Molly wouldn’t say a word more about her planned trick, but after lunch she started organizing them. ‘I need Hannah to come with me. And, Emily, in about quarter of an hour, you have to find Amanda and bring her to the gym changing room.’
‘But how?’ demanded Emily.
Molly waved a hand. ‘You’ll think of a way. Hannah, you come with me.’
‘But…’ Hannah protested weakly.
‘Come on!’ Molly, her eyes shining excitedly, grabbed Hannah’s arm and dragged her away.
After ten minutes, Emily went over to Amanda.
‘I’ve won loads of skating competitions back at home,’ Amanda was saying loudly to Olivia and Tasha, who were in the Ice Owls dorm with her. None of them noticed Emily. ‘You should see my trophies. My mum keeps them in a big cabinet on the wall.’ She sighed. ‘I’d do so much better in this competition with someone who wasn’t a beginner like Emily. I mean, she falls over on the simplest jump.’
Emily swallowed and tried not to feel too hurt. She spoke loudly, pretending she hadn’t heard the comment. ‘Oh, hi, Amanda.’
Amanda jumped guiltily and looked round.
‘I was just wondering if you’d come to the gym changing room with me. I thought we could run through a few of the steps I’m unsure of before gym – and I was also wondering if you could help me with my arabesques off the ice. I’m having real trouble with them.’
For a moment Emily thought she would say no, but then Amanda nodded. ‘I suppose I’d better help you.’
They set off for the gym.
‘So, what’s the trouble you’re having with arabesques?’ Amanda asked.
‘Oh, just how high to get my leg,’ said Emily, inventing wildly. ‘You’re so good at that. I thought you might be able to help.’ Amanda looked pleased.
As they came through the changing-room door, Emily stopped dead. Molly and Hannah were lying on their backs on the changing-room benches with their eyes closed. They were circling felt-tip pens – with the lids on – around their eyes, pressing the tops against their skin.
‘What are you doing?’ Amanda exclaimed.
Emily was wondering the same thing!
‘It’s a special type of relaxing thing called pen-therapy,’ said Molly, opening her eyes. ‘Madame Li told me about it at lunch today. You use the end of a pen to press round your eyes and, as it goes over these areas called pressure points, you start to feel really relaxed. Madame Li told me everyone knows about it in this land and they do it before skating because it helps them focus and concentrate. Hannah and I thought we’d have a go.’
Amanda looked a bit disbelieving.
‘You should try it,’ Molly said. ‘You’ll try too, won’t you, Emily?’
From the look in Molly’s eyes it was clear she was meant to say yes. Emily nodded. ‘Um… sure,’ she said, wondering what on earth Molly was doing.
‘How about it, Amanda?’ said Molly. ‘Surely, if it makes your skating better, it’s worth a try, isn’t it? After all, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. You’ve got nothing to lose.’
‘I suppose so,’ said Amanda. ‘OK, I’ll try it.’
Molly handed Emily a felt-tip pen. ‘Make sure you keep the lid on,’ she said with a grin. ‘After all, you wouldn’t want to get pen on your face.’
Emily lay down on the bench and started to circle the pen round her eyes.
‘How does it feel?’ Molly asked her.
‘Um… OK,’ Emily said hesitantly. She still didn’t have a clue what Molly was up to.
Amanda lay down too. Molly picked up a dark-blue felt-tip pen and passed it to her.
Amanda started running the pen in circles around her eyes. ‘That’s it,’ Molly encouraged. ‘Press quite hard, Amanda.’
Emily heard Hannah catch her breath and sat up.
Everywhere Amanda moved the pen, a trail of felt tip appeared on her skin. The lid was on the pen, but, even so, it was still drawing blue smudgy lines on Amanda’s face. There were now two circles round her eyes where she had been circling the pen. It looked like she had drawn glasses on her face!
Emily’s eyes shot to Molly. Her shoulders were shaking and she was clearly trying not to laugh. How had she done it? The lid was on the pen!
Amanda frowned. ‘It’s not doing anything.’
‘Oh, it is,’ Molly grinned. She shrugged as Amanda looked at her. ‘Maybe it doesn’t work for you. Madame Li said it doesn’t work for everyone.’
‘It’s stupid,’ said Amanda. She stood up and put the pen down. ‘I’m going to warm up for gym. Are you coming, Emily?’
‘Yeah, in a minute.’
Amanda quickly marched out of the changing room and into the studio.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Emily, Molly and Hannah exploded with laughter.
‘Oh, Molly! She looks so funny!’ gasped Hannah.
‘How did you do it?’ Emily said.
Molly drew in her breath. ‘Easy. I just coloured over the end of the pen with another blue felt tip. It had dried by the time she picked it up and put it on her face, but it still comes off on skin. My brother did the same trick on me once.’
‘She looked just like she’d been drawing on her face!’ said Hannah.
‘It’s going to be so funny when everyone sees her!’ said Molly.
Emily bit her lip. ‘We have to tell her before then. Everyone will laugh and she won’t know why.’
‘Duh! That’s the idea!’ said Molly.
‘But that’s a bit mean,’ said Emily.
‘No, it’s not,’ said Molly. She saw Emily’s face. ‘She deserves it. She’s been really horrible to you.’
‘She does kind of deserve it,’ Hannah said.
‘No.’ Emily shook her head. It felt OK for the three of them to have played a joke on Amanda, but it wasn’t OK if it was going to make everyone laugh at her when she didn’t know what was going on.
‘I’m going to tell her,’ she said.
‘You can’t!’ exclaimed Molly. ‘That would ruin the joke.’
‘I don’t care,’ Emily said.
‘Emily’s right,’ said Hannah reluctantly. ‘We really should tell her.’
Molly looked cross. ‘You two are so boring. Don’t tell her, Emily.’ Emily started walking towards the door. ‘Don’t!’
Emily knew Molly would be mad with her, but she had to tell Amanda. She pushed the door open, wondering what Amanda would say.
‘What?’ Amanda snapped out as Emily explained. ‘Molly played a trick on me? I’ve got pen on my face?’
‘Yes. It was just a joke,’ Emily said quickly as Amanda hurried through the door and up to the mirrors in the gym changing room.
‘I can’t believe you told her!’ Molly said crossly to Emily.
Amanda gasped as she saw her face. She swung round.
‘It was just a joke, Amanda,’ Hannah said, almost apologetically.
Screwing up her face, Amanda looked like she was searching for words. An angry ‘Grrrrr’ was all she could manage in the end. She turned to the sink and started hurriedly washing the pen off with soap and water.
‘I hate you, Molly!’ Amanda cried. Turning, she hurried back into the gym and slammed the door behind her.
Molly looked at Emily. ‘Why did you have to tell her?’
‘I just had to,’ said Emily. ‘How would you have liked it?’
‘But I’m not annoying like her!’ Molly snorted crossly and turned away.