her generous gesture.
Though how it was going to help with the growing dis aster at home, I really didn’t know.
Chapter 6: Marry You (Bruno Mars)
Things were very quiet on the Aggie and Dean front for a good few days, and for a wee while I thought maybe the backfiring of the plan had somehow achieved what I really wanted: for Mum and Dean to split up in an unfussy way so Mum and I could just get back to our own lives.
Then I heard her on the phone. ‘I know, it’s awkward, but I’m sure they’ll come round.’ Mum caught me catching her and shot me a very guilty look so I knew she was talking about me and Aggie. Or the police? She grinned at me brightly and extremely fakely. ‘Anyway, Dean, yes, that sounds wonderful. We’ll see you at 7pm on Friday – we’re both looking forward to it.’
Both? How was I looking forward to it? Was she mad? I stood uncomfortably close until she put the phone down. ‘Do you mean me, Mum? Only I can’t on Friday.’
‘Now, Cat, don’t go making excuses. Dean’s got an event at his laboratory which he wants us to go to so he can show us round. Especially you. And then he’s making us all dinner.’
Oh. That put a slightly different complexion on it. The lab sounded very interesting, but actually I hadn’t been making excuses. ‘I’m not kidding. I’ve got choir and orchestra on Friday after school.’
This put Mother Dearest in a quandary. I could tell she didn’t want me to skip it as she’s always on at me to follow my passions and make some friends other than Dolores, and who could be more suitable than a bunch of recorder-playing choral singers? (Obviously we don’t play and sing at the same time, as that would be more like a gazoo band and would sound awful). On the other hand, this was obviously a big deal for Dean and for her, so she didn’t want to let me off going there either.
‘Why don’t you come straight to the lab from rehearsals?’ she said after an internal battle which I mainly witnessed through the contortions of her eyebrows. ‘I’ll pay for a cab; that way you’ll hardly be late at all.’
I was about to launch into some made-up stuff about going for pizza after choir with some of the others, but then I decided against it. I’d already done enough lying for one week/month/year/lifetime, and it had got me precisely nowhere.
‘All right,’ I said after a period of kicking the table leg while I thought about it.
‘Good,’ said Mum. She gave me a hug. ‘What a fun evening you’ll have – choir and science together.’
‘Yay,’ I said without any enthusiasm, mainly because I was thinking that she was right: that normally would be my idea of the best evening ever – an hour of tooting my tenor recorder alternated with singing medieval songs in an alto voice, followed by a tour of a working laboratory. Holy crapoli. How sad am I? Maybe the Double Vision concert was the best thing that had ever happened to me. The most normal thing that had ever happened to me. I am truly a freak of nature …
The thought made me so depressed that I couldn’t even smile in Biology the next day. Even when Freddie came over for a chat. Okay, actually to borrow the litmus paper and wink at Dolores. She shoo’d him away, pretending to be busy with her experiment but actually practicing writing the name DOLORES DEVANEY on the back of her science book.
‘Look at that,’ she whispered to me. ‘When I marry Jazzy, my initials will be DD. That’s the same as my bra size.’ She opened her eyes extremely wide as if she was telling me something astonishing.
‘Yeah, and?’
‘Well, it’s a sign, isn’t it? We’re meant to be together!’
I can’t say I followed her logic, but if it kept her on track (ie the track leading directly away from Ferdy Nerdy, who was looking so skinnily geeky today that my own skinny geeky chest nearly burst apart with chemical reactions), then I was happy to go with it.
‘Oh, yes, I see.’ I nodded seriously.
Though how it was going to help with the growing dis aster at home, I really didn’t know.
Chapter 6: Marry You (Bruno Mars)
Things were very quiet on the Aggie and Dean front for a good few days, and for a wee while I thought maybe the backfiring of the plan had somehow achieved what I really wanted: for Mum and Dean to split up in an unfussy way so Mum and I could just get back to our own lives.
Then I heard her on the phone. ‘I know, it’s awkward, but I’m sure they’ll come round.’ Mum caught me catching her and shot me a very guilty look so I knew she was talking about me and Aggie. Or the police? She grinned at me brightly and extremely fakely. ‘Anyway, Dean, yes, that sounds wonderful. We’ll see you at 7pm on Friday – we’re both looking forward to it.’
Both? How was I looking forward to it? Was she mad? I stood uncomfortably close until she put the phone down. ‘Do you mean me, Mum? Only I can’t on Friday.’
‘Now, Cat, don’t go making excuses. Dean’s got an event at his laboratory which he wants us to go to so he can show us round. Especially you. And then he’s making us all dinner.’
Oh. That put a slightly different complexion on it. The lab sounded very interesting, but actually I hadn’t been making excuses. ‘I’m not kidding. I’ve got choir and orchestra on Friday after school.’
This put Mother Dearest in a quandary. I could tell she didn’t want me to skip it as she’s always on at me to follow my passions and make some friends other than Dolores, and who could be more suitable than a bunch of recorder-playing choral singers? (Obviously we don’t play and sing at the same time, as that would be more like a gazoo band and would sound awful). On the other hand, this was obviously a big deal for Dean and for her, so she didn’t want to let me off going there either.
‘Why don’t you come straight to the lab from rehearsals?’ she said after an internal battle which I mainly witnessed through the contortions of her eyebrows. ‘I’ll pay for a cab; that way you’ll hardly be late at all.’
I was about to launch into some made-up stuff about going for pizza after choir with some of the others, but then I decided against it. I’d already done enough lying for one week/month/year/lifetime, and it had got me precisely nowhere.
‘All right,’ I said after a period of kicking the table leg while I thought about it.
‘Good,’ said Mum. She gave me a hug. ‘What a fun evening you’ll have – choir and science together.’
‘Yay,’ I said without any enthusiasm, mainly because I was thinking that she was right: that normally would be my idea of the best evening ever – an hour of tooting my tenor recorder alternated with singing medieval songs in an alto voice, followed by a tour of a working laboratory. Holy crapoli. How sad am I? Maybe the Double Vision concert was the best thing that had ever happened to me. The most normal thing that had ever happened to me. I am truly a freak of nature …
The thought made me so depressed that I couldn’t even smile in Biology the next day. Even when Freddie came over for a chat. Okay, actually to borrow the litmus paper and wink at Dolores. She shoo’d him away, pretending to be busy with her experiment but actually practicing writing the name DOLORES DEVANEY on the back of her science book.
‘Look at that,’ she whispered to me. ‘When I marry Jazzy, my initials will be DD. That’s the same as my bra size.’ She opened her eyes extremely wide as if she was telling me something astonishing.
‘Yeah, and?’
‘Well, it’s a sign, isn’t it? We’re meant to be together!’
I can’t say I followed her logic, but if it kept her on track (ie the track leading directly away from Ferdy Nerdy, who was looking so skinnily geeky today that my own skinny geeky chest nearly burst apart with chemical reactions), then I was happy to go with it.
‘Oh, yes, I see.’ I nodded seriously.
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