Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
For Kitty, with much love xxx
TEAM STARLIGHT
TEAM TWINSTAR
Dear Stargirl,
Welcome to Stargirl Academy!
My name is Fairy Mary McBee, and I’m delighted you’re here. All my Stargirls are very special, and I can tell that you are wonderful too.
We’ll be learning how to use magic safely and efficiently to help anyone who is in trouble, but before we go any further I have a request. The Academy MUST be kept secret. This is VERY important…
So may I ask you to join our other Stargirls in making The Promise? Read it – say it out loud if you wish – then sign your name on the bottom line.
Thank you so much … and well done!
Fairy Mary
The Promise
I will never speak of Stargirl Academy to others outside these cloudy walls, whatever they ask and whatever they offer. This I solemnly promise, for now, always and for ever.
The Book of Spells
by
Fairy Mary McBee
Head Teacher at
The Fairy Mary McBee
Academy for Stargirls
A complete list of Spells can be obtained from the Academy. Only the fully qualified need apply. Other applications
will be refused.
There are many types of spell. The six main varieties are:
Shimmering
Starry
Shining
Sparkling
Glittering
Twinkling
It is advisable to begin with the simplest of spells, and progress at a steady pace. This will avoid unfortunate mistakes. Additional spells may be added to the programme on special occasions.
Hi! I’m Melody Ann Georgina Weston. I’m tall for my age and I’m very pretty; my best friend, Jackson, is almost as pretty as me, but not quite. I’m dark and she’s fair, so we set each other off brilliantly and people stare at us when we’re together, which we usually are—
Hang on a minute! What do you mean – you’re prettier?
That was Jackson, and she’s not supposed to interrupt. We agreed that we’d do one chapter each, and we tossed to see who’d go first and I won, so I can say what I like … but if it’ll keep her quiet, I’ll agree that she is really pretty. We’ve been friends for ages, and we don’t take much notice of other kids, and we do what we want to do … at least, we used to. We go to Stargirl Academy now, and that makes everything different.
This is what you should know about me, Jackson and Stargirl Academy.
1. The Academy used to train Fairy Godmothers, but the head teacher, Fairy Mary McBee, decided that was old fashioned. She thought it would be better to train girls like me and Jackson instead. The idea is that we learn how to help people, like Fairy Godmothers used to. We can’t grant wishes, though. I think that’s a shame.
2. We get a Tingle in our elbow when it’s time to go to the Academy … and however long we’re there, it doesn’t matter. When we get back, it’s exactly the same time as when we left.
3. We learn magic and spells. Every time we go to the Academy, they teach us a new spell, and then we try it out on a mission. We each have a magic necklace with a pendant, and on the pendant are six stars. If we do well and manage to help someone, one of the stars lights up. When we have SIX stars, we’ll have finished our training, and we’ll be proper Stargirls.
4. Jackson and I (we’re Team Twinstar) have five stars each, but the other team – Team Starlight – has six already.
5. When Team Starlight were given their sixth star, Jackson and I felt DREADFUL. Really, REALLY dreadful.
Why?
This is where I tell you a secret about me and Jackson. It might make you not like us very much, but it’s just the way we are.
Right from the very first moment we walked into the Academy, we thought we were better than the other kids… I don’t suppose they’re actually much younger than us, but it felt as if they were. We were totally and utterly shocked when they were given their fifth star, and we weren’t. It was horrible. And then they got their final stars … and we didn’t.
Ouch.
And this is me, Jackson Williams. Best friend of Melody Ann Georgina Weston. Sometimes she says really stupid things, but she’s right about the stars. It felt awful when Team Starlight started jumping about and being pleased with themselves and we were left out. I suppose it made it worse knowing that it was our fault … we do like being different, and sometimes it gets us into trouble. The other girls are nice – don’t get me wrong – but Melody and I have never quite fitted in. They’re just a little bit more fluffy bunny than we are—
You mean they’re nicer!
No, I don’t! Well … I suppose maybe I do. But not everyone can be sweet and kind and helpful all the time. Miss Scritch, the deputy head at Stargirl Academy, isn’t. Sometimes she can be really chilly, but I have a feeling she quite likes me and Mel because we’re more like her than the others are. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of Team Starlight slam a door or smash something because they’re angry. I know I’ve done that, and so has Melody. And, if I’m being absolutely truthful, sometimes I find myself thinking the other Stargirls are a bunch of goody goodies. Especially when they’re all together.
It’s not so bad when they’re on their own. Ava and Madison can be quite sparky and fun, and Lily’s OK too. Emma makes me laugh because she talks so much, but Olivia and Sophie are weird – Olivia in particular. She’s scared of loads of stuff, and at first me and Melody thought she was a total wimp, but actually she thinks about other people all the time, and that freaks me out. What makes it worse is that we should be grateful, because it was Olivia who suggested that Team Starlight came back to the Academy so we could try and win our last star.
I’m sure if Fairy Mary McBee knew how we were feeling she’d chuck us out. I don’t think a proper Stargirl ought to wish another Stargirl would stamp their feet and scream and shout just to show they’re human—
Hadn’t you better get on with the story?
