Francesca went on. “When we rang the agency to find out what the problem was we were told that someone had cancelled it on Thursday.”
Ellie was waiting for Francesca to make it clear what any of this had to do with her, when Angel’s voice cut across Francesca’s as she stooped to put Ferdinand in his basket. “For goodness’ sake, Francesca, get on with it… You! Whatsyourname, Ellie Ixos. What the hell did you think you were doing?”
Ellie’s mouth dropped open and she hastily shut it again. “I…er…” She spread her hands in bewilderment. “I’m afraid I have no idea who might have done it. I was busy with the interview, and then the artic—”
“Never mind that! Are you deliberately trying to make trouble?”
Ellie took a deep breath of air into her lungs and tried to defend herself calmly. “No! I’m doing work experience. I just tidy up, and run errands – apart from the interview last week.”
The sudden silence in the room was broken only by Ferdinand scratching in his basket next to Angel’s desk.
“I don’t have time for this!” Angel waved a hand dismissively at them both. “And neither do you, Francesca. I expect you to run the office smoothly. Things like this should not happen.”
Francesca’s poise slipped a bit, and Ellie could tell that she was angry with her boss, but she didn’t say anything.
Angel sat down behind her desk and pulled a sheaf of glossy photographs towards her. She spread them out on the desk before looking up at Francesca dismissively. “And I want ideas by lunchtime on how to fill the gap this blunder has left in next month’s issue. Send Piano in. You’re obviously too soft with the staff.”
Francesca gave Ellie a little push and guided her out of the office. She closed the door behind them and led the way over to her desk. “Carlotta, you’ll have to do the coffee run this morning,” she said in a level voice. Carlotta had been lurking near the Editor’s office, trying to look as if she might have some business being there. She pouted, then put her nose in the air and went to fetch her coat. Piano had rushed back to her desk as soon as Ellie and Francesca had appeared and was pretending to be exceptionally busy.
“Piano, Angel wants to see you in her office now,” said Francesca. “We’ll keep an eye on reception until Carlotta gets back. Now, Ellie…”
Ellie trembled under Francesca’s intelligent gaze, but was determined to stick up for herself. It simply must have been one of the others who had made the call. But why would anyone working for Heart do such a thing?
“You do realize what a serious situation this is?” Francesca leaned against her desk and folded her arms. “We’ve now missed the opportunity of working with Sapphire for ages and, much worse, we have five blank pages to fill, and almost no time to do it.”
“I do realize that it’s awful,” said Ellie hastily. “But why would anyone working here want to cancel a shoot?”
“That’s what I can’t understand,” said Francesca.
“Well…are you sure it wasn’t the model agency’s fault?” said Ellie, thinking hard. “I mean, maybe someone took a message in their office from a different magazine and got it wrong. Maybe the mistake didn’t happen here at all.”
Francesca smiled slightly. “Ever thought of becoming a detective?”
Ellie blushed. “It just seems so unlikely that anyone here would have been responsible,” she said. “What would be the point?”
“You’re right,” said Francesca. “Of course I thought that too. I’m sorry you were under suspicion, but Angel is going to tackle everyone in turn. You haven’t been singled out. I expect she’ll speak to Carlotta after Piano.”
Francesca sighed. “The thing is that this is going to play hell with Angel’s budget, and make her look sloppy. She might be in charge of us, but she still has to answer to the board, and she knows this mess isn’t going to reflect well on her.” She thought for a moment and then gave Ellie a smile. “I know, why don’t you go and see if the post has come, and forget all about it. You like spending time with the post girl, don’t you? And I need to get on with thinking about an alternative to fill the gap.”
