Rebecca's Rules (28 page)

‘I can’t help feeling – and this is totally not a mope, I’m not breaking my rule,’ I said. ‘But I can’t help feeling that there’s nothing to look forward to now. I mean, the show is over. We’ll be back to our boring old lives on Monday. And then what’ll we do?’

And I sighed. I couldn’t help it. It had been a very long couple of days. And now everything was starting to feel so flat.

‘But,’ said Alice, ‘my wrist is nearly better.’ And she lifted up her cast and waved it about. ‘This will be off in a week!’

‘And once it is,’ said Cass, ‘we can finally organise that gig with Bad Monkey. Liz talked to a place in town that will let us do an under-eighteens gig on a Saturday afternoon. We just have to pick a date.’

‘Oh,’ I said.

‘And once we’ve played one gig, we can play another one,’ said Alice. ‘Richard says we should all band together, us and Bad Monkey and the Wicked Ways, and put on lots of afternoon
shows and, like, get a little music scene going. So we can look forward to that. And then we can try and record something! Richard says he’ll show us how to do it. He has all the right software and he says it’s quite easy really.’

‘And we can write lots of new songs,’ said Cass. ‘Just think what you’ll be able to write about John! You can write about him poncing about in that coat. And having tantrums like a little baby.’

‘Ooh, yes,’ said Alice.

It’s true, I can. And in fairness to John, selfish baby he may be, but since I met him I really have started writing more. Think of all my poems! I bet I’ll be able to write better songs than ever now. And I suppose I’ll always be grateful to John for encouraging me to write stories again. I’m not going to stop now.

‘I suppose,’ I said, ‘there’s quite a lot to look forward to after all.’

‘Exactly!’ said Cass. ‘Lots of stuff. Gigs! And songs! And then it’ll be the summer and we can do loads of mad things! And, I dunno. At some stage, you might even meet someone who stays in the same country AND isn’t an evil selfish traitor. I mean, we’re nearly fifteen! Anything can happen!’

I suppose she’s right. In fact, I know she’s right. Because if the last few months have taught me anything, it’s that even when things seem boring and you feel like nothing good will ever happen again, something cool and fun and interesting and exciting always turns up eventually.

It’s like a rule.

Anna Carey is a freelance journalist from Drumcondra in Dublin who has written for the
Irish Times, Irish Independent
and many other publications. Anna joined her first band when she was fifteen and went on to sing and play with several bands over the next fifteen years.

Her last band, El Diablo, released two albums and toured all over the country.
The Real Rebecca
was her first book, published in 2011, starring our heroine, and went on to win the Senior Children’s Book prize at the Irish Book Awards. Readers haven’t stopped asking for the next book.