rescue bearing
two tall glasses containing some sort of sparkling drink decorated with umbrellas
and pieces of fruit. I hear myself saying, ‘Actually, I’m with someone.
Have you met Rupert?’ and I surprise myself because I sound so
sophisticated.
Marvyn looks up and sees him too. ‘Sorry, mate!’ he mumbles and moves
away.
It worked! I can handle this. I feel so
grown-up.
‘Who’s your friend?’
asks Rupert as he hands me the drink.
I smile at him mysteriously and take a
large gulp while I think of a cool answer. I’m learning so fast!
‘Easy,’ says Rupert
warningly. ‘It’s very fizzy.’ But it’s too late. The bubbles
go straight up my nose and explode. He looks at me in alarm as I start snorting
uncontrollably.
‘Are you OK?’
I gasp for air as my nose makes loud pig
noises. People turn round to look and start to giggle. Lissa comes over and bangs me
unhelpfully on the back.
‘Don’t do that!’ I
splutter as snot emerges from my nose and drips unbecomingly on to my blue silk
dress.
Correction, Lissa’s blue silk
shirt. Now she is looking at me with disgust and Rupert is staring at me in horror
and I can’t breathe.
The whole room is staring at me.
Including Marvyn.
This party is turning into a disaster. There is no way I’m going to keep my
cover if I’m the centre of attention like this. I need to get out of here
quickly before Marvyn recognizes me and Incredible-Snorting-Pig-Girl is finally
unmasked as Imposter-Boy-Footballer in front of everyone.
Including the first ever crush of her
life, the gorgeous Rupert.
‘Need the loo!’
I make a dash through my open-mouthed
audience to the downstairs cloakroom, snorting all the way.
Chapter 17
‘What happened to you Friday
night?’ says Lissa accusingly on Monday morning as she hands me my school bag
in the yard.
I take a peek inside. My school uniform,
my jeans and favourite T-shirt and my hockey kit have been washed and ironed to
within an inch of their lives. They look brand new. I’m wearing my spare set
of uniform today which looks nowhere near as smart.
I hand Lissa a plastic bag. She stares
glumly down at its crumpled, snot-stained blue-silk contents. Oops! I
should’ve asked my mum to wash her shirt/dress thing. I’m not like
Lissa, I don’t think of these things.
‘It was the bubbles. They went up
my nose. I couldn’t help it.’
Tash giggles at the memory but Lissa
gives
her a stern look and she stops
immediately. She and Ali are standing slightly behind Lissa to the left and right
like a deputation. Oh dear, I thought this might happen. I’d texted Lissa to
let her know that I’d got home safely but after that I’d ignored their
calls all weekend. I knew I’d have to face them this morning though.
Lissa: ‘I don’t mean that. I
mean why did you run off …?’
Ali: ‘Without saying goodbye to
anyone …?’
Tash: ‘Like Cinderella?’
I look with interest at Tash. I
hadn’t thought of it like that. I suppose it was a bit like a fairy tale with
me (Cinderella) fleeing into the night away from Rupert (my handsome prince) with a
secret I had to keep hidden at all costs. Only I’d left my muddy clothes
behind instead of a jewelled slipper.
So what did that make them then? The
Ugly Sisters!
I resist the urge to laugh but I
can’t have been very successful because Lissa snaps, ‘It’s not
funny, Dani! You never even thanked my mum for the party!’
‘I’m sorry!’ I say
genuinely.
‘She thought we’d had an argument and you’d run off
upset,’ she continues.
‘But we didn’t –’
‘
I
know that, but
she
didn’t! I had to stop her from ringing your mum.’
‘Oh flip!’ My mum would be
furious if she found out.
She scowls at me. ‘And Rupert gave
me grief too.’
‘Did he?’
‘Yeah. He said it must’ve
been my fault you went home because when you were talking to him, you were getting
on fine.’
‘Did he? Did he really say
that?’
