Secrets of a Teenage Heiress Read online

  Well, this was going to be interesting.

  ‘These guys are all coming to the Hotel Royale Christmas Ball,’ Skylar announced. ‘I’ll be flying back from LA especially.’

  ‘It’s one of the highlights of the year,’ Ethan claimed. ‘I love it.’

  ‘You’ve only been once before.’ Carly laughed.

  ‘Yeah, and it was great. I’m sure it will be great this year too,’ he said defensively.

  ‘Did you all know that Flick actually lives here in the hotel?’ Skylar informed the table excitedly. ‘This is her home.’

  ‘You live at Hotel Royale?’ Ethan’s eyes widened as he pulled in his chair. ‘You must know everything there is to know about this place then.’

  ‘Not really,’ I said shyly, fiddling with the silver napkin ring.

  ‘She has invaluable knowledge about the forks,’ Jacob teased.

  Skylar rolled her eyes. ‘Ignore Jacob, Flick, he’s pretending not to care but he’s still smarting from losing out on a big modelling campaign today.’

  ‘I couldn’t care less,’ he replied breezily, clearly lying. I know because he made the same trying-not-to-look-bothered face that Ella made whenever someone else got what she wanted, like the time Zoe got partnered with Aidan in a science project. I had to listen to her go on about how much she ‘didn’t care’ for THREE DAYS and nod along while she made constant snide remarks about Zoe, until Aidan finally asked Ella on a date to the cinema and the whole world rejoiced in the change of her conversation.

  ‘Ask him who he lost the campaign to, Flick.’ Skylar laughed across the table to me as Carly sniggered.

  ‘Who did you lose it to?’ I asked.

  Jacob sighed. ‘Dolly.’

  ‘And who is Dolly?’ Skylar pushed, leaning forward on to the table and cupping her chin in her hands faux-innocently.

  Jacob mumbled something.

  ‘Sorry, what was that? I don’t think Flick heard you,’ Carly said, winking at Skylar.

  Jacob clenched his jaw and said, through gritted teeth, ‘A hamster.’

  The table exploded into laughter.

  ‘The brand decided to go in a different direction,’ Jacob explained grumpily.

  ‘The brand is clearly deluded.’ Ethan chuckled, holding up his crystal glass of water. ‘Anything with you as the face of it would sell in a second.’

  ‘Hear hear! Or whatever it is you Brits say,’ Skylar said as Jacob smiled, lifted his glass and clinked it with Ethan’s.

  Timothy came over to explain the menu and, after recommending the chef ’s specials, he left to give us time to decide. Skylar and Carly began to discuss Dolly’s appeal with Jacob, and Ethan turned his attention to me.

  ‘What was it like growing up here?’ he asked.

  ‘It was . . . uh . . . it was great,’ I answered, wishing I had something more interesting to say.

  ‘I bet this place has a cool history.’

  ‘Yes. It does.’

  ‘Fill me in.’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘On the history,’ he explained enthusiastically. ‘I love that kind of thing, and I’ve always been so intrigued about Hotel Royale. There’s just something so . . . grand about this place. How did it all begin?’

  I gulped.

  Hotel Royale does have a really interesting history. I know that because I’ve heard people say it over and over again. When Mum talks about it, I do try really hard to be interested, but she can go on, and it’s usually at really inconvenient times, like when I’m following a YouTube tutorial on curling my hair and trying not to burn my scalp. Stuff like that takes a lot of concentration. Mum never understands, though, and gets all naggy with me. I don’t know why she thinks it’s important for me to fill my brain with all those boring historical facts when I’m not the one in charge. Now, though, it would have been quite handy to impress Ethan with some hotel secrets. I was going to have to wing it. ‘It was founded by my great-great-grandfather in the early 1900s,’ I stated, which was a true story . . . I just didn’t know what happened after that.

  He nodded thoughtfully and I waited apprehensively for his question.

  ‘Who runs it now?’

  YES. I knew the answer to that one.

  ‘My mum.’

  ‘Wow,’ he said, sounding genuinely impressed, for some reason. ‘So it stayed in the family? Which means, you’ll be taking the reins in the future, I’m guessing?’

