Davina Dupree Predicts a Plot (6 page)

‘It’s starting,’ I whispered to Arabella as we watched more and more people arrive from our dorm window. I hadn’t been able to eat my egg and soldiers for breakfast which was EXTREMELY unlike me. ‘Is it too late to cancel the play?’

‘Yes of course it is and don’t worry, you big silly, everything will be fine.’ Arabella nudged me, although I wasn’t convinced because she looked even paler than usual.

I had to go to the Grand Hall after that to check everything was ready, even though we had a few hours to go. It took a while to round up Mrs Fairchild’s gardener, who’d kindly agreed to do the lighting and to get Mrs Blinkham to bring all the costumes backstage. Cleo and Clarice were already there, shovelling make up on to their faces.

‘Oh look, the hot shot director’s arrived,’ Cleo sneered. I ignored her and checked all the props were in the right place and that the scenery was ready for the stage hands to bring on and off.

Sooner than I’d have liked, I heard the general murmur of the audience arriving. Mrs Pumpernickle came backstage to help me get everyone into their costumes. We were all standing in the largest dressing room, Mrs Blinkham adjusting Arabella’s dress, when I noticed that little Polly was helping herself to a basket of props. She was stuffing paper flowers and scrolls into the enormous designer handbag she likes to lug about.

‘Hey Polly,’ I said. ‘Please don’t touch those props, we need them for our play.’ Mrs Blinkham’s head snapped round. Although she doesn’t like disciplining her child it seems she certainly doesn’t like anyone else doing it.

‘Leave her alone,’ she said. ‘She’s only playing.’

‘She can play with her own toys, I’m afraid we really need those things for the start of the play.’ I went over to Polly and bent down. ‘Could I have a look in your bag please, so I can find my things?’

Polly grinned and shoved her bag towards me. I reached down and pulled out the scrolls that the players use and then carefully lifted out the paper flowers. As I carefully scooped up a handful of fragile petals, my hand brushed against a pile of hard metal.

‘Funny toys you’ve got in there Polly,’ I said, and opened the bag to have a look.

I nearly fainted!

‘Arabella, come and take a look at this. In fact I think EVERYONE should come and have a look, especially Mrs Blinkham.’

Arabella sprinted over to have a look in the bag. At the bottom of it was a mess of priceless jewellery; bracelets mixed up with necklaces, rings stuck on top of tiaras and anklets, precious stones and pearls jumbling around a trinket box.

‘So you’re the thief, Polly,’ Arabella breathed. Polly beamed.

‘What do you mean she’s the thief?’ Mrs Blinkham said, marching over. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ She grabbed Polly’s bag and stared into it. ‘Oh,’ she said.

‘But Mummy she
can’t
be,’ Clarice wailed. ‘We thought Lottie was the thief but now we’re pretty sure it’s the new chef, Antoine-‘

‘No I’m afraid YOUR little sister is the culprit,’ Arabella said, looking extremely cheerful. ‘And I must say, she’s had more than enough opportunity to run wild as your mother hardly ever even looks at her. I can’t think why we didn’t think of Polly before.’

‘How dare you insult me,’ Mrs Blinkham snarled. ‘Polly dear, did someone put those pretty things in your bag?’

‘I took them,’ Polly said happily. ‘I like shiny things.’

‘She must have gone round taking them whenever she was bored at rehearsals,’ I said, feeling SO relieved that Lottie’s name had been cleared in front of everyone. Arabella grinned at me then looked at her watch.

‘Five minutes,’ she mouthed.

‘Right everyone, positions please,’ I said, suddenly feeling rather chilly and strange. ‘And er…break a leg. Mrs Blinkham, maybe you could sort out all the jewellery and return it to the correct owners after the performance?’

Clarice’s mum just stuck her nose in the air, grabbed Polly’s hand and the bag of jewels and strutted off.

Clarice, Arabella and I walked to the side of the stage. The red velvet curtain was down and from the sounds of hustle and bustle behind it, we had pretty much a full house.

