I just . . .’
Hmm. What was so fantastic about this Kezia? She had her claws into Fergus, and Jazz seemed totally smitten with her too.
I let Jazz wibble on while I munched the cold pasta and thought about Jaffa’s stowaway antics. What on earth had possessed her? I didn’t buy that rubbish about wanting some ‘snooze time’.
‘Bertie? Hell-loooo!’ Jazz was waving her hands in front of my face. ‘Is there any life on Planet Bertie? Do we need to send out a search party?’
I raised my eyebrows. ‘Very funny.’
‘Well, ex-cuuuse me,’ said Jazz, hands on hips, ‘but if I didn’t know you better, I’d say you haven’t been listening to a word I’ve been saying! You look like you’re on Planet Zombie.’
‘It was Planet Bertie a minute ago,’ I said wear-ily.
‘Whatever,’ said Jazz. She had her you-are- so -not-going-to-get-away-with-this look on her face, the one where she fixes me intently with her dark brown eyes and sets her mouth in a grim expression.
I rolled my eyes.
‘Hey, Jasmeena,’ said a sneery voice.
Jazz whirled round, her back to me as she looked up at the speaker. She flushed with pleasure when she saw who it was. ‘Hey, Kezia!’
The older girl stood with a hand on one hip, her mouth set in a sly smirk. She was accompanied by one of her creepy mates – Charlie, Fergus had said her name was. The pair of them looked like they were trying to model themselves on some kind of girl band. They wore mega-short skirts, enough make-up to sink a ship, and their hair was slicked back into high ponytails and held in place with shiny hairclips. They also wore gross huge hooped earrings, which hung below their jawline. They chewed gum as they spoke, their eyes hard, their expressions somehow managing to look disdainful even when they smiled. A right Gruesome Twosome.
Has Halloween come early? I wondered.
‘Charlie and I thought you might want a look at this, seeing as how you’re so, like, famous and everything,’ Kezia said, shoving a piece of paper under Jazz’s nose.
Jazz’s eyes sparkled as she read what was on it, and I watched her expression turn to one of total joy. I looked over her shoulder and saw the words: screaming out in bold red-and-black writing. A sick feeling churned in my stomach.
‘Can. You. Believe it?’ Jazz breathed, her hands flying to her face in ecstasy. ‘This is soooo mega. It’ll be just like Who’s Got Talent? Oh, Bertie. Isn’t this cool?’ She read out the words on the poster:
‘Yeah, we thought you’d be up for it, Jasmeena.’
I winced at their use of Jazz’s full name. She normally hated it when people called her that. But instead of correcting the girls sharply as she would usually have done, she simply gushed, ‘Wow, this is, like, awesome!’
‘Yeah,’ said Kezia. She twirled her shiny dark ponytail with one long painted fingernail and gave Jazz a tight-lipped smile. ‘I’m sure you’ll have loads to teach us amateurs. Won’t you, babe?’
‘After all,’ added Charlie in a sugary voice, ‘you are best mates with Danni Minnow, aren’t you? She must have given you loads of top tips on how to make it as a performer.’
‘Yeah,’ said Kezia. ‘I mean, no one else will have that kind of an advantage, will they?’
The two girls exchanged knowing looks and burst into giggles. ‘Oh, Jazzie,’ Charlie said casually, and the pair turned to go, ‘did you drop this?’ She dangled a phone carelessly from her fingertips.
‘Hey, my phone!’ Jazz gasped, her jaw falling to the floor. ‘Wow, where did you find it?’
‘Nowhere,’ Charlie said, a bit too quickly. ‘Like I said, you probably dropped it.’
Jazz’s forehead creased and she opened her mouth to say something.
‘Come on, Charlie,’ Kezia said impatiently. ‘Can’t stand around here all day. Catch you later, girls,’ she cooed back at us over her shoulder.
