Diamond Girls (2 page)

‘We can't leave this flat, not now Tony helped do it up so swish,' said Martine. He just helped her paint her and Rochelle's bedroom but she acted like he did a complete
Changing Rooms
. ‘We'll never get as good a flat, not on this estate.'

‘You're right,' said Mum. She eased her legs down onto the floor, rubbing at her big blue veins. Then she sat up as straight as she could and folded her arms across her big bosom. She gave us such a look that we all shut up, even Jude.

‘We're not getting a better flat on this estate, OK? We're moving, like I said. It's all planned, in all my star
charts
. Every time I read the tarot cards the wheel of fortune comes up, symbolizing a new beginning. We have to act on it. It's like our destiny.'

‘You and your stupid fortune-telling, Mum. You're like a blooming gypsy.
My
fortune's right here,' said Martine.

‘There are too many bad vibes here,' said Mum, shifting on her chair and patting her tummy protectively.

‘Yeah, and whose fault is that?' said Jude. ‘Why did you ever have to get pregnant again?'

‘I can't help fate, darling. It's all in the stars.' Mum looked up, as if the Milky Way was shining across our kitchen ceiling.

‘We did a project on the stars at school. And the planets and all their little moons. We had to draw them but my compass didn't work so mine went all wobbly,' I said.

‘I did that project when I was back in primary school. I got an A,' said Rochelle.

‘Why do you always have to show off, Rochelle?' I said. ‘Who cares about your stupid A grades?'

I cared. It was horribly unfair that Rochelle got to be very pretty
and
very clever. Jude wasn't pretty but she was very clever, even though she didn't try much at school. Martine was pretty but she wasn't any good at lessons and couldn't wait to leave.

I was plain and most people thought I was stupid.

‘Pipe down, girls. Now listen. We're going to have a fresh start. We're leaving this old dump altogether.'

‘No we're not,' said Jude, folding her arms too. ‘You can't make us.'

‘Oh yes, we are moving,' said Mum, and she nodded at the letter in front of her.

We'd all thought it was just another bill or some silly
letter
from the social. We hadn't taken any notice when Mum was reading it, though I had wondered why she hadn't scrumpled it up and thrown it in the rubbish bin.

Martine snatched the letter. ‘The Planet Estate?' she read.

‘Isn't it just perfect?' said Mum. ‘See, Jude, it's fate.'

‘Oh my God, it's not even in London! We can't go there. How can I see Tony?'

‘I think you've been seeing way too much of that Tony, if you must know,' said Mum. ‘You're too young to get serious.'

‘Oh, that's great, coming from you! You had me when you were – what, sixteen?'

‘That's my point, I know what I'm talking about.'

‘You're moving us all to some weird estate in the middle of nowhere just to split Tony and me up?' Martine wailed, starting to cry.

‘Oh for God's sake, stop being such a drama queen! The whole world doesn't revolve around you and your boyfriend. I'm doing this for all of us. We need a bigger place, now you're all having a little brother.' Mum patted her stomach.

She said it as if we'd all begged for a brother. We'd all been appalled and embarrassed when she told us she was going to have another baby.

‘You can't
get
bigger than three-bedroom flats, not council,' said Jude.

‘I've got my whole bedroom wall like this big pop collage. It'll ruin it if I have to tear it all down,' said Rochelle.

‘You can make another one. You'll have more space. We're moving to a
house
,' said Mum. ‘A proper family house with our own garden.'

We all missed a beat, taking it in. I clutched Bluebell.

‘Will we be allowed pets?' I asked.

‘Yes, Dixie.'

‘Real ones? Birds?' I saw a green garden of trees with red and purple parrots and yellow canaries and blue budgerigars flying freely, cheeping and calling. Bluebell quivered, trying to stretch her faded feathers.

‘OK, if you're having a bird I'll have a big fluffy cat,' said Rochelle. ‘I'll have
lots
of those Persian cats with white fur. I'll call them Snowy and Sugar Lump and Ice Cream and Ivory.'

