Free Cora Ravenwing by Gina Wilson Page B

I’m more important than I really am.”
    We all protested and consoled her. We each said why we thought she was important. And, to my relief, I found that the incident had actually pulled me right into the heart ofthe group where, at first, I thought I’d ruined my chances with my unguarded chatter.
    Towards the end of the meal Barbara returned to the subject of school. “I thought it’d be nice if Becky sat with us next term. What do you think?” she asked the others.
    “Oh, certainly,” said Hermione. “I’ll sit next to her, shall I, as we’ve got so much in common with our poetry?”
    Barbara and Susan were full of approval of the plan and I felt extremely happy. Okington was going to be wonderful . Here I was with three special friends already, one of a gang … Dimly a vision of Cora flitted through my mind, a tiny shadow so swiftly banished as scarcely to register. My friendship with Cora would just have to be fitted in behind everything else. Hermione and the others came first. I could not imagine ever choosing Cora’s company in preference to theirs.

Chapter 6
The Birthday Party
    T HE NEXT WEEK, THE LAST OF THE HOLIDAYS, INCLUDED MY birthday. I’d thought it would have to be a very quiet affair this year, with the house move and no friends in the area to ask to a party. But now it seemed there could be a party after all and Mother was almost insistent that there should be. I personally thought it would seem a bit forward to ask such new acquaintances to celebrate my birthday with me. “They’ll think they’ve got to bring a present. It’s a bit much when they hardly know me.”
    “Rubbish! All you girls like parties. You can have it in the garden. It’ll be lovely.”
    “But still—the present business …”
    “It’s not going to bother the Phillipses buying you a little present.”
    “The others, though. Maybe they have to spend their own pocket-money on things like that.”
    “Well, all right. How about asking them to come and only telling them it’s your birthday when they arrive?”
    That seemed a good idea. It would also mean I didn’t need to worry about what to wear. I still felt that Mother was rushing things a bit—it might have been more appropriate for Susan and Barbara to have had me to their homes first—but I assumed she knew she was doing the right thing. In the event, she rang all the mothers herself and I could hear her explaining that it was my birthday and she wanted me to have a little party as usual. I heard her saying to Mrs. Spenser: “It’s her birthday, actually, but she’s shy of telling the others so we’re keeping it a secret … But it seems a shame for the poor little soul not to celebrate in some way … And perhaps you’d like to pop in yourself towards the end, just for a cup of tea—or something a bit stronger! It’d be so nice to meet you …” Then I realized that at least half the point of the party was that Mother and Father should meet the parents. I wasn’t yet used to considering their problems very deeply. But, of course, this would be the perfect opportunity for them to make the acquaintance of the Spensers and the Fosters at the same time as keeping things ticking over with the Phillipses.
    My birthday was on Thursday but the party was arranged for the following Saturday afternoon. The new school term was to start on the Tuesday of the next week. My actual birthday was fairly uneventful except for the arrival of a pleasing number of cards from old school friends who said they were missing me. I felt a little faithless, as I’d been concentrating so hard on making new friends that I’d scarcely given the old ones a thought. I think it was this feeling of disloyalty which led me to do a rather foolish thing in the afternoon.
    I’d been sent a ten shilling note by a great-aunt and had gone down to Copcutt’s to spend some of it on sweets. I was wandering slowly home with a packet of peanuts andsome peardrops when I met Cora. I jumped