Authors: Judi Curtin
Eva's Holiday (3 page)
A
t last Kate stopped walking. ‘This is it,’ she said. ‘This is town.’
‘But this is the village.’
Kate didn’t answer.
I looked around. We were standing on a narrow street. There were two tiny shops with buckets and shovels and beach balls hanging in the doorway, a post office, a pub with a petrol pump outside and a few brightly-painted houses.
I almost laughed. Then I saw Kate’s face. She was glaring at me, almost daring me to say something bad about the place. And suddenly I felt afraid. Kate wasn’t like any other girl I’d
ever met. I didn’t know how to act around her. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to do.
‘What do you think?’ she asked.
What did I think?
I thought that this was the most pathetic place I’d ever been to in my whole life. That’s what I thought.
But what I said was, ‘What
do
you do around here?’
Kate shrugged.
‘Do? I don’t know. What do you do where you live?’
I had to think. I’d only been gone for a day, but already, home seemed so far away, it was an effort to remember.
‘Well, if I have money, I go to the cinema, or I go bowling, or I go shopping. Sometimes I just hang out with my friends.’
I felt like crying.
Ruby was already settled into her swimming
camp. I wondered what Victoria and Ella were doing now. Whatever it was, it had to be more fun than what I was doing. Everything was more fun than what I was doing.
And suddenly, I’d had enough.
‘This is the biggest dump in the whole world,’ I shouted. ‘I’d die if I had to live here forever, and I’ll probably die just from staying here for the summer.’
I knew it was rude and mean, but I couldn’t stop myself. I said lots more stuff like this, only stopping when I ran out of breath.
I looked at Kate. Why wasn’t she shouting back at me?
Why wasn’t she defending her home?
She just folded her arms and gave me that look of hers, the one that I couldn’t make any sense of.
‘Let’s walk back, so, will we?’ she said, like I hadn’t said anything bad at all.
And because I couldn’t think of anything else
to do, we walked back towards our house.
‘My mum’s going to make me do loads of stupid jobs this afternoon,’ I said after a while, trying to break the silence.
‘My mum …’ began Kate, but then she stopped.
‘Your mum what?’ I asked.
‘Nothing,’ said Kate.
I didn’t bother asking her again.
If she wanted to be like that, what did I care?
Kate said nothing else at all on the way back, and neither did I.
At last we were at our house. Kate and I stood outside and looked at each other. There was
no
way I was asking her in. I just wanted to be very far away from her. She was
way
too weird for me.
And suddenly I heard myself saying, ‘Why don’t you call over again tomorrow?’
What was all that about?
I wished I could reach out and grab the words
before they got to her ears.
Kate was
so
not the kind of girl I wanted to be friends with, so why was I asking her to call for me again?
Maybe because I felt guilty about all the bad stuff I’d said?
Kate didn’t answer for ages.
‘Maybe,’ she said in the end. ‘If I have time.’
And then she seemed to vanish into the hedge, and was gone.
A
fter breakfast the next morning, Dad said he’d show Joey how to measure wood for new skirting boards. Joey was dancing around, all excited, like Dad had just promised to show him the secrets of the universe.
‘Why don’t you invite your friend over for tea tonight?’ said Mum as soon as they’d gone outside.
‘Because she’s
so
not my friend,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘And I don’t want any more to do with her.’
‘Dad said she seemed like a nice girl,’ said Mum.
‘She’s not nice,’ I said. ‘She’s weird. Totally weird.’
‘That’s what you said about Ruby when you met her first.’
‘That’s so not the same,’ I protested. ‘I admit Ruby’s a small bit weird sometimes, but she’s nice too.’
‘And remember how hard you worked with Ruby and her mum? Remember how you helped them and how good that made you feel?’
She was right, but there was no way I was admitting that.
‘That’s all ancient history,’ I said. ‘Can’t you understand, Mum? This is my summer holiday. I don’t want to hang around with weirdos. I want to meet normal people, and have fun.’
Mum did the pouty thing with her mouth that showed me she was disappointed in me.
Just then there was a loud knock at the door.
‘Try to be nice,’ said Mum.
