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  ‘Great,’ I whispered to Charlie. ‘We were having trouble organising the clothes and the models as it was. Now we have to make the concept stronger as well.’

  ‘Maybe it’s all too hard,’ complained Charlie. ‘Maybe we should just give the whole thing a miss.’

  Seb glared at his stepsister. ‘Don’t be silly, Charlie. We need ten pages of stories by next week! We need all the material we can get.’

  On Friday there was a definite buzz around the school. At recess, Bella came running up to me in huge excitement.

  ‘Pippa! Did you know that Ruby Starr is coming to our cafe this afternoon?’ she demanded. ‘All my friends want to come along to meet her.’

  I felt my heart sink. ‘How did you hear about it, Bella?’

  ‘My friend Daisy told me – you know, Charlie’s little sister?’ announced Bella. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. You know how much I love her music.’

  ‘I didn’t know you even knew who Ruby Starr was!’ I retorted. ‘You certainly hadn’t heard of her a few weeks ago.’

  Bella shook her head in disgust. ‘Everyone knows Ruby Starr.’

  It seemed everyone did. On Friday afternoons we always did school sport at the beach. Our group did kayaking. I hadn’t been doing it for very long but I felt like I was finally improving. I really looked forward to our afternoon splashing out on the water. We had races, accidentally-on-purpose capsized into the water, gossiped and looked out for the pod of super-friendly Kira Cove dolphins. But there was no sign of them today.

  The four of us paddled out into the middle of the cove. Charlie and I were in one kayak, and Cici and Meg were in another. When we were far enough from the shore, we pulled our paddles in and floated, enjoying the lapping of the water against the sides of the kayaks and the screeching of the seagulls. A pelican sailed through the sky then landed with a loud plop close by.

  ‘Well, it’s Friday afternoon, and we need to do this photo shoot tomorrow,’ said Cici. ‘And we’re still no closer to finding some clothes to feature.’

  ‘We could visit some more shops after school today, instead of having our meeting,’ suggested Meg, although she didn’t sound very keen. Meg wasn’t much of a shopper. Usually, the four of us met every Friday afternoon after school for our Sassy Sisters meeting. We took it in turns to meet at one another’s houses or at the Beach Shack, have afternoon tea and hang out. It was always so much fun. But this week I couldn’t.

  ‘I’m sorry but I can’t come today,’ I said. ‘I promised Mum I’d help at the cafe after school. Apparently she has a heap of bookings.’

  ‘That’s okay. Cici and I can go by ourselves,’ said Charlie. ‘I know you’d rather not come, Meg. And maybe the shops will be more willing if there are fewer of us. There are still a couple of shops in the back streets that we haven’t tried yet.’

  ‘I hope we can find someone to lend us clothes,’ wailed Cici. ‘We’re cutting it sooo fine.’

  ‘What about asking your mum if we can feature some of her clothes?’ suggested Charlie.

  Cici shook her head. ‘I could borrow some things but I didn’t want it to be a Nathalie Lin Design feature. Besides, the boys are right. We want it to be everyday clothes that kids would love to wear. Not just high fashion that’s expensive and impractical.’

  I thought about Cici’s sense of style. She had the most fantastic wardrobe I’d ever seen. Charlie also had some beautiful boho-hippy dresses. I’d love to own some of their clothes.

  I sat up suddenly. ‘You want it to be everyday clothes that kids would want to wear, right?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Cici and Charlie together.

  ‘Well, instead of borrowing new clothes, why don’t we just raid your wardrobe?’ I asked Cici. ‘Charlie has some cool stuff too. And we could ask the boys to model for us, but just wear some of their favourite clothes and you can style them.’

  ‘That’s a brilliant idea,’ said Meg. ‘Cici has all the accessories too – bags, belts, shoes, jewellery …’

  Cici and Charlie looked at each other, then at me.

  ‘Yes!’ said Charlie.

  I could see Cici’s mind ticking over as she thought about the outfits she could pull together.

  ‘If you guys come over to my place tomorrow morning, we can go through some clothes and decide what to shoot,’ said Cici. ‘Then we’ll meet up again at about three o’clock at the Beach Shack to get everyone dressed, ready to start taking photos on the beach around four.’

  We paddled in to shore, feeling exhilarated that we had a new plan. We dragged the kayaks back up the beach, hosed them off and put them away in the shed.

