Blondetourage (13 page)

$$$

That evening, a mysterious present turns up on my
bed. I pull off the fancy layers of pristine white
wrapping to find a bottle of perfume. Well, that's
not exactly true. It's not perfume or eau de toilette,
but something even lighter still – like a spritz. It's
from the shop that Romy and I visited earlier this
afternoon. There's a handwritten label that says
'inspired by Elli' and another, smaller label that says
'freesia, pear, violet'. As I read the combination,
I'm unsure. Freesia, pear and violet? It sounds like
a difficult combination. Eager to try the perfume
out, however, I don't pause for a sniff, but spray
some straight on my wrist.

Oh.

Oh.

It's nice.

It's really nice.

I sit there sniffing my wrist for a good few
minutes before I realise what I've just said to myself
and laugh out loud. 'Really nice'. I bet Romy could
talk about this scent combination for hours and all
I can come up with is 'really nice'. How sad is
that? Freesia, pear and violet. I look at my wrist. I
never would have thought flowers and pears would
go together, but there you go. And I can't wait to
track down Romy tomorrow to see what her own
perfume combination smells like. Knowing her
nose, I bet it's something that would remind me
of her even if I smelt it when she was on the other
side of the world.

'W
hat? What?! I ... you ... WHAT?!' I
sit up in bed when something lands on
my legs with a
thwack
!

JJ towers above me and she does not look happy.
No, she does not look happy at all. 'I am busy
preparing breakfast and cannot stop to chat right
now, young lady, but you are in serious trouble.'
She bends over and taps at something in the folded
back newspaper.

My eyes still bleary, I sit up slowly and try to
focus on the article that JJ's pointing at.

Uh oh.

'We are going to have a little chat, just as soon
as I'm done with breakfast. Until then, I'd lie
low if I were you. You're not exactly popular this
morning.
Especially
with me.' JJ speaks very slowly,
so I understand just how deep in trouble I am.
Quite deep, I'd say. Maybe only a few millimetres
above the Earth's molten core.

'Okay ...' I say meekly. 'Sorry ...'

'You will be,' JJ fires me another look before she
leaves.

I watch the doorway she's just disappeared
through for some time before I remember about
the paper and turn my head to look at it again.
With a gulp, I bring it up closer to my face so I can
read the fallout. The picture says it all. I thought
the photographers hadn't been interested in me,
but there I am in all my daggy glory with one eye
half-closed and my mouth half-open. Even with
a cast, Romy looks a million times more like a
celebrity than me. I stand out like a ... sore leg.
With another, larger, gulp, I read the accompanying
story. It doesn't say much, just that Romy
was spotted out and about on the town, which
shops she went to and that she finished off her
shopping spree with a decadent afternoon tea at the
Dorchester, accompanied by a mysterious, welldressed
older woman. Her partner in crime, it goes
on to say, is 'unknown', but could perhaps be a
poorly dressed Romanian orphan, considering she
has been wanting to adopt for some time now.

Hey! And I was wearing my new clothes, too!

I'm just starting to read the article for the third
time, when Ashleigh sticks her head around the
door. 'You're wanted in my mom's office,' she says,
with her trademark smirk.

'Thanks,' I throw her smirk back at her.

'You're welcome,' the smirk is hurled back at me
once more.

Let it go, let it go, let it go, I tell myself. And
maybe I could have if Ashleigh had turned around
and left after her smirk to end all smirks, but she
hasn't. She's still standing there, waiting for a
reaction from me, enjoying the moment.

'So, are you always this revolting, Ashleigh?' I
ask her.

There's a pause as Ashleigh sizes me, and my
question, up. 'Only to people who aren't worthwhile,'
she finally answers, leaning lazily against
the doorframe.

I bristle at this. What a thing to say! Who does
she think she is? 'Worthwhile? Everyone's worthwhile,
aren't they? Everyone's born the same.'

Ashleigh laughs at this. 'Do you really think
that?'

I pause to think for a second and, as I do, my
anger seems to flare as I think about how I've seen
her treat George from day one, then it subsides for
some reason, my gut kicking in as I realise something.
Something big. Yeah, I think to myself.
That is something I really believe. Everyone
is
worthwhile. Everyone
is
born the same. Sure,
some people might have more money, or power,
or whatever. What's that saying? We're all born
naked and screaming. That's it. I meet Ashleigh's
eyes. 'I think lots of people believe that.'

'That's funny,' she replies, looking completely
disinterested. 'How naïve of them.'

I frown as I look up at her, wondering why she's
like this. 'Don't you care what other people think,
Ashleigh?' It bugs me that I still can't figure her
out. Can't work out why she is how she is. 'Don't
you want any friends?'

