A Dream Come True (6 page)

Ellie took the bag, and gave the hat a baleful glance. “You know I don't wear hats.”

Slowly, she drew a handful of dark blue fabric out of the bag. It felt limp and was badly creased, but, actually, now she could see, it wasn't just blue, it was dotted with huge, white, abstract daisies with bright pink centres. The design should have been awful, but strangely it wasn't. She shook the dress out and stood up. The long sleeves were tapered in tightly at the wrist, and there was a wide belt covered in the same fabric to cinch in her waist. It had a high neck and a short, flared skirt that would swirl about as she walked. It looked different from anything Ellie had ever worn before.

Georgia opened the wardrobe door so that Ellie could look at herself in the long mirror. She held the dress up against her front and looked. “I'm not sure. It's…” Ellie couldn't imagine her granny ever wearing this dress. It was too funky. It shouted hot summer days and noisy parties. It was somehow wild and yet demure at the same time. “Maybe if we ironed it…”

“Don't go away. I'll do it. It'll only take a couple of minutes.” Georgia grabbed the dress, and Ellie could hear her mum setting up the ironing board in the kitchen. Ellie felt she should offer to do it. After all, it was for her, but instead she waited, trying not to expect too much.

“Try it on.”

Ellie scrambled into the dress. It felt strange. The cut was so different to the clothes she was used to.

“Put on your sandals,” said her mum. “Before you look at yourself again.”

As Ellie stood up in her low-heeled sandals, her mum plonked something on her head.

“This was Granny's too. She used to have a thing about John Lennon. You know? From the Beatles.” The cap had gone on at an angle, and Ellie shook her head in irritation. “I hate hats!” But before she could wrench it off her head she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

Suddenly it wasn't Ellie Ixos standing in front of the wardrobe mirror, with a grumpy expression on her face. Instead, there was a person with real style, with the sort of edginess she'd admired in Carlotta and Piano. It wasn't up-to-the-minute fashion, but it worked in a way none of her clothes had ever worked before. The modern shoes with the retro dress and, most of all – though she hated to admit it – the cap: that was what pulled it all together and turned the outfit into something special. She didn't know
why
it looked so totally cool, instead of like a nerdy fancy-dress outfit, but she did know, beyond anything she'd known before, that it worked.

The morning of the interview, Ellie got up very early. She was ready ages before she needed to be and sat in her room, wondering how to stop herself getting even more horribly nervous. To distract herself, she decided to see if her best friend, Hannah, was online. She wasn't, so Ellie wrote her a message on Facebook:
So nervous about interviewing Pop and Lolly Lowther today. Wish me luck! I'll be online again at the end of the day. Watch this space…

She read over what she'd written and paused. What if the interview went disastrously wrong? She wouldn't feel like chatting about it then. Maybe she ought to delete the last bit. But before she could do anything about it her mobile rang. It was Hannah.

“Thought I'd ring to say good luck,” said Hannah, “before I get on the Tube.”

“Thanks,” said Ellie. “I was going to leave you a message on Facebook. I thought you might have forgotten about the interview.”

“No way!” said Hannah, sounding affronted. “As if I would.”

“Sorry,” said Ellie. “I'm just so nervous! What are you up to today?”

“We've got a nursery school group coming in, so I'll probably spend all my time trying to stop the children hugging the chicks to death,” said Hannah with a laugh. “Working at a city farm isn't exactly glamorous like your job.”

“But you love it,” said Ellie.

“Yes,” said Hannah. “I do.”

By the time Ellie and Hannah had stopped chatting it was time to go. In fact Ellie had to hurry. She was just in time to catch the bus and slumped into her seat with a sigh of relief. She pulled out her notebook and studied the questions she'd prepared. She wanted to feel as much in control as possible. She also reread her dad's second phrase.
Trust your instincts.
She planned on doing that too.

As soon as she reached the office she hung up her coat, and put on her sandals. It felt odd to be keeping the cap on indoors, but that was probably because she wasn't used to wearing any kind of hat, indoors or out.

She was a few minutes early, and so instead of going straight into the office she headed downstairs to see Sophie. Ellie hoped she'd be able to tell from Sophie's expression if the outfit worked or not. She had been so certain last night that the retro look was brilliant, but now she was starting to doubt it, and she needed some extra reassurance. She needn't have worried.

“Wow! Get you!”

“Is it okay? Really?”

“Don't be an idiot!” Sophie rolled her eyes. “Of course it's okay! You look brilliant, better than any of the dragons upstairs. They'd better watch out or the Fashion Department will grab you.”

Ellie beamed. “Thanks!”

“You got all your questions sorted?”

Ellie patted her bag. “In my notebook. I'd better go. Angel will be wanting her first order of coffee.”

“Ellie.”

“Yes?”

Sophie looked serious. “Just don't expect any compliments from them. You'll be lucky if you even get a raised eyebrow. But they'll notice how funky you look. Believe me.”

Sophie was right. When Ellie went in, no one said a word. Piano might have pouted a little harder than usual, but Carlotta avoided having to greet her by looking away. Ellie couldn't detect anything that betrayed Angel's feelings about the sixties dress either, but she was sure that when Francesca came over to give her the morning coffee order, a slight ghost of a smile touched her lips…for an instant.

And no one was about to treat Ellie any differently, just because she had a high profile interview to conduct after lunch. If anything, they worked her harder than ever. Piano dumped an enormous heap of tops on her desk that had to be hung up, ready for Angel to look at, and then Carlotta disappeared off somewhere, leaving Ellie to man the reception desk, which she wasn't really supposed to do. After that, Angel told Piano to take Ferdinand for his walk, but as soon as the Editor started talking to Francesca about the next issue of the magazine, Piano handed Ellie the lead.

