Angels

by Meredith Badger

  Lucy tapped the pocket of her school skirt, where the CD was. She was glad she’d booked the multi-purpose room for practice today. At least this time there wouldn’t be any interruptions from her mum or Frankie.

  ‘How about we do a spin right here?’ Chloe suggested. ‘You know, when the music gets to –’

  ‘Nah, let’s just do it the way that Lucy said,’ Bonnie interrupted.

  Lucy saw Chloe breathe deeply, like she was trying not to get angry.

  ‘That’s a good suggestion, actually Chloe,’ Lucy jumped in quickly. ‘I think it might work, if you guys want to try it?’ Lucy felt good as she saw Chloe’s scowl turn into a grin.

  This practice was going much, much better than the first one. So far, the Angels had figured out half the dance. And it really looked amazing.

  Chloe and Bonnie were in the back row doing simple moves. Then Annabelle and Sophie in the next row were doing slightly more complicated moves. Lucy and Lola were in front, doing some great spins and jumps that Lucy had learnt in dance class.

  ‘OK, one more time, Angels,’ Lucy said.

  The girls stepped and clapped. They whirled and jumped as the beat rocked the room. They swirled and swivelled …

  Bang! A stack of plastic chairs fell to the ground, clattering loudly.

  ‘Are you OK, Bonnie?’ Lucy asked, rushing over to her friend. Bonnie sat on the floor, rubbing her leg where she’d bumped into the stack of chairs.

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ she said, smiling. ‘It’s just lucky you can hide me up the back. Otherwise, I’d ruin the whole dance!’

  Lucy tilted her head to the side. Bonnie seemed to be smiling. But there was something about her eyes that looked … well, a little bit sad.

  Suddenly, Lucy found herself thinking about Bonnie and Chloe being stuck in the back row. Maybe there was another way to do the performance? Maybe there’s a way to camouflage Chloe’s cast, and to help Bonnie’s dancing? Lucy wondered. She just had to figure out how to do it.

  Lucy grabbed Bonnie’s arm and helped her up as the bell rang.

  ‘Excellent practice, Luce!’ Sophie said.

  ‘Yeah, we’re great!’ laughed Annabelle.

  Lucy felt a smile creeping over her face. Even if there was still a bit to work out, things were going really well with the Angels’ dance routine. And things were going well with the Angels generally, too!

  Until Lola spoke.

  ‘Hey, let’s all go to Lucy’s house tonight and see what Frankie thinks,’ she said. ‘We could show her our dance outfits, too!’

  ‘Yeah, that’d be cool!’ said Chloe.

  All the Angels agreed.

  All except for one – Lucy stayed silent.

  Lucy had thought a bit about what the Angels should wear for the performance. It was probably best that they all chose the coolest outfit they owned. It was the sort of song that needed everybody to dress individually. Lucy had asked the Angels to wear their favourite outfits.

  Lucy had chosen her favourite pink shoes, which matched her favourite pink T-shirt, and teamed them with a dark denim skirt. It hadn’t been that hard to choose. Since her mum had bought her the clothes, it seemed like she never wanted to wear anything else!

  Most of the Angels turned up in really cool clothes. Lola looked awesome in a floaty yellow top and jeans. Bonnie looked cute in shorts with leggings and a purple T-shirt. Annabelle looked great in a funky blue dress. Sophie rocked green cargo pants and a red singlet.

  But Lucy was a bit surprised when she saw Chloe. She wasn’t going to be able to dance in those high heels! And she was wearing a short, strapless dress that looked like it might fall down.

  Lucy bit her lip. Telling Chloe that her clothes and shoes weren’t right would be really hard. In fact, Lucy didn’t think she could do it without badly upsetting Chloe!

  Lucy scratched her nose. Yep, it was better not to mention the clothes and shoes at all. It was better just to get on with practising.

  Lucy started the music as everyone got into their places. Everything was going well. Bonnie wasn’t quite in time, but at least she wasn’t having any accidents. Chloe’s high heels made her look a bit more wobbly than usual, but that didn’t matter. Just as long as she didn’t fall over!

  Lucy felt out of breath when the song finished. That was their first full runthrough. She imagined the audience clapping loudly. The Angels were so going to win the performance challenge!

  ‘That was cool,’ Sophie said, as though she was reading Lucy’s mind.

