Don't Ask Alice (13 page)

A
few weeks later, we had our sixth-class graduation ceremony. It was
totally
brilliant.

The whole school came to watch, and so did our parents and smaller brothers and sisters. Most of us wore our Confirmation clothes. Melissa, of course, had to be different.

‘Look at her,' said Alice as soon as she saw her. ‘That dress is even uglier than the one she had for her Confirmation. I didn't think that was possible. Where on earth did she find it?'

I put on a posh voice.

‘A
veeery
fancy designer store in Paris.  She––'

Suddenly Alice put up her hand to stop me. ‘We forgot,' she said.

‘We're supposed to feel sorry for Melissa. We're not supposed to mock her any more, remember?'

I sighed. It's very hard to stop hating someone when you've been doing it for almost eight years.

Just then, Melissa walked by, wobbling on her very high heels. I smiled at her, and Alice even managed to say,

‘You look lovely Melissa,' without smirking or laughing or anything.

At eleven o'clock, we all went into the hall, and it took ages for everyone to settle down. The infants looked tiny, all sitting cross-legged on the floor. I couldn't remember Alice and me ever being that small. Next year, Rosie would be sitting there, and I was kind of sorry that I wouldn't be there to see it.

At last, when everyone was quiet, the principal made a big, long speech.

‘I have to say that this sixth class is a credit to
the school,' she said after loads of other boring stuff. ‘I really cannot remember a sixth class as talented and wonderful as you boys and girls.'

Everyone clapped and cheered and pretended not to remember that the principal had said the same thing about every sixth class since we were in junior infants.

When she finally sat down, we got to play our tin whistles. (I even managed ‘Edelweiss' without a single mistake.) We played for ages, until the juniors were jiggling around from boredom.

After that we all had to stand up in turn and tell everyone what our special memory of the school was. Most of the boys remembered gross stuff like kids wetting themselves or getting sick, but luckily no one mentioned the trip to Fota Island. (Maybe Miss O'Herlihy had warned them when Alice and I weren't there.)

Alice's memory was of when we were in first class, and she knocked over three jars of paint, and I stayed with her all through lunchtime to
help her clean up the mess. I was glad she picked a memory that included me, even though I couldn't remember that day at all.

My memory was much more recent. I said how happy I was on Alice's first day back at school after eight months in Dublin.

The last part of the ceremony was the song we had been practising for weeks. It was all about friends. When we got to the bit about friends always being there for each other, Alice grabbed my hand and squeezed it until it really hurt.

We sang the chorus about fifty times, and by the time we were finished most of us were crying. Mostly it was happy-sad kind of tears, but poor Melissa was sobbing like she really meant it. Alice went over and gave her a hug, and Melissa got such a fright she stopped crying.

Afterwards everyone had drinks and cake and then it was time to go. Our whole class was going bowling and then on to the cinema. Alice and I went over to say good-bye to my parents. My mum had red puffy eyes. I should have
known she'd be the only totally embarrassing mum who would start crying. I told her I was leaving with the others. Mum grabbed me and hugged me tight like I was leaving for the other end of the earth, instead of for the bowling alley five minutes up the road.

‘My little girl,' she said. ‘Where on earth did all those years go? It only seems like five minutes since you started here.'

Luckily Rosie pushed in between us saying,

‘
I'm
your little girl! Megan's a big girl now.'

Mum smiled and took Rosie up in her arms, and it looked like everything was going to be all right. Just then Miss O'Herlihy came over and said,

‘Mr and Mrs Sheehan. You should be proud of Megan. She's a great girl.'

That was enough to start Mum crying again. She stood still like she was going to wait until her tears were making a huge puddle around her feet. I wondered if the school had a safety policy for evacuating the school if it gets flooded by
tears.

Luckily Dad stepped in and saved me from total embarrassment. He put his arm around Mum and said,

‘Come on, you soppy old thing. Let's go home and have a nice cup of tea.'

So they went off arm in arm, and it wasn't that embarrassing at all – as long as you didn't look too closely.

Then we went to say goodbye to Alice's parents. They were standing in a corner discussing where Jamie and Alice were going to stay that night. They both hugged Alice, and then they went off in different directions, like they hardly knew each other. Suddenly my parents didn't embarrass me after all. Watching Peter and Veronica was worse – much, much worse.

Alice and I watched them until they were gone. Then I turned to her. ‘You OK?'

She nodded.

‘It's not perfect, but it's OK.'

‘Are you sure?' I asked.

She nodded again.

‘Sure I'm sure. This is the way my life is going to be from now on. It's taken a while, but at last I'm fine with this.'

I smiled at her. ‘I'm not trying to be mean, Alice,' I said. ‘But you've said that once or twice before.'

She looked at me with her eyes wide open.

‘Once or twice?' she said.

‘OK,' I laughed. ‘I was trying to be nice. The truth is, you've said it lots and lots of times.'

Alice smiled.

‘I was just saying it all those other times. You know, like if I said it often enough, I might end up actually believing it. But I always had a secret hope that Mum and Dad would try again.'

‘And now? I asked.

Alice didn't say anything for a minute. Then she spoke very quietly.

‘Now I know it's over between them forever,' she said. ‘Now I'm ready to move on.'

For the first time ever, I really, really believed
her.

I hugged her.

‘I am so, so glad for you.'

She hugged me back. ‘Trust me. I'm glad too.'

‘So no more plotting and scheming?'

She pulled away from me and made a face.

‘Hey, I'm just OK with the Mum and Dad thing. I'm not promising anything else. Remember, life's no fun if you don't have secret plans.'

I nodded slowly. ‘Yeah. Whatever.'

Then Alice grabbed my arm.

‘Now, come on, or we'll be late for the bowling.'

So I waved goodbye to my old school forever, and I ran out on to the street after my very best friend.

About the Author

JUDI CURTIN grew up in Cork and now lives in Limerick where she is married with three children. All seven books in the ‘Alice & Megan' series are published by The O'Brien Press. With Roisin Meaney, she is the author of See If I Care, and she has also written three novels, Sorry, Walter, From Claire to Here and Almost Perfect. Her books have been translated into Serbian, Portuguese and German.

Alice Next Door

Alice Again

Don't Ask Alice

Alice in the Middle

Bonjour Alice

Alice & Megan Forever

Alice to the Rescue

Praise for the ‘Alice & Megan' series

‘Hilarious and touching',
Sunday Independent

‘Brilliantly observed',
Evening Echo

‘Prepare to be bewitched by Curtin's entertaining writing style',
Woman's Way

Read Alice & Megan's next adventure in

Megan can't wait to go away to Summer Camp with Alice. It will be fantastic – no school, no healthy food, nothing but fun! But when Alice makes friends with Hazel, Megan begins to feel left out. Is Megan going to lose her best friend?

Alice in the Middle
by Judi Curtin ISBN: 978–1–84717–036–5