Secret Schemes and Daring Dreams Read Online Free Page A

relief, for her father to step in and agree that it did make sense to employ Emma and Lucy (both such lovely girls) rather than pay exorbitant agency fees.
    â€˜And what’s more, I’ll help when I can,’ Tarquin had said magnanimously. ‘After all, you are my favourite godson and, besides, I’ve always wanted to do a feasibility study on solar lighting for the tennis court. Lovely people your parents, but when it comes to protecting the environment . . .’
    â€˜OK, Blob, you’re on,’ George had cut in hastily, and Emma had managed not to yell at him for using her childhood nickname. ‘And you’re sure Lucy will be up for it?’
    â€˜Trust me, she’ll be over the moon,’ Emma had assured him. ‘She needs the money and being with me will be the icing on the cake!’
    How on earth am I going to magic a replacement?thought Emma now, as she and Lucy crossed Pool Valley to the lime-green and orange façade of Mango Monkey’s. Because no way am I going to be up at seven every morning serving porridge to a load of pretentious old fogies.
    Little did she know that, at that very moment, the answer to her prayers was sitting in a corner of the club, crying quietly into her strawberry and banana fizz.

CHAPTER 2
Daring dream:
Rags to riches, courtesy of Emma W
    MOST OF THE GANG WERE ALREADY SITTING AT THE BAR or strutting their stuff on the neon-lit dance floor by the time Emma and Lucy arrived. And within seconds, Lucy was draped all over Adam and indulging in some interesting lip aerobics. Emma, while being as open-minded as the next person, had no real desire to be an up-close spectator, and certainly was not going to succumb to the banal come-ons of Simon and his drooling mates. She glanced around the dimly-lit club in the hopes of spotting someone she knew with whom she could have an intelligent conversation.
    â€˜Isn’t that Harriet?’ she murmured, nudging Serena who was queuing with Tabitha at the bar. ‘Over there in the corner?’
    Serena peered across the room. ‘What on earth is she doing here?’ she muttered. ‘Pretend you haven’t see her – she’s probably with the rest of the saddos from Mouldy Hill.’
    Emma glared at her. When Mole Hill Secondary, theworst sink school in town, had been the target of an arson attack, Deepdale Hall had offered to take Harriet and the few other sixth formers so that they could finish their A-level studies. As Mrs Goddard, the elegant and charismatic principal, explained to her privileged pupils, it behoved them all to share their good fortune with those to whom life had dealt a raw deal. (She failed to mention that since the Government had only recently declared that all independent schools should use their expertise to assist failing secondary schools, she was certain of highly favourable headlines in an assortment of national newspapers as well as a very useful financial reward.)
    The Mole Hillers had stood out like sore thumbs among the self-confident, affluent students of Deepdale Hall and most of Emma’s friends had pointedly ignored their existence. Even Emma, who prided herself on her ability to talk to anyone, realised on reflection that she could have been a bit more welcoming. So when she had overheard Mrs Goddard mentioning to the head of Sixth Form that Harriet Smith had been through ‘a particularly trying time in the last few years’ and muttering something about ‘if you read it in a book, you would be hard pressed to believe it,’ her curiosity had been aroused and she had decided that the poor girl needed befriending.
    In the short time she had known her, she had discovered that Harriet, who was extremely pretty in a chubby, Rubens-maiden kind of way, was really very sweet. She was softly spoken, with the faintest Welsh lilt to her voice, and she had neither nose ring nor tattoo;and her gorgeous chestnut hair did not come out of a bottle.