  I stared at him. ‘Huh?’

  ‘Unless you have any siblings?’

  ‘No, just me.’

  ‘So you’ll be running this place one day.’ He whistled, his glance sweeping across the dining room before coming round back to me. ‘Not bad.’

  ‘I haven’t really thought about it,’ I admitted with a shrug, fiddling with the menu.

  ‘Seriously?’ He looked stunned. ‘Man, if it was me, that would be on my mind all the time.’

  He picked up the menu and studied it.

  ‘Every time I eat in this place, I can never decide what to pick. It all looks so good,’ Ethan informed the table. I pretended to consider everything on the menu myself, even though most of it sounded gross. Duck liver? BLEUGH. Smoked eel? Ew! What was Chef thinking? I was going to have to have a word with him.

  ‘You must know the menu off by heart,’ Carly commented, smiling at me. ‘Does it change a lot?’

  ‘Not sure.’

  They all looked surprised.

  ‘You don’t know about the menu in your own restaurant?’ Ethan asked. ‘But –’

  Thankfully, Timothy arrived at that very moment to take our orders and I was let off the hook for a few minutes as he scribbled down our choices. As soon as he was done, I jumped in quickly to change the subject.

  ‘Carly, did you do all the drumming on Skylar’s album or just her tour?’

  Carly happily launched into her answer and as everyone listened politely, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was getting a headache from all their questions.

  ‘Flick, are you coming to Sky’s London party?’

  Skylar gasped at Ethan’s question. ‘That is such a good idea, Ethan! Yes, Flick, you’ve got to come. It’s in a few weeks in, like, the coolest club in the city. Will you come?’

  ‘Wow! I’d love to. Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes, I’m sure.’ Skylar laughed. ‘You are my hostess after all, it would be rude not to invite you.’

  ‘I can’t believe you live here,’ Carly said, shaking her head.

  Oh no. Not this again.

  ‘I know, right?’ Skylar nodded. ‘Imagine growing up in this place.’

  ‘It’s really not that big a deal,’ I said quickly, taking a sip of water as my face grew hot again.

  ‘Don’t play it down.’ Ethan smiled encouragingly. ‘Tell us about it. Do you live in one of the suites?’

  ‘Do you have your own butler?’ Carly asked, leaning forward, fascinated.

  ‘Do you order vats of ice cream from room service, like in Home Alone 2?’ Jacob chuckled.

  ‘Have you always held your birthday parties here? They must have been amazing.’ Sky smiled. ‘You must have met some amazing people too.’

  ‘Hey, you should go on Ethan’s vlog,’ Jacob suggested.

  ‘What a brilliant idea!’ Skylar clapped her hands together as the other two nodded. ‘What do you think, Ethan?’

  ‘I think it sounds cool. Flick?’ he said, as everyone waited for my answer. ‘What do you say? Want to be a guest star on my vlog?’

  That was when I saw Audrey, stopping at the door to proudly survey the scene and make sure everything was in order. If she saw me, she would come thundering over to the table and probably tell me to go to my room. I had already embarrassed myself enough this evening in front of the coolest people on the planet. If Audrey spotted me, my life would literally be over. There was only one thing to do. Without any explanation, I threw myself dramatically on to the ground and crawled under the table.

  ‘Well . . .’ I heard Ethan laugh
, as the table fell into stunned silence. ‘I think that might be a no.’

  ‘That makes TOTAL sense. Everyone just thought you were really weird.’

  I lifted the slices of cucumber from my eyes so I could look at Skylar.

  ‘Did Ethan say that?’

  ‘That you were weird? Yeah.’

  I slumped into the reclining chair and closed my eyes, putting the cucumber slices back on my eyelids. It had been a few days since the disastrous dinner, and this was the first chance I’d had to explain myself.

  I’d had to wait for ages for Audrey to leave, by which point the food had arrived and no one had been sure what to do. Skylar had peered under the tablecloth to find out what was going on but unfortunately, so had everyone else, and I couldn’t tell them all (I mean, I was mainly thinking of Ethan ‘the Jaw’ Duke) the reason I was under there.

