Ask Amy Green: Bridesmaid Blitz Sneak Preview!

From Chapter 1

‘I’m soooo depressed,’ I moan. ‘I can’t believe we’re back at school tomorrow. Kill me now.’ I grab my best friend, Mills’s GHDs and pretend to stab myself in the heart.
‘Oh happy dagger. Let me die.’ Then I stagger backwards, fall onto her bed and squash her against the star-patterned duvet.
‘Ow, Amy. Get off me, you eejit,’ she squeals.
I laugh and roll sideways. We both lie on our backs, staring up at the ceiling.
There’s something stuck to it. A photo. I squint up my eyes, then grin. Ed Whooley’s tanned face is smiling down at us.
‘Nice pic,’ I say.
Ed is Mills’s cute as Christmas boyfriend. However there’s one rather gi-normous relationship glitch, he lives in America. They hooked up over the summer hols while Mills was working as an au pair in his home town, Miami, and they’ve been exchanging smoochy emails ever since.
Ed also happens to be Matt Munroe’s little bro – yep, that Matt Munroe, the actor who makes R-Patz look ugly. My crazy aunt, Clover had to interview Matt in Miami for the teen mag she works for – The Goss – and guess who got to travel to the US of Amazing with her. You got it, lil’ ole moi.
Turned out Matt Munroe was only pretending to be American and is actually 100% guaranteed Irish beef and Clover scooped the story for The Goss. It was quite the trip!
Mills goes pink at the mention of the photo. ‘You weren’t supposed to see that.’
I grin. ‘And how is Ed the Head?’
‘Fine.’ Long pause. ‘I think. I haven’t heard from him all week. I’ve sent eight emails now. I tried ringing his ‘cell’ but he didn’t answer and I rang his house twice but his Dad said he wasn’t there. He hasn’t rung back yet and Mum’s going to kill me when she sees the phone bill. Maybe he hasn’t been getting his messages and there’s something wrong with hotmail. Should I send another email?’
I wince. ‘Not unless you want him to think you’re a serious stalker. Sorry, Mills, it doesn’t sound good.’
‘Maybe he’s just really busy?’ she suggests hopefully.
Poor Mills, Ed is her first proper boyfriend. I have to tread softly. ‘Maybe. Methinks you should leave it a few days, see if he gets back to you.’
She sighs deeply. ‘Relationships are tough.’
‘I hear you, amigo. Seth’s been acting odd this week too.’
‘At least you both live in the same time zone. Plus you’ll get to see him in school tomorrow.’
I groan. ‘Don’t remind me.’
Mills eyes open wide. ‘I thought it was true lurrvve. Have you gone off him?’
‘Course not, Seth and I are grand,’ I say, then add in a stage Irish accent ‘Sure he’s the joy of me heart, me acushla.’ I conjure up an image of my boyfriend’s face in my head - warm smile, messy blond surfer hair, new sun freckles sprinkled over the bridge of his nose, and his startling sky blue eyes.
‘I was groaning about school, Mills. Speaking of which, when’s your trip to Paris?’
‘In two weeks. I can’t wait,’ she squeals, then hugs herself with excitement. As soon as she sees my fed-up face she stops.
‘Sorry, Ames. I wish you could come too. It won’t be the same without you. And Seth’s not the only one who’ll miss you like crazy.’ She rubs her head on my shoulder and makes sad puppy noises.
I sigh. ‘If I’d known there was a trip involved I would have chosen ze froggy language with Loopy, instead of Spanish. Plus her classes sound way more fun.’
Mills laughs. ‘Miss Lupin does try to keep us awake all right. The best was the Paris Fashion Week role playing. We all had to pretend to be models, or designers, or fashion journalists and act in character. I was Anna Wintour from Vogue. It was hilarious.’
She pauses and her expression shifts. ‘Until Annabelle and Sophie had a cat fight over who was going to be Kate Moss, and Sophie swung her bag and nearly took one of Annabelle’s front teeth out.’
I chuckle. ‘I remember that. Mrs Hamilton threatened to sue Loopy for endangering her daughter’s perfect smile.’
Annabelle Hamilton is Queen Bee of the D4s, the school’s resident mean girls, named after the postcode of one of the poshest areas in Dublin, Dublin 4. None them actually live there, except for Annabelle herself - her girls-in-waiting, Sophie Piggott and Nina Pickering live in Foxrock and Cabinteely - but that doesn’t stop them acting like they’re better than everyone else, and way cooler.
Mills pulls a face. ‘I’m not looking forward to seeing Annabelle and her cronies again. I bet the D4s all have sparkling new start-of-term gear. And I’ll be stuck in the same scuffed ballet pumps I’ve been wearing all summer. I’m in for a right D4 slag-a-rama in last year’s uniform and sad old shoes.’
‘There’s always sabotage,’ I suggest. ‘I’ll help you pull the sole off or something. Then you’ll have to get a new pair.’
Mills sighs. ‘Wouldn’t work. Mum would just get them fixed. You know what she’s like – Miss Eco Friendly. The only person on the universe who still darns socks. No, I’ll just have to put up with it.’
‘If it’s any consolation, I’ll be in my old Dubes. We can be the sorry shoe twins.’
‘Annabelle’s bound to have new designer shoes,’ Mills says glumly.
‘Bound to. Très depressing.’
We both sigh and stare up at Ed again.
‘Ames, what am I going to do?’ Mills says softly. ‘About Ed I mean.’
‘I’ll ask Clover.’ Clover’s seventeen and uber worldly. I figure the bad news is better coming from Clover than from me. Clover’s great at solving problems. As agony aunt for The Goss teen mag she’s had buckets of practice. She loves answering all the readers’ problem letters. And I get to help her. Lately they’ve started printing my name on the page and everything. How cool is that?
Yep, if anyone can help, Clover can.
‘Thanks, Ames. But don’t tell her it’s me, OK? It’s so embarrassing.’
‘Promise.’ Unfortunately Clover’s so smart she’ll probably figure it out in a nano second.
I check out my watch. ‘Oops, better motor. Mum threatened me with year long grounding if I wasn’t back by eight.’
Mills clutches her neck and pretends to choke herself. ‘Last night of freedom before we meet our dooooom. See you at the post box. Usual time.’
I wink. ‘It’s a date, honey bun.’

