Eva's Holiday (5 page)

Chapter Eleven

W
hen I got home, Mum was in the kitchen. I ran over and hugged her.

‘What was that for?’ she asked when I finally let her go.

‘For not running away when I was a baby,’ I said, feeling a bit stupid as the words came out.

Mum hugged me again, and when she let me go I could see tears in her eyes.

‘That poor girl,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so sad.’

I shook my head.

‘Me neither.’

‘Are you going to see her tomorrow?’ asked Mum.

I nodded.

‘Yeah. She said she’ll call over in the morning.’

Mum smiled at me.

‘That’s good. It sounds like the poor thing needs a friend. It was nice of you to defend her against those other two girls this morning.’

‘Thanks, but I really wanted to be friends with
them
. Cathy and Lily seem much more like my type. They’re cool and fashionable, and I bet they like the same kind of stuff as I do.’

‘I understand where you’re coming from,’ said Mum. ‘Remember though, Victoria and Ella are cool and fashionable, but they’re also nice girls. This Cathy and Lily sound very mean to me. Better to stay well away from them.’

Then Mum went and rooted around in her handbag.

‘You showed great maturity today, Eva,’ she said. ‘So I think it’s time you got this back.’ As she spoke, she pulled out my phone.

I raced over and took it from her. I turned
it over and over in my hands like it was a precious jewel. Then I pressed the ‘on’ button and watched as the screen lit up. Just as I was admiring my totally cool screensaver, the phone rang.

I answered the call and held the phone to my ear.

‘About time.’

It was Victoria, and even though it was only a few days since we’d hugged goodbye, it felt like hundreds of years had passed since then.

‘I’ve been trying to call you for ages,’ Victoria continued. ‘Did your parents confiscate your phone again?’

‘Yes,’ I replied.

‘What did you do this time?’ she asked.

I sighed.

‘It’s kind of a long story.’

‘You mean your mum’s listening.’

I giggled.

‘Exactly.’

Then I waved to Mum and walked out into the garden so Victoria and I could talk in peace.

Victoria laughed when I told her about the ‘kidnapped’ sign, and then she told me about the fun stuff she’d been doing since I had left.

‘So what have you been doing besides wasting police time?’ she asked after a while. ‘How are the holidays going?’

I hesitated.

I wanted to tell her about Kate, but didn’t know how, without making Kate sound totally weird.

‘It’s kind of boring,’ I said, ‘I haven’t really made any friends yet.’

‘Poor you,’ she said, not sounding as sympathetic as I had hoped.

Then she said, ‘But you haven’t asked why I’m ringing.’

‘Because I’m one of your best friends and you miss me and wanted to talk to me?’

She laughed. ‘That too, but it’s mostly because
my Mum is going to visit an old school-friend tomorrow afternoon.’

‘And I care about that because?’ I said in the most bored voice I could manage.

‘Because Mum’s friend lives a few miles from where you are now, and Mum said that she’ll bring me with her, and I can hang out with you for a few hours until she has to go back again!’

I squealed and jumped up and down. I couldn’t believe it. I was going to see my friend. For the first time in days, I was going to see a real, live, normal friend.

Victoria laughed again. ‘Get over yourself,’ she said. ‘Or else I won’t come. Now my mum wants to talk to your mum so we can get directions to your place. And I’ll ring you tomorrow to tell you what time I’ll be there.’

I raced inside, gave the phone to Mum and minutes later it was all settled. I threw myself on to a couch and gave a big sigh of happiness.

Everything was perfect.

And then I had a horrible thought.

What was I going to do about Kate?

In the end, I was so desperate I decided to ask Mum for advice. She didn’t think it was a big deal.

‘Kate calls over, Victoria arrives, and you all hang out together for a few hours. I’m afraid I don’t see the problem,’ she said.

I felt like stamping my foot but didn’t dare. I didn’t want to give Mum a reason to take my phone back again.

‘You just don’t
get
it,’ I said. ‘Kate is totally different to Victoria. She wouldn’t like Victoria, and Victoria wouldn’t like her.’

