by Lyn Gardner
Olivia smiled at the little girl. “You must be very good,” she said.
“Eel’s as good, maybe better,” said Esme, generously.
“No, I’m not,” said Eel. “You’re the one who got the scholarship.”
“Only after another girl gave it up,” said her friend. She shook her head. “I don’t know how anyone could think of giving up a scholarship to the Imperial.”
Eel looked at Olivia and the two sisters exchanged little smiles.
Alicia came over and touched Olivia’s shoulder. “We must take our seats. Kasha’s about to come on stage.”
The final note of “Bruised” faded away. There was a tiny electrified silence and then the sell-out crowd began whooping and stamping their approval of the acoustic duet that Kasha and Aeysha had just sung. Aeysha looked very tiny and rather dazed, but she was beaming broadly as the audience clapped and cheered.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Kasha, with a big smile. “I give you my songwriting partner, Aeysha Aziz, without whom I’d never have written the number-one hit, ‘Bruised’. Aeysha.”
Aeysha bowed and the crowd roared their approval. Olivia and the others were on their feet, cheering and stamping. Eel was hopping from foot to foot in her excitement. Georgia was shouting Aeysha’s name over and over again, Tom had his hands raised right over his head and Katie was screaming her delight.
Olivia looked from Aeysha’s glowing face to those of her excited friends and listened to their happy, generous applause. She caught Georgia’s eye and Georgia smiled at her, a gentle, forgiving smile. They had all come through so much together in the last few weeks, they had had some narrow escapes but they had emerged bruised but unbroken.
Suddenly, it occurred to Olivia. “We’re growing up,” she said, out loud.
There was wonder in her voice, but nobody else heard it because there was too much noise. She looked at her friends’ shining faces.
“Growing up,” she whispered to herself, “but not growing apart.”
Copyright
OLIVIA AND THE GREAT ESCAPE
First published in the UK in 2013 by Nosy Crow Ltd
The Crow’s Nest, 10a Lant Street
London, SE1 1QR, UK
This ebook edition first published 2013
Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and / or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd
Text copyright © Lyn Gardner, 2013
The right of Lyn Gardner to be identified as the author and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictiously. Any resemblence to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978 0 85763 152 7
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