Stella

by Helen Eve

  ‘Fine. I’ll phone her back later; it’s not important.’

  ‘She’s been sending you letters, hasn’t she? I’m not prying,’ she says before I can accuse her of it, ‘but Mrs Denbigh told me to remind you to empty your pigeonhole.’

  She reaches into her bag and hands me a sheaf of letters addressed to me in Syrena’s round handwriting. I pretend to concentrate on the film until she changes the subject.

  ‘Don’t worry about Penny,’ she says as if I’d given her alfresco deflowering a second thought. ‘She’s fine now she’s met Ben.’

  ‘Who’s Ben?’ I ask distractedly.

  Mary-Ann’s commendable hearsay retention is a useful filter for Star gossip that’s just too tiresome for me to commit to memory. ‘You know – he’s the stable hand.’

  My nose wrinkles involuntarily. ‘She’s dating that labouring boy? Publicly?’

  She appears not to see the problem. ‘He’s just on a gap year, and why does it matter what his job is? Penny thinks it could be really serious between them.’

  I lose my patience. ‘Penny thinks she’s in a serious relationship with every boy who blinks in her direction. She should think more carefully about how this impacts on all of us.’

  Mary-Ann looks confused. ‘I don’t think there’s a Star Statute about having to like each other’s boyfriends. Otherwise surely Lila wouldn’t be allowed to date Quentin?’

  ‘I think it’s time to pass a new bill on that issue,’ I mutter as we gather our books. ‘Excess sovereignty can be very dangerous.’

  Chapter Eleven

  Caitlin

  Katrina, as Stella’s campaign manager, took charge as we gathered in her room Saturday evening. A pink tape measure was draped around her neck and she’d tied up her long hair in an offcut of sequinned silk. It was the first time I’d seen inside her room and I checked it out as surreptitiously as I could, getting ideas of how to transform my own bare white walls. Katrina’s life as a Star was showcased in an explosion of photos showing her and Stella posing at parties and sports meets, while dozens of designer clothes and accessories burst from her closet onto the floor. Her ceiling was covered in neon stars that shone in the half-light of candles, and the focal point of the room, above her bed, was a gold star-shaped poster with Team Stella printed in the centre.

  ‘What’s tonight’s theme, Kat?’ Penny, wearing Victoria’s Secret underwear and green legwarmers, hopped on one foot in excitement. ‘You’ve been very secretive about this.’

  ‘Black,’ Katrina said. ‘So you can’t wear that awful pink boob tube that makes you look like a Power Ranger.’

  She wheeled a rack of clothes into the centre of the room with a flourish. ‘All the outfits are here. We have to look unified, so no arguments.’

  She handed a coat hanger to each Star, leaving me until last. ‘I’m so sorry we don’t have a set for you,’ she said, looking me apologetically up and down. ‘Don’t worry; we’ll think of something.’

  ‘That’s no problem,’ I said, relieved that I wouldn’t be facing the public in an ensemble that was smaller than my bathing suit. ‘I’ll just find my own clothes.’

  The Stars snatched wisps of fabric from each other.

  ‘You’re so talented, Kat,’ said Penny, admiring herself in Katrina’s mirror, which ran almost the length of one wall. ‘Did you really design this collection yourself?’

  The collection comprised black Daisy Dukes with an embroidered star on each butt cheek and a tiny black tank top with Team Stella emblazoned in silver sequins.

  Katrina nodded proudly. ‘Yes, and I had them made to our exact measurements…’

  I followed her gaze towards Stella, whose miniature Daisy Dukes were gaping front and back. ‘Oh no!’ she wailed. ‘What happened?’

  Stella placed her hands on her hips. ‘You must have measured me wrong.’

  ‘But I couldn’t have…’ Katrina’s voice died away as she stared at Stella’s waifish frame. ‘I’m so sorry, Stella. What kind of campaign manager am I?’

  Penny looked smug. ‘Maybe you shouldn’t have measured us up when your mind was elsewhere, Katrina: you couldn’t stop checking your phone when you were doing me. It’s no wonder you got Stella all wrong, is it?’

  Stella raised an eyebrow at Katrina and she crumbled at once.

