CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Bonus Bits!

  Chapter One

  Alice stared out of the car window as her mum drove along the road. They were on their way to Hopewell High, the boarding school where Alice was a pupil. Alice hummed a song as they drove along.

  In five weeks the school was putting on the musical ‘Legally Blonde’ and she was playing the main part of Elle Woods. There were so many lines and songs to remember!

  “It’s been lovely to hear you singing around the house,” Alice’s mum said. “You have such a beautiful voice. I don’t know where you get it from!”

  Alice laughed. “You have a good voice too, Mum. It’s just that you never had singing lessons.”

  “No money for that kind of thing when I was growing up,” said her mum. “I just hope you’re not getting too worried about the show.”

  Alice bit her fingernail. “I’m not worried,” she said with a laugh. But it was a lie: of course she was worried. Very worried. Everyone got nervous before a show, didn’t they? And she had such a big part!

  Her mum gave Alice a quick look. “You will tell me if you have any problems at school, won’t you?” she asked.

  Alice knew what her mum was talking about. Last year, when Alice was thirteen, she had started to suffer from panic attacks. They were frightening, and at first she thought she was going to die. Panic attacks made you breathe faster and faster, and then you felt like you couldn’t breathe any more. They made the world spin inside your head. If you didn’t get control early on, it took hours to recover. Now, Alice always carried a paper bag with her. Breathing into the bag stopped the fast breathing and helped her calm down. “I haven’t had a panic attack for ages,” Alice said. She bit her fingernail again.

  “That doesn’t mean they’ve gone,” her mum said. Then she said, “Alice, I’ve been meaning to talk about something with you. But there hasn’t been the right moment…”

  Alice looked across at her mum. “What?”

  “Your dad and I…” said her mum. “We… you know we haven’t been getting along lately.”

  Alice felt her stomach sink. “Yes…” She had noticed, of course. Dad had been out a lot. And when he was home, there was a kind of coldness between him and Mum. What was Mum about to say?

  “I don’t want you to worry,” Alice’s mum said. She sighed, and pulled over to the side of the road so she could turn to Alice. “Things haven’t been right for a while.”

  “Are you going to split up?” Alice asked quickly.

  Her mum looked shocked. “No! Well… no, I hope not.”

  “You hope not?” said Alice, nervously.

  “I didn’t want to upset you on your way back to school!” Mum said, biting her lip. “It’s just that I knew you had noticed. But I’m sure we will sort it out, your dad and me. Maybe I’ve got it wrong.”

  Alice frowned. “Maybe you’ve got what wrong?”

  “I saw a text message…” her mum began. “It’s probably nothing. But… well… it was from another woman.”

  “Another woman? Who?” asked Alice.

  “Someone at work,” said her mum.

  “What did it say?” asked Alice.

  Mum gave a sigh and then said, “I think your dad is having an affair.”

  Chapter Two

  Alice waved her mum goodbye and then she ran up to the Nest, the dormitory she shared with her three best friends. All the dormitories at Hopewell High had names. The Nest was on the top floor and was very cosy. Daisy, Hani and Samira were all there, unpacking their bags. Alice went in and burst into tears. She told the others what her mum had said about her dad having an affair.

  “Oh no!” Daisy put her arms around Alice. “I can’t believe it. What a shock.”

  Alice wiped her eyes. “I was just really surprised, that’s all. I didn’t see it coming.”

  “Does your mum know for sure that your dad is having an affair?” Daisy asked. Her blue-green eyes were lined with make-up, and her long dark hair hung loose around her shoulders.

  “No.” said Alice, trying to stop crying. “When she asked him about the text message, he said it was just a joke. And then he wouldn’t talk about it any more.”

  “What did the message say?” asked Hani.

  “She wouldn’t tell me. But I guess it was… personal. Straight after that, he changed the settings on his phone. New password, new lock screen. Now Mum doesn’t know who’s texting him and can’t find out.”

  “It might be a one-off,” said Samira.

  “Also,” Alice went on, “last week, he went out with his mates. Or at least, he said that’s where he was going. But Mum bumped into one of his mates the next day and he didn’t know anything about it!”

  Everyone was silent for a moment.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Daisy said at last.

  “Yeah,” said Hani. “No wonder your mum is freaking out. What’s she going to do?”

  “I don’t know. I’m so worried. I wish I didn’t have to come back to school.” Alice’s eyes filled with tears again.

  “Group hug!” said Daisy, and she, Samira and Hani put their arms around Alice. “Don’t worry,” said Daisy. “We are here. You can talk to us any time.”

  “And I’ve got to do ‘Legally Blonde’!” cried Alice. Her breathing was getting faster.

  “Bag!” shouted Daisy.

  Samira grabbed a paper bag from the drawer of Alice’s bedside table. She handed it to Alice, whose breaths were starting to make a funny hooting sound.

  “Breathe into the bag,” said Daisy in a firm voice.

  Alice’s fingers were shaking. She opened the bag and held it over her mouth and nose. The bag filled with air as Alice breathed out and then the bag emptied as she breathed in. Slowly, she calmed down.

