“And there are a lot of people we’ve told about the band coming that you wouldn’t want to annoy,” Kara adds.
My mouth is dry and my heart’s thumping. I hate confrontation. Thank goodness my friends are here.
“You’d better see this through,” Jade says. “Our party would have been brilliant, and you know it. At the moment, yours is a sucky glammed-up karaoke show with a band that won’t turn up. The only way you’re going to save yourselves is if The Drifting actually come. And don’t think we’re going to help on your committee, either.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll see what Mr Groves has to say about that,” Jamie says. “And actually, we didn’t invite you to join us, so why don’t you leave? We don’t care what you think, or what you’ve got to say.”
Jade does a weird snorty huff down her nose and glares at Jamie coldly. He holds her gaze until she finally looks away.
“Want to get something?” Kara says, and the girls wander over to the counter. As they place their order and wait, I realise the only free table is the one behind us.
“You all right, Suze?” Jamie asks.
“I’m so finished,” I mutter under my breath.
“We’ll think of some way to figure this out, don’t worry,” Millie says reassuringly.
Jade and Kara sit down right behind us, and none of us are feeling exactly comfortable. They’re having a loud, staged conversation about how sucky the party’s going to be, and how their idea was loads better.
“Shall we go?” Danny asks.
“We shouldn’t have to leave because of them,” Millie says crossly. “We haven’t had our drinks yet.”
“Yeah, I know, but this is a bit full-on, isn’t it?” Jamie says. “And there’s no way we can talk about what we need to with them here,” he adds quietly. “Let’s go round to mine.”
“Sorry to be a pain, but could we get our drinks and that toast to go, please?” Millie asks Hannah. Hannah hands them over and smiles at us sympathetically. She can tell what’s going on without us having to say anything.
A short walk later and we’re trooping up the drive to Jamie’s house, which takes my breath away every time. It’s one of the most amazing houses I’ve ever seen in real life. It’s just like something out of a magazine. It’s on an estate, but not a normal housing estate, an enormous fancy one with massive detached houses. His parents are both designers, and they had the place redone over the summer. Their whole house is white and glass, contemporary and mind-blowing. It puts ours to shame. I’m kind of scared to touch anything when I’m there, in case I leave fingerprints or smudges, or in case I break anything. They’ve got Bang & Olufsen media centres everywhere and huge vintage film and band posters hanging on the walls.
We grab crisps, dips and popcorn from the kitchen – Jamie’s house always has the best snacks – then go and collapse into the world’s comfiest sofas in the lounge.
“Anyone want to watch anything?” Jamie offers, waving the remote at a screen that’s almost the same size as my bedroom.
“Can’t concentrate. Too stressed,” I say. “We’re going to have to let Jade and Kara have their party instead, aren’t we?”
“No way do I want them in charge,” Danny says, shaking his head.
“We’ll figure something out,” Jamie says. “The rest of the party is epic. We’ve just got to make it all as good as possible, then maybe everyone will have such a great time they won’t mind about The Drifting not being there.”
We all look sceptical.
“Well, nobody else has got any other suggestions,” Jamie says. “And no matter what, we’re going to have to make sure we give them a party they’ll never forget. They won’t forgive us otherwise. Our only other option, like I said in the café, is to come clean and tell the truth.”
“This is a nightmare,” I moan, rolling onto the floor and staring up at the ceiling. “We’re never going to be able to sort it out and I’ll have to change schools or something and my life is over!”
“Hi, Mum,” Jamie says, as Lia walks in.
“Hi, guys. Wondering if you’d all like to stay for tea? I can get some pizza delivered if you like?”
Jamie goes to give his mum a big hug. A lot of boys are dead embarrassed to be seen showing affection to their mums, but Jamie and his parents have always been tight. His mum and dad are workaholics, so Jamie has a lot of independence and money, and that’s a pretty winning combination. Parentals can’t annoy you if they’re never there, and when you do see them they give you cash.
“Cheers, that sounds great,” he says.
