Pride & Princesses (10 page)

Coco perfume

The perfect shoes

A winter scarf

A golden bracelet (prefer eighteen carat)

A pair of Chanel sunglasses

A cashmere coat

    
‘I’m inspired...this will allow us to focus on our future journey. The list will give us ‘other objectives’ for the dates so we won’t be so focused on impressing the boys and thus end up embarrassing ourselves.’

  
‘Of course, and all these items will be useful in New York; they start with the most easily sourced and become a little more difficult to obtain...’

    
‘Quick, twelve o’clock,’ Mouche whispered before I could say anything more on the subject.

     
I looked up instantly.

    
‘It’s Mark Knightly glancing at us from across the room. Don’t stare. You’re being very obvious,’ she whispered.

     
We could overhear Freya talking at the opposite table...

    
‘So, how did you find out he was rich?’

    
‘Well, by the water fountain, on my way here...
’Brooke added.

    
‘
By the water fountain
,’ Teegan repeated.
‘That’s starting to sound very romantic.’

    
‘Exactly. Anyway, I heard him talking about a rich uncle in Scotland who’s planning to leave him a castle after he croaks...’

    
‘
I wish
my
uncle would leave me a castle. Then we’d never have to worry about our college funds.’ Mouche said grimly.

  
‘Never mind. We’re going to be self-made women, Mouche. By the way, are they serious? I’m not sure if castles in Scotland are worth that much but maybe we should move him to the number one spot on our list...just in case,’ I joked and considered removing Jet’s name (even though his family owned multiple companies – according to Teegan - and she googles everyone) with the stroke of a pen.

   
Mouche instantly picked up her pink pen and drew another line straight through Jet Campbell and wrote
Mark Knightly
over it and added a bunch of love hearts. Then she scrawled:
wildly rich -
major possibilities
.

  
‘That’s so twelve years old Mouche. I never knew you were such a gold digger.’

  
Underneath Mark’s name she made a space for his
advantages / disadvantages / physical attributes
columns. We haven’t filled that out yet.

  
‘Objectively speaking, money is just a bonus and I could never actually marry a man for that, even if my college fund is depleted.’ Mouche said.

   
‘Who said anything about marrying? Perhaps we should wait until one of us has actually had a proper conversation with him first.’

    
‘You’re right. I doubt marriage is even legal at our age.’

    
‘Oh great, one o’clock, Miss Tartt...’ I whisper, hoping not to draw attention to myself.

   
‘Hello girls. Did you have a good summer?’

   
‘Yes Miss Tartt,’ I said. Mouche started to smile as I spoke.

   
Miss Tartt is a failed Broadway actress with shortish sticky-out red hair and the figure of a former dancer who’s started to binge eat just a little too often. She doesn’t like me. Competition. She gives me looks that could kill roses. I don’t think it’s very professional to behave that way. Like, when we had try-outs for last year’s fashion show, she made me re-audition about ten times and waited right until the end to call my name as part of the ensemble. And only a few dance majors were available.

   
‘Hi Miss Tartt,’ one of the boys called out from across the room. Boys can be rude like that.

   
Miss Tartt should have ignored him, as etiquette might dictate but, never one to shrink like a violet, Miss Tartt actually said, ‘
hello boys,’
in a very theatrical voice.

   
I’m so embarrassed for her. The guys certainly seemed to like it though. Obviously, she needs our future dating guide. We’ll add advice for older women.

   
‘Do you have an audition piece ready for try-outs, Mouche?’

   
‘I didn’t realize they were on today, Miss Tartt. I’m thinking of working behind the scenes.’

   
‘Oh. Well, they’re 3pm sharp. See you both there. Oh, and Mouche?’

   
‘Yes?’

   
‘I’d just
love
it if you could help design the costumes again.’

   
‘Oh, yeah, sure,’ Mouche said, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.

  
After Miss Tartt left, Freya joined us and mocked Mouche.

 
‘Oh, that would be
marvellous, Miss Tartt
...ew...you two are such suck ups. That woman is totally skeezie – no wonder you’re both her favourite students in the whole world...she’s only nice because she wants you to do her dirty work...’

  
‘Ah, I believe that is your
modus
operandi
, Freya,’ Mouche said.

  
‘You know, she’s just a teacher who really wants to be an actor and keeps casting herself in the lead role – Tory’s role,’ Freya replied.

   
‘I think that might be
Phoebe’s
role you’re confusing with Tory’s role, Freya,’ Mouche said.

   
Mouche and Freya both had a point.

   
Freya huffed off and said, ‘later girls,’ as if we were all friends.

   
Suddenly Mouche leaned in and stepped lightly on my toe under the table.

  
‘Mark Knightly is walking back this way. See if you can convince him to talk...’

   
We put our notes away in a pink folder.

   
I was busy reading
How to Please your Potential Husband.
Mouche had opened up
A Woman’s Guide to Bringing out the Best in Her Man
–
Part 1; The Approach.

   
‘I’m so not ready for the
approach
. We’ve never even spoken,’ I added with hesitation.
   

   
‘Well, I’m ready now – first cab off the rank and all that.’

   
This could be like watching a train wreck in motion and I was nervous for Mouche. After all, she was just as inexperienced as me at proper dating and bound to make a fool of herself with an older, more mature man.

   
Freeze the image:

   
We were all alone in the cafeteria by then, since almost everyone else had left for study hall. Freya, Teegan, Brooke and Tory had drifted off. The chatter had quietened down and we hardly noticed Mark and Jet again, so immersed were we in reading our guidebooks and finalizing ‘The Plan.’

My dating guide was open on a page titled;

How to Attract Your Prey:

•
          
Always be neat

•
          
Wear a bright shade of lipstick

•
          
Use sweet smelling perfume

•
          
Always be interested in your man’s conversation

•
          
Make sure your hair is soft and shiny so he can rub his hands in it

•
          
Make sure you wear attractive, feminine clothing; skirts and dresses are uniquely female...

    
 
I’m wondering if this old-fashioned advice could get much worse. I quickly close the guide.

   
‘It would be enough to make my mother retch,’ Mouche says, ‘she collects these guides as a joke.’

    
Suddenly Mark is walking towards us.

   
‘Our ‘man-friendly’ looks are definitely getting us noticed....’

   
‘Or is that our cousin’s unfounded reputations?’ Mouche whispers. ‘Boys think
the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
so we need to act remote.’

   
‘If he talks, you should talk,’ I replied.

   
‘Just ignore him,’ Mouche says, as Mark walks straight past us on the way to study hall.
         

  
 
‘
Well, that conversation went smoothly,’ I said.

   
‘Give him time, Pheebs. Guys are analytical and need extra moments to process attraction...’

    
I laughed as we walked to English but my expression changed to disappointed when I realized Mark and Jet had ditched the class.

    
‘As has been the case from time immemorial, while the boys ditched, the girls worked...the boys hunted...the girls gathered...’