  And I know I looked pretty stupid anyway, hiding underneath the table, but it was better than all of Skylar Chase’s glamorous friends thinking I was a big baby, being caught by Audrey and sent to my room.

  When I saw Audrey’s shoes leaving the restaurant, I decided that it was too risky to hang around there. She was bound to come back. It had been a stupid idea to agree to go to dinner with Skylar. If Audrey had seen me and told Mum, then the punishment would have been stretched out even longer. I was on strike two. As soon as I saw those polished Christian Louboutins clacking in the opposite direction, I crawled out from under the table, told everyone I had to go because of ‘a thing’ and then ran full-pelt towards the door that led to the piano room, before bursting through it and interrupting a cast of singers in the middle of a private performance.

  ‘So, what did you do?’

  ‘I picked up a fan from the props table and pretended to be part of the performance.’

  ‘You did not!’ Skylar screeched with laughter.

  ‘I did. Why is it that whenever I go through that door, someone is in there?’

  ‘I can’t believe you hid under the table. You should have just explained the situation and excused yourself.’

  ‘And look like a complete and utter loser? I bet none of your friends ever get grounded.’

  ‘None of us ever attacked a prince.’

  ‘I didn’t attack him, I just hid in his wardrobe. There’s a big difference.’

  Skylar giggled before letting out a happy sigh. ‘Isn’t this the dream right now?’

  I had to agree that it wasn’t a bad night in. Skylar had put in a request with Audrey that I join her for a pampering evening, after she’d spent almost all week running around fashion shows in high heels in between her gigs. Apparently, London Fashion Week was no joke.

  Skylar’s PA had pretty much set up our own private spa in her room, complete with beauticians ready to give us manicures, pedicures, face masks and head massages. I’d been given a dressing gown and some kind of disgusting healthy green smoothie as soon as I’d walked through the door. I’d ditched the smoothie, but gladly hopped up on to the big reclining leather chair in my fluffy white gown.

  I’m not sure if either the beauticians or Skylar had been expecting me to bring Fritz, but he was being particularly needy that afternoon, so I didn’t have the heart to leave him alone in his basket. I made sure he came prepared for a pampering session, popping him in his own personal dressing gown, which he’d been given by the owner of a Covent Garden spa. The gown even had his name in gold stitching along the back and was perfect for cold winter evenings.

  Skylar and her team had gone crazy when I arrived with him under my arm and they all fussed him so much that it got to his head – he ran into Skylar’s bedroom and attempted to jump up on her bed, no doubt thinking he had been upgraded and that this was now his room. Unfortunately, his little legs couldn’t quite scale the bed and he was left scrambling on the side of the sheets until Skylar picked him up and let him settle down on her lap for a nap. But not before we got a brilliant Instagram snap of him with his front paws in the foot massager.

  ‘Do you do this kind of thing often?’ I asked, picking a maroon nail polish from the selection Danielle, the beautician, was holding.

  ‘Sadly not,’ Skylar replied, stroking Fritz’s head absentmindedly. ‘I don’t have the time. But, trust me, it’s essential during Fashion Week. No end of cameras, no end of new shoes. My feet are so blistered, they’re falling off.’

  ‘I’m so jealous.’

  ‘Of the blisters?’

  ‘Yes, I’m jealous of the blisters,’ I said sarcastically, as she sipped her smoothie. ‘No, of you going to Fashion Week. It must be amazing to see it all.’

  ‘You’ve never been? I’m surprised.’

  ‘Why?’ I asked, watching my nails being filed down to perfect curves.

  ‘Because you’re Flick Royale,’ she said, as though I was being stupid. ‘I’m sure designers would love to have you watching their shows. You should just go.’

  ‘Have you met my mum?’ I sighed. ‘She’s so strict. One time, an actress staying here invited me and Fritz to a premiere of her latest film and Mum wouldn’t let us go.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘It was the same night as Mum’s birthday party.’

  ‘Ah, well, that seems kind of fair.’ Skylar laughed.

  ‘Yeah, except she held this super boring dinner party with all these old people and I was stuck in between two men talking about the state of the economy.’ I rolled my eyes at the horrific memory. ‘That’s why sometime soon I want to get a vlog going. At the moment, I never get to do anything cool.’

