Secret Schemes and Daring Dreams (15 page)

‘Well, if you insist.' George grinned.

‘I do,' Emma retorted with a smile. ‘I'll even buy you candy floss.'

‘So where's Theo? Did he ask you?' Emma pounced on Harriet when she returned to Hartfield later that afternoon.

‘No,' Harriet said. ‘He came and saw Mum with me for a bit.'

‘You went to see your
mother?'
Emma exclaimed. As romantic venues went, she put this on a par with shopping at Tesco.

‘Yes, and then he left – said he had to go shopping – and he picked me up later, and we came home. But he did talk about the ball.'

‘And?' Emma pressed her eagerly.

‘He said when it was on, and he said he was a hopeless dancer.'

‘That's true!'

‘And then he said, did I think a girl would mind going to a ball with someone who had two left feet? And I said, of course they wouldn't mind but then . . .'

‘What?'

‘Then he stopped talking about it.'

‘Oh. You shouldn't have let him.'

‘I had no choice. He shut up because he got stopped for speeding.'

The whole stretch of beach between Brighton's Palace Pier and the stark silhouette of the burned-out remnants of the West Pier was heaving with people by the time the gang finally got there. Theo had refused to drive,
glaring at his car as though it was to blame for his speeding ticket and no one else wanted to miss out on the cocktails, so they'd piled into a couple of taxis and spent half an hour in a traffic jam.

‘Freddie's here somewhere,' Adam said, scanning the crowds. ‘He came early – said he'd save us a space near the band.'

‘Like he's going to be able to do that,' muttered George.

‘There he is!' Lucy cried, pointing to the long stone breakwater stretching into the sea.

Freddie was standing on the breakwater, waving both arms in the air to attract their attention and gesturing wildly that they should join him.

‘If that's Freddie Churchill,' said George, ‘then he's a total idiot.'

His words had no effect on Adam and Lucy as they headed off to the promenade end of the seaweed-strewn breakwater and began scrambling on to the top, closely followed by Harriet and Lily, the latter giggling like a school kid. Emma spotted Serena and Chelsea hovering nearby, gazing up at Freddie.

‘There's no way they'll be allowed to stay up there,' Theo said. ‘They'll get sent off before the band's even started.' He turned to Emma. ‘Why don't we go over to the Seaview Hotel, go up to the roof garden, buy a drink and watch it all from there?'

Emma shook her head. ‘We've got passes to the stage side and, besides, the roof garden will be full of private parties,' she said, slightly perturbed that he wasn't rushing after Harriet, who had already lost a sandal on
the shingle below and was scrabbling along the breakwater in a most uncoordinated manner. ‘Very exclusive – bit like the Regatta Ball, I guess.' No harm getting his mind back on track, she thought.

He swung round and looked at her, his eyebrows knitting together in a frown. ‘Are you going to that?' he stammered.

‘No, but it's meant to be a really good night, and there's loads on, I mean – casino, silent auction – you don't have to even be a good dancer and —'

‘AARGH!'

Even above the noise of the gathering crowd, Harriet's shriek could be clearly heard.

‘Oh my God, she's fallen!' Emma screamed and began belting across the shingle as fast as her wedges would allow.

‘Now are you satisfied, Freddie Churchill?' George muttered, hurrying after her. ‘Harriet! Are you OK?'

It was clear, even before the words were out, that Harriet was far from OK. Her face was deathly white, and beads of perspiration were breaking out on her forehead. ‘My ankle,' she moaned, tears beginning to trickle down her cheeks.

‘Theo, go and get the St John Ambulance guys,' George ordered. ‘Emma, go to the ice-cream van and ask for ice – and lots of it!'

He squatted down on the pebbles beside Harriet and took her hand. ‘It's OK,' he said gently, ‘just take deep breaths.'

‘Theo's the medical student, not you,' Emma reminded him. ‘He's the one who needs to be taking care of her.'

‘I think I'm going to be sick,' Harriet whispered, and promptly was. Which, Emma reflected, did absolutely nothing for her distressed heroine image.

‘Does anyone want to come with her in the ambulance?' the paramedic asked, raising his voice to be heard over the loudspeakers blaring out Split Bamboo's first number.

