Chapter Thirty-Four
As we are strolling inside, I see Lady B calling in Forrest and Sasha from their various corners of the garden. River, Artie,
and Megan are answering the call too.
“Hi,” Artie says when she sees me. “This is Megan. She’s a big girl. She’s my best friend now, aren’t you, Megan?”
“Ride or die,” Megan says, offering her a fist bump.
“Ride or die!” Artie yells, returning the gesture.
“Hello, everyone,” Lady B says as we gather on the terrace. “I realise today is billed as a day off. However, the judging
panel has made their decision on which of the three of you will be progressing to the final stage of the competition, and
both Albert and I felt it was best to let you know as soon as possible. So if you’d join us in the drawing room, we’d be delighted.”
“You’ve caught the sun,” Forrest says, smiling at me. “You know fair skin like yours calls for SPF fifty.”
“I do, thanks.” I laugh. “I’m actually wearing factor fifty. Otherwise I’d just be a pile of ashes right now.”
“You nervous, love?” Sasha asks, joining us as we file into the drawing room. “Don’t be, you and techno Brad Pitt are a shoo-in for the final. It’s me and Forrest that are on the chopping block, I reckon.”
“That’s the terrible thing about competitions,” I say. “Someone has to lose.”
“Oh, there are no losers in the Beaumont Prize,” Sasha says. “Even if it’s us that’s been cut, I’ll still get a grant that
will keep us going for two years. That’s a hell of a lot of people helped to get started on their dream.”
Everyone is gathered in the drawing room except for River, Megan, and Artie, who have gone off to find ice cream. Rani stands
at the back of the room, about as far away as she can get from Alex, who can’t take his eyes off of her. Lord B takes up position
under a portrait of his ancestor and is holding a thick cream envelope. This is much more like the Oscars than I was expecting.
I realise I’m nervous, but not for myself. I know I’m not leaving this competition yet. But I am worried about Forrest, which
is surprising. Considering that we really only just became friends, I know that if he is the first to go, I will miss him
and I’ll have to think up reasons to stay in touch with him, which would be weird and he probably wouldn’t want me to anyway,
and then I’ll never see him or Artie again.
“Now, first off,” Lord B says, “it’s very important to stress that the judging panel has never seen such high-quality work,
and that it was extremely difficult for them to arrive at this decision and . . .” He looks at Lady B. “Have I missed anything?
Well done for getting here in the first place, and trying so hard, that sort of thing.”
“That was perfect,” Lady B assures, him, gesturing at him to open the envelope.
Lord B makes a bit of a performance of getting into the envelope and by the time he has pulled out the sheet of cream paper inside and unfolded it, I am expecting the lights to dim and the music from the latest reality talent show to feed into the room.
“Oh dear,” Lord B says, reading the paper. “Shame, terrible shame.”
“And what does the letter say, darling?” Lady B prompts with just a hint of her patience being “somewhat stretched.”
“Ah, yes.” Lord B looks up. “Well, regrettably we are losing Sasha from the competition at this stage, though of course, Sasha,
you will be our honoured guest for the remainder of the competition along with your lovely husband. And as you know, you will
still be the recipient of a generous grant.”
“Oh, it’s all right,” Sasha says as Hal, Forrest, and I go to commiserate with her. “I’m glad you lot are still in it, you’ve
all got so much to offer, and we will keep doing what we’re doing too. Besides, now I just get to relax in a castle. It could
be worse.”
“I’ll miss you, Sasha,” I tell her.
“So, we had a little think about the best way to celebrate the always glamorous and vivacious Sasha,” Lady B says, “and I
thought rather than just a boring old dinner tonight, we will hold a masked ball in the ballroom!”
“Heh-up, that’ll be splendid,” Sasha says.
“We have a wedding here tomorrow, the band is keen to rehearse, the ballroom is dressed for the reception, and, of course,
here at Castle Beaumont we just happen to have a box of Venetian-style masks lying around for everyone to choose from. It
will be an intimate affair, but what a lovely excuse to dance the night away and celebrate Sasha and the Beaumont Prize with
all of you, who I truly count as my friends.”
“A masked ball.” Rani appears at my side. “I need to see all the available masks at once so I can match them to my outfit. Lady B, where is the box of masks? Can I have a look, please?”
“Of course, my dear,” Lady B says. “Alex, fetch them for me, would you please, dear? Come with me, Rani.”
“Artie is going to be all over this like a rash,” Forrest tells me. “Apparently she packed at least four princess dresses
in the expectation of a ball.”
“I would expect nothing less from such a queen,” I tell him. “Not sure I’ve got anything that fits the bill. There will be
something fancy that Rani brought for me to wear, but I don’t think I can really pull it off. I’m just a naturally scruffy
person, know what I mean?”
“I like that about you,” Forrest says, looking at my hands. “I like the fact you have oil paint stains on your palms and grass
stains on your shorts. And”—he reaches and picks out a tiny daisy from my hair—“flowers.”
Forrest’s proximity makes my heart pick up several beats per minute as if it were suddenly on a techno dance floor. I find
that I don’t want to meet his eyes, even though I know they are travelling across my face. I can’t help feeling the trajectory
of his gaze like a tingling laser beam. Heck. Forrest doesn’t fancy me. Forrest looks like one of those guys that appears
on the front of romance novels. I look like the chaotic quirky sidekick in a rom-com which Rani is the lead in and who builds
herself a boyfriend. That’s very much more my character arc.
An award silence forms between us.
“Well,” I say, eventually, “if Artie and I have to dress up tonight, I demand that you do too. No smart jeans, casual top tonight. You must have something more formal.”
“I guess I can make the effort, just for you,” Forrest says. “And Artie.”
Megan sticks her head round the door, and when she sees Forrest, she races up to us.
“I don’t have anything to wear to a ball!” she tells me anxiously.
“Well, luckily for you,” I tell her, “Rani has about fifty percent of all the dresses in the world. I’m confident we’ll find
you something.”
“I wish I had a mate coming,” Megan says. “And some fit lads. Then it’d be like prom or something.”
“Megan, you may invite four friends,” Lady B tells her as she re-enters the room without Rani or Alex. “I’ll send a car to
pick them up. As to whether or not they are ‘fit lads,’ I’ll leave that up to you.”
“Thanks, Miss!” Megan says, already texting her friends as she leaves the room.
“Well.” I look at Forrest. He looks at me. “Well, I’m off to shower.”
“Excellent,” Forrest says. “Not that I think you smell or . . .”
“Anyway, bye,” I say and make a beeline for the door.
Alex catches me in the hallway.
“Ava, could I have a word?”
“No.” I shake my head.
“It’s just Rani is suddenly really cool with me and I don’t know why. I gave her the box of masks and she just took them without
even a smile.”
“Look, Alex, I am not good at being a go-between for other people’s romantic interests. If you want to know why you think Rani is being off with you, then it’s exactly because your mum tried to get me involved.”
“Ma? Why?” Alex frowns.
“Lady B told me that you are a bounder or something, and I accidentally blurted that out to Rani and now she thinks she’s
just a bit of fun for you, someone to pass the time. So, if you really care about Rani, and you are serious about getting
to know her, then you need to let her know that it’s not a holiday romance. And whatever you do, don’t ask me to get involved.”
Alex stands there for a moment, frowning, as I ascend the stairs.
“Ava?” he calls after me. I turn around.
“Thank you. You told me exactly what I needed to hear.”
Well. That’s a first.