The Time of Your Life (4 page)

Belle: The Antarctic Food Chain

Where was Cat?

The science lesson had started. Belle was sitting in
her usual place with Holly next to her, but the stool on
her other side was empty. In the last seat of the four,
Nathan was also looking worried.

Mrs Salmon slapped her desk. 'I'm not waiting for
latecomers. Turn to page twenty-three – "Food Chains
and Food Webs".'

'Where is she?' Holly whispered.

Belle shrugged her shoulders. When she'd returned
to her room after her run, she'd woken Cat up and
they'd gone down to breakfast with Holly. When Cat
disappeared from the dining room, Belle assumed she'd
just run back upstairs for a forgotten book, but . . .

Of all the lessons to be late for, double science
was the
worst!
Cat and Mrs Salmon – or The Fish, as
Holly had christened her at the beginning of term –
were
sworn enemies.
Belle knew that Cat had hoped
that her record of late homework and detentions
would ensure her a place in a lower set, with a
more lenient teacher. But The Fish had seen through
Cat's devious plan, and decided to keep her in the
top set.

Where she could keep an eye on her.

If she actually turned up, that was!

'We're going to start with a film!' Mrs Salmon said,
adjusting the projector. There was a comfortable
murmur as the class settled down to watch.

A penguin darted out of the mouth of a killer whale and
swam backwards through clear blue water.

Belle could hear Bianca and Mayu giggling in the
row behind her.

'Erm, what's going on . . . ?' Mrs Salmon muttered
as she leaned across to fiddle with the controls. A
shoal of sardines was now reversing rapidly across her
face.

Holly got up and walked across to the projector. She
pressed a few buttons and the sardines began to swim
forwards. There was a round of applause and she took
a shy bow. 'My mum uses the same projector for
school,' she whispered as she sat down.

Belle smiled, remembering how Mrs Devenish's job
as a teacher had come in handy once before – helping
Holly to convince Belle's father that the Garrick was
the brainiest school in Britain.

Mrs Salmon's face was pinker than ever. 'Yes, well, as
I was saying . . .' she blustered. Suddenly the classroom
door banged open. Everyone looked up.
Bad timing,
Belle thought.
Cat is going to get the full force of The Fish's
projector-rage.

But it wasn't Cat.

It was Jack Thorne.

With those dangerous, defiant eyes that looked right
into her secret soul! Belle looked down to hide her
face, as if suddenly fascinated by the chipped wooden
surface of the workbench.

Jack flashed Mrs Salmon a charming
silly-old-me
grin. 'Jack Thorne reporting for duty! Sorry I'm late.
Went to the wrong room.' His voice was deep and
surprisingly gentle-sounding.

'Just find an empty place and sit down quickly,' Mrs
Salmon snapped.

Jack smiled and strolled into the room.
Directly
towards Belle.
She felt as if she had a big red flashing
light on top of her head.
An empty place!
Of course, he
was heading for Cat's place, between her and Nathan.
This was crazy, but
her hands were actually trembling!
She
fixed what she hoped was a neutral kind of smile on
her face and waited.

Jack walked right past her.

Belle couldn't help turning to see what he was doing.

Bianca was smiling and patting the empty stool
next to her. Jack hooked his foot round the leg and
sat down.

Bianca shuffled her stool closer to Jack's and
leaned over – making sure her gleaming Arctic-fox
blonde hair brushed his shoulder. Belle could
almost see the scoreboard flickering behind her eyes:
BIANCA HAYFORD
– 1,
BELLE MADISON
– 0.

'Belle Madison, eyes front please!'
Mrs Salmon shouted.

Belle whipped round. She wasn't used to being
reprimanded in class. She took a deep breath.
Of course
Jack was going to sit next to Bianca. She was the only person
he knew.
Belle wasn't sure whether to be relieved or
disappointed.

A few minutes later, she looked up from her work
to find Nick Taggart loitering at her desk, supposedly
on his way to sharpen his pencil. He casually slid his
exercise book in front of her, open at the Antarctic
food-chain diagram. Nick had customized his version.
He'd given the killer whale the blonde bob and frosty
blue eyes of Bianca Hayford. And with just a few clever
strokes of his pen, the penguin had unmistakably
become Jack Thorne, complete with striped T-shirt
and jeans.

'Predator meets prey!' Nick mouthed, nodding
towards the desk behind them, where Bianca was now
helping Jack select a pen from her pencil case. 'He
doesn't stand a chance!'

Belle couldn't help laughing.

'Belle Madison! What
has
got into you today?' Mrs
Salmon scolded.

Suddenly the door opened again. This time it
was
Cat.

