Danny Vitullo

Danny Vitullo was a young male actor. His photo was used for the imaginary boyfriend of Rachel Lindgren, in the book Secrets and Dreams.

Biography
He was born in 1946 and attended Starlight Academy, a stage school in Ipswich. He was known for his role as Steve in Gangbusters, a TV Show once loved very much by Zoë's gran, as well as a small role in Peter Pan in London Hippodrome as a Lost Boy.

He died in 1981 in a car accident, making him only 35 years old at the time of his passing.

Appearance
Danny was a young male of Italian descent who had black hair, brown eyes and olive skin. A photo of him aged 16, owned by Rachel, was thought to be very good looking by all of the girls in Daisy (apart from Fawn) at St. Withburga.

Rachel's Story
At some point, while searching for trinkets in a skip, Rachel found the photo of Danny and took a liking to it. She read the information about him on the back, and began to daydream.

While having a sleepover with Zoë Bird, Rachel told Zoë about Danny. She said they'd met in a shop; she'd accidentally knocked things over, he'd helped her tidy up and they'd got talking. He invited her out for a coffee.

Rachel posted the photo of Danny to herself, with Rachel, with Love from Danny xxx written across it in Day-Glo yellow marker. The other girls were very impressed, and Rachel stuck the photo above her bed with blu tack.

On the way home, Rachel says to Zoë that he is an actor, and that he's been in Gangbusters and Peter Pan. When Zoë returns home, she tells her mum and sister Nat about Rachel's boyfriend. Nat thinks Rachel is making it up. But her Gran, who is visiting, grows excited, and says that she used to watch Gangbusters on TV when she was little, and reckons they must be doing a remake.

Fawn is the only one not impressed, but this is fuelled mainly by Rachel's unwillingness to perform in their play of A Midsummer's Night Dream. This grows worse when she admits to Fawn and the others that Danny is an actor. Fawn suspects Rachel is pretending. When the photo falls down, they peer at the back which reveals that Danny Vitullo did in fact star in Gangbusters and Peter Pan, and think that due to this, Rachel was telling the truth the whole time.

When Zoë returned home, her Gran showed her a book of Gangbusters, saying she had it when she was 10. Gran says her favourite was Steve, saying she had once had a crush on him. When Zoë sees the photo on the front cover, she is shocked; Danny, Rachel's boyfriend, is on it.

Zoë speaks to her mum about it afterwards, and her mum wonders is if it's a lookalike or his father, but Zoë isn't convinced. They check online, and discover that Zoë is right, and it's clear what's happened. Zoë's mum tells her not to be too hard on Rachel, and to not encourage her so to let it die down.

When Fawn refused to invite Rachel to the Wrap party, Rachel says to Zoë that Danny had dumped her, to avoid saying why she really was upset (at the other girls being horrible to her). Once things are resolved between them, when Rachel gets a little part reading the introduction to the play (and is fine with doing this), Danny is never mentioned again.

Trivia

 * Zoë (apart from her family) is the only one who knows Rachel made up Danny.
 * Danny never married or had and children.