To find out what happens next, you'll have to read the book - out on 1st Oct!

Ballerinas

Hi Amy Greensters,

I managed to sneak into town to see the wonderful Ballet Ruse today - 2 fantastic ballerinas in their own special show about the hardships of ballet. It was funny, touching and brilliantly danced - I only wish it had gone on longer.

I studied ballet for years - and I've always been a huge, huge fan. I still have the tutu and blocks to prove it! I love watching ballet, and I'm so in awe of the dancers - it's such a tough job.

In the Amy Green books Mills's sister, Claire is studying ballet in Russia and in book 5 she makes a special appearance. I just can't wait to write it. But I have to polish up book 4 first - that's very important.

Until then, I'll just dream about ballet I think.

What do you dream about?

Talk to you soon,

Sarah XXX
PS Bridesmaid Blitz is out in 2 weeks - 2 WEEKS - how exciting is that!

Exclusive Tour Details - Your Wildest Dreams Tour - Oct 2010

The Wildest Dream Tour 2010 - it's coming soon, folks! For details of all my Sept/Oct events - and there are many, see Meet Sarah - What's On - section of the website

What’s your wildest dream? To be an actor? A professional dancer? To win the X Factor? Or maybe even be a writer?

Sophia Bennett, Judi Curtin and Sarah Webb (moi!) all dreamed of one day becoming writers. Discover how all their dreams came true and more on this very special tour of Limerick, Cork and Dublin as part of the 2010 Children’s Book Festival.

The Writers’ Manifesto

Sophia, Judi and Sarah are all dedicated to writing about:
Real girls
Real drama and young teen issues
And telling the truth to their readers.


No vampires
No werewolves
No boys that go bump in the night in their books!


The Tour Dates

Wednesday 13th October – 10.30 am - Belltable Studio, Limerick - schools event

Thursday 14th October – 10.30 am - Briery Gap Theatre, Macroom, Cork - schools event

Friday 15th October – 11.00 am - Mermaid Theatre, Bray, Co Wicklow - schools event

Friday 15th October - 4.00 pm Monster Signing in Eason, Dun Laoghaire - all welcome

Saturday 16th October – 2 pm - BT2 store on Grafton Street, Dublin - all welcome

(tell your teacher about the tour and hopefully she might bring your class along - she/he can contact the theatres directly for more details or ask Tom about it - details below)

More About Sophia and Judi

Sophia Bennett won the The Times/Chicken House Award for her first book, Threads, which has been described as ‘the next Princess Diaries, only hotter’. Her latest book is Beads, Boys and Bangles (Chicken House), for readers of 10+. Sophia is based in London, and is currently working on the third book in the Threads trilogy.

Judi Curtin is best known for her bestselling Alice and Megan series. Her latest books are the Alice and Megan Cook Book and Eva’s Journey (O’Brien Press), both for age 9+. She was recently shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards. Judi lives in Limerick with her family.

Booking details: Tom Donegan at CBI 01 8727475 or tom@childrensbooksireland.ie

Can't wait to meet you all!

SarahX