Charm School Read Free Page B

Mrs Hamilton’s class, because Mrs Hamilton never bothered to stop people being mean to one another, and Flora and her gang picked on all the other girls, giggling in corners, and saying horrible things about their hair and their clothes and their faces. And, now she thought about it, she’d heard it only a few weeks ago, when she came home from her music lesson.
    ‘What’s up with you?’ her mum had said. ‘You look like a wet afternoon in Wolverhampton. What’s the matter?’
    ‘I’m all right.’
    ‘Bad lesson?’
    Bonny shook her head. ‘It was all right.’
    ‘Perhaps you’re not feeling well.’
    ‘I’m all right.’
    She’d tried to get away to her bedroom, but Mum had caught her as she rushed past, and turned her round to look at her.
    ‘Well,
something’s
not all right,’ she’d said. ‘Or you wouldn’t be looking as if you’re about to spill teardrops on my freshly mopped floor.’
    And Bonny had burst into noisy sobs, and told her all about Mr Spicer poking his head out of the teaching room, and saying, ‘You’re a big beefy girl. Be an angel, and carry this cello along to the hall for me.’
    ‘Yes …?’
    Mum was still waiting, Bonny could tell.
    ‘That’s it!’ she wailed. ‘He called me a big beefy girl!’
    ‘He meant strong enough to carry a cello.’
    ‘
Beefy
, he said!’
    And Mum had had to swivel her round and point her at the mirror. ‘Look,’ she said. ‘See that stranger? Is she so big that people step off the pavement when she comes along?’
    ‘No,’ Bonny said sullenly.
    ‘Do people point at her? Or even stare?’
    ‘No,’ Bonny admitted unwillingly.
    ‘Listen,’ said Mum. And then she’d made the exact same speech she’d been making since Bonny was four, finishing up, as usual: ‘You may not be perfect, but you’re perfectly normal. And only dolls are perfect.’
    Well, Bonny could at least say that to Miss Cute Candy. ‘Only dolls are perfect.’
    Miss Cute Candy rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, really? Well, what about all those photos of the Curls and Purls Girls on the wall outside?’
    The Curls and Purls Girls! The very sound of it made Bonny want to stick her fingers down her throat. ‘Oh,
please
!’ she said. ‘Little Miss Airhead! Sweet Miss Empty-Brain! It’s out of the Ark, this idea of dressing up for the afternoon as Miss Baby Perfect, with a frozen dolly smile and concrete sprayed hair. Who cares which one of the Little Miss Dippy Circle—’
    ‘Little Miss
Pretty
Circle,’ Miss Cute Candy corrected her sharply. ‘Get it
right
.’
    ‘Why? Are you in it?’
    ‘I’m not just
in
it,’ Miss Cute Candy said. ‘I’m Cindy-Lou Brown, the secretary! And you needn’t be rude about it. It’s been going longer than any club you’re in, I’ll bet. My older sisters were both in it. And so was my mother. And so were both my aunties. One of them was even Miss Sparkling Sue.’
    ‘But that’s what I’m
saying
,’ said Bonny. ‘Who wants to worry about who wins some silly competition that was started way back when dinosaurs were roaming the earth, and Mrs Opalene was young? It doesn’t have anything to do with real people living real lives. I bet there’s no-one, even in this room, who could look perfect all day every day. Because, like I told you, only
dolls
are perfect.’
    ‘Well, that’s just where you’re
wrong
!’ snapped Cindy-Lou. Irritation fought with envy, and won. ‘Because
Amethyst
’s perfect.
And
she’s not just good at winning practically every Little Miss Pretty Circle competition. She’s also one of Mrs Opalene’s pets in Charm School as well.’
    ‘Which one is Amethyst?’ Bonny asked curiously.
    Cindy-Lou pointed to where a girl with a shimmering waterfall of hair was putting chairs in a circle round a sign that said, in bright gold lettering:
    MRS OPALENE’S
    HANDY HELPING HINTS
    ‘That’s her. She’s getting ready for the Beauty and Grooming tips.’
    ‘Why would she bother with those,’ Bonny tried