know about the tango,’ says Mum. ‘I tell you what I
am
going to do, though. I am going to enter the end-of-term competition and then maybe you can come and watch me – if it doesn’t finish too late, that is?’
‘No WAY,’ I say. I have totally had enough of this insanity. I hear my phone ping and see that Aubrey has texted yet again. ‘I am going now,’ I say.
‘Don’t you want a lift?’ says Mum.
I look at her chosen outfit of the day: a fake red flower in her hair, a red jumper with a feathery scoop neckline, and long wide-legged black trousers with embroidered red flowers on, all finished off with red shiny DMs. ‘Er, no, you’re all right,’ I say. ‘I’ll get the bus.’
I walk out of the house to the sound of Harris wittering about how he wants to enter the dance competition too and how he’s going to help Mum with her outfits and practising her dance.
As Aubrey might say: ‘I think they need to go to the Life Shop.’
I glance at her most recent text as I walk to the bus stop:
R U dead or something? LOL.
I sigh and text back:
Still alive. Trying to ignore Boy Next Door and brother. Been on Planet Hunger Games since last night. Kidnapped by Katniss
It’s a lie of course. I read all those books years ago. But it was the first thing that popped into my head.
The bus pulls up as a little thought bubble appears on the screen which means that Aubrey is reading my text. She’s either writing a really long response or she’s thinking hard about what to say.
I get on the bus waiting for her to answer. Once I have found a seat I check my phone again.
Tell me ALL about it. C U L8r. Mum is giving me a lift today. Going out with Dad. She is Galadriel. Dad is one of dwarves. Kill me now.
I grin as I text back. Aubrey is back on form. I can tell her everything and things will be OK.
I walk through the school gates and immediately spot Aubrey standing by the netball courts. She sees me and waves. I feel a fizz of happiness. Skye and Aubrey – Aubrey and Skye: Best Friends Forever (BFF, as we used to say).
‘Hey!’ she calls as I make my way towards her. ‘I was beginning to worry that you’d been swallowed up by a wormhole and spirited away into a parallel universe or something.’
I grin, feeling sheepish. ‘Yeah, sorry – you know what I’m like when I’m in book-hermit-mode. I just kind of hibernated last night. Wasn’t looking forward to coming back to this place for starters.’
Aubrey threads one arm through mine. ‘’S’OK. Talking of “modes”: Mum was in super-organizational-mode last night, making me pack my school bag under her prison-guard-style supervision. AND – get this – she told me I have a
dentist
appointment after school today!’ She makes a disgusted noise. ‘I HATE my dentist. He has the hairiest nose you’ve ever seen. “Hashtag GROSS”!’
‘Eeuw!’
‘I know. And there’s no way I can avoid looking up it while he is staring into my mouth,’ she goes on.
This is a game we sometimes play – seeing who can gross the other one out the most. The bell goes and we shriek and giggle and think up things that are even more disgusting than Aubrey’s dentist’s hairy nostrils as we follow the hordes into the building. We are walking down the Year 8 corridor, completely unaware of anyone else around us as we laugh and joke. I am feeling fantastic.
Until I hear someone come up behind us and say, ‘Hey, Orrrbreeeee-and-Skye,’ in a sneery voice.
It is Izzy, one half of the Voldemort Twins.
Aubrey whirls round and squares up to them. Her expression hardens and I think she must be about to tell her to get lost, but instead she says, ‘Oh, hey, Izzy. Whassup?’
Whassup?
This is Izzy Voldemort she is talking to. We do not say ‘Whassup?’ to Izzy Voldemort.
I am about to pull Aubrey away and ask her what the flip she thinks she is doing when Izzy steps closer to me, ignoring Aubrey, and says, ‘So how were the holidays, Hermione? Play much
am
going to do, though. I am going to enter the end-of-term competition and then maybe you can come and watch me – if it doesn’t finish too late, that is?’
‘No WAY,’ I say. I have totally had enough of this insanity. I hear my phone ping and see that Aubrey has texted yet again. ‘I am going now,’ I say.
‘Don’t you want a lift?’ says Mum.
I look at her chosen outfit of the day: a fake red flower in her hair, a red jumper with a feathery scoop neckline, and long wide-legged black trousers with embroidered red flowers on, all finished off with red shiny DMs. ‘Er, no, you’re all right,’ I say. ‘I’ll get the bus.’
I walk out of the house to the sound of Harris wittering about how he wants to enter the dance competition too and how he’s going to help Mum with her outfits and practising her dance.
As Aubrey might say: ‘I think they need to go to the Life Shop.’
I glance at her most recent text as I walk to the bus stop:
R U dead or something? LOL.
I sigh and text back:
Still alive. Trying to ignore Boy Next Door and brother. Been on Planet Hunger Games since last night. Kidnapped by Katniss
It’s a lie of course. I read all those books years ago. But it was the first thing that popped into my head.
The bus pulls up as a little thought bubble appears on the screen which means that Aubrey is reading my text. She’s either writing a really long response or she’s thinking hard about what to say.
I get on the bus waiting for her to answer. Once I have found a seat I check my phone again.
Tell me ALL about it. C U L8r. Mum is giving me a lift today. Going out with Dad. She is Galadriel. Dad is one of dwarves. Kill me now.
I grin as I text back. Aubrey is back on form. I can tell her everything and things will be OK.
I walk through the school gates and immediately spot Aubrey standing by the netball courts. She sees me and waves. I feel a fizz of happiness. Skye and Aubrey – Aubrey and Skye: Best Friends Forever (BFF, as we used to say).
‘Hey!’ she calls as I make my way towards her. ‘I was beginning to worry that you’d been swallowed up by a wormhole and spirited away into a parallel universe or something.’
I grin, feeling sheepish. ‘Yeah, sorry – you know what I’m like when I’m in book-hermit-mode. I just kind of hibernated last night. Wasn’t looking forward to coming back to this place for starters.’
Aubrey threads one arm through mine. ‘’S’OK. Talking of “modes”: Mum was in super-organizational-mode last night, making me pack my school bag under her prison-guard-style supervision. AND – get this – she told me I have a
dentist
appointment after school today!’ She makes a disgusted noise. ‘I HATE my dentist. He has the hairiest nose you’ve ever seen. “Hashtag GROSS”!’
‘Eeuw!’
‘I know. And there’s no way I can avoid looking up it while he is staring into my mouth,’ she goes on.
This is a game we sometimes play – seeing who can gross the other one out the most. The bell goes and we shriek and giggle and think up things that are even more disgusting than Aubrey’s dentist’s hairy nostrils as we follow the hordes into the building. We are walking down the Year 8 corridor, completely unaware of anyone else around us as we laugh and joke. I am feeling fantastic.
Until I hear someone come up behind us and say, ‘Hey, Orrrbreeeee-and-Skye,’ in a sneery voice.
It is Izzy, one half of the Voldemort Twins.
Aubrey whirls round and squares up to them. Her expression hardens and I think she must be about to tell her to get lost, but instead she says, ‘Oh, hey, Izzy. Whassup?’
Whassup?
This is Izzy Voldemort she is talking to. We do not say ‘Whassup?’ to Izzy Voldemort.
I am about to pull Aubrey away and ask her what the flip she thinks she is doing when Izzy steps closer to me, ignoring Aubrey, and says, ‘So how were the holidays, Hermione? Play much
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