‘No skating for at least four days!’ Molly exclaimed in horror. ‘But I’ll miss the competition!’
The doctor, a short ice sylph with glasses and a beard, looked at her sympathetically. ‘I’m sorry, but you have strained your ankle very badly and you must rest it. You were lucky not to have broken it. Absolutely no skating until Monday.’
Molly went very quiet. Emily felt awful for her. She knew how upset she would be if she had to miss the competition. She and Hannah had been allowed to come to the sick bay. Matron, the school nurse, was there with Madame Letsworth.
Madame Letsworth touched Molly’s hand. ‘It’s only four days, Molly. You really don’t want to do any more damage.’
Molly nodded, but Emily could see her chewing her lower lip and knew she was trying to hold back the tears.
‘You’ll be fine here, my dear,’ said Matron kindly. ‘I’ll make sure you rest.’ She had grey hair, neatly tied back in a bun, and a kind, no-nonsense manner. ‘Now, let me get you a drink and maybe your friends can go and get you some clothes, a toothbrush and some books.’ She looked enquiringly at Emily and Hannah.
‘Of course,’ said Hannah. ‘We’ll get them right away.’
She and Emily set off to the dorm. ‘Poor Molly!’ Emily burst out as they hurried down the corridor.
‘I know,’ agreed Hannah. ‘I wish I’d stopped her trying to do the jump, but I thought I shouldn’t interfere. My coach at home always says you have to learn to judge for yourself when something’s too hard for you. But I should have realized that Molly doesn’t think that way. She thinks if she tries hard enough, she can do anything. I should have said something. I knew it – that’s why I came over to talk to you about it.’
Emily squeezed her hand. ‘I should have listened.’
‘It’s OK. You were busy practising,’ said Hannah.
That’s not a good enough excuse. Emily felt awful. She hadn’t been a very good friend.
As they went into the Frost Fairies dorm, they saw that every bed had a package wrapped in tissue paper at the end of it. ‘What are they?’ Emily said, picking hers up. It felt soft and through the tissue she saw a flash of blue. ‘It’s my costume!’ she realized in delight.
She unwrapped the tissue paper. There was a beautiful turquoise-and-white velvet costume inside. It was perfect! The material was beautifully soft and there were two deep-turquoise bands at the front just as she had drawn it. But as Emily glanced at Molly’s bed next to hers, her excitement faded. Molly’s dress was there, but Molly wouldn’t get to wear it now.
Hannah had taken her dress out. She held it up and looked at it with an expression of disappointment. It was a lovely sea-green, but very plain. ‘It’s a bit dull, isn’t it?’
‘It’s plain, but that’s OK,’ said Emily tactfully. She couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty as she remembered how Molly had suggested she help Hannah with her design. She should have insisted.
Hannah forced a smile. ‘Yeah. It’s fine.’ Putting the dress down, she went to Molly’s cupboard. ‘Come on, let’s collect Molly’s things and get back to her.’
Hannah busied herself getting clothes and a nightdress for Molly and Emily went to fetch Molly’s toothbrush and flannel. ‘What shall we do about her dress?’
‘Leave it here. She’s upset enough as it is,’ said Hannah and they headed back to the sick bay.
‘Madame Letsworth has decided that you can be excused this morning’s lessons,’ said Matron. ‘You can stay here and keep Molly company. I think she could do with some cheering up.’ She looked at Molly and her voice softened slightly. ‘Injuries happen to all skaters, my dear. You will be back on the ice in next to no time.’ She left the room.
‘She’s right,’ said Hannah, sitting down on Molly’s bed. ‘You’ll be better soon.’
‘Not soon enough,’ Molly said in a small voice. A tear trickled down her cheek. ‘I’ve got to miss the competition.’
‘It’s horrible, I know,’ said Emily.
‘No, you don’t know!’ burst out Molly. ‘It’s not just horrible! It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me!’
She started to cry in earnest. Hannah and Emily both hugged her, but Molly wouldn’t be comforted. ‘It’s not fair!’ she sobbed.
Eventually her tears subsided and she lay back down and turned on to her side, wincing with pain as she moved her leg. ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to stay here. You can go.’
‘I’m going to have to,’ said Hannah, glancing at the clock on the wall. ‘I’m supposed to be feeding Charlie.’
‘I’ll stay though,’ said Emily.
‘I’ll come back later,’ promised Hannah, getting up. She left and, for a long moment, there was silence in the room.
Molly broke it. ‘You might as well go, Em,’ she snapped. ‘Go and practise or something. I know it’s really important to you right now.’
‘Molly, I’m not going anywhere,’ Emily told her. ‘You’re hurt. As if I’d leave you on your own to go and practise!’
‘Well, I’m not going to be any fun to be around,’ said Molly.
‘You don’t have to be fun,’ Emily told her softly. ‘I just want to be here with you.’
Molly swallowed. ‘Thanks, Em,’ she said with a small smile.
*
At first, Emily and Molly just talked a bit and then Emily got out the books, but Molly didn’t feel like reading so Emily looked around and found some board games in a wardrobe in the room. They played snakes-and-ladders and then ludo. After a while, Molly cheered up a bit. Matron brought them in a big plate of sandwiches for lunch and Hannah also returned.
‘Everyone’s really worried about you,’ she said to Molly.
Molly managed a grin. ‘Even Camilla?’
‘Well, OK, maybe Camilla wasn’t head of the queue of people asking about you,’ Hannah admitted, her eyes twinkling. ‘But everyone else wanted to know how you are. They’re all making get-well cards, and Tilda and Alice were talking about smuggling a husky pup in here to cheer you up.’
Molly’s eyes lit up. ‘Tell them they must! I’m going to go mad with boredom here when you two are in lessons. Oh, I can’t believe I was so stupid. I should have just given up that jump – it was too hard. I’m not going to be that stupid ever again!’
Emily checked the clock. ‘I’m on Charlie duty now,’ she said. ‘I’m supposed to be playing with him this lunchtime so he doesn’t get too bored. I’ll come back before lessons start this afternoon though.’
‘And I’ll stay while Emily’s gone,’ said Hannah.
Molly grinned. ‘You’ll be on Molly duty.’
‘Yeah,’ Hannah told her. ‘Just don’t start climbing up the curtains!’
Molly giggled, looking much more like her usual self. ‘I won’t do that, but if you’re not careful, I might chew up some of Matron’s papers!’