Princess at Silver Spires

by Ann Bryant

  “That’s right, I’m not…an actress, like you,” I told her quietly. “I can’t think of anything worse than having a whole audience watching me strut down a catwalk.”

  “Ooooh, it’d be sooooo cool!” squeaked Georgie, jumping up. Then she gave us a brilliant impression of a supermodel walking down the catwalk. In no time at all we were rocking with laughter, because Amethyst dorm isn’t exactly designed for modelling, so Georgie could only take about two steps before she had to swing dramatically round. She finished by climbing the ladder to her bed and lying on her side with her leg in the air. “Da daa!” Then she changed to a booming announcer’s voice. “Thank you, Georgie Henderson!” And we all broke into loud applause and whoops and cheers.

  “Yes, thanks, Georgie!” said Mia, grinning at her. “But I’m not sure you’re doing anything to help poor Naomi, you know!”

  “Well actually,” I admitted, “your demonstration helped a lot, Georgie, because you’ve made me realize I could never do it in a million years.”

  “Yes, you could!” said Katy. “I bet you’d be a natural!” She gave me an imploring look like a little child begging its mother for something. “Please, please say you’ll do it, because then I can come along to fittings and rehearsals and learn first-hand about textiles and design and everything. Please, please, pretty please.” She suddenly stopped and looked apologetic. “Sorry, I’m just being selfish, aren’t I? Forget everything I just said…except the bit about you being a natural.”

  I gave her a grateful look but didn’t say anything.

  “I’m not sure I’d do it,” said Jess thoughtfully, “because you’re kind of stuck with wearing whatever they produce for you, aren’t you?” Then she grinned. “But I guess there’s no danger of anyone asking me anyway!”

  “But what if you had to wear a bikini or something?” said Grace, clapping her hand over her mouth in horror. “I’d die!”

  Mia covered her eyes, which made Georgie laugh. “Me too!”

  “I can’t imagine anyone designing a bikini,” said Katy. “What normally happens is that you get categories like daywear, evening wear, and that kind of thing.”

  “Swimwear!” added Georgie, jumping down from her bed.

  “I wish I’d asked Elise more questions now,” I said, feeling myself cringing at the whole idea again and imagining how awful it would be if I had to wear something really short and tight, because that’s not the sort of thing I feel comfortable in at all. In fact, I don’t like any kind of dressing up, even when I have to wear formal traditional African outfits for photo shoots or public appearances with my family. It could actually be just my parents dressed up like that, and I still feel a bit awkward with everyone staring at them. On my first day at Silver Spires, I wanted to sink through the ground when they dressed traditionally just to drop me off. If it was up to me, I’d wear jeans and a T-shirt all the time.

  I knew I shouldn’t get hung up about what I might have to wear for the fashion show and I told myself off for being pathetic about doing something which could help a charity – and hopefully my charity. All I had to do was get a bit of courage together.

  “From what you said, Elise sounds quite laid-back about it, giving you time to think and everything,” said Katy. “Do you want me to talk to her to find out exactly what you’d have to wear?”

  Immediately I felt worked up again, and wondered what it was about what Katy had just said that was so scary. In the end I went to the secret garden and sat on my own, staring at the silver spires, deep in thought. There wasn’t any sun today and the spires looked steely grey and forlorn, poking into the overcast sky.

  Katy thought Elise was laid-back, but when I pictured her talking to me the day before, grabbing my wrists and looking at me so intently, she seemed far from laid-back to me. But maybe that’s how she was with everyone. And anyway, what did it matter if she was a bit intense? I suppose famous designers must be like that too.

  My thoughts soon turned to Ghana and I found myself going over everything I’d done at half-term. I think the worst experience was seeing a man with a horrible painful disease called Guinea worm, which you get by drinking unclean water. I pulled my feet up on the bench and hugged my knees, trying not to cry as I thought about his pain.

  Right. My decision was made. I didn’t need to know any more about the fashion show. I just had to be sure that Miss Owen had definitely agreed to all the funds going to Just Water. As long as she had, I would do whatever Elise wanted me to do. It was a small price to pay if it meant Just Water could get more money.

