Suzy P, Forever Me

by Karen Saunders

  “This is Jojo. She’s got some drapes for the walls,” Anna says, opening one of the huge boxes. “There’s more stuff in the van, we couldn’t carry everything.”

  “Guys, can you go and get the stuff?” Millie says. “People are going to be arriving really soon.”

  Jamie and Danny immediately run off, followed by April, as we watch Anna pull out some gorgeous purple velvet drapes from the box.

  “We thought we could hang these around here…” Anna says, deftly scrambling up the wall bars to hang the drapes. “Jojo, you get the other end…”

  Even a few drapes around the walls have made a huge difference. It doesn’t feel quite so school gym with the hoops and bars covered up.

  Millie and I push all the freestanding equipment out and shut it into a classroom. Nobody wants a pommel horse at a party.

  We’ll have to remember to move it back after the party’s done. Nobody wants a pommel horse in a science lab, either.

  By the time we return, it’s looking pretty fantastic. The lights are dimmed and the DJ’s lasers are flashing, drapes are up, the tables have been covered in cloths, and the huge gold microphones we’d coveted in the Party Props warehouse are standing each side of the steps up to the stage, which are now covered in a red carpet. The judges’ chairs are carefully positioned and there are some large silhouettes of instruments hanging around the place – guitars, drum kits, mike stands and keyboards, as well as glittery stars hanging from the ceiling

  “This is incredible, thank you so much,” I say in awe.

  “Not a problem,” says Anna. “I’ve also put in a call to one of my other friends who should be here in a bit… ah, here she is!”

  A woman walks in, hefting a huge balloon arch behind her. Sophie and Eve rush over to give her a hand.

  “What’s this?” I say, eyes wide with amazement.

  “My friend Ali supplies these to weddings. This was used yesterday – seems a shame to waste it, doesn’t it? And Ali said she’d got a load of leftover balloon centrepieces for your tables, too,” Anna says.

  I stare, open-mouthed. I can hardly believe what I’m seeing. In only a few minutes, the room has been completely transformed, and it hasn’t even cost us a penny! People will be blown away when they see it. Even better, with all the ticket sales, plus the raffle tickets we’ll sell, we should make a ton of cash by the end of the night.

  “I can’t thank you enough,” I say quietly to Anna.

  Anna laughs. “Happy to be able to help. You kids are going to have enough stress and hard work next year with GCSEs and what not, so have a good time while you can. I was bullied at school. We can’t let people like Jade and Kara win, can we?”

  Millie gives me an excited smile, and grabs me into a big bear hug. I squeeze her back happily.

  “We need to set up the table with the raffle prizes,” she says. “Then I think we’re ready to go!”

  Jamie’s phone starts to ring. He grabs it from his pocket, stares down at the display, then says, “I’ve got to take this.” He disappears off into a corner, talking at top speed.

  “What’s going on with him?” Millie asks.

  Danny and I shrug. I don’t really have time to think about Jamie now. I’m surprised that I actually feel loads better than I thought I would. Okay, so The Drifting aren’t going to come. But at least the party isn’t an entire washout. If I end up getting grief I’ll go home, but hopefully everyone else will still enjoy themselves.

  It won’t be that bad, will it?

  The look on Mrs Morgan’s face as she approaches says otherwise.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “What’s the matter?” I ask.

  Because Mrs Morgan is freaking.

  “I’ve finally got hold of the caterers and they can’t fulfil all of our order. The drinks are fine, but apparently the person who was preparing the food came down with a sickness bug and they can’t risk infecting everyone.”

  Seriously?!

  Is everything going to go wrong here? This must be the most cursed party in the history of the world.

  “The food is the most important thing!” Jamie says, who’s returned from his phone call and is looking horrified.

  Do you know, I just can’t get stressed about anything else.

  “I’ve got an idea,” I say. “Let’s get pizza. Why don’t we ring Hannah at Bojangles, and see what she can do? She won’t be able to do it all by herself, the kitchen there’s not big enough for the quantities of food we’ll need, but she knows of loads of other cafés around the place who might be able to help us out.”

