‘Why? Are you interested in him?’ I said, cutting to the chase.
‘Oh my God,no, I’m not interested. I was just asking.’ Ella fake-laughed before turning seriously to Grace again. ‘Has he?’
Grace shook her head, before adding excitedly, ‘He asked the same about you, though.’
‘Really?’ Ella snapped her mirror shut, her eyes widening.
‘Yes, last night.’
‘And whatexactlydid you say?’
Grace’s cheeks turned pink under the pressure of Ella’s fixed stare. ‘Um . . . I just said that you had that thing with Aidan . . .’
‘Grace!?’ Ella hissed. Grace cowered.
‘Was that wrong?’ she asked timidly.
‘Why would you say that? Now he’s going to think that I’m unavailable!’
Grace’s face was now a bright red. ‘N-no, I’m sure he doesn’t think that. I can tell him that it’s over with Aidan, I just wasn’t certain.’
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Grace. She was very petite – the smallest girl in our year – so she looked even more vulnerable as Ella, who was one of the tallest, towered over her. Ella wasn’t going to be forgiving. She never was. I would have to save the day.
‘I think it’s a good thing.’
Ella rounded on me. I could see Grace’s shoulders visibly relax as the heat was diverted on to someone else. ‘What do you mean?’
I sighed at how clueless she was. ‘If he wants to go out with you then he needs to make an effort. He can’t just date you because he makes the decision to.’
Ella hesitated as she considered my point so I continued. ‘You deserve the best, he has to prove that he is the best. Does that make sense?’
‘I guess,’ Ella said, her brow furrowed.
‘Good work, Grace, you’ve probably made your brother keener than ever. Not that you’re interested in him, right, Ella?’
‘Right,’ she said unconvincingly.
‘But hey, he might just win you over at the party.’
Ella nodded. ‘Yes. Yes, he might. Not that I’ll be waiting around for him to make a move.’
‘Duh, obviously not.’ I paused. ‘But just in case, how about you borrow my black leather mini that you love so much?’
‘Really?’
I was satisfied to note that Ella turned to look at me properly for the first time since we’d started talking.
‘Your new one?’ she asked. ‘But you haven’t worn it yet.’
‘That doesn’t matter.’ I forced a smile. ‘It will look great on you.’
I hated lending anything to Ella. And not just because she never told anyone who complimented her on it that it was in fact MY stuff, but also because it meant I could never wear it again. Last year at a summer pool party, I wore a pair of really cute designer pink shorts that I had stupidly lent Ella the weekend before. And then Zoe, one of the girls in our year, asked me ifIhad borrowed them fromElla. It was MORTIFYING. Ella is my friend and everything, butIdon’t copy anyone. They copyme. I obviously had to go home straight away and change, and I threw the shorts in the bin. My brand-new leather skirt was now doomed to the same fate. But I guess it’s like when celebrities go on those reality TV shows, eat bugs and dance and stuff, and come out with a new lingerie line and book deal. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made to get what you want.
‘Great!’ Ella whipped out her lip gloss, added another layer to her already way too shiny lips and snapped the lid back on. ‘It really is such a shame that you can’t come to the party, Flick. It won’t be the same without you.’
Finally. The reaction I had been waiting for. Even if I did have to sacrifice my leather mini in the process. She flounced off towards her classroom and Grace breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Thanks so much, Flick. I thought she was going to yell at me then. You always know what to do. I wish I was more like you.’