Ellie noticed how stressed Francesca looked. It must be difficult working closely with a boss as demanding as Angel. And it occurred to Ellie that Angel might well try to shift the blame onto her deputy. But there wasn’t anything Ellie could do about that. She needed to worry about herself. She couldn’t prove that she hadn’t cancelled the shoot. What if Angel decided to tell her she wasn’t allowed to finish her work experience? Everything had been going so well. The interview, and her article…was it all going to be wasted for a mistake some unknown person had made? If so, it was too unfair. Suddenly, Ellie felt totally out of place. She’d tried so hard to fit in, but really she knew she was seen as a nuisance at best. Piano would no doubt be feeling pretty bruised when she emerged from Angel’s office, and the chances were that she’d vent her feelings on Ellie. Ellie didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that. She hurried down to see Sophie, as Francesca had suggested.
The post hadn’t come, but was due any minute, so Sophie put the kettle on and pulled a packet of biscuits out of a drawer labelled F. “It used to be labelled B,” said Sophie, noticing Ellie’s quizzical look. “But I decided F was better. It reminds me how Fat I’ll get if I eat too many,” she added as Ellie still looked puzzled.
Ellie laughed. “F could also mean Fillings in your teeth,” she suggested.
“Even worse!” said Sophie, rolling her eyes. “So,” she went on, ladling instant coffee granules into two mugs, “how’s our grand celebrity interviewer today?”
“I’m all right,” said Ellie. “But you’ll never guess what’s happened upstairs.”
Ellie explained about the photo shoot, and Sophie looked serious. “Joe is in great demand,” she told Ellie. “He’s always said to Flynn how much he enjoys working for Heart, but if we start letting him down he might not want to any more. Jane in the Design Department told me that he’s one of the best in the business – he can pretty well name his price. And another thing… Oh! Hang on, I’ll just get that.”
Ellie sipped her coffee while Sophie answered the phone. “…Not yet…no, well…I’ll…here it is. I’ll send it up. Bye.”
The postman had arrived and was dumping sacks of post by the counter, so Ellie helped Sophie to sort it. There was quite a lot for the Design Department, a load of letters for Ellie’s office and a parcel for Angel, although it was addressed to Ferdinand.
“Typical!” said Sophie. “I bet it’s another of those awful costumes she dresses him up in, the poor animal.”
“I think he looks quite cute,” giggled Ellie. “Did you see him in that pixie outfit? I’m sure he likes being the centre of attention.”
“Huh! In my opinion dogs ought to be allowed to be dogs, not dressed up to look like people. Angel will be doing a feature on doggy fashion next.”
Ellie picked up the letters and the offending parcel. “I’ll deliver these for you,” she offered. “Actually,” she added, pausing at the door, “that’s a great idea about doggy fashion. I’ll mention it to Francesca. She’s desperate for a filler.”
“Don’t you dare!”
Ellie gave Sophie a grin and disappeared back upstairs.
“You know, that actually is a great idea,” said Francesca when Ellie mentioned it. “We could have a few pics of Ferdinand and ask readers to send in their own dressed-up pet pictures. We could even offer a prize for the best, chosen by Ferdinand – well, you know…Angel really – but we can say that Ferdinand had a paw in it.” Francesca actually smiled another proper smile at Ellie.
“It was Sophie’s idea,” said Ellie, determined to be honest.
“But you thought to mention it,” said Francesca, taking the parcel. “As long as we can get a suitable photographer, we should be able to have it done in time for the next issue and, as it’s something to do with Ferdinand, hopefully Angel will go for it. Well done!”
Ellie watched Frances
ca make her way over to Angel’s office with a warm glow of achievement. The day had begun disastrously, but now things were really looking up!
For the rest of the morning Ellie tried to keep well away from Angel’s office, in case she came out and harangued her again, but the Editor and her deputy were far too busy making sure that they had enough material for the next issue. They didn’t even demand coffee for ages, but eventually Francesca put her head round the door and sent Ellie to get it. Once she had delivered their order, Francesca sent Ellie over to help Piano and Carlotta with the previous month’s competition entries.
Heart ran a competition in most issues, and Ellie had sometimes entered them. Although she often had the right answers she’d never won, so she was very interested to find out how the winner was chosen.
