Dreams at Silver Spires (2 page)

“Oh, they definitely had TV,” she said, nodding. “Only it would have been black and white, I think.”

Izzy's eyes shone. “I bet that not one single person who comes for the reunion today ever,
ever
imagined fifty years ago that they'd be coming back to Silver Spires fifty years later and their whole reunion would be filmed for TV. How amazing is that?”

“The TV crew will have set up the cameras by now, won't they?” said Sasha.

Izzy grabbed hold of Sasha's arms excitedly and spoke in one of her squeaks. “And then the cameras will be around school for another two weeks! It's going to be so exciting!”

Bryony tipped her head to one side and looked at Izzy. “We're supposed to act normally, remember?” she said, keeping her face straight.

“I know,” said Izzy, immediately letting go of Sasha and straightening out her expression until she looked completely serious. “And I shall.” She flicked her eyes across to Bryony. “Act normally,” she added.

We all laughed, because Izzy looked anything
but
normal – in fact, she was practically going cross-eyed with the effort of not smiling.

“Look, here comes Juliet and her fan club,” Bryony said. She rolled her eyes. “Looks like she wants to be noticed by the cameras. What a surprise.”

I had to agree. We'd all been told to wear school uniform this afternoon, even though it was a Saturday, and whereas Juliet's friends looked pretty normal, Juliet herself had a pair of high wedges on and she'd rolled her school skirt over at the waist. She'd also got loads of make-up on, so she looked like a tall thin doll, in my opinion. I only know her through riding club, but we don't get on at all because I can't stand the way she's always showing off during the hacks. Then afterwards she never puts her saddle back on the saddle rack properly and hardly ever bothers to wipe down the rest of the tack. One time, when I saw her friend tidying up after her, I gave them both a withering look, and Juliet called me a little goody-goody.

“You're supposed to call her Jet, remember,” said Antonia, dropping her voice as Juliet approached.

It's true that absolutely nobody uses her proper name, Juliet, because Juliet has told everyone to call her Jet, which personally I think would be much better suited to a pony. And whenever I hear someone saying “Jet”, I always want to break into giggles as I imagine her neighing. She doesn't look anything like a pony though. In fact, she looks more like a model, with her nearly black hair that hangs exactly where it ought to hang, unlike my own bright auburn mop that lies in clumps and pokes out of the sturdiest hairband. Juliet is always going on about her hair being jet black, and then she bats her eyelashes and says, “It's such a coincidence that my name matches my hair!”

“Hey, guys!” she said, as she passed us. “Looking out for the visitors, are we? Ah, how sweet!” Then I caught her rolling her eyes at her friends, and I definitely heard a few sniggers before they walked on.

It really annoys me how Juliet always makes me feel so young and kind of pathetic, even though she's actually only one year older than us. Just then I found her extra annoying, because I was sure Bryony was right about the cameras, and Juliet wanted to be quite certain that, with her make-up and high shoes, she got plenty of attention.

I know it makes me the odd one out, but I wasn't all that excited when Ms. Carmichael, the headmistress, announced in assembly that Silver Spires was to be the subject of a TV documentary. You see, my family doesn't actually have a television back home in Ireland – we've never had one, so I don't miss it. When I was at primary school and the other kids started talking about TV programmes, I just used to tune out. Sometimes they'd say, “Hey, Emily, isn't it weird not having a telly?” and they'd look at me as though I was a complete freak, but I didn't care. Things like that don't bother me. I asked them if it was weird not having horses to ride and cows to milk and chickens and rabbits to feed and vegetables to look after and eggs to collect. I think they probably thought I was even weirder after that little speech, but it still didn't worry me.

Actually there was one time I can remember when we were in the playground and everyone was talking excitedly about a programme they'd watched the evening before, and a girl asked me what I'd been doing instead of watching the programme. I can distinctly remember the pitying looks that everyone was giving me at that moment. But then the pity quickly changed to big respect when I told them I'd been helping Dad deliver a calf.

Now that I'm at boarding school, my life during term time is totally different from my life in the holidays. When I first came to Silver Spires last September, I felt like a fish out of water. It's true that Antonia had had further to come than me because of her family living in Italy, which is much further away than Ireland, and also it must have been terrible for Antonia not speaking much English. But for me it felt as though someone had drawn the curtains on my normal world and I had to learn how to live a different life.

At home I'm so free. Our farm is enormous, with loads of fields. We've got a proper big flower garden as well, and even better than that, a kitchen garden, as Mum calls it, with vegetables and herbs in it. I can spend all day in that garden, and it's not just planting and watering that I enjoy, it's the hard work as well – hoeing and raking and turning over the soil, and digging in the fertilizer to prepare it for planting. It's so satisfying making the soil tidy and rich, pulling out every single weed.

In the fields we've got a huge herd of cows and quite a few bullocks. And because the cows need milking every morning and evening, and Mum and Dad like to keep an eye on things, we've hardly ever been on holiday as a family. But I don't mind. I love my life, because it's the only one I've ever known…until I came here to Silver Spires.

I used to want to break out of the room where we have to do prep (that's homework, by the way) because the school days at Silver Spires are much longer than they were at primary and I'm always exhausted after all those lessons. It's not the lessons themselves that make me tired, it's just being inside all the time. Even now it's January and quite cold, I often feel like being outside, while the others are only up for watching something on TV.

