Lisa Clark - Time to Shine

Now, if my first smoochy-smooch is going to be with Richie Taylor, then maybe, just maybe, I’ll consider my first lockage of lips to take place in public. You would too, he’s dee-blimmin’-licious. I also know all the words to all the songs. In fact, all the Pink Ladies do. Even Bella. Although she’ll never admit it. Not ever.

I look at Sadie, wriggle my pout from side to side in an ‘I’m thinking, okay?’ motion and slowly break out a killer-watt grin.

“Okay, okay - I give in! Sign me up!” I say, twisting the sparkly plastic button on my cardigan back and forth.

Ohmystars - what on earth have I let myself in for?

“Woohoo!” She lets out a trademark Sadie squeal - high-pitched and squeaky - and writes ‘Lola Love’ in pink ink under the heading ‘Lilly Auditionees - sign up here’. I then hold up my hand reluctantly, because I know what’s coming next. It’s the now mandatory, Pink Lady celebration method, for just about anything: a high five.

There is a total vision of rock-girl fabulousness standing at the school gate. Sadie and I run towards her, and her much-practised snarly pout melts into a smile. Miss Bella is looking every inch the rock chick that she absolutely, positively is. Her platinum blonde hair is in a bubbly beehive and is tied with a red, oversized bow. She has thick black eyeliner around her eyes and she’s wearing a ripped pair of red tights, denim shorts and a baggy tee cinched at the waist with a borrowed-from-me red belt.

Bella rocks. This is total and utter factuality.

Seriously, she is just so good at throwing together an outfit that simply shouldn’t work and making it look like designer high-end couture or something. If you ask Bella about how she actually does it, she’ll simply say ‘it’s all about the ‘tude, sweet thing!’ and well, Bella should know: she’s the official queen of ‘tude.

“Walk tall and know that you rock, Lola - and I swear, you’ll be able to wear absolutely anything!” she told me once when I was debating whether a pink trilby hat was maybe a little too much for my already rather pink ensemble. I placed the trilby on my head, gave my reflection a wink of approval and Bella was right, I worked it. I deffo got some sideways glances, but hey, you wouldn’t wear a pink trilby hat if you didn’t want to get noticed, right?

“Guess what, Bella?” Sadie says, linking arms with us both and encouraging us to skip down the hill towards the sea.

“What?” says Bella, breaking into a full knee-lifting skip, not before checking around to make sure that no-one she knows might actually see her first.

“Lola’s auditioning for the school production of Time to Shine! ” Sadie squeals with excitement.

“Really? What’s Time to Shine , exactly?” Bella asks inquisitively. Her over-enthusiastic skip has now become more of a soft-shoe shuffle as we reach the amusement arcades. From this point, it’s now only seventy four more skips to Sadie’s house. I know this because last week we managed to skip the entire way home without stopping - forget aerobics, skipping is a far more fabu way to get fit.

“Bella!” Sadie and I both sigh, before tutting loudly and shaking our heads in Bella’s general direction. I told you she’d deny all knowledge of ever having seen Time to Shine , didn’t I? Despite the fact that I’ve sat next to her while she’s watched it at least three times in my room. I know it’s cheesy, but unless you’re dairy intolerant, cheese really is rather fabulous, don’t you think? Well, Bella obviously doesn’t, although I don’t entirely know why, because I think she’s super-cool no matter what movies she watches.

“Seriously,” Sadie sighs, giving her a tap on the arm, “you don’t have to pretend with us, y’know!”

“Sadie, I don’t have a crazy clue what you’re talking about…” Bella says, shooting Sadie a don’t-mess-with-me-on-this-one look.

I have literally run out of ways in which to tell you that Bella is just one of those people that doesn’t have to work at being cool, she just is. So why she must insist on defending her perma-cool-factor at all times, I just don’t know. She’s funny like that.

In fact she’s funny in a lot of ways because when Sadie goes on to explain about my audition, her shuffle turns to a stone kick and an almost foot-stomp.

“Bella, if you’re going keep up your ‘’pretend I’ve never seen it, even though I’ve seen it at least three times’ story, then fine, it doesn’t matter.” Sadie tells Bella. “What does matter is that Lola’s going to audition - cool huh?!”

“Well,” I interrupt, “I’m still not sure whether I’m actually going to go through with it yet,” I say, giving Bella the perfect opportunity to turn big sister, like she normally does, and pass on her two-years-more-experience-than-us words of wisdom. But right now, Bella is scoring a big fat zilcho in the interest department.

“Make her do it, Bella, make her!” Sadie pleads, paying no attention to the slightly miffed, not bothered expression currently making a not-nice look on Bella’s face.

“Lola can do whatever she likes,” Bella says in a clipped tone, usually reserved for the likes of Sadie’s bro, Scottie-too-Hottie, who, FYI, she’s not a fan of AT ALL.

“Well,” Sadie says, as sarcastically as Sadie can manage, because sarcasm is not really Sadie’s ‘tude du jour, “thank you very much Bella, your support here has been totally invaluable!”

“Well, I mean it, it’s only a silly school production!” Bella shrugs, picking up her pace and muttering something about getting to band practise before Scott hogs the entire basement.

Ouch.

Bella is feisty, fun, fearless and fabulous 99% of the time, but there are times, like right now, when she could quite easily be a Negative Nina. Now, I know that no one is totally Think Pink perfect all of the time, and I know that we all get an attack of the Gloomy Grumps every now and again - f’rinstance, I definitely get them when I’m lacking in chocolate goodness - but it makes me all kinds of sad that when my very own gal pal Bella gets the Gloomy Grumps, and for no apparent reason takes it out on me. My aunt Lullah used to say that we often take out our Gloomy Grumps on the people closest to us, mainly because we know they’ll forgive us, but I’m not entirely sure that makes it okay.

“Look,” exclaims Bella, “are you two going to be getting your groove on anytime soon? We’ve got band practise in five minutes or doesn’t that matter anymore? Is your school production more important now?”

She pulls a just-bit-into-a-lemon face when she says the word ‘school’ and I’m just about to explain to Bella that of course band practise matters, it’s my most favourite part of the day - well, besides sleeping of course, because sleeping…well, sleeping really is the very best part of anyone’s day, isn’t it? But she quickens her pace to one with which only a marathon runner could compete.

“Lo-Lo,” Sadie soothes, squeezing my arm tightly, “don’t worry about Bella, you know how she gets when we talk about anything school-related.”

I nod because I do know how Bella gets when we talk all things school-related. She gets like this. Narky and surly and Negative Nina-like.

You see, Bella gets really funny about all things school because…well, she doesn’t actually go. Bella is home schooled by her bendy wendy, Yoga Dad. His job as a yoga guru-type takes him all over the world, so instead of enrolling at a different school every time they move, he teaches Bella from home, wherever home happens to be.

“Maybe I really shouldn’t audition,” I say to Sadie. “The last thing I want to do is upset Bella.”