Olivia Flies High Read Online Free

because they had made her suffer.
    She hated herself for even thinking of it but she had a fantasy of Tom coming to find her, begging her forgiveness and saying of course he’d give up doing The Sound of Music if it would make her happy. But she knew that wasn’t going to happen, not in a million years, and in fact she was the one who really owed him an apology for being so horrible. But she could still hear him saying “rubbishy circus act” with all that scorn in his voice, and it made her harden her heart against him.
    The Sound of Music rehearsals began thenext day and it was clear from her friends’ faces and their little huddled chats that Tom and Georgia were really excited about it. It made Olivia feel all the more left out. Once they got caught up in the thrill of meeting the rest of their team and the hard work of rehearsals, they wouldn’t give her another thought. Aeysha would be off soon, too.
    It felt as if everything was going wrong because of what had happened in that split second outside the Duke’s Theatre. Even her relationship with the two people she loved most in the world, her dad and Eel, had been tainted by it. Only last night Jack had called from Idaho while Olivia was sitting alone in her bedroom, brooding. By the time it was Olivia’s turn to talk to her dad, it was clear that both Alicia and Eel had filled him in on what had been happening, and he wasted no time in telling Olivia that she was behaving badly.
    “Honestly, Liv, sweetheart. Be reasonable,” he’d said. “I know it’s disappointing. But if it were the other way round and you got a long-term gig in the circus, you wouldn’t give it up to do a one-night performance somewhere else, would you?”
    In her heart, Olivia knew that he was right, but she felt mortified that Alicia and Eel had been discussing her with Jack. If only he was here, she could have talked the whole thing through with him. But he was thousands of miles away, so far away he might just as well have been on the moon, and that thought made her feel so lonely that she could barely speak. It felt as if someone had stuffed a brick down her throat.
    If Jack had been able to see her, he would have realised this, but instead he mistook her terse replies and silence for sulkiness. The conversation had ended with Jack saying, “You really need to get over yourself, Liv,” and Olivia slamming the phone down on him. She felt completely abandoned; even her dad was against her!
    Her shoulders sagged. She had been so bound up in herself that she hadn’t even asked him how the preparations were going for his walk across Snake Canyon. It was a very dangerous stunt, performed deep in the heart of a wilderness. The team was using a light aircraft to cover the terrain and would also be filming the stunt from the air as the centrepiece of the documentary. Olivia had wanted to ask himwhat it was like flying in such a tiny plane. She felt so miserable and furious with herself that later she had turned her anger on Eel.
    “You’re a horrid little sneak to talk to Dad about me,” she railed. “You don’t even know anything about it.”
    “Yes, I do! I was there when you stormed off, remember,” said Eel mutinously. “I felt sorry for you, Livy. So did the others; everyone knows how much Romeo and Juliet means to you. I’m disappointed too. I wanted to go up the Empire State Building. But you’re the one not talking to Aeysha, Tom and Georgia. They want to make up. They’re all really upset that you’ve got the hump. Particularly Tom.”
    “Have you been talking to my friends about me behind my back?” demanded Olivia furiously.
    “Well, somebody has to talk to them if you won’t,” said Eel reasonably, doing the little hop she did when she was nervous. Olivia was making her really edgy. Her sister had a short temper and often suddenly exploded with anger, but she was usually quick to say sorry. Eel had never known her to hold a grudge like this before.
    “Well,