Blondetourage (16 page)

W
ith nervous looks at each other, we all
get up and follow Melinda through the
house's curiouser and curiouser rooms until we
get to the kitchen. Everyone's already in there –
Romy, Anouschka, all the crew, JJ – even Fluffy is
hiding out by the pantry. On the other side of the
kitchen bench to me, I try to read JJ's expression,
but she just gives me a 'this is serious, try not to do
anything wacky today, you did leave your gorilla
suit back at Nan and Pop's, didn't you?' look.

Everyone rustles and coughs and shuffles in the
silence as Ashleigh's mom stands up on a chair so she
can see everyone properly before she starts talking.
I try to listen to her words as they start to tumble
from her heavily lipsticked mouth, but I can't hear
her because the thoughts in my head drown her
out. I'm thinking. Thinking how I can't believe
my lovely little almost-normal student life is already
over. In less than a fortnight! I could have had such
a good time with all of these people, especially
George. And, er, Rhys. Maybe. And Toby's always
good for a laugh. And Melinda's so nice. The best
tutor I've ever had. And Ashleigh's ... bearable. At
times. Almost. If you just take her for the joke that
she is. And JJ seemed so happy. I think she actually
liked this job, which is more than I can say for the
one in Tokyo. And the job in Vienna was a bit all
or nothing – eight course degustation menus or
steamed vegetables. She's been getting to do more
of 'her' kind of cooking here, for a younger crowd.
The travel, with all the moving around, has been a
bit hard going, but I'm sure I would have got used
to it and ...

Hold that thought.

'What?' I hiss crankily at George, who's busy
nudging me in the side with her elbow. I look over
at her and don't get it. She's grinning. Grinning
from ear to ear. When she spies the look on my
face she gets a quizzical look on her own.

'Have you been listening to any of this?' she
whispers at me.

I don't answer her, my eyes immediately darting
to the front of the room and my ears finding it now
surprisingly easy to understand Ashleigh's mom.

'So this is how it's going to work, people,' she
continues. 'We'll skip the upcoming scheduled
holidays and start next season's filming early. This
will give the girls time to take a longer vacation
about six months from now, which will mean
they'll then be able to go off and pursue the other
interests that have come up. Romy will have time
to fit a twelve-week perfumery course in and
Anouschka will have time to film the first series
of her new makeover show. And that's that. Any
questions?' She looks around the room slowly. I
want to raise my hand and ask if JJ's been fired, but
know better than to attract any attention today.
'Great!' Ashleigh's mom nods at us. 'The girls will
be taking a couple days off for a bit of a rest, to
make sure Romy's okay, and then we'll be right
back into things on Wednesday. It's going to be
a busy couple of months wrapping up this series,
but it'll be worth it for those extended vacations.
Keep focused, and any problems ... I'm always here.'
And, with this, she's back on the floor and chatting
to the crew.

The noise level is instantly deafening, as
everyone turns to the person next to them with
something to say. For me, that person is George.
'Can you believe it?' she grabs both my arms and
turns me around to face her. 'I thought it was all
over! I mean, we all did, didn't we? That must
have been some meeting in there today.'

All I can do is nod silently.

George's face moves in to look into my eyes.
'Are you alive in there?'

I nod again.

'It's shock,' George says. 'And no wonder. You
thought JJ was a goner, didn't you?'

I nod for a third time and try to snap myself
out of my daze. 'That was ...' I can't even find the
right word.

'Intense?' George tries.

I go to nod once more, but then force myself
into talking. 'Just slightly.'

I remember JJ then and crane my neck to see
her – she's talking to a couple of crew members
over in one corner. But she spots me looking for
her and gives me a sly grin and a thumbs up. Ugh.
She knew all along things were going to turn out
fine, the big meanie.

Then there's another dig in my ribs. 'George!' I
whip back around. 'Will you quit it with that? Oh
...' I see what she's on about. Or, rather, who. 'Hi,
Romy!' I say to the person who's now standing in
front of me. 'How's your head?'
Romy laughs and gingerly raises a hand to
the back of her head, all the time balancing on
her crutches. 'Who knew shopping could be so
dangerous?'

