Rebecca's Rules by Anna Carey Read Free Book Online

unlike our normal daily life that I had totally forgotten to think about Paperboy. It was like the olden days before my heart was broken and I became a miserable shell ofa girl. We were all just laughing and messing about. Maybe if we had a crazy big party every day – or even every week – I’d feel like me and Cass and Alice were properly close again.
    Jane was really cool. It turns out that she’s from Glasnevin, like Vanessa, and she’s known Vanessa since she was tiny (the rest of us have only had to put up with Vanessa for the last year and almost-a-half, but poor Jane has had fourteen years of her). Vanessa’s mum and Jane’s mum are friends, which is how Mrs Finn found out about the dancing and theatre and whatever-it-is class.
    ‘I started going there in September,’ said Jane. ‘But I think I’ll give it up after this term and find another class. It’s awful. It’s not like I thought it would be. Everyone’s like Vanessa − well, maybe not as mad. But they’re all very … showbizzy. I mean, you’ve seen what they’re like.’
    We all thought of the squealing, glossy gang in the next room, tossing their shiny shiny hair all over the place. Cass shuddered.
    ‘So why did you join the class in the first place?’ asked Ellie.
    Jane sighed. ‘Well, I like dancing. I used to go to ballet when I was little. And I like acting,’ she said. ‘But … I dunno. The class isn’t fun. Everyone’s just obsessed with being famous.’
    ‘Like Vanessa,’ I said. ‘Once she decided to apply to be on ‘My Big Birthday Bash’ she got even worse than she used to be.’
    ‘Especially worse to you,’ said Emma. And she told Jane how Vanessa had decided I was almost a celebrity because my mum wrote that book, and how Vanessa and tried to use me to get on ‘My Big Birthday Bash’.
    ‘And then we played at the Battle of the Bands and Bex fell off her drum stool and we didn’t win, so Vanessa decided we’d done it on purpose and had a huge mental tantrum in front of the producers and everyone,’ said Cass. ‘But they loved it and that’s why they chose her to be on the show. The more deranged the better, apparently.’
    ‘Wow,’ said Jane. ‘I remember Mrs Finn telling my mum that Vanessa had taken them to some sort of concert and the producers had been really impressed, but she didn’t mention why …’
    ‘What are her parents like, anyway?’ asked Ellie. ‘We’ve never actually seen them. Are they as mad as her? I mean, how did she turn out like this?’
    But before Jane could answer, the door to the main ballroom opened and Sarah, the ‘Big Birthday Bash’ producer, slipped out and closed it behind her. Then she saw us lolling around onthe beanbags and strode over to us. She didn’t look happy.
    ‘Girls!’ she said. ‘What are you doing out here? Everyone’s meant to be in there dancing with the fairytale princes.’ She looked more closely at me, Cass and Alice. ‘Aren’t you the girls who were in that band?’
    ‘Um, yes,’ said Alice.
    ‘Ah,’ said Sarah. ‘I don’t suppose you’d like to get on stage later and, y’know, play a few songs with the band Vanessa’s hired?’
    ‘We certainly would not,’ said Cass.
    ‘Sorry,’ said Alice. ‘It’s just … we haven’t practised anything. And, um, well, we don’t want to.’ Which, for Alice, is pretty blunt. Sarah sighed. ‘That’s okay,’ she said and, for a moment, I felt sorry for her. Imagine if your job meant travelling the world, looking for evil spoiled brats and then going to their mad birthday parties. It must be awful.
    ‘Anyway,’ said Sarah. ‘I’m afraid you’re all going to have to come in to the ballroom. We can’t have any of the guests wandering around the house. It’s an insurance thing.’
    ‘We won’t wander,’ said Jane. ‘We can just stay here.’
    And we all nodded. Sarah sighed again.
    ‘Sorry girls,’ she said. ‘It’s the rule. Anyway,’ she added morebrightly, ‘it’ll be