The Rapunzel Dilemma Read online

  Lily felt the blood drain from her face. All around her she could see people staring, a couple smirking, a few squirming with embarrassment, and the rest just looking sorry for her. She wanted to close her eyes, to disappear through a crack in the floorboards, to leap up and run from the room and never come back.

  But the Dane hadn’t finished.

  ‘Now we’ll consider the technical shortcomings.’ Lily’s heart sank even further. ‘I have seldom heard such a pale rendering of this text. Your voice was unsupported throughout and your diction unforgivably sloppy.’

  Lily stared at the floor.

  ‘Do me the courtesy to attend when I go to the trouble of critiquing you.’ Arathula Dane spoke as if she were insulted. Lily slowly raised her eyes, her cheeks flushing crimson.

  ‘It was not only the voice – there was no believable physical response to the role. You looked as though you were held together with wire.’ The Dane sighed again. ‘I won’t go into specifics, there was simply too much wrong and we don’t have time. To sum up: the imaginative failing, the lack of any vocal or bodily command – none of this adds up to a performance.’

  She folded her arms and stared sternly at Lily. ‘Frankly, at this point I find it hard to think you could ever have a career in the theatre. And the worst of it is: you are altogether too thrilled with yourself to even begin to understand what I am telling you.’

  Lily sat there, her eyes fixed on the Dane as she nodded like an automaton at the harsh, unsparing words. They resounded in her brain, etching themselves into her memory, leaving her numb and motionless while she felt herself shrinking inside.

  The bell rang, but Lily did not move. She felt as if her smile had been stapled to her face and it was only after the room had emptied that she forced herself to stand, gather her things, and follow the silent rush of students out into the corridor.

  She was last out the door and she emerged straight into a babble of voices:

  ‘Oh my god, how bad was that!’

  ‘I feel like I’ve been sliced into tiny pieces.’

  ‘It could have been worse.’

  ‘I don’t see how.’

  ‘That was torture!’

  ‘Horrible.’

  ‘What did she mean I was “unconvincing”?’

  ‘At least she understood you.’

  ‘How about what she said to Lily?’

  ‘I know, how bad was that?’

  ‘She got it worse than any of us.’

  ‘I actually felt sorry for her.’

  ‘Me, too.’

  ‘It was brutal.’

  ‘I’m glad it wasn’t me –’ Rachel broke off, as she realised Lily was behind her.

  ‘Are – are you okay?’ she asked, her face flushing with embarrassment.

  ‘Fine, thanks,’ said Lily tightly. ‘You?’

  ‘Yeah, okay. The Dane sure was tough, though.’

  ‘Yes, she was,’ replied Lily shortly and moved quickly down the hall. Behind her she could hear people still talking about the Dane’s critique. She put her hands over her ears and practically ran into the nearest empty classroom.

  Only it wasn’t empty.

  In a corner of the room, wrapped together in a clinch that brought the blood rushing to Lily’s face, were Mae-Ling Chen and Darcy Johnson!

  Lily backed out of the room as fast as she could and headed upstairs. She didn’t think they’d seen her but she couldn’t get the image of Darcy kissing Mae-Ling out of her mind.

  What did it mean? Did Max know that Darcy was interested in Mae-Ling, as well? Or was Darcy just using Max and pretending to be gay?

  Worst of all, what – if anything – should she say to Max?

  As she ran up the stairs, all Lily could think of was how glad she was that she’d arranged to spend the weekend away from the Academy. In less than an hour she’d be meeting Angel and Nick at St Pancras Station. If anyone could help her forget the Dane’s horrible critique and advise her on whether she should tell Max she’d seen Darcy kissing Mae-Ling, it was Angel.

  Lily wouldn’t even think about the dreadful things the Dane had said until she was back at the Academy on Sunday night. She’d have a brilliant weekend with Angel and Nick and live entirely in the moment.

