“Don’t let the door hit your giant head on the way out!” he shouts at the closed door. He looks up and takes in my appearance, which I imagine can be summed up in one word: disaster. I’ve changed into my favourite onesie, my hair is a bedraggled mess, and my eyes are still swollen from crying.
We all regroup in the living room. “Princess Penny, what happened?” asks Elliot.
I decide to tell him the condensed version of the story—I can always fill in the details later, in private, and he’ll also read the blog I wrote. It’s not just my feelings that I have to consider right now—I’m also aware of the look on my mum’s face, the frown that deepens every time she hears me talk about how panicky I got. I’m not used to seeing her look so worried. Normally she’s carefree and breezy, taking every concern in her stride.
But now I can feel my chance to go on tour with Noah slipping through my fingers. If she thinks I can’t handle it . . .
Dad pours more tea into my mug—a Disney one with Piglet, my favourite character, on the front. I hug the mug to my chest, feeling its warmth spread through my body. I lean into Noah’s arms. He’s holding me so tightly I don’t think he ever wants to let me go.
Elliot sits down on the floor, and my parents both take chairs opposite. I feel like we’re about to go into full-blown interrogation mode. Mum and Dad exchange a long look, before turning to Noah and me. “I think this is exactly what we were afraid of,” says Dad, his voice grave.
Mum nods. “Your dad’s right, Penny. There’s no way we can let you go to Europe now.”
Chapter Ten
“Mum, what? No!” I say, my jaw almost hitting the floor.
“Not if this is how it’s going to be, Noah,” continues Mum, and she sounds angrier than I expected. “It’s not going to be possible for Penny to just walk home from a concert in Berlin or Paris! You promised she would be taken care of—if this is how it works in Brighton, how will she cope in Europe?”
“It was my first time backstage, Mum; I promise I’ll be more prepared next time . . . ”
Mum shoots me a look that makes me snap my mouth shut. I’m going to have to work a lot harder to prove to them that I’m ready for this; I certainly haven’t proved it today.
Noah removes his arm from round me and leans towards my parents. “I promise this will never happen again. Penny won’t have to go out into the crowds by herself at the concerts in Europe—it was only because she was going to sit with her friends this time that she even had a separate ticket. And I promise every single person on my security team and The Sketch’s will know her face and will always look out for her. She’s already met Larry, my bodyguard, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t let her out of his sight.”
“Larry’s really nice,” I say.
“And you see this?” He grabs my hand, holding it tightly in his. “I’m not going to let go of this hand.”
“Well, you can let go when you go to the bathroom,” I say, a small smile playing on my lips.
Noah roars with laughter. “Yeah, except for that! You know what I mean. I’m going to be there for Penny,” he says, returning to his serious expression. “She’s my girl, and I will look after her.”
“I still don’t know if this is a good idea,” says Mum, biting her lip. “This is just the beginning, honey. Are you sure you still want to do this?”
“I’m sure,” I say. “I still want to go. Tonight was scary, but I made a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“It can’t be as bad as that school trip to Amsterdam when your class thought the air-raid warnings were going off and all ran screaming through Vondelpark,” says Elliot. He’s right—Mr. Beaconsfield had told us all to hide under park benches, which we did until a nice Dutch couple came past and explained that the siren was a normal thing that happened on the first Monday of every month at exactly noon. On Noah’s tour, there will be far more people looking after me. And I have to conquer my fears at some point.
“Mum, Dad, please. I’ll be fine.” I give them a reassuring smile, but I’m not sure how convincing it is with my still-puffy eyes. “Hopefully I can have Tom’s old phone and get a new SIM card before we go to the airport. That way I can still call you whenever I need to.”
There’s a tense moment of silence. Mum and Dad look at each other.
“OK. You can still go,” says Mum.
I jump up and hug my parents. “I won’t let you down,” I say.
“You never have, Penny. We just worry about you,” explains Dad.
“And now I’m worried that you’re not going to be packed on time!” adds Mum. “Don’t think I haven’t seen the state of your room.”
“I’ll manage it!” I say.
Elliot smiles. “Good. Now that’s sorted, I’m heading home—I need to get my beauty sleep. Alex is forcing me to use the season ticket my dad gave me to watch rugby tomorrow. Can you imagine? The things you do for love. At least the rugby men are fit. If only Alex would meet my dad, they’d probably get along—” Elliot snaps his mouth shut, as if he’s not sure what he’s just said. I raise an eyebrow but Elliot gives me a Don’t ask me gaze. He turns to Noah. “The concert was awesome,” he says. “You stole the show. The Sketch had nothing on you!”
Noah pulls him into a bear hug, squishing Elliot so tight his trilby almost comes off. “I wish you could come with us too, Elliot!”