Read Annabel's Starring Role for Free Online

couldn’t. Could they? She caught Annabel’s eye, and all at once it was obvious that they did. Annabel’s triumphant grin just couldn’t mean anything else. Amy ground her teeth. How did the triplets always manage to come out on top? Well, somehow she was going to get Annabel Ryan – she didn’t know how just yet, but darling Cinderella had better watch out…
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    That afternoon was the first rehearsal for the play. Annabel and Saima were in the hall less than two minutes after the bell went. The rest of the cast trickled in gradually, chatting to each other about the play and their parts. Eventually Ms Loftus strode in, looking pleased to see everyone there already. She was followed by various other members of staff – Mr Becket, the Music teacher who’d been at the auditions; Mrs Cranmer, one of the Art teachers; Miss Davies, the Textiles teacher, and, scarily enough, Mr Hatton.
    â€œWhat’s he doing here?” muttered Annabel to Saima in horror.
    â€œNo idea,” Saima mouthed back at once, wide-eyed.
    Ms Loftus stood in the middle of the hall, with the other teachers gathered slightly sheepishly around her. “Hello everybody, and welcome to our first rehearsal! Now, we don’t have a huge amount of time – only five weeks until the performance!” Everyone groaned. “So we need to work really hard. Because there’s a lot to do in a short time, I’ve been lucky enough to get lots of other staff to help, as you can see. Mrs Cranmer will be doing scenery and Miss Davies will be organizing the costumes, which is great, and they’ll be asking for volunteers to help out. They’ll be making lists of people at the end of the rehearsal, so have a think about that, please. Mr Becket is in charge of the singing, as you know, and I’m delighted to say that Mr Hatton will be giving me a hand with the direction and the backstage crew.”
    Mr Hatton smiled grimly, and everyone in the cast stared back, slightly gobsmacked. He was the last teacher they’d expect to be helping with the school play – it was more his style to be complaining about the amount of homework time it took up.
    â€œSo, let’s get going everyone. Mr Becket has your scripts” – the Music teacher was struggling under a huge pile of paper – “so if you could take one each. And please remember that that is your only copy .”As a Drama teacher, Ms Loftus was perfectly able to breathe accents of death into those words. “If you lose your script, I will not be giving you another one. You’ll just have to borrow one and photocopy it.”
    The entire cast descended on Mr Becket, who had the sense to dump the scripts on the stage and run before he disappeared under the flailing mass. Eventually, everyone had managed to secure a script, and people trotted back to their perches, eager to see how many lines they’d ended up with.
    Annabel flicked excitedly through the script, nodding with pleasure as she saw how many of the pages Cinderella appeared on. By about two-thirds of the way through, she was starting to look a little anxious. She looked over at Saima, who was reading her big scene, where she transformed Annabel, and obviously imagining herself in a glittery Fairy Godmother costume.
    Saima glanced up, and grinned at her. “Isn’t this brilliant? I’m so excited.” Then she appeared to read Annabel’s mind. “You know, you’ve got loads of words. It’s a fantastic part. And two solos as well.”
    â€œMmmmm.” Annabel smiled, but rather worriedly.
    Saima looked more carefully at her. “Are you panicking about learning the lines?”
    â€œA bit. I hadn’t thought there’d be so many. I’m on almost every page!”
    â€œIt’ll be OK. You’ve got Becky and Katie to help you learn them, for a start – my mum and dad are always so busy, I can’t see them