  The trouble was that while she managed to push her dad’s ultimatum and Max and his horrible boyfriend from her mind, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop the Dane’s critique from echoing in her head.

  She ran into her bedroom, grabbed her wallet and iPod, and reached under her pillow for her phone. It was blinking and she saw she had a message from Angel. She opened it and her heart sank.

  Darling Lily,

  I tried to call you, but you didn’t pick up, so I know you’ll be in class without your phone. I am SO sorry, but I can’t get to London for our weekend. There’s been a catastrophe with the collection and Monsieur Vidal needs all the staff to stay here until it’s sorted. I won’t bore you with the details but I PROMISE to make it up to you. I called Nick and he says he can do next weekend. I can, too, so I’m hoping that suits you. Please forgive me, Lily. I hate letting you down like this but I know you’ll have an amazing weekend anyway. Say hi to your friends for me, but remember I’m still your first best friend and loving sister.

  Always,

  Angel xx

  Lily felt a sudden urge to burst into tears. Of all the moments for Angel to cancel, this was the worst.

  She sank onto her bed, picked up Cinnamon and stared across at Charlotte’s Charlie Bear leaning complacently against her pillow. A golden sun-shaped medallion with the words Shine On had been added to the other two medallions on the ribbon around his neck and for a moment Lily wondered whether Charlotte had a secret boyfriend at the Academy.

  She reached absently for her mother’s locket and felt a sudden surge of adrenaline when she realised there was nothing around her neck. For a moment panic clouded her brain and then she remembered she’d put it in her locker before Combat and forgotten to collect it during lunch.

  She shoved her things into her duffel bag, slid off the bed and headed for the locker room. When she got there she was glad to find it empty. She had no wish for smug looks or mocking comments. It was hard enough having the Dane’s words resounding in her head. Lily was still thinking about the Dane’s critique when she realised there was an envelope stuck to her locker door.

  With a trembling hand she pulled it off and opened it. The type seemed even blacker and bolder than before:

  NOW WE ALL KNOW

  YOU’RE NOT AN ACTOR.

  YOU’RE JUST A RICH KID

  WITH NO TALENT.

  It was the last straw. Lily grabbed her bag and ran.

  CHAPTER 27

  Lily ran up the tower stairs as if a horde of angry theatre critics was behind her.

  By the time she reached the top, her lungs were burning and her breath felt like a rasp inside her chest. She paused at the last step, sucking in great gulps of air and almost relishing the pain. Somehow the physical hurt was easier to bear than the intangible pain of criticism, abandonment and hate.

  She pushed open the door and stepped inside. The sun was setting, filling the room with such a dazzling golden light that she held up her hand against the rays. She could see the dust motes rise as she stepped forward and the incandescent swirl made everything look hazy, as if she was seeing through a fine mist.

  It took her a moment to focus, and when she did, she still wasn’t sure she was seeing things clearly.

  Ronan was sitting on the window seat, the great arched window behind him and the London skyline beyond. He’d taken down the black curtain and the setting sun cast him as a silhouette: a black figure encased in flames with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms clasped tightly around them.

  She couldn’t see his face clearly because of the light, but Lily knew he was looking straight at her and she suspected he was smiling.

  She moved closer and when she was about a foot away, she stopped and sta
red down at him. ‘You’re here,’ she whispered, as if a louder sound would break something inside her.

  ‘You had your critique today,’ he said simply. ‘I thought you might need me.’

  She nodded, grateful for his understanding.

  ‘Was it bad?’

  She nodded again, feeling that if she spoke she would break apart and never find a way to put herself back together.

  ‘You need to get out of here.’

  Lily was startled into speaking. ‘I don’t want to leave the Academy. I want to keep learning, even if I’m never good enough –’

  ‘No, I meant that you’re meeting your friends,’ interrupted Ronan. ‘Don’t you have the whole weekend planned?’

  She shook her head. ‘Angel had to cancel. Major couture emergency in Paris.’ Lily tried to smile and failed miserably.

