Cherry Blossom Dreams (16 page)

‘Well …’ My brother attempted to make light of it. ‘I thought I could do the whole Houdini thing … you know …’

‘No, Sean, I
don’t
know.’

‘Oh, well … Houdini was that guy who –’

‘I know who Houdini
was,
thank you!’ Leo snapped.

‘Oh, right … well, it was supposed to be a joke, you see … showing them I could escape from the box. I really thought the hinges would break off when I kicked the lid and I could jump out and shout, “Ta-dah!”’ He threw out his hands in a
ta-dah
sort of gesture.

Leo just glared at him. ‘You think this is funny?’

‘Well, I think if it had gone according to plan then it
could
have been …’ Sean stopped abruptly when he saw the look Leo was giving him. ‘Or
not
,’ he added self-consciously.

‘Nobody else is laughing, Sean,’ Leo said through gritted teeth. ‘Not your sister. Not your friends. And certainly not
me
!’

‘Listen …’ Sean began, nervously licking his lips.

‘No, Sean,
you
listen! You could have been seriously hurt pulling a stunt like that! Maybe you get a kick out of taking risks, or maybe you just haven’t learnt to think before you act, but either way it has got to stop! Do you hear me?’

Sean didn’t reply.

‘I SAID, DO YOU HEAR ME?’ Leo bawled.

Sean jumped slightly and he suddenly looked really young as he managed to rasp, ‘Yes, Leo.’

‘And what’s more I can’t
believe
you decided to throw a party here! I mean, your mother could lose her job over this!’

‘But the party wasn’t –’ my brother began, but Leo wouldn’t let him speak.

‘I expected better from you, I really did! But I guess I was wrong to think you were becoming more responsible. You obviously can’t be trusted. In fact, since you seem to have all the maturity of a five-year-old, maybe
that’s
how we need to treat you from now on!’

I opened my mouth to speak but Leo was already storming out of the room.

‘It’s OK, Sean. I’ll tell him the party was my idea!’ I said, feeling terrible.

My brother turned his face into the sofa. ‘Why bother?’ he hissed in a choked voice. ‘As far as he’s concerned,
I’m
the bad kid in this family!’

And although his face was hidden I was pretty sure he was crying.

Sean was the one who woke me up the following morning and straight away I heard raised voices coming from downstairs.

Mum and Leo were arguing. The thing was, Mum and Leo never argued. If Mum ever started to, Leo would stay calm and refuse to rise to the bait.

‘Jeez!’ I said as I swung my legs round to sit on the edge of my bed.

‘I know. That’s why I thought I should wake you up.’

‘Do you think we should go downstairs?’

‘I think
you
should.
I’m
the one they’re arguing about. Leo doesn’t think Mum gives me enough boundaries apparently.’

‘You’ve been listening?’

‘It’s been hard not to. Leo’s been going on and on about how he can’t believe I threw that party.’

I started to pull on my fleece over my pyjamas. ‘But I told them last night that the party was my idea.’

Mum had bawled out Sean and me big time when Leo had brought us home. She was so mad she even said something I’d never heard her say before: ‘I’m utterly ashamed of you! And if your dad was alive, he’d be ashamed of you too!’

That’s when we knew it was really bad. Mum didn’t talk much about our dad these days, but when things were good – when I did well at school, or when Sean took a particularly brilliant photograph – she’d hug us and say, ‘Your dad would be so proud of you.’ And her eyes would brim and we’d feel a little bit awkward, but happy at the same time. This was the exact opposite. I felt terrible, and Sean must have been feeling even worse.

‘Yeah, well, Leo thinks you’re covering for me,’ Sean informed me now. ‘He just told Mum he thinks you act more like a mother hen to me than a sibling.
Inappropriately protective
, I think he said.’

‘That’s just dumb!’ I protested. ‘Sean, come downstairs with me. I’ll explain again how the party was my idea and –’

‘No, it doesn’t matter any more.’

‘Of course it matters! We have to sort this out!’

