Dreams at Silver Spires Read Free Page A

lives”, as she put it, to be disrupted in any way, and she’d also said we should just try to ignore the cameras if they happened to be around, and that soon we’d probably forget all about them anyway.
    And now, this very same hall was full to bursting with women and bright lights, and loud talking and laughter and exclaiming, and the chink of teacups and glasses. There were a few men too, who must have been the husbands or people from the TV crew. It really was a totally brilliant atmosphere, and I felt perfectly happy standing beside one of the buffet tables with Bryony. Our other four friends were somewhere in the crowd, chatting away happily, but Bryony and I felt a bit awkward about just diving in and introducing ourselves.
    â€œLook at Jet!” said Bryony.
    I didn’t need to follow Bryony’s gaze to find where Juliet was. For a start you could hear her voice (and her silly whinnying laugh) standing out above all the noise. But she’d also placed herself as close as possible to one of the cameras, and I noticed she kept on glancing around and running her fingers through her hair while the two ladies she was supposed to be talking to chatted away with each other.
    â€œI’ve counted over eighty guests.” Bryony changed the subject. “About fifty old girls and thirty men.”
    â€œHad we better talk to someone?” I asked her, beginning to feel a bit self-conscious. It would be embarrassing if Bryony and I were the only spare-looking people in the whole room when it came to watching the finished film.
    Bryony suddenly sounded very positive. “Yes, you’re right. Let’s go for it! Actually,” she added, “I’ve just spotted an interesting-looking lady with really short hair like mine, only hers is grey.”
    And with that, she went plunging into the middle of the crowds and I was left standing on my own by the chocolate eclairs. Of course, being me, I couldn’t resist taking another one. It was my third actually, but they were the scrummiest things I’d tasted in a long time.
    As I munched away, I spotted Izzy and Sasha talking with a group of four ladies who kept on making big sweeping gestures with their hands. I wondered what they were trying to describe, but whatever it was, Izzy and Sasha looked genuinely interested. I wished I could get absorbed in a conversation with someone like that. The only two people I’d talked to so far had been going on about their grandchildren, which I actually found quite boring.
    It took me a few seconds to spot Nicole and Antonia in a group with some Year Tens and an elderly couple. The woman was wearing the biggest smile and pointing up at the massive banner that the school had hung right across the width of the hall. In magnificent bright blue and silver lettering it said, FIFTY YEARS ON: WELCOME, SILVER SPIRES OLD GIRLS . And it was true, all the guests were being made very welcome.
    I sighed as I swallowed the last bit of chocolate eclair and gulped down some orange juice. I really must make one last effort to talk to someone, or one of the teachers might come over and throw me out for only being there for the food.
    Maybe I should do what Bryony did, and try to spot a lady with similar hair to mine. That was as good a way as any of picking someone to talk to. I looked round carefully and after a minute I was ready to give up, because obviously no one had a thick mass of wavy auburn hair tied back roughly into a hairband. But then I got a shock, because as a group of women moved towards one of the buffet tables, they left a bit of a gap in the room and I suddenly spotted a woman with auburn hair standing by the far window, staring outside. Her hair was miles neater and straighter than mine, but just the auburn colour was good enough for me. And even better, she seemed to be all on her own.
    Once I’ve made up my mind to do something I always want to get on with it straight away, so I went