Mum just smiled. ‘They both seem to like you,’ she said.

Now I risked a small stamp of my foot. ‘That’s
so
not the point. It just wouldn’t work. It would be a total disaster. It would ruin my only day
with Victoria. It would ruin my holiday. It would ruin my whole life.’

Mum patted my shoulder. ‘I don’t think it’s as serious as all that,’ she said. ‘If you want my opinion—’

‘I don’t,’ I said crossly, but Mum ignored me and continued, ‘If you want my opinion, I think you should trust your friends to get on with each other.’

‘But….’

‘Remember when you first met Ruby?’ continued Mum. ‘She was a bit of a loner, but in the end she got on fine with all your other friends.’

‘That’s different,’ I said.

‘How?’

‘It just is.’

Mum sighed. ‘Well then, if you’re going to be like that, you’d better go and explain to Kate. You can’t have her come over here tomorrow and not invite her in. That would be too cruel.
Think of something nice to say to her, and tell her you’ll see her the day after tomorrow. Now off you go, it’s nearly time for tea.’

Chapter Twelve

T
ypical Mum, she makes everything sound so easy, but as I walked slowly towards Kate’s house, I knew this wasn’t going to be quite as simple as it seemed.

How was I going to explain to Kate?

Do you think you could sort of vanish from my life for twenty-four hours?

You’re not as weird as I thought you were at first, but you’re still
too
weird to meet my real friend.

Let’s play hide-and seek. You hide and I’ll look for you – the day after tomorrow.

No matter how I tried, I couldn’t think of a nice way to say what I needed to say. Kate wasn’t stupid, and I knew it would be very easy to hurt
her feelings.

Much too soon, I was at the top of the laneway leading to Kate’s house. I’d never been here before. Kate always called for me, and she had never invited me to her place. Now I thought I could see why. The laneway was all overgrown, with barely space for one person to pass through. Long thorny branches grabbed at my clothes, like they were trying to hold me back.

Did they know something I didn’t?

At the top of the lane was a small cottage that might once have been white, but was now a dull grey colour. The roof was covered with gross slimy green stuff. The paint on the front door was faded and peeling, and the grass in front looked like it hadn’t been cut in months.

Poor Kate. Having no mum or dad was horrible enough, but living in a dump like this made things even worse.

(OK, so right now, I was living in a dump not
much better than this, but that was just because of one of my mum’s crazy ideas. Back home, in my real life, our clean, not-falling-down house was waiting for us.)

Just as I was trying to find the courage to knock on the door, Kate appeared at the side of the house. She jumped when she saw me, then ran towards me.

‘What are you doing here?’ she hissed.

‘I … I …,’ I began.

‘You shouldn’t come here,’ said Kate. ‘You should
never
come here.’

As she spoke, she took my arm and dragged me back towards my own house. I didn’t resist. Kate suddenly seemed fierce and frightening, and there was no way I was doing anything that might make her even worse.

As we got farther way from her house, Kate seemed to relax a bit. She let go of my arm. We stopped walking and stood staring at each other. I rubbed my arm, wondering if Kate’s fingers
were going to be forever imprinted on my skin.

‘Sorry, Eva,’ she said after a while. ‘It’s just …it’s just … well it’s just that you kind of gave me a fright … and Martha doesn’t like visitors. Since Dad …… since Dad ……, well, no one ever calls, and Martha’s got used to it. She likes it that way. She’s kind of a recluse.’

‘But what about you?’ I protested. ‘That’s not fair on you. You’re not a recluse. Why do you have to live like that?’

‘You don’t have to worry about me. I’m tough.’

But something in the way she said it, made me realise that, despite her fierce look, she wasn’t tough at all.

‘Anyway,’ said Kate brightly. ‘Enough about me. What do you want? Why were you calling for me?’

I gulped.

The way Kate had reacted had made me forget all about why I was there, but now I was more sure than ever that I had to keep her away from
my real friend.

‘Er … I came to say that my friend, Victoria, is coming for the afternoon tomorrow.’