‘No, we don’t! I know now what he really thinks of me and –’

He broke off as we heard the front door slam.

We both looked at each other in alarm and I ran to look out of the window. I saw that it was Mum who had just left the house.

Seconds later we heard footsteps on the stairs.

‘Leo,’ I mumbled nervously as he came into my room.

‘Good morning, Sasha,’ he said crisply, like he didn’t think it was a good one at all, before turning to my brother, who was sitting down on the end of my bed. ‘Sean.’

‘Where’s Mum gone?’ Sean grunted.

‘To inspect the mess you made last night. She’s already spoken to Lily’s mother. Lily and Rafferty are going to meet you at Blossom House in half an hour to help you clean up – preferably before Miranda sees the place. You two had better get dressed.’

‘Right,’ I murmured. As Leo started to leave my room, I said, ‘Leo, the party last night … it honestly was all my idea. Sean had nothing to do with it. He only came there to check I was OK.’

Leo let out a hollow laugh. ‘Really? He thought he’d keep an eye on you from inside that airtight box, did he?’

And before either of us could respond, he had whizzed off down the stairs saying that he was going to get on with some marking.

When Sean left I got dressed carefully in a strappy sequinned top and my jeans with the designer label that Mum had picked up for me in a charity shop (and which Lily says are much cooler than the jeans I usually wear). At the last minute I decided to put on some make-up as well.

I had just gone downstairs and was grabbing a handful of biscuits to eat for breakfast when Leo came into the kitchen.

His gaze moved disapprovingly over my jeans and strappy top and settled on my face. ‘Sasha, I thought you were going to Blossom House to clean up?’

‘I am!’

‘Then why are you dressed like you’re going to another party? And you’re only twelve years old, for God’s sake! Is it really necessary to smother your face with all that muck
?
’

I felt my face go hot. OK, so I might have gone a bit heavy on the foundation but there was no way I looked that bad. I started to feel cross.

Sean didn’t help by appearing in the kitchen and saying, ‘Of course it’s necessary.
Raffy
will be there!’

Leo looked puzzled as I yelled at my brother to shut up.

‘Raffy?’ Leo repeated. ‘But isn’t he –’

‘Nearly three years older than her and a total numbskull!’ Sean declared. ‘That’s right! Doesn’t stop her having a massive crush on him though!’

‘Shut up, Sean!’ I yelled more savagely. My face felt like it was on fire. How long had he known?

‘Sasha, I really think you should change into something more sensible,’ Leo said, while looking as if he was trying to work out if what my brother had just said was true.

I’m not sure what came over me next. It felt like some furious cranky girl, whose existence I had only been vaguely aware of before then, suddenly exploded out from inside me and bawled, ‘GET LOST, LEO!’

And I stormed out of the house in a total rage, slamming the front door as hard as I could behind me.

I half-ran, half-hobbled, all the way to Lily’s house, crying a little on the way, hoping they hadn’t left for Blossom House yet. (On top of everything else, the toe strap on one of my flip-flops had become loose and it was proving difficult to keep on.)

‘I HATE HIM!’ I burst out the second Lily opened her front door.

‘Who?’ she asked, looking surprised.

‘LEO!’

I hadn’t meant to blurt everything out so dramatically, but I just couldn’t help it. As we stood on her front doorstep I gave her a blow-by-blow account of what had just happened, leaving out the embarrassing bits about her brother.

‘You’ll just have to tell Leo you need more time to adjust before he starts going all overprotective dad on you,’ Lily advised me after she had listened.

I sniffed. ‘You think that’s what he’s doing?’

‘Sounds like it. And I don’t blame you for not wanting to take it. After all, he’s not even married to your mum yet! He’s lucky you didn’t … I don’t know …’ She glanced down at my feet. ‘Throw your flip-flops at him or something!’

I smiled briefly, imagining the look on his face if I had.

‘Never mind – you can save that for the next time!’ Lily added mischievously.

‘Next time?’