I almost weakened, but then I remembered that somewhere out there, Cathy and Lily, the
cool girls, were waiting. I had to be tough.
‘I’ll get the door,’ I said. ‘I’m going to get rid of this girl once and for all.’
‘Eva,’ said Mum in a shocked voice, but I ignored her. I’d made up my mind.
I went to the door, practicing the line I’d thought of over breakfast.
Sorry, Kate, I’d love to come out with you, but I can’t. I need to do family stuff – totally boring I know. In fact, it could go on for weeks – maybe even for the whole summer.
But when I opened the door, Kate was standing there, with one hand held out in front of her. She looked half-defiant, but also a bit lost and afraid.
‘I found some wild strawberries,’ she said. ‘Do you want to share?’
I opened my mouth, but I found that I couldn’t say the words I’d planned so carefully.
So I reached out and took one wild strawberry from Kate’s still-outstretched hand. Feeling a bit
like Snow White taking the rosy apple, I tasted the strawberry. The sudden sweetness took me totally by surprise.
‘Wow! This is so yum!’ I said.
Kate looked embarrassed. ‘There are lots more and they’re perfectly ripe,’ she said. ‘I can show you tomorrow, if you like.’
And even though I didn’t want to be part of any tomorrow that included Kate, I found myself smiling, and saying, ‘I’d like that thanks.’
Then we stood there and no one said anything, and it was totally, totally awkward.
After ages, and ages, Kate spoke again, ‘Want to go for a walk?’
And even though I don’t really ‘do’ walks, I just shrugged, and said, ‘Whatever.’
Very strange.
Kate led the way and I followed. Looked like we were walking to ‘town’ again.
‘Do you think we’ll meet the cool girls?’ I said after a while.
Kate shook her head.
‘I hope not,’ she said, almost spitting the words out.
Then we walked some more without saying anything.
Just as we came near the village, Kate stopped walking.
‘There they are,’ she said. ‘Look, over there,’
I looked where she was pointing, and saw two perfectly normal-looking girls sitting on a wall opposite one of the shops. I tried to flatten my curly hair, and then fixed my top.
‘Come on,’ I said to Kate. ‘Introduce me.’
Kate took a step backwards.
‘Trust me,’ she said. ‘You don’t want to know them.’
I shook my head.
‘You trust me; I
do
want to know them. Now introduce me, or I’m going home.’
‘So go then,’ said Kate defiantly, but when I turned, she caught my arm.
‘Ok,’ she said. ‘I’ll introduce you.’
I grinned. I
love
getting my own way.
‘It’s easy to remember who’s who,’ said Kate grumpily. ‘Lily’s the one with the dark hair, and she’s mean, and Cathy’s the one with the blonde hair, and she’s really, really mean.’
‘You can say what you like,’ I said. ‘But I’m not going to let you put me off.’
Kate didn’t answer as she slouched over towards the two girls. I followed, trying not to look too happy.
The girls looked up as we approached, then one said something to the other and they both began to giggle. Kate’s steps became even slower, but she kept walking.
Soon we were standing right next to the two girls, who were busy ignoring us.
I nudged Kate, but she didn’t respond.
I gave a small cough, but the two girls just
continued admiring their nails. (I couldn’t really blame them – they both had totally cool fake nails on.)
‘We’d better go,’ said Kate finally, pulling at my arm.
I dug my heels in. There was no way I was going without being introduced.
Eventually Kate gave a huge sigh.
‘Cathy, Lily, this is Eva,’ she said.
Lily looked up, and said ‘hi’ in a bored voice. Cathy just yawned.
I could feel my face going red. This was so unfair. Why were these girls acting like this? What did I ever do to them?
Suddenly I felt like I could see right into their minds. I knew what they must be thinking:
I was with Kate - Kate is totally uncool - I must be totally uncool too.
This was terrible. How could I make them understand the truth?
Before I could come up with a plan, Cathy
stood up.
‘Time to go,’ she said in a bored voice.
Then the other girl stood up, and they both walked off, sliding along in their totally cool flip-flops.
They couldn’t leave.
How dare they leave?
I felt like running after them.
