The Time of Your Life by Isabella Cass Read Free Book Online Page A

er, erm, thanks,' Belle muttered as Jack
continued to gaze at her, his hazel eyes blazing with
admiration.
    'So you're a keen football player then, Jack?' Cat
asked – when it became obvious that the part of
Belle's brain in charge of intelligent conversation
hadn't kicked back in yet.
    'Yeah, love it!' he said. 'I used to play a lot
in Singapore.'
    Holly suddenly remembered what Ethan had said
about the Garrick team. 'You're not a striker by any
chance, are you?' she asked. If Jack was good enough,
perhaps he could take Felix's place . . .
    Jack grinned mischievously. 'Top scorer last season!'
    'Hey, Jack! You planning to stand around chatting
up the babes or are you bringing that ball back
some time today?' Nick and Zak had poked their heads
in through the open window at the end of the corridor
– where the ball must have bounced in from the
playing field.
    'I'm on it!' Jack shouted back, flicking the ball up
with his toe and catching it. 'See you around!'
    'See you!' Holly and Cat called.
    'Yeah!' Belle mumbled, her face a shade of
flamingo-pink.
    Holly thought she saw Nick giving Belle a strange
look. Maybe he'd noticed the signs of strange un-Belle-like
activity too . . .
    'Wow! Top scorer!' Cat laughed when Jack was
barely out of earshot. 'And I think our Belle's his next
goal, don't you, Hols?'
    'Shh!' Holly hissed, shaking Cat's arm. 'He'll
hear you.'
    But when she glanced up, she realized that
Jack hearing them might not be the biggest problem
on their horizon.
    Bianca Hayford was standing at the end of the
corridor.
    How long has she been lurking there? Holly wondered. And has she spotted the sparks between Jack and Belle too?
    From the look that Bianca was aiming at Belle,
Holly could stop wondering: Bianca had clearly seen everything.
    It was a look as icy as the frozen wastelands of
Antarctica. The look the penguin sees gleaming in the
eye of the killer whale as it's about to become lunch.
    It seemed that Belle had just made Bianca even
more of an enemy than she already was.

CHAPTER TEN
    Cat: Attack of the Designer Waifs
    Later on Saturday afternoon Cat was alone in her
room. She was due to meet Nathan in a few minutes
to polish off another batch of science homework
before going to a Macbeth rehearsal.
    There was just one tiny, microscopic problem.
    She couldn't find her Macbeth script; the one that
she'd spent hours marking up with notes about how to
deliver each line.
    She looked around in despair. On Belle's side
of the room, clothes were hanging neatly in the
wardrobe, books were lined up in alphabetical order
and the cushions were arranged symmetrically on
the bed.
    On Cat's side, a tsunami of clothes and shoes had
washed up all over the bed. A volcano of books and
papers had erupted across the desk
    Va-a-a-lerieee . . . And now, somewhere in the chaos,
her mobile phone was ringing!
    She finally tracked the ringtone to a pile of laundry.
    'Yes! What?' Cat answered, flopping down amongst
the discarded clothes. 'Arggh!' she screamed as she felt a
furry body stir beneath her. Shreddie, deeply offended
at being disturbed during his afternoon nap, stretched
and stalked out of the door.
    'Whatever's the matter, Catrin?' her mum asked.
    'Nothing!' Cat replied.
    Nothing? Only that I've lost my Macbeth script, I've
got a rehearsal in half an hour, a pile of science homework to
do and my room's a natural disaster . . .
    'Everything's fine, Mum!' she said.
    'Good,' her mum replied. 'Now, listen, love. They're
re-casting for the chorus of Oliver! next week, and I've
managed to get you on the audition list for Tuesday
afternoon—'
    'No!' Cat said flatly. It wasn't that she didn't like Oliver! It was a great musical. It just wasn't her style.
    'No what?'
    'No, I don't want to be in Oliver! And no, I can't go
on Tuesday afternoon. I've got a Macbeth rehearsal.'
    'Don't be silly, of course you do! Everyone who's anyone started out in Oliver!'
    'I don't want to be anyone,' Cat insisted. ' I want to be
Lady