Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 01] by Dates Mates, Inflatable Bras (Html)

along, girls,
come on, move along. Plenty more to see.’
    ‘Oh, I don’t think
so,’ said Izzie, trying not to laugh. ‘I think we’ve seen it all.’
    Sometimes school is
great.
     
Year
Nine
     
     
Pop star name
Mills and Boon name
Lucy Lovering:
Smokey Kinsler
Charlotte Leister
Izzie Foster:
Zizi Malone
Joanna Redington
Nesta Williams:
Sooty Costello
Suzanne Lindann
Candice Carter:
Duchess Black
Rebecca Park Mead
Joanne Richards:
Muffin O’Casey
Emily Belmont
Gabby Jones:
Lucky Nolan
Lavinia Rosemount
Jade Wilcocks:
Roxanne Bennie
Rosemary Milton
Mo Harrison:
Flossy Cable
Gabriel Westerly
     
    And:
Nesta went up to Miss Watkins and said
    she
was doing some research into old names for her
    history
project so we also have:
     
    Miss Watkins:
Mango Malloy
Violet Laurier
     
    A
class full of potential pop stars and Mills and Boon
    writers.
Excellent. Most excellent.
     
     
     
     
     
C h a p t e r   1 4
    The
Mystery Contestant Revealed
     
    Contents - Prev / Next
     
    My hair is
fantabuloso. At last. Can life get any better?
    Betty, that’s the
hairdresser, is my new best friend. She looked more like a mum than a trendy
hairdresser and at first I had my doubts as to whether she could repair the
damage.
    Nesta’s mum was just
off to do her newsreading shift having had her hair done. She looked ever so
smart in a navy suit and silver jewellery and I thought I’d be intimidated by
her like I am by Izzie’s mum but she was really friendly. She took one look at
what Kate had done and said to Betty, ‘Oh no, she wants it softer, feathered,
layered, don’t you think?’
    I nodded but just to
be on the safe side, I showed them the picture I’d cut out of the magazine.
    ‘Exactly,’ said Mrs
Williams, looking at the photo. ‘Something to show off your lovely bone
structure. And, Betty, run a few highlights through.’ She turned to me before
going out of the door. ‘My present, Lucy. I know what it’s like when your hair
gets ruined.’
    Nesta’s family is f.
f. fab.
    And off Betty went.
This time I didn’t look in the mirror until she’d finished, then when I
did…Wow. It was fantastic. Spiky and short at the front and layered all over.
Then she put some white blonde highlights through the top. Even I had to admit
that this time the cut really suited me.
    ‘You look gorgeous,’
said Izzie. ‘It really shows off your cheekbones. Amazing.’
    ‘You look elfin,’ said
Nesta. ‘Very Winona Ryder.’
    After Betty had gone,
we had another look through Mrs Williams’s interior design mags and I saw the
room I wanted. Pale lilac. With powder blue paintwork.
    ‘
Tres chic
,’
said Izzie.
    It was all coming
together. My hair, my room, my friends.
    It was time to ask
Nesta my burning question.
    ‘Nesta,’ I said
gravely.
    ‘Yes, oh gorgeous
one?’ she replied.
    ‘You know Tony?’
    ‘Yes,’ she laughed.
‘He’s my brother.’
    ‘Why doesn’t he live
with his mum?’
    Nesta went quiet. ‘She
died. In a road accident when he was six months old. He never knew her. A year
later, his dad met Mum and, well, my mum’s the only mum he’s ever known, even
though she’s not really his mum physically.’
    ‘Where
is
he
tonight?’ I asked. I wanted him to see me with my new haircut. Looking
fantabuloso.
    ‘Some class after
school, I expect,’ said Nesta. ‘He often stays late for one thing or another.’
    Suddenly Izzie clapped
her hand over her mouth and gave me a strange look, ‘Ohmigod,’ she
said.‘OhmiGOD.’
    ‘What?’ chorused Nesta
and I.
    ‘Tony,’ said Izzie. ‘
Tony’
    She knew. I
knew
she knew. I went purple and now she definitely knew.
    ‘What?’ said Nesta.
    Izzie crossed her arms
and looked at me as if to say, I’m not saying, are you going to?
    I glanced at Nesta and
decided I could trust her.
    ‘What?’ she said.
    ‘Tony,’ I said.
    ‘I know,’ she said.
‘Tony, Tony.
Tony
what?’
    ‘A boy that we didn’t
see in Highgate because he stays late for classes