Transformation of Minna Hargreaves, The (4 page)

BOOK: Transformation of Minna Hargreaves, The
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Monday. I woke up with that feeling of dread you get when something’s wrong but you can’t remember what. It didn’t take long for memory to crash back in on me. Oh, gee whiz, that’s right — my boyfriend was leaving for the entire holidays and when he came back I was going to be banished to some pathetic island for a whole entire year. I hadn’t told my friends yet and the thought of telling Seb sent cold chills juddering through my body.

I got out of bed and went in search of my cruel mother. She was in the kitchen. ‘Noah’s still asleep.’

As if I cared. Her suddenly agreeing to the island caper had to be all Noah’s fault. If he hadn’t drugged himself senseless she wouldn’t have freaked out and she
wouldn’t have agreed to go. Let him sleep for a hundred years. ‘I’m going to see Seb off at the airport.’ And don’t you try to stop me.

She said, ‘All right. I’ll take you, if you like.’

Well! I plonked myself down at the table.

Mum didn’t even look up as she asked, ‘What time?’

‘Doesn’t matter. I’ll get myself there.’ The last thing I needed was her standing there tapping her foot and looking at her watch while Seb kissed me goodbye.

I thought she’d argue but instead she shrugged. ‘Suit yourself.’

Seb and his parents picked me up from the corner. No way was I going to let Mum near them, seeing as how I couldn’t trust her to behave in a normal and pleasant manner. Why couldn’t I have parents like Seb’s? They were so sweet to both of us. I had to tell Seb about the island but I waited till his parents tactfully left us alone after he’d checked in.

‘Whoa!’ he said. ‘A whole year! Man, that’s heavy.’ He shook his head and hugged me. ‘Can’t you tell them you’re not going?’

I huddled into his arms. ‘Believe me — I’ve tried.’ Hours of ranting and crying last night had not made the slightest impression on either of my parents.

I wanted to ask him if he’d wait for me. I wanted him to say he’d love me even if we were separated forever but the words stuck in my throat. I still hadn’t asked him when the plane took him away from me. His parents dropped me home and they didn’t say anything about me crying all the way.

Then I had to tell my friends. Jax cried, Addy hugged
me and her eyes were tragic. ‘But Min — what about Seb?’

I just shrugged. It was something I couldn’t talk about.

Lizzie said, ‘Your parents stink.’

Yeah.

‘When do you go?’ asked Jax.

‘In a month.’ It was such a little space of time.

‘Minna! You can’t!’ Addy gasped.

But it seemed we could. Dad was in overdrive. Mum went about packing up the house but her face wasn’t happy. I tried to have a free and frank discussion with Noah, but why did I bother? He just said yeah, the pills were a mistake, and kept right on with the dope. I pointed out that it was his fault we were going to be in a virtual prison for a year but all he said to that was
sweet, it’ll be sweet.
‘You are sixteen!’ I yelled. ‘Grow up!’

‘Why?’ He grinned at me. ‘Life is sweet. Why change it?’

I tried to talk to Mum, but it was like talking to a Teflon-coated Egyptian mummy. Nothing penetrated. I took myself off and spent my time with my friends. I only came home to check the mail, but I don’t think she noticed and Dad certainly didn’t. There was nothing from Seb. It was too soon, I knew it was too soon. I tried to concentrate instead on my friends.

My friends. I was going to miss them so much. ‘But we’ll phone you,’ Addy said. ‘Every day. And there’s email.’

I shook my head. ‘The TV people want it to be a sort of survival programme. You know — Swiss Family Hargreaves
roughing it. We even have to do a first-aid course.’

Lizzie punched her teddy bear in the stomach. ‘I think you should divorce them. You’ve got a cast-iron case — mental cruelty.’

I grabbed the bear off her. It wasn’t his fault.

‘Tell them you’ll only go if you can take a year’s supply of tampons,’ said Jax.

I gasped. I hadn’t even thought about that. I tackled Dad that night.

‘Dad — no tampons, no island.’ This was the
deal-breaker
. I would rather die than live without tampons.

He aced me. ‘Of course you can take them.’ He looked at my face and laughed his booming laugh that came right up from his gut. ‘Look, Min — we’re not going back in time. We’ll have solar power. We’ll have the freezer, the stove, hot water, washing machine.’

I turned away. It was all going to happen and I’d better start getting used to the idea. But Dad hadn’t finished. ‘It’s the situation that’s interesting. A family of four on their own for a year with minimal contact with the world. How will it change us?’

I reported back to my friends.