‘Yeah. I just said he did,
didn’t
two tall glasses containing some sort of sparkling drink decorated with umbrellas
and pieces of fruit. I hear myself saying, ‘Actually, I’m with someone.
Have you met Rupert?’ and I surprise myself because I sound so
sophisticated.
Marvyn looks up and sees him too. ‘Sorry, mate!’ he mumbles and moves
away.
It worked! I can handle this. I feel so
grown-up.
‘Who’s your friend?’
asks Rupert as he hands me the drink.
I smile at him mysteriously and take a
large gulp while I think of a cool answer. I’m learning so fast!
‘Easy,’ says Rupert
warningly. ‘It’s very fizzy.’ But it’s too late. The bubbles
go straight up my nose and explode. He looks at me in alarm as I start snorting
uncontrollably.
‘Are you OK?’
I gasp for air as my nose makes loud pig
noises. People turn round to look and start to giggle. Lissa comes over and bangs me
unhelpfully on the back.
‘Don’t do that!’ I
splutter as snot emerges from my nose and drips unbecomingly on to my blue silk
dress.
Correction, Lissa’s blue silk
shirt. Now she is looking at me with disgust and Rupert is staring at me in horror
and I can’t breathe.
The whole room is staring at me.
Including Marvyn.
This party is turning into a disaster. There is no way I’m going to keep my
cover if I’m the centre of attention like this. I need to get out of here
quickly before Marvyn recognizes me and Incredible-Snorting-Pig-Girl is finally
unmasked as Imposter-Boy-Footballer in front of everyone.
Including the first ever crush of her
life, the gorgeous Rupert.
‘Need the loo!’
I make a dash through my open-mouthed
audience to the downstairs cloakroom, snorting all the way.
Chapter 17
‘What happened to you Friday
night?’ says Lissa accusingly on Monday morning as she hands me my school bag
in the yard.
I take a peek inside. My school uniform,
my jeans and favourite T-shirt and my hockey kit have been washed and ironed to
within an inch of their lives. They look brand new. I’m wearing my spare set
of uniform today which looks nowhere near as smart.
I hand Lissa a plastic bag. She stares
glumly down at its crumpled, snot-stained blue-silk contents. Oops! I
should’ve asked my mum to wash her shirt/dress thing. I’m not like
Lissa, I don’t think of these things.
‘It was the bubbles. They went up
my nose. I couldn’t help it.’
Tash giggles at the memory but Lissa
gives
her a stern look and she stops
immediately. She and Ali are standing slightly behind Lissa to the left and right
like a deputation. Oh dear, I thought this might happen. I’d texted Lissa to
let her know that I’d got home safely but after that I’d ignored their
calls all weekend. I knew I’d have to face them this morning though.
Lissa: ‘I don’t mean that. I
mean why did you run off …?’
Ali: ‘Without saying goodbye to
anyone …?’
Tash: ‘Like Cinderella?’
I look with interest at Tash. I
hadn’t thought of it like that. I suppose it was a bit like a fairy tale with
me (Cinderella) fleeing into the night away from Rupert (my handsome prince) with a
secret I had to keep hidden at all costs. Only I’d left my muddy clothes
behind instead of a jewelled slipper.
So what did that make them then? The
Ugly Sisters!
I resist the urge to laugh but I
can’t have been very successful because Lissa snaps, ‘It’s not
funny, Dani! You never even thanked my mum for the party!’
‘I’m sorry!’ I say
genuinely.
‘She thought we’d had an argument and you’d run off
upset,’ she continues.
‘But we didn’t –’
‘
I
know that, but
she
didn’t! I had to stop her from ringing your mum.’
‘Oh flip!’ My mum would be
furious if she found out.
She scowls at me. ‘And Rupert gave
me grief too.’
‘Did he?’
‘Yeah. He said it must’ve
been my fault you went home because when you were talking to him, you were getting
on fine.’
‘Did he? Did he really say
that?’
‘Yeah. I just said he did,
didn’t
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