The Drowning Read Online Free

Tamsyn,with gratitude.
    After twenty years in the business, she’d helped so many people find fame and fortune . . . She was always so generous with her time, so loving. If only Mum could be more like that . . .
    “Night,Tammy.”
    “Good night, Jenna. Sleep well.”
    She slid off the bus, breathing the air that heaved in from the sea. The land smelt of the first softening of early spring.
    She pushed open the door of Lelant’s village hall.
    Inside, lights, voices, laughter and bustle greeted her: Leah testing the CDs were in good working order; several girls limbering up at the barre; others gossiping in a huddle; Leah’s youngest daughter, Georgie, sitting on the floor in a purple leotard eating a bag of crisps.
    At the end of term they were planning to give a show for charity and one of the mothers had brought in some material for the costumes. It lay in crushed piles of glittering silver and gold on the small platform.
    Jenna’s two best friends, Imogen and Morvah, broke from the group and came flying towards her. She’d known them both since she was four years old. In many ways, they’d grown up together, each at different schools but meeting week after week at Leah’s classes. The initials of their names spelt JIM and Dad always called them the Three Jimmys . . .
    Now she steeled herself for their greetings and the inevitable question: “Hi, Jenn! Have you had any news yet?”
    Leah spotted the strain on Jenna’s face and called a swift halt to the chatter.
    “Right, girls, let’s get to work . . . Exercises first, then I want to do some more choreography to the three opening routines for the show. Easter’s round the corner and we’ve still got tons of work to do.”
    Jenna got through the class feeling as if her body was moving on automatic pilot. She hadn’t been to Leah’s class since the end of the previous week and already she felt her limbs were stiffer, less supple than they should be.
    Usually I’d be completely absorbed in this . . .
    Now all I can think of is how much I want to be in Covent Garden,in the Academy’s ground-floor studio,the wheels of trucks and cars whizzing past the window, Nick making the piano sing like a lark.
    “Jenna.” Leah beckoned to her at the end of class as the other girls clambered up the stairs to the changing room. “Could I have a quick word?”
    “Sure.” Perspiration dripped down Jenna’s back.
    “Are you OK?” Leah looked anxiously into Jenna’s eyes. “Are you coping?”
    “With the waiting for news?” Jenna shivered slightly, her limbs rapidly losing their warmth. “Just about . . . Sorry, Leah, I danced badly tonight.”
    “Nobody else noticed . . . Look, I was wondering . . . Would you like to dance a solo for me in the new show?”
    Jenna gasped. “I’d love to.”
    “Great. I’ll choreograph a dance specially for you. Come to my studio on Sunday afternoon . . . We can start work on it then, one to one.”
    “Thanks, Leah.” Jenna grasped her arm. “I mean, really, thank you.”
    “Go and get changed. Quickly, or you’ll miss the bus.”
    Jenna turned to race up the stairs into the changing room.
    “And Jenna—”
    “Yes?”
    “Good luck . . . Ring me the minute you have news.”
    Jenna stared at the front door as the letters slid through the box.
    She knelt and picked up the post.
    Two bills for Dad, a letter for Mum, junk mail . . .
    And a letter postmarked “The Urdang Academy” for somebody called Miss J. Pascoe.
    Jenna sat in the middle of the hall.
    She could smell the mouth-watering scent of Dad’s freshly baked bread coming from the tearoom kitchen.
    She heard Mum’s voice, shouting across the inner courtyard: “Where are all the clean serviettes, Elwyn? They’re supposed to be in the corner cupboard.”
    Upstairs, Benjie rumbled his train set around his bedroom floor.
    Jenna clawed at the envelope.
    The notepaper shook between her fingers. The words danced in front of her eyes, upside down. She hunched her