Phantom cats, as big and white as polar bears, were stalking through my garden, climbing the trees, pouncing on all my helpless rainbow birds.

Jude saw me clutching my sleeve. ‘And
I'll
get a big Rottweiler and he'll swat those pesky cats with one blow of his big paws. Then I'll put him on a lead and he'll be our guard dog and he'll always look out for you, Dixie,' said Jude.

‘What are you on about?' said Martine, still crying. ‘This is just crazy talk – dogs and cats and bogging budgies. It isn't a
game
. We can't move. I
won't
!'

‘Yes you will,' said Mum. ‘Stop shouting at me! I don't want my blood pressure going up, it's bad for the baby.'

‘That
badword
baby,' said Martine. She said so many badwords we all blinked.

‘Stop that!' said Mum. ‘I won't have it, do you hear? I know you're just upset because of Tony. You can't really think that about your poor little baby brother.'

‘Yes I do!' Martine shrieked. ‘You're so selfish, Mum. You act like none of us girls matter. You're just so obsessed with wanting a stupid boy you're mucking up
all
our lives. You should hear what they say about us on the estate – what they say about
you
.'

‘Well, I won't have to hear, because we're moving. You can swear at me all you like but it's settled and signed for, totally official,' said Mum, rolling up the letter and smacking it on the table. She hit her wrist by mistake and rubbed it furiously. ‘Ouch! Now look what you made me do.'

‘Good!' Martine shouted and she marched out, slamming the front door.

‘As if I care what those boring old bags have been saying about me,' said Mum, having a sip of her tea. ‘Anyway, what
have
they been saying?'

I looked at Jude and Rochelle. Rochelle opened her big mouth but Jude gave her a quick nudge.

‘So, this Planet Estate …' Jude said to distract Mum. ‘How did you hear about it?'

People are always saying things about her, but we don't tell Mum, even when we're mad at her.

‘I went down the council telling them all about the baby, wanting a swap, and this girl diddled away at her computer and the moment she mentioned the Planet Estate I had this weird tight feeling in my chest—'

‘Indigestion,' said Jude.

‘
Intuition!
I just knew it was the place for us, especially when she said that all six blocks also had streets of houses with gardens, for big families.'

Rochelle was counting on her fingers. ‘Six blocks? There are
nine
planets – I remember from when we did them at school.'

‘Yeah, you'd better get off to school, you're all late,' said Mum.

‘No point going though, is there? Not if we're moving,' said Jude.

‘You bunk off half the time anyway, you bad girl,' said Mum. ‘Well, you can make yourself useful going down to Tesco and bringing back as many cardboard boxes as you can manage. We'll need them for packing.'

‘
I'm
going to school,' said Rochelle. ‘I'm telling all my friends we're moving. We're really going to be living in a proper house with a garden, Mum? Can I have my very own bedroom? It's not fair I always have to share.'

We
all
share. We started off Martine and Jude, and Rochelle and me, but it didn't work. It's better with Martine and Rochelle, and Jude and me. But it would be best if we all had our own bedrooms.

‘Can I have my own bedroom too, Mum? Can all of us?' I asked.

‘We'll have to see, darling. Maybe. I don't know exactly how many rooms there are, or how big they are.'

‘I bags the biggest bedroom,' said Rochelle.

‘No, no, I've got to have that for me and the baby. I've been thinking about taking out another loan. I hate all that cheap second-hand crap. Who wants gungy old stuff for their little baby son, eh? I saw this cot with a cute little blue bear motif—'

Mum was off on one of her baby-boy rants. She'd be talking Mothercare catalogue for the next ten minutes. Jude yawned, poured herself another bowl of cornflakes and went to watch one of her old
Buffy
videos on the telly. She pulled her school tie off, rolled up her shirt sleeves and kicked off her shoes.

Rochelle packed her school bag ostentatiously, playing at being the good little girl.