  “Pizza?” Mrs Morgan says, wrinkling her nose. “But we spent so much time choosing all the food. What about those darling cupcakes with the musical instruments iced on the top…”

  “I know, it’s a shame, but I don’t think we’ve got any other options, have we?” I say. “At least it’ll keep everyone happy. Everyone in the world likes pizza.”

  “Well, okay then,” Mrs Morgan says. “I’ll go and make a call now.”

  As she trots off, Jamie grabs my arm. “Can I talk to you and Mills? I’ve just had some news and it’s kind of urgent, I –”

  “Not now,” Millie says. “Suze and I have got to get ready. C’mon, you!”

  Even though Jamie is still trying to get our attention she drags me off to the toilets, where we do the quickest change of our lives.

  I feel amazing in Isabella’s designer dress and heels. Okay, I can hardly walk in them, but that’s a minor detail. And the serum she sent! Oh raptures, my hair is behaving and looks amazing, all ringletty and princess-like. I don’t want to sound too braggy, but for once, I actually look pretty okay.

  Millie looks beautiful too in her short pink prom dress with a netted skirt, accessorised with bright yellow heels and colourful jewellery.

  “Ready?” she asks, smiling.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  We walk back out into the hall, and I do another double-take when I see how stunning it is now it’s been decorated properly. We did this! Surely people might go easy on us when they see how hard we’ve worked?

  Danny’s spreading musical note confetti all over the tables when I walk over and touch his arm.

  “That looks great,” I say.

  He spins round, and when he sees me his mouth drops open.

  “Wow,” he says, before his lips stretch into a big grin. “Look at you.”

  We stand for a moment, smiling shyly at each other.

  “You look completely gorgeous,” Danny eventually says.

  “Thanks,” I say. “So do you.” Danny’s changed into smart jeans with a shirt over a t-shirt and looks sexier than I’ve ever seen him before in my entire life.

  Swoon.

  “Did Jamie catch up with you?” Danny asks.

  “Um, not yet,” I say. “He tried to speak to me and Mills earlier.”

  “Yeah, you need to see him, it’s urgent. He said he’s got good news for us.”

  “He has? I could use some.”

  I’m trying to hunt Jamie down when I bump into the judges instead.

  “Suzy!” Jamie calls a few minutes later, as I’m deep in discussion over competition rules.

  “Hang on a minute,” I say distractedly.

  “But I need to talk to you.”

  “Yep, let me sort out these guys and make sure they know what they’re doing, then I’m all yours.”

  “But I really need to tell you something. It’ll be quick, I promise.”

  “Jamie, I can’t right now, I’ve got to get a running order organised. I’ll be with you in a sec, okay?”

  After the judges are sorted, I’m about to go and find Jamie when the photographer from the paper arrives and wants to take photos of us. Then the DJ grabs me to check over his playlist and make sure I’m happy with it. Across the room, I see Millie and the other committee members rushing around, just as busy as I am.

  Jamie tries again and again to talk to me and Millie, but we’ve got
no time to stop. It’s full on, trying to get everything sorted before the party’s due to start. But we’re determined that, despite the lack of The Drifting, and Jade and Kara’s best efforts to sabotage us, our party is going to be out-of-this-world amazing.

  Finally the four of us get a moment together, and Jamie’s about to start talking when up walks Mrs Cooper. Jamie’s face falls. Mrs Cooper claps one hand on my shoulder, and one hand on Millie’s.

  “I want to say thank you for doing such a wonderful job. You’ve worked ever so hard. This is the best send-off I could have asked for. I hear there’ve been a few teething problems, but I must say, you’ve risen to the challenges beautifully and I’m extremely proud of you all. We’re going to make a lot of money, so well done!”

  Jamie tries again to say something, but he’s interrupted by Mrs Cooper.

  “Look, people are coming in! Let’s get your party underway!”

  People have started to arrive in droves, and Mrs Morgan herds Jamie and Danny backstage to start organising the acts. Jamie looks agonised as they go.

