What Happens in France Read online

  ‘Work? Today?’

  ‘Yes, not everyone gets two months off for summer.’ She grinned and handed a mug of tea to Bryony. ‘It was a good night, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Excellent although I have quite a few bruises from falling over so much.’

  ‘I thought you and Lewis made a great couple.’ She sighed heavily. ‘Shame you’re not exactly his type!’

  ‘It doesn’t really matter. I had fun and he’s such a laugh. He sent a text a few minutes ago complaining about being left outside in a wheelbarrow. He really got into the games and boy, was he competitive!’

  Melinda rubbed her sore bottom and said, ‘He wasn’t as competitive as Sean. I like Lewis too. He’s an easy guy to like.’

  Sean clattered into the kitchen, red-faced and perspiring.

  ‘Talking about me again?’ he asked.

  ‘No, big head. We were talking about Lewis.’

  ‘I knew I’d forgotten something. He asked me to tap on his door this morning. He’s got to go to London and didn’t want to sleep in. Maybe I should have invited him to come for a run first.’

  ‘I don’t think he’d have fancied a run. He’s got a lousy hangover and he woke up still lying in his wheelbarrow.’

  Sean grinned. ‘My bad! He’ll be cursing us for a while. I’ll give him a call later. Got to grab a shower first. See you later, Bryony.’

  ‘Bye, Sean. Thanks for a super barbecue.’ She turned to Melinda. ‘I’d better get off and leave you and Sean to it. You got any plans for today?’

  ‘I could really do with a nice soak in the tub after all those drinking games. I’ll try to encourage Sean to scrub my back. And then I’ll go pick up an over-excited Freddie from his grandparents although I’ll probably have difficulty in persuading him to come home. We’re pretty boring compared to them. They’re talking about taking him skiing with them later this year when they go to the Alps. I don’t know where they find their energy.’

  ‘I could do with whatever magic energy pill they take too. Thanks too for letting me stay the night and for such a laugh.’

  ‘Did us all good,’ replied Melinda, hugging her friend. ‘It’s good to be a bit crazy sometimes. I’d better go visit the neighbours later to apologise for the noise we made. I’ll take them a couple of bottles of wine. That’ll help ease the situation.’

  * * *

  Bryony sat back in her chair and switched on her laptop. She felt refreshed after some breakfast, a shower and a change of clothes. She was glad the school holidays had begun and she didn’t have to go into work. The headache that had dulled her senses when she woke had now lifted and she was eager to recount the details of the night before to her sister. The memory of the events brought a smile to Bryony’s face and she wondered idly how Lewis was feeling.

  Her inbox flashed. She had three messages; the first was from Tim, a work colleague and friend who had sent her a photo of the house he and his fiancée Suzanne were renting, and a brief message that stated, ‘If you find Mr Right, bring him here for a night!’ The second message was from the Sydenham’s chorea charity, reminding her about the fundraising event she had signed up for. She emailed them affirmation that she was participating in it. The last email caught her by surprise. She read it, blinked several times and read it again. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

  Hi Bryony,

  Congratulations! You have been successfully chosen as one of the first contestants on What Happens in.... In the style of all the best game shows, we’re continuing to keep the format of the show secret, but we can now reveal you won’t be acting as an individual contestant on this show. You will be working alongside another successful applicant who attended the Birmingham audition yesterday, to win a whopping prize of £10,000. Filming will take place over six consecutive days and all expenses will be paid by us, including accommodation and transport to and from a secret destination in France. As you were told at the audition, this is a last-man-standing show. That is still the case. Couples who fail in their challenges will be dropped from the show on a daily basis until we only have three pairs remaining for the final day. As this will be the first show to be aired, we require bubbly, enthusiastic participants like you. We were all genuinely impressed by your charisma and energy at the audition in Birmingham and I hope you still wish to take part in what we believe will be a hugely popular show. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested. You need to be available to travel on Sunday 23rd July. If you still wish to be a participant, I’d like to arrange a time for a Skype interview with you as soon as possible to reveal more about What Happens in…