Lizzie snorted. ‘That’s so pathetic. I mean — at your age do they expect you to stay the same for a whole year? Of course you’ll change.’

‘Noah might change,’ said Jax, a mixture of hope and wistfulness in her voice.

Lizzie scoffed at that little dream. ‘Yeah, he’ll have a hard time getting his supply on an island — doesn’t mean he won’t be into it as soon as he gets home.’

Jax slumped back, crushed. Addy glanced at her, then
at me. ‘What about clothes? What clothes do you wear on an island?’

‘They’re taking us shopping.’

Addy, with another glance in Jax’s direction, asked, ‘Can we come too?’

Jax straightened her back and her face lightened. Good old Addy. ‘I’ll ask.’ I looked at all three of them. ‘It’d be so good to have you with me.’ I dragged out a large grin from the deep hollow of my heart. ‘I shall beseech Cara. She won’t be able to resist because …’

‘You beseech so brilliantly!’ the girls chorused. We hadn’t done the beseech routine for months. It cheered us all up. For the moment.

I rang Cara right then and beseeched her. ‘Sure,’ she said, ‘but warn them I’ll be filming the trip.’

I grinned at the girls and nodded. Cara heard their cheers.

‘Ask her where she’s taking you,’ Addy said.

Cara heard without me having to repeat it. ‘Oh, it’s a warehouse. The public can’t go there. Bye, Minna. I’ll pick the four of you up from your house tomorrow at two.’

Suddenly things were a heap more fun. ‘We’ll be on telly,’ Lizzie said. ‘This calls for strategic planning.’

Addy jumped up and paraded around the room, stopping every step or two to take a pose. ‘It’s our grand appearance.’

‘This,’ said Lizzie pointing a finger in my direction, ‘is your chance to imprint your image on Seb’s mind. Make him dream of you for the entire year you’re away.’

I shook my head. I couldn’t think about Seb or I’d cry.
Lizzie saw my face and hugged me. ‘Sorry, Min! Come on, let’s work out what we’re going to wear.’

It took us all afternoon to decide. It was Jax who sorted it in the end. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘it’s got to be black. All of us in black. For mourning.’

Addy thought about it for a second. ‘Yep, you’re right. And Min looks spectacular in black.’

We turned to Lizzie, who wore her thoughtful face. ‘Okay. It’s a plan. Let’s do it.’

‘I haven’t got black trousers,’ Jax said.

Addy shrugged. ‘Not to worry. We’ll do black tops and jeans.’

We did a dress rehearsal of the hair and make-up. We straightened our hair with Lizzie’s irons and wore subdued, pale make-up. ‘We are going to look
spectacular
,’ said Lizzie, and truly we did even without the black clothes. Her hair was still red, Jax’s was blonde, Addy’s dark and mine a sort of mixed-up brown, although in my heart I heard Seb’s mother saying it was the colour of autumn leaves.

‘So tomorrow,’ I said, ‘you all come to my house at twelve. We’ll get dressed and Cara can pick us up
together
.’

Lizzie handed me her straightening irons. ‘Take these in case I forget them.’

We laughed. She could be such a ditz sometimes.

Jax turned up early the next day. ‘Noah’s not here,’ I told her. I gave her a hug. ‘Forget him, Jax. He’s a loser, even if he is my brother.’

She managed a crooked smile. ‘Like you should forget Seb?’

Ouch. I led the way to my room. ‘Come on. Let’s do our hair.’

Addy turned up a few minutes later. We finished our hair and still no sign of Lizzie. Addy sent her a text.

Where r u?

Got a reply:
Probs. Get C to pik me up here
.

‘But what about her hair?’ I said.

Addy sent another text.
Hair?

Mums got iron.

I shrugged. ‘Oh well. I guess we just get on with it.’

‘What do you reckon’s happened?’ Jax asked. ‘I hope she’s okay.’

‘She would’ve said if she wasn’t,’ Addy said.

We got dressed, but we missed Lizzie and there was the worry, too. What if something was really wrong?

Cara arrived exactly on time. We trooped out to the car. She filmed us running down the path and jumping in the back seat. She didn’t say anything, but there was a smile on her face that I deeply distrusted.

‘Where’s your other friend?’ she asked. She didn’t seem fazed when we told her we’d have to pick Lizzie up.