  The others had been very excited when I told them what I’d decided, especially Katy.

  “Oh, Naomi, that’s brill! I can’t wait! Make sure you tell Elise that you’ll only model for her on condition that your best friend can come along whenever she wants!”

  Mia put her arm round me. “See, you’re doing two good things – one helping out your charity, and two, helping out your best mate!”

  We stayed awake chatting until late but I didn’t feel at all tired the next morning, just nervous about talking to Elise. She came to find me in the lunch queue and this time she didn’t suggest we went off on our own.

  “So I talked to Miss Owen, Naomi, and she’s totally fine with giving the money to your water charity thingy, so there you go!”

  I had to be quite sure. “You actually said Just Water in Ghana?”

  “Yes, you can check yourself if you want, but she was thrilled that I’d come up with something specific, and when I told her the idea had come from you, she was even more thrilled!”

  Katy was squeezing my hand excitedly and Georgie had turned round in front of me, waiting for me to reply.

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” I said simply.

  “Yay!” said Georgie.

  “That’s great!” said Elise. She sounded much calmer than she had done the last time we’d talked, almost as though she’d had every confidence that I’d agree in the end. “If you come along to the textiles room after lunch I can tell you more about it and show you how the outfits are shaping up.”

  I suddenly realized my hand was hurting because Katy was squeezing it so hard. “Oh yes, sorry…is it okay for Katy to come with me? She’s really into fashion design and—”

  Elise hardly glanced at Katy. “Yeah, fine. See you later then.”

  And she was off in another of her whirlwind exits, leaving the most beautiful smell of perfume hanging around us.

  “Mmmm!” said Georgie, sniffing the air. “Gorgeous!”

  Katy and I opened the door to the textiles room to be met by a sudden blast of heavy music and loud talking and laughing. Around three of the walls were tables with lots of sewing machines on them. Only one of them was in use. In the middle of the room there was a block of six tables. Two girls were cutting out material there, with quite a few other girls standing round, watching and chatting. Then there were more girls hanging around a full-length mirror. I felt Katy tense up beside me, but I knew it was the excited kind of tension.

  “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!” she whispered as she stared about her.

  “There’s Elise,” I said, feeling relieved to have spotted her near the mirror. Now at least I could look as though I knew what I was doing in Year Eleven territory. I set off striding across the room, but instinctively I knew that Katy wasn’t following me and, turning round, I saw I was right. She’d gone to talk to the girl on the sewing machine.

  “Hiya!” said Elise, spotting me in the mirror. “Come with me!” She took my hand and pulled me over to a mannequin that had no head or legs, but was covered in shiny gold material. “This is called a tailor’s dummy,” she explained. “And this is the top of one of your outfits!”

  I eyed the dummy a bit warily, thinking that my body wasn’t quite the same shape.

  “Don’t worry, it’s just to give me an idea,” said Elise. Then she grabbed a tape measure off a nearby table and said, “Let me do a quick measure up, actually.”

&n
bsp; I felt a bit embarrassed because I had to take my sweatshirt off before she drew the tape round my chest, then my waist, and lastly my hips.

  “Perfect!” she announced when she’d scribbled the figures down. “The skirt part of the dress is going to be short and tight and silver, and it’ll be sequined and braided right up, to make an utterly fab little evening dress especially for you!”

  Immediately I felt myself tensing up. I was going to have to wear the very thing I knew I’d absolutely hate wearing. Maybe I could ask Elise for something different. No, that was a ridiculous thought. She wouldn’t change her designs just for me, would she? I didn’t know what to say. This was a whole new world, so it was a relief when Katy suddenly appeared at my side.

  “Satin, lovely!” she said, rubbing the gold material between her finger and thumb. “Are there certain categories that you have to design for, Elise?”

  “Yep, three,” said Elise, getting me to turn round slowly while she looked at me, which was really embarrassing.

  “Er…how many outfits will I actually be modelling on the day?” I stammered, trying to say something sensible.

  Elise spoke lightly. “Only three. One from each category. So no big deal.”

  I sighed with relief.