I used to imagine how great it would be to lift my lovely farm life up from Ireland and drop it into Silver Spires, but now I'm used to it here, I feel totally happy that I've got the best of both worlds. Although, I do miss my gardening. When I first told the others that, they looked at me as though I was completely mad. It's hard to explain why I love it so much, but I always have done, ever since I was a little girl.

The grounds are absolutely massive at Silver Spires. They mainly consist of sports fields and lawns, as well as some grassy areas near Pets' Place, which is where a few girls keep their guinea pigs and rabbits and things that they've brought from home. Then there are the two massive shrubberies, one on either side of the lane where you first drive in, a few other shrubberies dotted about and two beautiful flower gardens. But that's all. No vegetable gardens.

And that's what I miss – the thrill of digging for potatoes. It feels like you're digging for gold. And then you get the extra treat of eating all the vegetables, because they taste a million times better when you've grown them yourself. It's such a shame that at Silver Spires the vegetables are all bought into the school in big catering packs.

Anyway, I had to stop thinking about that. After all, there wasn't going to be anything pre-packed about today's special afternoon tea. Mrs. Pridham had told us there'd be chocolate eclairs, which are my personal favourite cakes ever, and all sorts of other delicious cakey things as well.

“Look! Look!” squeaked Sasha. “A car!”

“It's starting! The guests are arriving!” Izzy joined in excitedly.

“They might think we're the reception party if we stay here,” said Bryony.

Izzy giggled. “A few Year Sevens shivering in the lane? I don't think so!”

“Anyway,” said Nicole, “now we've caught a glimpse of them, let's go back to Forest Ash. We'll see them all properly at the party once they've had their welcome meeting with Ms. Carmichael and the Year Elevens.”

We all agreed and started to walk away, but suddenly I couldn't resist looking back and saw two more cars coming along the lane. The second one was moving very slowly and, as it drew level with us, I noticed that the lady driving it was leaning forwards, flicking her head from side to side, staring out first to one side, then the other. On her face I caught such a look of wonder that I stopped in my tracks and tried to see the school through her eyes for a moment. It must have felt so strange to be seeing it after all those years.

Then the sun came out, blinding me for a moment, and at the same time Nicole broke my little spell, calling out, “Ems, come on! Sun's out!”

Nicole and Antonia have this kind of ritual where every time they go anywhere near the main school building when the sun is out, they stop and look at the silver spires. The whole building is really interesting to look at because it's so old and dark, with little diamond-shaped window panes and turrets and towers and a massive front door made of oak, which must weigh a ton. But the best thing about it is the way the sun shines on the tall spires so they gleam like silver, which is why the school is called Silver Spires. Even a watery sun will do it, which is what there was right now.

I went to catch up with them, but then hung back a bit and stared up at the beautiful spires, and wondered whether we were the first generation of Silver Spires girls to do this, or whether generations and generations of girls had done it for the last fifty years. I would ask one of the guests that question. Yes, that's what I'd do.

And suddenly the thought of the party seemed a bit more interesting and exciting than it had done a few minutes before.

It was weird to think that the party was taking place in the very same hall where Ms. Carmichael, the Head of the whole school, had made her announcement about the TV documentary. It looked so different now to when we were all crowded into it for that assembly. I'll never forget the gasp that went up with her first words: “I have been approached by a television production company who want to film our grand reunion, then stay on for a fortnight to film everyday life at the school.”

It was actually halfway between a gasp and a “Yesss!” and it was followed by a deep silence, because everyone wanted to hear more. Ms. Carmichael had gone on to explain that she didn't want our “happy, working lives”, as she put it, to be disrupted in any way, and she'd also said we should just try to ignore the cameras if they happened to be around, and that soon we'd probably forget all about them anyway.

And now, this very same hall was full to bursting with women and bright lights, and loud talking and laughter and exclaiming, and the chink of teacups and glasses. There were a few men too, who must have been the husbands or people from the TV crew. It really was a totally brilliant atmosphere, and I felt perfectly happy standing beside one of the buffet tables with Bryony. Our other four friends were somewhere in the crowd, chatting away happily, but Bryony and I felt a bit awkward about just diving in and introducing ourselves.

“Look at Jet!” said Bryony.

I didn't need to follow Bryony's gaze to find where Juliet was. For a start you could hear her voice (and her silly whinnying laugh) standing out above all the noise. But she'd also placed herself as close as possible to one of the cameras, and I noticed she kept on glancing around and running her fingers through her hair while the two ladies she was supposed to be talking to chatted away with each other.

“I've counted over eighty guests.” Bryony changed the subject. “About fifty old girls and thirty men.”

“Had we better talk to someone?” I asked her, beginning to feel a bit self-conscious. It would be embarrassing if Bryony and I were the only spare-looking people in the whole room when it came to watching the finished film.

Bryony suddenly sounded very positive. “Yes, you're right. Let's go for it! Actually,” she added, “I've just spotted an interesting-looking lady with really short hair like mine, only hers is grey.”

And with that, she went plunging into the middle of the crowds and I was left standing on my own by the chocolate eclairs. Of course, being me, I couldn't resist taking another one. It was my third actually, but they were the scrummiest things I'd tasted in a long time.

As I munched away, I spotted Izzy and Sasha talking with a group of four ladies who kept on making big sweeping gestures with their hands. I wondered what they were trying to describe, but whatever it was, Izzy and Sasha looked genuinely interested. I wished I could get absorbed in a conversation with someone like that. The only two people I'd talked to so far had been going on about their grandchildren, which I actually found quite boring.