‘Trust me, this isn’t the only time he’s going to try and tell you what to do … at least if he’s anything like
my
dad.’ She grinned. ‘Once I got so mad at mine I threw a yoghurt at him. I’ve never actually walked out of the house on him though. I probably wouldn’t see my phone for a month if I did that.’

‘You reckon?’ I suddenly worried that my outburst was going to have consequences – on top of the ones I knew would soon be coming my way as a result of the party, that is. I quickly realised it might be smart to get Mum on my side sooner rather than later.

‘Don’t worry.
Your
mum won’t do anything like that. She’s way too cool,’ Lily said, like she could read my mind.

‘Yeah, well Leo certainly
isn’t
cool,’ I grumbled. ‘I mean, out of Mum and him … well, it’s almost like
he’s
the one who’s nearly forty and
she’s
the one who’s nine years younger!’

Lily was grinning.

‘What’s so funny?’ I demanded.

‘
You!
I just can’t believe you yelled at Mr Anderson like that. Hey, don’t look offended! I think the new rebellious you is awesome. And
I
think you look great … even if you do look like you’re going out on a date!’

When Lily and I arrived at Blossom House I quickly told Mum what had happened between Leo and me. I might have skewed the account a little in my favour, but I figured Leo could have phoned Mum and done the same, and that if he hadn’t that was his problem.

‘He’s going against what
you
think about Sasha’s clothes,’ Lily backed me up. ‘I mean, you’re her mum and if you didn’t want her wearing those designer jeans then you wouldn’t have bought them for her, would you?’

Mum just glared at her. Clearly she was still very cross with us about the party.

‘Actually, Lily, I totally agree with him that dressing up just to come here to clean does seem rather pointless. Now … you’d better make a start on the garden. Where are the boys by the way?’

‘Sean’s just coming,’ I said.

‘Raffy’s coming a bit later,’ Lily mumbled, avoiding looking Mum in the eye. She had already told me that her brother had conveniently disappeared soon after he’d been told he had to come and help us. I felt quite relieved. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to talk to Raffy normally after seeing him with his arm round that other girl last night.

‘Good, because Miranda is bringing her client round to view the place again with his partner first thing tomorrow morning,’ Mum snapped. ‘So I want it completely back to normal by then.’

‘So it’s not definite that he’s going to buy it then?’ I said. ‘I mean, he could still change his mind?’

Mum narrowed her eyes at me as if she was trying to work out why I was so interested. But before she could ask Lily was picking up the roll of black bin bags Mum had left out for us and giving my arm an impatient tug. ‘Come on, Sasha,’ she urged.

And I have to say I was brought down to earth with a bump as I surveyed the garden and all the discarded rubbish from the night before.

Half an hour later the garden was tidy again and Lily and I had placed a couple of bin bags of rubbish with the other stuff waiting to be collected at the front entrance. I spotted the birdcage from the shed in the pile of stuff being thrown out and, acting on an impulse, I took it back inside the house with me and hid it in the bedroom cupboard.

I went back downstairs to find Sean and Lily about to make a start on cleaning up in the front room.

‘You might need to use the vacuum cleaner in there first,’ Mum was telling them as she stood in the hall handing out cloths and cleaning fluids.

‘It’s broken,’ I said without thinking.

‘What?’ She whirled round to glare at me. ‘Don’t tell me
that
happened at your party?’

‘Well … no, but …’ I trailed off, looking at Sean, not sure what to say next.

The two of us had accidentally broken Blossom House’s ancient-looking vacuum cleaner the December before. I’d been making my own Christmas cards there one Saturday while Mum was at work, and Sean had ended up helping me and getting really silly with the glitter. While I was vacuuming up the mess, a little tube of glue had somehow got sucked up into the hoover and we hadn’t been able to get it to work ever since.

‘Come on, Mum – it
has
to be broken!’ Sean said, doing his best to rescue me. ‘Have you
seen
that thing? It looks like it belongs in a museum for ancient household contraptions!’

And he quickly pushed me ahead of him into the front room before Mum could respond.