I was still trying to think of nine planets. I hadn't really been concentrating when we'd studied them at school. I'd been too busy dreaming up my own planet. Bluebell and I lived there all alone in perfect peace. There'd be hardly any gravity on Planet Dixie so I could fly just like Bluebell. We shared a special mossy nest at the top of the tallest tree. It bore multi-fruit all the year round, apples on one branch, pears on another. Raspberries and blackberries and strawberries grew in leafy clumps around the trunk and grape vines dangled downwards, so that we didn't have to leave our nest to peck at breakfast.

‘Dixie! Close your mouth! Stop that daydreaming, you look gormless,' Mum snapped.

‘I was just trying to think of all the planets, Mum.'

‘We're going to live in Mercury. Then there's Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn.'

‘They've left out Pluto and Uranus,' said Rochelle.

‘Yeah, well, who'd want to live in Mickey Mouse's dog or something that sounds very rude,' I said. I was still counting. ‘So what's the last planet?'

‘Earth, stupid. Where we live. Though you're generally on a different planet altogether, Dixie. Planet Loony.' Rochelle stuck out her tongue and made for the door.

‘Hang on, Rochelle, take Dixie with you.'

‘Oh
Mum
. I haven't got time to do a blooming school run. I'm
late
,' Rochelle said, on her way to the bathroom.

‘I don't want to go to school today, Mum. Like Jude said, there's no point, not if we really
are
moving to this Planet place.'

‘You'll get me into trouble,' said Mum, but she reached out for me and cuddled me into her. I leaned against her, though I was careful not to touch her tummy.

‘OK, OK, little Dix, you can stay off school today.'

‘Hurray!'

‘Why don't you like school, eh?'

I shrugged. There was no point getting started.

‘Who's your teacher? Is she giving you a hard time? You tell her it's not
your
fault you're a bit of a dilly-dream, it's just the way you were born.'

‘Mmm,' I said, playing with Mum's hair.

It wasn't the teacher, it was the other kids. This girl had spotted me whispering into my cardie cuff and she'd pounced on Bluebell. She told all the others and they all did budgie squawks and screwed their fingers into their foreheads and called me Birdbrain.

‘Well, you'll be at a new school soon when we're living in Mercury. It's the smallest planet, always associated with children – and here I'll be, having my baby boy in Mercury. Come to that, I've always liked Freddie Mercury too,' said Mum, chuckling. She sighed when I looked blank. ‘You know, the singer with all the teeth in Queen. Freddie … How about that for the baby's name? Or what about Mercury?'

‘If you call the poor kid Mercury he'll be teased rotten,' Jude called.

‘Call him Justin,' said Rochelle, coming out the bathroom. ‘Or Craig. Or Robbie.'

‘I want something really special. Unusual,' said Mum.

‘What other singers do I like?' said Rochelle. ‘I know, Baby Busted!' She cackled with laughter and rushed off to school.

I relaxed and started plaiting Mum's long black hair.

‘Help me think up a good name, Dixie. I tried hard with you girls. You're all so lucky – dead individual.
There
aren't any other Martines or Judes or Rochelles or Dixies round here. I'm stuck with stupid old Sue. There are
heaps
of Sues.'

‘There's only one of you, though, Mum,' I said. I finished one plait and tied it with a piece of string from the kitchen drawer, adding a few paperclips too as silver decoration.

‘What are you doing? Turning me into whatshername – Pocahontas?' Mum said.

‘Hey, you could spell your name differently. S-i-o-u-x, like the native American tribe.
That's
individual,' I said.

‘Oh well, I'll give it a thought. Hey, leave off now, it's making me go all itchy. What about cowboy names for the baby?' Mum thought. ‘Butch Cassidy?'

‘Yeah, but what if he's a bit little and wimpy, Mum? You can't call him Butch.'

‘The Sundance Kid? Hey, Sundance, that's a glorious name! And the sun is a perfect symbol of male energy, right? Little baby, are you Sundance?'

Mum put her hands on her tummy, peering at it intently, as if she could see the baby inside dancing in the sun.

2