Go away! I only interrupted you once, and you’ve done it twice now!
Sorry … You can have the first chapter.
OK. Thanks. It seemed like AGES after our last visit to the Academy before we got another Tingle. I’d almost convinced myself we were never going back, and we’d never get to be proper Stargirls. Melody thought the same, I know, although we didn’t talk about it much. Mostly we pretended that we didn’t care. We did, though. There’s something about Stargirl Academy that gets under your skin, even if you don’t want it to. And another thing – I’d discovered I was really good at magic, and I kept wondering, what if I never got to do magic again? It didn’t help that it was nearly Christmas, and everyone we met was wildly excited … but then it finally happened.
Chapter One
My mum was working, so Melody’s mum said she’d take us shopping, but she took us to the local shopping mall instead of anywhere exciting. She spent ages and AGES in every single shop making up her mind which presents to buy and we got really bored.
We moped around waiting for her to come out of the chemist, and because we had nothing else to do we watched a line of snotty-nosed kids queueing to
see Father Christmas in the most unlikely grotto ever. It was a kind of cuckoo clock covered in sparkly pink fur; even Father C looked a bit embarrassed. A small scowly grown-up dressed as a silver cuckoo popped out and shouted, “Cuckoo, cuckoo! Wishes granted! Hurry up!” each time it was a kid’s turn to go and collect his present; some of the tiny ones looked terrified.
“Darling, I want you to hold Baby’s hand!” a mum said. I thought she was talking to me, but when I turned to glare at her – who did she think she was? – I saw she was talking to a little girl in a fussy pink velvet dress. “Hold his hand, Pipsy, and you can see Father Christmas together.”
Pipsy shook her head. “But I don’t want a present from here, Mumsy. I want the purple fluffy dog that runs in circles and sings – the one in the toyshop!” She grabbed at her mother’s coat sleeve. “Please, Mumsy wumsy! I’ll be the goodest girl in the whole wide world! I’ll hold Baby’s hand for ever and ever if I can have the fluffy dog! Pleeeeeease!”
Mel leant over to whisper in my ear. “Mumsy wumsy? Whoever calls their mum that?”
“Whiney little girls in prissy pink dresses,” I whispered back.
Pipsy was still hanging onto her mother’s coat. “Please please PLEEEEASE?”
“Hush, Pipsy!” I think the mum had noticed us listening. “You can have the fluffy dog later.”
“Really?” Pipsy stared at her. “The purple fluffy dog? The one that sings?”
“Of course, darling.” Mumsy began hauling Baby out of his buggy. “We’ll buy whatever you want. But take Baby to get his present first. He just LOVES Father Christmas, don’t you, Baby? And we’re going to see two Father Christmasses today, aren’t we, poppet?”
“Yes,” said Baby. He had a round pink face, and was already clutching an armful of toys. “Baby’s going to get presents. LOTS of presents.”
I nudged Melody. “Spoiled brats,” I said under my breath.
Melody nodded. “Look how many bags their mum’s got!”
“What would you want if you could have a wish?” I asked as Mel and I moved away from Mumsy and her horrible children.
Melody shrugged. “Dunno. What about you?”
I gave her a sideways look. “I was kind of hoping I’d be a Stargirl by now…”
“Oh!” Mel took my arm. “Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we won our final star in time for Christmas?”
“It’d be perfect,” I said, but then we were interrupted.
A skinny woman suddenly appeared from behind the furry cuckoo clock. She barged past me and tried to pull two children away from the back of the queue, but the little girl started yelling at the top of her voice. “Nooooo! Nooooo! I want to see Santa Claus!”
Her older brother clutched at the side of the clock. “But we always come, Mum! Always!”
“WAAAAAAAAHH!” screeched the girl. “WAAAAAAAH!”
The woman grabbed them, and hauled them to one side. “Joe! Jenny! I’ve been looking for you EVERYWHERE! I said we WEREN’T going to see Father Christmas. I TOLD you!” She was shouting so loudly I should think everyone in the mall must have heard her.
The little girl was almost purple, she was bawling so hard, but her brother was very pale.
“Why not?” he whispered, and he was obviously trying not to cry.
His mother began dragging them towards the door. “Costs too much,” she snapped. She tilted her head towards a sign above the clock. It said: LET FATHER CHRISTMAS GRANT YOUR CHRISTMAS WISH! PAY THE CUCKOO AND ENTER THE MAGICAL CLOCK! ONLY £5 PER CHILD. “Waste of good money. Besides, I’m late for work, and it’s a big day at The Nag’s Head. Come ON, kids…”
The boy didn’t say anything else, but I saw him silently rubbing at his face with the back of his hand as he and his shrieking sister disappeared in amongst the Christmas shoppers.
“She was really mean,” Melody said indignantly. “She nearly pulled their arms off! And all they wanted was one little present.”
“I know,” I agreed, and I thought of the parcels my mum had already started piling under our tree at home, and the way she gave me a little wink every time she saw me looking. “Do you think they’ll get any presents at all?”