'Sure I want friends,' she answers with a shrug.
'Worthwhile
ones.' And, with another smirk, she's
gone.

I watch the doorway for a moment or two.
Huh. So, there it is. All the answers I ever needed
where Ashleigh is concerned. And I might not
know how she got to be this way, but I can guess.
Years of being on the road, watching different stars
live their 'perfect' lives, years of moving about not
really being able to form solid friendships, years of
not having a proper home. She'd die if she knew it,
but I feel sorry for Ashleigh and her 'worthwhile'
existence. It sounds ... lonely. And after a few years
in Vienna, I'd know. Hopefully I won't have to do
that again. Though, er ...

I look down at my slightly shaking hands. How
could I have forgotten? I'm wanted in the executive
producer's office! Eek! I mean, I wanted to
go to school with other people my own age, but
I didn't think I'd ever get called to the principal's
office when we don't even have a principal.

Okay, forget about Ashleigh for now. Stay calm,
Elli. Stay calm.

As if!

Hurriedly, I pull on my jeans and a bra and polo
neck and run my fingers through my hair. That'll
have to do. Then, with a deep breath, I open the
door once more and jog down the hall, and then
down the two sets of stairs that will lead me to
Ashleigh's mom's office.

When I get there, Ashleigh's mom and JJ are
already waiting for me. I don't see the third person
until I'm well within the room – Anouschka. Oh,
wow. Here we go, I think to myself. And it must
look as if I'm checking to see if there's anyone else
in here, because Anoushcka pipes up then. 'Romy's
at a doctor's appointment,' she says, eyeing me off
curiously.

'Elli, come and have a seat,' Ashleigh's mother
beckons.

I try not to throw up as I make my way over
and sit down in the rose-print armchair that's
waiting, empty, for me. Everyone's eyes bore
into me – JJ's actually feel red hot on my skin.
Before anyone speaks there's a moment's silence
in which I spot the papers piled up on the desk.
Not just the paper JJ had swatted me with, but
others. Maybe three or four others. Oh ... um ...
dear.

'Is there anything you'd like to say?' JJ gives me
a 'there'd better be and it had better be good, too'
look.

I gulp for what feels like the five hundredth
time this morning. 'Just that, um ... that I'm
really sorry. I know I shouldn't have lied about
going to the dentist, but I was trying to help
Romy out.'

'Help Romy?' Ashleigh's mom pipes up now.
'Help her how? In what way?'

I take a deep breath. 'Well, I kind of noticed
that she was good with scent. As in, really good.
And JJ has a friend who's a perfumer and I thought
Romy might like to know more about it and ...'

Ashleigh's mom laughs a nasty laugh that's a
little too close to her daughter's for comfort. 'And
Romy needs you to fix her up with people, does
she?'

I shake my head. 'No ... it's just that I noticed
it made her happy, you know, smelling things –
unusual things. And she didn't seem very happy,
so ...'

'She didn't seem very happy?' I turn to see
Anouschka sit forward in her seat.

'Well, I ... she ...' I panic, not knowing what
to say. But then I realise Anouschka doesn't seem
angry. Instead, she seems kind of intrigued. 'I think
she might be a tiny bit unhappy ...' I start, but
then censor myself. I don't want to give too much
away about what Romy's told me. After all, I don't
know what goes on between her and Anouschka.
Not really. Still more than a little panicked, I meet
her eyes again. And she's still not angry. Weird. I'd
thought when I saw Anouschka in here that I'd be
roasted alive. But she honestly doesn't seem angry
at all. Unless she's beyond angry. Like, livid. But
there doesn't seem to be steam coming out of her
ears. No, she seems sort of ... calm. But why would
she be like that? Unless ... unless it was Anouschka
who told the media where Romy was going to
be in the first place. Now, there's a thought. But
why would she do that? When they're such good
friends? I don't even know why I thought that,
either – the idea simply popped into my head from
nowhere. It's just that out of everyone in the room,
she seems to be taking Romy and Elli's girls' day
out in her stride, while everyone else wants to
lynch me.

JJ chimes in now. 'I'm really disappointed in
you, Elli. We spoke about this. At Ladurée. About
getting too involved. And I know this is more
freedom than you're used to, but I didn't think
you'd abuse it like this.'

Oh, no. Not the disappointment thing. That
was a low blow. She knows that always cuts deep
with me. I try to stop my eyes from welling up. 'I
am sorry. And I won't do it again. I really did just
want to help her out.' I don't mention I'd wanted
to help myself out as well, by stopping Romy from
quitting the show.

'Melinda tells us your grades aren't the best in
some subjects,' Ashleigh's mom adds.

