Party at Silver Spires (13 page)

Mum burst into laughter, then suddenly her eyes were bright with tears. “I know, Antonia, but thank you for saying it. And I think Nicole's lucky to have such a lovely friend.”

“This is my dad, Antonia.”

Dad shook hands with her, then looked a bit embarrassed. “Sorry, bit dirty…” he mumbled.

“That's 'cos Daddy's painted the whole house, Nicole!” said Clemmie, all wide-eyed, as though she loved being the one to tell me the news.

“At long last!” said Mum, grinning round at my friends. “We're always last in line, I'm afraid.”

Sasha and the others laughed politely, but I saw Antonia frowning and realized she didn't understand what Mum meant. And in that instant I knew I had two choices. I could change the subject so Antonia would never know what Mum meant about Dad only painting our house when he'd finished painting everyone else's houses.
Or
I could explain exactly what Mum meant, so Antonia knew the whole truth.

I didn't hesitate for one moment, and it wasn't just because of wanting Antonia to know the truth. It was because something had happened inside me. I was suddenly filled with pride for my family, and with something else too. I think it was confidence, but whatever it was, I knew for sure that I had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. My words came out strongly, even though I was still a teeny bit shaky inside. I just needed to get to the end of my sentence and check that the look in Antonia's eyes hadn't changed.

“Dad's job is painting other people's houses, and Mum meant that we had to wait in a line until Dad had time to paint our own house.”

Antonia broke into a beaming smile. “Wait een
una fila
!” she said proudly. “Yes, I understand!” Then she turned to Mum. “Thees ees what my mother says about my father when she wants heem to cook!”

Mum laughed. “Oh, your dad's a chef! Lucky you!”

Then Clemmie was tugging on my hand. “I want to see where you sleep!” she said.

So we all made our way into Forest Ash, and while Mum and Dad stayed in the hall to have a chat with Mrs. Pridham, the rest of us went up to Emerald, Clemmie and Clare running on ahead and calling out, “Tell us when to stop!”

“Top floor!” I shouted.

“Your parents are really cool!” said Izzy.

“And just like
my
parents,” said Antonia.

I turned my head sharply to see what Antonia meant, because surely my parents had absolutely nothing in common with hers.

“Yes, they are very…how would I say eet in Engleesh? Er…very close,” she said. “Yes, very close.”

I knew I was staring at her as though she was speaking Italian and I couldn't understand a word. “You…you think so?”

“Yes, I
know
so.”

I turned and leaned over the banister of the first-floor landing. Mum and Dad were right next to each other as they talked to Mrs. Pridham, and Mum was smiling up at Dad.

“Oh…yes!” I said slowly. And I felt a lovely shimmer of happiness that my parents were getting on so well with each other.

Antonia laughed, then grabbed both my hands. “Are you excited to think of seeing your house all painted?” she asked me happily.

I nodded. “I'm really looking forward to the whole week,” I told her. “But I'm also looking forward to coming back here. Aren't you?”

She nodded hard. “I weell be sad to leave my family again. But thees time I weell have my new friend!”

“Yes,” I said simply. “You will.”

“Look! The sun has come out!” said Antonia. “Let us see the spires before you go.”

So we called to the others that we'd see them outside, and Clemmie called back that it was okay because Izzy was looking after them. Then we went out together, past our old Volvo, that had caused me so much worry and yet didn't bother me in the slightest any more now that I realized I'd truly got the nicest friends in the world, who would never dream of not liking a person just because they came from a different background.

And as we walked towards the main building, I was still thinking how stupid I'd been to get myself into such a state about everything, when Antonia stopped my thoughts by gripping my hand as she looked up. “There!” she breathed. “What does eet remind you of?”

“Diamonds,” I said quietly, as I stared up at the sparkling silver spires.

“Diamonds, yes.” Then she looked at me with her big dark eyes. “I knew we would be
amiche del cuore
from the moment you said that word all that long time ago. ”

“What's
amiche del cuore
?” I asked.

“I think you say…
best
friends?” she said, a question mark in her voice.

“Yes, we do!” I said with a catch in my voice. “That's exactly what we say!”

I loved our party at Silver Spires – and now it's your turn to celebrate! Here are my top ten tips for perfect party fun…

* Send out invitations early. You could even design your own e-vites for that personal touch.

* Why not have a theme, such as fancy dress or a makeover night? Or if your birthday's around Halloween, what about a spookfest?

* Try party picnics in the summer, or even a camp-out sleepover in your back garden…

* Why not share your party with a best friend? It's half the work and twice the fun!

