by Ann Bryant
My throat hurt and I had to blink a lot to stop the tears from gathering.
“Here’s young Buddy.” Dad put down the basket and gave me a tight hug. I hugged him back and everything swam about inside my brain for a few seconds because I was suddenly confused by a vivid memory of Mum dropping me at playgroup for the very first time, and I felt like I was three years old again, crying and crying and refusing to let go of Mum’s jacket. Only now I was eleven and I mustn’t cry. Not in front of Mia and the rest of the girls in this hall. But the tears were almost there and I wasn’t sure that I could stop them.
Dad broke away from the hug first and pointed down at Buddy, who was wriggling around in his basket. “Think it’s time he got out of there, Kates! I should get him settled in if I were you.” He winked at me and squeezed my shoulder, then turned to go, and I swallowed and swallowed with all my might and clenched my teeth.
As I watched Dad go to the door, the words that Mum had said just two days ago flooded into my mind. “If you ever feel lonely or worried about anything, you can tell Buddy all about it. He’ll help you sort it out.” When she’d said that, it had made sense, but I wasn’t so sure now. It didn’t seem possible that one little rabbit would be able to take away this awful feeling I had. I didn’t want Dad to drive home with the memory of my sad face, though, so I made a massive effort and called out, “Bye, Dad,” then gave him a big smile when he turned round.
He grinned. “Talk soon, Kates.”
And a second later he was out of sight. But only just, because he’d almost collided with a girl who was crashing through the doorway. She was carrying three shoulder bags and one of them was pulling her sweatshirt off her shoulder. Her face was pink from rushing, her head was bobbing about, and her eyes darted everywhere, before they suddenly settled on Mia and sparkled like mad. Then she dropped all her bags and shrieked out, “Look! It’s nearly as long as yours!” And she swung her head from side to side, clouting herself in the eyes with the end of her short ponytail. Finally she rushed at Mia. “Hi! Remember me?”
Mia’s eyes shone with happiness as she nodded, and introduced me. “This is Katy, Georgie.”
Georgie flashed me a quick grin then bent down and started squinting at Buddy through the hole in the basket. It seemed like she was talking to him but she wasn’t. “We’d better be in the same dorm, Mia, otherwise I’m going straight to Miss Carol and demanding a transfer!”
“It’s okay, we’re both in Amethyst, and so is Katy,” said Mia.
“Good!” said Georgie to Buddy, patting his basket before jumping to her feet and eyeing me carefully. “I wish I had hair like yours,” she sighed. “You look like you ought to be modelling in a hair advert. How much did you have to pay it to lie flat?”
I couldn’t help laughing but Georgie wasn’t expecting an answer because she was flicking her ponytail from side to side again. “See, Mia? Impressed at how fast it’s grown? I’ve been eating buckets of raw jelly for the calcium. That’s why.”
Mia opened her mouth to say something but Georgie was marching over to Matron’s desk, grinning all over her face. “Hello, Miss Jennings,” she said in a bright voice. “Remember me?”
“How could I forget?” said Matron, running her finger down the list looking for Georgie’s name, but I noticed she was smiling a bit. “Amethyst dorm, and the Hazeldean code is two one two seven. Got that?”
“Twenty-one twenty-seven,” said Georgie. “Easy! I’ll be thirty in that year.”
“Don’t you mean a hundred and thirty?” asked Mia.
“Who cares? I’ll be ancient anyway, so that’s how I’ll remember the code.”
Matron raised her eyebrows and said, “Hmm,” then went back to writing whatever she’d been writing before. But I was giggling like mad because Georgie was so funny. And a moment later she was grinning and waving energetically at Miss Fosbrook, who was talking to some girls just inside the door.
“I’ll be up to see how you’re all getting on with your unpacking in just a few minutes,” said Miss Fosbrook, smiling cheerfully.
“We’d better take Buddy to Pets’ Place first,” said Mia.
Georgie rolled her eyes. “Excuse me if I don’t join you,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Can’t bear the smell of all those animals, you see.”
Mia gave her a bit of a teachery look and Georgie immediately said, “Oops, I mean pets. Sorry, Mamma Mia. Anyway, my mum and dad are coming up to the dorm with me once they’ve finally finished yakking away to Miss Carol.”