Kate grinned. ‘That’s great news. You probably miss her. We can show her the Island of Dreams if you like. I don’t mind sharing it as long as she’s a friend of yours. We won’t mention Jeremy, though, if you think she won’t get it. And we can show her where the wild strawberries grow – but you have to make her promise not to tell anyone.’ Kate looked up and saw my face.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘I’ve got this wrong, haven’t I?’

I nodded slowly.

‘Don’t worry, Eva,’ she said. ‘I understand.’

I was beginning to feel really happy, before she continued.

‘I guess your friend isn’t into that kind of thing. That’s OK, though, there’s loads of other stuff we can do. We could go to the beach, or we could ……’

‘Er, Kate ……,’ I began.

She looked up again and her smile vanished.

‘You don’t want me hanging around while your friend is here, do you?’ she said.

‘I…….’ I began, but couldn’t think how to go on.

‘It’s OK,’ she said. ‘I know how you feel. You’re ashamed of me.’

‘It’s not like that,’ I protested, even though she was right. I felt awful, as a mixture of guilt and relief washed over me.

‘I don’t mind,’ said Kate. ‘I understand. I’d probably do the same if I were you. Anyway, I’m very busy tomorrow. Martha wants me to do some jobs for her. Even if you wanted to spend time with me, I probably wouldn’t be able to.’

I knew she was lying, but I didn’t argue.

Kate gave a sad smile. ‘Have a nice day with your friend.’

I wondered if my guilty conscience would let me enjoy a single second of my time with Victoria.

‘We can hang out the day after tomorrow, if you like,’ I said, feeling like a snake.

‘That sounds good. I’ll call for you in the morning, OK?’

I nodded, and Kate walked slowly away.

I watched her go.

She’d solved my problem for me, but why did I feel like this was the meanest thing I’d ever done in my entire life?

Chapter Thirteen

I
got up early the next morning, and it seemed like ages before Victoria arrived. I was totally bored. I wished I could hang out with Kate for a while, but I knew that wasn’t a good idea.

Mum persuaded me to play Monopoly with Joey. It was so boring that I kept robbing the bank to give him extra money so that he’d win and put me out of my misery. He caught me though, and insisted that we go back and start the whole thing again. I wondered for the hundredth time why I’d ever dreamed of having a little brother or sister.

Every few minutes, I jumped up and looked
out the window.

Why wasn’t Victoria here?

I texted her heaps of times, but she never replied.

Why didn’t she ring me?

Had something more exciting come up, and had she changed her mind about coming to visit me?

At last I heard the sound of a car and I raced out to greet my friend.

‘Omigod! You’re here at last,’ I said.

Victoria’s mum laughed.

‘It’s only been a few days,’ she said, but Victoria and I were too busy hugging to answer her.

Victoria’s mum arranged to be back at five, and then she set off for her friend’s house.

Victoria followed me inside. She gazed around the room.

‘I know,’ I said. ‘It’s a dump. You’ll get used to it after a while.’

She shook her head. ‘It’s not a dump. It’s …quaint, and kind of cute.’

I tried to see it through her eyes, but failed.

‘Why didn’t you ring me this morning like you said you would?’ I asked.

Victoria made a face. ‘I couldn’t. My phone had an accident.’

I tried unsuccessfully not to giggle. Victoria’s phone is always having accidents.

‘What happened this time?’

‘Er …it fell down the toilet.’

This time I didn’t even try to hide the giggles. Victoria giggled too.

‘It’s not really funny though. It probably can’t be fixed, and Mum won’t buy me a new one until September. She says I’m too careless.’

‘Poor you,’ I said. ‘But look on the bright side, at least you’re not stuck in a weird dump like this for the summer.’

‘Speaking of weird,’ said Victoria. ‘We passed a girl on the road, just before we got here, and
she was acting really weird.’

‘Weird how?’ I asked, not sure that I wanted to hear the answer.

‘It looked like she was crawling through the hedge or something,’ said Victoria.

