On the morning of the interview with Adam Calwell, Ellie wore her Jacob Frou shoes. She was immensely proud of them. They were called the Pirate because they hinted at pirate boots without looking exactly like them. They were lined in the softest red leather, and fastened with a gold coin. What’s more, they held her feet as if they were precious objects. They were the only designer items she actually owned. To Ellie the shoes felt so comfortable, it was like walking on clouds, yet at the same time, they always made her want to stamp her feet on echoey wooden floors and dance about with wild abandon.

At the moment she was doing none of these things. She was sitting quietly on a bus, with her notebook on her knees, revising the questions she was going to ask the fashion designer, and hoping that the shoes she was wearing would help him to take her seriously as something of a fashionista. From the bit of research she’d done she knew that his mission statement was to get girls to love dresses. It would be interesting to hear how he intended to do that!

The sun had been shining when she’d set out from home, but now, to her dismay, the sky was clouding over, and it looked like rain. Oh no! Don’t rain. Please don’t rain just yet, she thought. But in no time the bus was driving through a torrential downpour. Ellie was cursing herself for not bringing a coat or umbrella, when the rain suddenly stopped and the sun came out again. Ellie hopped off the bus in high spirits, carefully avoiding the puddles as she headed towards the designer’s workshop. She’d almost got there when it happened. A lorry went past, sending a whoosh of water over the pavement where she was walking. It was impossible for her to avoid it, and she was instantly drenched from the knees down in horrible, dirty water.

Ellie rang the doorbell feeling really upset.

Julie let her in. “Adam’s looking forward to meeting you,” she said, drawing Ellie into the large, light workshop. “But what’s the matter?”

“I got splashed by a lorry just before I got to you,” said Ellie. “So I’m sorry, but my feet are rather wet.”

Julie glanced at the rather sorry-looking Pirates on Ellie’s feet and gasped. “What amazing shoes! They’re fantastic. But we must clean them up for you. I don’t know much about shoes, but I do know that it’s very important to dry leather out slowly. Maybe we ought to just clean them off, and leave it at that. Hang on. I’ll fetch you a towel for your legs too.” Julie stopped chattering and disappeared, leaving Ellie at the door.

“Hi. I thought I heard someone. Come in. You must be Ellie.” Adam Calwell was a tall, good-looking man with a closely clipped beard and collar-length, dark hair. He seemed rather amused.

Ellie paused in taking off the Pirates and shook his hand. She had been so determined to look and sound professional, and here she was, caught taking her shoes off and with her skirt and legs splattered with dirty water. It was so embarrassing. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I got splashed, just outside.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “What was Julie thinking, leaving you here? The workshop is all floorboards, no carpet to ruin… Hang on, are those Jacob Frous?”

“Um…” Ellie pulled the second Pirate off and straightened up. “Yes, they are. They’re called the…”

“Pirate. I know. My goodness, Ellie. They must pay well at Heart magazine!”

He was teasing her, but he was so nice she didn’t mind, and soon they were chatting like old friends. It seemed that Jacob Frou was a bit of a hero to Adam. He sounded distinctly jealous when Ellie explained how she’d modelled the shoes for Monsieur Frou at a photo shoot before he’d given her the pair she was wearing today.

“I wish he made shoes for men,” Adam said as Julie came back with a towel for Ellie. “I bet they’d be fun to wear. Get some of that white paper to pack in the shoes,” he added to Julie. “It’ll help draw the moisture out. Hopefully they won’t feel too wet when you have to put them back on.”

“Thank you,” said Ellie. She no longer felt embarrassed at talking to Adam in her bare feet, especially now they were sitting in comfortable chairs where there was a soft rug she could dig her toes into.

“So why do you want girls to love dresses?” she asked, notebook at the ready.

“I just think they have so much potential,” he told her. “The cut, the length, you can do so much with them. But I try to style all my dresses so that they’re easy to wear. And with my designs I hope you can just throw on one of my dresses and accessorize it in your own way.” He leaped to his feet and went over to a desk. He came back with some large drawings. “I’m very excited about these,” he said. “You know the singer Maia Tonkin?”

“Yes,” said Ellie. “She’s great.”

“Isn’t she?” said Adam. “And what’s more she’s filming her next music video at the Boat Show…and she’s going to be wearing three of these designs!”

