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

don’t look at each other. We don’t dare.
    Linus sighs. He must see the crushed look on our faces, because his scowl fades slightly.
    â€˜It’s not terrible ,’ he says, ‘but it’s not working. What d’you think, Roxy? It’s your song.’
    Roxanne purses her lips. ‘Oh, I don’t know. You’re cute, girls. But it needs . . . something.’
    Linus and Sebastian both nod.
    It probably needs a group of girls who’ve done more than four live performances, to be fair, and who don’t normally just muck around in each other’s bedrooms singing in their pyjamas. I guess I was getting carried away just now.
    â€˜Try losing the guitar,’ Linus calls.
    â€˜No!’ Rose exclaims. The sudden fear in her voice startles me. ‘But I need it!’ she stutters more quietly. ‘Without it we can’t—’
    â€˜Sure you can,’ Linus says. ‘We’ve got the track for that, haven’t we?’
    He looks at Janet, the floor manager, who’s hovering near the wings. She presses her headset to her ear, listening for instructions coming from the control room at the backof the theatre. Ivan Jenks is sitting up there, watching us all and controlling what’s happening. Janet nods. She comes over to collect the guitar, which Rose hands over reluctantly.
    â€˜OK,’ Linus instructs us. ‘Now stand all together. I see you as a girl band. I want to see you moving, like catsuit girl did in your video. I loved the video, by the way.’
    Right. So he loved the video. That’s good. Bert mentioned the video too. Girl band: we can do that. Perhaps I wasn’t getting too carried away.
    â€˜I refuse to jiggle,’ Rose mutters to me through gritted teeth while they quickly sort out the backing track in the wings.
    I give her half a smile.
    â€˜Oh, come on. It’s not jiggling, it’s dancing. You’ll enjoy it.’
    â€˜I won’t,’ she says, grim-faced.
    I sigh. I wish she wouldn’t be so down on herself, or us. I know it’s hardly Ella Fitzgerald, but it’s supposed to be a masterclass and they’re giving us advice.
    â€˜Just do it a little bit, please ,’ I whisper.
    â€˜I hate it. You know that.’
    Poor Rose. She does. Not that she can’t dance: she just doesn’t enjoy it.
    Nell and Jodie get into position. Rose huffs discontentedly, smoothing down her skirt with restless hands. I try and relax my shoulders so I can get into the mood to impress the judges. If they want jiggling, they can have jiggling. Actually, this is what can help me ‘stay loose’, like Bert Blackwell suggested. I try to imagine myself back in my pyjamas, the way I was for the original video. It seems to work.
    The track starts. I know I haven’t got the best vocals, but as we sing I try and remember some of Roxanne’s moves from her video of this song. I have a go at a simplified version and to my left, I can see Nell and Jodie doing their best to follow. To my right, Rose is just about swaying from side to side, but that’s it. This is hardly team spirit. I pirouette. I move my hips. It’s a fun song and it needs some fun presentation. I know Rose isn’t a huge fan of Roxanne’s music, and I’m sorry about the guitar, but I wish she’d at least try.
    At the end, I crowd in with Jodie and Nell, panting, to see what the judges thought this time. Rose stands a little apart.
    Roxanne beams up at us and claps her hands.
    â€˜That was cool. I really liked that. I love you girls.’
    Oh. Wow. I mean, wow.
    At the end of the table, Sebastian Rules shrugs and spoils the moment slightly. ‘You’re OK. It was better. Still not really working, though.’
    â€˜I’d like you to try it again,’ Linus announces. ‘One more time. Give it all you’ve got. You,’ he says, ‘the girl in the catsuit. Move over there.’
    He makes me