  Elise started to tick them off on her fingers. “Right, the first category is ‘Dress to Impress for Less’. The second is—”

  “I like the sound of that one,” I interrupted, feeling silly the moment the words were out of my mouth, but carrying on anyway. “Katy does that kind of thing all the time, don’t you, Kates?”

  Elise ignored me completely and carried on. “The second one is ‘Caj with a Dash’, which is just a quirky way of saying ‘smart but casual’. It’s not exactly a perfect rhyme, is it, but who cares? Miss Clemence thought of that one and she’s French so…” Elise didn’t finish her sentence.

  “Yes, I know. She’s our French teacher,” said Katy. “And she does junior fashion club as well. ‘Caj with a Dash’, that sounds cool.” Katy’s eyes danced with excitement as she turned to me. “You’ll look lovely, Naomi.” Then she swung back to Elise. “Will the fashion show be videoed?”

  Elise looked at her as though she’d just asked whether Africa was bigger than England. “Obviously,” she said, with a bit of a sneer. “There’ll be the official DVD for all the parents, but the local press will be there too, and this year they’re even featuring it on the local TV news.”

  “Oh wow!” Katy said, while I swallowed and felt a new wave of nervousness coming over me at the thought of people being able to watch the fashion show not just once, but as often as they liked on the DVD.

  “Oh, and, Naomi,” Elise added, “be prepared to be interviewed, with you being…so into the charity.”

  I gulped. I hadn’t thought about being interviewed on TV, but I’d have to be brave and just get on with it, because it would be good publicity for Just Water. I’d done interviews before, for magazines and things, so hopefully it wouldn’t be too terrifying. I told myself I’d cross that bridge when I came to it anyway. For the moment, I still wanted to know more basic facts, like exactly how many times I’d have to walk up and down the catwalk.

  “And the third category,” Elise went on, “is my personal fave – the ‘Prom’ category.”

  “Prom?”

  “Surely you know what a prom dress is!”

  “No, I…”

  “It’s a totally glam evening dress for a prom party.”

  “A prom party?”

  “Oh dear,” said Elise when she saw my puzzled face. “You have got a lot to learn. Prom parties are what us Year Elevens like to do…” She laughed. “Term time, holiday time, any time! Hence this creation here!” She waved her hand at the material on the dummy, then spotted someone across the room. “Oh, here comes Tansy.”

  A girl who was only slightly taller than me but quite a bit bigger was strolling over towards us. She had the straightest blonde hair I’d ever seen, a really pale complexion, and a rather sulky expression on her face.

  “Tansy, this is Naomi, the one I told you about.”

  Tansy looked me up and down and gave me a half smile, as though she couldn’t quite be bothered to stretch her mouth any wider. “Hi.” Then she turned back to Elise. “Made any decisions about the shoes? Because I’m going shopping at the weekend and I’ll get them then.”

  Elise looked mysterious. “Yes, I have! I’ll tell you later. And I think I’ll come on the shopping trip with you, but let’s get a taxi, yeah? Then we won’t waste any time waiting for buses.”

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  “Tansy’s my other model, by the way, Naomi. She’s used to wearing expensive clothes, like you are.”

  “Well actually, I’m not used to dresses like—”

  “There are fifteen of us designers and we’re only allowed two models each, so we have to design and make six outfits. And we’ve all chosen models that we think will suit our designs.”

  “Not that the models are being judged, of course,” said Tansy, frowning at her nails.

  Something like an electric shock shot through my body. “Judged! I didn’t know it was a competition…”

  I caught a look that passed quick as a flash between Elise and Tansy, but a second later Elise was smiling a laid-back smile, her hand on my shoulder. “No, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick, Naomi. It isn’t a competition. No, Tansy wasn’t speaking literally. She was just saying, you know…”

  “Everyone’s more interested in the clothes than the models,” Tansy finished off.

  “Yeah, that’s right,” said Elise. She pulled her hairslide out, then scooped back her tumbling hair into a rough bun and stuck the slide back in. “Anyway, I’d better get on. I’ll let you know when there’s something for you to try on.”

