THE NEXT DAY was Thursday and the week that had started so joyously was rapidly going downhill.
After breakfast Dad and Grandpa went over to the Farringtons’ house to discuss things with Lilac and her dad. They rang the bell nervously. They were both desperate to sort things out and protect the girls from any more heartache.
After a couple of minutes a rather embarrassed-looking Mr Farrington appeared.
“Hello,” said Dad. “We’re sorry to bother you so early, but we wondered whether we could have a chat with you and Lilac about what happened yesterday. I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation, but we’d like to get to the bottom of it and to hear Lilac’s side of the story too.”
Before Mr Farrington could say anything Lilac came to the door, smiling sweetly. “Hi, Mr Cotton and Mr Mellow, I thought you might come over,” she said.
“Well, I suppose you’d better come in,” said Mr Farrington as he ushered Dad and Grandpa into the sitting room.
“I wonder if we could see the song sheet you used for Chocolate Sundae Girls, please?” asked Grandpa.
“Of course,” Lilac replied. “I’ll just go and get it.”
She came back brandishing a song sheet for Chocolate Sundae Girls. It had all been written out in her own perfect handwriting.
“That is clearly Lilac’s,” said Mr Farrington. “She’s done nothing wrong, have you, darling?”
“No, Daddy,” Lilac assured him. “The Beach Babes must just have got really nervous when they saw how good our song was and thought it was better to tell lies rather than lose face by not doing such a good performance as me and the Mermaids.”
“Well, there you go. Now you’ve got to the bottom of it,” said Mr Farrington. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got things to do.”
Dad and Grandpa said goodbye and walked forlornly back to The Pebbles. They felt they had made things worse, not better, and decided not to say anything about their conversation to the family.
“Farrington knows the truth. He couldn’t meet our eyes,” said Grandpa.
“Yes, but Lilac’s not ready to face the truth. I think she’s lied so much, she has started to believe it really is her song now,” concluded Dad.
Grandpa nodded. “All she cares about is winning. She doesn’t care how she does it. Our girls have got commitment – that must count for something. Lilac will come unstuck at some point. Even if she wins with our girls’ song, she’ll never be able to think of another!”
Dad agreed. He knew that being on the side of truth was all that mattered, but the sense of injustice was stinging his heart nonetheless.
Back at The Pebbles, Granny Bumble was clearing up the breakfast. She had lovingly prepared a hot spread, with fluffy scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, buttery mushrooms and piles of buttered toast. But no one had been hungry, so it was all going to waste.
“It’s our word against theirs,” mumbled Mum as she wiped the twins’ faces and took off their bibs.
“Listen to an old girl like me!” said Granny. “I keep saying it and no one will listen. This will sort itself out in a way you can’t imagine. I am confident the truth will win through. The fact is, our girls haven’t cheated, so we should feel proud of them, whatever happens. It’s only a contest.”
Poppy and Honey hoped more than anything in the world that Granny Bumble was right, but neither of them could see how it was going to happen.
Dad went out again almost immediately, this time with Poppy and Honey, and dropped by the temporary office of You’re a Star!, which was in the Camomile Chronicle building. He asked if they could re-register with another song.
An administrator came through to speak to Dad and reluctantly agreed that the girls could be included if they came up with a song by Friday tea time.
“That gives us less than two days to think of a new tune, words, dance routine and everything!” wailed Poppy as Dad took her and Honey round to Daisy’s summer house.
Daisy, Lily and Rose were already there, feeling very de-motivated and still shocked. On hearing the news about the new song being acceptable, they tried to jot down some notes but they were struggling for inspiration.
“Why don’t we write about school?” suggested Lily. “How awful it is – especially with a headmaster like Farrington.”
The girls perked up a bit at this idea.
“Yes,” agreed Daisy. “We could call it High School Blues. That could work. But it won’t be as cool as Chocolate Sundae Girls. That was the best song we’ve ever written.”
All the girls murmured their agreement, but they did not want to be left out of the contest so they settled down to some serious song-writing.
“How does this sound?” asked Lily.
“That’s a great start, Lil!” said Daisy. “We could really work with that. But I can’t think of a good dance idea and there’s not enough time to ask Claudine.”
“Let’s just concentrate on the song, shall we?” said Rose. “I don’t feel in the mood for dancing anyway. Why do such unfair things happen? Why do the goodies always win in the movies, but in real life the baddies always win?”
“No, Rose,” Lily said sagely. “It’s just that in real life the goodies take much longer to win. But let’s not give up. Let’s get on with this song – I’m sure we can make it work.”
Daisy burst into floods of tears. “But the other song is great too – how dare she do this to us! It’s so mean.”
The girls comforted their friend, who was normally so positive. Somehow they would get through this – they knew they were in the right.