‘But what about me?’
‘What about you?’
‘I need it!’
‘I’m sure you can cope without it for one evening.’
‘No way! Not only does Fritz have to prep for his Instagram post, but I was planning on doing a practice run of a vlog today and I need the selfie stick to test all the angles.’
‘Vlog?’ Mum raised her eyebrows.
Here we go.
‘I thought we discussed this, Flick,’ Mum said sternly. ‘I was very clear about my opinion.’
‘Yes, you were. And I’ve taken your thoughts into consideration.’
The corner of Mum’s mouth twitched again. ‘And?’
‘And I’ve decided they’re void.’
‘Flick,’ Mum began in her best warning tone.
‘Mum, look, all my friends agree that I would gain millions of followers likethat–’ I clicked my fingers for effect – ‘if I started vlogging. All the other heiresses are doing it. At my age most of them have handbag and perfume ranges, thanks to their online profiles. I’m fourteen years old now; you have to let me do my own thing. You know, like inThe Little Mermaid.’
‘The Disney film?’ Mum looked baffled. ‘What’s that got to do with vlogging?’
‘Duh. Her dad is all clingy and so she leaves him to go and live with the hot prince. You know, Mum, you could learn a lot from King Triton’s mistakes.’
‘Hi, Christine.’
I sighed dramatically as Cal came over, his laptop nestled under his arm. Why was he always butting in?
‘Hello, Callum,’ Mum said brightly. ‘How are you?’
‘Good, I was just on my way to see Chef. I hear he’s got a new strawberry mousse on the menu.’
‘He does, it’s outstanding.’ Mum turned to me. ‘Have you tried the new mousse?’
‘I don’t care about mousse!’ I cried. ‘What about my selfie stick?’
‘Trust me, this mousse is to die for.’ Mum turned back to Cal, completely ignoring my distress. ‘I hear you came top of the class again in your English paper?’
Cal blushed. ‘Dad told you, huh? It was only one essay, it’s not a big deal.’
‘He’s very proud of you, and so he should be. You always were very hard-working.’
I couldn’t help but notice Mum direct a wistful glance towards me as she said that.
Which was very unfair considering I would be just as hard-working if SOMEONE didn’t go around lending random princes my selfie stick and thus keeping me from uploading said hard work.
‘Still hoping to be a journalist some day?’
‘That’s the big plan.’
‘I can introduce you to Nicholas Huntley, if you’d like,’ Mum continued. Cal’s eyes widened.
‘Why would you want to meethim?’ I crossed my arms, annoyed that the conversation was moving away from the problem in hand. ‘Isn’t he just the guy who married that actress, Helena Montaine?’