  ‘Way cool,’ Lola added. ‘We’re going to be much better than the Devils. Did you hear they’re doing a rap song that they made up themselves? They reckon they’re so funny.’

  ‘Like, duh,’ Bonnie said. ‘I mean, the Devils are funny. But they’re weird funny, not ha ha funny!’

  Everyone laughed. Only Annabelle was quiet. ‘You know the Thunderbolts have formed their own band?’ she said. ‘I reckon they’ll be pretty good. Maddy is awesome on guitar. Remember that time she played at assembly?’

  ‘Hmm,’ Lucy said. ‘Well, we’ll just have to be better.’

  Suddenly, all the Angels went quiet.

  ‘Let’s get Frankie now, and show her the whole dance,’ Annabelle suggested.

  ‘Yeah, Frankie will tell us where we could improve,’ Sophie said. ‘If we’re going to beat the Thunderbolts, we need to – ’

  ‘Frankie’s not home,’ Lucy said quickly. It was only a little fib.

  ‘I’ll just run up and check,’ Bonnie replied. ‘I think I heard someone moving about in her room.’

  Lucy pulled a beanbag out from the wall and flopped down onto it as the other Angels trooped up to Frankie’s room. It was really annoying how the Angels kept on wanting Frankie’s opinion on everything. I’m just as good at dancing, Lucy thought irritably. Aren’t I?

  ‘Hey, Lou,’ she said. ‘How’s the dance coming along?’ Lucy rolled her eyes. ‘It’s OK,’ she mumbled back.

  ‘What do you think of our clothes?’ Annabelle asked excitedly.

  Frankie smiled. ‘All right, stand back,’ she said, and then scratched her chin while she thought.

  ‘Annabelle, that looks cool. Sophie, that’s a good outfit for the song. Lou, Lola, Bon, you all look awesome …’

  Then Frankie turned to look at Chloe, her eyebrows raised in surprise. Uh-oh, Lucy thought.

  ‘Um, Chloe, is that a dress or a skirt?’ Frankie asked.

  Lucy watched as Chloe’s face turned bright red. The Angels all froze.

  ‘Ah, I guess it’s … it’s really a skirt,’ Chloe said softly, adjusting the elastic that stopped just under her arms. ‘But I thought if I pulled it up high … I thought it looked a bit like your blue dress.’ Chloe’s voice had gone a bit wobbly.

  Lucy held her breath. Part of her actually wanted Chloe to lose her temper. At least that might turn Frankie off interfering with the Angels all the time.

  ‘You know what?’ Frankie said brightly. ‘It’s great as a skirt, but you should wear it as a skirt. And I’ve got the perfect top you could match with it!’

  Chloe’s face lit up as Frankie ran off to get the top. Lucy stared at the carpet as Frankie came back with a bright blue shirt. It had little sequins in the shape of stars on the front and cute frills on the shoulders.

  ‘It’s too small for me anyway, so you can have it,’ Frankie said, handing the top to Chloe.

  It was weird. Lucy had never really liked that top. But still, Frankie shouldn’t be giving it to Chloe. She should be handing it down to her little sister!

  Lucy’s temper simmered as the Angels all admired the shirt, and boiled as Chloe put it on.

  ‘OK, do you guys want me to watch your performance now?’ Frankie asked, looking directly at Lucy.

  Lucy was so angry, she felt like she was about to explode!

  ‘Frankie, don’t you have something else you have to do?’ Lucy asked.

  ‘No …’ Frankie replied slowly, shaking her head.

 
; Lucy flicked her lip with her finger. ‘Then don’t you want to catch up with some of your own friends, since you’re going away soon?’

  Lucy glanced around the playroom. She could tell that the others thought she was being nasty. She breathed deeply and told herself she was doing the right thing. Frankie shouldn’t be taking over like this. After all, Lucy was supposed to be organising the performance.

  But as Frankie left, closing the playroom door softly behind her, Lucy felt a lump in her throat. Her head started to hurt. She slumped down into the beanbag.

  ‘That was a bit mean,’ Annabelle said. ‘I think you hurt Frankie’s feelings.’

  Lucy rubbed her temples. Her headache was getting worse. Especially when she saw that Lola was crossing her arms and staring down at her. ‘You’ll miss Frankie when she goes away,’ Lola said.

  All the other Angels nodded firmly in agreement.

