Pop Star Princess Read Free Page B

starting to arrive – it was even busier than it usually was during the summer holidays. As soon as they entered the packed café, they saw Lilac and her band sitting at one table and the members of the
You’re a Star!
crew at another. Lilac smiled and waved at Daisy and her friends.

    â€œLook, that’s Johnny McDonald!” said Lily, recognizing one of the judges. “How cool that we’re in the same café as him!”
    They couldn’t see a free table right away, but the owner, Fleur, soon found them a booth next to the one where Lilac and her band were sitting. As soon as they had settled in, Lilac leaned over to say hello.

    â€œHi there, Beach Babes! How’s the rehearsing going?” she asked, flicking her hair and looking over at the judges’ table.
    â€œPretty good, thanks. How about you?” Daisy replied.
    â€œOh, amazingly well, actually. It’s really coming together,” she said. “See you onWednesday at the sound checks. Good luck!”
    â€œYeah, you too,” said Daisy, hoping with all her heart that the Beach Babes would win the contest.
    â€œAt least we’ll hear their song at the sound checks and see what we’re up against,” said Rose quietly so that Lilac and the Mermaids couldn’t hear.
    â€œLet’s just run through our stage movements again. We can mark up my song sheet,” said Lily.
    The girls jotted down all their moves on Lily’s sheet, and after enjoying a delicious milkshake each, they decided to go their own separate ways.
    Poppy and Honey arrived back at The Pebbles to find Mum and Dad packing a picnic lunch to take down to the beach. The twins were playing with building blocks on the kitchen floor, Granny Bumble wasin the garden, flicking through her favourite cookery magazine, and Grandpa was poring over a map of the coast.

    â€œWhat are you looking at that for?” Poppy asked him.
    â€œWell, I’m going off on a mission to find the old pirate ship in one of the caves down at Sandy Bottom,” announced Grandpa, “before that pesky Colonel Forster tracks it down!”
    â€œYou sound very competitive, Dad,” laughed Poppy’s mum. “I thought you were against all that sort of stuff?”
    â€œI am. Well, most of the time I am anyway, except when it comes to old Forster. I remember when he beat me in the maths challenge and came first in the triathlon. Oooh! Now he even says he discovered the pirate ship and restored it. But I found it and I did all the work too!”
    Everyone laughed. Grandpa was usually so cool and calm about everything. Poppy had certainly never seen his competitive streak before.
    â€œPhilip tells me he has a granddaughter in the talent contest too,” said Grandpa, trying to steer the attention away from his rivalry with the Colonel. “I think he said she’s called Lilac. Do you know her?”
    Poppy and Honey’s jaws both fell open.
    â€œLilac Farrington?” they chorused.
    â€œUm, yes,” replied Grandpa. “that’s right. Her father is the headmaster.”
    â€œShe’s brilliant, Grandpa,” they told him.
    â€œI’m sure she is,” Grandpa said. “but if she’s anything like her grandfather, she won’t always win by fair means.”

Chapter Five
    GRANDPA MADE HIS way along the familiar yellow sands, remembering the wrecked pirate ship he had found all those years ago. Just as he reached the inlets where he had spent so much of his boyhood, he bumped into the Colonel and they decided to look for the ship together.
    They spent several hours looking in many of the caves – without success.
    â€œHang on. This looks like it, Joseph!” exclaimed the Colonel suddenly as he recognized the opening to a large cave.
    Grandpa followed him in through the entrance to the dark, damp cave. It did indeed look familiar and it was certainly large enough to fit a pirate ship in. As they went