  ‘Right,’ said Ronan. ‘In that case, we need to execute Plan B.’

  ‘Sorry?’ said Lily. ‘I don’t follow.’

  ‘I know you don’t, but maybe you need to.’ Ronan uncoiled himself from the window seat and stood up. ‘Follow me, I mean.’ He pushed on the latch and to Lily’s surprise the window swung open.

  Ronan threw his leg over the windowsill and held out his hand to her. ‘Come on.’

  She stepped forward, peered out the half-open window and pulled back in a hurry. ‘I’m not going out there.’

  Ronan flashed her a grin. ‘Why not? It’s perfectly safe.’

  ‘Safe?’ squeaked Lily. ‘It’s about a hundred feet straight down.’

  ‘These past two weeks I’ve done it plenty of times. How do you think I usually get in here? It’s not like the stage door’s always unlocked,’ said Ronan, his eyes dancing.

  ‘I don’t care how you got in, I just know I’m not going out that way.’ She stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. ‘Who are you?’ she asked suddenly.

  ‘Just a guy.’ He swung his legs over the windowsill. ‘Come on, Rapunzel, time to get out of the tower.’

  And, before Lily could protest, he flung himself off the ledge and disappeared.

  Somehow she managed not to scream. She clambered onto the window seat and peered over the sill, her heart pounding. Was Ronan lying dead in the street below?

  But there was nothing down there. Not that Lily could see, anyway. About ten feet beneath the window, the corner of Pendragon’s roof almost touched the Academy wall and she could see how easily someone could traverse it to reach the tower.

  Which was precisely what Ronan had done.

  He was crouching on the roof below the windowsill grinning up at her. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Just throw your legs over and jump. I’ll make sure you don’t fall.’

  ‘Promise?’ said Lily, surprising herself.

  ‘Promise,’ replied Ronan.

  Lily hesitated. What was she thinking? She couldn’t leave the Academy without permission.

  Except, she had permission – she had a weekend pass. Okay, she was supposed to be going out with Angel and Nick, not climbing out a window with Ronan Carver, but Angel had cancelled and nobody knew.

  Still, if she thought it was scary going out the window, it’d be a lot scarier if she got caught.

  But there was no reason to get caught. No one knew about her room in the tower, and Charlotte and Gemma and Phoebe would just assume she’d left for the weekend with her friends. Provided Lily came back in one piece, no one would know where she’d been.

  It was a risk, though. She peered out of the tower again and her long, thick plait fell forward over the sill, obscuring her view.

  Rapunzel. That was what Ronan had called her and maybe he was right. Maybe Lily had been in a tower all her life. Arathula Dane’s critique echoed in her head: ‘Naïve, shallow and artificial! Where is the emotional depth? The understanding of human experience? I see only a sheltered child who knows nothing of the world.’

  Well, maybe it was time she went out and saw the world. It was just there, beyond the window, waiting for her.

  Ronan had promised not to let her fall. All she had to do was jump.

  She tucked the end of her plait into her hairband and peered out again. Ronan was standing on the roof below, looking up at her.

  And suddenly, before she could think of all the reasons not to, Lily threw first one leg and then the other over the windowsill, rolled onto her stomach and pushed off. A moment later she was hanging by her fingertips, panic pouring through her body as she looked down and saw only the street a long way below.

  ‘I can’t,’ she gasped and then she heard Ronan’s voice, calm and comforting.

  ‘It’s okay, I’ve got you.’

  The panic began to recede as she felt his hand on her foot, then on her leg and a second later his arms were wrapped around her knees. ‘You can let go now, Lily.’

  Taking a breath she released the windowsill, and let Ronan take her weight. He held her for a moment, then gradually let her slide through his arms until her feet touched the hard slate surface of the roof. They stood there, pressed together, Lily drawing great gasping gulps of air while Ronan kept his arms tight around her.

  ‘You okay?’ he asked and she could feel his breath on her hair.

