Secret Schemes and Daring Dreams

by Rosie Rushton

  ‘Oh my God, she’s fallen!’ Emma screamed and began belting across the shingle as fast as her wedges would allow.

  ‘Now are you satisfied, Freddie Churchill?’ George muttered, hurrying after her. ‘Harriet! Are you OK?’

  It was clear, even before the words were out, that Harriet was far from OK. Her face was deathly white, and beads of perspiration were breaking out on her forehead. ‘My ankle,’ she moaned, tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks.

  ‘Theo, go and get the St John Ambulance guys,’ George ordered. ‘Emma, go to the ice-cream van and ask for ice – and lots of it!’

  He squatted down on the pebbles beside Harriet and took her hand. ‘It’s OK,’ he said gently, ‘just take deep breaths.’

  ‘Theo’s the medical student, not you,’ Emma reminded him. ‘He’s the one who needs to be taking care of her.’

  ‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ Harriet whispered, and promptly was. Which, Emma reflected, did absolutely nothing for her distressed heroine image.

  ‘Does anyone want to come with her in the ambulance?’ the paramedic asked, raising his voice to be heard over the loudspeakers blaring out Split Bamboo’s first number.

  ‘Emma?’ Harriet’s voice was faint but pleading.

  This is so not my scene, Emma thought. She had many strengths, she knew that, but hospitals she couldn’t handle. She’d even felt her heart race at the sound of the ambulance’s siren, never mind riding in the thing and risking Harriet puking again.

  ‘Emma? Go on,’ George urged.

  ‘Theo, you go,’ she pleaded.

  ‘Me?’ Theo queried. ‘But surely you’re her friend and —’

  ‘I can’t face it,’ she said. ‘Please.’

  ‘Sure I’ll go,’ he said, squeezing her hand, and Emma realised that this was what he’d wanted all along. ‘Now don’t worry – she’s going to be fine. And the hospital’s only a couple of blocks away. I’ll be back before you know it.’

  As the ambulance pulled away and the small huddle of interested spectators turned their attention back to the stage in the middle of the beach, George pulled Emma to one side. ‘If Freddie’s thinking of playing the fool like this at his party, he can think again,’ he said. ‘I’m beginning to wish I’d never agreed to it. Mum would go ballistic if anything happened.’

  ‘George, it’ll be fine,’ Emma assured him. ‘It was just bad luck, that’s all. Besides, it’s all my fault.’

  ‘How do you make that out?’ George asked.

  ‘I didn’t explain to them that we could just push through and go to the seats by the stage. Those passes that Dad gave us . . .’

  She faltered, an image of Harriet’s ashen face floating before her eyes.

  ‘If I’d said something to Adam, he’d have told Freddie, and Freddie would never have climbed —’

  ‘Freddie seems like the sort of daredevil idiot who’d do anything to attract attention,’ said George. ‘Poor Harriet. Well, thank God it wasn’t you. And clearly Freddie’s not bothered.’ He gestured towards Freddie, who was clapping his hands over his head as the band played ‘Panic Stations Planet’.

  ‘He probably doesn’t realise what happened,’ Emma suggested, noting with some irritation that it was Chelsea Middleton Hyde in her minuscule denim shorts and slinky top to whom he was paying a considerable amount of attention.

  ‘Oh, like he didn’t spot the ambulance,’ George retorted sarcastically. ‘He realises all right. He just doesn’t care.’

  On way back. Where r u? Theo

  Relief flooded through Emma’s body as she read the text message. Harriet must be OK. The ambulance guys said it might only be a sprain. Now she could relax and start enjoying herself. All the fooling about on the pier, riding the Ghost Train and sliding down the helter-skelter had been no real fun with the thought of Harriet in the back of her mind all the time. Not to mention the rather uncomfortable sensation of guilt that she should have been with her, rather than stuffing herself on a Double Toffee Banoffee Sundae.

  On way 2 Funky Seagull 2 dance r pants off! C U!

  It wasn’t until she had zapped the Send button that she realised that Harriet, however slight her injury, would be in no mood for dancing.

  Never mind. She could watch, and Emma resolved to make a real fuss of her in between proving that she had what it took to pull Freddie. If only to wind George up.

