Promtastic Read online

  Charlotte was about to lay into Chris for his medieval attitude – but Tom got there first. “Maybe it’s because I see girls as, you know … actual human beings, really quite like us and, you know, not … not … interchangeable dolls. And the one I maybe want to go with isn’t, er…”

  “Yeah,” Evan suddenly interjected. He had been sitting quietly, biting his nails, and Charlotte had felt the seat move as he jiggled his leg nervously. She wondered why he seemed so edgy. Nervous about prom? Hardly. “I think the word is ‘respect’,” Evan blurted out. “You know, Chris, people aren’t toys you can pick up, play with and chuck out.”

  “The girls I know are.” Chris raised his eyebrows at Charlotte, who was wishing she hadn’t come – but also knew there was no way she was going to let that statement go.

  She leaned across the table. “That’s because they are young and insecure and you’re full of way, way too much misguided confidence, which they incorrectly interpret as some kind of strength of character. But you know something? All those girls, they’re all going to grow up, and then boys like you won’t stand a chance with them because they’ll know what they’re worth and it’s certainly more than being messed about by someone who’s too immature to care about anyone but himself. And then where will you be?”

  Chris leaned back on the leather booth wall behind him, faking a relaxed attitude which she could see he didn’t really feel. His eyes darted from side to side at the others before narrowing at her. “What’s eating you today with this feminist, lezzie stuff? What’s with the women’s-lib rant? You gone gay or something?”

  “She’s right,” Evan said quietly. “I mean, about not seeing a girl as some kind of trophy beside you but seeing her as who she is, thinking about her feelings.”

  Everyone turned to look at him.

  Chris gave a harsh laugh. “What? You going gay too?” Evan’s shocked expression made Chris laugh again, and he leaned over and mussed Evan’s hair. “Not with that gorgeous girlfriend, I don’t think. Anyway, I reckon I’m on a dead cert tonight – she’s been making it obvious all term. Pretty little thing she is, too. I’ll leave the rest of you to your sad, lonely lives. Jealousy is a terrible thing, you know. Laters, guys!” He grabbed his bag and left, swinging the café door behind him.

  “It’s heartening to think how far mankind has come since caveman times.” Tom shook his head.

  “I think he left his club behind.”

  “Do you know if he has asked anyone to prom?” Evan asked.

  “He’s not saying,” Tom answered, “but I expect he’s got his eye on someone.”

  “And she’ll fall into his arms,” Ben sighed.

  Tom grabbed his arm. “Come on, Ben, man up. You’ve got to ask her out sometime. When could be a better time than today? I’m telling you she likes you.”

  Ben blushed a postbox red, vehemently shaking his head from side to side. “You don’t know that. Why would she? I just can’t do it.”

  Tom left it. Ben was clever but he was the most socially awkward boy in the year. It was hard to see him ever finding the nerve to talk to a girl on his own, let alone ask one out. Even with the other boys around today he could barely look at Charlotte. Tom patted him on the shoulder. “That’s OK, man, forget it. We’ll have a great time without dates.”

  Evan’s phone suddenly pinged. Grabbing it to read the text, he accidentally knocked his coffee over with his elbow. He dabbed at the spill once or twice with a napkin, then said he had to get going. Charlotte frowned. What on earth was making him so jumpy today?

  Ben said he had to be off too.

  Charlotte was now left with Tom, which was what she wanted. She looked at her watch. She had her own dream boy to get ready for. But before that she had a couple of other things to do. “Tom,” she began, “now the others have gone, can I ask you do something for me?”

  “Sounds mysterious. What?”

  “It’s about prom.”

  Tom raised his eyebrows. “Really? I thought you hated prom and everything about it. Have you changed your mind? Fancy your chances with Chris?”

  She smiled. “No to both those questions. I certainly won’t be anywhere near it tonight. But there are some things I’ve got to do and I need your help.”

  Tom leaned back and folded his arms, “Sounds mysterious. OK then, let’s hear it.”

  Leigh

  4.40 p.m.

  If she hadn’t been so tired it would never have happened.

