My mum’s fierce tone snapped me out of it immediately. I wiped my eyes before whispering what was now written across the cake.
‘Louder, please,’ Mum demanded. ‘The chefs at the back didn’t quite hear you.’
I took a deep breath. ‘“Good Luck, Poo Team”.’
Sasha erupted into infectious giggles. Chef stared at her until she stopped but when he turned his back on her I could see her shoulders still shaking.
‘It looks like you ate a rather important “L”. It is lucky Chef has the time to redo it before he brings it up to the ballroom in a few minutes, after I’ve finished giving my speech to the guests.’
I looked down at my feet, my jaw aching from trying not to laugh.
‘Right.’ Mum clasped her hands together. ‘Chef, if you could kindly put the finishing touches to the cake, I would like to have a serious word with my daughter.’ She paused. ‘For the second time today.’
Chef began to bark out orders and the kitchen burst into life again. Just before she rushed off to find some more chocolate buttons, Sasha grinned at me. At least I cheered someone up.
Mum waited until we were on our own before she spoke again.
‘I would hate to extend those two weeks of being grounded to two months.’
‘Two months?’ I gasped. ‘Mum, you ca–’
‘Flick,’ she interrupted sharply, ‘I should have thought you might have learned by now that telling me what I can and cannot do does not help your case.’
I pursed my lips.
‘Two strikes,’ she said firmly. ‘Strike three and it’s two months. Understood?’
I nodded.
‘Excellent. And you’ve gained yourself an extra hour down here.’ She pointed to the sink behind me. ‘Those pots won’t wash themselves.’
‘Oh no.’ Ella didn’t look up from her phone. I may be reading into things but I’m not sure she was all that bothered about me missing her party.
‘Yeah.’ I nodded solemnly, having taken great pains to explain the situation in thorough detail. ‘I did everything I could to change Mum’s mind but you know what she can be like.’
‘Sure.’ Ella looked up at Grace, who was leaning on the locker next to her, fiddling with her split ends. ‘Your brother and his friends are definitely coming, right?’
Ella and I had never actually spoken to Grace Dillon properly before this term but since Grace’s brother in the year above suddenly got hot over the summer, Ella wanted her to hang out with us. According to Grace, her brother discovered the gym AND hair product at the same time. It also helped that he could play a guitar – at least, that’s what Ella had swooned at when he played with his band in assembly at the beginning of term. Personally, I don’t see the attraction. I would never date anyone who thinks it’s acceptable to wear a sleeveless vest. Anyway, after his performance, Ella invited Grace to join us for a post-school smoothie and that was that; she became part of our elite group.
At first, I thought Grace was going to be this irritating suck-up as she actually did her homework and was top of the class for almost everything. But then one lunchtime, she made me laugh so hard that lemonade went right up my nose. After that, I quite liked her being around and she had this cute little habit of texting me about random stuff. She was obviously ecstatic to be allowed to hang out with us at school, which meant she was never in a bad mood, unlike Ella and her boring mood swings, which were becoming a lot more common these days.
Ella and I first bonded when our mums were both featured in this big newspaper article about leading businesswomen in the UK. Her mum is a co-founder of this online luxury furniture company, which apparently is a big deal, but obviously nowhere near as cool as being a hotelier. Anyway, Mum hosted a big exclusive party for all the women on the list at the Royale and Ella came with her mum. Ella and I both found the party super boring but the photographer took our picture and we were in the back pages ofTatlermagazine. Ella showed everyone the picture and we instantly became the most popular girls in the year. After that it just made sense to keep hanging out together, especially when we both had important parents and such good dress sense.
Although, seriously, I wish she’d shut up about Oliver Dillon and his loser band.
‘Absolutely,’ Grace said enthusiastically. ‘He’ll be at your party. I told him to invite his friends and I know that Liam and Tom were both keen.’
‘Well done.’ Ella smiled smugly. ‘It will be nice to have some mature boys there.’
‘I wouldn’t count on those two to bring up the maturity levels,’ I added. ‘Wasn’t it Liam who drank a whole bottle of Worcester sauce for a dare?’
‘Oh yeah.’ Grace giggled. ‘He threw upeverywhere.’
‘Oliver seems mature,’ Ella said consideringly, taking her pocket mirror out and examining her eye make-up.
‘Really is a shame I can’t go,’ I prompted.
‘Has Oliver dated anyone at school?’ Ella asked Grace, ignoring me completely. This was getting ridiculous. Couldn’t she concentrate on anything else? Or me at least? She could showsomeemotion that I wouldn’t be able to make it to her party.