  The others waited until Alice was ready to take the bag away from her mouth. Then Samira said, “Now lie down and rest.”

  Alice’s eyes were closing. She felt so tired! She heard Daisy say, “I’ll go and tell Miss Redmond she’s had a panic attack.”

  “Don’t tell her why,” said Alice sleepily.

  “Don’t worry,” said Daisy. “We won’t tell anyone about your dad. Go to sleep now.”

  Alice lay down on her bed and fell fast asleep.

  Chapter Three

  The next day, Alice was in the rehearsal for ‘Legally Blonde’.

  “Alice!” called out Miss Anya. “You missed your cue again!”

  Alice jumped. “I’m so sorry, Miss Anya.”

  The drama teacher turned to the girl playing the piano. “Take it from the top again, Robin.”

  Alice stood in the middle of the stage and began to sing her song. Miss Anya watched her carefully.

  At the end of the rehearsal, Miss Anya spoke to Alice. “What’s going on? You’re missing cues, forgetting lines. Didn’t you practise over half term?”

  Alice felt tears fill her eyes. She had done nothing but practise! But since her mum had told her about her dad, Alice had found it impossible to concentrate. Even on acting – her favourite thing!

  Miss Anya said gently, “Alice, you have a real gift for acting and singing. But you just don’t seem to have your heart in it at the moment. I need you to do your best.”

  “Sorry, Miss Anya,” said Alice miserably. “I’ll do better. I just had a hard day.”

  Miss Anya nodded. “Make sure you get a good night’s sleep. The show is only four weeks away, and we’ve got a lot to get through.”

  Alice grabbed her script and turned to leave the hall. Robin gave her a friendly smile as she walked past the piano. All the girls knew something was wrong. Alice was usually amazing on stage. It was like a different girl had taken her place.

  Alice went straight to the toilets and locked herself in a cubicle. She sat down on the closed seat, breathing heavily. It had been a week since she got back to school, and things at home seemed to be getting worse. Every evening she spoke to her mum on the phone – and every evening her mum got upset. “What will I do if he is having an affair?” she cried. Alice didn’t know how to answer.

  Alice closed her eyes. Everything was just too much right now. She needed to focus on the musical. If she didn’t pull her socks up, Miss Anya might not let her play Elle in the show. And Alice loved the part!

  Alice’s breathing got faster and faster. By the time she realised, it was too late – the panic attack was in full flow. There was a paper bag in her school bag, but Alice’s hands were shaking so much she couldn’t grip anything. Her brain shut down, and she began to make little hooting noises with each breath. She slid sideways, until she was crouched in a ball on the floor.

  All she could feel was the air going in and out of her lungs – too little, too quickly – and the pounding pressure in her head. Everything else was black.

  Chapter Four

  “Alice, can you hear me?”

  Alice slowly opened her eyes to see Samira looking down at her. “You need to get up now.” Alice sat up, feeling very groggy. She was in her own bed, and sunlight was pouring in through the windows. “What time is it?” she asked.

  “Half seven,” Samira told her. “You will miss breakfast if you don�

�t get a move on. The others have already gone down.”

  “Half seven… in the morning?” asked Alice.

  Samira smiled. “Yeah. You slept through both bells. In fact you’ve been asleep for about twelve hours.”

  Alice tried to remember what had happened. “I passed out…” she said.

  “You had another panic attack.” Samira nodded. “A really bad one. I found you on the floor of the toilets. They had to break the lock on the door to get to you. I’ve never seen you like that before. Did you forget to take a bag with you or something?”

  Alice lay back against her pillows and stared at the ceiling. “No,” she said. “I had a bag with me. I just didn’t think to get to it until it was too late.”

  “You know…” Samira began, and then stopped. “If you had fallen against the toilet and hit your head… Alice, I was really worried about you.”

  “Oh, Sammy, it’s OK.” Alice sat up to give her friend a hug. “I’m all right, really. And I need to get up! I can’t believe I slept so long! I really need a wee!”

  Samira smiled as Alice rushed to the bathroom. Then she went downstairs to join Daisy and Hani at breakfast. “She seems OK,” she told them. “But she’s so stressed. Doing ‘Legally Blonde’ and worrying about her parents…”

  “She’s going to have more and more attacks at this rate,” said Daisy, taking a bite of toast. “We’ve got to do something.”

  “She mustn’t miss the show,” said Hani. “She’s so amazing. If we could stop her worrying about her parents, that would help.”

  “But we can’t do anything about her parents,” said Samira. “I mean, what do we know about marriage problems?”

  “My parents split up when I was eight,” said Daisy. “But I never knew half of what was going on.”

  “It’s none of our business if her dad is having an affair,” said Samira firmly.

  Daisy put down her toast. “What if he isn’t?” Samira and Hani stared at her. “No, listen,” Daisy went on. “What if Alice’s mum has got it wrong? I mean, she might be dead right – but what if she isn’t? What if something else is going on?”

  “Like what?” asked Hani.

  But before Daisy could answer, Alice came into the dining room. Daisy quickly started talking about homework, and the others joined in.

  For the rest of that day, Daisy’s brain was spinning. How could they find out what was really going on at Alice’s home?