  If she could have been bothered to climb down the ladder and move it right under the ceiling hook, the hook where the very last gold star needed to hang, she wouldn’t now be looking up at that star, waving on its gold string, from a horizontal position on her back on the floor.

  Charlotte’s star! The irony.

  She had genuinely believed she could reach that last hook from where she had hung Zoe’s star (photo emailed just in time, thank goodness). If she leaned over she persuaded herself she could just get at the hook without too much of a stretch; it didn’t seem a crazy idea. As she leaned over, just as she finished tying the string, she had felt the slippery new soles of her blue satin sandals slip on the metal stepladder and then, very, very slowly, as if in slow motion, she had sensed that she and the ladder were going in different directions. Charlotte’s face had looked on as she drifted past and then crashed down, the ladder smashing down next to her, bouncing with a metallic clang on the wooden floor.

  She lay completely still, knowing pain would kick in the moment she moved. Surely someone would have heard the crash? But the room was empty and she realized no one was due to come for hours. She’d had to beg the doorman to let her have the key, promising she would hand it over to the evening staff. She rolled over and winced. Her wrist was agony. She must have tried to break her fall with her hands. Very carefully she managed to sit up. She gasped – her dress was ripped up one side; even the thought that it must have caught on the ladder and the rip had probably slowed her fall did nothing to comfort her. Her beautiful blue prom dress, ruined. She noticed blue sequins scattered on the floor around her.

  As she reached for her bag, which was lying a few metres away, a bolt of pain shot through her body. She had taken the bag up the ladder to keep the string and scissors in, and when she fell the contents had scattered everywhere. Gingerly she shuffled her rear across the floor and hooked it towards her with her foot. She felt another stab of pain.

  She groaned as she pulled her phone out of the bag. The screen was smashed. She pressed the power button, hoping that it would somehow still work – and to her relief, the screen lit up.

  She punched in her mum’s number but as soon as it started ringing, her phone powered off. She wailed in distress.

  She tried Owen. “It’s ringing! Please keep ringing, please keep ringing,” she pleaded to it.

  The phone obeyed. “Hi, Owen here – can’t answer right now. Leave a message and I’ll catch you later.”

  Where was he? Owen always answered his phone. She felt that wave of unease again. Was he still angry with her? Had she gone too far, taken his good nature to breaking point? The phone cut off again before she had even left a message. She switched it on again, deciding to try to send a text. She jabbed, “HELP!” and pressed “Send”. The phone cut out while the message was still sending, and no matter how many times she tried the power button it wouldn’t turn back on.

  No one was coming. She needed a plan.

  She needed to get to a doctor.

  Her dad worked in Accident and Emergency and she knew where it was – only about twenty minutes’ walk away. Could she hobble there and get seen quickly? Then she could still be in time for prom. Everyone else should know what they needed to do to set up the catering and entertainment. All the decorating was done – even Charlotte’s star, thanks to her. They had needles and stitching stuff in hospitals, didn’t they? She could sort her dress out while she was there.

  She began to push herself with one arm to her feet. Her head spun and s
he felt very woozy. She really wanted to lie down on the floor again and go to sleep, but she knew she had to get moving. Once up, she leaned against the wall, testing her feet. One was sore, but not in agony like her wrist, and the other seemed OK. Holding her fragile arm with her other hand, she followed the wall to the exit and opened the door. Rain had just started to fall from the huge black clouds rumbling above her. She shrank back into the building. Her hair! Her dress! They’d be completely ruined by the rain. But she had no choice. She stepped forward and cringed as the first cold drop hit the tip of her nose.

  She would get back to prom.

  Why had she had to hang up that last star? As the rain soaked through her hair and her dress, she put one foot in front of the other and thought about it.

  It would keep her mind off the pain.

  She already knew the answer. She had wanted to put it up because she wanted Charlotte to be there, in some way. Even if it was only in the form of a photo on a gold glittery star hanging from the ceiling. Nothing was quite as much fun without Charlotte there. Charlotte, who had come to do her make-up even though Leigh had been so horrible to her on the phone the night before. She wondered what Charlotte’s evening was going to be. She had been so excited about it at the salon – and Leigh hadn’t even bothered to give her a few minutes to be heard.

