Three's a Crowd (Full House Club Stephanie: Book #14)

Stephanie and her friends are in London -- and having a fabulous time! They go shopping in all the trendiest stores and meet the hottest rock band in England. Stephanie knows her summer will be perfect when the coolest English guy she's ever seen asks her out. Stephanie is thrilled -- until she receives a mysterious warning to stay away from him -- or else! Stephanie's all ready for love. But is she ready for danger?

Chapter 1

"I still can't believe we're going to be living here for two weeks!" Stephanie Tanner said as she walked down the stairs to the first floor of Kent House. She ran a hand along the elegant handrail on the curving marble staircase. Stephanie was thrilled to be staying in the large London mansion with her student tour group. "It's like being in a palace."

"I agree," Allie Taylor said. Her green eyes sparkled as she smiled. Allie was one of Stephanie's best friends from home. "I've never stayed in a place that's this nice."

"There's no way this place is haunted. I don't believe the rumors," Darcy Powell said as she surveyed the paintings on the wall beside her. She stopped to fasten a tortoiseshell clip in her short black hair.

"Neither do I," Stephanie said. Just before they left Paris, their teachers had told them that Kent House had a reputation for being haunted. In fact, one of the British students staying in the house already claimed to have seen a ghost. Stephanie didn't believe it was true. ""Although I could see a ghost wanting to live here, because who wouldn't want to?"

"We're going to have such a blast in London. I can just tell," Darcy said. She pushed up the sleeves of her blue shirt.

"Hey, do you guys think I look okay?" Allie quietly asked Stephanie and Darcy The three were on their way to meet ten British students, with whom they'd be making a short film. The video exchange program was a project created by some of Stephanie's teachers at home in San Francisco. The trip included stays in France, England, and Italy. Besides Stephanie, Darcy, and Allie, there were seven other students from their school on the summer tour -- three more girls and four boys. In each country they visited, they were making film documentaries with their host students.

"Allie, you look marvelous, darling," Darcy said in an exaggerated accent. The girls had stopped on a landing to examine a landscape painting. "Seriously I love your new blouse."

"Well, she bought it in Paris, after all." Stephanie pushed her long blond hair behind her ears as she admired the pale green blouse that matched Allie's eyes. "So it has to look good. And wait until everyone back home sees it."

"Yeah, and wait until I tell my parents that I already spent half of my traveler's checks." Allie grimaced. "We'll be on this trip for a whole month more."

"Don't worry about money right now," Darcy said as the girls moved down the last stairs. "Just enjoy the fact that we're staying in a mansion. Because we're not going to get a chance like this again. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Give me a break," Rene Salter said, waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "I don't know what you guys are making such a big deal about. This house is nothing compared to my uncle's oceanside ranch in Carmel." She flipped her stylish shoulder-length brown hair so it rested on the shoulders of her designer sweatshirt.

"Oh, well. La-di-da." Darcy rolled her eyes.

"It's much bigger, plus it has a little deck off each bedroom and a whirlpool and a sauna,"' Rene bragged.

Stephanie was used to Rene's superior attitude, but it still annoyed her. Rene was a member of a club called the Flamingoes that Stephanie had decided not to join back in the sixth grade. Rene still held it against her. She constantly competed with Stephanie, and she'd do anything to win any competition. To Stephanie Rene was impossible, but luckily Rene had two close friends on the summer trip: Tiffany Schroeder and Cynthia Hanson.

Stephanie followed Darcy out the French doors and onto the back terrace. The afternoon sun blinded her for a second, and she had to put a hand over her eyes to shield them. When she could see again, she nearly had her breath taken away by the view. "'Wow! I've never seen so many flowers,"' she said, admiring the lush, elaborate garden. Hedges had been pruned into geometric shapes, and large trees bordered the wide green lawn that enclosed the flower beds.

On the terrace, students and teachers were sitting at wrought-iron tables. A linen cloth covered a table cluttered with plates of food, elegant glasses, and silver pitchers.

"Whoa," Rene said.

Stephanie could tell that even Rene was impressed by the garden.