  Kind regards,

  Laura Perry Producer, What Happens in…

  Bryony wriggled on her chair in delight. July 23rd was less than a week away. Bryony let out a squeal of excitement. It was going to happen. She’d made it onto the show and would be able to appeal to the whole country. Somebody somewhere must know Hannah, and if Anneka Rice was hosting the show, Hannah herself might even watch it. Now all she had to do was find out if Lewis had also received an email and was going to be taking part. Surely he’d succeeded. He might even be her teammate. Or Jim – the man who had an incredible general knowledge. Her mind flipped over the possibilities and she hoped it wasn’t going to be Daphne, the woman who’d dried up in front of the camera, or purple-haired Tonya. She dialled his number but was greeted by an impersonal voice informing her Lewis could not be reached at that moment and inviting her to leave a message. Tempted as she was to blurt out everything to the answerphone, she decided it would be better to speak to him in person. It would best to find out if he’d got through before sharing her own success. She wouldn’t want to rub his nose in it if he’d failed the audition. Bryony liked having Lewis in her life even if it was only as a friend. She would try his phone again later. Now she had to share her news with her best friend. The email had given her something she had not experienced for a long time – optimism. This might be the best opportunity she would ever have to convince her sister to come home – that was, if Hannah was still alive.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  WEDNESDAY, 12 JULY – AFTERNOON

  Melinda’s front door flung open. ‘Save me, Bryony,’ shouted Melinda in mock horror, rushing outside and hiding behind Bryony’s back. In the hall, Freddie waved a large plastic dinosaur and roared.

  Bryony laughed and held up her hands in front of Freddie. ‘You can’t come outside,’ she said. ‘I’m Dinowoman and I’ll transform your dinosaur into a teeny, weeny one if you chase my friend any more. Then, the cat next door will chase and eat teeny weeny T-Rex.’

  Freddie looked at her in disbelief. ‘You’re not Dinowoman. You’re Briny.’

  ‘I’m definitely Dinowoman. Look.’ She grimaced, bared her teeth and roared. Freddie squealed with laughter and ran off into the lounge, slamming the door shut.

  ‘Phew! Come in, Dinowoman,’ said Melinda, leading the way to the kitchen. ‘We’ve been constructing a skeleton.’

  ‘A real one?’

  ‘Tempting as it was to head to the local cemetery and dig up a few bodies in search of a skeleton, I settled for a toy one.’ Melinda sat down on a kitchen stool, motioning for Bryony to join her. ‘So, come on. What’s happened? You only left here a few hours ago and you look very perky. Got a new date?’

  ‘No. Better than that. I have news!’ replied Bryony. ‘I had to share it with you. I couldn’t sit at home any longer.’

  ‘What’s happened? Was there a local earth tremor I missed?’ asked Melinda.

  Bryony took a breath and prepared to tell her best friend about the email. Since childhood, Bryony had relied on and shared every part of her life with Melinda. She was the only person who knew all the details surrounding Hannah’s disappearance and who understood why it was so important she find her sister. She’d offered support and a shoulder to cry on numerous times and Bryony couldn’t imagine how her life would have turned out if she’d never met her friend…

  * * *

>   Bryony is eight years old and shaking with nerves. From this day she’ll be anonymous in her new school filled with teenagers – teenagers who don’t know about her horrible twitching episodes or her accident. Kids who won’t know about Hannah running away or about her father who’s been in hospital for months following a nervous breakdown. He’s back home now and looks better. He isn’t a headmaster any more. Bryony heard him talking to Mum about going back into teaching at a local school.

  They now live in a small village where news of what goes on in Derby does not reach them. Everyone in Cobblestone seems more interested in protesting about the lorries that drive too quickly through the village and concerns over who will open the village hall so the senior citizens can do their art classes and the mothers and toddlers group can have their Tuesday coffee morning. The village gossips know only a little about her family. Her mother and father have remained tight-lipped about their past and gradually the gossips have lost interest in the quiet family residing at the end of the village who never go to church or the local pub and appear to be recluses.