So for the second time in under thirty seconds Georgie had made me laugh, and as I followed Mia out of Hazeldean and we walked round the back of the building towards Pets’ Place, I had the feeling that perhaps it was going to be all right at Silver Spires.
Chapter Two
Pets’ Place is a huge shed with a garden round the back of it. There are runs in the garden for rabbits and guinea pigs, and snug little hutches with bags of hay and straw and food in the shed. I was glad that Buddy was going to be living in such a lovely place, all safe and warm and smelly. Mia and I agreed that we’d come down here together to feed our pets every day.
“The caretaker told me he locks the shed when it gets dark,” Mia explained, “but there’s a spare key under that window.”
So we introduced Buddy to Porgy and Bess, and then put him in a hutch. I checked he’d got enough hay, and kissed his head, then we went back to Hazeldean.
“I think I like Hazeldean best out of all the boarding houses I’ve seen,” I told Mia. “The others don’t look so warm and homely, do they?”
Mia agreed. “I love all the vines growing up the walls.”
“And the hazelnut tree at the back,” I added.
We went inside and got a surprise because the hall was almost empty. Apart from Miss Carol and Matron, who were talking in low voices at the far end, there was just one girl with straight, dark brown, shoulder length hair and a golden tan, standing by the window. I guessed she was a Year Eight or Nine.
We were just about to make our way up to the dorm when I heard Miss Carol whisper the name “Naomi Okanta” to Matron. Mia must have heard too because she raised her eyebrows at me, and mouthed, “That’s the other girl in our dorm. What did she say about her?”
I shrugged a don’t know and realized at the same time that the girl by the window was sighing rather noisily. I looked at her more carefully. On her head was perched a pair of sunglasses, and round her waist was a wide studded purple belt. She had a very expensive-looking multicoloured bag made of all different materials slung over her shoulder. In fact I guessed the whole outfit must have cost an awful lot. I couldn’t help staring, but then she glanced in my direction and saw me looking, so I quickly smiled and asked her if she was okay.
“I’m just waiting for one of the porters to bring my trunk in,” she said, in quite a loud voice.
I looked to see if Miss Carol had heard but she’d disappeared and so had Matron.
“Oh…right… What year are you in?” I asked.
“Seven,” she said, as though it was a disease.
Mia bit her lip. “Do you know what dorm you’re in?”
“Opal,” the girl answered.
I wasn’t sure what to do then because she was looking out of the window again, and obviously didn’t want company. But then I suddenly wondered whether it was all a big cover-up because she was actually feeling miserable and homesick, so I made one more huge effort.
“I really love your outfit…especially that bag…”
And that’s when she turned and looked me up and down very slowly. The tiniest shadow of a frown came over her face. “Thanks.” And I felt myself blushing because it was obvious she didn’t think much of what I was wearing.
“Tony is on his way, Lydia,” came Miss Fosbrook’s puffed-out voice. She was hurrying downstairs. “He’ll take your trunk to your room. Sorry there’s been a bit of a wait.” Then she saw me and Mia. “Oh, you’ve met Katy and Mia. That’s good. You’re n
ot in the same dorm as them, but—”
“Look!”
Miss Fosbrook never got to finish her sentence because Lydia was pointing out of the window, with an astonished look on her face. “Who’s that?”
“Ah,” said Miss Fosbrook, hurrying to the door, “I think… Yes, it’s Naomi.” She turned round and shooed us all away. “Off you go, girls.” Then when we all just stood there, “Off you go!”
But as soon as Miss Fosbrook went outside, where Miss Carol was already waiting, Lydia tossed her head and stepped out of the door behind her.
I caught a glimpse of a big black car, the length of at least two ordinary cars, and couldn’t resist sneaking a look, despite Miss Fosbrook’s instructions. I stayed in the doorway though, and Mia hovered uncertainly beside me. “We’d better go, Katy…” she murmured, but her eyes were wide and it was obvious she was as curious as me. “Wow! Imagine riding around in one of those, with blacked-out windows and everything. I wonder if Naomi is famous or something.”