"Don't look now," Allie whispered as she gazed at a couple of boys milling around the refreshment table. "But isn't that guy in a band? You know, he's the drummer in that Irish band with the four guys who dance and -- "

"Are only the cutest guys in the entire world?" Stephanie added. She knew which student Allie was talking about. He was tall and thin , with shoulder-length dirty blond hair. He was wearing cool sunglasses, a retro T-shirt, and baggy jeans.

"Oh, you're right -- he totally looks like Patrick from the Boggarts," Darcy agreed. "Except maybe five years younger."

"Too bad he isn't in the band," Allie said. "Then we could meet the rest of the Boggarts."

I think meeting him will be awesome enough, Stephanie thought as she watched the boy walk toward her.

"Hello there!" He came right up to Stephanie and held out his hand. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Stephanie," she said as they shook hands. Then she quickly introduced the other girls with her: Darcy, Allie, Rene, Cynthia, and Tiffany. The boys in their school group were sitting at a table with other British students.

"My name's Ian Thornton. And it's great to meet you," he said as he looked into Stephanie's eyes. Then he coughed and looked around. "I mean, it's great to meet all of you."

Stephanie smiled nervously. "'You, too," she told him. Was it her imagination, or did he seem to like her?

"How was your flight?" Ian asked.

"Oh, we took the train," Stephanie said.

"From the States? I didn't know there was a train across the ocean," Ian said. "First the Chunnel, now this." He shook his head. "Man, the things they're doing with technology..."

Stephanie laughed. "Actually, we spent the last two weeks in Paris."'

"A-ha." Ian nodded. "That explains it. And I have to admit, I'm rather jealous. Two weeks in Paris? How was it?" He grinned at Stephanie.

"Awesome," Stephanie said. Unless you consider the fact I got completely blown off by Tristan, the guy I liked. Which I hope won't happen again. Stephanie's crush on the resident adviser in their French dorm had ended in disaster because she helped him make a video at night. She had ended up breaking a camera and getting caught sneaking out after hours. "So, who else is here?" she asked Ian.

"Only the best film crew this side of the Atlantic," Ian said. "First we've got Sean, my best pal." He nodded to a shorter boy with dark brown skin and very short brown hair who had walked over to stand next to him. "And then there's Nigel, who knows more about movies than Alfred Hitchcock. He's like a walking encyclopedia of film trivia." Nigel moved over to them on cue.

"Actually, I prefer to think of myself as a director in training," Nigel said as he slid his tiny rectangular glasses up on his nose. "This will be the first of many films for me."

Stephanie glanced over at Corey Griffin, who had transferred to her school right before the trip. Funny. Nigel sounds exactly like Corey, she thought. Maybe he and Nigel can hang out and discuss camera angles.

Stephanie thought that Corey was really goodlooking, with his short blond hair and intense blue eyes. He could be nice and funny, too, but even though they met only two weeks ago, they had already clashed several times. On their Paris video shoots, Corey wanted to be in charge -- all the time. And, to be honest, so did I, Stephanie thought. They had finally managed to become friends on their last few days in Paris.

"Ah. And here's Vanessa now," Ian said. A tall, beautiful girl with shiny auburn hair walked over. She had a bottle of mineral water in one hand and a cookie in the other.

"Yes?" Vanessa said with a sweet smile.

"Vanessa Durrell, please meet Stephanie, and Darcy...and uh..." Ian faltered.

Darcy finished introducing everyone else. At least he remembered my name, Stephanie thought happily.

"It's great to meet all of you," Vanessa said. "Have you had any of these shortbreads yet? They're delicious. And they've got little jam tarts and sandwiches as well."

"I'd love to try some. I'm starving," Rene told her.

"Follow me," Vanessa said.

"Vanessa, hold on a second. Clare!" Ian called to a thin girl with long black hair walking past.

She jerked around with a startled expression. "What?" she asked breathlessly. "What's wrong?"

"It's just terrible, actually,"' Ian said.

"What?" Clare asked. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Vanessa said to Clare, who moved on. "Ian," Vanessa went on under her breath. "You really shouldn't tease her like that."