  ‘Penny’s right,’ Katrina confessed. ‘I got distracted because Edward texted to ask me to meet him at the lake.’

  ‘And then he kissed me…’ Penny reminisced as Katrina glared at her. ‘I’m so sorry it didn’t work out for you, Katrina.’

  Stella ignored them both as she stepped out of her oversized shorts, and I backed out of the room before anyone tried to pass her outfit onto me. Spending an evening with the Stars was going to get me attention enough without being forced into Stella’s rejected doll-sized costume too.

  * * *

  Stella came into my room a few minutes later wearing her robe, and stood behind me, looking at my reflection in the mirror. I’d picked out jeans and a high-necked tank top, which I hoped was sufficiently similar to the Stars’ outfits to go unnoticed.

  ‘Nice earrings,’ she said. ‘I’m glad you took my advice.’

  That afternoon Lila, the first of the Stars to get her driver’s licence, had driven me and Penny to the nearest jeweller’s. We were allowed to leave school on Saturday afternoons in groups of three or more, but it was only as we wove through the trees in Lila’s Prius that I realized this was the first time I’d left campus since arriving a month earlier.

  ‘I’ve never seen you look so relaxed!’ Penny said as she twisted around to look at me.

  I laughed. ‘I’d forgotten what freedom is like. It’s weird to be out.’

  I wound down the window as we set off down the country road, savouring the air that didn’t smell like pencil shavings or hardwood floors.

  ‘Don’t I need parental permission for this?’ I worried as Lila parked by a small shopping mall, even though I knew I sounded lame.

  ‘Of course not!’ Penny said as she pulled me out of the car. ‘Why would your parents care what you do to your body?’

  ‘Is it going to hurt?’ I asked weakly as I sat in the jeweller’s chair.

  ‘Hardly at all,’ said Lila. ‘It hurts way less than getting your belly button pierced.’

  ‘And your tongue.’ Penny stuck hers out to show a silver stud.

  ‘It’s just like being shot,’ she added comfortingly as I closed my eyes.

  * * *

  Now I put my hands protectively on the studs I was supposed to wear for four weeks as Stella produced Katrina’s dressmakers’ scissors.

  ‘Your outfit is out of the question,’ she said. Before I had time to react, she slashed my tank top asymmetrically to reveal my midriff.

  ‘I – I can’t!’ I stammered, staring at the discarded piece of fabric.

  ‘Don’t you trust me?’ she asked.

  Unsure how to answer, I fell silent as she cut my jeans into short shorts and shook up a little can of spray paint.

  ‘Almost done,’ she said, concentrating hard as the words Team Stella appeared in silver letters across my chest. I shivered as the cold paint seeped through the fabric onto my skin.

  * * *

  Penny wolf-whistled when I finally stumbled into the hallway. ‘You look amazing!’

  ‘Thank you,’ I said dazedly.

  Stella had plucked my eyebrows and covered me in so much make-up that I barely recognized my own reflection. At least I fit in, I repeated like a mantra.

  ‘Where’s Stella?’ asked Katrina, looking me anxiously up and down.

  Stella appeared on cue, locking her door carefully behind her. Everyone in Woodlands bedroom-hopped constantly, but Stella’s room was always closed and I’d never seen anyone else enter or leave it.

  She was wearing a silk coral dress that complemented her petite figure. Her hair hung to her waist, so shiny and golden that the light reflected off it. Her eyes were enormous and more tha
n persuasive; her lips were full and her cheeks were hectically pink. All at once I understood: she was the rock star and we were such loyal groupies that we didn’t even resent our lowly status.

  ‘What about unity?’ Penny protested, gesturing at her own Team Stella slogan. Lila had gone a little overboard with the gold body shimmer and her bare legs were tinged yellow. ‘You could have picked an outfit more similar to ours, couldn’t you?’

  ‘It’s probably best if we don’t all match, Pen,’ Stella said. ‘We’re not twelve, and the whole idea was a bit juvenile.’

  Katrina looked devastated at this second snub. ‘Stella, this will never happen again.’

  Stella let Lila and Penny lead her out of the door as we all followed. They were delighted to have her walk with them, and we crossed the quad to a birdsong of praise from the Shells and Removes, who hung out of their dormitory windows and called to her in chorusing echoes.