  Sky looked at me curiously. ‘What about tomorrow night?’

  ‘What about it?’ I said, lying back so that Danielle could start sponging my face mask off.

  ‘I’ll be at the fashion shows. Come with me. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind adding you to their list.’

  ‘Stop tempting me with such an amazing invite!’ I moaned, though my heart soared at the thought. ‘I can’t leave the hotel.’

  ‘You’ve never snuck out before?’

  I let Danielle finish washing my face before I turned to Skylar. ‘You’re a terrible influence.’

  ‘You bring it out in me.’ She smiled mischievously. ‘It’s like having a little sister to lead astray.’

  ‘I can’t.’

  ‘All right then.’ She sighed. ‘It’s a shame that it’s happening this week and not next week when you’re free. Never mind, you can go next year.’

  I groaned. Next year was so far away! And how often does the world’s biggest pop star invite you to go with her to Fashion Week? NEVER. It was all so unfair, but there was no chance I would get away with it – there would be photos all over the Internet as soon as I stepped anywhere with Skylar. But this was a chance of a lifetime. It was surely worth it. What was the worst Mum could do?

  ‘OK.’

  Skylar looked at me blankly. ‘OK, what?’

  ‘OK, I’ll come to Fashion Week with you tomorrow.’

  A smile spread across her face. ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes. But it will have to be after I’m back from school, so just an evening show. And I’ll have to make Mum think I’m upstairs doing my homework so she doesn’t check on me.’

  ‘Yes! Tomorrow night is Lewis Blume’s show, and I have him on speed dial so I’ll call and get you on the guest list. This is so exciting!’ she cried, wriggling her pedicured toes and disturbing grumpy Fritz. He was not one to pander to celebrities. ‘Although, how are you going to sneak out the hotel without being seen?’

  I nestled snugly back into my chair and admired my shiny new nails.

  ‘Leave that to me.’

  Since meeting Skylar, school seemed duller than ever.

  I kept getting told off in lessons for not paying attention. Most of the time I was daydreaming about appearing on Ethan’s vlog and how jealous Ella and Grace would be when they found out. I had eventually told the girls that Skylar and I had spoken once or twice, which made me even more popular at school than I already was.
I was constantly surrounded by people on the way to lessons and at break times. I happily told them that Skylar was very nice but I hadn’t given anyone any more details yet, despite Grace questioning me every second of the day. I wasn’t sure why, maybe because I was secretly terrified that it was all some kind of humiliating joke and Skylar was going to turn around and be like, ‘You thought we were friends? Ew!’

  It could happen.

  All I told them was that I’d bumped into her in reception a few times and she seemed nice, which was enough for Grace and some of the other girls to scamper after me at every chance they got and ask whether or not I’d be seeing Skylar again, how long she was staying for, if she was going to the Christmas Ball, whether or not I’d be allowed to go to one of her gigs and take some friends with me and if so, who I would be taking.

  ‘Do you think she’d mind if you asked her for some autographs?’ Grace asked eagerly at the end of maths, as I gathered my books off the desk.

  ‘She’s really busy with Fashion Week. She doesn’t have the time.’

  ‘Oh, right.’ Grace nodded, looking disappointed. ‘Maybe after Fashion Week then.’

  ‘Maybe. She’s got a jam-packed schedule. Anyway, why don’t you get Ella and we can go to lunch?’

  ‘OK!’ she said, before rushing off to stand outside Ella’s classroom and wait for her.

  I got to my locker, relieved to have some peace, and saw Oliver standing next to it.

  ‘Hey.’ He smiled as I approached. ‘I thought my sister might be with you. I picked up one of her books by accident this morning, and she must have taken mine.’

  He held up a plain black notepad and then opened it to show me a page covered in cutouts of Ethan Duke’s face with red hearts scribbled around them.

  ‘This page was a bit of a giveaway.’

  ‘Right.’ I laughed. ‘You want me to give it to her?’

  ‘I’m surprised she’s left your side for a second. You’re all she talks about these days. Well –’ he hesitated, passing me the notepad – ‘you, Ethan Duke and Skylar Chase.’