“I’ll get those ordered in a minute. So, what’s going on with you lot?” Lia says. “Suzy, why is your life over?”
“Because I promised the school The Drifting would turn up at our fundraiser in November,” I say. “I’m so completely stupid. I’ve got such a big mouth.”
Lia makes a surprised face. “You promised the school The Drifting would come?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I say.
“It’s certainly quite a claim. Why did you say that?”
“Long story,” I mutter. “I was trying to prove a point.”
“We’re kind of stuffed,” Danny says. “Suzy’s going to be public enemy number one if we don’t think of some way round the problem.”
“Yikes,” Lia says. “Hope you manage to figure something out. Give us a shout if we can help, won’t you, Jamie?”
“Thanks,” Jamie says.
“I, um, also wanted to remind you that your dad and I will be in London tomorrow,” Lia says, fiddling with her phone. “We’ve got a client meeting, and won’t be back until late. Trying to win some big business.”
“Okay,” Jamie says, completely disinterested.
“Come and hang out at mine after school tomorrow if you like, mate,” Danny offers. “We can tackle that chem homework together.”
“Great,” Lia says. “Right then, I’ll get those pizzas ordered. What do you guys want?”
“Thinking about it, it’s obvious what we do about the whole The Drifting situation,” Danny says, after we’ve given our order and Lia’s gone.
“Is it?” I turn to him hopefully. Has he come up with a genius brainwave to get us out of this?
“I don’t think we’ve got any choice. We’re going to have to do what Jamie said and tell the truth,” Danny says.
Oh.
“But I’m going to get slaughtered if we do that,” I protest.
“You’re going to get slaughtered if they don’t turn up on the night, too,” Danny says.
I huff as he continues, “Look, we’ll go in on Monday, talk to Mrs Cooper – she’s more reasonable than Groves is – and say we’re sorry but there was a mistake, The Drifting have got, I dunno, a gig, or a TV appearance or something that night and they won’t be able to come after all.”
“What do you guys think?” I ask Millie and Jamie.
“As much as I hate to say it, I don’t think there’s any other way round it,” Millie says.
There’s the sound of the doorbell and then, “Pizza!” calls Lia.
As I trail after the others, I can hear the intro to my favourite new song from The Drifting, ‘Fly High’. Jamie’s dad, Phil, is sitting on a bar stool at the kitchen island staring at his iPad, watching the video on his screen. He hits the stop button as we walk in.
“Ham and pineapple, grim,” Jamie says, grimacing as he opens the box. “Who thought fruit on pizza was a good idea?” He opens up another lid and helps himself to a slice of chicken supreme.
“I like it,” Phil, says, reaching for a piece of pineapple.
Jamie shoves his hand away.
“Oi!” Phil protests, laughing.
“Mum got the pizzas for us,” Jamie says.
“Well, I paid for them,” Phil replies.
“Yeah, whatever,” Jamie says, although he’s barely understandable through his mouthful of food.
“There’s plenty, I ordered extra,” Lia says, bringing over
some glasses and pouring from the bottle of orangeade.
As Phil gets up to leave, he knocks the iPad and it begins to play again.
Jamie makes a face. “What are you doing sitting down here, watching The Drifting?”
“I thought they were one of your favourite bands?” Phil asks, switching it off quickly.
“They are,” Jamie says. “But you’re way old to be listening to their stuff.”
“Hey, less of the old, thanks. I’m trying to keep up with you lot,” Phil says.
“Well, don’t,” Jamie says. “Leave our bands to us, yeah?”
“Fine,” Phil says, laughing. “C’mon, Lia, let’s leave them to it. We’ve got a pitch to perfect.”
“See you later,” Lia says as they leave.
I stare at the pizza gloomily. Usually I’d be jamming it in my face faster than you can say ‘stuffed crust’, but today I’m far too busy freaking out to even contemplate food.
Are we really going to confess I told a total lie?
My tummy’s churning so much I don’t think I’m going to be able to eat anything ever again.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Okay, are we ready?” Jamie says, as we meet outside the school gates.