'So you're okay?' I frown.

'I'm fine, thanks. But the few days off will be
good right about now. Pity we'll be staying here,'
she takes a quick glance around her. 'I feel like
someone's going to come at me with a knife all the
time.'

'Me too!' I can't help saying way too loudly,
making a whole bunch of people look over. 'Oops,
sorry.'

Romy laughs again. 'Look, I just wanted to say
thank you. I've signed up for the course I liked the
best. The one in Grasse, in France.'

'That one did look the best,' I agree.

'It looks fantastic. And I can't wait. So, yes,
thank you, Elli. I really mean that.'

I try not to blush. 'That's okay,' I look away,
embarrassed, but Romy reaches out to touch my
shoulder, dragging my attention back to her.

'No, really. I mean it. It might not seem like
a lot, but I think up until now I've been doing
a lot of things just to show my family that even
though they might not think very highly of what
I do, the public thinks it's pretty good. But this
... this is for me. I want to show
myself what
I'm
capable of. Does that make any sense?' she frowns
slightly.

No one should look that good frowning. Really,
they shouldn't. 'I think it makes perfect sense,' I tell
her. 'And I think you'll be amazing at it.'

'Thanks. I hope so,' she says in return. 'I hope
you haven't got into too much trouble over all of
this.'

'Um ... no ...' I say slowly and there's a muffled
exclamation from George.

'Ah, I take it there's been a little bit of trouble,
then.'

I just wave my hand, though. 'It's all blown over
now.'

Even, hopefully, Geography. Though things
going so right for Romy definitely makes me want
to work harder. I can't let my grades slip or I won't
get into uni to study vet science. Plus, I have to set
Romy a good example and use my talents, don't
I?! I'll just have to make sure I put in a bit of extra
work and, with Melinda's help, I'm sure I'll catch
up on the subjects I'm behind in in no time. That
bit of extra effort in Geography already seems to
have gone quite a long way.

George and I spend a few minutes chatting to
Romy and we're just winding things up when
someone else strides on over. Someone I've been
trying to push to the back of my mind because I
was so sure JJ and I would be leaving the country
any minute. You guessed it – Anouschka. I'm
confused just looking at her and a whole bunch of
words exit my mouth before they run through my
brain-to-mouth filter (I can only dream of having
one of those ...).

'You're not going to fire JJ are you?'

Romy, George and Anouschka all look at me
like I'm mad and there's a short silence.

'And why would I want to fire JJ?' Anouschka
asks me levelly.

'Um, er, I ...' I start.

'JJ's the best chef we've ever had,' Romy pipes
up. 'By far.'

Anouschka seconds this with a curt dip of her
head. 'We seem to be eating twice as much and
not gaining an ounce. JJ isn't going
anywhere.
That
much, I'll make sure of. How does she do it?'

I gulp. Anouschka isn't the kind of person
that you brush off. She's the kind of person who
demands answers. 'Um, it's kind of a secret. But
she adds a lot of extra ingredients, protein and
vitamins and things. So you feel full, have more
energy and don't eat as much, even though it feels
like you're eating more.'

'Well, whatever it is, it works.' Anouschka
seems happy with this. 'Are you talking about
your course?' Her attention turns to Romy. 'You
know, I can't believe I never thought of something
like that for you. I've known you since
we were what? Four?' She pauses long enough
for Romy to agree with her. 'I guess your sense
of smell just became normal for me. It seems so
obvious now ...'

I watch in silence as the two girls, obviously old
friends, good friends, best friends, chat amicably.
And it's this that gets me. There's something not
right here. Anouschka may be brusque, but she
definitely warms when she's talking to Romy.
Hmmm. She's so hard to read. Where Anouschka
is concerned, nothing has ever added up for me. I
stare at her as she keeps talking. I stare harder and
harder and harder, trying to figure her out.

'Is something wrong?' Anouschka stops talking
abruptly and her eyes flick to meet mine.

I try hard not to say anything, I honestly do, but
I can't help it. I have to know. 'I don't get it. That
first day. When I met you in the kitchen in New
York ...'