'Geography,' I nod. 'I haven't studied it before.
But I'm doing extra work.'

Ashleigh's mom stares at me in the quiet. 'Right,
then. So you can assure me there won't be a recurrence
of this nature?'

'Yes. Of course. I promise,' I assure her.

'All right then,' Ashleigh's mom rises from her
chair. As she does so, she eyes the pile of papers
before her kind of smugly. Secretly, I think she's
pretty happy with the inches of print Romy's and
my little jaunt has delivered. Don't expect me to
go telling JJ that, though, because I feel her nails
dig into my back as she steers me out of the room.
As I pass Anouschka, I catch her non-angry gaze
again and am weirded out once more. I'd kill to
know what's going on in her head.

That's if someone doesn't kill me first ... the
door to the study slams shut behind us and JJ
crosses her arms as she stands in front of me in the
hall, her lips in a thin, thin line.

I don't know how to make it better. 'I really
am sorry. I just wanted to help her find something
she's good at. You know, like you.'

'Ugh.' Is all JJ can say in response.

I know better than to look away.

'Ugh.' I get again. 'I am not very happy with
you right now.'

'I know,' I mumble.

'Go on then,' JJ points in the direction of the
study. 'You're supposed to be in there studying.
Geography, hopefully,' she gives me a pointed
look, which I think is decidedly unfair. It's not my
fault Frau Braun had never been introduced to a
Geography textbook! I also know better than to
say this, however. 'We'll have another, longer chat
later.' Given the all clear from JJ (for the moment,
anyway), I scarper. And I'm not looking forward
to that chat. Not at all.

I make my way down the hall, turn right and
I'm at the study door. I stop as five pairs of eyes
turn to look at me. Five pairs of not very happy
eyes. I'm ashamed to meet those eyes. Of course
they're unhappy with me. No one's been in on my
secret, they all think I've run off to simply have a
good time and now we're all probably going to pay
for my naughtiness by having the little freedom
we're allowed tightened even further so something
like this doesn't happen again. Of all of these
pairs of eyes, George's and Melinda's look the most
displeased of all. Rhys doesn't look particularly
happy, either. But wait ... make that four pairs of
not very happy eyes, because there, on the other
side of the room, Ashleigh looks more than pleased.
In fact, she looks like she's having the time of her
life seeing me in trouble. And I'm sure she is.

'I'm sorry,' I say, still rooted in the doorway and
direct my apology mostly to Melinda and George.
George doesn't say anything, but just slides her eyes
away from mine. As for Melinda, she gives me a
good hard stare to check how sorry I really am, then
realigns her face when she sees that I really am.

'Fine. Come on in. Biology. Page 234.'

I get the feeling I'm going to be unpopular for
some time to come. I take my seat next to George
and, as I do so, I can actually feel her body shrink
away from mine. Even Fluffy seems to be disgusted
with me – he doesn't appear from his hiding spot
behind the curtain, but I know he's there, because
I can see his tail.

I think it's going to be a long day.

$$$

No surprises – it does turn out to be a long day.

Fluffy remains hidden, George won't speak a
word to me and the other students are stand-offish
all day. Well, except for Ashleigh, who gloats at my
misfortune at every opportunity and lets me know
everyone else thinks that I now consider myself to
be 'all that' and 'Romy's best friend'.

At the end of the long day, when our lessons
are over but we have an hour or two to kill before
dinner, I head outside into the small backyard and
sit under the apple tree that's out there. It's cold.
But at least out here no one will give me the evil
eye. I'm sitting and staring up at the tree's bare
branches when I get a text.

Need sme rsrch help if poss. Busy? R

I take a quick look around me before I text
back. I was wondering how Romy was getting
along with her research. She said she'd be doing
some today on all the courses Madame Morel
had pointed her towards. I don't exactly want
to be seen heading up to Romy's suite, though.
I mean, I want to help out, but I don't exactly
want to get into any more trouble, either. I text
her back:

Sure. Will sneak up soon.

Just as I push myself up from my bed of leaves,
however, I hear the conservatory door bang shut.
As I dust my hands off on my jeans, I look over
to see someone approaching. George. Across the
yard, her dark eyes stare at me menacingly.

'Do you want to go for a walk?' she finally asks
gruffly. 'We need to talk.'

I almost take a step back I'm so surprised at her
words. The last thing I expected was for George to
be asking me to take a walk with her. 'Um, sure
...' I start, then remember Romy's text. 'Hang on
a second, I just have to send a text.' I'm sure Romy
won't mind waiting a few hours till after dinner.
I pull my phone out of my pocket once more and
open a new message.