A Dream Come True (2 page)

“Five.” Ellie was determined not to let this setback get to her.

The girl waved dismissively at the shoes and turned to go. “Once you've found something that fits, put your boots
neatly
in the other cupboard and come into the office. I don't have time to wait.”

Ellie crouched down and looked at the shoes in despair. She had never found walking in heels particularly easy, and all these shoes had heels way higher than anything she was used to. For an instant she wondered if she could get away with bare feet, but she knew in her bones that no
way
would that be acceptable in the
Heart
office.

She discarded the first pair she looked at straight away. They were covered with beads and feathers, and the heels were so spiky you could toast marshmallows on them. In fact, all the shoes seemed ridiculously over the top for a day at the office. But at the back of the cupboard she found a pair of sandals that looked a bit less difficult to walk in. They were probably the least trendy of the lot, but she loved the soft red leather of the straps and, to her relief, they fitted well enough. They looked pretty cool too.

As soon as she'd stowed her boots in the outdoor shoes cupboard she pulled herself awkwardly to a standing position. She felt about half a metre taller. The soles of the shoes were curved and, as she took her first steps, she found herself rolling towards the office through the thick carpet. It made her feel a little queasy, as if she were on a boat.

At the door she paused for a moment. She wanted to make sure she wasn't in danger of bumping her head on the lintel, but told herself not to be so ridiculous. The shoes hadn't made her
that
tall.

Entering the office by herself was undeniably scary, but she'd got this far, and Ellie was in no way a quitter.

I have every right to be here
, she told herself firmly.
And I won't let myself be put off by
anything
or
anybody!

Resisting the impulse to look at her feet as she walked, she held her head high and pushed open the door. The blonde girl was nowhere to be seen, but another very pretty girl, with glossy brown hair, was sitting at a desk by the door. She looked up and smiled at Ellie. “
Heart
, the magazine to die for,” she said. “Editorial Department. Can I help you?”

Ellie's heart leaped on hearing the famous words that appeared every month on the front of the magazine. “Yes,” she said, trying to keep her voice level in spite of it wanting to bubble over with excitement. “I'm Ellie Ixos. Here on my work experience placement.”

For a moment the girl frowned, then her face cleared. “Oh yes. Ellie.” She smiled again. “Is Patrick Ixos a relation? It's a very unusual name.”

Ellie nodded.

The receptionist looked pleased with herself. “Thought so.” She paused. “Isn't Pea-Are-No looking after you?”

“Well…someone met me in the lobby…” Ellie didn't want to admit that the blonde girl hadn't actually introduced herself, and she certainly wasn't going to mention the coat or shoe incidents.

“Honestly! Trust her to desert you!” The girl pushed her chair back and got up. “Okay, I'll do it. I'm Carlotta Spender-Jones.” She offered her rather limp hand with its long, dark purple nails, and Ellie shook it, wondering how Carlotta managed the keyboard with such talons. “Don't worry if you forget our names,” said Carlotta. “We all have them on our desks, so you can easily sneak a look without having to admit you can't remember.” She giggled, and Ellie warmed to her. She looked a bit younger than Pea-Are-No, and although she was obviously a lot older than fourteen, Ellie hoped they might become friends. “Follow me then. I'll give you a quick whisk around the office. This is Pea-Are-No's desk.”

Ellie peered at the name on the desk and almost burst out laughing. The way Carlotta had pronounced the name, Ellie had wondered if it was oriental, but it was spelled Piano, like the instrument! Piano Arnley-Armitage. What a ridiculous name. No wonder she didn't like saying it the way it was spelled! But Carlotta had moved on.

“This is Francesca Mosse's desk. She's the Deputy Editor. And this” – Carlotta pointed one beautifully manicured finger – “is Flynn, doing something weird to Francesca's laptop. He's our IT whizz-kid.”