We directed her to Lizzie’s house, then texted Lizzie to tell her we were outside. She came out her door and we gasped. Cara swung the camera from Lizzie to us. I dug the others in the ribs, but it was too late. Cara had our expressions caught on tape for the world to see. Expressions of disbelief and betrayal, too. I couldn’t believe it. Nor could Jax or Addy. We sat silent as Lizzie swept into the front seat beside Cara. Her hair that was supposed to be red and straight was white-blonde and a mass of curls. She was supposed to be wearing a black top and
jeans. She wore a white top and new white trousers, accented by silver chains at her throat and wrists.

Addy grabbed my left hand, and at the same moment, Jax grabbed my right one. We would speak to Lizzie. Afterwards. In the meantime, there were clothes to buy and I didn’t have to pay for them.

I wanted to ask where exactly we were going, but I didn’t want Lizzie to think that what she’d done was okay so I stayed silent. However, she wasn’t bothered. ‘Where exactly are we going?’ she asked Cara, carefully turning her profile towards the fixed camera.

Cara smiled at her and repeated the warehouse info without adding anything new.

Lizzie turned right round and smiled at me. ‘You are so lucky, Min. Getting designer clothes — and before they hit the shops.’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Really really lucky. Swap you any time you want.’

Lizzie gave a trilling laugh and turned to Cara again. She chatted to Cara the whole way. She was good at it, I had to admit. She talked about the programme, she asked how it would be different from the other survivor series on television. She wanted to know what other programmes Cara had done, and she responded with just the right amount of awed interest. She sounded mature. A lot more mature than the three of us in the back seat. I kept my mouth shut and stared in front of me.

Cara pulled up in front of a building that looked like an airport hangar. We trooped inside, the three of us giving Lizzie the mute treatment. She trotted ahead,
keeping alongside Cara who stopped in the first aisle, handed a flat cardboard box to her and said, ‘Open this, will you. See if it’s the right size for Minna.’

I scowled. This was my shopping trip. Why couldn’t I open the box myself? Then I rearranged my face, because one of the guys who’d come to our house appeared from around a corner, aiming a camera at us. Lizzie opened the box and took out something dark blue. She held it up and I was glad I was watching her face because her expression totally took away all my fury at what she’d done. She started off looking like she was opening the Christmas pressie of the decade — all excitement and
wow! what’s in here?
Then her face crumbled into disbelief, then disgust. I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing, followed nanoseconds later by Jax and Addy.

‘Those are overalls!’ Addy shrieked.

‘Mechanic overalls. Farmer overalls,’ I howled.

‘And they are not smart!’ Jax could hardly get the words out past her giggles.

Cara grinned. ‘You’ll be glad of them when you’re on Motutoka. You need proper,
effective
clothing that will stand up to the rough conditions.’

It was weird. If Lizzie hadn’t pulled her
look at me
stunt, that shopping trip would have been the pits. I mean — how cool is it to get an entire wardrobe of clothes that could be described as
sturdy, sensible and hard-wearing?
But the whole thing became a riot — which I don’t think either Cara or Lizzie appreciated, making it all the better.

In the footwear aisle:

Addy: Boots for Madam?

Me: Please. One for each foot.

Jax: Tramping or gum?

Me: I have teeth for my gums, thank you.

Yeah, I know — juvenile in the extreme but it seriously pissed off the other two. Then Jax found the shirts. She held one up. ‘This is a bush shirt. A tartan, woollen bush shirt.’ She put it on and adopted a pose. We collapsed in fits of giggles.

Cara, in a very chilly voice, said, ‘That’s enough, girls.’

Addy turned so Cara couldn’t see her, and mouthed, ‘She’s shirty!’

That finished us — everything was funny from then on: the tramping shorts, track pants, thick jerseys — the lot.

Lizzie walked off. ‘I’ll wait for you in the car.’ She disappeared and Cara looked like she was wishing she could follow her. Too bad, lady — this is your party and you have to stay to the end.

She was fairly crisp with us in the car. Not even Lizzie escaped: she asked Cara if she’d drop her back at her house, to which Cara snapped, ‘I’m sorry, Lizzie — time’s against me.’

Damn fine. Lizzie, you’ve got it coming.

She almost ran from us when we tumbled out of the car. I yelled after her, ‘You can face it now or later, Lizzie. But I’m telling you — if it’s later it’s going to be ugly.’

She stopped, turned, didn’t say anything, just marched right on into my house. We went to my bedroom. Nobody sat down.

‘Talk,’ Addy ordered.

Lizzie lifted her chin. ‘All right! So I’m a cow! Shoot me.’

I shook my head. ‘Too quick. Too easy.’

BOOK: Transformation of Minna Hargreaves, The
10Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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