do NOT have a fiery temper,’ I snapped irritably.
Because I have auburn hair, I get teased a lot about being a hothead, which just makes me MORE of a hothead.
‘You see?’ She gasped, looking taken aback. ‘Here I am just trying to be nice and you’re throwing it back in my face! Just like with Nancy Rose. No wonder she’s calling you a diva. You’ve really changed.’
My cheeks flushed with anger and I felt Cal’s hand press gently on the back of my arm in warning. I could hear his voice in my head telling me not to rise to it.
‘I haven’t changed, Ella,’ I seethed. ‘I’ve just come to learn who my real friends are.’
‘Well, do they know who you really are?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I asked, glaring at her.
‘Hello, am I the only one who watched Nancy Rose’s vlog?’ she asked, with a baffled expression. ‘Flick attacked her over a handbag! Who does that?’
‘That is not what happened. I didn’t —’
‘No smoke without fire, Flick. And I’ve seen the footage of you being escorted out of the room by security, so you must have done something.’ She tossed her hair back before turning to Cal and saying, ‘Cal, I’m surprised that you in particular aren’t angrier at your friend. Don’t you want to be a journalist some day?’
‘Well, yeah,’ Cal mumbled, seeming stunned that she even knew who he was. ‘But that doesn’t mean —’
‘If Flick hadn’t let her temper get the better of her, maybe she would have thought twice about launching an attack on someone who would have been an amazing contact for you. Nancy Rose is one of the most famous journalists in the world.’
‘OK, for the LAST TIME, I did not attack —’
‘But then, I guess you are a really nice guy.’ She smiled sweetly at him, before giving me a pointed look. ‘Maybe that should be a little more appreciated by your friend Flick here.’
My jaw fell to the floor.
‘Anyway,’ she said smugly, ‘I had better go get my seat in assembly. Just remember, Flick, that your selfish behaviour reflects badly on everyone around you. Something to keep in mind.’
I could feel a strange kind of rage bubbling and twisting through my stomach as she turned on her heel and sauntered down the corridor.
On the way to assembly, it dawned on me what Ella was up to.
It was SO obvious. She couldn’t bear that Grace and Olly picked me over her last term, so now she was jumping on the Nancy Rose bandwagon, trying to make all my friends think I’m a terrible person and turn them against me!
It made perfect sense. She had been wanting to get back at me ever since our falling out last term and Nancy Rose had given her the perfect opportunity.
‘Think about it, Grace,’ I said under my breath as we made our way to assembly, the boys walking ahead of us. ‘Why else would she tell Cal that he was a nice guy?’
‘It was a bit strange,’ Grace agreed. ‘The last time she spoke to Cal it was to tell him that his hair reminded her of an erratically blow-dried poodle.’
‘She is out to get me and you HAVE to be on your guard to make sure that she doesn’t turn you against me with her snide remarks. It’s all part of her cunning plan.’
Grace laughed. ‘Don’t be silly, Flick! You know what Ella’s like, she just says stupid things. We know to ignore her. But I wouldn’t worry, I don’t think she’s concocted some genius plan to make all your friends dislike you.’
‘You don’t know Ella like I do,’ I huffed. ‘She can hold a grudge. Did I ever tell you about the time I drank her coconut water?’
‘Um, no?’
‘Boy, was that a drama.’ I sighed, recalling the incident. ‘I thought she wouldn’t mind if I drank her coconut water, but it turned out it wasn’t just any coconut water, it was special coconut water that her mum had had imported for her, and that was the last carton. To this day, I wish I had never touched it.’
Grace blinked at me. ‘What happened?’
‘She was so angry that she uninvited me from a sleepover at her house.’
‘She uninvited you from a sleepover because you drank her coconut water ?’ Grace looked stunned. ‘You’re joking, right?’
‘Sadly not,’ I said, as we took our seats in the main hall. ‘I had to ask Matthew if he could work his head concierge magic and track some down for me.’
‘And did he?’
‘You know his motto, Grace.’ I smiled. ‘Anything is possible at Hotel Royale. He managed to get a whole crate sent in. After I showed up at school with that for her, she bought me a new friendship bracelet.’
‘Wow.’ Grace nodded, looking impressed. ‘All that because of some coconut water.’
‘I’m telling you, Grace,’ I whispered, spotting Ella a few rows ahead chatting to some girls in the year above, ‘this morning was probably just the beginning. She’s probably talking about me right now to those girls. Probably telling them that I’m the worst person in the world and not to go anywhere near me.’
Grace and I both leaned forwards to try and listen in to her conversation.
‘I think,’ Grace began thoughtfully, ‘she’s actually talking about perfume.’
‘Of course! Don’t you get it?’ I hissed, shaking my head at Ella’s back. ‘Perfume is floral! Floral, like roses ! Like Nancy ROSE! She’s tapping into everybody’s subconscious, laying the groundwork so that everyone is thinking about it all the time!’
Grace gave me a strange look and opened her mouth to speak, but then the headmistress, Mrs Walker, arrived and the room descended into hush.
Mrs Walker began reading out the various notices but I couldn’t listen; I was too distracted by the back of Ella’s head. I kept thinking about what she’d said to Cal before assembly and every time I thought about it, I felt a new wave of anger.
She had always been jealous of me, even while we were friends. I remembered how pleased she was when she came for lunch at the hotel with her mum. She caught me serving guests their food because Timothy, one of our best waiters, was teaching me how everything in the dining room works. She had been so quick to spread rumours about me. And even now, when we hadn’t spoken for weeks, she was straight in there, jumping for joy at my public humiliation. Had she ever been my friend at all? Or had she always been lying in wait, secretly hoping that I would screw up? Ugh, I felt so betrayed!
Ella is SO Edmund with the Turkish delight.
I was so engrossed in Ella’s backstabbing that I didn’t hear Mrs Walker call out Cal’s name.
‘What’s Cal doing?’ I whispered to Grace as he stood up and went to the front of the hall.
‘You’ll see,’ she said with a smile.
Cal cleared his throat and he shuffled his feet nervously as the entire school waited for him to speak.
‘I would like to announce that we are launching a school newspaper, which will report on school news and events, as well as including interesting general features and competitions. Uh . . . we will be holding our first meeting after school today for anyone who would like to join the editorial team, and the first issue will be published at the end of term. Yeah. Thanks.’
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