  ‘How would you know?’ Lucy blurted out. ‘None of you even have sisters!’

  ‘Well, I do,’ Chloe said loudly.‘But she’s not nice like – ’

  Suddenly, Lucy got up. It was none of their business what she said to Frankie! ‘Anyway, let’s just think about the performance,’ Lucy said, trying to take the wobble out of her voice. ‘Let’s go from the first chorus again …’

  ‘Actually,’ Chloe began, ‘my arm’s hurting. I think I’d better give my dad a call to pick me up.’

  ‘Yeah, I’m pretty tired,’ Lola added.

  Before she knew it, everyone except for Bonnie had left. Bonnie pulled up a matching beanbag and flopped down next to Lucy.

  ‘Don’t worry about it, Lou,’ Bonnie said kindly.‘I’m much meaner to Boofhead and Pinhead sometimes.’

  Lucy put her head into her hands. ‘I am going to miss her,’ she said softly. ‘I still can’t believe she’s actually going. It’s just … ’

  ‘I know,’ Bonnie sighed. She grabbed one of Lucy’s hands, and held it tight.

  All of the things Lucy had tried not to think about danced around in her head. Frankie was going away for a whole year! That meant a whole year of being alone. A whole year of Frankie’s room being empty. A whole year of not having to share their bathroom, of not arguing about who got the token out of the breakfast cereal packets. A whole year of –

  Suddenly, the pause button clicked off on the CD player, and music filled up the room.

  Girls just wanna have fun …

  Lucy bit her lip. A tear trickled down her cheek. She did want to have fun.

  But it wasn’t turning out that way.

  Not at all.

  Lucy looked around the corridor outside her classroom. Ms Diamond had just finished putting up some amazing photos of the Use Your Brain challenge. The photos of the Angels team were very funny. They told the whole story of the raft race in pictures!

  In the first photo, the Angels were winning the race and Bonnie was standing up on the raft, grinning and waving her arms around. In the second, the Angels’ raft was upside down, and the Angels were bobbing around in the pool!

  Everyone walked around from photo to photo, laughing and talking. Lucy giggled as she looked at a photo of the Devils splashing into the swimming pool. Bits of their raft were flung around them in the water!

  ‘OK, back inside the classroom, please,’ Ms Diamond called out.

  Lucy went inside and returned to her seat.

  ‘I’d like to say that I’m proud of all of you,’ Ms Diamond said. ‘You all seem to be working very well on Team Terrific. I just wondered whether you would like to share some ideas about what you’ve learnt so far.’

  Lucy saw Bonnie shoot up her hand. It had taken a while, but Bonnie had finally learnt not to call out in Ms Diamond’s class.

  Ms Diamond nodded at her. ‘I learnt that you shouldn’t stand up and dance when you’re on a raft!’ Bonnie said, giggling.

  Everyone laughed. Lucy grinned at her friend.

  ‘True,’ said Ms Diamond, with a smile. ‘Is there anything else you’ve learnt? Maybe something about teamwork?’

  Lucy watched Maddy as she arched her back to reach her hand up high into the air.

  ‘Maddy?’ Ms Diamond said.

  ‘It’s not easy to work as a team,’ Maddy said thoughtfully. ‘But the most important thing about being part of a team is trying to be fair to everyone.’

  ‘Very good,’ Ms Diamond said, nodding. ‘Does anyone have anything else to add?’

  Lucy scratched her neck. She saw other hands shoot up. It was good how Ms Diamond let the class have these discussions. This time, she picked Joey.

  ‘Everyone should get an equal turn at things,’ Joey said. ‘Like, it’s not fair if some people get all the turns.’

  Lucy turned to look out the window. What Maddy and Joey had said was true.

  Lucy felt herself thinking about the Angels’ dance routine again. Maybe it wasn’t fair that Bonnie and Chloe were shoved up the back? Maybe giving everyone different dance moves wasn’t actually giving everyone an equal turn?

  Lucy closed her eyes for a second. She had a great idea! She could see it all in her mind – all of the Angels should be doing exactly the same moves, and Chloe and Bonnie should go in the middle!

  That way, Bonnie could copy everyone’s steps and Chloe could camouflage her cast without feeling left out. Sophie and Annabelle could have a turn at the front, too. And it didn’t matter if Lucy wasn’t doing the cool moves that she’d learnt in dance class – it would look even cooler if they were all dancing in unison. They would really look like a team!