Jazz shook her head in disbelief and then shot me a face-splitting grin. ‘Aren’t they,
Hmm. What was so fantastic about this Kezia? She had her claws into Fergus, and Jazz seemed totally smitten with her too.
I let Jazz wibble on while I munched the cold pasta and thought about Jaffa’s stowaway antics. What on earth had possessed her? I didn’t buy that rubbish about wanting some ‘snooze time’.
‘Bertie? Hell-loooo!’ Jazz was waving her hands in front of my face. ‘Is there any life on Planet Bertie? Do we need to send out a search party?’
I raised my eyebrows. ‘Very funny.’
‘Well, ex-cuuuse me,’ said Jazz, hands on hips, ‘but if I didn’t know you better, I’d say you haven’t been listening to a word I’ve been saying! You look like you’re on Planet Zombie.’
‘It was Planet Bertie a minute ago,’ I said wear-ily.
‘Whatever,’ said Jazz. She had her you-are- so -not-going-to-get-away-with-this look on her face, the one where she fixes me intently with her dark brown eyes and sets her mouth in a grim expression.
I rolled my eyes.
‘Hey, Jasmeena,’ said a sneery voice.
Jazz whirled round, her back to me as she looked up at the speaker. She flushed with pleasure when she saw who it was. ‘Hey, Kezia!’
The older girl stood with a hand on one hip, her mouth set in a sly smirk. She was accompanied by one of her creepy mates – Charlie, Fergus had said her name was. The pair of them looked like they were trying to model themselves on some kind of girl band. They wore mega-short skirts, enough make-up to sink a ship, and their hair was slicked back into high ponytails and held in place with shiny hairclips. They also wore gross huge hooped earrings, which hung below their jawline. They chewed gum as they spoke, their eyes hard, their expressions somehow managing to look disdainful even when they smiled. A right Gruesome Twosome.
Has Halloween come early? I wondered.
‘Charlie and I thought you might want a look at this, seeing as how you’re so, like, famous and everything,’ Kezia said, shoving a piece of paper under Jazz’s nose.
Jazz’s eyes sparkled as she read what was on it, and I watched her expression turn to one of total joy. I looked over her shoulder and saw the words: screaming out in bold red-and-black writing. A sick feeling churned in my stomach.
‘Can. You. Believe it?’ Jazz breathed, her hands flying to her face in ecstasy. ‘This is soooo mega. It’ll be just like Who’s Got Talent? Oh, Bertie. Isn’t this cool?’ She read out the words on the poster:
‘Yeah, we thought you’d be up for it, Jasmeena.’
I winced at their use of Jazz’s full name. She normally hated it when people called her that. But instead of correcting the girls sharply as she would usually have done, she simply gushed, ‘Wow, this is, like, awesome!’
‘Yeah,’ said Kezia. She twirled her shiny dark ponytail with one long painted fingernail and gave Jazz a tight-lipped smile. ‘I’m sure you’ll have loads to teach us amateurs. Won’t you, babe?’
‘After all,’ added Charlie in a sugary voice, ‘you are best mates with Danni Minnow, aren’t you? She must have given you loads of top tips on how to make it as a performer.’
‘Yeah,’ said Kezia. ‘I mean, no one else will have that kind of an advantage, will they?’
The two girls exchanged knowing looks and burst into giggles. ‘Oh, Jazzie,’ Charlie said casually, and the pair turned to go, ‘did you drop this?’ She dangled a phone carelessly from her fingertips.
‘Hey, my phone!’ Jazz gasped, her jaw falling to the floor. ‘Wow, where did you find it?’
‘Nowhere,’ Charlie said, a bit too quickly. ‘Like I said, you probably dropped it.’
Jazz’s forehead creased and she opened her mouth to say something.
‘Come on, Charlie,’ Kezia said impatiently. ‘Can’t stand around here all day. Catch you later, girls,’ she cooed back at us over her shoulder.
Jazz shook her head in disbelief and then shot me a face-splitting grin. ‘Aren’t they,
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