  Funky Seagull, a tiny club underneath the arches at Marine Drive, was packed. Emma had never been there before; Freddie had heard about it from one of the fashion shoot photographers and urged everyone to give it a go. Chelsea and Tabitha, who had somehow managed to attach themselves to the group, were already in the middle of the dance floor. The lighting was so dim that Emma could hardly make out where anyone was, but she did spot Ravi chatting up Lily – there was, she thought, no accounting for taste – and saw that Dylan and Nick were busy downing shots at the bar. Adam and Lucy were, as usual, locked in one another’s arms, and Jake was nowhere to be seen.

  So she had Freddie all to herself.

  He was just beginning to respond to Emma’s carefully honed chat-up lines when Theo tapped her on the shoulder.

  ‘Theo!’ she exclaimed. ‘Where’s Harriet?’ She peered through the darkness in hopes of catching sight of her friend.

  ‘At the hospital, of course.’

  ‘You haven’t left her there on her own?’ Emma asked.

  ‘Give us a break,’ Theo protested. ‘We’d been there ages and they said she’d be at least another hour.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘I said I wanted to get back to you and she said she’d be fine.’

  ‘Well, of course she said that,’ Emma shouted, raising her voice over the thumping of the music. ‘It doesn’t mean she meant it.’

  This was serious. Theo was not acting like a guy in the grips of rampant desire.

  ‘Women,’ Freddie added dryly, ‘always talk in opposites. And I should know.’

  He grinned at them both, and, to Emma’s annoyance, drifted back towards the bar.

  ‘This isn’t how I meant the evening to turn out,’ Theo said a trifle forlornly. ‘I had it all planned.’

  ‘What did you have planned?’ Emma asked hopefully.

  ‘This.’ He grabbed her, pulled her towards him and kissed her full on the lips.

  ‘Oh Emma, if you knew how long I’ve wanted to do . . .’

  The force of Emma’s slap cut him off in mid sentence.

  ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ she gasped, pushing him away and trying to ignore Chelsea’s thinly veiled smirk. ‘Your girlfriend is lying injured in hospital and you have the nerve —’

  ‘Girlfriend? The only girlfriend I want is you.’ Theo held a hand to his cheek and stared at her in horror.

  ‘But Harriet . . .’

  ‘Harriet? Get real. You really think I’d waste my time on Harriet? Darling, you don’t have to be jealous.’

  ‘Don’t you dare call me darling, you creep! Just get away from me.’

  ‘How can you be like this?’ Theo demanded, snatching her hand. ‘You know you like me.’

  ‘You arrogant, self-opinionated . . . as if!’

  ‘Come off it – you practically fell over yourself to tell me you’d get me an invite to Freddie’s party.’

  ‘I was just being kind; it didn’t mean anything. You were around and —’

  ‘Why do you think I agreed to help George out in the first place? Like I didn’t have better things to do. It was only because he said you were going to be working there and after that night at the South Downs Ball when you made it clear I was in with a chance . . .’

  ‘What are you on? You’re mad.’

  ‘It was the first thing you mentioned when you saw me, so don’t pretend it hadn’t been on your mind too.’

  ‘Nothing, but nothing, was further from my thoughts.’

  ‘For God’s sake, you led me on enough . . .’

  ‘How dare you! I did no such t
hing – why would I? When it was Harriet who I wanted you . . .’

  Emma was conscious of George, Jake and Lily turning in astonishment at the sound of her raised voice.

  ‘You wanted? You mean to tell me that you were trying to get me and Harriet – it’s ludicrous! Whatever made you think —’

  ‘You took her to church, you even offered to do her shift.’

  ‘Only so that I could do it with you,’ he protested.

  ‘You went in the ambulance.’

  ‘I did that for you,’ he snapped. ‘Because you looked as white as a sheet at the thought of it.’

  Emma swallowed hard. ‘Well, what about the photos – you printed them and framed them, you sucked up to her mother, you told people that she was an amazing girl,’ Emma spluttered.

  ‘Oh, and when am I supposed to have done that?’ he demanded.

  ‘I heard you on the phone to your mother, talking about inviting her to the Regatta Ball.’

  ‘Not her, you!’ he shouted. ‘It’s you I want.’

  For a moment Emma was speechless. Theo wasn’t.

