Star Dreams

by Sue Bentley

  ‘It’s just Poppy’s nappy,’ Jemma said with a chuckle. ‘Come on, stinky little sis. You really need a bath!’

  ‘Wa-ah!’ Poppy had woken in a bad mood. She screamed, yelled and wriggled, refusing to cooperate.

  ‘Oh, not today, Poppy,’ Jemma pleaded as she filled the bath and undressed her sister. She lowered Poppy into the bath and splashed her with warm water. ‘I’m in a mad hurry. Be a good girl for me.’

  But Poppy stuck out her bottom lip and looked ready to scream for England. Jemma gritted her teeth and prepared for battle.

  Suddenly she heard a crackling sound as silver sparkles shot out of Flame’s fur. His green eyes began to glow like coals and his whiskers trembled with electricity. Jemma felt a tingling sensation. She caught her breath.

  What was happening?

  CHAPTER THREE

  Flame raised a paw and a fountain of silver sparks whooshed into the air.

  Big, shiny, rainbow-coloured bubbles appeared. They floated about, tinkling like silvery bells when they bobbed gently into each other.

  ‘Oooh!’ Poppy squealed with delight, reaching her fat little hands up to catch the bubbles.

  ‘Wow!’ Jemma said. ‘That’s brilliant. How did you do that?’

  Flame just smiled mysteriously, showing two sharp little teeth.

  Poppy gurgled happily. Each time she grabbed a bubble it burst into a cloud of purple, gold or silver butterflies. They fluttered around the bathroom before gradually fading away.

  ‘This is great fun!’ Jemma said, giggling as a small gold butterfly landed on the end of Poppy’s nose and her little sister went cross-eyed looking at it.

  ‘What’s all the laughing about? What’s going on in there?’ Jemma’s mum called through the door.

  ‘It’s just Poppy playing with her bath toys!’ Jemma called out. ‘Everything’s fine.’

  She bit back another chuckle as Flame gently tapped a huge purple butterfly with his front paw and it turned into a shower of tiny silver sparks.

  ‘There, finished!’ Jemma said, buttoning Poppy’s tiny soft shoes after they had cleared up. Downstairs, she plonked Poppy in her playpen with some toys before going into the hall to collect her schoolbooks.

  Flame followed, watching everything curiously. Just then, Jemma spotted Georgie’s enormous plastic lunch box sticking up out of his school bag.

  She groaned. ‘Oh, no! His sandwiches! He takes mountains of them or he complains he’s hungry all day at school. Mum must have forgotten. I’ll have to make some now – I’m going to be so late!’

  Flame’s ears pricked. ‘I will help!’

  His fur began to sparkle again and his whiskers crackled. Jemma felt the familiar hot tingling down her spine. Flame lifted a paw and a spray of green light shot towards the lunch box.

  Jemma went over and peeped through the clear plastic lid. She saw piles of cheese and ham sandwiches, cakes and lemonade. ‘All Georgie’s favourites! Thanks, Flame!’ she said delightedly.

  ‘You are welcome,’ mewed Flame, looking pleased with himself.

  There was a knock at the door. It was Georgie’s schoolfriends. Georgie raced downstairs, grabbed his bag and hurtled out of the front door. ‘Bye, Jems. Laters!’ he shouted.

  ‘Bye, Georgie!’ Jemma replied with a grin.

  Mrs Watson gave her a quick hug as she left on her way to take Poppy to the crèche. ‘Bye, Jemma. Thanks for being such a brilliant help this morning. Have a good day at school.’

  Jemma pulled on her school coat and grabbed her bag. ‘Bye, Flame. See you when I get home. Be good!’ she joked, dropping a quick kiss on the kitten’s head.

  Flame gave her a strange, secret smile and began washing his ears.

  Fran Bradshaw was waiting at the school gate when Jemma arrived.

  ‘Hi. Did you decide which song you’re going to do?’ she asked Jemma.

  ‘Sorry?’ Jemma said, looking blank.

  ‘Hello? The auditions for A-One Stage School – remember?’ Fran brushed a strand of fair hair out of her eyes.

  ‘Oh, that song!’ Jemma remembered. ‘I have a couple in mind, but I’m not sure which I like best.’ She wondered what Fran would say if she told her she’d been run off her feet that morning, helped by a magic kitten!

