Costume Crisis
The next few days flew by. Every free moment was spent getting ready for the competition. Issy changed her piece of music, but then, after a day, she decided she didn’t like her new choice either. She picked another; it still wasn’t quite right, but Issy decided it would have to do. Luckily she had always found it easy to think up and learn routines.
Issy couldn’t wait to see her costume. She had designed a red dress with beading over the bodice and a floaty skirt. The frost fairies were making all the costumes and delivering them on the morning of the competition.
To Issy’s relief, the weather had got a bit colder again and the frost fairies perked up, but Issy still made sure she did as much as she could to help them by keeping her things tidy and neat. Jo thought she was mad.
Issy sometimes had the lonely feeling she’d had on the first morning – she liked her new friends, but she didn’t really feel they were very like her. Milly always had her head in a book and Maisie was always singing and messing around. Jo was good fun, but Issy had begun to notice that she just didn’t seem to care much about people’s feelings and she really wasn’t into magic at all.
Issy wished there was someone she could talk to about Madame Longley’s lessons and the frost fairies, but no one else seemed to feel the same as she did and so she kept quiet even though she was longing to talk about everything they were learning. Jo, Maisie and Milly are great, she reminded herself. I’m lucky to have them as friends.
On Saturday, Issy noticed that the frost fairies were behaving strangely. Groups of them kept gathering together, whispering anxiously. Issy wondered if it was because it had got warmer again that day. That afternoon, she found Cobweb in the dorm struggling to pick up one of Jo’s socks.
‘Here, let me do that,’ said Issy quickly.
‘Thanks,’ said Cobweb, panting.
‘Is the weather too warm for you today?’ Issy asked and Cobweb nodded. ‘Is that why all the fairies look so anxious? There are groups of them everywhere.’
‘We’re all really worried about the costumes for tomorrow,’ Cobweb told her. ‘They’re not finished because the magic we need to make them has been so weak recently. We’re going to have to stay up all night.’
‘All night!’ Issy echoed. ‘You’ll be really tired. Can we help? Maybe we could sew or something?’
‘Thank you, but we do a lot of the costume-making with magic. We’re going to try making the costumes down by the ice rink because magic in this land is stronger near to ice.’ Cobweb saw Issy’s face. ‘Don’t worry, it’ll be fine, Issy.’ She smiled, but it looked like an effort.
The bell rang. ‘I’ve got to go,’ said Issy. ‘But if you do think of a way I could help, let me know.’ She hated to think of the fairies having to work through the night to get the costumes done.
If only there was something I could do to help, she mused. But what?
‘You’re being quiet,’ Jo said as they finished their supper. ‘Are you still thinking about those fairies?’
Issy nodded. She’d told them about the costume problem as soon as she had sat down.
‘If I were you, I’d stop worrying about it. There isn’t anything you can do,’ Jo said. ‘Look, it’s still light outside. Why don’t we all go sledging?’
‘Not me,’ said Milly. ‘I want to go and practise my routine again and then finish my book. I can’t believe it’s the competition tomorrow.’
‘You’ll come, won’t you, Maisie?’ said Jo.
‘Yeah,’ replied Maisie. ‘What about you, Issy?’
‘I don’t want to go sledging. I want to help the frost fairies.’
Jo rolled her eyes. ‘Boring.’
‘It’s not!’ Issy felt a faint flicker of anger. ‘The frost fairies are going to have to stay up all night. They’re weak…’
‘Blah, blah, blah,’ said Jo infuriatingly.
‘Oh, stop being like that!’ Issy exclaimed. ‘It’s really annoying.’
‘Oooh,’ mocked Jo.
Issy stood up. ‘You don’t care about anything, do you? All you ever want to do is have fun!’
‘So?’ Jo said with a grin. ‘What’s wrong with that?’
‘Oh –!’ Issy broke off with an angry exclamation. There was no point in arguing, but she was so cross. She pushed her chair back and walked away from the table. Sometimes she wondered why she was friends with Jo!
The dorm was empty. Issy lay down on the bed feeling miserable. If only she had someone she could talk to.
* * *
At quarter to nine, the others came back. Issy felt strange after the argument, but Jo didn’t seem bothered. ‘You should have come sledging,’ she said to Issy and Milly. ‘It was fun.’
‘It would have been more fun if there had been more of us though,’ Maisie admitted. ‘It’s not so brilliant when it’s just two of you.’
Issy couldn’t decide whether to still be cross with Jo or not. She was glad when the bell went a few minutes later and Madame Li turned out the light. But although the others fell asleep quickly, Issy just couldn’t. She lay awake, staring at the ceiling, thinking about everything – the fairies, her friends…
There must be something I can do…
Issy sat up. Oh, she couldn’t just stay in bed any longer. She would go and see them down at the rink. Pushing back the covers, she crept out of the dorm.
