The last few skaters performed their routines and the final marks were given out. Hannah had won! Emily had just been beaten by Amanda and so she came third. But she was very happy with that.
Hannah went to collect the pretty pink skates from Madame Letsworth. Molly and Emily both clapped and cheered along with everyone else as Hannah was presented with them and then Molly turned to Emily. ‘I’m going to go and get your surprise ready. Come up to the dorm with Hannah in ten minutes. But not before – promise?’
‘I promise,’ said Emily. She was longing to find out what the surprise was!
By the time Hannah got off the ice and had spoken to all the people who wanted to congratulate her, the changing room had emptied and the other girls had disappeared. Emily waited for Hannah and they eventually headed back to the Frost Fairies dorm together.
‘You were amazing,’ Emily said.
Hannah smiled. ‘Partly thanks to you. I love the dress and I just felt so happy wearing it, it made me feel like I could do anything. I’m so glad Molly is organizing this surprise for you.’
‘Do you know what it is?’ Emily asked her.
Hannah grinned and nodded. ‘Yep, but I’m not saying cos Molly will kill me!’
As they reached the corridor, Emily saw Alice looking out of the dorm. She saw them, gave a squeak that made her sound very like Charlie and shut the door quickly.
‘What’s up with Alice?’ Emily said in astonishment. Hannah just grinned.
They reached the door and Emily opened it. The dorm was in darkness, the curtains shut. She started to frown. What’s going on… ?
‘SURPRISE!’
Molly, Tilda and Alice leapt out from their hiding places and Hannah turned the lights on. The dorm had been decorated with pink and lilac streamers. A table had been put in the room and covered with a silver tablecloth. On it were sandwiches and strawberries and a massive pink cake with a pair of white ice-skating boots made out of icing sugar on top. Frost fairies fluttered through the air, swooping and diving, their wings sparkling, and on Molly’s bed bounced eight of the ice dragons who worked in the school.
Emily gaped. She didn’t know what to say.
‘Happy non-birthday!’ cried Molly. The others echoed it and crowded round to hug Emily.
‘Oh… wow!’ Emily burst out.
‘I know it’s not your real birthday yet, but I thought you should have something. I’d have gone mad the last few days without you. You’ve been such a good friend,’ Molly said.
‘To me too,’ said Hannah. ‘It was so lovely of you to organize a new dress for me.’
‘Charlie wants to say thank you too,’ said Alice. ‘He would have been very bored if you hadn’t thought of a way to help him.’
There was a loud chirrup. Emily looked at the ice dragons and saw Charlie. He was still a lot smaller than the others, but he looked like he was having a great time with them, nuzzling and flapping his wings.
‘He’s been growing so fast he’s big enough now to go and live with the other dragons properly,’ said Tilda. ‘Madame Longley said he can help in one of the music boxes.’
‘So?’ demanded Molly, looking at Emily eagerly. ‘Are you pleased?’
Emily could hardly believe it all. ‘Oh, yes!’ she said, looking round at the decorated room, the party tea, the frost fairies and ice dragons…
Molly grinned. ‘Then let’s get partying!’
They ate and drank and chatted and then Emily blew out the candles on the cake. The news of the party had spread and other people kept joining them. Soon everyone was there – everyone apart from Camilla.
Emily looked round the room at the happy faces. It was wonderful having everyone there, but she didn’t like the feeling that someone was missing. She hesitated and then turned to Hannah. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’
She went down the stairs to the Snow Foxes dorm and knocked on the door. There was no answer. She pushed the door open, wondering what she would find. Maybe Camilla would be crying in there? As Emily peeped in, she saw Camilla, but she wasn’t crying. She was lying on her bed, arms crossed, face sulky.
‘What do you want?’ she demanded.
‘Come and join the party,’ Emily said to her. Camilla looked surprised.
‘Oh, come on,’ Emily said quietly. ‘Everyone’s there. You should be too. I’d really like you to.’
Camilla hesitated and then huffed as if she was doing Emily a great big favour. ‘Well, I suppose I could come.’ She got up, grabbed a long cardigan from her wardrobe and joined Emily at the door. ‘I’d have won, you know, if my costume hadn’t split,’ she muttered as she marched out.
Emily shook her head. Camilla could be really annoying, but even so, she was glad she was coming upstairs to join in. Emily knew she would enjoy the party much more if no one was left out.
When Emily got back, she found a pillow fight had broken out. The frost fairies were sitting up on the curtain rail and the ice dragons were watching from the windowsill. Everyone was laughing and screaming. As soon as Emily and Camilla walked through the door, they got thumped with feather pillows. Squealing, Emily grabbed a pillow from the floor and joined in. Camilla only hesitated a second before the sulky look on her face faded and she joined in too, hitting Tess and Olivia.
‘Got you!’ yelled Molly, thumping Emily.
‘Got you back!’ Emily cried, swinging the pillow towards her and then dodging out of the way as Alice charged towards her.
‘Incoming… wahhhh!’ Alice broke off with a shriek as Tilda thwacked her legs and she stumbled over.
The laughter and squealing rose and the fight only ended when Molly hit Hannah so hard the pillow burst and clouds of white feathers flew into the air. The girls all collapsed, giggling on the beds as the feathers floated down like snowflakes around them.
‘Having a good time then?’ said Molly to Emily as they lay on their backs on the bed.
‘It’s the best party I’ve ever had!’ Emily declared. She sat up and looked round at everyone in the room. She’d only known them all for a few weeks, but it felt like forever. They were all so different from each other, but they were basically good friends and out of all of them only one was going to be chosen to be the Ice Princess.
Who will it be? thought Emily, looking round.
Her heart did a double flip. She couldn’t wait to find out!