“It felt like everyone in the shop was staring at us!” Ellie told Christy, kicking her heels against the wall where they were sitting in the playground before school. “It was so embarrassing. I’ve been keeping Rascal out of Mum’s way ever since.”
Christy sighed. “I don’t suppose you’ve asked about your party then?”
Ellie shook her head. “And it’s only two weeks away now, no one will be able to come if I don’t hurry up.”
“Ooh, I forgot to tell you, I had an idea!” Christy bounced up from the wall. “You know your mum’s worried about fitting us all in? Well, why don’t we sleep in the living room instead? There’s lots of space on the floor in there.”
Ellie nodded slowly. “And then I could use my sleeping bag too!” she agreed. It had sounded a bit boring being in her normal bed when everyone else was snuggled up in sleeping bags. “That’s a fab idea. I’ll ask Mum after school.”
“That’s what I did with my cousins when I went to stay with them, it was really fun.” Christy giggled. “I didn’t go to sleep until midnight, though.”
Ellie wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think my mum would let us get away with that.”
Christy grinned. “You never know. If she’s upstairs, she might not be able to hear us.”
Everyone was chatting before registration when Mr Turner came in with a strange girl in a Chase Hill uniform.
“Must be the new girl!” Christy whispered. “I forgot she was starting today.” Mrs Harley had told them the week before that someone new was joining their class, and they had to make a special effort to look after her as it was hard to move schools near the end of the year.
“She looks nice. She’s got pretty hair,” Ellie murmured back. The new girl had very long curly dark hair in two bunches, with pink ballet shoes on her hairbands. She also looked very shy – she was almost hiding behind the headmaster.
Mrs Harley stood up and introduced her. “Everyone, this is Lucy, who’s joining our class. I’m sure you’ll all do your best to make her feel welcome. Who’d like to help look after her?” She looked round the class, as lots of the girls waved their hands excitedly. Ellie put up her hand too – it would be fun to show someone new around. “Ellie, yes, perfect. Make sure you take good care of her, won’t you? Come and ask me if there’s anything you need help with. Lucy, this is Ellie, and her friend Christy. They’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
Ellie and Christy nodded, and Lucy came to sit next to Ellie. Her face was bright pink, as though she hated everyone looking at her.
At break, Ellie and Christy took Lucy outside with them. “Have you just moved here?” Ellie asked.
Lucy nodded. “Last week.” Her voice was hardly more than a whisper.
“Do you like ballet?” Ellie asked, trying hard to think of something to say.
Lucy smiled. “Yes, I love it. I really want to find a dance class to go to here.”
“There’s a ballet class at the village hall,” Ellie said thoughtfully. “I go there to take my puppy to training, and I’m sure I’ve seen a poster.”
“Christy! Do you want to play Chain-It?” someone called from across the playground.
“Coming,” Christy yelled back. “Do you want to play, Lucy?” she added politely.
Lucy looked doubtful. “I’m not very good at running…”
“Me neither.” Ellie laughed. “Christy’s super-fast, she loves running. She beat all the boys at Sports Day a couple of weeks ago. We’ll watch.”
Christy shrugged, and ran off to join the game.
“Thanks,” Lucy said. “I always get stuck being ‘It’ for ages, I hate that.”
“Me too,” Ellie agreed. “I’m just not very sporty.”
“Do you like dancing?” Lucy asked hopefully.
“I like dancing at parties and things, but I’ve never done lessons.” Ellie looked thoughtful, remembering her birthday. She wondered if Lucy would like to come to her sleepover – if she was allowed one. She’d only known Lucy for a morning, but the new girl seemed really nice. And she was supposed to be making her feel welcome.
Ellie checked the poster in the village hall that night when Dad took her and Rascal to dog-training. She carefully wrote down the phone number.
“Are you going to do ballet?” someone said scornfully behind her.
Ellie tensed up, recognizing the voice. Amelia was in Year Six at her school, and she was horrible.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ellie,” Amelia went on. “Not going by how often you fall over in dog-training.”
Ellie opened and shut her mouth, desperately trying to think of something to say back, but Amelia just snorted and went on into the hall, with Goldie, her pretty spaniel, trotting behind her.
“Do you think we could ask Jo if she does another class we can go to, just to get away from her?” Ellie’s friend Jack had come in behind Amelia. His huge Great Dane Hugo stood there patiently while Rascal jumped up and yapped as if to say “hello”.
Ellie sighed. “Goldie’s so perfect, I’m just hoping Amelia’s mum decides she doesn’t need any more training.” She giggled. “Somehow I don’t think that’s ever going to happen with Rascal!” She told Jack about the supermarket incident as they went into the hall, where Jo, their instructor, was welcoming everyone.
“We’re going to start training the puppies off the lead tonight,” she explained. “It’s really important that when you let your dog loose they come back when they’re called, whatever else is going on around them. It’s a tricky thing to learn, and I have to say, some dogs are just never going to be safe off the lead.”
Amelia smirked. “Goldie always comes when I call. I let her off the lead in the park all the time.”
Ellie and Jack rolled their eyes at each other. But Ellie couldn’t help wondering whether Rascal would ever learn.