“No,” I say gloomily.
“You guys are amazing!” A couple of Year Nines stop in front of us as we’re about to go through the gates. “We’ve loved The Drifting since forever. I still can’t believe they’re actually coming to Collinsbrooke!”
“And that we might get to touch Nate Devlin,” the other says, shivering with delight.
“Or talk to him!”
“Oh stop!” squeals her friend. “It’s too exciting! When do the tickets go on sale?”
“Um, in a few weeks,” I mumble. “We’re still ironing out the details. We’ll let everyone know, don’t worry.”
“I’d pay any amount to go and see them.”
“Me too.”
“Eeeeee!” the girls squeal again, before linking arms and dashing off.
“Oh God,” I say. “Everyone’s so hyped.”
We walk through the reception area round to where Mrs Cooper’s secretary is sitting. She rings through and then Mrs Cooper’s door opens.
I’m so nervous I can hardly walk straight.
“Ah, it’s my star pupils,” Mrs Cooper says. “Come in.”
Inside Mrs Cooper’s office it’s looking really empty, with half-filled cardboard boxes everywhere. There are usually photographs from all the years that she’s been teaching on the giant pinboard by the computer, but they’ve gone too.
“What can I do for you all?” Mrs Cooper asks. We look at each other, then I open my mouth to spill the beans. I figure I should be the one to do it, seeing as how I got us into this mess in the first place.
“Actually, before you start, there’s something I’d like to say,” Mrs Cooper says, sitting down. She puts a hand to her chest and breathes in deeply. “Excuse me a moment. It’s this ridiculous heart problem. Although I wasn’t supposed to say anything… Not that I suppose it matters now I’m leaving at the end of the week. Anyway, I wanted to say to you all how thrilled I am you’ve got such a wonderful fundraising party planned.”
“Er, yeah, that’s actually what we wanted to talk to you about,” Jamie starts, but Mrs Cooper holds up her hand.
“Let me finish, please, Jamie. Working at this school has meant a lot to me, and I didn’t want to leave so suddenly. I still feel like I’ve got years left in me, but having this fundraising project is making it so much easier to go. We were really worrying about how we could raise enough money to afford a recording studio, because it’s not going to be cheap, you know, but with The Drifting coming…” Mrs Cooper shakes her head in astonishment. “I don’t know how you’ve managed it, it’s incredible, but I’m so pleased you have. Delighted. It’s been the highlight in a month of bad news, to be honest. I’m so pleased with you all. I’ll never forget this.”
There’s a crashing silence. Nobody wants to make eye contact with her, or each other after that, we’re all staring intently at different parts of the room.
How on earth are we supposed to say anything now?
“So, what did you want to say?” she asks.
“Yep, um, wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to plan your fundraiser,” Millie improvises quickly.
“It’s a pleasure. I can’t wait to see what you come up with – it sounds fantastic. That’s the bell,” Mrs Cooper says. “You’d better get moving otherwise you’re going to be late for class. Tell your teachers you were with me. Your first committee meeting is soon, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, tomorrow,” Danny says.
“Well, good luck! Nice to see you all. I’m very excited about the party.”
“Millie, what happened?” I hiss once we’re back out in the corridor. “We were supposed to tell her The Drifting weren’t coming.”
“She has a heart problem,” Millie says. “We couldn’t deliver her the worst news in the world after everything she said, it would be awful. Imagine how stressed she’d have been! We could have given her a heart attack, or anything. We could have killed her!”
“She’d have been more likely to kill us, you mean,” Jamie says.
“Well, it looks like we’re back at square one,” Danny says.
“So we’re going to have to figure out a way to bring The Drifting here,” Millie says confidently.
“Yeah, cos that’s going to be a complete doddle,” I say.
“We won’t know until we try, right?” Millie says, flinging her arm around my shoulders.
I wish I had her optimism.
“I guess the first thing is to try and contact the band,” Danny says. “It can’t hurt, can it?”
