Charm School Read Free

she asked curiously after a moment. ‘You’ve never come before. And look at you! You obviously haven’t fallen to earth from Planet Fashion.’

    Bonny couldn’t help staring. If one of her old friends had said something like that, she would have thought that they were trying to be horrible. After all, it was the rudest thing that anyone had said to her in quite a while. But Miss Stardust somehow said it as if she were making a simple judgement of the facts, like ‘Your eyes are more blue than green’, or, ‘It’s really too wet for a picnic.’
    And it was the truth. No way round that. There’s nothing amazing about a pair of blue jeans and a faded shirt, and plain blue canvas sneakers. So Bonny was about to explain about her mother and the bookkeeping, and Dad stuck in the lay-by, and being new in town, when up sailed Miss Cute Candy, walking for all the world as if she were on the brink of dancing, pointing her pretty, sparkling shoes like a ballerina fairy, and waving her fingers elegantly in the air, as if the polish on her nails were still not dry.
    ‘Who’s this?’ she demanded of Angelica, staring at Bonny.
    ‘How should I know?’ Angelica responded petulantly. ‘I only just met her.’ She turned away, making it clear that the last thing she wanted was to be caught up in conversation with Miss Cute Candy. Why were they all so scratchy with one another, Bonny wondered. And then she realized. If the whole day was a sort of competition, and they were rivals, then each time they even looked at one another, all they would see would be one more person who might snatch away that delectable, desirable , glistering tiara. What tiny-minded
pains
they were clearly going to be, even for a few short hours.
    Now Miss Cute Candy was eyeing Bonny up and down.
    ‘Where’s all your stuff?’
    ‘I haven’t got any.’
    ‘What, none? No make-up? Nothing for your nails? No stuff to fix your hair?’
    Poor Bonny’s heart was sinking. ‘No. None of that.’
    ‘Well, what about music tapes for your routine, and instructions for the lighting?’
    ‘I haven’t got those, either.’
    Miss Cute Candy stared. ‘Well, surely you’ve brought a gown for the catwalk parade, and an outfit for your song-and-dance routine?’
    ‘No. No, I haven’t.’
    ‘I don’t see why you’re even here,’ said Miss Cute Candy. ‘What’s the point of showing up if all you’re going to be is One Big Nothing?’
    It was another really rude remark, though Bonny could tell that, just like Miss Stardust, she wasn’t trying to be nasty; she was just curious. But, even so, the idea of being One Big Nothing wasn’t nice. It was quite obvious that showing up at Charm School without a pile of the right stuff was just about as hopeless as turning up at Practical Parenting without a baby. But what was so special about dressing up? These girls were all swanning about as if just looking your prettiest gave you the right to act as if other people were just grease spots on the carpet. You’d have a whole lot more right to strut around, Bonny thought sourly, if you could actually do something clever.
    Do something clever … Her brain was ticking over fast now. She’d have a horrible day if she let anybody know that she was here for Charm School, that was for sure. They’d already spotted her for a total loser. Even the man who stepped in the lift had thought she must be wandering around on the wrong floor, unless she had come to help someone called Maura with—
    Bonny stared down at Miss Cute Candy’s beautiful twinkling dancing shoes, and her own plain old sneakers. And in one brilliant diamanté flash came inspiration.
    ‘I’m not here for the same reasons you are. I’m only here to give a hand with the sound and the lighting.’
    ‘Oh, you’re just one of Maura’s little helpers!’ Miss Cute Candy didn’t just manage to make this sound as if she found it a much more likely idea than Bonny on a catwalk. In her keenness to let