'Oh, yes. I remember that,' Anouschka glances
at Romy. 'That was during "getting into character"
week.' She looks back at both George and
me now. 'Romy and I always spend a whole week
getting into our characters by assuming them
every minute of the day. It's easy to forget how
you're "supposed" to be over the break, you see.
But, what about that day?'

'Ah, er, nothing. It's not important,' I say. But
the truth is it's far from 'nothing'. The truth is
I'm now more confused than ever. What is going
on here? Anouschka obviously isn't the horrible
piece of work she's made out to be and ... my
train of thought is broken as Anouschka continues,
yawning a huge yawn.

'Ugh. I've been up half the night beating myself
up for wearing those wedge shoes yesterday.'

'Don't be silly,' Romy tells her.

'No, it was stupid of me. We both know I've
got terribly weak ankles. Remember, you told me
that morning those shoes weren't a good idea. I
thought if I was going to hurt anyone, though, it
would be myself. Not you.'

Romy gasps. 'Imagine if we'd both ended up
breaking bones!'

Anouschka is amused. 'You know, that's not a
bad idea. Maybe we could use that?'

'But you'd be in a cast!' Romy's mouth drops
open.

'It'd be good,' Anouschka's eyes get a glimmer
in them. 'Did you know, just before the accident
yesterday, I was about to do something to you?'

'Oh, yes,' Romy's mouth twists. 'And what
would that be?'

Anouschka laughs evilly and quickly glances at
George and myself, including us in her treachery.
'I was going to get the girls at the shop to hold you
down while I glue-gunned your cast with silver
sequins. Completely. The entire thing.'

'No ...' Romy gives her a bestie shove. 'You
know I'm allergic to sequins!'

Anouschka gives George and me another look.
'Romy hates anything gaudy.'

'So that's why you asked me to go and enquire
about silver sequins,' Romy shakes her head. 'I was
wondering about that.'

Inside my sneakers, my toes curl in embarrassment.
So
that's
what that evil look on Anouschka's
face had been for. She wasn't planning to trip Romy
up, she was planning to
sequin
her up. Suddenly,
so much of what's been going on around here
lately makes sense. Especially where Anouschka's
concerned. Sure, she's a woman of few words. And
she's usually pretty gruff and always no-nonsense,
but I'm so not believing she pushed Romy down
the stairs that day. And the bead thing was obviously
... well, nothing. Just looking at her, you
can tell how much she cares about Romy like a
proper friend. Like a best friend. All this has been
about
me.
About me believing the hype – believing
that Anouschka is the same as her TV character.
And how could I have been so stupid as to do that
when I'd gotten to know Romy and realised she
was nothing like her character at all? How could I
have thought ...

I spot something then, out of the corner of my
eye. Something sidling towards us, trying to eavesdrop.
Or should I say,
someone
and
slithering.
Like
the snake that she is.

As I see her coming towards me, the fog of
misunderstanding lifts from around me.

How could I have been so stupid?

Huh. I guess here's my answer headed towards
me, dressed from top to toe in designer white,
blonde hair flowing, trying to look like an angel,
but being nothing remotely like one.

Ashleigh.

Oh, yes. And where things seemed confused
and muddled a minute ago, they now seem as clear
as the day is outside.

As we'd heard only minutes ago, it's only Ashleigh's
mom who'll be going to work with Anouschka on
the makeover show. So maybe that's what Ashleigh's
little plan was – end
Rich Girls
in order to ditch us
and help push Anouschka's show full steam ahead.
After all, she had no idea doing both was a possibility.
Like us, she probably thought it was all or nothing –
one show or the other. And she was going to make
sure that one show was Anouschka's own.

I feel every cell in my body pull back in
disgust as she gets closer, kind of hovering beside
Anouschka. Anouschka glances over at her when
she feels her icky presence, but doesn't smile or
nod, or say anything. Instead, her eyes skate back
over the rest of the group.

'You have quite the eye for putting together an
outfit,' she finally says, breaking the silence.

Ashleigh steps forward now. 'Oh, I got it at this
darling little boutique off Melrose. Just gorgeous.
I'll take you if you like and we can ...'