  I felt as though Katy and I were being dismissed. “Er…is it okay for me to come along another time?” Katy asked.

  Elise shrugged. “As long as you’re not putting anyone off, I guess that’s fine.”

  Katy thanked her and we went towards the door, only slowing down to look at what the girl on the sewing machine was doing. “She’s called Lara,” whispered Katy as we approached her. “I talked to her when you were with Elise. She’s so skilful!”

  “Sorry, I was in a bit of a dream!” Lara said, when she looked up and saw us watching her. She rubbed the back of her neck. “I wish I didn’t get neck ache all the time! I must be sitting wrongly.” Then she looked more carefully at me. “You’ve got a beautifully straight back. Elise is lucky to have you modelling for her. Congratulations, by the way! You’re the youngest model by a mile.”

  “I’m a bit nervous about that.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” Lara smiled a really warm smile, then her face clouded over with concentration as she went back to work, and Katy and I crept out.

  “It’s so buzzy and exciting in there, isn’t it?” said Katy, her eyes bright.

  I nodded, not really feeling quite so convinced as Katy about that. “Thank goodness it’s not a competition, Kates. I nearly had a heart attack when Tansy said something about being judged, but then I felt stupid because I’d misunderstood what she meant.”

  Katy put her arm round me. “You’ll soon get used to everything, Naomi.”

  “Lara’s nice, isn’t she?” I said, trying to find something positive to say.

  “Yes, she’s lovely. I’m not so sure about Elise though.” Katy wrinkled her nose. “She made me feel about six and a half.”

  “I know what you mean. And I didn’t really like Tansy either.” I sighed, going over all that had just happened in the textiles room in my head, but then I came out of my daydream because we were just passing two Year Seven girls called Poppy and Ali. Poppy was from the same house as us, Hazeldean, but Ali was from Elmhurst. They seemed to be looking at me in an odd way. A moment later, when we’d gone round the corner to join the lane that led back to Hazeldean, Katy stopped to get a stone out of her shoe, a
nd I felt my stomach tighten when I heard Poppy say, “She’s modelling at the senior fashion show. She must so fancy herself.”

  Then Ali put on a really posh voice. “Look at me! Look at me! I’m a model princess!”

  In a flash Katy straightened up and put her arm round my shoulder again. “Just ignore them. They’re stupid!” she hissed.

  But I couldn’t ignore the wave of misery that welled up inside me.

  Chapter Three

  At Silver Spires we have clubs or free time after lessons finish, then supper, and lastly prep, which is like homework except that we all sit in silence in a large room in our boarding house. In Hazeldean we’re supervised by Miss Carol, the housemistress, or Miss Fosbrook, the deputy, or occasionally Miss Jennings, the matron. And from eight thirty, when prep finishes, we’re free till bedtime at nine, though we’re not allowed to leave the boarding house during that half-hour. We often use this time to e-mail or phone our parents, and tonight I really wanted to talk to mine. Well, to be precise, I wanted to talk to my dad.

  Katy and I have got a lot in common, but the one thing that’s totally different between us is our relationship with our parents. I envy her being so close to her mum and dad and knowing that she can completely relax when she’s with them. I’ve been brought up in a very different way. I lived the first part of my life in Ghana with my two older sisters and my little brother, and we had a huge house and servants to do everything. My brother and sisters and I didn’t see much of our parents because we were always with our nannies, and whenever we did see them we had to be extremely polite and respectful.

  Moving to London and joining a prep school two years ago seemed like a massive upheaval after living in Africa. The boys at the school kept their distance and the girls crowded round me as though I was an interesting rare specimen at a museum. Princessus Africanus. I didn’t say much because I found it hard to adjust to my new life, but then as I settled in and began to talk more, the girls grew over-the-top friendly, suddenly wanting me to come to tea with them and inviting themselves back to my house. I think they were expecting our house to be like Buckingham Palace, which it definitely isn’t. It’s in Knightsbridge and it’s true that it is quite big, because there are four floors, but some of the pupils lived in houses out in the country with loads of land and paddocks, whereas we have hardly any land.