  Stella, you’re beautiful … Stella, you’re our favourite star … Stella, we love your hair … your dress … your shoes …

  ‘They soon got over Ruby,’ said Mary-Ann wryly. ‘She was their number one for years.’

  ‘They have good taste,’ Penny told her. ‘And they always move right with the times.’

  I expected Stella to ignore the little girls’ compliments, but like a professional politician she thanked each of them by name, causing more rabid hysteria. She even took the notebooks they held out to her from the lower windows, signing her name in each one inside a giant star.

  ‘She’s such a pro,’ sighed Penny as we waited for her to catch up.

  Katrina, relegated to the back beside me, nodded miserably. ‘Matching outfits were her idea,’ she said under her breath.

  * * *

  My first taste of popularity was intoxicating. The entire school seemed to be crowded into the oak-panelled school hall, but the Stars acted as if they were the only people around as they pushed open the double doors and shoved their way through.

  The largest table, the epicentre, was empty. I made to avoid it, guessing it was reserved for someone important, but the Stars occupied it like an army. We were the important people. The six-point star they’d carved into their cafeteria table was here again, a name on every tip.

  ‘Move along,’ murmured Penny as I sat down. ‘That’s Stella’s place.’

  I saw that the tip with her name on was pointing directly at me. I shuffled to the end, uncomfortable to be in Ruby’s seat once again and not daring to point out that Stella had been sidetracked by Edward and wasn’t even with us.

  ‘Shall I go and get us some drinks?’ I asked.

  Penny laughed. ‘Why would you do that?’

  I didn’t see where they came from, but, almost as soon as she’d spoken, the table was filled with bottles of beer, wine and champagne.

  ‘The Stripes bring our drinks,’ Penny explained. ‘Never let it be said that they don’t have their uses. The more we drink, the happier they are, so everyone benefits.’

  She giggled as I reached for a can of Coke. ‘You don’t want that,’ she said kindly. ‘It’s not alcoholic. It’s not even Diet! They must have brought it as a joke.’

  ‘But won’t we get in trouble?’ I whispered. ‘This is way more than two drinks each!’

  She looked airily around the room. ‘I don’t see who with – the teachers hate kick-off. Apparently they draw lots to decide who has to compère. If they say anything, you should tell them that Quentin tricked you into it. Lila likes to have him in detention as often as possible.’

  Hannah, Lucy, Ruby and Caroline were in the corner, sharing a bag of chips and drinking lemonade. Katrina nudged me as we walked past on our way to the bathroom.

  ‘Go easy on the crisps, girls,’ she said. ‘They’re fattening and they give you spots.’ Raising a reproving eyebrow, she shimmied away in a fog of sequins and Chanel N°5.

  ‘They’re letting you sit with them at kick-off as well as dinner?’

  Lucy stared incredulously at my midriff as she took this in, and, although I couldn’t bring myself to look at Ruby, I guessed she was equally shocked.

  ‘I thought it might be fun … you know, to try something different? Not that it’s not fun to hang out with you guys,’ I said hastily. ‘I just want to make sure I’m getting the whole Temperley High experience.’

  Caroline looked sick with jealousy. ‘Could you ask if I can come and sit with you?’

  I was confused as to why she was asking permission. I knew the Stars could seem a little intimidating, but it was a big table. And it wasn’t as if they took up a lot of space. ‘Why don’t you just come?’

  She shook her head fearfully. ‘I couldn’t. But maybe if you asked?’

  I left them to catch up with Katrina in the bathroom, but mentioned this to her as we returned to our seats.

  She sniffed and gave Caroline a scornful once-over. ‘No way; too desperate. Tell her to have some dignity. And why’s her hair so flat?’

  I let her go ahead while I stopped again beside Caroline, hating myself as I muttered an excuse about lack of space. She wasn’t fooled, and to make matters worse I glanced involuntarily at Ruby, whose face was a mask of pure despair.

  ‘Thanks for trying,’ Caroline said, her sweet face flushed and humiliated.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I mouthed to Lucy, who smiled ruefully as she patted Caroline’s hand.

  ‘Not your fault,’ she mouthed back just before Katrina returned to pull me away.