"I know," Ian said quietly. "But sometimes I just can't help myself." He winked at Stephanie, then leaned closer to her. "She's so easily spooked, you see. If you say 'Boo!' she passes out cold."

"Then I'll have to be careful," Stephanie said. "Hi, Clare," she called out to the shy girl. "I'm Stephanie," she said, introducing herself. "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong," she added when she saw the terror in Clare's eyes.

"Yes, don't let Ian scare you," Vanessa spoke up. "He really wouldn't hurt a fly"

Stephanie noticed Ian and Vanessa exchange an awkward glance as Clare moved up to the table and sat. She didn't have time to think much about it, because Mr. and Ms. Blith, two of Stephanie's teachers, called everyone together for a meeting. Ms. Blith introduced herself and her husband and then Mr. Hanley, the teacher who was supervising the English students. Then Mr. Hanley handed out sheets of information explaining the next two weeks' activities.

"We've taken the liberty of choosing topics for each team's video," Mr. Hanley said. "But if there are any objections, please speak up!"

Stephanie scanned the sheet of paper. The students had been divided into two teams, made up of both American and English students. Each team would make a video on a separate subject. "Yes! We're on the same team again," Stephanie said to Darcy. She and Darcy would be on a team with Cynthia, Tiffany, Vanessa, Clare, Sean, Ian, and Corey. Their subject was "A Teen Tour of London's Hottest Spots."

Ian leaned over Stephanie's shoulder. "So what do you think of the topic?" he asked.

"It's, uh, great," Stephanie said, surprised at how close he was standing to her. Especially our being on the same team! she thought.

"Personally? I love it," Cynthia said. "Can we start tonight? I'm dying to go to a London club."

"Me, too," Darcy said.

"Did you guys come up with this topic?" Stephanie asked. "It's great."

"Yeah, we thought it might save time if we decided on these yesterday when we all got here and were kicking around ideas. If anyone doesn't like it, we could change it..." Ian paused.

Stephanie glanced over at Corey. He had strongly objected to their Paris video's topic at first, but it had turned out great in the end. Was he going to make a stink about this one, too?

"Well, Corey?" Stephanie finally asked. "What do you think? Will this make a good video?"

He smiled at her. "Sure," he said. "As long as keep it interesting."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Ian said. "With me around? Things are always interesting." He winked at Stephanie.

This guy is too much, Stephanie thought. She hadn't met anyone so cocky and confident in a long time. And so far, she was definitely liking it!

London's going to be a lot different from Paris, she thought as Ian playfully read off a list of their upcoming shoots. I can tell right now!

"Well, Allie, we may not be on the same video team, but at least we get to share a room," Stephanie said as she unpacked before dinner that night.

Allie put a stack of T-shirts on top of a tall mahogany dresser. "I don't mind being in a different group. I think it'll be fun to work with Nigel."

"I love his name,"' Darcy said as she put her jacket on a hanger in the closet. "How come everyone's name here sounds so much cooler than ours?"

"Like Ian?" Stephanie said as she sat down on the elegant four-poster bed.

"Well, I wasn't just thinking of Ian, but I guess you were." Darcy tossed a rolled-up pair of socks at Stephanie. "He totally likes you, you know."

"He does not -- " Stephanie started to protest.

A loud, shrill shriek came from down the hallway. Stephanie jumped up and raced to the door.

"What was that?" Allie asked.

"I don't know -- let's go find out!" Stephanie rushed down the hall toward the next bedroom as another scream pierced the air. Allie followed her, with Darcy right behind.

Stephanie skidded to a stop outside the bedroom that Tiffany, Cynthia, and Clare were sharing. Inside, Clare was edging toward the wall, her face pale.

"What is it?" Stephanie asked. "Clare, are you okay?"

"I -- I saw her again!" Clare stammered.

"Saw who?" Stephanie put a hand on Clare's arm to comfort her.

Clare pointed to her bed. "She was there, right beside my bed. The ghost of Edwina Kent!"

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