‘Enjoy yourselves, you two. You deserve to, you’ve both worked really hard,’ I said. Arabella grinned and Clarice gave me a half smile.

CRASH!

I peeped round the curtain in time to see Alfie Calpone and Stephania Sellwig march through the swinging Grand Hall doors and down the aisle. And guess what? They were hand in hand! They reached the stage, jumped on to it (Stephania had to pull Alfie up a bit as his legs weren’t quite long enough) then marched off stage left towards where me, Arabella, Clarice and very rapidly the rest of the first years stood.

‘Sorry about that guys,’ Alfie said, scratching his head, his cheeks flushing pink. ‘Stephie and I just had a few artistic differences to sort out.’

‘Looks like you’re the best of friends now though,’ Arabella said, staring at their hands.

‘Something rather wonderful just happened,’ Stephania said, looking all dreamy. ‘You see, just after we had that awful argument in front of you, which I’m very sorry about, I grabbed my bike and pedalled up the drive. I was so angry with Alfie for being arrogant and rude.’

‘And I was angry because Stephie was being stubborn and obstinate,’ Alfie said. ‘So my team and I jumped into our cars and drove off. But who should we pass pedalling furiously up the steep drive, but this fine lady here. I took one look at her and thought to myself, “Alfie, maybe she was right, maybe you were acting like a two year old in there. It’s time to act like a grown up now and sort this disagreement out”.’

‘So he wound down his window and asked if I’d like to go to a restaurant with him to smooth out our differences. He said we owed it to you lot because you’d worked so hard on the play.’

‘She agreed, and a couple of days later we met up in a restaurant in Little Pineham, a village not far from here,’ Alfie went on. ‘We sat at that table for six hours, just talking.’

‘And after about two hours we both realised we didn’t
dislike
each other at all,’ Stephania said, smiling at Alfie, who winked back.

‘Yep,’ Alfie said. ‘In fact, we realised, almost at the same time, that we’re two halves of the same whole. We balance each other out. It’s like we’re meant to be together.’

‘Opposites attract,’ Stephania said, resting her chin on Alfie’s head.

‘Ooh, it’s just like in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”,’ Melody squealed. ‘You two are so different from each other, like the characters in the play, and your story is so unbelievable it makes me feel like I’m in a dream. Maybe WE are the ridiculous, clumsy players, contrasting with your love story.’

‘Hmm, speak for yourself,’ Clarice said.

I realised my mouth was hanging open like a goldfish’s, so I shut it and looked at my watch.

‘I’m truly flabbergasted by your news,’ I said to Stephania and Alfie. ‘And I’m so glad you came back, even if it is at the last minute.’ They hung their heads, looking miserable. ‘And now I don’t mean to be rude, but the curtain’s going up in one minute.’

‘In that case, break a leg everybody,’ Alfie said, actually SMILING round at us. ‘You’ll make us proud, I know you will.’

‘Why do people keep telling me to break my leg?’ Came Cleo’s voice from the other side of the stage.

The play was an absolute ROARING success, Diary!

I’m pleased to report that no one forgot any of their lines, and the audience oohed and aahed when Erica sang. Honestly, she’s like a different girl now.

It was a
bit
embarrassing when Carrie opened her bag of crisps and sucked on her box drink during a quiet bit, I stuck my head round the curtain to see what the noise was then quickly wished I hadn’t because Carrie stood up and waved! Rather
mortifying.com
. But to be honest it was so good to see her enjoying herself that I didn’t mind too much.

We got three standing ovations where the audience stood up and clapped and called for more, so Hannah had to do Puck’s end speech again and again. At the very end Alfie and Stephania appeared on stage and called me out. I didn’t want to go because there were too many people watching, so Arabella came and took my hand and literally DRAGGED me out of the wings.

‘We just wanted to say a special thank you to Davina Dupree, for stepping into the role of director while Stephania and I were, er…discussing our artistic differences,’ Alfie said. ‘As you just saw, she did a great job with the production, for which we will always be grateful.’ He gave me such a hard pat on the back I almost flew into the audience.