Belle glanced at her watch. Cat was almost twenty
minutes late. This was not good. Serious misdemeanours
in morning school could lead to students being banned
from taking part in extra activities – like end-of-term
plays, for example. Belle hoped Cat had a
very
good
excuse

Come on, Cat!
she willed her friend.
Abducted by
aliens
might work. Or
sudden-onset memory-loss.

There was a collective holding of breath as the
whole class waited.

'Er, sorry – I, erm, overslept,' Cat mumbled.

Nathan sank his head into his hands. Holly gulped.
Overslept?
Belle thought.
How feeble is that?
And it
wasn't even true! For once Cat
had
got up early.

'Overslept?'
Belle quizzed as Cat slid into place next
to her.

'Er, I ran back to the room to text Mum about
getting the Lady Macbeth part, and then . . .' Cat
whispered.

'And then?' Holly asked.

'Then I was practising a few lines – you know, in the
mirror – and I just got a bit carried away—'

'Miss Wickham!
If you ever come to my class so
much as one second late again, you will be going
straight to Mr Fortune's office. Do I make myself
clear?'

'Crystal-clear, Mrs Salmon,' Cat replied sweetly.

Holly: The Special to Share

After the tensions of the science lesson, Mr Potter's
art class following morning break was all peace and
tranquillity. Soothing classical music was playing
in the background (Beethoven's
Pastoral Symphony,
according to Belle and Lettie; Holly had no idea,
but it sounded lovely, anyway) as they sketched
portraits from photographs of famous people.
Holly lost herself in cross-hatching Barack Obama's
nostrils.

A group of the more artistically talented students –
including Zak, and Gemma's best friend, Serena
Quereshi – were gathered in one corner of the studio
working with Mr Potter on designs for the costumes
and scenery for
Macbeth.

Holly glanced across at Cat.
I'd have a serious case
of post-traumatic stress if Mrs Salmon had yelled at me
like that in the science class,
she thought. But Cat didn't
seem bothered. She was shading Marilyn Monroe's
eyebrows with a dreamy look on her face. She was
probably in Lady Macbeth mode, miles away in her
Scottish castle, plotting murder and treason.

Cat, that was, not Marilyn Monroe.

After the lesson, Holly was walking to lunch with
Belle and Cat when she heard someone call her name.
She turned to see Ethan hurrying towards them.

She still wasn't used to the idea that she was actually
going out with Ethan.
Because of the half-term holiday,
they'd not seen each other much since their first
magical happy-after-ever kiss, although there'd been a
lot of texting. She was still shy and uncertain, her ears
in danger of overheating again.
What do you actually do
with a boyfriend once you've got one?
OK, she wasn't
totally
clueless – she knew about kissing and stuff, but
obviously that wasn't a full-time occupation.

Especially not at midday in front of Mrs
Butterworth's desk.

'Hey, Holly, do you want to go for a pizza at Café
Roma?' Ethan asked.

'Oh, er . . .' Holly could think of nothing she'd
rather do, but she had been about to have lunch with
her friends. How would they feel if she dumped them
to go off with Ethan?

'Of course she does.' Cat gave Holly a little shove.
'See you later, Hols.'

'Have fun!' Belle waved.

Seems they don't mind
too
much!
Holly thought
happily.

Café Roma, on the other side of Kingsgrove Square,
was a regular haunt for Garrick students. The owner,
Luigi, greeted them warmly and argued about football
with Ethan as he brought them their menus.

Then there was a moment of awkward silence.

But it was only a moment. Suddenly they were
chatting – about dancing and acting and friends and
football and singing and pizza . . .

They ordered the special.
To share.

Holly started to relax. This was fun!

Then they talked about front crawl and backstroke.
Not the most romantic of topics, Holly realized, but
they were both keen swimmers. 'I'm going to enter the
regional qualifiers again,' Ethan said, 'but I need to
work on my breathing—'

'But your breathing's perfect,' Holly objected.
Then she caught his eye and they both laughed.
'No, really, I love your breathing!' she teased.
I love
your breathing
was one of the first things Ethan had
ever said to Holly. He'd been talking about her
swimming then too.

Ethan grinned.
'Don't kiss me – I'm alive!'
he quoted
– the very first words Holly had said to him when
he'd literally knocked her off her feet in the courtyard.

'Don't!' Holly giggled. 'That's the most embarrassing
thing I've ever said in my entire life!'

But suddenly it wasn't embarrassing any more. It was
funny. And Holly realized that what she liked more
than anything about Ethan was not the sea-green eyes,
or the perfect square jaw; it was the way he made her
feel special when they were together.