  ‘As for the photos, she wanted me to print them off for her mother. And as for visiting the old bat, sure I did. My summer holiday assignment from med school is “The Effects of Mental Illness on the Wider Family Unit” – I wanted to see how Harriet interacted with her mother.’

  ‘You know what? You are the pits,’ Emma hissed. ‘And what about that text at the club? Luring her outside and showing her the stars.’

  By now Adam and Lucy had disentangled themselves from one another and were staring at her open-mouthed. Chelsea was edging closer to them, clearly desperate to catch their every word.

  For the first time, Theo looked a little shamefaced. ‘That text was meant for you,’ he admitted, dropping his voice. ‘I pressed the wrong name entry – Harriet’s next to you on my address book.’

  ‘But you danced with her, you spent time with her – she thought . . .’

  ‘You said to be nice to her, so I was,’ he said. ‘I danced with her because I felt guilty about the text. In fact, I acted pretty damn well.’

  ‘If that’s acting well, I’d hate to be around when you acted badly,’ Emma stormed. She shook her head and sighed.

  ‘Please, can we just forget all this and start over?’ Theo pleaded, pulling her towards him again.

  ‘No, we can’t!’ she shouted, wriggling out of his grasp. ‘You don’t realise, do you? You have just wrecked Harriet’s life.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ George appeared at their side, a wide-eyed Lily right behind him.

  ‘As of now, nothing. Theo was just leaving.’

  ‘You know what you are, Emma?’ Theo shouted. ‘You’re nothing but a scheming little —’

  ‘Theo!’ George burst out. ‘Calm down, mate. What’s all this about?’

  ‘Ask her!’ Theo spat, glaring at Emma.

  ‘Look, why don’t we —?’ Adam cut in.

  ‘Oh go to hell! Get lost, the bloody lot of you!’ With that, Theo turned on his heel, and shoved his way to the door.

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ Emma said tearfully to Lucy in the Ladies five minutes later. ‘How could Theo imagine for even a second that I could be interested in him?’

  ‘I don’t know why you’re surprised,’ Lucy replied. ‘Harriet’s sweet but she’s not Theo’s type. Whereas you are. Looks, money, contacts . . .’

  ‘That’s just what George said.’ Emma sighed. ‘Why am I so dumb, Lucy?’

  ‘You’re not dumb,’ Lucy said loyally. ‘You just – well, you like arranging other people’s lives. And remember, you got it right with Adam and me.’

  ‘Well, I’m never going to try it again,’ Emma pronounced, blotting her lip gloss and picking up her bag. ‘But what am I going to say to Harriet? She was over the moon at the thought of the Regatta Ball.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘Nothing.’ Emma pushed open the door and walked back into the dimness of the club. ‘Just another sign of my total uselessness.’

  George was hovering near the door.

  ‘Where’s Freddie?’ Emma asked.

  ‘He’s taken Jake home,’ George said. ‘He was feeling rough and since that lot . . .’ He jerked his head towards the bar where Nick, Dylan and Ravi were play-punching one another and downing yet more drinks. ‘. . . are incapable of driving, Freddie said he’d run him home.’ He eyed Emma closely. ‘Anyway, what is it to you where he is?’

  ‘Nothing.’ Emma was miffed but, in all honesty, the fun had gone out of the evening and the last thing she felt like was flirting. ‘I just need to call the hospital to find out what’s happening to Harriet.’

  ‘I already did,’ George said. ‘She’s being discharged. It was just a bad sprain, nothing broken.’

  ‘I’ve got to get home and be with her,’ Emma said. ‘Can you help me find a cab?’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ George said. ‘I’ve had enough of this place anyway.’ He took Emma’s hand and began pushing his way through the crowd of dancers. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said gently. ‘I know it’s been a disastrous evening, but it’s only a sprain and Harriet will be fine in a couple of days.’

  Emma shook her head. ‘Her foot may be,’ she murmured. ‘But it’s her heart I’m worried about.’

  As the taxi turned into the lane that led to Hartfield, Emma was relieved to see the light twinkling from the window of the guest bedroom.

  ‘She’s back,’ she said. ‘Oh George, what am I going to say to her? I should have listened to you – I got Theo all wrong.’

  She expected a lecture from George but, instead, he was staring out of the taxi window.

  ‘That’s Freddie’s car,’ he said, gesturing to the Porsche parked in a lay-by near the bus stop. ‘If there’s one person on this planet I don’t want to see tonight, it’s him.’

