Keeping it Real Read Online Free PDF Page B

said apologetically.
    “No, you had to, honestly,” I gargled, still trying not to breathe. “I should have listened.”
    As I’m sure you realised, hellhounds can’t simply wander into the human dimension and poo wherever they feel like it. Their evil masters are allowed to travel freely throughout the Universe, it’s true, but there’s a total cosmic ban on evil pets, or any other kind of hell trash.
    When I got back to the foyer, I could hear a buzz of voices. I assumed the cast were taking a break then I heard sudden angry shouting.
    “That’s Karmen’s voice!” I said astonished.
    I tiptoed in through the door and saw a handful of kids shrugging on their coats, looking incredibly cheesed-off. One girl was right up in Mr Lupton’s face, almost spitting with fury.
    “I’m as disappointed as you are,” Mr Lupton was saying. “But there’s no way we’re ready to go on in a fortnight. Tonight was a shambles and you know it. We’ve lost too many cast members.”
    “Is Karmen that shouty girl?” Helix asked.
    I shook my head. The girl who was giving Mr Lupton a hard time was strangely similar to my mate, but she had a cute layered bob. Karmen would never cut her hair.
    “I can’t believe you’re doing this!” this girl was yelling. “It’s not the kids’ fault they’ve got problems! If you really cared about us, sir, you’d understand.”
    The girl really did look amazingly like Karmen. But shy little Karms was too timid to yell at anyone, let alone a teacher.
    Mr Lupton gave a nervous hitch to his baggy old cords. “I do care,” he said unhappily. “But there’s a limit to—”
    “It’s STUPID to stop now. We’ve all worked SO hard!”
    “I’m sorry, my answer’s still ‘no’.” He tried to turn away but the girl just barged in front of him. Her dark brown eyes were huge with distress. “What if I could get them all back?” she begged. “What if I go to round them up and we promised to work flat out all day Sunday?”
    This musical had been Mr Lupton’s pet project for years and years. You could tell he totally yearned to be convinced. “But we can’t put this right in two weeks,” he said unhappily.
    “So ask Mrs Threlfall if she’ll let you take us out of lessons until we finish the play! We can DO this, sir. They build gardens in a poxy weekend on TV! Give us one last chance. Please?”
    Omigosh, it was her! That slight lisp on ‘poxy’. Karm’s voice was unmistakable now.
    But where were the others? I knew shy little Karmen wouldn’t have joined the drama group by herself, so why weren’t Sky and Jax here to back her up?
    Mr Lupton gave another hitch to his tired old cords. “All right, one last chance,” he sighed. “I want everyone here by 9.30 on Sunday morning and we’ll just see how it goes.”
    To my amazement, all the cast members cheered. “We won’t let you down, Mr Lupton, I swear,“one girl told him.
    “You’re all right, man,” one of the boys grinned.
    “At least one teacher believes in us,” his mate said grimly.
    Was this REALLY my school? Not to diss my old mates, but Park Hall pupils are not natural joiners. Dreamers yes. Antisocial losers, definitely. Joiners? No way!
    Having saved their production, you’d think that Karmen would want to hang out and celebrate with the rest of the cast, but she just grabbed her parka and flew out of the door.
    Panicking that I’d lose her again, and temporarily forgetting all about hellhounds, I zoomed after her in pursuit.
    Outside my school it was one long traffic jam. A double decker was slowly inching past the school gates. Karms hopped on. I followed her up to the top deck and took the seat beside her.
    My vibes were still tuned to angelic, not human, reality, so Karms couldn’t see me, but I thought she might be able to sense me.
    “Well, this feels weird,” I teased her softly. “I can’t believe I actually didn’t recognise you, Karms - you look so grown-up!”
    It wasn’t just the new