Pop Star Princess (4 page)

“Hey, look, Honey. Isn't it that girl Daisy knows? Lilac Farmer, or something?” said Poppy.

“You mean Lilac Farrington,” replied Honey. “She's so pretty, isn't she?”

“Dad, can we buy a paper, please?” asked Poppy.

Dad agreed and the girls decided to tuck it into Poppy's bag and take it to read with the rest of the band.

“Hi, girls!” said Rose as Poppy and Honey walked into the summer house.

“Hi!” they replied as they both flopped onto a beanbag and joined in the general chat.

“How's the house you're staying in?” asked Daisy. “I can't wait to see it.”

“Oh, it's amazing!” Poppy replied. “We're having such a cool time here.”

“It's brilliant that you're staying in the Cove,” said Lily. “We'll be able to fit so much more practice in before the contest.”

“I'm worried that Lilac Farrington and her band are going to win,” Daisy said.
“Lilac always wins everything and comes top in all the exams at school. Our song is really good, but they
look
so good. Plus, Lilac was telling me they have a great song too. They're doing all their rehearsals down in a cave near Sandy Bottom because they don't want to let anyone hear it before the sound check.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” said Poppy as she fished around in her bag for something. “Dad bought us a local paper. There's something in it about the contest and Lilac. Look!”

Daisy grabbed the paper and quickly scanned through the article, reading certain bits aloud:

“‘
I'm feeling lucky – I really think we could win this,' said Lilac. ‘And
You're a Star!
is my all-time favourite show!' she continued
. . .”

“How is it that she gets asked to give interviews in the newspaper and we never get the chance?” wondered Lily.

“That's because her dad, our beastly headmaster, Mr Farrington, is friends with one of the judges. They always ask one local person, apparently, and our local judge is Mr Simms, the bookseller, who provides the school with all their textbooks,” explained Daisy.

“It's so not fair,” complained Rose.

“I know,” agreed Daisy. “But as long as we're original and we practise loads, I suppose we've got as good a chance of winning as Lilac has, even if our dads aren't friends with one of the judges and we're not being interviewed in the local paper.”

She pulled out her file all about the
contest. “See – on this entry form it says:
Original material will be favoured
.”

“Well, our song is
totally
original, because we wrote it ourselves,” said Rose. “Let's forget about Lilac and concentrate on us. There's nothing we can do about it anyway.”

“Who else is appearing in the contest?” asked Honey, trying to steer the conversation away from the gorgeous Lilac, who seemed to be denting everyone's confidence.

The older girls told them about a local Elvis impersonator called Jamie Johnston. And a sweet little girl called April, who was singing a medley from
Grease
.

“Hey, guess what my brother told me about the boys' band, Caves 'n' Rocks?” said Lily. “Apparently they've written a song all about cars called
Gearhead
.”

“Wow, that sounds super dull – nothing to worry about there then,” smiled Rose.

Although no one said it aloud, they were quite convinced it was only Lilac and the Mermaids that stood between the Beach Babes and the big finals in the City.

“Let's get on with our rehearsal, shall we?” said Daisy positively. “We've really got to work on the tricky musical bits to make sure we're note perfect on the big day. Your dad will be collecting you and Honey for supper soon, Poppy, so we haven't got much time today.”

The next morning, the girls met at the Lighthouse Café. With all the fuss about the contest – some of the people from the local TV station were starting to arrive – it was even busier than it usually was during the summer holidays. As soon as they entered the packed café, they saw Lilac and her band sitting at one table and the members of the
You're a Star!
crew at another. Lilac smiled and waved at Daisy and her friends.

“Look, that's Johnny McDonald!” said Lily, recognizing one of the judges. “How cool that we're in the same café as him!”

They couldn't see a free table right away, but the owner, Fleur, soon found them a booth next to the one where Lilac and her band were sitting. As soon as they had settled in, Lilac leaned over to say hello.

“Hi there, Beach Babes! How's the rehearsing going?” she asked, flicking her hair and looking over at the judges' table.

“Pretty good, thanks. How about you?” Daisy replied.

“Oh, amazingly well, actually. It's really coming together,” she said. “See you on
Wednesday at the sound checks. Good luck!”

“Yeah, you too,” said Daisy, hoping with all her heart that the Beach Babes would win the contest.

“At least we'll hear their song at the sound checks and see what we're up against,” said Rose quietly so that Lilac and the Mermaids couldn't hear.

“Let's just run through our stage movements again. We can mark up my song sheet,” said Lily.

The girls jotted down all their moves on Lily's sheet, and after enjoying a delicious milkshake each, they decided to go their own separate ways.

Poppy and Honey arrived back at The Pebbles to find Mum and Dad packing a picnic lunch to take down to the beach. The twins were playing with building blocks on the kitchen floor, Granny Bumble was
in the garden, flicking through her favourite cookery magazine, and Grandpa was poring over a map of the coast.

“What are you looking at that for?” Poppy asked him.

“Well, I'm going off on a mission to find the old pirate ship in one of the caves down at Sandy Bottom,” announced Grandpa, “before that pesky Colonel Forster tracks it down!”

“You sound very competitive, Dad,” laughed Poppy's mum. “I thought you were against all that sort of stuff?”

“I am. Well, most of the time I am anyway, except when it comes to old Forster. I remember when he beat me in the maths challenge and came first in the triathlon. Oooh! Now he even says he discovered the pirate ship and restored it. But I found it and I did all the work too!”

Everyone laughed. Grandpa was usually so cool and calm about everything. Poppy had certainly never seen his competitive streak before.

“Philip tells me he has a granddaughter in the talent contest too,” said Grandpa, trying to steer the attention away from his rivalry with the Colonel. “I think he said she's called Lilac. Do you know her?”

Poppy and Honey's jaws both fell open.

“Lilac Farrington?” they chorused.

“Um, yes,” replied Grandpa. “that's right. Her father is the headmaster.”

“She's brilliant, Grandpa,” they told him.

“I'm sure she is,” Grandpa said. “but if she's anything like her grandfather, she won't always win by fair means.”

GRANDPA MADE HIS
way along the familiar yellow sands, remembering the wrecked pirate ship he had found all those years ago. Just as he reached the inlets where he had spent so much of his boyhood, he bumped into the Colonel and they decided to look for the ship together.