Magic at Silver Spires (7 page)

“I've just had another thought!” said Nicole. “Maybe Mrs. Pridham could invite your dad to do the cooking at the Italian evening! He's a proper chef, after all.”

Why hadn't I thought of that? “That's a brilliant idea, Nicole. Then he'd feel really involved and also it would be rude to turn down an invitation like that from Mrs. Pridham.”

“I'll go and speak to her right now,” said Nicole. “Surely she'll be able to persuade your dad to let you stay here till the weekend.” Nicole's voice started to go very quiet. “Then at least we'd have a few days…”

I swallowed, thinking that all we were doing was stretching out the agony and making it even harder to say goodbye afterwards. And anyway, Mrs. Pridham would probably agree with Papà that the hotel idea was much more sensible. Why would she want to be bothered with someone on crutches in her boarding house with all those stairs, when there were lifts at hotels and my parents had come all the way from Italy?

“Okay,” I said, feeling my voice fading out with hopelessness. “Phone me back when you've spoken to her.”

As soon as I'd rung off from talking to Nicole I gave the phone back to the nurse. Then I switched on the TV and stared at the screen, but I didn't see anything at all because I was so taken up with my thoughts.

It gave me a shock when my mobile suddenly started vibrating and the name
Nicole
appeared on the little screen. I hadn't expected her to call back so soon. I quickly grabbed the phone, but in my hurry I knocked my bandaged hand against the chest of drawers beside the bed, and felt a sharp pain.

“Hi, Nicole,” I said in a worried whisper. “What happened?”

As Nicole talked, I watched my white bandage turn smudgy pink with the blood seeping through from where I'd knocked my hand, and I tried to ignore the throbbing pain. If only I'd been a bit more careful – now there was something else for Papà and Mamma to fuss about.

“Well the moment Mrs. Pridham opened her door I burst into tears,” began Nicole, “and poured it all out to her about your dad taking you away on Thursday and everything. I could tell she was quite shocked. She said she was due to see your parents in half an hour but she had no idea that they had made a definite decision, or that they'd be taking you away so soon. So then I started begging her to invite them to the Italian evening, and her eyes were really flicking sideways all the time and she was wearing a gigantic frown as though she was trying to work out what to do.”

“So did she agree to invite them?”

“She told me she'd have to wait and see what your parents had to say first, and that if they'd made up their minds to remove you from school immediately there might not be anything she could do about it. But she did say that she had your welfare at heart and that she hoped she might be able to persuade them at least to stay on till Saturday, because it's only a few days and the Italian evening would be a lovely send-off for you.” Nicole sighed. “And that was all really, except that she said I should try not to worry, and that she'd come and find me later.”

“And did you say about me staying at school and not at the hotel?”

“Yes…no…did I?” Nicole sounded all flustered and upset. “No, I forgot. Oh, I'm so stupid… It was just that she was hurrying me away, because she said she'd just been on the phone for ages before I knocked at the door and she had stuff to do before the meeting. So I had to go.”

“Don't worry. At least you said about the Italian evening.”

There was a silence, then Nicole said, “Oh, by the way, Emily says she's going to kill your dad.”

And I don't know if it was the flat way she said it, or the whole ridiculous situation we were in, but I burst out laughing and then Nicole was laughing too and we couldn't speak for ages.

“You'll phone me as soon as Mrs. Pridham speaks to you, won't you?” I said eventually.

“Yes, of course I will.”

“I'd better go. The nurse is giving me funny looks. Perhaps I'm disturbing people.”

“Okay, bye, Antonia.”

“Bye.”

The nurse wasn't giving me any funny looks really. How could she? The curtains were still pulled round my bed. It was just that there was nothing left to say and I didn't know how to finish the call. I'd been laughing my head off a minute before, but now all I wanted was to pull the pillow back over my face and cry. Except that even that seemed too much effort.

“Ready for a cup of tea, hon?”

A new nurse, a really young-looking one, had poked her head through the curtain, and all I could see was her smiling face.

“Erm…yes please.” I was hanging on to my tears so they didn't fall out, but it was making my throat hurt.

“Are you all right, honey?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

She came inside the curtain then and pulled it back closed, and quickly glanced at my medical notes. “Antonia – that's a pretty name.”

I tried to smile but it didn't work.

“Rossi. That's not English, is it?” she went on.

“I'm from Italy,” I said flatly.

“Aha!” She sat down on the chair by my bed and drew it up closer to where I was perched on the edge, my plastered leg stretched out on the bedclothes. “I heard you laughing a moment ago. On the phone, were you?”

I nodded. “It was my best friend. Sorry, I hope I wasn't disturbing anyone.”

“No, not at all. I only heard you laugh. You must have a nice quiet telephone voice. Anyway…best friend? That's nice.” Then her eyes widened. “Oh! Have you been on the phone to Italy? That'll cost you a bit!”

“No, I go to Silver Spires boarding school here.” And as soon as I said it, I realized it wasn't quite true what I'd said. “I mean, that's where I went until…now.”

That was when I started crying, and I felt so stupid and embarrassed, especially when the nurse had only just heard me laughing. She must have thought I was really strange.

She took my hand and noticed the bloodstain on the bandage. “Oh dear. I'll sort that out for you. But listen, hon, if you want to talk, I'm here.”

“It's just that my dad…” I managed to say between little sobby breaths, “…is going to take me away from my school and I don't want to leave… My parents want me closer to them…not stuck in England when they're in Italy…”

“Well, that's understandable. It's because they love you so much.”