* On party day, get your friends to help decorate and set up. It'll make things less stressful for you, plus you're bound to have so much fun together it'll feel like the party's already started!

* Don't panic about what to wear – just make sure you feel comfortable, and always add a little party sparkle!

* Use paper plates and cups to save on washing-up…but remember to recycle them afterwards!

* Keep your snacks simple – fun finger food like pizza slices, veggie bites with dips, and brownies all work well. Plus why not make fairy cakes and then put out lots of fun toppings for your guests to decorate them with?

* Once the party's in full swing, don't worry if there's a hiccup with some of your plans…no one knows what you were planning anyway!

So what are you waiting for? Grab your friends and have some School Friends fun!

Now turn the page for a sneak preview of the next unmissable School Friends story…

I stared around the dining hall and thought for at least the hundredth time how much I love it here at Silver Spires. I suppose all boarding schools are great, but I just don't see how they can be as great as this one. I mean, I was so nervous when I started here eight weeks ago, but the very first time I came into this dining hall with the other five girls from my dormitory, I felt so happy. It was obvious we were going to get on with each other. Well, it's true I did feel a bit anxious about Antonia, who's Italian, and Nicole, who's amazingly clever. Those two didn't seem to hit it off as well as the rest of us, but I felt sure it would work out eventually because they both seemed so nice. And I was right. They're best friends now.

My own best friend is called Sasha, and while I was staring around right then, she was listening intently to something that Emily was telling her. Even though Emily's story seemed to be going on and on, and personally I tuned out ages before, Sasha still looked interested. She kept nodding slowly, her big blue eyes looking straight at Emily. And that's because Sasha is such a fantastic listener. I'm so glad we're best friends.

As soon as lunch was over we all set off through the grounds for afternoon lessons. It was maths first, and that's one of the three subjects we've been put in sets for, which means that we six friends aren't all together for those lessons, like we are for everything else.

“See you later!” called Antonia, as she went off with Emily and Emily's best friend, Bryony.

“I can't believe how good Antonia's getting at English!” said Sasha. “And her English accent's getting better too.”

“I know!” said Nicole, looking happy. “And it's great that she's been put up a set for maths and science.”

I nodded. “If she carries on going up, you two might be together in top sets for everything before the end of Year Seven!”

Nicole laughed. “That would be really good,” she said, linking arms with me on one side and Sasha on the other and falling into step with us. But almost immediately she pulled away, half laughing. “Do you know, I always feel a bit like an elephant when I'm walking beside you, Izzy!”

Sasha laughed too. “I know exactly what you mean!”

My body slumped instinctively as the little voice in my head started up.
Not this again
.

Nicole must have sensed my dejection. “Oh, Izzy, it's a compliment, you know,” she said. “You're just so graceful.”

Sasha grinned at me. “Except when you deliberately don't stand up straight, like right now.”

“I'd love to have great posture, like you,” Nicole added.

I tried to smile while my mind searched around for a quick way of getting off this terrible subject, and the voice in my head grew louder.
I don't want to talk about being graceful and standing up straight. I don't even want to think about it. I know where it leads.

“You'd make a great dancer, Izzy,” said Sasha.

I didn't reply because I couldn't think of what to say. We'd had this kind of conversation lots of times since I'd started at Silver Spires and no one knew how much I hated it. Well, actually that's not true. I thought Sasha was starting to notice how uncomfortable I got whenever anyone mentioned me in the same breath as dancing or ballet, and how I always tried to quickly change the conversation. The trouble is, Sasha's such a good listener that I'm afraid one of these days I might be tempted to tell her about my past. But it's a secret. If I told her about the
other me
, she'd think I was completely mad.

And just when I was thinking about my past an annoying voice popped into my head.
Is it that she'll think you're mad, or just that you can't ever let yourself talk about it?

Suddenly I felt shaky. The truth had finally hit me.

It's not that I won't talk about it, it's that I
can't
.

As soon as afternoon school was finished, we six went back to our boarding house, Forest Ash, to drop our stuff off in our dorm. Forest Ash is quite a modern house, not like Hazeldean and Willowhaven, but it's the best because we've got the nicest staff. The other three houses are called Oakley, Beech House and Elmhurst. On the days we don't do an after-school club we get to have free time before supper, and it's always a great part of the day because you can stop concentrating after all the lessons, and do anything you want. I was looking forward to having some time on my own, but Nicole and Antonia were trying to persuade me and Sasha to go to debating club with them.

“Eet ees such good fun!” said Antonia, her Italian accent coming through strongly. It often does when she's excited.