‘That’s ………….,’ began Joey, who always seemed to be around when I didn’t want him.

‘Hey,’ said Victoria. ‘You must be Joey.’

Joey gave her his best gap-toothed smile.

‘So cute,’ said Victoria smiling back.

I was starting to agree with her, when he went on talking.

‘That girl you saw is Eva’s new best friend, Kate,’ he said. ‘She’s really funny. She doesn’t mind picking up earwigs or anything. She—’

I couldn’t take any more. I picked up a magazine, and lightly whacked Joey on the head with it. Then I raced out the door before he could go crying to Mum and Dad.

I ran down the road to safety, with Victoria laughing and running after me.

There was no sign of Kate, but unfortunately Victoria hadn’t forgotten about her.

‘Is that girl we saw really your friend?’ she asked. ‘If you don’t mind me saying it, she didn’t exactly look like your type.’

I hesitated. I knew I should be loyal to Kate, but I wasn’t brave enough. So I shook my head.

‘No. She’s not my friend. She’s just a girl who lives around here. Joey only made that friend stuff up to annoy me.’

‘Good,’ sighed Victoria. ‘We wouldn’t want you going all weird on us. Now what’s there to do in this place?’

It didn’t take long to tell her. My favourite place was The Island of Dreams, but I could hardly take Victoria there. For one thing, Kate might show up. It wasn’t just that, though. I’d betrayed Kate enough already, but taking my friend to her favourite place without her would have been totally mean.

So we decided to walk to the beach.

As usual, Cathy and Lily were sitting on the wall opposite the shop. It was almost like they were living statues, part of the scenery.

‘Who are those two girls over there?’ asked Victoria. ‘Do you know them?’

Yes, but they think I’m weird just like my friend Kate.

‘Not really,’ I said.

‘So let’s get to know them,’ said Victoria, who can make friends with anyone.

Maybe she was right. If Cathy and Lily saw me with my real friend, my cool friend, maybe they’d forget that Kate was my friend too. Maybe they’d like me. Maybe I was going to have a half-way normal summer after all.

As we walked towards Cathy and Lily, I fixed my hair and straightened my top.

Cathy and Lily gave us their usual bored looks as we came close.

‘Hi, Kate’s friend,’ said Cathy.

Victoria gave me a funny look, before Cathy
continued. ‘Where’s Kate today? Digging potatoes? Eating worms? Swinging out of trees?’

I could feel my face going red. I should have known that this was a stupid idea.

And to make things even worse, I couldn’t think of a single smart thing to say back to Cathy.

‘Come on,’ I said to Victoria, pulling her by her arm. ‘Let’s hurry, I want to show you the beach before the tide comes in.’

Victoria followed me to the beach, but as soon as we got there, she made me stop and she stared me in the face.

‘What’s going on, Eva?’ she asked.

I took a step backwards. Victoria can be very intimidating when she wants to.

Then she continued, ‘Why are those girls being so mean? Why is everyone saying that Kate is your friend, even though you deny it?’ Now Victoria folded her arms, and put on her crossest face. ‘Tell me, Eva,’ she said.

I shrugged. ‘There’s nothing to tell. This place is full of weirdos. Didn’t I say that already? Now we only have a few hours, so let’s start enjoying ourselves.’

We had a totally fun day, and when Victoria’s mum came to pick her up, I felt like crying.

I gave Victoria one last hug, and then she climbed in to the front of her mum’s car and slammed the door.

I waved and tried to smile as they drove off. I felt like Victoria was abandoning me. Without her, Kate was the closest I had to a friend.

But how could someone be your friend if you were half-afraid of them?

It just wasn’t fair.

Summer wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Kate called over first thing the next morning.

‘Did you have a nice time with your friend?’ she asked.

I went red. ‘I’m sorry about … well you know … I’m sorry,’ I said.

Kate smiled. ‘That’s OK.’

She seemed so nice, and so forgiving, that for one second I felt like hugging her. Then I remembered that she wasn’t really a huggy kind of girl, so I just smiled back, and we set off for another day at the beach.