  After sport, the kids usually hung around, chatting and joking. But not today. Everyone seemed keen to get away.

  I went back to school to pick up Bella and Harry. The younger kids like Bella didn’t go outside the school for sport, and Harry had chosen to play touch football in the grounds rather than doing a water sport. He was still playing with a group of friends and Bella was swinging on the monkey bars.

  As usual it took ages to extract my little sister. Finally I had to threaten to tell Mum that she’d been naughty.

  ‘You don’t have to be so huffy,’ said Bella, climbing down from the bars.

  ‘Huffy!’ I cried. ‘I’ve been asking you to come down for ten minutes!’

  Harry came running as soon as he saw Bella’s feet touch the ground. He wasn’t going to waste time standing around waiting for her. Even so, it was later than usual when we finally reached the Beach Shack.

  I could tell something was different walking down the drive. There was a hubbub of noise and a queue of people waiting outside. Inside, the cafe was jam-packed.

  Every table was taken and people were standing at the long bench and in huddles in every spare corner. Mum and Zoe looked completely frazzled. Zoe was pumping out drinks, while Mum was trying to keep up with the orders being shouted across the bar.

  ‘I’ll have six lemon cupcakes, please,’ yelled a woman in front of us, who was standing with her two daughters.

  ‘So sorry, ma’am,’ said Mum, raising her voice over the din. ‘But we’ve completely sold out of cupcakes. I do have a couple of date slices left, or some choc-chunk cookies?’

  The woman huffed with annoyance. ‘I’ll take the slice.’

  One of the daughters, a year six girl from school, pouted. ‘I don’t want the slice. Ruby Starr loves the cupcakes.’

  The other daughter, from year three, craned her head towards the entrance. ‘She should be here any minute.’

  I noticed that Olivia, Sienna, Tash and Willow were seated at the round table in the corner – my favourite table – with a three-tiered stand in front of them piled high with lemon cupcakes. They sipped nervously on chocolate milkshakes as they waited for the pop singer to arrive.

  Mum caught sight of us through the crowd and waved frantically at me. ‘Can you come and help us?’ she mouthed.

  So for the next half an hour Harry and I ran back and forth, delivering drinks and plates of food, clearing tables, washing glasses and cups, and generally helping in any way we could. Almost every kid from our school seemed to be here.

  Mrs Beecham was sitting at her usual table with a friend. She waved me over imperiously.

  ‘What on earth’s going on, Philippa?’ Mrs Beecham demanded in an extremely crotchety tone. ‘What are all these rambunctious children doing here? And why hasn’t Zoe brought our Prince of Wales tea? Mrs Fowles and I were looking forward to a quiet cup of tea and a chat. But we can’t hear ourselves think!’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Mrs Beecham,’ I said. She must be upset if she was calling me Philippa. She hadn’t called me that for weeks. ‘All the kids from school are here because they think a pop star’s coming in today.’

  ‘A pop star?’ asked Mrs B. ‘How utterly dreadful.’

  ‘I’ll go and get your tea right now,’ I said soothingly. ‘Zoe’s a little rushed off her feet.’

  I raced to the kitch
en and made Mrs Beecham’s tea, using a pretty floral teapot with matching cups and jug. Luckily, I know exactly how she likes it. I popped two choc-chunk cookies on a plate and carried them back to her table.

  ‘Thank you, Pippa,’ said Mrs Beecham, looking relieved. ‘I knew I could count on you.’

  As I was carrying away a tray of dirty dishes, I noticed an older girl come just inside the front door. She was wearing torn jeans, cowboy boots, a loose white T-shirt and big dark sunglasses. She had long golden-brown hair and a black floppy hat on her head.

  The girl took one look at the chaos of the crowded Beach Shack, spun on her heels and left. I didn’t blame her.

  Still, Olivia and her gang waited in their corner, anxiously nibbling on cupcakes. Olivia had a piece of paper she kept reading over. Willow had her phone set up ready to record. Tash jiggled up and down, while Sienna kept scanning the crowds looking for a familiar face.

  ‘I don’t think she’s coming,’ I overheard the year six girl say to her Mum.

  ‘She probably wasn’t ever coming,’ her mother said. ‘It must have been a publicity stunt by the cafe. It certainly worked – the place is overflowing.’