  ‘Stop talking to them,’ she whispered anxiously. ‘Ruby’s with them and it undermines our authority if we don’t uphold her punishment. You shouldn’t let Stella see. She’s not in the best mood with me tonight.’

  * * *

  The noise was suddenly deafening as everyone left their seats and surged to the stage. Katrina tried to pull me after her but I lost my balance and stumbled, expecting to wipe out on the wooden floor, before strong arms pulled me upright.

  ‘Careful,’ Luke cautioned, putting me back on my feet.

  One of his hands remained on my back while he steadied me, and I held my breath as if that would prolong the moment. His face was close to mine and his brown eyes were liquid.

  Then Stella was beside us. Despite being so tiny she had avoided the crush, or, more likely, it had simply parted for her.

  Luke laughed and shook his head at her as he took in my outfit. ‘So you’re already leading Caitlin astray?’

  Stella smiled witchily. ‘I’m opening her up to new experiences.’

  Reaching forward, she straightened out my tank top so the logo could be clearly seen. She was holding Luke’s hand, but he turned back to me right before she led him away.

  ‘She’s a bad influence,’ he told me. It wasn’t clear whether he was joking.

  I took a breath as I prepared to launch myself back into the mob, but Katrina suddenly reappeared to rescue me. She helped me into a prime position in front of the stage, putting an arm around me every time someone shoved against us.

  I wasn’t clear on the purpose of kick-off, and, from what I’d seen so far, there wasn’t one. Campion had held plenty of pep events to showcase the popularity of the in-crowd, and apparently they weren’t limited to the States. I’d never attended – in fact I’d always been pretty scornful of school spirit – but then I’d never realized how exciting it was to stand on the right side of the fence.

  Everyone was still fighting to get closer to the stage, and even with Katrina’s support I was knocked off-balance in my heels. Finally Lila, Penny and Mary-Ann shoved me in between them, creating a force field where no one could touch me. Although the students continued to push, they didn’t come close enough to drive us out of the way.

  There was a brief lull as Mr Trevelyan, obviously resenting the loss of his only free evening, came out to compère. No one listened to his speech, but the surge receded long enough for me to check out the hall. It was only used for special occasions so I hadn’t seen it before, and, as I stared at the thick
velvet curtains, the elaborately painted ceiling and the portraits covering the walls, I did a double-take at the large image hanging in pride of place above the stage.

  ‘Why is there a portrait of Stella up there?’ I asked Mary-Ann in confusion.

  Mary-Ann flushed a deep red. ‘That’s not Stella,’ she said awkwardly, as if it were hard for her to get the words out. ‘It’s her sister Siena.’

  I was about to ask why there was a portrait of Stella’s sister up there when Katrina cut in. ‘Siena died. Just so you know.’

  ‘Oh my God.’ I was sure that I’d blushed the same colour as Mary-Ann. ‘How?’

  Katrina looked uncomfortable. ‘She had an accident on Elevation night five years ago, right after she won the election.’

  I felt a shudder travel the length of my spine as the girl stared down on us. She wore a gold crown, and a gold sash over her white dress, and, although she looked exactly like Stella, she wore her hair as Stella never did, twisted and curled elaborately around her head. She also wore an expression that I’d never seen on Stella’s face. She looked truly happy.

  Before I could ask what had befallen Stella’s sister, Mr Trevelyan gestured to a group of students beside him on the stage.

  ‘As we begin the process of electing our new team, I’d like to express thanks to our current Head Girl and Boy, Lorna and Mark, and all our Prefects. I’m sure you’ll agree that they’ve done a wonderful job this year.’

  The Prefects nodded awkwardly at the muted applause. In fact, I’d hardly registered them, and even now only dimly recognized some of them as kids from the Upper Sixth. They each wore a long black scholar’s gown, identical to the one gathering dust in my closet ready for exam season, and they looked a little like bats. Anything less like the glittering Stars was hard to picture.

  ‘They are our current Head Girl and Boy?’ I asked Katrina, staring at the two students in front. With their mousy hair and nervous expressions, they were an odd pair of victors. ‘If the election’s such a big deal, how come I’ve never seen them before?’