Stagefright by Carole Wilkinson

Author:Carole Wilkinson [Wilkinson, Carole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781922179470
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Published: 2013-03-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

The holidays hadn’t been as bad as the last ones. Velvet had worked on the script as well as finishing an English assignment. Her dad had found her a cheap Casio electric keyboard in an op shop, so she’d practised her piano pieces. She’d kept the plastic clarinet from Mr MacDonald’s music cupboard and joined a woodwind ensemble organised by the local neighbourhood house. But the highlight of the break had been going to see Annie with her aunt. It wasn’t Velvet’s favourite musical by a long way, but there were some good songs, and she always loved the experience of a live performance. Afterwards, over coffee and cake, she and Aunt Evelyn had a lot of fun working out why the second act was so flawed. The holidays had been quite satisfying, and Velvet no longer cared that her old friends never called her.

Velvet’s first lesson that term was Mandarin. She stood outside the classroom as the other students streamed in, talking about what they’d done during the break. The other thing Velvet had done over the holidays was worry about her woeful Mandarin grades. She’d tried to study, but it still made no sense to her. It wasn’t fair. She was two years behind everyone else, but weeping in the deputy principal’s office had failed to get her out of Chinese.

She’d come up with a plan. It was so radical, she wasn’t sure if she could go ahead with it. Getting a D in a test was bad enough, but what if she failed the exam? She couldn’t bear the thought of having that on her report. Pulling herself up straight, she marched into the classroom and sat down. Next to Drago. A murmur passed through the class. No one ever sat next to Drago.

“’Sup, Corduroy?”

“I need help.”

She took out her books.

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