To Ellie, Flynn looked more like gorgeous, boy-band material than an IT expert and, judging by Carlotta's fluttering eyelashes, she thought so too. But when he glanced up he showed no sign of appreciating her flirtatious behaviour. He ignored her and grinned at Ellie instead. “Hi!” He reached out his hand and shook hers firmly. “You must be here on work experience. I hope these dragons don't put you off. If you get fed up, go down and see Sophie in the post room. She'll sort you out.” Then he flashed Carlotta a cheeky smile and went back to prising the keyboard off the laptop. “By the way,” he added casually, prodding the inside of the laptop with a tiny screwdriver as he spoke, “I'm not doing anything weird. There's a little battery in here that needs resetting.” He replaced the keyboard and looked very pleased with himself.

Carlotta frowned. “One day you'll break something, fiddling about like that,” she said. Then, glancing round the otherwise deserted office, she looked puzzled. “Where is everyone?”

“Francesca and Piano went into the lion's den with Joe.”

“Without me?” Carlotta clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Francesca said they'd try to discuss the next shoot when I wasn't busy, so I could be included. Reception work is supposed to be shared, but it's always
me
who has to do it!” She marched through the office, with Ellie trailing behind, wondering what the “lion's den” was – and if Piano minded Flynn pronouncing her name like an instrument.

Carlotta led Ellie through a glass panelled door and into a large, beautifully furnished inner office. On the door, was a sign that said:
Angel Makepiece
–
Editor in Chief
. That must be the lion's den. Flynn's name for it didn't exactly inspire confidence! Ellie could see several people inside. One overshadowed the rest. She was a stunningly beautiful woman, with glowing dark brown skin over a perfect bone structure. Her black hair was scraped back off her face and her make-up was flawless. She would have been tall even without the heels she wore. Her pale cream shirt and pencil skirt oozed authority, and echoed the faultless beauty of the lilies in the vase beside her.

As Carlotta and Ellie approached, the woman turned her cool brown eyes on them both. Ellie decided to be brave, and grown-up, and introduce herself.

“I'm Ellie,” she said, stepping into the office and offering her hand to the sophisticated woman. “I expect my Uncle Patrick told you about me.”

A sudden silence fell, and everyone in the room stared at Ellie. The woman's stunning eyes widened slightly, and her mouth twitched into the barest hint of a smile. “He didn't speak to me,” she said in a rich voice that seemed to reverberate through the office, although it was actually quite quiet. “I'm afraid you've made a mistake. I'm Francesca Mosse, the Deputy Editor. He probably spoke to Angel, our Editor in Chief.”

“Yes,” stammered Ellie, withdrawing her hand and feeling about two years old. “Of course.” If she hadn't been wearing such ridiculous shoes she could have kicked herself. It was obvious that the woman wasn't the editor. She looked nothing like the photograph that appeared inside the front cover of the magazine every month. But how could Ellie explain that she hadn't noticed the real editor, because she'd been totally overshadowed in her own office by her deputy? It would hardly be diplomatic!

Ellie looked at Angel Makepiece, who was standing next to a huge, impressive desk. The photograph in the magazine made her seem friendly as well as glamorous. She didn't look friendly at the moment, but she certainly was glamorous. Her clothes were sophisticated and obviously expensive, but her expression was icy. Was that because Ellie had ignored her in her own office? Why should Angel Makepiece seem so angry over a simple mistake made by a work experience girl? Then Ellie remembered Uncle Patrick. He was on the board of the magazine. Had he foisted Ellie on Angel against her wishes? Maybe Uncle Patrick hadn't done her such a big a favour after all.

Ellie's heart dropped to the soles of her red office sandals. The last thing she needed was to be resented by the Editor just for being here, but she'd hardly done herself any favours either. Ellie had so wanted to make a good impression, but with the shoe incident and now this, all she'd done so far was to make a fool of herself. Had she made an enemy too?