  After an hour, people started to leave in dribs and drabs. At last there was just Olivia, Sienna, Willow and Tash, waiting there in the corner.

  Zoe began cleaning the coffee machine. Mum started to tally up the receipts and cash. The good news was that there was piles of it!

  Harry and I kept clearing debris from the surrounding tables and rinsing the crockery. Bella’s job was to fluff all the cushions and collect all the dirty napkins. We packed the dishwasher together, ready to switch it on.

  Mum went over to the round table where the girls were sitting. ‘I’m sorry, girls, but it’s five o’clock so it’s time for you to go home. We’re closing up now.’

  ‘But we’re waiting for someone really important to arrive,’ pleaded Olivia. ‘She’s running late but she’ll be here any moment.’

  ‘I don’t think she’ll come now,’ said Mum kindly. ‘Maybe she was put off by the number of people here today. I wouldn’t blame her.’

  Olivia’s eyes filled with tears. She blinked rapidly, then tossed her high, dark ponytail.

  ‘Come on, girls,’ she said. ‘Let’s go.’

  Olivia marched past without looking at me, followed by the others. Willow and Sienna gave me a weak smile as they left. I helped Mum clear the last table.

  ‘So who was the big celebrity everyone was so keen to meet at our humble little cafe?’ asked Mum.

  ‘A famous pop singer called Ruby Starr,’ I said. ‘I don’t think anyone was meant to know she was coming but Olivia told a few people, just to show off, then the whole school found out.’

  Mum nodded. ‘I thought it must be something like that. I think poor Olivia learned a very hard lesson today.’

  I had to agree. And, surprisingly, I felt really sorry for her.

  The Sassy Sisters had arranged to meet at Cici’s house at ten o’clock on Saturday morning. Charlie and Meg rode their bikes. I walked the five minutes from Mimi’s house.

  Cici lived in one of the quiet back streets of Kira Cove, in a small white cottage built on the side of the hill. In the front garden there was a paved terrace with star jasmine growing over the trellis, and terracotta pots of flaming-pink geraniums. A pair of French doors led into the front room. We walked through the open doors into a bright and sunny studio that was filled with vibrant colours and objects. One wall was covered with a giant black fabric board, with fashion photographs, swatches of material, postcards of butterflies and peacocks and pencil sketches pinned up. This was Nathalie’s mood board that Cici had reminded me about.

  Two headless mannequins stood in a corner, wearing evening dresses of shimmering silk and lace. In the middle of the room was a huge antique table, which was spread with rolls of material, piles of papers and thick, black folios. An ornate sign hung over the door saying, ‘Nathalie Lin Design’.

  Cici’s puggle, Muffin, came running up to give each of us a welcome lick. Charlie scooped her up in her arms for a cuddle.

  ‘Mum has a big deadline so she’s working all weekend,’ explained Cici. ‘She just got back from visiting the fashion shows in Italy.’

  ‘It must be nice to have her home again,’ I replied.

  ‘Yes,’ said Cici, with a huge grin. ‘Especially because she always brings me back presents. This time she bought me some gorgeous sandals and the cutest sundress.’

  Cici’s mum was on the phone, but she waved to us as we came in. We heard snatches of her conversation about spring stories, runway shows and delivery dates.

  We crept through the studio and into a hallway that led past a number of bedrooms until we came to a huge open-plan kitchen and family room out the back. The windows looked out onto the tropical garden on the steep hillside. As always, Cici’s kitchen smelled of melted butter and sweet treats.

  Cici’s dad, Eric, was sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper.

  ‘Hello, girls,’ he said. ‘I hear you have a big day planned?’

  We all said hi in return and chatted to him about our ideas.

  ‘Dad and I got up early this morning to bake something for the shoot,’ said Cici. With a flourish she showed us a multi-tiered cake stand piled high with delicate lemony iced cupcakes.

  ‘Yummo,’ I said. ‘The boys will definitely help us with that kind of bribery.’

  Eric was a pastry chef for the grandest hotel on Kira Island. At work he created terribly complicated desserts that were like works of art. But at home, he made the best little cakes and yummy treats, so we loved coming to Cici’s house. Eric had been a massive help for my mum, giving her advice and recipes for the cafe menu (and saving us from seaweed gloop and sawdust!).

