Read Online The Fashion Princess by Janey Louise Jones - Free Book Online Page A

through the dusky streets of New York. Poppy gasped at the height of the buildings and the buzz of people returning home from work along the broad pavements – or sidewalks, as they called them.
    After what seemed like no time at all, their taxi pulled over. Poppy looked out of the window to see a magnificent hotel entrance with huge revolving glass doors, lots of plants and shrubs and a vast royal-blue canvas awning. THE CENTRAL PARK PLAZA HOTEL. They’d arrived!

    Poppy and Saffron got out of the taxi and thanked and paid the driver; their luggage was immediately whisked off intothe lobby. The cousins were due to meet Bryony Snow in the hotel restaurant in half an hour, so they had just enough time to check in, have their luggage taken to their room and freshen up in one of the hotel’s amazing powder rooms.
    Poppy looked around at all the smart and sophisticated people, as well as lots of gorgeous girls, all dressed up in amazing outfits with fabulous accessories. She thought they were probably in town for Fashion Week just like her and Saffron. Even though there were some quite glamorous ladies in Honeypot Hill, especially at the Beehive Beauty Salon, Poppy had never seen so many fashionable people all in one place before.
    They made their way to the grand Park View restaurant, which was on the tenth floor. The dining room was spectacular. It was filled with roundtables, all laid with white tablecloths and silver cutlery, as well as flickering candles. There were sweet-smelling white lilies in clear glass vases all around the room, and the huge windows gave them a magnificent view of Central Park. They settled down at their table and ordered a fruit smoothie each. Just as their drinks arrived, Bryony Snow and a striking younger girl burst through the doors.
    Bryony was all smiles, shopping bags and apologies.
    â€œI’m so sorry I’m late. There was a sale at Barney’s today, and we popped in after the shows and, well, you know how it is . . .”she explained with a cheeky grin.

    Poppy looked at the pretty girl at Bryony’s side. Although her face slightly resembled Bryony’s, she was very distinctive looking in her own right.
    Bryony turned to her. “Oh, I haven’t introduced my baby sister, have I? How rude of me! Saffron Sage, Poppy Cotton, please meet Berry!”

Chapter Two
    BERRY WASN’T EXACTLY a baby. She was older than Poppy – probably about the same age as Poppy’s cousin Daisy – and looked very cool. She had spirals of long, wild red hair, big brown eyes which looked kind and friendly, and very pale, porcelain skin with a delicate sprinkling of freckles. Poppy thought she looked like she would be great fun.
    â€œHi, Berry,” said Saffron. “How amazing, coming on a trip with your big sister!”
    â€œI know. I’m really lucky,” agreed Berry. “Even if Bryony
does
get me to carry all the heavy bags!”
    Everyone laughed.
    â€œAnd is this Princess Poppy here?” asked Berry kindly.
    Poppy nodded shyly. She absolutely worshipped older girls and felt very uncool compared to Berry. But Berry smiled so warmly that Poppy knew they were going to be firm friends.
    â€œLet’s order some dinner, shall we?” suggested Bryony. “You must be famished after hours of disgusting aeroplane food.”
    Poppy nodded and looked down at her menu. She didn’t want to admit that she absolutely adored the dinky little aeroplane meals, although she
was
definitely hungry.
    Once they had ordered from the extensive and somewhat complicatedmenu, they settled down to getting to know one another properly.
    â€œWe’ve been here for a few days already – lucky it’s half term, isn’t it?” said Bryony. “I’ve been going to some of the warm-up shows and doing a few interviews for the magazine – as well as shopping. I’m going to be exhausted by the end of the week at this rate – and