I kept quiet about the fact that I’d been in a limousine like this one quite a few times with Mum, and thought to myself, This is where it all starts – the secrets, the hiding of the truth.
Miss Carol was beckoning to the two men who were helping with all the cases and trunks, and I heard the one called Tony telling the other man in a low voice that the girl arriving was a Ghanaian princess.
Mia gasped. “Did you hear that, Katy? A princess from Ghana!” Then her voice turned to a squeak. “Look, her dad’s getting out!”
Lydia turned round and spoke in a don’t-you-even-know-that voice. “It’s not her father, it’s the driver. We had a driver when we lived in Kenya.”
Mia didn’t say anything, but I saw her eyes widen as the driver went round to open the passenger doors, and at that moment Georgie appeared.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for… Oh wow!” As she stared at the car her jaw fell open.
“Naomi’s a princess, Georgie,” squeaked Mia. “And we’re not supposed to be here, so we’d better go inside quick, before Miss Carol and Miss Fosbrook see us.” She hurried off, but I stayed glued to the action. I couldn’t help it.
“Well I’m not going inside,” said Lydia. “It’s no big deal, you know, being a princess in Africa. There are loads more princesses in Africa than in Europe.”
Georgie pulled a face, jerked her head in Lydia’s direction and mouthed, “Who’s that?”
“Lydia,” I mouthed back. On the drive, Miss Carol and Miss Fosbrook took a couple of steps forwards, and out of the back of the car stepped the most beautiful girl, with a glamorous-looking woman coming out behind her.
“Is that her mum?” I whispered to Georgie.
“Obviously,” Lydia answered immediately.
Georgie grinned at me. “See that? I didn’t even move my lips!”
“And that will be her father,” added Lydia, ignoring Georgie.
The man and woman were dressed in swirling gold and white but Naomi wasn’t wearing traditional African clothes. She just looked like any of us in her jeans and top, apart from her hair, which was perfectly braided and beaded. I was certain that at any minute Miss Carol or Miss Fosbrook would turn round and see us standing there, so I grabbed Georgie and pulled her inside. “Come on, we can watch through the window.”
Georgie walked in backwards so she could keep watching. “Look, shiny white suitcases!” she squeaked, as two other servants who had appeared from the other side of the car started unloading the boot. Tony went hurrying over to them. Then Naomi’s parents each gave her a peck on the cheek and said something to Miss Carol, before getting back into their car. Both the servants and the driver did small bows to Naomi and waited till she’d turned to walk away from them before getting in the car and driving off.
“Hurry up, you two,” called Mia from the top of the stairs. “Miss Fosbrook will be cross if we’re still hanging around when she told us to go.”
“No, she won’t,” announced Georgie as she skipped up to the first-floor landing to join Mia, “because Naomi is in our dorm and we’re the welcome party, aren’t we?”
I had to admit she’d got a good point, so we all peered down, and I felt exactly as I had done when I’d been a little girl and should have been in bed, but I’d crept onto the landing to peek at Mum and Dad’s guests arriving for dinner.
And suddenly Naomi was in the hall with Lydia right beside her, and Miss Carol and Miss Fosbrook just behind.
Lydia looked completely different when she smiled, much prettier. “I lived in Kenya for two years so I’m used to servants and everything too. My parents aren’t royal like yours but they’re famous,” she went on.
Naomi looked at her with big eyes in a beautiful calm face but didn’t say anything.
“We’re not in the same dorm at the moment, Naomi,” Lydia carried on, “but I’m sure we’d be allowed to swap…?” She glanced at Miss Carol with her eyebrows raised in a question.
“We stick with the same dorm mates for the first half of term, Lydia,” Miss Carol said firmly, “and then in exceptional cases changes can be made.” She smiled at Tony, who was taking Naomi’s cases upstairs.
“What about my cases?” Lydia called out.
“Have Lydia Palmer’s cases been taken to Opal dorm?”
“Yep,” replied Tony, puffing a bit as he carried on walking.
“Well I didn’t see—” Lydia began.
“Opal is one of the ground-floor dorms, Lydia, and there’s a side entrance, which is only used at the start of term,” Miss Carol explained.
Miss Fosbrook put her hand on Lydia’s shoulder to guide her along the corridor. “Let’s go and meet your dormies.”
