Читать книгу Crystal - Aimee Harper - Страница 6

Bella put her head out from behind the changingroom curtain. “Are you ready, Mum?” she said in excitement.

Bella’s mum, Suzi, put down the magazine she had been reading. “Come on then,” she said. “Show us what you’ve found.”

Bella flung back the curtain. The silky t-shirt fell to her knees and the fabric felt really light and lovely on her skin. But the best bit of all was the big picture of a puppy on the front. The puppy was panting in the cutest way. All around the picture was a frame of sprinkled sequins that caught the shop lights.

Bella’s little brother, Louie, stuck his fingers down his throat and pretended to throw up.

Ignoring him, Bella gazed hopefully at her mum. Suzi ran a dog parlour called Dream Dogs in Sandmouth, where they lived. She was completely crazy about dogs, just the same as Bella was. She was bound to love this outfit. Wasn’t she?

“What do you think?” Bella prompted. “It’s for Amber’s birthday, remember – down at the beach. I can wear it over my cozzie if it’s hot and I can wear it with jeans if it’s cold.”

“It’s GROSS!” Louie hooted.

Bella looked scornfully at her brother in his grotty old Sandmouth Hornets football shirt. She wondered if Louie ever actually took his shirt off. “Like you’re a fashion expert,” she said. “NOT.”

At last, Suzi reacted by bursting into laughter. Bella wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. She waited cautiously until her mum stopped spluttering.

“I love it!” Suzi gasped. “Do they have it in my size? Oh, you have to get that for the party, Bella, love. It’s completely perfect.”

Louie groaned. Bella shot him a triumphant glance and whisked back into the changing room again to take it off. She could have it! She’d be the best-dressed girl at Amber’s beach party for sure!

“I saw something like this in one of your magazines, Mum,” Bella said happily as they went up to the till to pay for the new t-shirt. “Mimi Taylor was wearing it.”

Taking out her purse, Suzi counted the money for the girl behind the till. “I remember,” she said. “Only Mimi had it quite tight and cropped, didn’t she?”

“With a cute picture of her little dog, Crystal, on the front,” Bella said with a sigh. “She got it done specially. Crystal goes everywhere with Mimi. I wish we could take Pepper anywhere we wanted.”

Bella, her mum and her brother all looked out of the shop. Pepper, their scruffy brown dog, was sitting patiently on the pavement with his lead tied to a post by the door.

“I bet Mimi can take Crystal into shops,” Bella continued.

“Mimi carries her little dog in a special bag,” Suzi pointed out. “I don’t think Pepper would like that very much. Besides, he’d be much too heavy to carry around all day. I’d feel like I was lugging the supermarket shopping everywhere I went.”

Louie looked disgusted. “The only interesting thing about Mimi Taylor,” he said, “is that she’s married to Idaho Taylor.”

Suzi looked blank.

“The footballer, Mum,” Bella reminded her. Her mum was well up on fashion icons, but not on who they were married to.

“Oh yes,” said Suzi, nodding. “He plays for Chelsea United or something, doesn’t he?”

As Bella and Louie both rolled their eyes, Bella heard the girl behind the till clearing her throat. She was doing it in this special way which Bella knew at once meant that she wanted to say something important.

“Excuse me butting in,” said the girl, “but I don’t suppose you’ve heard yet, have you?”

Suzi’s eyes brightened. She could smell gossip a mile away. “Heard what?” she said at once.

The girl took her time folding Bella’s new t-shirt and sliding it carefully into the bag. “About Mimi Taylor,” she said, pushing the bag towards Bella.

“What about her?” Bella asked. For some reason, her heart had started thumping. There was something in the girl’s face.

“She’s moving to Sandmouth,” said the girl triumphantly. “Her boyfriend’s just been bought by the Hornets.”

Louie choked.

“Sandmouth Hornets have bought Idaho Taylor?” Bella gasped out loud.

The girl leaned forward. “My boyfriend works at the estate agent’s up the hill,” she said in a confiding way. “He’s just sold a big house to a footballer who needed somewhere for himself, his wife, his son and his very small dog. Idaho Taylor is going to be playing for the Hornets next season!”