Read Online Acting Brave (Fenbrook Academy #3) by Helena Newbury - Free Book Online
Authors: Helena Newbury
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times have you been late for duty, since it happened? Are you sleeping... at all?
I winced. I had lost my cool and yelled at suspects a few times, but I hadn’t known that it had gotten back to the captain. And yes, I’d lain awake until four or five in the morning and then missed roll call more than once.
Barnes took a long breath. “This is your last chance,” he told me. “Final warning. Mess up again, you’re gone. Are you hearing me?”
I nodded. I heard him. I just had no idea how to fix myself.
You can’t, said Hux. I’d say you’re royally screwed.
Chapter 8
Jasmine
“It’s cold,” said Karen, dipping her toe in nervously. “Maybe there’s something wrong. Maybe it’s switched off.”
“It’s meant to be that temperature,” said Nat patiently.
Karen blinked. “Really?”
I shook my head. “It’s not cold. It just feels cold because you haven’t got in yet. I still can’t believe you’ve never been swimming!”
“You’re sure you can swim, right?” asked Clarissa. “We don’t want the lifeguard to have to save you.” She looked over at the chair where a six-foot hunk of bronzed magnificence in red shorts sat on high alert. “Although….”
“Yes,” said Karen, oblivious. She was being brave and putting a whole foot into the water, now. “I’m sure I remember swimming lessons when I was a child. Before the cello.”
Clarissa, Nat and I all looked at each other.
“Perhaps we should stay in the shallow end,” I said.
It had been my idea to come to the huge, indoor water park. None of us had been before, which was sort of the point. I thought it was time we did something other than just Fenbrook or Flicker or Harpers. I was buzzing with the news of the screen test, but I still had that feeling that I needed to keep being Jasmine, to keep shoring her up by being silly and fun and lively. Otherwise she might collapse from the inside out, and the cracks would make my friends suspicious.
First rule of fooling people: don’t appear mysterious. If you put up the shields and refuse to answer questions, everyone will want to know what the big secret is. But bouncy, flirty, Jasmine? Everyone already understood what she was, so there was nothing to ask.
We sat on the edge of the pool for a moment, looking down at our reflections in the water. Nat and Karen had gone for one piece bathing suits, Karen blinking nervously, still unused to her new contact lenses. Clarissa was wearing some sort of black and white designer thing that looked like three small handkerchiefs tied together with bootlaces. If her boobs had been as big as Nat’s, let alone mine, it would have been obscene but, as usual, she managed to pull it off with aplomb.
And me? I’d gone for a white and black polka dot bathing suit that looked like the sort of thing a 1940s glamorpuss would have worn as she graced the side of a WWII bomber, together with a cheeky grin and a Come home safely, boys!
“I still don’t get it,” said Karen. She looked at the water slides and the people whooping and laughing and splashing around. She’d had to take her glasses off and she was blinking like a befuddled owl. “It’s all echoey. I’m getting goose bumps. And it smells of chemicals.”
“Chlorine,” I told her. “In case any kids pee in the pool.”
Clarissa looked horrified and pulled her feet up out of the water.
“Joke,” I said quickly. “That never happens. Come on.”
We all slid in. The water was only up to our chests...except for Karen, who was up to her chin. “It’s freezing!” she hissed.
“Swim!” said Clarissa. “It’ll warm you up.” And she was gone, powering through the water like a Dolce & Gabbana torpedo.
“So,” said Nat. “ Blue & Red .” We started to walk further into the pool, too busy talking to start swimming but wanting to get our shoulders under the surface.
I grinned. I’d been grinning a lot, since the impromptu audition with Dixon. “I
I winced. I had lost my cool and yelled at suspects a few times, but I hadn’t known that it had gotten back to the captain. And yes, I’d lain awake until four or five in the morning and then missed roll call more than once.
Barnes took a long breath. “This is your last chance,” he told me. “Final warning. Mess up again, you’re gone. Are you hearing me?”
I nodded. I heard him. I just had no idea how to fix myself.
You can’t, said Hux. I’d say you’re royally screwed.
Chapter 8
Jasmine
“It’s cold,” said Karen, dipping her toe in nervously. “Maybe there’s something wrong. Maybe it’s switched off.”
“It’s meant to be that temperature,” said Nat patiently.
Karen blinked. “Really?”
I shook my head. “It’s not cold. It just feels cold because you haven’t got in yet. I still can’t believe you’ve never been swimming!”
“You’re sure you can swim, right?” asked Clarissa. “We don’t want the lifeguard to have to save you.” She looked over at the chair where a six-foot hunk of bronzed magnificence in red shorts sat on high alert. “Although….”
“Yes,” said Karen, oblivious. She was being brave and putting a whole foot into the water, now. “I’m sure I remember swimming lessons when I was a child. Before the cello.”
Clarissa, Nat and I all looked at each other.
“Perhaps we should stay in the shallow end,” I said.
It had been my idea to come to the huge, indoor water park. None of us had been before, which was sort of the point. I thought it was time we did something other than just Fenbrook or Flicker or Harpers. I was buzzing with the news of the screen test, but I still had that feeling that I needed to keep being Jasmine, to keep shoring her up by being silly and fun and lively. Otherwise she might collapse from the inside out, and the cracks would make my friends suspicious.
First rule of fooling people: don’t appear mysterious. If you put up the shields and refuse to answer questions, everyone will want to know what the big secret is. But bouncy, flirty, Jasmine? Everyone already understood what she was, so there was nothing to ask.
We sat on the edge of the pool for a moment, looking down at our reflections in the water. Nat and Karen had gone for one piece bathing suits, Karen blinking nervously, still unused to her new contact lenses. Clarissa was wearing some sort of black and white designer thing that looked like three small handkerchiefs tied together with bootlaces. If her boobs had been as big as Nat’s, let alone mine, it would have been obscene but, as usual, she managed to pull it off with aplomb.
And me? I’d gone for a white and black polka dot bathing suit that looked like the sort of thing a 1940s glamorpuss would have worn as she graced the side of a WWII bomber, together with a cheeky grin and a Come home safely, boys!
“I still don’t get it,” said Karen. She looked at the water slides and the people whooping and laughing and splashing around. She’d had to take her glasses off and she was blinking like a befuddled owl. “It’s all echoey. I’m getting goose bumps. And it smells of chemicals.”
“Chlorine,” I told her. “In case any kids pee in the pool.”
Clarissa looked horrified and pulled her feet up out of the water.
“Joke,” I said quickly. “That never happens. Come on.”
We all slid in. The water was only up to our chests...except for Karen, who was up to her chin. “It’s freezing!” she hissed.
“Swim!” said Clarissa. “It’ll warm you up.” And she was gone, powering through the water like a Dolce & Gabbana torpedo.
“So,” said Nat. “ Blue & Red .” We started to walk further into the pool, too busy talking to start swimming but wanting to get our shoulders under the surface.
I grinned. I’d been grinning a lot, since the impromptu audition with Dixon. “I
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