Best Friends Rock! (11 page)

He looked at the piece of paper in his hand. “It's called Rockley Park School. If only they'll take me! And if only Dad will let me go. I really fancy going to an English school for a year or two.”

The name rang a bell in Ellie's head. “Rockley Park?”

Joe looked at her eagerly. “Do you know it?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But I have heard of it. I interviewed Pop and Lolly Lowther a while ago. Have you heard of them? They both went there, and said they absolutely loved it.”

Joe looked pleased. “Yeah. I've heard of them,” he said. “They'll make Dad even more impressed about the school. Tell you what, Ellie, if I get in I'll give you an interview all about the school if you want. So long as you keep the opera idea a secret.”

Ellie thought quickly. “It's a deal!” she said. “It would be great to be able to tell
Heart
readers a bit more about Rockley Park. And there'd be no better way to do it than by interviewing you. You have to promise me one thing though.”

“What's that?”

“When you start training properly as an opera singer, you give me the scoop.”

Joe laughed. “It's a deal. Once I'm able to make my own decisions, and get my first job, you'll be the first to know…except for Connor of course.”

“And if he forgets,
I'll
let you know about it,” said Connor firmly.

Just then, Ellie's phone bleeped. It was her mum.
Are you okay? Are you coming back for dinner? Don't be too late, will you?

“I think I'm going to have to go home,” she told the boys.

“But what about the other interview?” said Joe. “The one I let you down over.”

“I didn't think you wanted to do that one,” said Ellie in surprise.

“Well…” Joe scratched his head. “I don't want to talk in depth about how I feel about being Rocky Steel's son. I'm sure you can understand why. But could you do a sort of day in the life of Joe Steel? Would that be any use? Dad would love it if you came to a gig, so you'd be doing me a favour too. You could write about being backstage, and living in hotels…that sort of thing. What d'you think?”

“I'd have to run it past my Editor,” mused Ellie, “but it sounds great to me, and I'd love to go to a gig. It would be fantastic!”

“Right then!” said Joe. “Let's set it up. I'll speak to Dad. You talk to your Editor and we'll see what we can do.” A slow smile crept over his face. “And I'm sure Connor wouldn't mind coming to another gig if you're going to be there.”

Connor blushed, and thumped Joe on his arm, but the boys were both smiling. Ellie liked Joe much more than she thought she would. And he was right. It
would
be especially good to be at the gig with Connor.

Straight away on Monday morning, before the Steel Vortex gig, Ellie told Francesca the truth about her abortive Joe Steel interview, and of her new idea…a combined concert and interview article. Ellie was careful not to mention anything about Joe's problems with his father, or his very secret ambition.

“Well those two boys certainly gave you the runaround,” said Francesca with a laugh. “But you seem to have come out of it rather well. A backstage article, with the boys, a description of the gig you're going to tonight, and a bit about Rocky Steel himself! That all sounds pretty good to me. Well done! Do the article straight away on Tuesday, while it's still all fresh in your mind. I'm sure Angel will go for it.”

Steel Vortex were playing three gigs in London, and Rocky sent a car to pick Ellie up for the concert that Monday evening. Connor and Joe were there to greet her, and they took her backstage so she could interview both Rocky and Joe. Rocky was really nice to her, but she definitely got the feeling that it wouldn't be much fun to get on the wrong side of him.

“So is it a thrill, having such a cool father?” she asked Joe. She was certain Joe's father would approve of the question.

Joe smiled blandly. “Oh yes,” he said, and she was almost sure that he was trying not to laugh. “It sure is!”

Heavy metal wasn't really Ellie's favourite sort of music, and there were lots of people of her mum's age in the audience, but none of that mattered. Live concerts were always exciting, and Steel Vortex certainly knew how to ramp up the atmosphere. Joe told her lots of technical details, and snippets of insider gossip about the band, which Ellie knew would make a great article. And Connor was there, which made the whole evening even more wonderful.

The next few days flew by. Connor met Ellie after work each day and they hung out together. Connor got his wish to go on the London Eye, as well as several other places. Sometimes Joe was with him and they all had fun together, but he was often busy having singing lessons with a teacher Mr. Edwards had recommended.

“Dad has said I can do an audition for Rockley Park,” Joe told Ellie. “So I'm going to have as many lessons as I can.”

“Was it difficult persuading him?” said Ellie.

Joe looked really happy. “He didn't like the thought of me going to school in England,” he said. “But then he spoke to Mom on the phone and she
loved
the idea. She'd so like me to become more of a European! After all, I was born in England, but have hardly ever been here. Anyway, after that Dad spoke to a few friends and found out that several of them had good things to say about the school. It seems to have a great reputation for academic work,
and
for training great performers, and it's a boarding school, so they know I'll be looked after okay.”

“The school we go to in the States doesn't specialize in music,” chipped in Connor. “So this one will be much better for you.” He frowned. “Though I'll miss you if you get in here.”

“I'll be home in the vacations,” said Joe. “If I get accepted that is.”

“You'll get in,” Connor said, “I bet you will.”

“Fingers crossed,” said Ellie.

With so much excitement Ellie had almost forgotten about Hannah coming home. Almost, but not quite. She hoped more and more to get a message from her, but still nothing turned up. She wondered if she ought to send another herself, but didn't want to push it. If Hannah wanted to get in touch she would.

Ellie was filled with equal amounts of anticipation and sadness the day before Hannah was due back. Anticipation, because she refused to give up hope for their friendship, and sadness, because on that same day, Connor, Joe and Rocky were flying off to Germany on the next leg of the tour.

