Cherry Blossom Dreams by Gwyneth Rees

flecks of green in them too. I couldn’t believe I’d never noticed the exact colour of his eyes before.
    ‘Lily’s right,’ he said. ‘This would be the perfect place to hold our party!’
    ‘What?’ Suddenly I realised what he meant. ‘No way, Raffy,’ I told him firmly. ‘I already said no to Lily.’
    But he completely ignored me and carried on talking. ‘You know we can’t have the party at our place any more, don’t you, Sasha? But we could easily swop the venue to here. You wouldn’t need to arrange anything – we’ll do all that. Come on, Sasha! It’ll make my day if you let us! Not just my day – my whole year! No, forget that … I mean my whole life !’ He was being so dramatic that he soon had me laughing. ‘Come on, Sasha. Do it for me! Please? ’ He put one hand on my shoulder and I immediately felt shivery goosebumps prick the back of my neck. As he gazed at me with a genuinely pleading expression in his eyes, I found my resolve starting to melt.
    ‘But is it safe? I mean what about Monty? What if we haven’t found him by then?’
    ‘It doesn’t matter. It’s not like he’s dangerous. Anyway he won’t come out with all that noise going on. Come on, Sasha … Lily said you’d be too scared to help us, but I told her you’re way gutsier than she thinks. You’ve got to prove me right! Come on!’
    ‘I don’t know …’ I murmured. I knew I should say no. In fact I already had said no. But I liked that he thought I was gutsy.
    ‘I’ll owe you big time,’ he said. ‘ Please , Sasha?’ His big melty eyes seemed to hold mine for an extra-long moment. It was like being faced with the adorable puppy of your dreams and the really hunky boy of your dreams all rolled into one.
    ‘OK, then,’ I heard myself say a little shakily.
    OK? Did I just say OK ?
    Apparently I had, because now Raffy was giving me a huge grin and the sparkle in his eyes as he looked into mine made me feel like I was flying. I had to remind myself that he was fifteen and I was only nearly thirteen, and he probably still thought of me as his kid sister’s dorky friend.
    ‘I knew you’d say yes!’ he exclaimed with a happy laugh. ‘I’ll tell Lily and we can start to plan everything. You really are the best, Sasha!’
    And in a flash he was out through the back door before I even registered that he’d totally forgotten to help me look for Monty. But I still couldn’t stop smiling.

Needless to say, Zack was pretty upset when Sean told him the news about Monty, although he didn’t blame Sean. Snakes are great escape artists apparently, and Zack felt it was partly his fault for not warning us properly.
    ‘Zack says snakes are nocturnal, so we might have to sneak into Blossom House after dark one night and wait for Monty to show up – a sort of snake stake-out!’ Sean joked on the way to school the next morning.
    ‘Well, so long as you catch him before Saturday,’ I said.
    ‘Why Saturday?’
    And that’s when I broke the news to him about the party. I tried to be really casual, like it was no big deal, like I offered up Blossom House as a party venue for Year Tens all the time.
    ‘WHAT?’ Sean just about exploded. He ranted on and on at me about how he couldn’t believe I’d said yes to the party without even asking him.
    ‘Hey, you took Zack to Blossom House without asking me !’ I retaliated defensively.
    ‘That was Zack. This is half the school!’
    ‘I’m sure it won’t be that many, Sean! Lighten up, will you?’
    ‘ Lighten up? Come on, Sasha! This doesn’t even sound like you talking! You don’t have to say yes to this just to impress Lily and her mates, you know!’
    ‘I’m not doing it to impress Lily!’ I snapped back.
    ‘Then why ?’ he demanded.
    Of course I couldn’t tell him the truth.
    ‘Because Sensible Sasha has taken a hike!’ I declared with a grin, not really caring whether or not he believed me.
    In school I seemed to be everybody’s favourite person all of a