“Yes, but they're taking me straight away and not even letting me stay till Saturday for the Italian evening at school, unless Mrs. Pridham – that's my housemistress – persuades them to let me.”

“Right…” The nurse looked as though she was searching for something to say but couldn't think of anything. She probably didn't understand what on earth I was talking about.

“They've got an appointment to see her right now…then they're coming back here and I'll find out the worst.”

“Or you might find out the best. I'll go and get you that tea, hon, and a fresh dressing for your hand, and let's hope for the best, eh?”

By three o'clock I was in such a state. I'd been trying to read my book, but I felt so tired all the time. The kind nurse encouraged me to lie down properly in the bed and have a sleep.

“A general anaesthetic really takes it out of you, you know, hon, and –” her voice softened – “I think you've had a bit of a setback with the news you've had, too.”

I did as I was told and lay there, tense and knotted. But exactly the same thing happened that had happened the day before. My tension must have somehow slipped into tiredness, and when I woke up I was shocked to realize I'd been asleep and even more shocked to see Mamma and Papà there.

“Hello,
cara
!”

The knots came straight back into my stomach as I remembered the awfulness of the news I'd had earlier. I searched my parents' faces for any sign of what they were about to say now.

“How are you?” asked Papà.

“I'm okay. How…did the meeting go?”

“Everything is sorted out,” said Mamma. “Ms. Carmichael and Mrs. Pridham were full of praise for you. They're so sorry to be losing you, of course, but they completely understand why.”

Now there was a big stone crushing the knots, squashing them so I couldn't feel them any more, but weighing my spirits down with its heaviness.

“Mrs. Pridham talked about the Italian evening, Toni,” said Papà, and I saw a little gleam in his eye and felt the tiniest ray of hope. “She asked me if I would do some cooking.” Papà chuckled, but it seemed like the kind of chuckle you might do if you thought something was ridiculous, so then the stone pressed harder, flattening my spirits even more.

“We didn't know about the Italian evening until Mrs. Pridham mentioned it,” said Mamma, “and we both thought what a lovely goodbye it would be for you. So Papà would be happy to cook and you'll be pleased to hear we've changed the train booking to Sunday.”

Everything lightened inside me. “Oh, that's great!” I sat myself up a bit straighter, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the nurse who'd been so kind to me hovering nearby. Maybe she was wondering how I was getting on. I wasn't really sure myself, as there was one important thing I still had to know, and I was dreading the answer.

“Did…Mrs. Pridham…tell you what
I'm
supposed to be doing at the Italian evening?”

“Yes, she explained that you have quite an important role,” said Papà.

“And that you have to practise your play,” Mamma added.

I swallowed and waited. The nurse was waiting too. When I flicked my eyes to the right I could see her at the nurses' station, standing quite still and looking directly at me.

“Mrs. Pridham seems to think you'll be able to manage at school until the weekend,” said Papà. He shook his head slowly. “I can't say we're over the moon about it, because you'd be so much safer in the hotel with us.” Then he shrugged. “But apparently it's not the first time someone at Forest Ash has broken a leg.”

“So…I'm allowed to go back to Silver Spires?”

“We've agreed to let you stay there till Sunday morning, yes. Our train is at three twenty. And, Antonia…” Papà's eyes were boring into mine. I swallowed. “We're not changing our minds. You do understand that, don't you?”

That last bit was awful. But at least I wasn't going immediately. I had five more nights at Silver Spires in Emerald dorm with my friends. That was something.

I subtly nodded at the kind nurse and she gave me a big thumbs-up sign.

Which made me smile inside.

“Right, girls, you're free to go,” said Miss Stevenson at the end of Tuesday evening's prep.

“Yay!” said Emily. “Can I go outside, Miss Stevenson?”

“Just for a few minutes then.”

“Let's practise the Chin dance!” said Izzy. “Come and sing for us, Toni.”

But I wasn't really ready to go yet. Ever since I'd arrived back at Silver Spires just two hours earlier, I'd found myself short of time. First I'd gone straight to my dorm, and seen that there was a mattress on the floor near my desk with all my bedclothes on it. Mrs. Pridham told me this would be easier for me than trying to climb up my ladder to bed, and I felt quite excited about sleeping on the floor. It looked very cosy. Then, while my friends had gone to supper, I'd unpacked my things and Mrs. Pridham had brought me some sandwiches and a mug of hot chocolate. I'd missed the whole day's lessons, of course, and even though Mrs. Pridham said I didn't have to worry, I'd decided to come to prep to try and catch up with as much as I could. But the session seemed to be over so quickly, and I'd still got quite a bit of copying to do.

“I just want to finish this history,” I said, as everyone started to leave the prep room. “Is it okay if I stay for a while, Miss Stevenson?”

She gave me a really sympathetic look, as though she was sorry for me having to spend extra time catching up with the work I'd been missing while I was in hospital.

“I don't mind, honestly,” I said, smiling at her brightly. And I really didn't. The only thing that was a bit annoying was trying to write with my hand bandaged up. If only it had been my left hand, everything would have been so much easier.

I looked at the clean white dressing which the kind nurse at the hospital had put on earlier. She'd told Mrs. Pridham that it should be changed again the next day and Matron had already told me she'd do it tomorrow and that in the meantime I should keep it completely dry. She said the drier it was, the faster it would heal, and she thought I must have cut it on a sharp stone or something because it was quite a deep wound. I couldn't wait till I could get the bandage off completely, but I guessed that would be a few days away still.

As I settled down to carry on copying up Nicole's history, I noticed that she'd got a book out of her bag and I realized she was planning on staying with me.