  And Owen … how she wanted to see him, and now he wasn’t there for her either. Like Charlotte, he had tried and tried to get a tiny bit of her attention. Now she needed both of them and they weren’t there. And it served her right. She thought of all the warnings they had given to show her they felt neglected. She stopped walking for a moment. Where was she?

  What would happen at prom without her? She caught herself.

  What had her stepdad said about Dee? He had been warning her too. But she had been too blind to recognize it, too busy focusing on her endless plans and lists. She realized that in all her timetables and to-do lists she had missed out time for the most important item of all. The people she cared about. And who cared about her now?

  No one.

  And it was all her fault.

  Kristyn

  6.00 p.m.

  She sat on her bed waiting for the doorbell to ring.

  She thought back to early that morning. The house had been quiet and she had been lying in bed, thinking, her mind churning with what she had seen at the restaurant the night before.

  Prom was all over for her. She hadn’t even been going to get out of bed.

  But there had been a tap on her door, and she had heard it open.

  “Kristyn?” Jessie had whispered.

  Kristyn hadn’t moved under the duvet. She heard Jessie put a cup down on her bedside table.

  “Kristyn, listen to me – I know you say I can’t do anything to make it up to you about the dress, but I can do this; all the people in the salon want to help. Look, if we go in early, I can do your hair before the salon opens officially, then Shanique who does make-up says she can fit you in for a session – and so can Li who does manicures. Honestly, they’re the best, Kristyn; we will make you look incredible, I mean really like a film star. It is a Hollywood Nights prom. There won’t be a boy there who won’t want to be with you. We’re giving you something that would normally cost hundreds of pounds. There’ll be no girl to touch you.”

  Kristyn had stirred under the covers. She was processing what her sister had just offered her. Perhaps this was her chance at last? Perhaps Evan, when he realized how two-faced Grace was, would see her at prom and he might, at last, see that she was the girl for him.

  She had poked her head over the duvet and given Jessie a level stare. “What about the dress – and shoes?”

  “Mum says she could perhaps take you shopping after we’ve finished with you at the salon.”

  Jessie saw Kristyn’s face tense.

  “Honestly, Kristyn, you will look so stunning no one will seriously notice your dress. I promise, you will look like a princess.”

  Kristyn sat up.

  Or a Prom Queen.

  Evan was going to be Prom King. Everyone knew that.

  Then she had known exactly what to ask Grace to do. It was all so simple. Her being at the restaurant last night was meant to be. Fate had given Kristyn this opportunity – and why shouldn’t it be looking after her for a change?

  “OK,” she had said to an anxious-looking Jessie, whose tense face immediately broke into a broad smile. “Give me twenty minutes to get ready.”

  Jessie had rushed up to her and given her a hug, which took her by surprise. She couldn’t remember Jessie ever hugging her before. Certainly not since they were little girls. It hadn’t been so bad.

  She’d sent Grace the instructions when she got to the salon. This time she hadn’t hidden who she was. Grace was hardly going to tell anyone, was she?

  And she had sent one to Evan too:

  I know something to do with you. Come over so we can talk about it.

  She had wished she could be nicer, but she wanted to prepare him for what she had to say.

  Evan had replied, saying he would come to her house at 6.00 p.m.

  And now it was 6.05 p.m.

  The doorbell rang and she jumped up.

  She was grateful Jessie was still at work and her mum was watching TV in the sitting room as she opened the door.

  Evan stared at her, obviously taken aback. “Wow, Kristyn,” he said. “You look great.”

  Her heart sang. Evan was standing at her front door, telling her she looked great. “Thanks, Evan.” She gave him her biggest smile. But he didn’t look the way she thought he was going to when she had fantasized about this in the salon. His normally bright blue eyes looked dark and guarded and his usually friendly face had a hard look. Of course, he was anxious about her message. But it was better he knew the truth. She was doing the right thing. She was sure. “Do you want to come in?” She pulled the long red satin skirt of her dress to one side.