She'd so enjoyed herself with the boys, but this was their last night together. Now it was getting late. They'd been out for a meal, and were going to hail a cab to take Ellie home.

“I've had a lovely time,” she told them wistfully as they stood in the warm night air, waiting for a cab to come by. “The gig was fun, you gave me material for a great article, Joe, and, well…” She turned to Connor. “I'm so glad I met you at the hotel that day.”

“Me too,” said Connor.

“And keep in touch, both of you,” she added. “Let me know about Rockley Park. I'll have all my fingers and toes crossed for you.”

“Thanks,” said Joe, giving her a big hug. “Thanks for being a good friend.”

“I don't know about that,” she mumbled into his T-shirt, hugging him back.

Joe caught sight of a cab as he let her go and stepped out to flag it down. While he did that, Connor took the opportunity to give her a hug himself. “You'll text me, won't you?” he said. “And you'll find me on Facebook?”

“Yes,” she said, feeling near to tears. “Of course I will.”

“And don't worry about your friend tomorrow. If Joe and I can make up I'm sure you and Hannah can!”

There was no time for anything else. The cab was there, and the door was open. She climbed in and Connor closed the door. Ellie fumbled to put her seat belt on, feeling bereft already. The last she saw of them was Connor's face, looking as sad as she felt, waving until the cab went round the corner. Then the boys were right out of sight.

Sunday morning came much too soon. What with missing Connor and being worried about seeing Hannah again Ellie really didn't want to go with her mum to pick Hannah and her parents up from the airport. It would be a squash in the car, and if they weren't going to be friends again it would be
awful,
but Georgia seemed to be totally confident that things would be fine between them.

“Skulking at home while I collect her family won't help anything,” she said to Ellie. “You have to face things in life, not run away from them. You have nothing to be ashamed of, and you still want to be friends. If Hannah feels differently that's up to her, but don't behave as if she doesn't like you any more. That's just silly.”

Ellie was sure Connor would be against her skulking too, so she made her mind up to go, and to hope for the best. Besides, airports were exciting, even if you weren't flying anywhere. Ellie loved watching passengers arriving from far-flung places, especially Africa. Some of the people from that continent wore such colourful clothes. They made Westerners look unbelievably dowdy.

Luckily, the flight landed in the middle of the day, so Ellie didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, which was just as well, after the late night she'd had. The airport wasn't far, and they were in good time to meet the flight. Ellie went to look at the arrivals board and frowned. “It's been delayed,” she said to her mum.

“That's annoying,” said Georgia. “How silly of me. I meant to check online before we set off, but I forgot.”

“It's only half an hour,” said Ellie. “We can go and have a coffee while we're waiting.”

They watched the arrivals screen from one of the airport cafés, and soon the status of Hannah's flight turned to “landed”. Ten minutes later, Ellie got a text.

Hi!
it said.
Are you at the airport?
It was the first text Hannah had sent her since their argument.

Ellie replied.
Yes.
She wasn't sure what else to say, but her heart started to thump.

A few minutes later another came in.
Just hanging around for our bags. Can't wait to see you!

Ellie heaved a huge sigh of relief. Maybe it would be all right.
Me too!
she replied, with her heart lifting.
“
Come on, Mum,” she said to Georgia. “Let's go to arrivals. I expect they'll be through soon.”

At the barrier there were lots of people waiting. Ellie found a space and leaned on the barrier, watching for people who looked as if they'd been on holiday. It didn't take long. They were unmistakable in their flip-flops and colourful clothes, bulging bags and tanned faces. Some of them looked as if they'd actually come straight from the beach.

Ellie saw Hannah before Hannah noticed Ellie. She was wearing a new pair of cool gold sandals, and had a short dress on that Ellie hadn't seen before. On her head was a straw hat. Her luggage was piled on a trolley, and her dad was pushing it, accompanied by her mum. They all looked very tanned and happy. For a moment Ellie regretted not going with them. It would have been such fun, and they would have come home with a huge number of shared happy memories. But then she remembered how she'd have been letting
Heart
down at the last minute, and how unprofessional that would have been. And in fact she'd done so much over the past few days; quite enough to make up for missing a foreign holiday! And then Hannah saw her, and let out a squeal of delight.

As soon as they hugged they both knew that everything was all right. “I'm sorry I was so horrible,” breathed Hannah. “The longer I left it the harder it was to make contact. But I so hoped you'd be here.”

“I'm sorry I let you down,” said Ellie, and they hugged again.

“I got you such a sweet sun top,” Hannah was saying as they walked slowly, arms linked, towards the exit. Then Ellie saw someone she recognized.

“Connor!” She disentangled her arm from Hannah's and muttered, “Hang on a minute,” before he reached her.

He stood a couple of feet away from her, looking suddenly rather shy. “The others have gone through to departures,” he explained. “But I saw the flight coming in from Malaga and hoped it might be the one you were meeting.” He paused. “Everything all right then?”

Ellie nodded. “Everything's fine,” she told him. “I'll introduce you…” She started to turn back to Hannah, but Connor grabbed her hand.

“Haven't got time,” he said. “I just wanted to see if you were okay, and say goodbye again.”

“Oh, okay.”

For a couple of seconds they stood looking at each other; then he took hold of her shoulders and gave her a kiss, followed by the biggest bear hug she'd ever had in her entire life. “Don't forget,” he said seriously. “This isn't really goodbye. I'll see you online tonight. Right?”