But what would I say?
So I watched as they slouched off, and then I turned back to Kate.
‘See?’ she said.
‘I don’t see anything,’ I muttered. ‘Now I’ve got to go. I think it’s time for my tea, or my lunch or my nap or something.’
Kate just shrugged, so I walked off and left her.
In the end I couldn’t resist looking back. She was still standing there, with her arms folded, looking sad and lost.
I felt sorry for her.
Of course I did.
But I felt much sorrier for me.
N
ext morning I got up early. It was a lovely sunny day, and I had a horrible feeling that Kate was going to call for me so that we could go to the beach together.
But if Kate called, I so didn’t want to be there. I wanted to spend the day with Cathy and Lily, the girls I was sure were going to be my new best friends.
I spent ages getting ready. I wore some of the clothes I’d borrowed from Victoria and Ella. I put on the bracelet that Ruby had given me. I begged Mum to give me my hair-straightener back, and for once in her life she acted like a normal human being and gave it to me. I
straightened my hair and immediately I felt like myself again. Then I set off for the village to meet my two new best friends.
It didn’t take long to find them. They were sitting on the wall where I’d seen them the day before. I took a deep breath, fixed my collar and walked towards them.
They looked up as I approached. Cathy put her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun. Then she whispered something to Lily and they both laughed.
Were they laughing at me?
How dare they laugh at me?
I thought of marching off, but my legs kept walking towards the two girls.
I got closer, and stood facing them for a second. No one said anything. The girls examined their nails again, and I kicked a pebble against the wall.
Then nothing happened.
I knew I had to be brave – my whole summer
holidays depended on it.
‘Hi, I’m Eva,’ I said, smiling brightly.
The girls looked up, but neither of them smiled back at me.
‘We know,’ said Lily.
‘You’re
Kate’s
friend,’ said Cathy.
‘But I’m not,’ I began. ‘I just––’ Cathy interrupted me. ‘Kate’s crazy, haven’t you noticed?’
Lily continued. ‘Crazy clothes, crazy hair, crazy girl.’
Then they both laughed.
‘Kate smells bad,’ said Cathy, holding her perfectly-shaped nose with her
perfectly-manicured
fingers.
‘I know ………,’ I began, but then I stopped myself.
Kate might be a bit different, but she wasn’t crazy, and she
certainly
didn’t smell bad. I hesitated, as all kinds of thoughts raced through my brain.
If I defended Kate, then these girls wouldn’t like me.
And I so badly wanted them to like me.
But if I didn’t defend Kate, then who would?
Cathy spoke again. ‘Kate is the biggest loser in the whole wide world,’ she said.
And that’s when I made up my mind.
‘I think Kate’s great,’ I said.
Then I turned and walked away.
I’d only gone a few metres when I had a horrible thought. I’d just kissed goodbye to my dream of making cool friends on this holiday. If I didn’t do something quickly, I wouldn’t see anyone cool until I got to see Victoria and Ella again, and that could be weeks away.
I turned around, ready to tell Cathy and Lily that I’d just been joking – that I agreed with them about Kate. I even started to say it.
‘I was just ……,’ I began.
But Cathy and Lily weren’t listening. They were pointing at me and laughing, and I knew
that there was no going back.
I’m not stupid.
I knew that if Cathy and Lily were always so mean, then they weren’t worth being friends with.
Still though, I had a sick, horrible feeling in my stomach as I slowly walked away.
When I got home, Mum and Joey were in the kitchen.
‘Did you have a nice walk?’ asked Mum.
I shook my head.
‘No,’ I said. ‘It was totally awful. Walks are never much fun, but that was the worst walk of my whole life.’
And then, because I had nothing left to lose, I told her the whole story.
When I was finished, Mum came over and hugged me.
‘That was brave of you, Eva,’ she said. ‘I’m
very proud of you.’
I tried to smile. Making Mum proud was a nice feeling, but could it ever make up for having no cool friends?
‘So is Kate your new best friend now?’ asked Joey, like he could read my mind.
Before I could answer, he continued. ‘I hope she is, because she called over when you were out, and your mum invited her to come for lunch.’