜I don’t know. It’s a totally weird phenomenon. You should be pleased, anyway. I only—’
    â€˜Only what? What , Elliot?’
    But the bell goes, loud and insistent, cutting off all conversation. A crowd of people rush by on their way to the next class and Elliot takes his chance to join them and escape.
    By lunchtime the new video has loads of comments saying they like us. Not just from people we know at school, but others too.
    You were awwwwwweeesoooooome!
    Loving you guys so much!
    Girl in the hotpants – can I have your number?
    1500, 1750, 1999 ...
    Now the numbers start to rise in even more rapid leaps. We overtake Call of Duty by hundreds of votes and there doesn’t seem to be a single person in school who doesn’t recognise us. Three people want us to play at their Christmas parties, and we say yes to all of them, even the cheeky girl in Year 7, because we’re so grateful to be asked.
    By the first of December, there’s a new number at the bottom of our entry: 97th. Temporarily at least, we’ve made the top 100 on Killer Act and the competition still has two weeks to run.
    So what exactly do we have to be angry with Elliot about anyway?
    On the last day of term, they announce it in the local paper.
    BIGELOW GIRLS MAKE TOP 100
    A girl band from St Christopher’s School in Castle Bigelow has made it into the finals of a national online school talent competition.
    Out of thousands of entries, Sasha ‘Hotlegs’ Bayley and her band, the Manic Pixie Dream Girls, have reached the top 100 of Killer Act, and will be attending auditions in January for the live TV finals, which will be broadcast in March. The local girls had an online hit with their song ‘Sunglasses’, and reached an impressive 3,897 votes.
    Killer Act is sponsored by Interface, the social networking company that was recently valued at over £600 million($1 billion).
    Jodie is not thrilled about the ‘Hotlegs’ bit – not at all. But she decides to forgive me: it was hardly my fault, after all. She’s already thinking about our audition piece.
    My biggest concern is Rose. She’s our best asset – our most reliable singer, and the only one who can play an instrument. But I saw how she was before George’s party. I never want to see that pale, haunted look on her face again.
    â€˜Are you sure you’ll be OK with these gigs?’ I ask her one evening at my place, when it’s just the two of us. She’s picking out a tune on her spare guitar, the one she keeps in my room.
    â€˜I think so,’ she says, strumming thoughtfully. ‘Last time wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. In fact, it was pretty good by the end, wasn’t it? And as long as I’ve got this,’ she pats the guitar, ‘I should be fine. Sorry for letting you down like that last time.’
    â€˜But you didn’t!’ I assure her. ‘You were fantastic.’
    â€˜It turned out OK,’ she admits modestly. ‘But you practically had to hold me up.’
    â€˜Whatever it takes,’ I grin. ‘Anyway, performing for acrowd is good practice for when you’re famous.’
    She laughs and changes the subject by trying out ‘Sunglasses’