Free Party at Silver Spires by Ann Bryant Page B

shelves of lovely books. But whatever it is, I really like it. I could spend hours in there, just looking at book after book, because it’s even better than our local library at home. And today it was the only place to be. It stopped my spirits sinking right down to rock bottom at the thought of the next day.
    I’m not sure which club Emily and Bryony went to after school, but Sasha, Izzy and Antonia said they were going to the dorm to give each other trial makeovers and hairstyles to get ready for the party. I stayed in the library until I was certain they would have gone to supper, and then I took my time walking over to Forest Ash to drop off my school bag.
    The Year Sevens are allowed to go to supper any time up to seven o’clock and our dorm are nearly always there right at the beginning. It was twenty to seven by the time I got to Forest Ash, so I was hoping that with any luck there wouldn’t be any space left with Izzy and Sasha and the others, and I’d have to sit with people from other boarding houses, and just pretend to my friends that I’d forgotten the time. Then there wouldn’t be any danger of the conversation turning to the party. My plan hadn’t worked on Wednesday lunchtime, but this time I’d be even later, so surely I’d be all right.
    I walked upstairs quickly and opened the door to our dorm. The sight that hit me rooted me to the spot. Sasha, Izzy and Antonia were still there, and the whole dorm seemed to be strewn with hairdryers and hair straighteners and little pots and jars and tubes and bottles of cream and make-up and nail varnish. Sasha’s and Izzy’s outfits and jewellery were all over their beds. I didn’t even get as far as looking at Antonia’s bed, as it was the furthest away from the door. I just had to get out.
    â€œHello, you three!” I said, as brightly as I could. “Hadn’t we better go to supper?”
    Antonia turned away and started tidying her things.
    â€œOh, Nicole, you’ve missed a really cool time, you know!” Sasha said excitedly. “Where did you get to?”
    â€œI…I went to the library. Anyway…I’ll see if I can save you places at supper, okay?”
    â€œNo, hang on!” said Sasha. “Look at Izzy’s hair. Don’t you think it’s cool?”
    I took a proper look at Izzy and told her she looked amazing, because she really did.
    â€œAnd what about this?” Sasha went on excitedly. “My dress! Ta-da! When those girls told us it was an Oscar theme, I panicked a bit and phoned Mum to ask her to send me something really special, because I’d only got that outfit you saw before!”
    She was gabbling away as she slid the dress off the bed and held it up. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw the beautiful dark blue dress, with its silky bodice and full knee-length skirt. I stared in awe as I took in every little detail. The top of the bodice and the bottom of the skirt each had a little panel of sparkly gems, which looked amazing against the plain blue.
    â€œAnd these are my shoes…” Sasha went on, smiling happily.
    They were very delicate with long lace ties, and they matched the dress exactly.
    â€œYou lace these round your ankles like this…” In a flash she’d whipped off one of her trainers and socks and was showing me the shoe. “Do you want to try the other one on, Nicole?”
    I shook my head and looked at my watch. “Hadn’t we better get going? They’re gorgeous, by the way.”
    â€œAnd this is Sasha’s bag,” Izzy said proudly, as though she’d bought it herself.
    It was a small clutch bag with all sorts of beads and gems set all over it. I was trying to imagine why anyone needed a bag when we were only going to be in the common room.
    â€œSo your mum sent you the dress?” I asked in a small voice, wondering if it was brand new or whether it had been hanging in