Free Becky's Dress Disaster by Holly Webb

Katie.”
    â€œWhat do we do?” asked Katie, sounding slightly hurt. OK, so she couldn’t sew to save her life, and nor could Megan, but they wanted to do something .
    Annabel grinned at her. “This is where being boringly good at maths comes in useful for once. You two can sort the beads out for us. Look,” she handed over the original flower design, “these are silver, these are violet – you see? All the colours are marked on. You need to put the right beads for each bit in these little bowls.”
    Katie nodded briskly. That she could do. Everyone got to work. Saima had a really cool sound system, and she put some music on to liven things up. Luckily her parents had promised to stay out of the way, as long as they went to bed at a “reasonable” time.
    Becky and Fran started the ticklish job of sewing on the beads, one by one, following the pattern. It was difficult, but fun – and they did look very pretty.
    After half an hour or so, Annabel got up and stretched. “Oof! I’ve got a crick in my neck. How’s yours going, Becky?” She peered over. “That looks nice – but hey, hang on, that flower’s meant to be the lilac colour, not the crystal! You’ll have to undo it.”
    Becky looked horrified – that flower had taken ages – but Fran gazed at the dress thoughtfully, and then over at Annabel’s. She shook her head. “I’m not sure, Bel. I think it would be better if they weren’t exactly the same – I mean, obviously it’s going to be the same basic design, but I don’t see why each petal has to be the same. What’s the point of hand-decorating the dresses if they still look like a machine did them?”
    Annabel looked slightly gobsmacked. Fran was so easygoing that she didn’t often disagree – but Annabel could see she was right.
    Becky grinned at her. “And that’s what you wanted in the first place, Bel,” she pointed out. “A dress that was just the teensiest bit different.”
    Annabel pulled a face at her, but went back to her own dress with no more argument.
    The sewing took a great deal longer than the sorting out of all the beads, and so Katie and Megan were at a loose end fairly quickly. They unrolled their sleeping bags in an out-of-the-way corner, and settled down to chat with everybody.
    â€œI can’t believe we’ve got to go to lunch with Max tomorrow,” Katie grumbled. “He’s such a little monster, and he’s just getting meaner and meaner.”
    Becky sighed. Why couldn’t Katie see it? Max was only getting meaner because he was miserable. She decided to have one more go at explaining this. She’d read Dad’s reply to her complaining email before they came out, and he’d been really sympathetic. He told her that Katie and Bel had been moaning about it too, and as far as he could see, the only way forward was what she was already trying – getting Katie and Max to understand each other a bit more.
    â€œI reckon he’s only being a pain because he’s scared,” she said timidly.
    Katie grinned evilly. “Good. The more scared the better.”
    â€œDon’t be horrible!” protested Becky. “You don’t really mean that.”
    â€œI do,” replied Katie firmly. “He’s a pig and I can’t stand him. And stop trying to make everything nice, Becky, it won’t work. It’s your fault that I have to go tomorrow, because if it hadn’t been for needing to sort the dresses out I would’ve said no.” And she turned over pointedly to talk to Megan.
    Everyone looked a bit surprised at Katie’s sharpness, and Fran gave Becky a sympathetic look. Becky just stared back at her, lost for words. She’d tried her best with Katie. What else could she do?
    The dresses were eventually finished well after midnight, and they looked fantastic – even Annabel was