was nice having friends who weren’t using you for popularity points or free backstage passes. The more I thought about it, the less I could remember why Ella and I had been friends in the first place. It’s not like we ever had real fun or laughed together until our stomachs ached (this happens with Grace on an almost daily basis. Her teacher impressions are second to none). Ella had loved complaining about everything, making snide remarks about other people in our year, and only really cared about looking like she was having fun rather than actually having any. We spent our whole time making sure everyone knew we were the elite of the school.
Then, last term, she saw me waiting tables at the hotel and spread all these rumours about me, saying that I had been lying all the time about hanging out with celebrities and being best friends with Skylar Chase.
Which was only partly true. Technically I had told a couple of white lies about the people I’d hung out with at the hotel BUT becoming friends with Sky was a hundred per cent true. Anyway, Grace told her off for saying mean things about me to everyone and then Grace’s brother Olly broke up with Ella because she wasn’t being very nice and also because she kept pulling out his arm hair when she fawned all over him.
Ella totally blames me for both those things and never talks to me now. I tried to make amends at Christmas, before the start of the new term, but she wasn’t interested. She takes every chance she can to throw me a dirty look and then say something under her breath to whichever one of her adoring minions is standing next to her. You’d think she’d cut me some slack considering the number of outfits I’ve let her borrow over the years.
‘You don’t really listen to anything Nancy Rose says, do you?’ Cal asked. ‘She’s just annoyed with you because you attacked her. It will blow over and she’ll find someone else to torture.’
‘Just to reiterate, I did NOT attack her. She took Fritz’s bag and then I simply reminded her that it didn’t belong to her. She’s blown this whole thing out of proportion and made me sound like a diva. Which I’m absolutely not, as you know!’
I turned to the others for reassurance. None of them were looking me in the eye.
‘I’m not a diva,’ I said, in case they hadn’t heard the first time. ‘As you know. Right?’
‘Sure. Right.’ Olly nodded.
‘Absolutely not,’ Grace said.
‘So down to earth,’ Cal added seriously.
And then the three of them started sniggering. WHO ARE THESE TRAITORS I CALL MY FRIENDS?
‘Hey! I’m not a diva!’ I cried in exasperation.
‘Although up until recently you did have that diva strut going on.’ Cal grinned. ‘And there was that time you demanded the Hotel Royale chef make Fritz a three-tiered caked for his half birthday . . .’
‘I wanted Fritz to feel special!’ I protested. ‘And I did not demand it. I asked Chef Kian if he had time to —’
‘And the time she refused to walk to the shop, and made Peter drive her,’ Olly pointed out, nodding along with Cal.
‘OK, that is so NOT what happened. It was raining that day and Peter offered to drive me when he saw me setting off with all my bags and —’
‘Don’t forget the time she made us microwave her ice cream,’ Grace chimed in gleefully.
‘That ice cream was FREEZING!’ I crossed my arms grumpily. ‘I can’t believe this. I’m having the worst time because of Nancy Rose and now my own friends are attacking me for —’
Cal held up his hands, interrupting me. ‘Flick, calm down, we’re messing with you!’
‘Of course we know you’re not a diva!’ Grace giggled.
Just as I opened my mouth to speak, someone bumped my shoulder from behind, making me stumble forwards into Cal who had to steady me. I turned round to see Ella smirking.
‘Sorry, Flick,’ she said, not sounding sorry at all. ‘Didn’t see you there.’
‘No problem,’ I said through gritted teeth.
‘I really enjoyed Nancy Rose’s new vlog.’
‘Move along, Ella,’ Olly said quickly, looking at her in disgust.
Ella blushed, the harsh words from her ex-boyfriend clearly stinging, but not enough for her to leave us alone.
‘I wasn’t surprised to hear about what happened between you and her,’ she continued smugly. ‘You should really learn how to control your fiery temper.’
‘I do NOT have a fiery temper,’ I snapped irritably.
Because I have auburn hair, I get teased a lot about being a hothead, which just makes me MORE of a hothead.
‘You see?’ She gasped, looking taken aback. ‘Here I am just trying to be nice and you’re throwing it back in my face! Just like with Nancy Rose. No wonder she’s calling you a diva. You’ve really changed.’
My cheeks flushed with anger and I felt Cal’s hand press gently on the back of my arm in warning. I could hear his voice in my head telling me not to rise to it.
‘I haven’t changed, Ella,’ I seethed. ‘I’ve just come to learn who my real friends are.’
‘Well, do they know who you really are?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I asked, glaring at her.
‘Hello, am I the only one who watched Nancy Rose’s vlog?’ she asked, with a baffled expression. ‘Flick attacked her over a handbag! Who does that?’
‘That is not what happened. I didn’t —’
‘No smoke without fire, Flick. And I’ve seen the footage of you being escorted out of the room by security, so you must have done something.’ She tossed her hair back before turning to Cal and saying, ‘Cal, I’m surprised that you in particular aren’t angrier at your friend. Don’t you want to be a journalist some day?’
‘Well, yeah,’ Cal mumbled, seeming stunned that she even knew who he was. ‘But that doesn’t mean —’
‘If Flick hadn’t let her temper get the better of her, maybe she would have thought twice about launching an attack on someone who would have been an amazing contact for you. Nancy Rose is one of the most famous journalists in the world.’
‘OK, for the LAST TIME, I did not attack —’
‘But then, I guess you are a really nice guy.’ She smiled sweetly at him, before giving me a pointed look. ‘Maybe that should be a little more appreciated by your friend Flick here.’
My jaw fell to the floor.
‘Anyway,’ she said smugly, ‘I had better go get my seat in assembly. Just remember, Flick, that your selfish behaviour reflects badly on everyone around you. Something to keep in mind.’
I could feel a strange kind of rage bubbling