Then they talked about
Macbeth.
Ethan had got the
part of Banquo he'd auditioned for. Holly wanted to
know why he'd not gone for a bigger role – he was one
of the school's most talented actors. Ethan looked
serious when she asked.

'Well, I played the lead in
Othello
last year. But it all
got too much. All the rehearsals, on top of football and
swimming and regular lessons as well. I nearly lost the
plot! In the end I had to go and have a word with Mr
Fortune. He was great. He arranged it so I could drop
some of my classes for the term and make them up
later. But I don't want to go down that road again –
and anyway . . . I want to have some time to spend
with you too . . .' Ethan looked down, as if embarrassed
about sounding too cheesy. But he did that fantastic
smiling thing with the corners of his eyes, and Holly
thought her heart would melt.

He could be as cheesy as he wanted!

A few moments later, Holly looked up from a
fork-fight for the last olive on the plate to see Bianca
and Mayu coming into the café. She couldn't help
smiling at their expressions when they saw her with
Ethan Unbelievably-cool-and-incredibly-popular Reed.
Bianca looked as if she'd just swallowed a live tarantula.

'I hope you weren't planning on keeping it quiet,'
Holly said a few minutes later, as she and Ethan hurried
back across the square in the biting east wind.

'Keeping what quiet?' Ethan asked.

'You and me. Because now Bianca's eyeballed us, the
whole school will know by tea time. She may even take
out an advert in the national press!'

'Why would I want to keep it quiet?' Ethan laughed,
putting his arm round her as a gust of wind threatened
to blow her into the street.

Holly felt a stupid smile spreading across her face.
Is
it possible to burst with happiness?
she wondered.

As they arrived back in the entrance hall, they
were greeted by Ethan's best friend, Felix Baddeley,
hobbling towards them on crutches, his dreadlocks
bobbing frenetically.

Felix had broken his ankle in a football match before
half-term.
The Ankle of Destiny,
Holly called it. If
Ethan hadn't had to rush off to hospital with Felix, he
wouldn't have arrived late at the gala showcase party,
and he might never have rushed in with roses and
apologized and kissed her . . .

'Watch out for The Chairminator!' Ethan
shouted, grimacing as Felix narrowly avoided a
head-on collision with Mrs Butterworth, who was
skidding across the hall. 'He's going to be out of the
football team all term,' Ethan sighed. 'And we haven't
got another decent striker, so we're going to get
thrashed in the Cup—'

'Holly!' Felix called as he drew near. 'Just the girl I
was after.' He grinned, realizing what he'd said. 'Sorry,
mate, not stepping on your toes or anything,' he added,
winking at Ethan. 'I mean your band. Nobody's
Angels. I saw you at the talent show. You were wicked!
The deal is, I'm in a band too, and we've got this
wedding reception gig coming up. We need some
female vocals. Would you be interested?'

Holly felt a rush of Christmas-morning excitement.

She was
extremely
interested.

And she was sure Cat and Belle would be too.

Cat: The Loathsome Worm-being

After shooing Ethan and Holly out on their lunch date,
Cat and Belle sat down with their pasta and salad in the
dining room.

Cat pulled her books out of her bag, pushed her
plate to one side, and started scribbling frantically.
She had to get this play review in by the end of the
lunch break. Mr Grampian had taken a group of
students in his advanced acting classes to the Barbican
Centre on Saturday to see a new production of
Hamlet,
and had asked them all to write a short
review. Cat loved the play – she'd spent the entire
coach journey back to school discussing it with
Duncan Gillespie; the production had given them
both lots of ideas that could be adapted for
Macbeth
(not that Cat
knew
she had the Lady Macbeth
part then, of course, but she didn't let a minor detail
like that stop her!). It was so much fun! She pictured
herself flying on a plane to New York to star in an
award-winning Broadway production, poring over
her scripts and deliberating over a difficult line with
her director . . .

'. . . band rehearsal tonight . . .'

Cat was vaguely aware that Belle was saying
something to her. 'Yeah, mmm,' she muttered
back.

'I've booked a rehearsal room for six o'clock . . .'

'Mmm, OK . . .'

'Cat, can you hear me?!' Belle shouted, waving a
hand in front of Cat's book.

Cat dragged herself back from her plane, midway
across the Atlantic. 'Oh, sorry. What?'

'Band rehearsal tonight,' Belle repeated.

'Oh, no, I can't make it,' Cat groaned. 'The Fish has
given me extra science homework. You heard her:
Next stop Mr Fortune's office!
So I can't skip it.'

Belle looked crestfallen. 'Maybe you could get
up early tomorrow morning and do it?' she
suggested.