  ‘He’s probably up at the Teletubby house with Jake,’ Emma pointed out, as the taxi turned into her drive. ‘Checking he’s OK. You have to admit, it was nice of him to drive him home.’

  ‘There’s something about that guy I don’t like,’ George muttered. ‘He’s so full of himself.’

  Emma decided not to pursue the matter.

  ‘Aren’t you coming in?’ she asked as George clambered out of the car.

  He shook his head. ‘I’m knackered,’ he said. ‘And besides, I want to see how Mum and Dad are doing. I get the feeling Dad’s not as well as he’s trying to make out.’

  ‘He’s just tired,’ Emma said.

  ‘I hope that’s all it is.’ George sighed. ‘So – see you tomorrow morning, yes? Half past eight?’

  ‘You what?’

  ‘Emma, Harriet can’t work with a dodgy ankle, can she?’ he reasoned. ‘And we’ve got four rooms booked this weekend. Beds to get ready, flowers to do, tea trays to organise.’

  ‘But your mum . . .’ She caught sight of George’s expression and changed her mind. ‘OK.’ She nodded. ‘Will do. Wish me luck with Harriet.’

  ‘You don’t need luck, Blob,’ he said. ‘You need a bit more common sense. And a bit less nosiness about other people’s business.’

  He gave a twenty pound note to the taxi driver and strode off across the drive towards Donwell.

  Emma stared after him. There was only one thing that stopped her being gutted by his words. He’d called her Blob. And much as she’d always hated the nickname, there was something rather comforting about that tonight.

  CHAPTER 8

  Daring dream: Somehow making it all come right

  EMMA KNOCKED ON HARRIET’S DOOR, FEELING SLIGHTLY sick. ‘Harriet? Are you awake?’

  She didn’t wait for a reply but peeped round the door. Harriet was sitting up in bed, flicking through a copy of Heaven Sent magazine.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Emma blurted out. ‘It’s all my fault.’

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ Harriet said. ‘It wasn’t as if you pushed me off the breakwater, was it? Anyway, it’s not broken.’ She stuck her foot out
of the bedclothes and showed off her bandaged ankle.

  ‘A few days and it’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘Thank goodness – imagine if I was hobbling at the Regatta Ball!’

  Emma’s stomach lurched at the excitement in Harriet’s voice.

  ‘How did you get home?’ Emma asked hurriedly, if only to delay the moment of truth. ‘Who brought you?’

  ‘You will never guess! Freddie and Jake!’

  Emma was dumbfounded. ‘Freddie? Jake? But how? I mean, why?’

  Harriet tossed the magazine on one side and hitched herself up on to the pillows. ‘Well, I had just been discharged and collected these painkillers . . .’ She gestured to a packet of analgesics by the bed. ‘. . . and I was hobbling out to get a taxi and these three guys came up behind me and started calling out things like . . . well, I can’t even say what they were calling out.’ Harriet had turned a livid shade of pink and was picking at the corner of the duvet cover. ‘I tried ignoring them, and I prayed that a taxi would come up Eastern Avenue and then one of them put his arms round me and . . .’ She paused. ‘It was horrible, I was so scared and then guess what? A car pulled up and Freddie jumped out and he yelled at the guys that he was calling the police and they ran off.’

  ‘Thank God for that! Oh Harriet, you’ve had an awful evening. And now Theo —’

  She checked herself just in time. Luckily, Harriet did not appear to have heard.

  ‘Freddie was really sweet,’ she said. ‘And Jake made a real fuss of me too, made me sit in the back with my leg up and kept telling Freddie to drive slowly so I didn’t jar my ankle.’

  ‘That was kind, especially as he was feeling ill himself,’ Emma admitted.

  ‘Ill? He didn’t seem ill,’ Harriet said. ‘Not the way he was polishing off a double burger and fries!’

  ‘That’s weird, because . . .’

  ‘And Theo? Did Theo get back OK?’ Harriet asked anxiously.

  Emma opened her mouth to confess everything and changed her mind. After all, she might not have to tell the whole, horrible truth. Now that Theo knew he had no chance with her, he might, just possibly, decide that Harriet wasn’t so bad after all. And that way no one would lose face. Especially her.