‘Emma?' Harriet's voice was faint but pleading.

This is so not my scene, Emma thought. She had many strengths, she knew that, but hospitals she couldn't handle. She'd even felt her heart race at the sound of the ambulance's siren, never mind riding in the thing and risking Harriet puking again.

‘Emma? Go on,' George urged.

‘Theo, you go,' she pleaded.

‘Me?' Theo queried. ‘But surely you're her friend and —'

‘I can't face it,' she said. ‘Please.'

‘Sure I'll go,' he said, squeezing her hand, and Emma realised that this was what he'd wanted all along. ‘Now don't worry – she's going to be fine. And the hospital's only a couple of blocks away. I'll be back before you know it.'

As the ambulance pulled away and the small huddle of interested spectators turned their attention back to the stage in the middle of the beach, George pulled Emma to one side. ‘If Freddie's thinking of playing the fool like this at his party, he can think again,' he said. ‘I'm beginning to wish I'd never agreed to it. Mum would go ballistic if anything happened.'

‘George, it'll be fine,' Emma assured him. ‘It was just
bad luck, that's all. Besides, it's all my fault.'

‘How do you make that out?' George asked.

‘I didn't explain to them that we could just push through and go to the seats by the stage. Those passes that Dad gave us . . .'

She faltered, an image of Harriet's ashen face floating before her eyes.

‘If I'd said something to Adam, he'd have told Freddie, and Freddie would never have climbed —'

‘Freddie seems like the sort of daredevil idiot who'd do anything to attract attention,' said George. ‘Poor Harriet. Well, thank God it wasn't you. And clearly Freddie's not bothered.' He gestured towards Freddie, who was clapping his hands over his head as the band played ‘Panic Stations Planet'.

‘He probably doesn't realise what happened,' Emma suggested, noting with some irritation that it was Chelsea Middleton Hyde in her minuscule denim shorts and slinky top to whom he was paying a considerable amount of attention.

‘Oh, like he didn't spot the ambulance,' George retorted sarcastically. ‘He realises all right. He just doesn't care.'

On way back. Where r u? Theo

Relief flooded through Emma's body as she read the text message. Harriet must be OK. The ambulance guys said it might only be a sprain. Now she could relax and start enjoying herself. All the fooling about on the pier, riding the Ghost Train and sliding down the helter-skelter had been no real fun with the thought of Harriet
in the back of her mind all the time. Not to mention the rather uncomfortable sensation of guilt that she should have been with her, rather than stuffing herself on a Double Toffee Banoffee Sundae.

On way 2 Funky Seagull 2 dance r pants off! C U!

It wasn't until she had zapped the Send button that she realised that Harriet, however slight her injury, would be in no mood for dancing.

Never mind. She could watch, and Emma resolved to make a real fuss of her in between proving that she had what it took to pull Freddie. If only to wind George up.

Funky Seagull, a tiny club underneath the arches at Marine Drive, was packed. Emma had never been there before; Freddie had heard about it from one of the fashion shoot photographers and urged everyone to give it a go. Chelsea and Tabitha, who had somehow managed to attach themselves to the group, were already in the middle of the dance floor. The lighting was so dim that Emma could hardly make out where anyone was, but she did spot Ravi chatting up Lily – there was, she thought, no accounting for taste – and saw that Dylan and Nick were busy downing shots at the bar. Adam and Lucy were, as usual, locked in one another's arms, and Jake was nowhere to be seen.

So she had Freddie all to herself.

He was just beginning to respond to Emma's carefully honed chat-up lines when Theo tapped her on the shoulder.

‘Theo!' she exclaimed. ‘Where's Harriet?' She peered through the darkness in hopes of catching sight of her friend.

‘At the hospital, of course.'

‘You haven't left her there on her own?' Emma asked.

‘Give us a break,' Theo protested. ‘We'd been there ages and they said she'd be at least another hour.'

‘So?'

‘I said I wanted to get back to you and she said she'd be fine.'

‘Well, of course she said that,' Emma shouted, raising her voice over the thumping of the music. ‘It doesn't mean she meant it.'

