Authors: Sue Bentley

Sparkling Steps (5 page)

BOOK: Sparkling Steps

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Lucy's pretty face turned bright red. She walked over to stand beside Mariko.

“I can't stand that teacher's pet. I hope she gets double chickenpox and then I can have her place,” she muttered.

Olivia was hurt but she pretended not to hear. No matter what she did or didn't do, Lucy and Mariko were never going to like her.
It's just a fact of life
, she thought,
like having blisters and sore feet, and I just have to get used to it.

Chapter SEVEN

“Only a few days now until the end of the semester. I can't believe how quickly the time's gone. I'm looking forward to seeing you both. Bye, Mom. Give my love to Dad.” Olivia hung up the phone after speaking to her parents on Sunday afternoon.

She turned to smile at Flame. “Mom and Dad love to hear all the news. I told them that we've started rehearsing onstage and everything. They're really excited about coming to the school production. I just hope I don't mess up!”

“You will be fine. You are working so hard to be a good dancer,” Flame purred.

“Thanks, Flame!” Olivia said, stroking his soft, little ears.

A group of girls from her class walked past. “Hi, Olivia,” one of them called.

“We're going to watch a video of
The Nutcracker
in the common room. Do you want to come?”

Olivia loved the
Nutcracker
ballet, but she knew she really ought to take Flame outside. He'd spent a lot of time indoors while she had been doing extra practices in the studio. “Thanks, but I think I'll catch up with you later, if that's okay. I'm going outside to get some fresh air,” she said to the girls.

“Okay. See you later,” they called as they walked off.

“Come on, Flame. I bet you'd love to run around outside.”

Flame nodded eagerly as he followed her out into the school grounds. Olivia strolled past the tennis courts. There was no one playing tennis today. Most students had gone home for the weekend to visit their parents, leaving only the boarders.

It was very quiet on the grounds. Olivia spotted some pink roses in the bed with the yellow pansies. As she stopped to smell one of them, Flame darted past in pursuit of a huge, wood pigeon.

“You've got no chance of catching that,” she said, chuckling to herself as he scrambled under a bush after it. The pigeon was as big as he was!

Olivia wandered down the winding path to the sloping lawn with the old well in the center. She sat and watched a squirrel loping across the grass, while she waited for Flame to come and find her.

After five minutes or so, when he hadn't appeared, she went to look for him. “Flame?” she called softly, retracing her steps along the path, peering into flower beds and parting the bushes. “Flame? Where are you?”

There was no answering meow.

Olivia started to feel worried. Where could he be? What if Flame's enemies had found him already? They might have hurt him or worse!

Suddenly she heard a little wail of distress. It was coming from the direction of the lawn, behind her. With her heart racing, Olivia whipped around and dashed back there.

“Oh!” she gasped.

Lucy and Mariko stood in the center of the lawn. Lucy had both hands tightly wrapped around Flame's middle. His bottom half was dangling in midair.

Flame must have been so engrossed in playing with the wood pigeon that he had forgotten to stay invisible! Now he couldn't do any magic without giving himself away.

“Stop wriggling!” Lucy said crossly, squeezing harder, as Flame gave another howl and lashed his tiny tail.

Olivia had had just about enough of Lucy and Mariko. Her chest tightened with anger. “Put Fla . . . that kitten down! You're hurting him!” she shouted.

Lucy glared at Olivia. “What are you stressing about, Beanpole? It's not your kitten!”

Yes, he is!
Olivia wanted to shout, but even now she knew that she couldn't tell them that. “Give him to me or else!” she demanded, rushing forward with clenched fists.

“Run for it!” Lucy shouted to Mariko, zooming across the lawn.

Olivia ran after her, her long legs eating up the grass.

Lucy glanced fearfully over her shoulder and then stopped abruptly at the well. She dangled Flame over the widely spaced bars covering the opening above the empty, black space.

“Back off! Or I'll drop him in!” she shouted.

Olivia froze. “You wouldn't!” she gasped.