  She has to catch the bus to come to school. It stops at the edge of the village where she lives. She waits outside the house with her mother, who’s being cheerful and keeps telling her it’s going to be huge fun at the new school. Bryony is not convinced. She’s fairly certain there’ll be some problems and sure enough as soon as she clambers on board the bus they begin. There are quite a few children of all ages on board and she has to walk halfway down the bus to find a space, passing unfriendly faces that regard her with a vague interest as if she were a strange specimen in a jar.

  A large boy sitting on the back seat starts whistling the theme tune to the film The Addams Family when he spots her and his mates begin to giggle and nudge each other. He is about two years older than her. His school tie is undone even though school has not yet started, his head is shaven like a convict’s and a confident sneer rests across his acne-riddled face. She attempts to bluff her way out of the situation as she has done in the past by grinning amiably but it doesn’t stop him. He continues whistling before commenting loudly that a mutant has boarded the bus. The other boys beside him snort loudly at his comment. She stares out of the window and fights back angry tears as the bus rounds the bend, leaving the sanctuary of the village.

  A voice calls out from the seat opposite her. ‘Take no notice. He’s a retard!’

  Bryony looks over. A short, plump girl with an open, friendly face, short dark hair and a sparkle in her brown eyes grins at her.

  ‘I’m Melinda,’ she says.

  ‘Bryony.’

  The girl nods before continuing an animated conversation with her friend.

  The trouble really begins when they get off the bus. The boy who had been whistling pushes Melinda hard in the back, making her stumble to her knees.

  ‘I’m not a retard, you fat cow.’

  Melinda struggles to her feet, eyes blazing. She has grazed a knee and it is bleeding. Bryony summons up courage from within, steps behind the boy and prods him in the arm.

  ‘You must be a retard. Only a retard would push a girl over like that.’

  ‘You watch it, mutant!’ he yells.

  Before she can react, he grabs Bryony’s schoolbag from her shoulder and holds it high so she can’t reach it. The other boys join him and toss it from one to the other while Bryony hobbles from one boy to the other to try and get her bag back. Melinda yells at them to hand it over and kicks one of the boys in the ankle. Before long the commotion attracts the attention of a teacher.

  They end up outside the headmistress’s office, standing in a silent line against the wall waiting for her to call them in. The spotty-faced boy does not look as cocky and has done up his tie. The teacher who broke up the ruckus emerges and sends the boys in first.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ whispers Melinda. ‘She’ll sort it out and they won’t trouble you again.’

  Sure enough, the boys emerge in silence. The spotty boy stands in front of the girls and apologizes for his behaviour.

  The girls are called in next. Miss Turnbull is small, elegant and not at all fierce. She wears owl-shaped glasses, and her hair worn short to her shoulders is nut-brown. She is neatly attired in a smart blouse done up at the neck, blue skirt and matching jacket, attached to which is a brooch in the shape of a dog – a setter. Bryony immediately takes a liking to her.

  ‘Melinda Clayton and Bryony Masters. Not a good start to the school year, is it, brawling like fishwives outside the school?’

  Bryony isn’t too sure what a fishwife is but daren’t interrupt.

  ‘Melinda, I understand from Mr Glover you were sticking up for Bryony. While it is commendable to stand up against bullies and to look after those who are more defenceless than us, it is also better to let the staff here deal with these situations. Please be mindful that you should not take matters into your own hands. You could end up injured.’

  Melinda opens her mouth, thinks better of it and shuts it again. Miss Turnbull gives her a warm look. ‘I would congratulate you on managing to kick Tyron – heaven knows he could do with a kick sometimes – but that would not be appropriate,’ she adds, a twinkle in her eyes. Melinda smiles.

  ‘Bryony, I talked to the head of your last school. He and the other teachers spoke highly of you. I understand life hasn’t been easy, my dear, but it is advisable to ignore those who choose to be cruel. If it becomes unbearable then you must come and speak to one of the staff. Don’t allow yourself to become one of the crowd. Think of how much you’ll upset your parents if you don’t fulfil the potential you have – and you have such potential.’

