Broadway Baby by Samantha-Ellen Bound

from being the new girl in musical theatre, what it was like to think you had no friends or no one on your side. I didn’t want my best friend Paige to feel like I didn’t care about her or had forgottenabout her just because I had finally started to fit in and make new friends.
    Cadence was really nice, but there was no one like my Paige.
    â€˜Just a sec,’ I said to Cadence.
    I jumped down the steps and pelted after Paige and didn’t stop until I’d wrapped her up in a big bear hug, and then I got Riley into it as well, for good measure.
    â€˜I missed you guys today,’ I said. ‘I hope you were extra mean to Jasmine for me.’
    â€˜Ellie, you’re crushing my ribcage,’ Riley complained, although she was smiling.
    â€˜Let’s do something this afternoon, after I finish rehearsal,’ I said. ‘Ash, too. I have to tell you all about these pink and silver leg warmers I saw online. I would kill for them.’
    â€˜You’re about to kill me right now by crushing me to death,’ Riley wheezed.
    â€˜That sounds nice.’ Paige smiled, finally looking at me.
    â€˜Bring the snakes,’ I said, ‘I’ll need them.’
    I gave them one last squeeze before I went back to Cadence and Mary Poppins .
    New experiences and new friends are very cool and very exciting.
    But there’s nothing like the old ones.

Chapter Seventeen
    â€˜And, grab off, grab off, shuffle slap, hop hop, tap spring, tap spring, ball change, toe stamp!’
    The last stamp sounded like a victory cry, as everyone collapsed and remembered to breathe again.
    We were finally coming to the end of rehearsing our ‘Step in Time’ piece for the variety night.
    Let’s just say that even in my fastest jazz choreography, I had barely been as puffed as this. I’m surprised that any sound came out at all when I sang. Tapping was hard work! But, oh my gosh, the piece looked and sounded amazing.
    We had our costumes! As I said, the tapping troupe for this number was dressed as chimney sweeps. This part of Mary Poppins is when Mary takes Jane and her brother up on the roof and Bert (the leader of the chimney sweeps) shows them that there is always a team of chimney sweeps up there watching out for them and being their guardian angels.
    The rest of the cast (the adults) would come on too, giving depth to the singing when our ferocious tapping made it hard for us to really belt out the words. They acted as poor townspeople and just did some basic jazz. But the chimney sweeps were the realstars! I’d even given my chimney sweep character a name, Charli, after my middle name, Charlotte.

    For our costumes we had three-quarter black pantaloons held up by braces, with grey socks and our shiny new black taps. We also had little pageboy caps, neck kerchiefs and props – chimney sweeps that looked real but were actually made out of tulle so they would be extra light when we were dancing with them.
    My favourite part of the costume, though, was the short-sleeved stripy top we wore underneath the braces. The boys had a maroon colour while the girls were decked out in a deep pink shade that would sparkle when we went under the lights.
    Pink is my favourite colour, of course, so I took it as another good omen.
    Cadence had great fun in dress rehearsal painting pretend soot and dirt on my faceand arms, and teasing my hair into a big fluffy bird’s nest.
    â€˜Don’t forget your tooth!’ She giggled, swiping some paint on one of my teeth.
    â€˜Cadence!’ I protested, pretending to bite at one of her fingers.
    â€˜Oooh!’ said Cadence. ‘I knew chimney sweeps often went hungry, but I didn’t know they were that hungry!’
    â€˜Ain’t no meat on those dainty little digits anyway.’ I mugged, talking in a cockney British accent like how I imagined my character would.
    â€˜Aah!’ squealed Cadence. ‘You’re too