  ‘A promise of cake was the only way I could get Alex and Rory to come along,’ confessed Cici. ‘So we made a double batch.’

  ‘Great thinking,’ said Meg.

  ‘So let’s get to work,’ said Charlie. ‘Where are those clothes?’

  ‘Come into my boudoir,’ said Cici, mimicking a strong French accent.

  Cici’s bedroom, like everything about her, was quirky, stylish and very neat. Picture windows draped with filmy white chiffon overlooked the sunny garden. Music was playing – a song by Ruby Starr.

  In one corner, the bed was covered in a mossy-green quilt with large appliquéd polka-dots of turquoise, hot-pink, orange and yellow, with matching piles of pillows and cushions. A white replica reindeer head was hung on the walls, with an orange scarf wrapped around its neck and hot-pink baubles dangling from its antlers. A fluffy brown teddy bear sat in the middle of all the cushions.

  A heart-shaped mood-board hung over Cici’s desk with photographs of Muffin, family portraits and snapshots of friends. I was thrilled to see a photograph of the four of us with our arms around each other, all dressed up and ready for the grand opening party for the Beach Shack.

  ‘I love that photo,’ said Charlie. ‘Wasn’t that a fun day?’

  ‘The best,’ I said.

  The far wall was a long bank of built-in wardrobes. Cici flung open the door to reveal shelves of neatly folded clothes, dresses on hangers, racks of boots and shoes and rows of drawers.

  ‘This is what I was thinking,’ said Cici, pulling out armfuls of clothes and piling them on the bed. Cici showed us different combinations of shorts and T-shirts, sundresses, jeans and tops, party dresses and beachwear. ‘I thought Meg could wear this cute playsuit, while this would look adorable on Pippa.’

  Cici handed me an aqua polka-dot sundress and a pair of bejewelled leather sandals. The sandal straps were decorated with chunky turquoise stones and dazzling diamantes. I slipped them on.

  ‘These sandals are so pretty,’ I said, spinning around so the jewels sparkled.

  ‘Mum just brought them back from Italy,’ explained Cici. ‘They’re going to be the hottest trend next summer.’

  Cici had loads of clothes,
so of course we had to try everything on. Then we experimented with different summery accessories and jewellery. While we started out being sensible, we were soon giggling, mismatching clothes and going completely, kookily over the top.

  Meg found a pair of cat ears to wear, with black stockings as a tail, odd-coloured socks and black whiskers drawn on her face. Charlie wore stripy socks on her hands as mittens, a feather boa with a diamante tiara and bumblebee tights. Cici wore the loudest clothes she could find in garish orange, lime-green and turquoise, all layered over the top of each other.

  My look was punk meets fairy: a hot-pink tulle tutu, black leather jacket, black leggings, fingerless gloves, chunky lace-up boots and a silver lamé scarf tied around my head.

  Cici sucked in her cheeks like a supermodel, pursed her lips and opened her eyes wide. ‘Don’t we look adorable, darlings!’

  We pouted, preened and posed. We took selfies with our tongues poked out, eyes crossed and crazy hand gestures. I laughed until my cheeks ached.

  After we had gone through all the outfits, we helped Cici to pack them up into two overnight bags. Then she gave us each an outfit to get changed into ready for the shoot. Mine was the sparkly jewelled sandals, white jeans and a swirly indigo-and-white camisole top.

  ‘All set,’ said Meg, twitching her little cat nose.

  ‘Not quite,’ said Cici, fetching a fistful of bottles from her dressing table. ‘It wouldn’t be a Sassy Sisters fashion party without nail polish. Take your pick – periwinkle blue, orange, pastel pink, silver, amethyst or sapphire?’

  ‘I’ll have periwinkle blue,’ I said, taking the bottle from Cici’s outstretched hand. I loved to paint my nails the colour of the Kira sky.

  As planned, the four of us walked to the cafe at three o’clock. We were all dressed and accessorised, ready for the photo shoot.

  Cici looked super-stylish in an orange skirt, white singlet top, denim jacket and brown ankle boots. Charlie was very boho-chic in a floating, floral dress with strappy leather sandals. Most of her golden hair was flowing loose, except for a thick braid framing the left side of her face. Meg was looking sporty and natural in denim shorts, a grey T-shirt, canvas sneakers and her bobbed hair pulled back in a short ponytail. We all looked gorgeous in our different ways.