Last month, readers had had to name the members of a new band that had been interviewed. All the names were actually in the article, but it was amazing how many incorrect entries had come in. Some readers had simply been careless, and spelled the name Scott with one “T”. According to Piano, that meant they couldn’t win, which Ellie thought was a bit harsh. But a few entries were so inaccurate it seemed that the article hadn’t even been read! She found one entry that had only three names on it, while there were actually five members in the band.
Sorting out the correct entries from the ones with careless mistakes showed her how important it was to enter competitions carefully. She decided to double-check every last detail when she went in for competitions in future.
It made her feel quite special, checking competition entries. It would be terrible if she made a mistake and put an entry in the wrong heap, so she took her time over it and, fortunately, no one disturbed her while she was busy.
But Ellie wasn’t going to be allowed to choose the actual winner. As there were always a number of correct entries, the fairest way was to pull a name out of a hat. Apparently Piano always reserved that pleasure for herself. Ellie could tell that Carlotta would dearly have loved a turn, but, like Ellie, she had to do as she was told. Ellie shot her a sympathetic glance, wondering if their similar feelings would make Carlotta feel friendly towards her again, and Carlotta gave her a slight smile back. Ellie was relieved. Life was too short to stay annoyed with people, she thought, and she was pleased that Carlotta seemed to feel the same.
As soon as Ellie had sorted the entries into two piles, Piano grabbed the winning ones and put them into a large Top Shop handbag that she kept for the purpose. She handed the bag to Carlotta who shook it vigorously. Piano shut her eyes and turned away. She reached out, felt for the top of the bag, and rummaged about inside. Ellie tried not to feel hurt that she wasn’t allowed to join in, but failed.
“Here you are,” said Piano, handing Ellie the slip she had made such a show of picking out. “The prize is on my desk. Put it in a jiffy bag and try to address it properly. Use a Heart address label. Don’t just scrawl on the bag. I wouldn’t put that sort of thing past you.”
The catty remark was all the more hurtful for being devastatingly accurate. Ellie had forgotten the magazine had its own printed labels. She blushed and tried to hide her confusion by scurrying off to fetch the prize. It was the band’s first CD, one of their posters and a smaller, autographed photograph of them all.
When she came to pack the bag, Ellie noticed that Piano hadn’t written on the compliment slip she was sending with the prize. While Piano wasn’t looking, Ellie scribbled a note to the winner, feeling very daring. Well done! she wrote. I hope you enjoy your prize. Watch out for the next competition. Just because you’ve won once, doesn’t mean you can’t win again!
She was very tempted to add From Ellie Ixos, but thought that was probably going too far.
Happy with her small triumph over the others, Ellie packed up the prize, and took the parcel down to Sophie. It was nearly lunchtime, so she managed to have quite a long time away from the editorial office.
“Francesca loved your dressed-up animals – she thought it was a great idea,” she told Sophie with a grin. “She’s going to pitch it to Angel. Fashion shoot and competition.”
“I didn’t think you’d really mention it!” Sophie sounded amused. “I don’t know. Here we are with global warming and loads of animals almost extinct, and all our magazine can do is write articles about fancy-dress clothes for pets!”
“I wonder who will write the article,” said Ellie.
“Francesca maybe?” suggested Sophie. “If she has time to do it. Or Piano. I bet she’s good at silly and pointless articles.”
“I could write a good article about it,” said Ellie feeling wistful. “I’d have a picture of Ferdinand dressed as a pixie next to one of those awful charity photographs of neglected animals.” She thought for a moment. “In my article I’d be asking why animal lovers are spending a fortune on stuff like that when they could be helping animals that really need it.”
Sophie looked at Ellie. “You’ve got the sort of enquiring mind that will take you places,” she said.
Ellie went pink with pleasure. “You think so?”
“Of course. You’re full of ideas about everything that comes up. Let’s face it, almost every subject under the sun has been written about at some time. Journalism is all about finding different angles to engage a reader’s interest.”
Ellie thought of her dad’s words in the notebook. “One day,” she said firmly. “Like you and your pots, Sophie.” She tidied away the remains of her lunch and got up. “Well, I’d better go and see what the dragons have got for me to do this afternoon. See you later!”