Cat shuddered. 'Eu-urgh! You know I hate getting
up early!'

'Well, you managed to get up to check the cast
list at six a.m. this morning,' Belle replied in a tight
voice.

Cat ground her teeth. She could feel rage rising up
in her chest like bubbles in a can of Coke that's been
shaken . . . and shaken . . . and is ready to
explode!
It's all right for Belle,
she fumed to herself.
Top of every
class . . . leaps out of bed at the crack of dawn, as fresh as a
daisy . . . and
—

'. . . you just need to organize your time more
efficiently,' Belle was saying.

'And
you,'
Cat snapped, unable to contain her
annoyance any longer, 'just need to stop being
so . . .
perfect
all the time and leave me alone!'

A hurt expression clouded Belle's face. Cat steeled
herself against feeling sorry for her.
Belle shouldn't be
such a . . . control freak
—

'Hey! I've got some amazing news . . .'

Cat and Belle both looked up to see Holly flying
towards them, radiating Deep Joy as if she'd just won
the lottery. On a rollover week. It must have been a
good date.

Holly faltered as she reached the table. 'What's up
with you two?'

'Er, nothing,' Cat muttered, knowing how much
Holly hated arguments of any kind. 'What's this
amazing news
then?' she asked, feeling the seething
bubbles subside as quickly as they had flared up.

Holly sat down. Belle grabbed the salad dressing out
of the Elbow Hazard Zone just in time.

'Felix said—' Holly began.

'Felix?' Cat asked with a grin. 'We don't want to
hear about Felix. We want to know about Ethan!
Details, girl, details!'

To Cat's relief, Belle laughed. Cat hadn't
meant
to
start a quarrel; her temper just had a life of its own
sometimes.

'I'll tell you about that later,' Holly said shyly. 'But
you know Felix has that really great band, The
Undertow, with Mason Lee and Ben Stein . . . ?'

'Yeah . . . and . . . ?' Belle and Cat chorused in
matching
where-are-you-going-with-this?
voices.

'Well, he's only asked if we want to do a gig with
them. It's a big wedding reception. They have to do
loads of dance music and old stuff as well as their own
music. They want Nobody's Angels to join them!'

'Awesome!' Belle screamed, hugging Holly across
the table.

'But' – Belle slumped back into her chair and gazed
mournfully at Cat – 'we'd need extra band practice. I
don't think Cat will have time . . .'

Now Holly was gazing at Cat too, adding her big
brown starving-puppy eyes to Belle's big blue
orphaned-kitten eyes. Cat felt terrible. She felt like the
most loathsome worm-being in existence. She couldn't
let Belle and Holly down.
Look at their little faces! And
it
would
be amazing to play a wedding gig.

'Who said I don't have time?' Cat heard herself
saying. 'I'll
find
the time!'

Belle and Holly grinned and high-fived.

'And, Belle, I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier,'
Cat went on. 'I don't really think you're perfect.
Well, I do, of course.
Nice-perfect,
though, not
annoying-perfect!
It's just that I'm really tired and
grumpy at the moment. I, erm . . . got up too early
this morning,' she added, grinning. 'And then Mum
was on the phone nagging me about my "career" again.
I thought she'd be really pleased when I texted to
say I got Lady Macbeth, but she was just banging on
about doing professional auditions again. When's she
going to get that I'm not interested in
Joseph and the
Stupid Technicolor Dreamcoat?'

'I'm sorry too.' Belle smiled. 'And I'll help with that
science homework.'

'No, that's my job,' Nathan said as he and Nick
stopped by the girls' table on their way out of the
dining room. 'Let's meet after singing class. It'll only
take half an hour.'

'Cheers, Nate,' Cat replied. 'If it wasn't for you I'd
have been thrown out of Mrs Salmon's class ages ago.
In fact . . . I don't know why I'm thanking you.
It's
all your fault!'

Nick laughed. 'Yeah, I thought The Fish was going
to feed you to the killer whales when you turned up
late this morning!' he joked as they all walked out
together.

'Me too!' Cat said, grimacing at the memory.
'Now,
to the library!
I've got ten minutes to finish this
Hamlet
review.'

She turned and trudged up the stairs. She felt
exhausted just thinking about all the work that lay
ahead of her.

'Ooh, watch out, it's Lady Macbeth!' Cat looked up
to see Mayu and Bianca coming out of the library.
'Overslept this morning, did we?' Bianca sneered.

Cat was about to retaliate – but she just didn't have
the time.

This is how bad it's got,
she thought.
I don't even have
time to argue with Bianca any more!