This was serious. Theo was not acting like a guy in the grips of rampant desire.

‘Women,' Freddie added dryly, ‘always talk in opposites. And I should know.'

He grinned at them both, and, to Emma's annoyance, drifted back towards the bar.

‘This isn't how I meant the evening to turn out,' Theo said a trifle forlornly. ‘I had it all planned.'

‘What did you have planned?' Emma asked hopefully.

‘This.' He grabbed her, pulled her towards him and kissed her full on the lips.

‘Oh Emma, if you knew how long I've wanted to do . . .'

The force of Emma's slap cut him off in mid sentence.

‘What the hell do you think you're doing?' she gasped, pushing him away and trying to ignore Chelsea's thinly veiled smirk. ‘Your girlfriend is lying injured in hospital and you have the nerve —'

‘Girlfriend? The only girlfriend I want is you.' Theo held a hand to his cheek and stared at her in horror.

‘But Harriet . . .'

‘Harriet? Get real. You really think I'd waste my time on Harriet? Darling, you don't have to be jealous.'

‘Don't you dare call me darling, you creep! Just get away from me.'

‘How can you be like this?' Theo demanded, snatching her hand. ‘You know you like me.'

‘You arrogant, self-opinionated . . . as if!'

‘Come off it – you practically fell over yourself to tell me you'd get me an invite to Freddie's party.'

‘I was just being kind; it didn't mean anything. You were around and —'

‘Why do you think I agreed to help George out in the first place? Like I didn't have better things to do. It was only because he said you were going to be working there and after that night at the South Downs Ball when you made it clear I was in with a chance . . .'

‘What are you on? You're mad.'

‘It was the first thing you mentioned when you saw me, so don't pretend it hadn't been on your mind too.'

‘Nothing, but nothing, was further from my thoughts.'

‘For God's sake, you led me on enough . . .'

‘How dare you! I did no such thing – why would I? When it was Harriet who I wanted you . . .'

Emma was conscious of George, Jake and Lily turning in astonishment at the sound of her raised voice.

‘
You
wanted? You mean to tell me that you were trying to get me and Harriet – it's ludicrous! Whatever made you think —'

‘You took her to church, you even offered to do her shift.'

‘Only so that I could do it with you,' he protested.

‘You went in the ambulance.'

‘I did that for you,' he snapped. ‘Because you looked as white as a sheet at the thought of it.'

Emma swallowed hard. ‘Well, what about the photos – you printed them and framed them, you sucked up to her mother, you told people that she was an amazing girl,' Emma spluttered.

‘Oh, and when am I supposed to have done that?' he demanded.

‘I heard you on the phone to your mother, talking about inviting her to the Regatta Ball.'

‘Not her,
you
!' he shouted. ‘It's you I want.'

For a moment Emma was speechless. Theo wasn't.

‘As for the photos, she wanted me to print them off for her mother. And as for visiting the old bat, sure I did. My summer holiday assignment from med school is “
The Effects of Mental Illness on the Wider Family Unit
” – I wanted to see how Harriet interacted with her mother.'

‘You know what? You are the pits,' Emma hissed. ‘And what about that text at the club? Luring her outside and showing her the stars.'

By now Adam and Lucy had disentangled themselves from one another and were staring at her open-mouthed. Chelsea was edging closer to them, clearly desperate to catch their every word.

For the first time, Theo looked a little shamefaced. ‘That text was meant for you,' he admitted, dropping his voice. ‘I pressed the wrong name entry – Harriet's next to you on my address book.'

‘But you danced with her, you spent time with her – she thought . . .'

‘You said to be nice to her, so I was,' he said. ‘I danced with her because I felt guilty about the text. In fact, I acted pretty damn well.'

‘If that's acting well, I'd hate to be around when you acted badly,' Emma stormed. She shook her head and sighed.

‘Please, can we just forget all this and start over?' Theo pleaded, pulling her towards him again.

‘No, we can't!' she shouted, wriggling out of his grasp. ‘You don't realise, do you? You have just wrecked Harriet's life.'

‘What's going on?' George appeared at their side, a wide-eyed Lily right behind him.