  Jemma felt the excitement rising in her again as Fran talked about the auditions. It surprised her how badly she wanted to win a place at the school. She loved being on stage.

  ‘I was thinking about working on my routine this lunchtime. Would you mind helping me with some moves?’ Fran asked.

  Jemma was glad to help and anyway it would be fun. ‘Sure. I’d love to. I could meet you by the playing fields,’ she replied.

  ‘OK, great!’ Fran said, her blue eyes shining.

  They walked into class together. Fran sat at the back and Jemma took her usual seat by the window. But as Jemma reached into her bag for her books, she gasped.

  There was something warm and furry in the bag too.

  Georgie! she thought. It was one of his tricks. But as Jemma touched it, the furry ball began purring.

  Oh, no! Flame! What was he doing here?

  Jemma looked around to see if anyone was watching, and then put her face close to her bag. ‘You can’t come to school, Flame!’ she whispered. ‘We’re not allowed to bring pets!’

  ‘What is a pet?’ Flame asked.

  ‘It’s … er, a companion animal. People own them,’ Jemma hissed.

  ‘I am not a pet!’ said Flame indignantly.

  Jemma frowned. ‘No, you’re not. But you’re still not allowed to come here.’

  Flame didn’t seem to grasp this logic. He put his head on one side, and then his face brightened. ‘I will stay. Do not worry! I will use my magic, so that only you may see me at school.’

  ‘You mean, you can make yourself invisible just while you’re here? Hey, that’s cool!’ She still wasn’t sure about Flame being at school with her. It could lead to all kinds of problems. But it was too late to do anything about it now.

  ‘Jemma Watson, would you like to tell us all what’s so interesting about your school bag?’ a sarcastic voice called out.

  Mr Butler, her class teacher, had untidy brown hair. He had a way of looking over his glasses when he was annoyed.

  ‘Er … Nothing, sir,’ Jemma said quickly, sitting straight back up.

  ‘Then perhaps I could have your full attention,’ Mr Butler drawled.

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Jemma felt her cheeks grow hot as the rest of the class laughed.

  There was a soft thump beside her as Flame jumped out of her school bag. He walked across her desk and went and sat on a window sill.

  No one took any notice.

  So it’s true, Jemma thought. While he’s at school with me, only I can see him. She decided to relax and concentrate on her schoolwork.

  The morning passed quickly. Now and then Jemma caught sight of Flame. Once he was sitting right beside Mr Butler, looking over the teacher’s shoulder. She smiled, wondering if magic kittens could read. Later, she saw him outside chasing bees in the flower beds around the tennis courts.

  At lunchtime, Jemma and Fran went out to the playing fields. It was a warm day and lots of other kids were sitting around on the grass. She could see Georgie and a group of his friends some distance away. I bet he’s enjoying his lunch, she thought.

  Fran stood up. ‘I’ve started working on a routine. Shall I show you what I’ve done so far? This is the start.’ She struck a pose, sidestepped, did a dip and then a twirl.

  ‘Mmm,’ Jemma said. ‘It’s OK, but I think you could make it more exciting.’

  Fran frowned. ‘I thought that too. What shall I do?’

  ‘How about this?’ Jemma demonstrated some steps. ‘Now you try.’

  Fran followed Jemma’s moves. Both girls were in fits of giggles at Fran’s first few attempts, but after a few minutes she had them off by heart. ‘That’s brilliant! Thanks, Jemma. It’s much better now.’

  ‘It w
ill be better still when we do our routines to music,’ Jemma said.

  Fran nodded. ‘I can’t wait. I’ve been thinking about my outfit. We could go into town and buy them together. Mum says she’ll take us.’

  ‘Oh, er, right.’ Jemma’s heart sank. She had planned to wear something she already had. She knew her mum couldn’t afford new clothes.

  Just then Jemma heard shouting and whoops of laughter. She turned round and saw some kids running towards Georgie and his friends.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Fran asked. ‘Is it a fight?’

  Jemma groaned. It looked like Georgie was up to something, as usual. ‘It’s my brother. I’d better find out what he’s up to. Come on!’ She set off at a run.

  Jemma and Fran pounded across the grass. At first Jemma couldn’t see Georgie for the crowd of kids round him. She pushed her way through them.

  ‘Oh!’ gasped Jemma.

