At one point while rehearsing a scene with her on the tiny stage at the end of the church hall, Brian had stood at her side, staring into the audience (which consisted of Harry and a few of the other actors who would be needed later in the scene), and addressed a whole speech to her, without looking at her once. Jazz had started a slow frown at Brian, then turned to look at Harry, pointed at Brian, then herself, and mouthed very slowly, “Is he talking to me?” while Brian spoke. There were various titters from the audience but Harry wasn't amused. Instead he interrupted poor Brian mid-speech with a scornful,
“What are you doing, Brian?”
Brian froze. “I - I -”
“Lizzy is standing next to you,” said Harry as if to a retarded chimpanzee. Brian turned and looked at Jazz blankly. She grinned at him and did a little wave. Brian didn't wave back. God, everyone was in such a bad mood, she thought. Wasn't this supposed to be fun?
“Move to your right, Brian.” Harry's voice was full of cold fury.
Brian was so terrified that he moved to his left, blocking Jazz entirely. She started giggling and waved to Harry from behind Brian.
Harry was unimpressed.
“YOUR RIGHT!” he bellowed. Brian leapt to his right, revealing a beaming Jazz behind him.
“Hello again,” said Jazz. “Who turned the lights out?” She was having a brilliant time.
Eventually, after Harry had tried every trick in the book to get Brian to move to the right place at the right time - to no avail - he finally instructed him to stand stock still throughout the entire scene. It would have been what Darcy would have done anyway, Harry concluded.
Watching Jack Hayes rehearse, on the other hand, was a pure delight. His movements, his voice and his expression were now to Jazz utterly Bingley. And he could switch it on in seconds. He could also repeat the same line hundreds of times without showing the slightest bit of impatience or fatigue. And every time Harry gave him some other idea or movement to add to his words, he seemed sincerely grateful. She had to admit it - Harry Noble knew what he was doing. With just a change of tone or slight twist of the body, he could transform Jack's performance beyond recognition, adding layers of meaning to the simplest of words. She began to see what Harry had meant by the word "honesty" when describing good acting. It was as if Jack wasn't acting at all, but speaking from his heart. Jazz wondered why the actor wasn't more famous. She mentioned this to Sara one day, while they were both sitting next to each other on stage, waiting for Brian and Jack to be blocked by Harry.
“Oh, he's a genius,” replied Sara in a stage-whisper. “It runs in the family, you know,” she added, with a self-mocking smile that didn't suit her and a faraway look that did.
Flabbergasted, Jazz discovered that they were brother and sister. “But he hasn't got the drive that Harry has,” sighed Sara. “It's a tragedy. That's why he'll never be great, like Harry. They were at RADA together.” She was off on her favourite subject. “That's how Harry and I met. I was still at college then, but that's when I decided my future. I would be an actress.”
Jazz knew that being an actress wasn't the only part of her future Sara had decided on when she met Harry. As far as she was concerned, they would make the perfect pair.
“They're quite simply blood brothers,” Sara went on. “Jack would lay down his life for Harry. And Harry guides Jack completely.”
Jazz was intrigued by Sara's definition of blood relationships.
Possibly the nicest thing about Jack though, was that he was quite obviously head over heels in love with her sister. At every possible opportunity during rehearsals he would find his way to George's side and the two would talk as if no one else was in the room. To be honest, Jazz couldn't work out whether their roles as lovers had added to their mutual attraction, but nevertheless, it was fascinating to watch them at work. Jazz always enjoyed observing sexual chemistry between two people, but when it was between her sister and someone that Jazz liked, it gave her a particularly warm glow. Whenever he looked at George, Jack's eyes looked like they had little lightbulbs behind them, they were so bright. Every now and then, when George looked briefly away to offer him a glimpse of her face from a different angle, Jazz noticed that he would quickly blink, slightly self-consciously, and clear his throat. Then when George looked back, his eyes shone straight at her and his smile widened. Every now and then he would lightly touch her arm or her back, and she would either smile disarmingly sweetly or she would not, just to ensure that he didn't get cocky. And then she would lean forward or tilt her head towards him, so that he had to try and hide the fact that he was now forcing his attention on her face and away from her smooth, honey-coloured bustline. Until she flicked her hair back or pretended to look at the floor for a moment, giving him just enough time to take it in. She was a master at her unspoken art, marvelled Jazz, stopping herself from giving her sister a well-deserved ovation.
“This is it, Jazz,” George said as she dropped Jazz home after rehearsal number three. “I've finally met Mr. Right. Jack is everything I've ever been looking for. Have you noticed how white his teeth are when he smiles? He's going to be famous one day, I know it.”
“Hmmm,” replied Jazz, explicitly. “What about Action Man?”
George went quiet. Jazz wasn't going to let her get away with that.
“Are you just going to pretend he doesn't exist or do the decent thing and give him the elbow?”
“I'll do the decent thing,” said George quietly. “As soon as Jack does something indecent.”
“You are incorrigible. Spare a thought for those of us living a happy single existence.”
“You won't be single for long. I've seen the way Wills looks at you.”
Jazz was taken aback. She'd certainly been enjoying rehearsals that little bit more whenever Wills was there. It wasn't as if they flirted with each other, they just had a lot in common. A shared disdain for Harry Noble, for one thing. It seemed they were the only two who felt the same about him. No one else seemed to realise that his rudeness would be unacceptable if he weren't so bloody famous. Yes, he was a good director — not that Jazz knew much about directing. But she did know about people, and Harry Noble was a nightmare. As far as Jazz was concerned there was no excuse for it. Oscar or no Oscar. Dynasty or no dynasty. Adonis or no Adonis.
And then during rehearsal number four, she had a scintillating conversation with Wills about the side of Harry Noble that no one sees.
It happened when they were having a coffee break together. The morning had been exhausting. Harry had been trying to get Brian to be more arrogant in his first scene. Jazz had been astonished by how rude he was to his cast. She even pitied the obnoxious critic.
“For God's sake, Brian,” shouted Harry, pulling his hands through his hair. “You're an obscenely wealthy, devastatingly handsome, ridiculously eligible man. Not a nervous supply teacher.”
Brian went puce with embarrassment.
“For Christ's sake, man, stand tall,” and Harry walloped him on the back and almost punched him in the stomach. “Darcy has no concept that anything he does is wrong. He is rude, arrogant and condescending. Watch me.”
Jazz and Wills exchanged some eloquent eye-contact and Jazz was surprised by the intensity of a short, sharp ripple of excitement at this recognition that Wills shared her secret opinion of Harry. Their director was blissfully unaware that he shared all of Darcy's worst personality traits. And unlike everyone else, only she and Wills were shrewd enough to look beyond his fame and money to see him for what he really was.
They watched in astonishment as Harry manhandled Brian out of his space and stood in for him. And then in an instant, he transformed himself into Darcy. He swelled his chest out and with the slightest change in his expression, showed utter distaste for all around him. Despite herself, Jazz was impressed. How could Harry not see that he himself was perfect for the part?