The next few days flew by. Most people were taking the competition very seriously. Whenever there was any spare time, the ice rink was busy with people practising and everyone’s tempers started to fray as the competition drew closer.
‘Emily, you’re not looking like a prince!’ Amanda said on Friday morning as they practised before breakfast. ‘We’re never going to win if you don’t skate better than that.’
‘But all I’m doing is skating in a circle and it’s boring,’ Emily protested. ‘Maybe I should do some more jumps. It would make me feel more prince-like.’
‘No,’ said Amanda. ‘You’d only mess up and fall over. And please make sure you look as if you’re in love with me!’
Emily gave her an exasperated look, but Amanda was already skating off to practise the part of the routine where she changed from a swan into a girl. Emily sighed and glanced round. Hannah was skating on her own. ‘Where’s Alice?’ called Emily.
‘Gone to the kennels again.’ Hannah frowned. ‘She only practised for ten minutes. It’s so irritating! I’m going in. There’s no point practising on my own.’ thought. It’s just her luck to be with a partner who doesn’t want to practise. She heard raised voices and looked round. Molly and Tilda were arguing again.
‘We’ve got to stick to what we’ve agreed, Tilda!’ Molly was saying angrily.
‘Oh, stop being so bossy!’ said Tilda. ‘Just because you’ve been skating longer than me doesn’t mean you should make all the decisions.’
‘I’m not trying to make all the decisions!’ Molly exclaimed. ‘I just want us to agree on what we’re doing, otherwise we’re going to look rubbish. You’re being really annoying, Tilda!’
‘Look who’s talking!’ Tilda snapped back and she skated away.
‘Well!’ Molly stared after her, hands on hips, her face like thunder.
Just then, Amanda called across the ice. ‘Emily! Come on!’
Emily skated to join in, but she was so busy thinking about Molly that she found it hard to concentrate. As she prepared herself for her jump, one of her skate blades caught an edge on the ice, her arms windmilled and she banged down heavily. She gasped as the impact made the breath leave her body.
Molly came skating over. ‘Are you all right?’ she asked anxiously, offering Emily a hand up.
Emily nodded. It had been a hard fall, but, although she felt shaken up, she was OK.
Amanda arrived. ‘That was so dumb, Emily! I can’t believe that you’ve only got one jump to do and you messed it up. I hope you’re not going to do something like that in the competition. We’ll look like total idiots if you do and –’
‘Amanda!’ Molly interrupted angrily. ‘Don’t you think you should be asking Emily if she’s OK and not having a go at her? She’s just fallen over! Why do you always have to be so mean?’
‘Molly, leave it,’ sighed Emily. She could see Molly’s temper was still up following her row with Tilda.
‘I’m not mean,’ Amanda protested.
‘You so are!’ Molly retorted. ‘All you do is boss Emily about. If she wasn’t so nice, she’d tell you to get lost.’
Madame Li came skating over. ‘Is everything all right, girls?’
‘Yes, fine, Madame,’ Amanda said quickly. She smiled sweetly at the teacher. ‘Emily fell and Molly and I just came over to see if she was OK.’
Molly and Emily exchanged glances.
‘Are you all right, Emily?’ Madame Li asked.
Emily nodded. ‘Yes, thank you, Madame.’
‘Good. It’s just about time for everyone to come in anyway.’ Madame Li raised a whistle to her lips and blew a long blast, a signal that it was time for the girls to clear the ice.
Amanda glanced at Emily. For a moment Emily thought she was about to say something, but then she turned and skated off the rink.
‘I don’t know how you put up with her!’ said Molly. ‘I’m going to get her back for being so nasty to you.’
‘How?’ Emily exclaimed.
Molly looked thoughtful. ‘I don’t know, but I bet I’ll think of a way.’
For the rest of the lessons that morning, Molly and Tilda ignored each other. Hannah was hardly talking to Alice, but Alice didn’t seem to notice. She was very worried because one of the husky puppies had gone missing. He had wandered off when the puppies had been out having a run around in the gardens. Alice said that the ice sylphs who looked after the dogs had been out searching for him, but as yet no one had found him.
‘Poor Prince will be freezing cold,’ Emily heard Alice whispering anxiously to Tilda in ballet class before lunch. They all took ballet to help with their skating. ‘He’ll be really scared. Oh, I wish I could go and help look for him instead of doing lessons.’
‘We’ll go at lunchtime and look then,’ Tilda said.
Hannah turned. ‘You can’t go and look for him, Alice. You promised me we’d practise.’
‘But this is more important, Hannah!’ protested Alice.
Hannah frowned. ‘Don’t you care that we’ve got a competition in two days?’
‘It’s just a competition?’ said Alice.
Hannah looked as if she couldn’t believe her ears. ‘Just a competition?’ she echoed.
Alice nodded. ‘Yes, and even if Molly’s right and the person who does best in all the competitions is going to be the Ice Princess, well, so what? I’d like to be chosen, but if I’m not, I’m not. It’s far more important that we find the puppy.’
‘But we have to do our best, Alice!’ Hannah’s voice rose. ‘We have to try and win!’
Emily saw Madame Breshnev, the ballet teacher, looking over and hastily shushed them all before they got into trouble.
As they reluctantly fell silent, Emily could tell from Hannah’s face that she was cross with Alice. Alice didn’t look too happy with Hannah either. Emily bit her lip. It was awful having everyone arguing. She just wanted all her friends to get on.
‘I’ve got it!’ Molly breathed as she, Emily and Hannah walked to lunch together.
‘Got what?’ said Emily.
‘A trick to play on Amanda to get her back for being so horrible to you,’ Molly said.
‘Molly, you can’t play a trick on Amanda,’ Hannah said, looking worried. ‘What if you get into trouble with the teachers?’
‘I won’t,’ said Molly. ‘I’ll need your help though.’
‘What is the trick?’ asked Emily uncertainly. She liked tricks, but only if they weren’t mean.
‘Not telling.’ Molly’s eyes twinkled mischievously. ‘You’ll just have to wait and see!’