Upstairs, everything was calm. Piano had a couple of Ferdinand’s costumes on her desk and was making a start on an article. Carlotta was dealing with what sounded like a rather difficult person on the telephone and Francesca emerged from Angel’s office looking the happiest she’d been all day.
“You said you’d done your article on the Lowthers, didn’t you?”
Ellie nodded. “It’s on the system in my folder,” she said.
“I’ll look at it now,” said Francesca. “I’ve got a few minutes. Make sure you don’t slope off anywhere until I’ve read it. Don’t worry,” she said, seeing the apprehensive expression on Ellie’s face. “Piano can always rewrite the article if yours isn’t quite up to our standard.”
That wasn’t what Ellie wanted to hear, but at least Francesca was going to read it. She might have insisted that Ellie and Piano wrote it together, without even giving her a chance to do it on her own.
While she waited for the verdict, Ellie unpacked a box of next season’s T-shirts that had been sent up by the Fashion Department. They were going to be in a chain of high-street stores, and Heart would be reviewing them. Piano drifted past and touched one of them with an immaculately polished nail.
“I wouldn’t wear any of those, even if you paid me,” she said grandly. “But I suppose the designer took Angel out for lunch.” She sighed theatrically and glanced at Ellie.
Ellie thought about how useful a favourable review would be to the designer and the high-street stores. Maybe designers did buy Angel lunch from time to time, but Ellie couldn’t imagine her being swayed by a meal. For the first time she realized how influential magazines could be. Ellie had never considered that she might be influenced by Heart, but she realized that every month she did take notice of articles and photographs, and she would quite often look out for something she’d seen in it. Magazines like Heart must be very important to shops and fashion designers. No wonder they tried hard to get into the pages as often as possible.
Ellie had never fancied being a model, but it was exciting to see the new ranges before they even went into the shops. She must remember to ask Francesca about borrowing things to wear. She’d never get a straight answer from Piano or Carlotta.
She was just clearing away the vast amount of tissue that had been used in the T-shirt packaging when Francesca appeared with an unreadable expression on her face. “Leave that,” she said. “I want you at my desk
. Come on. Hurry up!”
“How on earth did you think this would do?” Francesca was looking more annoyed than Ellie had ever seen her before. “I thought you said you’d read our magazine?”
“Of course I have!”
“Well, if you had you’d know that our readers love Pop ’n’ Lolly Lowther. The last thing they want to read is subtle comments that hint at how big-headed Pop is without actually saying it.”
“What? I didn’t write anything like that!”
Francesca threw a couple of pieces of paper onto her desk. One slid onto the floor and Ellie bent to pick it up. It was a printout of her article, with comments all over it in red pen. “I think you’ll find you did,” she said coldly. “Trying to live up to your father’s reputation by being clever isn’t going to take you far. I wanted a simple article about how thrilled you were to meet the Lowthers and instead, amongst the good stuff, you’ve given me your opinion on why they are splitting up, and all of it, so far as I can see, is totally fabricated.” She glared at Ellie. “As if I didn’t have enough to do without nurse-maiding a child who thinks she’s an investigative reporter!”
Ellie scanned the page hastily. She was almost in tears. “But this isn’t what I wrote! I loved Pop, and Lolly. I did ask why Lolly wanted to become a student, but—”
Francesca wasn’t interested in Ellie’s protests. “Unfortunately, as we have enough of a crisis on our hands with losing Joe’s shoot, we’re going to have to use this in some way. If Piano wasn’t still working on the pet article I’d hand it straight to her and send you home, but I can’t do that. I don’t want Carlotta to handle it either. In spite of what she thinks, editing isn’t her strong point.”
Francesca was looking through Ellie as she reckoned up her options. Then she focused on her again. “The stupid thing is that the actual writing shows a lot of promise.” The way Francesca spoke it didn’t exactly sound like a compliment, more a comment made in total frustration, but Ellie felt a small leap of comfort at her words.
A Dream Come True Page 6