Confessions Of A Karaoke Queen Read Online Free PDF Page B

chest, and the more I turn possibilities over in my head, the brighter it becomes. ‘Ruby’s absolutely right. We can do this.’
    ‘Thank you very much!’ Ruby says pointedly to the old man.
    ‘And not just that,’ I continue, warming to my cause. ‘Why stop there? Why not turn the whole place around, make a completely fresh start?’
    ‘I don’t know what you’ve got in mind,’ says Jaz, ‘but it’ll cost money.’ She’s pretending to look disinterested, but those big eyes betray a glimmer of curiosity – I know her too well.
    ‘Mum and Dad left me a cheque book … though realistically speaking there’ll be nowhere near enough in their accounts.’ Suddenly I’m animated. ‘I want to re-do the entire place from floor to ceiling. Let’s change everything. If we can get it back to where it was fifteen years ago—’
    ‘We’ll throw a massive re-launch party for when they get back!’ Ruby cries.
    ‘Yes!’ squeals Jaz, bobbing up and down in her seat. ‘And we’ll get posters done and invite Z-list celebrities and me and Andre’ll get in the back pages of
Hello!
—’
    ‘Yes! And—’
    ‘Hang on a minute,’ I laugh, my head buzzing. ‘One thing at a time. I’ve got to look at ways of saving. I mean there’s always taking out a loan, but to be honest my parents have kind of rinsed that option—’
    ‘We’ll help,’ says Simon, nervously glancing round the table. ‘I mean … won’t we?’
    ‘Of course!’ Jaz grabs my hand. ‘Trim our wages—’
    ‘Nobody’s doing any such thing,’ I interrupt, clocking Archie’s slightly relieved expression. ‘This is my project and my responsibility. Nobody’s giving me anything.’
    Despite the seeming impossibility of what I’m suggesting, I realise I’m shaking. I can make this work. I can totally make this work.
    ‘I’ll move out of my flat,’ I say, almost to myself. ‘I’ll move in here, then all my wages from Simply Voices can go into the bar. I’ll be right on top of it that way, too – I’ll need to be here to oversee the alterations—’
    ‘But, Maddie, it’s
hideous
in here!’ Jaz’s gaze darts across the walls.
    I wave her away. ‘It’ll be fine.’
    Ruby clutches my arm, like we’re war-bound heroes about to storm the beach at Normandy. ‘You can do this,’ she tells me. ‘You can.’
    For a second my confidence falters. ‘What about Mum andDad? I mean, what if I mess things up?’ Yes, I want to do this for me – this is my chance to prove myself as management material – but it’s imagining the look on my parents’ faces that has me wanting to succeed.
    It’s Archie’s turn to speak. ‘If Rick an’ Sapphy ’adn’t trusted you, they wouldn’t ’ave left you in charge.’ He winks at me. ‘Simple as that.’
    Ruby squeezes my hand again. ‘Don’t you see what we’re saying, Maddie?
Use
that trust.’ She shrugs. ‘You can make this happen.’
    And do you know what? I believe her.



Saturday Night
     
    At least I do until about nine p.m.
    ‘Come on,’ says Jaz, popping the top off a bottle of Corona, ‘it’s not
that
bad.’ She takes a slug of the drink and sits down behind the empty bar. In moments she’s back to flicking through her celebrity magazine.
    ‘You think?’ But my words are swallowed up by a ghastly shriek as one of the club’s antique microphones blasts its feedback over a drunken rendition of ‘Nine to Five’. The poor girl singing – one of only four here this evening – winces at her friends apologetically.
    Jaz squeezes a wedge of lime into the neck of her beer.Tonight her dress consists of mini laminated post-its with big black crosses scrawled over each one – I applaud her efforts even when there’s no one around to admire them.
    ‘Check this out.’ She lifts her magazine and shows me the double-page spread.
    I peer in. ‘Ugh!’
    All across Soho, bars and clubs like ours are pulling in the punters, raking in the cash, bringing in the custom. Jaz and I