  Although there’s some muttering about The Drifting and some dark looks being sent in my direction, everyone coming in seems up for a party. There’s a lot of exclaiming about the props and the costumes and everyone seems to be genuinely impressed with the room and the set-up. Zach and his mates skulk in, looking sheepish, but I’m watching the door for Jade and Kara. When they eventually arrive, I can tell from their expressions that they’re astonished by what we’ve done, and also seriously annoyed. They cover it up by sneering at everything.

  Grrrr.

  But ha! They must be livid.

  I decide to ignore them and allow myself a flicker of satisfaction as I gaze around. We made this happen! Despite everything, and no thanks to certain people, we’ve done a pretty good job. Go us!

  Behind me, Mr Groves has walked up the steps onto the stage and is trying to get everyone’s attention.

  “Everyone! I’d like to say something. Simmer down, please… Welcome to our fundraising evening. We hope you’re having a good time. As you know, we’re here because of Mrs Cooper, who’s sadly retired. Hers are big shoes to fill, but I hope I’m doing her justice.”

  Mr Groves looks around the room at this point, clearly expecting whoops, cheers or some kind of feedback. Instead there’s silence as everyone stares at him.

  Awkward.

  “Ahem,” he coughs. “Right, well, if I could invite Mrs Cooper up here, let’s give her an enormous cheer to say thank you for all the hard work she did for our school.”

  There are cheers that nearly raise the roof. Mainly because she’s gifting us a recording studio, I expect, but Mrs Cooper was a pretty great head. Loads better than Groves, anyway.

  “Now, we’ve put together a montage of pictures of your time here,” Mr Groves says, and the photos start to flick through on the screen. They start from way back in the eighties, where Mrs Cooper was all big curly hair and shoulder pads, and go through the years all the way up to today. She’s done so much during her time here!

  “Thank you, Mrs Cooper!” Mr Groves says, when the montage has finished. “Let’s give her another hand.”

  Once all the applause has finished, Mr Groves starts talking again. He’s loving the sound of his voice this evening. “Now, the singing competition will kick off in the next hour or so, I know we’re all looking forward to that, and don’t forget to buy your raffle tickets, there are some fantastic prizes on offer. I’ve got my eye on that flatscreen TV. We’ve got our party committee to thank for this great evening, so I’d like you to help me thank them. Up here, all of you!”

  There’s actually a pretty big round of applause as we troop up onto the stage. Not as big as the one for Cooper, and okay, there are a few boos, but the claps are definitely louder.

  “We knew you were lying,” Jade hisses as she and Kara follow behind me. “The Drifting were never going to show.”

  I just ignore her.

  “Where’s Jamie?” I whisper.

  “Dunno,” Millie says. “He dashed off a minute ago.”

  “And, before ‘The Star Factor’ kicks off, I’d like to mention the other star of the hour, Mrs Morgan,” Mr Groves says.

  Mrs Morgan walks onto the stage, smiling broadly.

  “I know some of you were expecting The Drifting to be here,” Mr Groves continues. A few boos ring out around the hall. I feel my cheeks turn pink and I stare down at my feet. I’d very much like to disappear, right here, right now.

  “As you know they’ve been approached to do a charity gig for survivors of the mudslide in South America,” Mr Groves says. “So although it’s obviously very disappointing not to see them perform tonight, the gig they’re doing is for a very worthwhile cause and –”

  He stops talking as Jamie dashes up the steps, waving something in his hand. It looks a lot like a USB stick.

  “What is it, Jamie?” Mr Groves doesn’t look very pleased at being interrupted.

  Jamie beams triumphantly as he passes us. “Wait until you see this,” he mutters, then puts his hand over Mr Grove’s microphone as he talks to him quickly. Out on the dance floor, the crowd are getting a bit bored, shuffling and talking amongst themselves.

  “Well, this is certainly unexpected,” Mr Groves says, looking puzzled, after Jamie’s finished. “Jamie’s got something he’d like to show us.”

  Jamie fiddles around with the computer, inserting the USB stick and pressing a few keys. The projection screen turns blue, and then the words ‘The Drifting’ fill it.

