Cherry Blossom Dreams by Gwyneth Rees Page A

sudden, thanks to Lily spreading the word that I was the one providing the new party venue. Everything seemed to be back to normal between me and Lily, and anyone who hadn’t yet been invited to the party was seeking me out to present his or her case. And I had to admit it was swelling my head a bit. I don’t think I’d ever had a reason to feel this important before at school. I mean, I’d always done well academically, and it felt good each time I got praised by a teacher for getting a good grade. But as for feeling socially important – never!
    Rafferty had been texting people all day to make sure everybody knew about the change in venue. Lily and I were allowed to invite ten friends between us. Everyone was going to tell their parents that the party was being held at the house of ‘a girl in another class’ and if asked they were to give her name as Blossom. (Needless to say, Blossom’s parents would be staying upstairs for the entire time, which was why they wouldn’t be meeting and greeting any parents who were dropping off or picking up their kids.)
    ‘We’ll have to make sure we remove that FOR SALE sign from out front,’ Lily kept reminding me.
    ‘You mean the UNDER OFFER sign,’ I said gloomily, because the man Miranda had shown round had just had his offer accepted. Soon the sign would say SOLD. I was trying not to think about how I’d feel when Blossom House was totally off limits for us. In a way I should be looking at this as a sort of a goodbye party, I thought, only I was afraid that if I did I wouldn’t enjoy it so much.
    One of the good things about agreeing to have the party at Blossom House was that I could invite Priti and Jillian.
    Priti agreed at once to come, though Jillian said no because she didn’t like big parties. To be honest, I was quite relieved about Jillian because I had a feeling that if she came she might cramp my style pretty badly (even if, according to Lily, I don’t have much of it to cramp).
    Lily looked surprised when I told her Priti was coming, but she didn’t put up any fuss. I had a feeling Lily was in for an even bigger surprise on the night of the party. I’d been to a family birthday party with Priti when one of her cousins turned twenty-one. She’d worn her hair loose instead of the scraped-back way she always wears it at school and she’d looked amazing, boogying away on the dance floor with all her older cousins.
    ‘Sasha, what are you going to wear on Saturday?’ Lily asked me. ‘Do you want to borrow something of mine?’
    ‘Thanks, Lily, but you know your stuff won’t fit me.’
    ‘Some of it will,’ Lily persisted. ‘You’re a bit curvier on top now than you used to be. When my mum saw you the other day she said she could definitely see that you were starting to develop. She thinks you should speak to your mum about getting a bra.’
    ‘Lily!’ I felt my face flush bright red. Trust Lily to bring that up in the middle of the school playground.
    ‘Sorry,’ she said with a grin. ‘Listen, a few of the girls are coming over to mine for a couple of hours tonight. Why don’t you come too? We’re going to do our nails and stuff. It’ll be really cool. And you can try on a couple of my things.’
    ‘ Which girls?’ I asked warily.
    ‘Clara and Hanna and Ellie.’
    ‘Oh … well … I don’t know,’ I murmured uncertainly. The fact that the others were going to be there put me off. Though there was one other factor to consider. ‘What about Raffy?’ I asked her as casually as I could.
    ‘What about him?’ She was giving me a funny look and I knew I’d have to be careful if I didn’t want her to guess exactly how I felt about her brother.
    ‘Well, shouldn’t we be getting together with him as well, so we can make plans for the party?’
    ‘Oh yeah … well … it all seems to be under control. Raffy says he’ll take his docking station for the music and we can go to the pound shop to get some drinks and snacks