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

really. It’s just a good song, that’s all.’
    Outside, Rob greets us with a grin. ‘That go OK?’ he asks, not waiting for an answer. ‘They’re ready for you now, you’ll be pleased to hear.’
    Rob introduces us to a woman I’ve seen popping in and out, always looking busy. She’s dressed in smart grey jeans and a soft black jacket, with sharp brown eyes and blonde hair scraped back into a bun.
    â€˜This is Janet,’ Rob says. ‘She’s the floor manager. She’ll take care of you.’
    I notice Janet’s radio mic, and the tired look around her eyes. We’re among the last to be seen. It’s almost evening already, and she must have arrived here, like us, long ago. Nevertheless, she gives us a smile.
    â€˜This way.’
    â€˜Good luck, everyone,’ Nell whispers.
    As we troop behind her towards the theatre, where thejudges are, I think about the musical director’s last piece of advice: Loosen up; enjoy yourself.
    Yeah, right.

 
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    Catsuit Girl
    W e creep through the wings, onto the main stage. The judges are sitting at a table facing the stage, just like we imagined, each one spotlit for extra, nerve-racking effect.
    Linus Oakley sits stiffly in the middle. To his left, Sebastian Rules is so relaxed in his chair he’s practically horizontal. But it’s Roxanne Wills who really gets our attention. She’s got one camera zoomed in extra close on her face as we walk in. Perhaps it’s not just in my imagination that we have some sort of connection. Perhaps, somehow, the TV people sense it too.
    â€˜How are you?’ she asks, in a low, husky voice.
    We mutter that we’re fine – which is code for the factthat we’re sick with nerves and we still can’t quite believe we’re here at all.
    Linus checks the notes in front of him. There are lots of them. I think I recognise some of Bert’s upside-down scrawls from our meeting with him just now, but I can’t be sure.
    â€˜You got your backing track ready?’ Roxanne asks.
    We shake our heads. After our success at George’s party, we’ve decided to pare things back.
    â€˜It’s just us and the guitar today,’ Rose explains, after a cough to clear her throat.
    â€˜And we’re doing one of your songs,’ I tell Roxanne. I sound as if I’m being strangled. Roxanne ignores my nerves and beams delightedly.
    â€˜OK,’ Linus calls out, checking that the cameras are in place. ‘Off you go.’
    One of the stage hands comes on, as we requested, with a stool for Rose and her guitar. She sets herself in position on the right-hand end of the group with the guitar in her lap. At this moment, I remember that we didn’t say ‘Seminal leotards’. We meant to, but we got so distracted by following Janet. Too late now. Rose taps her guitar and starts to play the opening chords of ‘I See The Light’.
    Oh. Utterly. Wow. This moment is really happening. I am about to sing Roxanne Wills’s lyrics. TO Roxanne Wills. In a theatre in a space-age HQ. Surrounded by my best friends. Dressed in a catsuit. It’s bizarre, certainly, but possibly in a good way.
    We’ve practised a thousand times, and we know the song backwards. We’ve tried to recreate the feeling we had when we sang it that time at George’s party, after‘Sunglasses’. We launch into our harmony on the second verse and, as far as I can tell, we sound OK. Certainly not a disaster. In my dreams, I’ve pictured the judges leaning in towards us and singing along, like the crowd did then. Maybe even some of the camera crew and producers. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody . . . ?
    â€˜ Stop! ’
    I’m startled out of my daydream. Linus is holding his hand up. He looks frustrated and almost angry. In the silence that follows, the sound of my heart beating is deafening. We