Lucy's blue eyes glittered. “Don't you come any closer. Weird things happen when you're around!”

Flame's back legs pedalled the air. He screeched loudly with fear.

“Please don't hurt him!” Olivia begged. “Look, I just want the kitten. I didn't mean to lose my temper with you,” she said reasonably.

“Give him to her, Lucy,” Mariko urged. “Let her go and find out who it belongs to. Then we can go inside and watch the video.”

“Shut up! Both of you!” Lucy snapped.

Olivia gulped. Lucy had a hard, mean look on her face. She looked capable of anything. Olivia's mind whirled. What could she do? “I'll . . . I'll make a deal with you,” she blurted out. “I'll give you my ballet book for the kitten!”

Lucy wavered. “Really? Swear on this kitten's life that you'll let me keep the book.”

“Okay. I swear,” Olivia said solemnly.

“You heard that, Mariko!” Lucy crowed. She looked back at Olivia. “You have to keep your promise now or we'll tell everyone that you're a liar and a cheat.”

Olivia didn't care. She felt weak with relief. “Whatever. You can go and get the book yourself. It's in the cabinet next to my bed.”

Lucy backed slowly away from the well. “Here!” She thrust Flame into Olivia's arms. “I was only kidding, anyway! I hope it takes you hours to find its owner. Come on, Mariko. I'm going to the dormitory to get
my
book!” She ran off, followed by Mariko.

Olivia held Flame's little, trembling body to her chest. His tiny heart was beating fast against her hands. “It's okay, Flame. You're safe now,” she crooned softly.

“Thank you for saving me, Olivia.” Flame gave an especially loud purr and reached up a tiny paw to pat her cheek. “I am very sorry that you have lost your book.”

“It doesn't matter. You're more important to me than any old book. I nearly died on the spot when I thought Lucy was going to drop you into that well!” Olivia said.

She realized that she would do anything to protect Flame.

Chapter EIGHT

“We're collecting our costumes for the dress rehearsal onstage this morning!” Olivia swept Flame into her arms and shot down the stairs to the wardrobe department. “Can you believe that the performance is only the day after tomorrow?”

Flame shook his head. “I have been here with you for a few weeks now. The time has gone by very fast.”

“I assume your uncle's spies have given up looking for you. Maybe you can stay here with me forever,” Olivia said.

Flame looked up at her with gentle, green eyes. “That is not possible, Olivia. My destiny is in my own world.”

“I know,” Olivia said sadly. She didn't even want to think about Flame leaving.

Tamsin was already in the wardrobe department when Olivia and Flame arrived. “It's amazing in here, isn't it?” Tamsin said, pointing to the huge rolls of satins, chiffons, and velvets in every color imaginable.

Olivia quickly put Flame down on a bench, before Tamsin noticed that she seemed to be holding something that she couldn't see! He scampered past a woman sitting at a sewing machine and then settled down to watch another woman, hand sewing sequins on to a sky blue tutu.

Olivia caught her breath when she saw her costume. It had a pale orchid, silk bodice, with thin straps trimmed with tiny, pink rosebuds. The stiff skirt was held out by many layers of cream net. Her headdress was a band of matching pink rosebuds and crystal beads.

“Oh! It's even more beautiful than I expected,” she sighed, holding it up against her.

Tamsin was cradling her pale gray costume in her arms. “Mine's gorgeous, too. I can't wait for dress rehearsal!”

The rest of the class collected their costumes and then everyone trooped along to the school's theater, where Miss Frances was waiting.

“Wow! Look at this!” Olivia said, peering around the stage.

Everything was almost ready for the main performance. There was a dark blue backcloth, with tiny lights for stars. The colorful scenery had been painted to look like the inside of a fairy-tale castle.

The dress rehearsal was exciting, but very hard work, as Miss Frances was even more strict than usual. Olivia concentrated fully on getting every step right. If she even started thinking about dancing in front of a full audience, her tummy did a sickening backflip.

When the rehearsal was over, Miss Frances gave a small smile. “That went really well. Go and get changed now. I'll see you this afternoon.”