Melody shook her head. “Not with a mum like that. I’m sure she doesn’t look after them properly. Their clothes were really tatty – and the little boy was as thin as a pin. I bet they’re half-starved so their mum can have loads and loads of wonderful clothes and chocolate and cake.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. The woman had been thin too, and her coat very ordinary, but when I said as much to Melody she snorted.
“Rubbish, Jackson! You heard the way she talked to them, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I said.
Melody looked very serious. “If ever we get to go back to the Academy, I want to help kids like that. Poor little things! I’m sure they need help just as much as any of our friends and relations – probably a whole lot more. Have you noticed that Team Starlight always seems to choose people they know?” She sighed. “Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to show them the proper way to be a Stargirl—”
And that was when the Tingle came. It was so strong it made me jump, and Melody clutched her elbow at exactly the same time.
“Ouch!” she said. And then, “WOW!”
“This’ll be our chance!” I knew I was right. “Our big chance!”
“Team Twinstar – the best Stargirls ever!” said Melody. And then she stopped, and we stared at each other.
We’d had the Tingle, but where did we go to find the Academy? We were right in the middle of a huge shopping mall!
“I know!” Melody slipped her arm through mine. She was grinning a wicked grin. “Come on!” And before I could say a word, she was marching me up to the pink furry cuckoo clock, pushing past the startled cuckoo, waltzing me inside … and in through the front door of The Fairy Mary McBee Academy for Stargirls.
Chapter Two
We were still giggling at the cuckoo’s expression as we walked down the hall.
“Did you hear him?” Jackson chortled. “No no no no no – he actually SOUNDED like a cuckoo!”
“He wasn’t nice to the little kids,” I said. “I saw him push a couple of them when they wouldn’t go in.”
Jackson shook her head. “NOT very Christmassy.” And then we opened the workroom door.
I don’t think Jackson told you about the Academy workroom. There’s a long wooden table with twelve chairs, and that’s where we sit when we’re learning about magic and spells. The walls are covered in shelves and cupboards, and we’ve never discovered all the things that are kept there – the labels don’t mean anything. There’s a cupboard marked “Nine-legged spiders,” and Sophie and Olivia were terrified they’d get out and crawl round the room until one day Fairy Fifibelle Lee opened it – and all that was inside was a tottering pile of old notebooks. But, on the other hand, a shelf labelled “Not Very Sharp Pencils” is weighed down with weird-looking pots and bottles with mysterious little wormy things inside. I once asked Miss Scritch what they were for, and she gave me a chilly stare and said it was highly unlikely that I’d ever need them. “Unless you intend to catch the bubonic plague, Melody?”
As well as the shelves and cupboards there are heaps of papers and ancient books, and bunches of herbs hanging from the ceiling – at least, I think they’re herbs. Fairy Mary McBee has a very VERY tall sister called Fairy Prim and when she comes to visit she’s always brushing her head against them, and I did notice one time that her hair was strangely green afterwards. It didn’t last, though.
We were surprised to find the workroom empty … apart from the usual clutter, of course. A small Christmas tree decorated with silver bells and twinkly lights was standing in a corner, but there wasn’t a sign of any of our teachers or any of the other Stargirls.
Jackson looked around doubtfully. “We DID get a Tingle, didn’t we?”
“Of course we did,” I said. “And we wouldn’t have got through the cuckoo clock and found ou
rselves here in the Academy if we hadn’t been expected.”
Jackson snorted. “We’d probably be sitting on Father Christmas’s knee, asking for a new dolly!”
“We’ll just have to wait,” I said. “Maybe we’re early? Or maybe Fairy Mary wants to talk to us before the others get here.” I looked up at the wall where Fairy Mary McBee’s special wand always hung. It was shining with a faint golden light, and I wondered what would happen when it was time for the Spin. That’s when we find out who is going to lead the day’s adventure, and try out the new spell that we’ve learnt. I crossed my fingers inside my pocket. SURELY it had to be me or Jackson? After all, we were the ones that needed an extra star…
Jackson saw me looking at the wand, and went towards it. For a moment, I thought she was going to lift it down, but she didn’t. She just touched it, very gently. “Let it be one of us,” she whispered. “PLEASE!”
“You’ll have to wait and see, Jackson my pet,” said a squeaky little voice. “The wand makes its own decisions!”
We stared round, but we couldn’t see anyone.
Jackson nudged me. “It’s coming from under the table,” she said.
We bent down to peer into the shadows – and there was the tiniest fairy we’d ever seen waving up at us.
Jackson gasped as she suddenly realised who we were looking at. “It’s Fairy Fifibelle Lee!” she said. “It is, isn’t it?”
Fairy Fifibelle gave a peal of bell-like laughter. “Indeed it is, my darling!” She scuttled out, and stood leaning on Jackson’s shoe. “Now, can you guess what spell you’re going to learn today?”
My heart began to beat wildly in my chest. “We’re going to learn how to be tiny?”
Fairy Fifibelle nodded. “Shrinking and Growing, my little honey bees. Shrinking and—”
Melody & Jackson's Christmas Spell Page 1