  He turns to the crowd and smiles triumphantly. “The Drifting may not have been able to appear here in person tonight, but they recorded this for us instead.”

  Huh? What’s he talking about?

  My breath catches in my throat as the film starts to play, and there, on the huge screen, blown-up to larger-than-life size, is Nate Devlin, lead singer of The Drifting smiling at us all.

  My heart stops. Oh my God. I don’t believe this!

  “Hello, Collinsbrooke!” he says.

  What the –?

  Down below, people have started cheering, grabbing onto each other with delight. The noise level in here has gone through the roof.

  “Shush, or you’ll miss what he’s got to say to us!” Jamie bellows into the microphone.

  He turns up the volume so Nate can be heard over the din.

  Nate continues: “I know you were expecting to see us at your school tonight, and I’m really sorry we can’t be there.”

  At this point the camera pans back to reveal the rest of the band, with their instruments. A few girls let out muffled shrieks, and start jumping up and down.

  A quick glance to the side reveals Jade and Kara are not happy. They look like they’ve been sucking on lemons.

  “When we heard the news about the mudslide, we knew we had to support those affected, especially as our drummer has family out there,” Nate continues. “We didn’t want to leave you guys in the lurch, though, especially after your committee had worked so hard to get things organised. So we’re going to play some of our biggest hits for you. This first one’s for Suzy and Millie. Hope you enjoy it, girls!”

  Oh. My. Actual. God.

  Nate Devlin said my name.

  Nate Devlin said my name!

  And then they break into ‘Ready’, their first big hit. Everyone in the hall starts whooping, and then they’re all going nuts on the dance floor.

  As Millie clasps my hand, I’m still too flabbergasted to move.

  Jamie darts over and gives us a huge smile.

  “What the…? How did you…? What’s going on?” I finally splutter.

  “Why didn’t you say something?” Millie says, going to give Jamie a wallop on his chest. He ducks out of the way, laughing.

  “I have been trying! I wanted to tell you we might have things sorted, but I didn’t know it would definitely go ahead until a few minutes ago – we’ve had a nightmare trying to get the data transferred. This
has literally only just been delivered. Anyway, every time I tried to talk to you earlier, someone kept pulling you away. But how mind-blowing is this?”

  “So mind-blowing,” I say, still unable to believe what’s happened. People are dancing and laughing as the music plays.

  Even some of the teachers are joining in. Urgh. My eyes. Some things a girl really doesn’t need to see.

  “I still don’t understand how you managed to pull this off,” Millie says, as the song comes to an end and everyone’s clapping. It sounds like her voice is coming from the end of a long tunnel. It’s all so surreal. I feel like I’m in a dream.

  It all worked out okay! It all worked out!

  “Look at her, she’s a complete space cadet,” Danny says. He puts his arm around me and gives me a squeeze, kissing the side of my head. “Bit of a shock, right?”

  “You can say that again,” I say, finally managing to get my vocal cords working. Relief is surging through every part of my body, and my knees are trembling. The Drifting actually made an appearance at our party! And okay, so they weren’t here in person, but they spoke to our school! And now they’re playing – for us!

  “You know Mum and Dad have been working up in London a lot?” Jamie asks. “Well, their top-secret project was for The Drifting!”

  “Shut up!” Millie and I chorus together in disbelief.

  “Not really?” I say. “And they didn’t tell you?”

  “They couldn’t,” Jamie says. “They had to sign all sorts of scary legal documents and confidentiality agreements and would have got into a whole heap of trouble if they’d said anything. You still need to keep it quiet, okay? They’ve designed the cover of the new album!”

  “No way!”

  “I know,” Jamie says. “Mum and Dad’s names are even listed in the credits. Who’d have thought the olds could ever end up doing something so cool? They had to do loads of pitches and stuff before they won the work. Probably helped that The Drifting’s PR manager is an old friend of theirs from university…”

  “Oh my God!” Millie exclaims.

  “Yeah. Anyway, when you told Mum what you’d done, Suzy, apparently after they’d won the contract she talked to her friend, who spoke to the band and explained everything, especially the bit about people blurting out promises they couldn’t keep…”