Acting Friends Read Free

registration and recapped the dress code – with a hard stare at Emmi and an instruction to tie her hair back – and the mobile phone policy: we could keep our phones with us, but they had to be switched off all day. She also explained how this room was our base, but that we would travel to different rooms around the school for our various lessons, and handed out our planners – small notebooks with a map in the back to help us locate all the various rooms, in which we were supposed to log our homework and copy down our timetables.
    It was overwhelming. When the bell rang for break I felt completely exhausted. Shaz gave me another lethal stare as Grace and I followed our maps along the corridor in search of the nearest toilets.
    ‘That girl hates me and so does Mrs Bunton,’ I said miserably, as we passed a small booth marked Snack Bar on the map. I had, previously, thought I might stop here and buy a bag of crisps, but one look at the noisy scrum in front of the booth and I decided against it.
    ‘I don’t think they hate you,’ Grace said soothingly.
    ‘Mrs Bunton was just making a point and that girl, 14
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    Shaz, is probably just feeling awkward cos it’s her first day and . . . and she didn’t get put in a class with all her friends.’
    ‘That’s because all her friends are in year eight now,’ said a sharp voice behind us.
    I spun around. It was the girl with the loose shiny hair and the attitude. Emmi. Close up I was struck by how pretty she was. Her eyes in particular were huge and a deep, velvety-brown colour.
    ‘What do you mean?’ I said.
    ‘Shaz was ill last year,’ Emmi said, lowering her voice. ‘I know cos my sister’s friends with her sister.
    Shaz didn’t come to school for six months so they’ve kept her down a year. Her birthday was in August anyway, so nobody thought it was a big deal but Shaz hates it. Why’s she so annoyed with you anyway?’
    I gulped. Emmi looked at me, her head tilted to one side. It was a knowing look, like she could see right through me to how stressed and miserable I was feeling, while Emmi herself exuded confidence from every pore.
    ‘It wasn’t River’s fault,’ Grace said timidly. ‘She bumped into Shaz and spilt her drink. Then . . . well, she just knew some stuff about Frankie Clarke that Shaz didn’t . . . River’s got a picture of him on her purse.’

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    I could feel my face burning again. Emmi raised her eyebrows. She was so cool. She was bound to think it was really pathetic carrying around some teen actor’s picture.
    ‘Yeah, he’s cute,’ Emmi smiled and a dimple appeared in her cheek. ‘My sister worked on his last film, actually.’ She said this modestly – like she knew it was impressive, but she didn’t want to look all boastful.
    ‘Wow,’ Grace said.
    I realised my mouth had fallen open, and shut it.
    I stared at Emmi, trying to think of something to say to her. But the only questions I could come up with sounded stupid, even inside my head. What had her sister said Frankie Clarke was really like? Had Emmi met him?
    What about Emmi herself? How did she manage to make her uniform look like it belonged on her body, rather than all big and shapeless like mine?
    Looking at her closely I could see not only that her skirt was shorter than everyone else’s but that her tie was thin side out and knotted well below her shirt collar – like those of the girls we’d seen outside.
    How did she know to do those things?
    ‘Did your sister come to this school?’ Grace asked.
    Emmi nodded. ‘She left last year. So did Shaz’s sister. That’s how they know each other.’

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    People were swarming around us now, heading to join the huge queue at the snack bar.
    ‘It’ll get less crowded as term goes on,’ Emmi said knowledgeably. ‘People run out of money.’ She made a face. ‘I’m going to the