Maya's Secret by Holly Webb Page B

really known her a couple of weeks.” Maya slumped forward, leaning her chin on her arms. “It isn’t just them, though. It would mean everybody knows.”
    Her mum sighed. “I know. But it’s your friends that matter, Maya. The important thing is that you know your friends won’t change when you tell them the truth.”
    Maya sniffed. “We might sell out of tickets,” she muttered.
    “If you don’t, I’ll be having words with my agent. So… Yes? I can go and phone her office now if you like. Get a publicist on to it.”
    “OK.” Maya sat up slowly. “I’d better tell the others tomorrow.”

EIGHT
    Emily climbed on to the bus looking a bit nervous, and she hesitated next to Maya’s seat, as if she wasn’t sure it was OK to sit down.
    Maya patted it. “Come on.”
    “So you’re still talking to me, then?” Emily muttered.
    “If you’re talking to me…”
    “I was being really unfair. I sort of knew it anyway, and then Poppy called me last night. She said you’d been doing loads of work, and I shouldn’t have gone on at you. Anyway, I’m really sorry. And I know it was all your idea. You can’t give up on it, Maya, it’s special.”
    “I know. I don’t want to. I think I’ve sorted out the problem with the tickets, too.” Maya smiled, and then sighed.
    “How?” Emily asked excitedly. “Did you get ananswer out of the local paper? Are they going to put it in?”
    “Yeah. Kind of. Do you mind if I wait till we get to school and tell you all in one go? It’s a bit difficult to explain.”
    Emily nodded slowly, and there was an uncomfortable silence for a couple of minutes. “How’s the dancing going?” Maya asked at last.
    “It’s good,” Emily muttered. “Lily and Maisie, you know, the twins in Year Five? They do a ballet duet together, they said did we want them to do it at the show. I said probably. Was that all right?”
    “Sounds good to me.” Maya twirled her hair round her fingers nervously. She really hoped her friends weren’t going to be too weird about her news. She felt odd chatting with Emily the rest of the way to school – they both seemed to be trying too hard, and there were great big gaps, and then they’d both try to talk at once. It was as though they’d forgotten how to talk to each other properly.
    They hurried off the bus, and Maya hated feeling relieved.
    “So, do you want to find Poppy and Izzy then?” Emily asked uncomfortably.
    “Mm. Sorry, Emily. I know I’m being weird.”
    Emily shrugged, but Maya suspected her feelings were hurt, and she sighed miserably. This was going to be a disaster.
    “You’re talking to each other then?” Poppy asked, smiling with relief, as she and Izzy saw them coming.
    “Um, yes.”
Or trying to
, anyway, Maya added silently to herself.
    “Maya wants to tell us all something,” Emily muttered. She was obviously trying not to sound grumpy, and Maya grinned at her gratefully.
    Maya perched on the railings outside the main door, and looked round at the others, all staring at her. “I think I’ve sorted the publicity out. I mean, we’re going to get lots of it.”
    “Really? That’s amazing!” Poppy beamed at her. “How?”
    Maya was silent for a moment, eyeing her shoes. Eventually she dragged her eyes up again. “My mum got her agent to call the paper. And the local TV news as well.”
    “Her
agent
?” Emily repeated.
    “Well, her publicist, I think.”
    “What’s that?” Poppy whispered to Emily, but not quietly enough.
    “It’s someone who makes sure Mum’s in the newsenough. And for the right things.”
    “Is your mum an actress?” Izzy asked, frowning.
    Poppy nodded as she finally understood. “Is this why you never talk about her?”
    “Sort of. But she’s not actually an actress, she’s a singer.” Maya took a deep breath. “She doesn’t use my dad’s name, and I do, so her surname isn’t Knight like me. She’s India Kell.”
    All three of them stared at her.
    “You might not have