Ellie tried to make the best of a difficult situation by smiling tentatively at the Editor. Angel Makepiece was an attractive woman, with short, artfully styled, blonde hair and a soft round face with a pink and white complexion. She was wearing a beautifully cut, dove-grey dress, and an expression that didn't soften in the slightest at Ellie's smile. In fact, she looked right through Ellie without even acknowledging her.

“How dare you leave your desk,” she told Carlotta in a steely voice, still ignoring Ellie completely. “You're on reception duty. Piano, give the student something to do. And keep it out of the way.”

Ellie felt outraged at being referred to as “it”, but at that moment she was far too crushed to object. She was distracted by a hairy, ethnic-looking handbag, which the Editor was clutching under her arm. Ellie didn't mean to stare so hard, but the bag looked totally incongruous in these glossy surroundings. Then, to her astonishment, the handbag gave a wriggle and a tiny, black pointed nose appeared. Two little brown eyes looked at Ellie. And from behind Angel's arm, a long hairy tail began to wag. In spite of her discomfort, Ellie had an almost overwhelming desire to giggle.

“Coffee, Piano,” the Editor continued, playing with the dog's ears and totally ignoring both Ellie and Carlotta. “And bring one for Francesca and Joe too. We have to get this shoot decided.”

Ellie wrenched her gaze away from the dog. Carlotta had already scuttled back to the reception desk, and so Ellie looked to Piano to tell her what to do. But the girl who had brought her up in the lift was looking almost as angry as Angel. It seemed to Ellie as though some people in
Heart
's editorial office wasted a lot of energy being furious, and that most of their fury was currently directed at her. Then she noticed a dark-haired, middle-aged man wearing glasses and a crumpled linen jacket, leaning against the Editor's desk. He must be Joe. He was offering her a sympathetic smile, but before she could respond, Piano took her elbow in a painful grip and steered her out of the office. She closed the door behind them before releasing Ellie.

“You. Follow me,” said Piano, in a cold voice.

“Okay,” agreed Ellie, rubbing her elbow. She felt totally snubbed and deflated, but she wasn't going to let Piano, or Pea-Are-No, (however she preferred her ridiculous name to be pronounced) see that. After all, it wasn't Ellie's fault Piano had been told to look after her.

Piano gathered up some papers on her way past Francesca's desk and tottered on to her own desk, trailing Ellie behind like the tail of a kite. Flynn raised his eyebrows to Ellie as she scuttled past and she gave him as big a smile as she could manage, which wasn't much of one.

Piano sat down at her desk and pulled a stack of envelopes towards her. “Put the letters into these envelopes, making sure you match the name on the letter with the right envelope.” Her tone of voice made Ellie feel like a three year old. Piano held the stationery out to Ellie without looking at her. “I assume you are capable of doing that?”

Ellie took the bundle, feeling very hard done by. “Of course I can. You just fold them up and…”

Piano sighed. “You'd better show me. Go on. Do the first one here.”

Ellie felt more like poking Piano in the eye than demonstrating her envelope-stuffing skills, but she gritted her teeth and tried to keep her voice level. “Okay.” She looked at the name on the first envelope and matched it to a letter addressed to the same person. It wasn't difficult, as the envelopes and letters had obviously been produced in order. “Right?” she enquired, showing Piano that the names matched. Piano nodded with a long-suffering expression on her face. Ellie folded the letter in half and was just about to fold it again when Piano squealed. Ellie almost dropped the letter.

“Not like that!”

“What do you mean?”

Piano snatched the letter out of Ellie's hand, muttering under her breath. “You don't just fold it any old how. It's A4 paper. You fold the letter in three like this. See? Don't you learn anything at school?”

Deftly, Piano folded the sheet equally into three, and slid it into the envelope. It fitted perfectly. She sealed the envelope and tapped it with her dark nails, then looked at Ellie and sighed again, extravagantly this time. She took a few sheets of plain paper and added them to the pile of letters and envelopes. “Go away and practise. When you've got it right, come back and show me, before you mangle any more letters. Okay?”