I felt the skin on my face prickle rather deliciously as Stephania produced an ENORMOUS bunch of flowers from behind her back and gave them to me, kissing me on both cheeks.

‘And if it wasn’t for Davina holding the fort, Alfie and I may never have had time to come to an important decision,’ she said, her cheeks glowing.

‘I’ve asked Stephie to be my wife and she’s accepted,’ Alfie’s face cracked into an unexpected smile.

‘We’re getting married next year,’ Stephania said, beaming. ‘And of course, all the first years are invited.’

A big cheer erupted around the hall. The only person I saw not listening was Mrs Blinkham, who was sorting out jewellery into piles, with the BIGGEST frown on her face.

After the excitement was over and we’d given Carrie a backstage tour while her taxi driver listened to the radio, (am seriously considering becoming a director when I grow up), Arabella and I tidied up the props, putting the paper flowers and scrolls back in their basket. Just as we’d collected the last few, a dark brown haired girl opened the Grand Hall doors.

‘Lottie!’ I shouted. ‘Come here and let me HUG YOU.’

In a few seconds I’d wrapped my arms round Lottie’s tiny body and lifted her off the ground. She patted my back, laughing.

‘Put me down, you idiot,’ she said, so I did.

‘Where on
earth
have YOU been?’ Arabella came striding over and gave Lottie another bear hug. ‘We were worried about you.’

‘Well you probably won’t believe it, but I’ve been hiding out in Mrs Fairchild’s luxury penthouse apartment, at the top of the school,’ Lottie grinned. ‘She was at the play this evening and told me all about Polly being the thief, so I came straight to find you.

I was spending most of my spare time with her anyway, at first because I was so homesick, and then later because everyone thought I was the thief. She knew it couldn’t have been me because I spent so much time with her, so she decided to protect me.’

‘Wow,’ Arabella and I said together.

‘I told her to send me home because I obviously didn’t belong in a school like Egmont if people were going to presume I did bad things just because I didn’t have as much money as them, but she told me she wouldn’t hear of it. She said it would be good for certain Egmont girls to realise that it’s what you are inside that matters, not how many possessions you have,’ Lottie said. I felt my cheeks burn as I remembered my moment of doubt for Lottie.

‘That day in the library,’ Lottie went on. ‘When Amy burst in to say that she and Poppy had been robbed, I saw a flicker of doubt in your eyes, Davina. That was the last straw for me, I simply couldn’t bear knowing that even my new friends thought I was the thief. So that’s the point Mrs Fairchild told me to pack my things and come and stay in her apartment.’

‘I’m
so sorry
, Lottie,’ I said, feeling TERRIBLE. ‘I didn’t really suspect you, it’s just that at that point I didn’t know what to think, everything just seemed so confusing, and-’

‘Let’s never say another word about it,’ Lottie said, looking more confident than I’d ever seen her. ‘The most important thing is that you both stood up to Cleo and Clarice for me when they first accused me, and I’ll never forget that kindness.’

After Lottie had gone, saying she and Erica were going swimming together, (I think those two will soon be best friends), Arabella and I walked back to our dorm, tired but happy.

I saw the glittery pink envelopes on our beds as soon as I opened the door.

‘Look, Arabella, what on earth are these?’ I asked, picking mine up straight up and ripping it open. As I read its contents, my eyebrows grew higher and higher…

To the dear first years
,

Your geography teacher, Mr Fossil, and I have organised a compulsory school trip for you all. At the beginning of next term we will travel together in private jets to the Beach of Golden Sands, about fifty miles away from Egmont, where a private yacht will be waiting to sail us to Ni Island, a little known sand island where hundreds of rare bird and animal species live
.

We will all live there in luxury tents for ten days, to give you the chance of studying the wildlife under Mr Fossil’s tuition. I must tell you that pirates were spotted sailing close to Ni Island a few years ago, but I have been assured by the Department of the Seven Seas that they have all since been captured and imprisoned. I shall be writing to reassure your parents and guardians of the safety and educational value of the trip this evening
,

Always yours truly,
Mrs Fairchild