  She leans back in her chair and it creaks. She steeples her fingers together and looks at Bryony over her owl glasses.

  ‘Do you know what I see, Bryony?’

  Bryony shakes her head. ‘No, Miss.’

  ‘I see someone who will make a difference in the world. Be yourself. Be proud to be yourself.’

  She dismisses them and they leave together. The incident has cemented their relationship – a relationship that will last many years.

  * * *

  Melinda was ecstatic. ‘You made it through! That’s fantastic! They’ve come back to you so quickly. I thought it’d be ages before you heard from them. I suspected they’d choose you but for one of the later emissions, not the very first show. See, just proves what a great job I did on that application form.’

  ‘Couldn’t have done it without you. Oh, and I discovered it’s probably going to be hosted by Anneka Rice.’

  ‘Anneka who wore those amazing jumpsuits and raced about the country in a helicopter hunting for clues to help people win treasure?’

  ‘That’s her.’

  ‘I wanted to be her when I was little. Pity I was short, fat and had dark hair.’

  ‘Almost every young girl wanted to be like her. Hannah most definitely did.’

  Melinda studied her friend’s face. ‘I think Hannah, like me, will probably have forgotten about Anneka Rice. It was in the eighties. We all had heroes and heroines then. I was in love with Billy Warlock from Baywatch but I wouldn’t necessarily watch a show now because he was in it. You’re not pinning your hopes on Hannah watching it because it’s hosted by her, are you?’

  Bryony shrugged ‘She might.’

  Melinda spoke gently. ‘You have a good plan. You won’t need Anneka Rice as a host. You’ll get your chance to appeal for Hannah. Hang on, the show starts soon, doesn’t it? You’re going to be able to do this much quicker than we anticipated.’

  ‘Next week. I’m leaving a week Sunday. I think the first day of live broadcast is Monday twenty-third of July.’

  ‘Come on, tell me everything.’ Melinda pulled out a stool and dropped down onto it. Bryony joined her at the table.

  ‘It’s going to be filmed in France and shown over a period of seven days. There’ll be all sorts of challenges that will test us not just mentally. Every day the losing contestants will be thrown off the show, bu
t the winners will remain in the spotlight. I’m going to win, Melinda. I’m going to win every challenge thrown at me and answer every quiz question correctly and make a name for myself, and I’m going to talk about Hannah at every opportunity and ask the nation to look for her.’

  ‘I get it but as your best friend, it’s my duty to caution you. This is a bit of a wild shot. What if you get booted off on the first day?’

  ‘I won’t.’

  ‘Look, I know you’re exceptionally smart and I’m one of your biggest supporters, but please don’t pin all your hopes on this. I couldn’t bear to see you disappointed. I know how important it is for you to find her and if this doesn’t work out you get eliminated in the first round... well, I just don’t want you to raise your hopes too high.’

  ‘It’ll work. Knowing Anneka Rice might be hosting the show, is even better news. I know Hannah will watch it.’ She stared intently at Melinda, willing her to approve. Her friend chewed thoughtfully at her bottom lip and cocking her head to one side, spoke evenly.

  ‘I agree there’s a slim chance Hannah might watch the new show if she liked Anneka Rice as much as you say she did but I wouldn’t bank on it. However, I think your best shot is to get the public supporting you and looking for and talking about Hannah. Remember the University Challenge contestant, Erik Monkman, who became a nation-wide favourite due to his eccentricities? You’ll be like that only more so. What have you got to lose? You have great intellect and you’re beautifully batty at times, so I think you could do this. People will love you. It’s worth a go.’

  Bryony released the breath she had unwittingly held. ‘That’s what I hoped you say… although maybe not the “beautifully batty” bit. You know what these shows are like for firing up public attention. If I can just capture the nation’s heart, there are endless possibilities. There’s one slight snag. I’ve got to team up with a partner.’