Free Search for a Star by Cindy Jefferies

Monsieur Jacob had given her a pair of his shoes as a thank you for modelling for him.
    Francesca smiled. “Well I have another designer I’d like you to go and see.”
    Ellie beamed. “Great! Who is it?”
    â€œA new young designer called Adam Calwell. Angel wants to have a series of articles about the designers who drive the fashion industry. If we’re going to look at up-and-coming stars, this guy definitely seems to be one of them. So would you like to interview him?”
    Ellie’s face lit up. “I’d love to!”
    â€œOkay, give him a ring then,” said Francesca. “Angel won’t want a huge article, just a brief biography really, with some bits and pieces about how he works, what it’s like in his workshop, that sort of thing. And we’ll have pictures of some of his designs. It could be the first of a great series for the magazine.”
    Ellie got onto it straight away. She found Adam Calwell’s number in the office database and keyed it in. Almost at once a woman picked up the phone and Ellie explained about the interview.
    â€œI’m sure he’ll be delighted to be interviewed,” she said. “He’s not here at the moment. I’m Julie, his assistant. Hang on. I’ll just look in his diary.”
    There was only one day when Adam was available that week, and Ellie took the offered time straight away. “I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to see anyone until the autumn,” said Ellie. “And then I would have been back at school. But this is perfect. Thanks so much.”
    â€œI’ll get back to you if he doesn’t want to do it,” said Julie. “But I’m sure he’ll go for it, especially as it’s Heart magazine. Your readers are just the right age for his designs.”
    Ellie put the date in her phone diary and hung up, feeling very pleased with herself. But Piano must have overheard her conversation. “Don’t you like Kurt Draagan?” she enquired with a smirk on her face.
    â€œOf course I do!” said Ellie. “Why?”
    â€œNo reason,” said Piano. “I just wondered why you were making appointments for the day he’s going to be interviewed.”
    Ellie reminded herself that he was fairly unlikely to come into the office, but she couldn’t help looking a bit crestfallen, knowing that he might. Piano, being the sort of person who took pleasure in others’ misfortunes, looked almost pleased. “What a shame you’ll miss him,” she said insincerely, before sashaying back to her desk. “It looks as if he’s definitely coming here for Joe to take some pictures.”
    Ellie could have thumped her desk with frustration. She couldn’t ring to rearrange the meeting with Adam Calwell because she knew there wasn’t another day he could do. She would just have to resign herself to not seeing her heart-throb and concentrate on enjoying meeting the new designer. Damn! In fact mega damn .
    At lunchtime she went down to see Sophie.
    â€œI’m sure Flynn thinks I’m stupid not to push myself,” Sophie said to Ellie over a shared sandwich. “But at least he’s not nagging me about it any more.”
    Ellie had wondered about telling Sophie that she’d seen Flynn chatting to Debbie, but in the end she didn’t feel she could. Maybe he’d just been indulging in a bit of harmless flirting. After all, she hadn’t actually overheard anything he’d said. And Ellie didn’t want to do anything to make Sophie’s relationship with him any more difficult.
    In the afternoon, Ellie took Ferdinand for his usual walk. Once again there was no sign of the little dogs with their silver book tags.
    â€œSorry, Ferdi,” said Ellie. “They don’t seem to be coming here at the moment.”
    Back in the office afterwards Debbie seemed a bit grumpy, and Piano was sitting at her desk, concentrating hard