“Yeah, I’ll just get Nate’s number out of my contacts,” Jamie says.
Danny punches his arm. “There are other ways we can get in touch, smartarse. Like, via their Facebook group. We can’t Tweet, because that’s too public. But we can try emailing their record company.”
“Danny’s right,” Millie says, nodding frantically. “Nothing’s impossible. Let’s meet in the IT room at lunch, and we’ll start sending emails and stuff. Even if The Drifting can’t come, they might be able to do something else, like send us some freebies. We could tell everyone they cancelled last-minute but sent us some complimentary goodies.”
Millie smiles at me encouragingly, and although I’m still not convinced this is going to work out, I can’t help getting caught up in her optimism. Maybe things aren’t as bad as I think. Maybe there is still a tiny bit of hope.
“See you in there later,” I say, as my friends and I split off into different directions.
I pull my bag’s strap up onto my shoulder, and head off towards class.
CHAPTER TWELVE
It’s the day of the first committee meeting and I’m pretty nervous.
Taking charge isn’t really my thing, and I’ve already got tons to sort out because Mum’s given me loads of jobs to do for Dad’s party. Hopefully if I keep quiet I’ll be able to take a back seat, and nobody will notice.
Although that’s unlikely. Because even though signing up for this was Millie’s idea, The Drifting disaster is nobody’s fault but my own. And now the only thing I can think of is that I’m going to have to make the party the best ever, which is the only thing that might stop the whole school from wanting me killed.
Get The Drifting in or die. I’ve had anonymous messages online telling me exactly that. Along with billions of messages from excited people who think the group’s actually coming, and thanking me for making it happen.
I think it’s pretty safe to say I’m done for.
There have been no responses from The Drifting to our Facebook messages or emails yet. I sent a couple more before I left for school to make sure.
“You ready?” Millie says, as I join her by the lockers.
“Yup,” I nod, trying to sound more confident than I feel. “Where are the boys?”<
br />
“Here,” Danny says, joining us with Jamie. “Let’s go. It’s in the drama studio, right?”
“Yup. Mrs Morgan’s lair,” I say darkly.
“So, how do we think this is going to go down?” Jamie asks, tearing open a packet of crisps as we start to walk.
“Who knows?” I shrug. “It’ll be interesting to see who shows. That detention thing won’t have made people happy.”
“Eh?” says Danny. “What you talking about, detention?”
“Anyone not coming to the meetings is getting detention. I think Groves looked at the committee and saw problems ahead. So he figures the only way to get us all there is to threaten us.”
“He’s probably right, to be fair,” says Jamie.
Outside the studio, I push the door open apprehensively. I always find the drama studio a bit freaky. It’s a large black room with no windows. I never feel like I can breathe properly in here. I guess other people feel the same way, because a new drama studio – complete with windows – is being built as part of the school refurb.
“Where is everyone?” Millie asks.
“Maybe they’ve forgotten,” Danny says.
“Maybe,” I say doubtfully, but then the door swings open. Mrs Morgan strides in, carrying a mug of coffee and a clipboard. She’s dressed in black leggings with a fluoro pink jumper over the top, accessorised with way OTT chunky plastic jewellery.
Mrs Morgan glances around and then raises her eyebrows. “Is this it?”
“Um, yeah, so far,” I say. “I’m not sure where everyone else is.”
“Aren’t you in charge? It’s your idea we’re doing, yes?” says Mrs Morgan.
“Yes,” I say.
“Hmm. Well, this isn’t a terribly good start then, is it?”
Ugh. Cantankerous old bat. Mrs Morgan’s never really made a secret out of the fact that she doesn’t like me much. It goes back to our first drama lesson, where we all had to pretend to be trees. When I thought she wasn’t looking, I acted out being a dog peeing on Millie. Of course Mrs Morgan saw, and she’s never quite forgiven me.
“I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” I say, and then in comes Zach and a few other people. Soon everyone’s arrived except Jade and Kara.
Suzy P, Forever Me Page 9