  She wanted to turn in his embrace, lay her head against his chest and just stay there until the memory of the Dane’s words faded away. Instead she put her hands on his arms and stepped out onto the roof.

  ‘I’m fine,’ she replied, pulling her plait free. ‘Where to now?’ she asked, looking out across the rooftops and trying not to think of falling.

  ‘This way,’ said Ronan and practically ran across the roof to the chimney about fifty feet away. The roof wasn’t steep, but its pitch was enough to make Lily move slowly, with her heart in her mouth and her hands tightly gripping the metal gable. It was a gigantic relief when she reached the chimney. She clutched the chimney pot and looked around her.

  Below them she could see Pendragon and, beyond the art school, London’s rooftops stretching away into the distance.

  ‘Wow,’ she said, and meant it. ‘It’s another world.’

  Ronan smiled. ‘And high time you got out and saw it.’ He took her hand. ‘Come on.’

  ‘Where are we going?’ asked Lily as he led her past the chimney and helped her down onto an adjoining rooftop.

  ‘Along there,’ he said, pointing to a row of terrace houses. ‘There’s a fire escape to the street at the far end.’

  Lily nodded, relieved to see that the roofs were mostly flat. ‘You’ve done this before,’ she said as she followed Ronan from roof to roof.

  ‘Whenever the walls start closing in,’ he replied. He reached the end of the last house and grabbed hold of the metal bars at the top of the fire escape. ‘Home straight,’ he said and disappeared over the edge. Lily followed him, relieved that climbing down a ladder was something she could do without her heart practically bursting out of her chest.

  When she reached the ground, Ronan was waiting for her, leaning against a street lamp. The orange light made a halo around his head, but there was nothing saintly in his expression. ‘Ready for some fun?’ he asked, and she thought she could see fire dancing in his eyes.

  ‘Sure,’ replied Lily. ‘What have you got in mind?’

  ‘A whole lot of firsts,’ he said, grinning. ‘I’m going to show you the real world.’

  CHAPTER 28

  Ronan grabbed her hand and set off down the street. Lily had to jog to keep up with him.

  They turned a corner and were just in time to see a red double-decker bus pull up at the stop across the road.

  ‘Quick,’ cried Ronan and sprinted for the bus. They clambered aboard, climbed the stairs and collapsed into a seat at the front.

  It was Lily’s first time on a London bus – she’d always taken black cabs before. She looked about eagerly. Night had fallen but the city was well lit and she could see several interesting buildings and the occasional gated garden as they trundled down the road.

  ‘Where
are we going?’ she asked Ronan.

  ‘Shoreditch.’

  ‘You mean, Shoreditch as in “Oranges and Lemons” Shoreditch?’

  ‘When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch,’ he recited, nodding. ‘The very same.’

  ‘Why there?’ asked Lily as the bus turned into Clerkenwell Road.

  ‘Lots of reasons,’ he replied. ‘Brick Lane Market, restaurants, bars, art galleries, Cargo, Catch, Medicine Bar – they’re why most people go to Shoreditch.’

  ‘Are those last three nightclubs?’ asked Lily, staring at him uncertainly. ‘Because you know I’ll never get in.’

  Ronan’s eyebrows slanted together and the golden flecks in his eyes sparkled. ‘If you want to get in, I can get you in – but first there’s something I want to show you.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It’s a surprise,’ said Ronan, putting his arm around her.

  They sat in companionable silence as the bus progressed on its stop-start journey to Shoreditch. It wasn’t long before Ronan got up and rang the bell. ‘This is where we get off,’ he said, swinging down onto the footpath.

  The evening was mild and there were people everywhere. Ronan took Lily’s hand and led her through the throng. He moved quickly and easily, and he kept her close as they wended their way through the brightly lit market.

  Beyond the market there were more shops selling everything from art to antiques, fashion, jewellery and handcrafts. It was crowded and noisy, but Lily liked the feeling of being out among the people, seeing a part of London she would never have explored on her own.