When Ellie and Ferdinand returned, the office seemed unbearably noisy, with conversations and people coming and going. Usually Ellie liked it that way, but today, even when she had a few minutes to herself, she was finding it impossible to focus. She was just reading over the background notes she had made about the Lowthers, when Piano stomped up to Francesca's desk. Ellie found it impossible to tune out Piano's strident complaints. She watched the exchange with a carefully lowered head, in case someone noticed her and gave her another job to do.

“There's still no water in the cooler,” Piano moaned. “I thought it was company policy for us to have it.”

Francesca was deeply involved with an article she was writing, and didn't even look up. “So research a new supplier,” she snapped.

“I can't do it now,” said Piano. “I have to take a parcel downstairs to the post room. And anyway, I don't have the authority to order more, or cancel the—”

Francesca glanced up and glared at Piano. “Ellie, get me the number will you?
I'll
cancel our present order, Piano, and when you come back you can research a new supplier for me.”

Ellie sighed. She found the number from the database on her laptop, then went back and dialled it on Francesca's phone. As soon as she heard it ring, Ellie handed the phone to the Deputy Editor and went back to her notes. But no sooner had Francesca taken the receiver, than Carlotta arrived with an urgent message for her. Ellie felt like putting her hands over her ears. She watched Francesca trying to speak on the phone and listen to Carlotta whilst at the same time keeping track of the article she was writing. At that moment, Ellie didn't envy Francesca for her job one bit.

By lunchtime, Ellie had spent so much of the morning scurrying about on errands that she was exhausted. Usually, she took her sandwich downstairs and ate with Sophie and Flynn, but today there simply wasn't time. Instead she grabbed a coffee from the vending machine that the others hardly ever used and sat down to gather her thoughts.

“Are you ready?” said Francesca. “The Lowthers will be here in a few minutes.”

Ellie bit back a squeak of panic and rummaged in her bag for her notebook. Joe, the photographer, arrived and she felt her panic level rising. She wanted to go and check her make-up, but Francesca was watching her, so she opened her notebook instead. The writing was a blur. She couldn't take anything in, and she couldn't for the life of her remember what she had decided to say as an opener.

Then the Lowthers were there, at the reception desk, with Carlotta simpering away for all she was worth. One of the girls was wearing perfectly cut black jeans, with a loose printed top. The other was wearing a short dress, opaque tights and amazing short brown boots with gold heels. Ellie noticed that no one asked
them
to change out of their outdoor footwear!

The Lowthers were equally glamorous, just like the pictures she'd seen of them. And they really
were
identical. Thank goodness they were wearing different clothes, otherwise she'd
never
have been able to tell which one she was speaking to.

Was she supposed to go and greet them? No. Francesca was doing that, as poised as ever, shaking hands and showing them to the meeting room. As they passed Ellie's desk, Francesca glanced at her, and she remembered what she was supposed to do. She had to follow them and wait outside while Angel chatted to the guests for a few minutes. Then Angel would leave, Francesca would introduce Ellie to them, and leave them with Joe to do the photo shoot. After that, Ellie would have no more than twenty minutes to interview them. As she'd been told, she hurried over and loitered by the door.

“Ah, Ellie. There you are,” said Francesca, emerging from the room a few minutes later. “Let me introduce you to Pop and Lolly Lowther.”

The Lowthers were tall, very nearly as tall as Francesca, and Ellie discovered that even close up they still looked pretty well identical. Hopefully she'd remember which was gold heels, and which was black jeans.

The twins' faces seemed flawless, as if carved in a pale, coffee-coloured stone. But as soon as they spoke, their faces came alive, and Ellie reminded herself that, however extraordinary they were, Pop and Lolly were still just human beings, and she shouldn't allow herself to be overawed.

“Hi! I'm Pop,” said one of the girls. She smiled as she held out her hand and Ellie shook it. She tried to fix in her mind that gold heels was Pop.

“And I'm Lolly,” said black jeans, also shaking Ellie's hand. “I hear you're on work experience. I hope you're enjoying it.”

Pop followed her sister's comment without allowing Ellie to reply. “You've managed to wangle this interview, which is quite an achievement I should think!” She grinned at Ellie and Ellie found herself grinning back. Everything was going to be all right.

It was great fun being photographed with the Lowther twins. They made it very easy for Joe, seeming to know exactly what he wanted almost before he spoke. But then, they had been photographed so many times since they were young children that it must be second nature for them by now.

Joe wanted to take some pictures of Ellie interviewing the twins, so Ellie opened her notebook and put on an enquiring expression, while both the Lowthers paid her a flattering amount of attention.

The time flew by, and after what seemed a very few minutes Joe had gone. “Well,” said one of the twins – Ellie had somehow for the moment forgotten which was which. “Now it's just us. What do you want to know?”

“Don't worry,” said the other kindly. She seemed to have sensed Ellie's sudden panic. “There are loads of stock questions that magazines always ask us. We can help you out if you like. Don't feel pressured.”

“It's okay,” said Ellie, finding her voice. “I've got my questions written down. All I have to do is run through them, if that's okay.”

The twins sat together on a comfortable leather sofa, while Ellie took one of the blue chairs. They answered everything they could about their coming tour. Then they answered questions about their careers, their schooling at Rockley Park – the famous school for musically talented children – and their home life. Ellie was amazed to hear that they really had started their modelling career as infants! The student twin, Lolly, told Ellie a bit about the work she hoped eventually to do in India, where their mother's family came from, and Ellie remembered the special question that she wanted to ask.