“Wow!” Ellie was seriously impressed. No wonder Adam seemed so pleased. She scribbled down all the information, but Adam had jumped up from his seat again, and gone back to the desk.

“Here! I’ve got some extra tickets to the Boat Show, and I don’t need them all. Why don’t you go along? Maybe you could report on how cool Maia looked in my dresses?”

Adam looked so earnest Ellie had to laugh. “I’ll see what my editor says,” she said. “But it does sound a good idea. Thank you very much!”

Ellie put the tickets into her bag feeling quite excited. She hoped Francesca would let her go. It had to be a glamorous event, if Maia Tonkin was going to be filming there.

On the way back to the office, Ellie wondered how Angel had got on with her interview. No doubt she had managed to avoid getting drenched by a dirty puddle when she had gone off to meet the dreamy young actor who had taken the film world by storm with his most recent movie. Yes, of course it would have been wonderful if Ellie could have been in on that interview, but she had liked Adam Calwell a lot. Still…Kurt Draagan…Ellie drifted off into a daydream where she and Kurt met in the hotel and hit it off at once. His agent would be ringing up to tell him he had another appointment…but Kurt would only have eyes for Ellie… They’d go out for dinner, and it would be like being in one of his films. He’d gaze at her with his wonderful dark, smoky eyes, and tell her she was everything to him. He’d whisk her off to his country retreat. They’d travel in his luxury custom-built sports car…

Ellie came back to earth when the lady sitting next to her started rummaging in her carrier bag, and poked her in the ribs with her elbow. “Sorry, love. Just looking for my keys.”

“That’s okay.”

The number twenty-seven bus wasn’t exactly like a custom-built sports car, but never mind, the daydream had been good, and Ellie reminded herself that out of all the thousands of Kurt Draagan fans, she was more likely than most to wangle a meeting with him one day. After all, she’d already met Al from Zone One, and he was her favourite singer of all time! Being a journalist for Heart did mean she was likely to meet cool and interesting people more often than the rest of her friends.

Back in the office, Ellie started to put her notes in order, ready to show Francesca. She was pleased with all the information she’d gathered, but knew that there wouldn’t be room for a big article. Maybe if Francesca looked over what she’d got and gave her some clues about what to use, Ellie might be in with a chance of seeing her own words appear in the magazine, alongside pictures of Adam Calwell and his designs.

It was exciting thinking that her work might be used, but now it was lunchtime, Ellie had something else on her mind. She wanted to go and see how Sophie was. Hopefully there would be time for a bit of a chat over their sandwiches. Ellie emailed her typed-up notes for Francesca to look at and closed her laptop. Time to go and find Sophie.

Down in the basement, Ellie entered the post room hesitantly. She wanted to catch up with Sophie, but she still felt awkward about finding her and Flynn together. She didn’t want to interrupt a blazing row…or them making up. But Sophie was alone, writing on a sticky note.

“Hi, Ellie! Just writing myself a reminder to order more red ink for the franking machine. I utterly refuse to do it before I’ve eaten my sandwich. I’m starving. There!” She stuck the note onto the wall and smiled. “How’s it going? I haven’t seen you for a while.”

“I’ve been quite busy.”

Ellie told her about her interview that morning, and then they got onto the subject of Charlie Daniels.

“What a shame!” said Sophie when Ellie told her about the trail going cold.

“But I didn’t come down to talk about me,” said Ellie uncomfortably. “How are things with you?”

“Okay,” said Sophie. “Flynn and I haven’t exactly made up, but he’s not ranting about me and my wasted opportunities any more, so it could be worse.”

“Well,” said Ellie, having a sudden thought, “how about doing something with me to take your mind off him for a bit? Adam Calwell gave me two tickets for the Boat Show, so I could see Maia Tonkin wearing his designs. I was going to ask Francesca if I could go. I don’t actually need to for the article. But it would be fun, don’t you think?”

“I’ve never been to a boat show before,” said Sophie thoughtfully.

“Neither have I!” said Ellie. “And apparently they have a load of boats floating in the exhibition centre. Indoors! And they’re quite big ones, not little dinghies. It sounds fantastic. I just fancied a look, but it doesn’t matter. I can go by myself…” Her voice trailed off.

“It does sound fun,” said Sophie. “Rocking about in a boat indoors. Crazy! And it is just around the corner from here. Okay!” She smiled. “I’m up for it as long as you promise not to mention Flynn or my pots.”

Ellie laughed. “Done!”