Olivia's Curtain Call by Lyn Gardner Page B

me.’”
    “Well,” said Olivia, “then you know exactly what being an older sister is like.”
    “Ah,” said Eel. “It’s much worse being a younger sister. You always feel that you cannever catch up. Your big sister has already done everything that you want to do. You can only ever be second best. When I was little, I couldn’t wait to get up on the high-wire and be like Livy. And when I did, I just didn’t have the knack of it like she did. It was obvious I’d never be as good. So I just stopped doing it. I knew I’d never be able to compete with her.”
    Olivia stared at Eel. “You’ve never told me that before. I thought you just weren’t interested in the high-wire. I think Dad did too.”
    Eel grinned and clutched her heart melodramatically. “My heart was broken, and neither of them noticed. Typical.” She paused. “Actually, it wasn’t broken at all, just slightly chipped like an old teacup. I always knew that there must be something I could be better at than Livy, and it turned out to be dancing.” She smiled wickedly. “Although of course that’s not hard. Even a one-legged giraffe would be better than Livy at ballet.”
    Olivia thumped Eel good-naturedly on the shoulder, and Eel thumped her back.
    “You’re so rude to each other,” said Katie.
    “We are. But the point is that if anyone else, even you and Georgia, talked about Eel the wayI talk about her or called her the things I call her, I’d be on your case in an instant.”
    “Yep,” said Eel. “Livy’s always shouting at me and telling me off for things I do. I can recall several death threats. But she’s allowed because I know that if it really ever came to it she’d be on my side. Like I would be on her side. I know she’ll always stand up for me.”
    “Even if you’d done something really terrible?” asked Georgia.
    “Maybe not if I turned into a mass murderer,” said Eel. “Even Livy might draw the line there.”
    Olivia looked thoughtful. “I’ll always be there for her, because she’s my sister. It’s like she’s part of me. There are times when I feel as if I hate her, but it’s like hating a bit of myself. I’d be lost without her. If anything ever happened to Eel, I’d die.”
    “You can’t die just yet, Liv,” said Aeysha, as she and Tom sat down beside them. “You haven’t had your birthday cake and I’ve seen it. It’s totally sick.”
    At that moment Alicia appeared with a triple-decker chocolate cake and put it down on the table that had been set up under the trees.She began to light the candles and Jack started rounding everyone up.
    Olivia stared at the dancing flames as the final strains of “Happy Birthday” died away. It was her moment to make a wish. Just a week ago she’d have wished that she’d get the part of Juliet. But that was behind her now. There was no going back, and there was the summer to look forward to, when she’d be spending lots of time with Tom and her dad. She was about to wish for some really good dates for their act, when she was struck by the glowing faces of those around her. Maybe, she thought, she should wish that Eel would get Matilda, that Aeysha would love her new life at her new school, that her dad would stop being so lonely, and that Katie and Georgia would get their movie. But then she shut her eyes tight and made the simplest wish of all: she just wished that they would all be happy. Every last one of them, including herself.
    After the cake was cut and eaten, there was a small pile of presents to be opened. Jack had got Olivia a book she’d always wanted about women in circus and tickets to a new show from a raved-about Australian circus company at the Barbican. Alicia had bought her a copyof
Hamlet
and got it autographed by five of the best Hamlets of the last decade. Katie, Georgia and Aeysha had clubbed together to buy her a sweatshirt that she’d seen online and liked, and Eel gave her an iPod with the soundtrack to
Matilda
already on it. As