“I’ll see you at supper, Naomi,” Lydia said. “Save me a place if you get there first, yeah?”
Naomi bit her lip and nodded. Her eyes were full of confusion and everything started to click into place in my mind. I might have been wrong but I couldn’t help wondering whether the reason Naomi’s parents had deliberately dropped her off a bit late and left very quickly was because Naomi didn’t want lots of people fussing round her. A picture of Miss Carol whispering to Matron flashed through my head. That was it! That was why Miss Fosbrook had shooed Mia and me and Lydia away. I bet we weren’t supposed to know that Naomi was a princess. I bet Naomi, like me, was trying to keep a big secret. But now there were four people who knew it – Lydia, Georgie, Mia and me. Poor Naomi.
I was suddenly desperate to help her guard her secret. But I could have been wrong. She might have only been looking confused because she was new and it was all a bit strange. I’d better keep quiet till I found out the truth. An enormous wave of relief swept over me that I’d made the decision not to tell anyone about Mum. I had the feeling that Lydia was only acting all friendly towards Naomi, wanting to be in her dorm and everything, because she liked the idea of being friends with a princess. If she knew who my mum was I wonder if she’d be all over me like a rash.
Georgie went skipping down to the hall, grinning all over her face, while Mia and I followed. “Hi, Naomi, I’m Georgie. You’re in Amethyst dorm with me and Mia and Katy.”
Miss Carol ran a finger down one of the lists on the noticeboard. “And as well as you four, there’s Grace and Jessica. They’re up in the dorm, I think.”
“Hi,” said Naomi, smiling at all of us. She didn’t look quite so anxious now.
“Right,” said Miss Carol, “can you three take Naomi up to Amethyst? Miss Fosbrook, Matron and I are about to do a round of all the dorms to see how the unpacking is going, then it’s supper in twenty minutes.”
So up we went, Georgie in the lead. “All these steps every day are going to kill me,” she said as we rounded the corner on the second landing. “If Lydia wants to swap dorms she can swap with me, any day!”
“Is this your first boarding school?” Naomi suddenly asked, sounding a bit hesitant. She wasn’t looking at any one of us in particular and I was the one who answered.
&nbs
p; “Yes. It feels a bit weird at the moment.”
“I’m going to have a ball!” Georgie’s voice rang out loudest and made us all laugh. She carried on as though she hadn’t noticed. “What about you, Naomi? Is this your first boarding school? Do princesses go to boarding school in Africa?”
I nearly gasped. The look of shock on Naomi’s face made me certain I’d guessed right about it being a secret that she was a princess, and my mind went into overdrive trying to think of a way to help her out.
“Er…I’ve never boarded before,” she said hesitantly.
“Is it true that you’re a Ugandan princess, though?” Georgie went on. I knew she was only being her usual bubbly self but I wished that she’d be quiet.
Naomi bit her lip. “Ghanaian. Only—”
“I’m going to be sleeping in the same room as a princess!” interrupted Georgie. “I can’t wait to tell my friends back home.”
“Georgie,” I started to say, “maybe Naomi doesn’t want people going on about…”
But I don’t think Georgie even heard me. She was in full flow and there was no stopping her. “Do you live in London?”
Naomi nodded.
“What, like Kensington or somewhere?”
“Not…exactly Kensington…” Poor Naomi was totally embarrassed and this time I was determined to make sure I got Georgie off the subject of princesses.
“Stop talking and show us the dorm, Georgie! We must be nearly there.”
Georgie chuckled. “Any second now!”
I quickly turned to Naomi. “I haven’t been in the dorm yet either because I was putting my rabbit in Pets’ Place.”
Naomi shot me a grateful smile.
“It’s the next one on the right,” Mia said. “We’ve got our own little hallway-type thing. Look!” And for a moment I forgot about Naomi and secrets as a big wave of excitement came over me. We’d rounded a corner and there was a little alcove with beams set in the walls on either side of us, and ahead of us the heavy door said AMETHYST at the top. Below was a list of our names. Seeing my name on the door like that made everything seem suddenly very real. My new life was starting. Right here and now. Mia turned the handle and opened the door, then the four of us piled in.