  Chapter Five

  It was a week later and Alice was at another rehearsal for ‘Legally Blonde’. They were going through all the scenes in the first half of the show but Alice couldn’t concentrate. Only half an hour ago, she had phoned home to see how her mum was.

  “He’s out again,” her mum had said, sounding upset. “He’s out at the same time every week, and he won’t tell me where. I’ve tried all his friends, but none of them are with him. I think he must be with her.”

  “But who is she?” asked Alice.

  Her mum didn’t know. “Someone from work,” she kept saying. “They have got a new receptionist. Whenever I mention her, he blows his top. Says I’m imagining things. I’m almost sure it’s her.”

  “Oh, Mum…” said Alice.

  And now Alice was on the stage, trying to listen to her teacher.

  “If you make a mistake,” Miss Anya said to the girls, “just find a way to keep going. It’s more important that we get through it all. We will work out what went wrong afterwards.”

  Alice nodded. Everyone went to the sides of the stage, ready to begin.

  Alice tried to focus. But in her very first scene, her mind went blank. There was an awful silence. She could hear whispers from behind her: “She’s forgotten her line.”

  “Tell her what it is,” said someone.

  “No,” said another girl, “Miss Anya said we had to get through without a prompt.”

  Alice looked around the hall in panic. On stage, the other actors looked at her. What was the line? She knew it! But the harder she tried to remember, the further away it seemed.

  She felt her breathing getting faster and her hands begin to shake.

  Alice knew what was coming. She had to get off the stage, right now. She had to get out!

  She started to run down the steps from the stage. But there were props for the play on the steps, and she caught her foot, and tripped…

  There was a loud gasp from the rest of the actors as Alice fell hard onto the floor of the hall. People rushed to help, but she had already curled up into a ball with her eyes tight shut.

  “Alice?” It was Miss Anya’s voice. The hall was empty; everyone else had gone. Alice sat with her back against the front of the stage, a paper bag in her hand. She was exhausted. Miss Redmond was there too. “Alice,” Miss Anya was saying, “we can’t go on like this.”

  “Perhaps you should see the school counsellor again,” said Miss Redmond. “What do you think?”

  Alice nodded. “All right,” she said. She had seen Mrs Whittle last year for help with the panic attacks. The counsellor was nice, and she didn’t make Alice feel like an idiot.

  Then Miss Anya spoke again. “Alice,” she said, “we need to talk about the show. There are only three weeks to go, and I’m worried about you.”

  “I don’t think now is the right time,” Miss Redmond said.

  “I understand that Alice is very tired,” Miss Anya said in a gentle voice, “but this is important. If Alice is not able to play the part of Elle, I need as much time as possible to rehearse a different student.”

  Alice felt her heart sink. “I can do it,” she said. She rubbed her elbow, which she had bumped when she fell. “I don’t know how, but I’ll… I’ll fix it. Please, Miss Anya. Please don’t take the part away. I love it so much.”

  Miss Anya sighed. “All right. You’ve got one week to turn this around. And then I won’t have any choice. I can’t let all the other students down. They’ve worked so hard.” She smiled. “You’re a fantastic performer, Alice, but you won’t make it as an actor if you can’t control your stage fright. Get on top of this, and you will be a star.”

  Chapter Six

  “Right, here’s the plan,” said Daisy. She, Hani and Samira were all in the Nest while Alice was at a play rehearsal. It was only three days since Alice’s attack in the hall, but Daisy had decided that they had to do something.

  “We know that Alice’s dad got a text message from another woman,” Daisy said. “Right?”

  “Right,” agreed Hani.

  “And that Alice’s mum saw it, and thought it was suspicious,” went on Daisy. “So it must have been a flirty message, right?”

  “Right,” agreed Samira.

  “But,” said Daisy, “we don’t know what it said. Or what he wrote back. The text message is Clue One.”

  Hani looked at Samira. “She thinks we are in a detective story.”

  “Clue Two,” said Daisy. “Where is Alice’s dad going at the same time each week? Who is he meeting, and why?”

  “They live a hundred miles away,” Samira said. “We can’t exactly follow him to see.”

  “And Clue Three,” went on Daisy. “The new receptionist where he works. The one he goes funny about when she’s mentioned.” She sat back, satisfied. “Well?”

  Hani shook her head. “I don’t see how we can find out anything,” she said.

  Daisy rolled her eyes. “You’ve got no imagination.”

  “Running is my thing,” Hani said. “Not thinking.”

  “Alice’s dad works for a company that makes computer software,” said Daisy. “And every company has a website. Look…” She opened her laptop and showed them what she’d found.

  “That’s Alice’s dad!” said Samira. There on the screen was a photograph of him in a business suit. His name, job title and email address were underneath. “You’re not going to email him?!”

  “Nope.” Daisy pointed to a list of names on the side of the page. “I’m more interested in this.”

  Samira leaned forward to see. “It’s everyone who works for the company… including the receptionists.”

  Daisy pointed at a name. “Anna Moss,” she said. “She only joined the company two months ago. And now…” She swung the laptop round and typed quickly. Then she turned it back to the other two. “There she is.”

 

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