  Georgie stood there, a look of delighted amazement on his freckled face. He was holding his open lunch box in two hands. Shooting out of it was a multicoloured volcano of sandwiches, crisps, biscuits and cream buns!

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Jemma stared in dismay at the growing mountain of sandwiches and sticky buns.

  Georgie was already up to his knees in chocolate biscuits and cherry cakes. ‘There’s loads more. Help yourselves!’ He chewed happily, cheeks bulging.

  Flame’s spell must be out of control. The magic lunch box showed no signs of slowing down.

  ‘Where’s it all coming from?’ Fran said, frowning.

  ‘I … er … don’t know,’ Jemma fibbed, playing for time.

  Everyone was collecting up food and roaring with laughter. One of Georgie’s friends was making a tower of jam sandwiches. Another was juggling with fairy cakes. Two more boys were skimming lemon tarts across the grass.

  I have to find Flame, thought Jemma, he’s the only one who can undo the magic.

  But where was he? She spun round, slowly scanning every centimetre of the playing field. There was a tiny figure bounding about on the football pitch.

  It was Flame. He was playing with two enormous pigeons.

  Somehow she had to get his attention. But before she could decide what to do, she heard an angry shout. Turning round, she saw a figure striding across the playing field towards her.

  ‘Mr Butler,’ she groaned.

  ‘What on earth is going on here?’ Mr Butler’s sharp eyes spotted Georgie. ‘George Watson, is that you? I might have known,’ he snapped, peering over his glasses.

  ‘It’s not Georgie’s fault, sir!’ Jemma leapt to her brother’s defence.

  Mr Butler rounded on her. ‘Then perhaps you can tell me who is responsible for this mess, young lady?’ he demanded.

  Jemma opened her mouth to answer and then shut it again. She couldn’t tell her teacher about Flame, and anyway she doubted if he would believe her.

  She sent out a silent cry for help. Oh, Flame, please come over here and undo your spell.

  ‘I want this stopped – now! You there, collect up those sandwiches. And you, get a bag to put those biscuits in!’ Mr Butler bawled orders to the grinning schoolkids.

  ‘Food fight!’ someone yelled. The other boys took up the chant. ‘Food fight! Food fight!’

  With a glint in his eye, Georgie grabbed a cherry cake and aimed it.

  ‘Georgie! Don’t you dare …’ warned Jemma.

  But it was too late. Splat! The cherry cake hit Mr Butler on the chest. Squish! A cream cake thwacked on to his glasses. The teacher’s face reddened with fury and he gave a roar of rage. An enormous chocolate eclair torpedoed into his open mouth as one boy with a particularly fine aim looked very proud of himself.

  Suddenly cakes, buns and sandwiches were hurtling everywhere. Jemma ducked and backed away. Georgie, his friends and Mr Butler began to disappear beneath layers of jam, sponge and cream.

  Fran was trying hard not to laugh. ‘I wouldn’t want to be in your Georgie’s shoes!’ she gasped.

  ‘He’ll probably be grounded for the entire term!’ Jemma said. ‘Mum’s going to be furious!’

  Just then, she felt a small furry body rub against her leg. She glanced down with relief. ‘Flame! Am I glad to see you!’ she whispered.

  ‘My magic is too strong! I will fix it,’ he mewed.

  As silver sparks fizzed around Flame, Jemma felt her spine tingle. Flame lifted a paw and a spray of purple glitter shot towards the food fighters. There was a puff of smoke and all the food disappeared, down to the very last ham sandwich!

  For a couple of seconds no one moved.

  Jemma grabbed Fran’s sleeve. ‘Quick! Leg it, before old Butler starts asking more questions.’ Fran stumbled behind her.

  As they reached the school, Jemma burst out laughing. ‘I’ll never forget old Butler’s face when that eclair zoomed into his mouth!’

  Fran stopped. She shook her head and then looked at Jemma, her face blank. ‘When? What do you mean?’ she asked.

  ‘You know … just now … old Butler …’ Jemma paused, looking puzzled. Fran obviously had no idea what she was talking about!

  Other kids were sauntering back towards the school. Georgie and his friends were walking along chatting to each other. Mr Butler was striding along calmly behind them. Jemma frowned. How come everyone was suddenly acting as if nothing unusual had happened?

  In the cloakroom, Jemma heard a sheepish miaow at her feet. She looked down to see Flame. ‘Sorry, Jemma. I used my magic so that no one would remember what took place.’

