How to Get Famous by Pete Johnson Page A

other. Then
all of a sudden her voice ripped through
the room. 'Take off your balaclavas . . . '
Then she screeched, 'Now!' The two guys
obeyed instantly. And they were just lads –
no more than about sixteen, I'd say.
    She then took the bag of money they'd
stolen and actually handed it to me for a
moment. 'Nearly two thousand pounds in
there,' she muttered. I thought of saying,
to cheer things up a bit, 'Well, thanks for
the tip, I'll be off now,' but decided against
it. There are some moments which you
just can't cheer up. And this was definitely
one of them.
    So then I put the money on the table and
she said, suddenly and eerily calm, 'Go
and get help now. Sid should be close by
somewhere.' That's when it finally hit me
with huge force that this wasn't some wild
improvisation exercise, it was REAL.
    As I was leaving, the woman was asking
the boys where they'd got their gun from
and they really didn't want to tell her. But
they'd already morphed from being highly
menacing to sulky and frightened
schoolboys.
    I sped off and found Sid fairly quickly.
Would you believe? he was Moth-man from
the first day of the auditions. He can move
fast though, I'll give him that. When I told
him what had happened he sprinted off
while talking into his mobile.
    He took the gun from the woman whose
name I found out is Bea. Then some other
people turned up and Bea and I went into
this staffroom, where she made us both a
cup of tea. She told me what had happened
to her.
    She'd just finished cashing up all the
takings and sorting out the tickets for
tomorrow's performance when these two
guys in balaclavas had burst in. They
grabbed the money and told her to get
down on the floor. Bea called out 'Help!'
once, before getting coshed on the head.
    Then I explained that I'd been hanging
about outside because I felt a bit sick.
    'You were very brave coming to my
rescue,' she said. I wasn't really, though,
because most of the time I thought it was
some crazy acting stunt – but I didn't
argue with her. She went on to say I was
her guardian angel, which I rather liked.
    Then the police turned up to take statements
and there was this other guy there
too with very piercing alert eyes. He
chatted to me for ages.
    Suddenly I heard all these people traipsing
out of the theatre. The Secret Garden was over. I'd sort of forgotten it was on –
there'd been so much going on here. The
police had finished with me then, so I
rushed round to the dressing rooms.
    Georgia and her mum were being congratulated
by everyone. Alicia Kay danced
in and gave Georgia this massive hug. And
I just stood there watching all this, kind of
dazed and bewildered.
    Then Georgia and her mum asked me,
almost in unison where I'd gone. 'You
missed the whole of the second half,' said
Georgia's mum in shocked tones. Then I
told them how ill I'd been. And Georgia
said that I didn't look very well now and
then gently added that I had a little piece
of vomit nestling on my chin.
    So all the time I'd been waving that gun
about I'd had sick gleaming about my
person. Some hero I am. But why didn't
anyone tell me? And I don't mean the two
robbers. But surely Bea could have let me
know.
    Anyway, I didn't tell Georgia about my
bit of action. It just didn't seem fair on her
night of her triumph. Especially as she
was babbling about this girl in Year
Nine at her school who'd come up to
congratulate her afterwards. And anyway,
I felt a bit shaky. In the car on the way
back I even began to shiver.
    'Poor boy, you're really not at all well,
are you?' said Georgia.
    But actually, I was thinking about the
robbers and me holding that gun. I can be
a bit slow sometimes. And it was only now
I fully realized what had happened
tonight.
    When I got home I didn't tell my parents
anything about it either. I decided that
tonight's events were just a moment of
sheer cosmic weirdness. And they didn't
belong anywhere in my life.

Chapter Twelve

    SATURDAY APRIL 17TH
    Woke up feeling distinctly shivery and
then Mum