  “No thanks,” he said firmly. “Just want to know what you meant by that text.”

  She didn’t recognize his voice. It was brusque and cold. She tried to keep her own voice calm, but found it was trembling. “I’ve found something out, Evan. And as your friend…”

  She saw him flinch and her increasing level of anxiety shot up further. “As your friend, I think you should know about it.”

  Evan steadied his hand on the door frame. “And what would ‘it’ be, Kristyn?”

  None of this was going to plan. She needed to tell him quickly and then he would understand. “Grace is cheating on you.” She took out the mobile and brandished the photo. “Look – I saw her with another guy yesterday.”

  At first she imagined he actually seemed relieved at what she’d said. But then he slid his eyes away from the image and gave her a long, uncomfortable stare. “And this is your business how?”

  She was shocked. This wasn’t the plan at all. “Because I care about … about your feelings – and if it was me I’d really want to know if someone was making a fool out of me.”

  “Would you?”

  “Yes! Yes, I would. She’s making you look an idiot and I just couldn’t bear the thought of seeing you at prom and you not knowing. I’ve told her as much too.”

  “But I know about Grace and Jason,” he said calmly.

  Kristyn thought she must have misunderstood. “What?”

  “I know. I know about Jason and Grace.”

  “You know!” She stepped back in shock. “How long have you known? I bet she only just told you today because she knew she’d been caught in the act.”

  Evan leaned towards her. “I just know, that’s all.”

  Kristyn was feeling like Alice in Wonderland when the whole pack of cards comes crashing down on her as she wakes from her dream. “I don’t … I just don’t understand…”

  Evan was still glaring at her with that strange expression she couldn’t interpret. “No, you don’t. You have absolutely no idea what you’re doing, do you?”


  “I only wanted to help…” she spluttered.

  ‘Well, if you think you are helping me, you aren’t. You’re doing the opposite. The total opposite.”

  Kristyn stood there and shook her head dumbly. She didn’t understand. She had no idea what he was talking about. If he could just calm down and let her talk to him properly, then she could make him see that what she had done was the right thing. See that she cared about him and acted because she wanted him to be with someone who really appreciated him.

  She gathered herself. “I don’t understand, Evan. You already knew about Jason and Grace? So why are you still with her?”

  He gazed at her, then took a deep sigh. “OK. Here we go. You going to let me in?”

  Her heart skipped as she let him in. Perhaps it wasn’t too late. Perhaps she could make him see that there were people who really cared about him and would never hurt him.

  Maybe her prom-night dream could still be saved.

  Alex

  6.05 p.m.

  “Again?” Alex sighed.

  “Again.”

  She peered at herself in the large mirror in Grace’s bedroom. Grace was frowning over her shoulder.

  “I think one more time and we’ll be there, Alex. Come on, let’s do it.”

  Alex stood up and headed for the basin in Grace’s spotless white en-suite bathroom. “You’re so lucky,” she sighed. “How amazing not having to share your space with your brother’s dirty socks, smelly Tshirts and open toothpaste tubes … and don’t even talk about the loo.”

  Grace winced.

  “I know,” Alex continued, “disgusting but true. But such is my life.” She looked closely at Grace. “I’m sorry – I shouldn’t complain; I haven’t been up since first light running around tracks and then having hours of maths.”

  Grace had immediately offered to save Alex when the hairdresser had taken one look at her hair and refused to help because of the time it would take. However, Grace had seemed very distracted since she arrived and Alex wondered if the Prom Queen pressure was making her nervous. Well, if she was nervous she wasn’t the only one. Alex had to look her best tonight. Even though Chris had already shown with the promposal that he wanted her to be his date for tonight, he could still change his mind when he set eyes on her. And for that reason she had decided to keep his promposal a secret. The thought of Chris changing his mind sent her into a tailspin of anxiety – she was glad her head was stuck in the sink under the shower fixture and Grace couldn’t see her face.