  Jemma laughed with relief. So that’s why everyone was acting normally.

  After checking that no one was looking, she gave Flame a quick cuddle.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The next day was Saturday. Fran phoned first thing.

  ‘Can you come over to my house?’ she asked Jemma. ‘I’m dying to work on our routines.’

  ‘I’d love to, but I can’t right now,’ Jemma said. Someone had gone sick at the supermarket and Mrs Watson had to work all day. Jemma was babysitting Poppy.

  ‘Oh,’ Fran said. ‘Are you doing anything interesting?’

  Jemma bit her lip. It was too embarrassing to explain that you had to look after your baby sister. ‘I’m just really busy. Sorry.’

  ‘It’s OK. Maybe another time,’ Fran said and rang off.

  Jemma sighed. She felt awful. She could tell Fran was disappointed.

  Jemma gave Poppy her breakfast, bathed her and got her dressed. ‘Let’s go to the park and see Georgie. He’s playing football with his friends.’

  Poppy gurgled happily as Jemma lifted her into her pushchair. She loved Georgie.

  Flame had been stretched out on a window sill, enjoying the sun. He pricked up his ears at the promise of an outing. ‘May I come too?’

  Jemma patted the pushchair. ‘Hop on and I’ll give you a ride,’ she said with a grin.

  Flame jumped up and much to Poppy’s delight settled himself on the folded rain hood, purring loudly. Jemma wheeled Poppy into the street and they set off for the park.

  It was a hot day and there were lots of people on the swings and boating lake.

  Jemma spotted Georgie and his friends kicking a ball around over near the bandstand.

  Jemma parked the pushchair in the shade beneath a tree and gave Poppy a bottle of fruit drink. Flame shinned up the trunk and stretched out lazily on a branch. Jemma smiled. He was enjoying looking down on the world.

  On the other side of the park, she noticed some girls by the tennis courts. They all had expensive racquets and wore fashionable sports kit and smart trainers.

  Jemma would have loved to be able to wear kit like that and join in with a game. One of the smartly dressed girls looked over and waved.

  It was Fran.

  Jemma waved back, her heart sinking. She wished she wasn’t wearing her oldest T-shirt and jeans and trailing around after her brother and sister. But it was too late to make a getaway now. Fran was coming over.

 
‘Hi, Jemma!’ Fran ran up beaming, her fair hair flying out behind her. ‘I saw Georgie playing football with his mates and wondered if you were here. Is this your little sister?’ Fran bent down in front of the pushchair. She waggled her finger so that Poppy gave her a gummy grin.

  Jemma nodded. ‘She’s called Poppy.’ She had been worried that Fran might be upset at finding her in the park after she had made an excuse not to go to her house. But she was surprised and pleased that Fran seemed fine about it.

  Fran smiled. ‘Isn’t Poppy gorgeous? You’re so lucky to have a brother and sister.’

  ‘Do you think so?’ Jemma said, surprised.

  Fran nodded. ‘Everyone thinks it’s great to be an only child, because you get spoiled and everything. But I’ve always wanted a brother or sister to share things with.’

  ‘Oh,’ Jemma murmured. She had never thought of it that way. ‘Well, you can share mine. Georgie’s enough trouble for two families,’ she joked.

  Fran laughed. ‘Do you have to look after Poppy and Georgie tomorrow?’

  ‘No. Mum’s at home. I could come over to your house, if that’s OK,’ Jemma said.

  Fran’s face lit up. ‘Brilliant! I’ve been working on my song, but I need loads of practice. Well – I’d better get back to my friends now. See you tomorrow!’ She reached down to kiss Poppy’s cheek. ‘Bye, Poppy. Be good!’

  As Fran went off to play tennis, Georgie ran over. ‘I’m dying of thirst!’ He grabbed a can of drink from under the pushchair. ‘What did that posh girl want?’

  ‘Don’t call her that. Fran’s all right,’ Jemma told him.

  Sunday afternoon blazed bright and clear.

  Jemma and Fran were in Fran’s bedroom. It was a light and spacious room with lots of posters on the walls. Jemma gently lifted Flame out of her shoulder bag, and put him on the floor.

  ‘I thought you might like to meet my new friend,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, he’s so sweet! Isn’t he a lovely colour.’ Fran admired Flame’s cream coat with its brown spots.