  The more she thought about it, the more Lucy knew it would work. In fact, it would look even better than it did before! Lucy grinned happily.

  But Lucy still felt bad about what she’d said to Frankie. There had been no time to talk to her about what had happened in the playroom – Frankie had gone out with her friends all evening.

  But at least she had an idea that might make two people a bit happier. She couldn’t wait to tell Bonnie and Chloe!

  ‘Are you sure?’ Bonnie asked doubtfully, as the Angels gathered together.

  ‘Of course she’s sure!’ Chloe replied. ‘It’s a great idea. We can try it out right now.’

  Lucy smiled as the Angels stood in their new dance formation. They were right at the back of the oval where no-one could see them. They didn’t have a CD player on the oval, but by now the Angels knew the song they were dancing to so well they could sing it in their sleep.

  Lucy smiled as they all sung and danced. Turning to look behind her, Lucy could see that Bonnie was keeping up. In fact, she was dancing much better than she had before, because now she could just follow everyone else’s moves. Lucy loved seeing the grin on Bonnie’s face as she yelled out the lyrics. She loved it even more when both Chloe and Bonnie gave her the thumbs-up sign!

  When they’d finished, all the Angels collapsed on the ground, laughing and catching their breath.

  ‘The Angels are awesome!’ Sophie giggled, trying to tickle Annabelle.

  ‘Yep. We totally rock!’ Lola added. ‘We’re going to blow everyone away tomorrow!’

  Lucy lay back on the grass and stared up at the clouds. It was really weird, but for a moment, the white fluff kind of looked like an aeroplane, with white lofty wings jutting out into the blue sky.

  Lucy sighed. She was really looking forward to the performance – the Angels had the best dance routine in the world. But when tomorrow came, and the Angels performed in front of the entire school, it also meant something else. Something that would happen right after the show.

  There would be a real aeroplane taking her big sister away.

  ‘Should I check what you’ve packed?’

  Lucy could hear her mum and Frankie talking as she dumped her bag in the hallway. She tiptoed towards the kitchen and peeked through the door.

  Her mum and Frankie were sitting next to each other on the stools in the kitchen.

  ‘Mum, you’ve checked my luggage about a thousand times,’ Frankie said.r />
  ‘Hmmm,’ her mum said nervously. ‘As long as you haven’t forgotten anything major, you’ll be fine.’

  Lucy could tell by her mum’s voice that she was reassuring herself as much as Frankie. ‘But we’ll miss you, Frankie,’ her mum said softly.

  Frankie wiggled her nose. It was something she always did when she was nervous. It had started when she and Lucy used to watch Bewitched together. Lucy tried to do it too, but she had to use her fingers to wiggle her nose.

  Lucy sighed. It was hard to imagine that she wouldn’t be watching any TV with Frankie for a whole year!

  ‘Yeah, well Daniel will miss me,’ Frankie said softly. Lucy rolled her eyes. Daniel was Frankie’s icky boyfriend.

  ‘And you and Dad will miss me. And maybe the cat will … ’ Frankie continued in a quiet voice.

  ‘Aren’t you forgetting someone?’ her mum asked. ‘Someone a bit smaller than you?’ she prompted.

  ‘Someone-who-is-a-bit-smaller-than-me kicked me out of the playroom yesterday,’ Frankie replied. ‘I wanted to spend some time with her before I left, but the small one obviously wanted to be alone with her friends …’

  Lucy froze. Did Frankie really think that she wouldn’t miss her? She’d been so stupid! She didn’t even realise that Frankie had been hanging around with the Angels so she could spend more time with her.

  Lucy closed her eyes and thought hard. She had to be brave. She had to march into the kitchen right now and talk to Frankie. She might even be able to say sorry, although that was a pretty hard thing to say. At least she would be able to explain that she was going to miss her.

  Lucy took a deep breath. She stepped into the kitchen. But the loud honk of a horn sounded right at that moment. Lucy sighed – icky Daniel had come to pick up Frankie.

  ‘Don’t be late, sweetie,’ Lucy’s mum called after Frankie. ‘We have a big day tomorrow.’

  ‘OK, Mum,’ Frankie responded. As Frankie pushed past Lucy in the corridor, she gave her a little wink. ‘Nice spying, small one,’ she whispered.