Rebecca's Rules (17 page)

‘I agree,’ said John, taking a drag of his evil cancer-stick.

It’s a bit ridiculous that he thought it was too stuffy so he decided he’d go and breathe in some noxious poison instead. I knew I should despise him for it, but somehow I couldn’t. I could have done without the smell, though.

‘I needed to get away,’ he said. ‘There’s only so much of Vanessa I can stand.’

I knew I liked him for a reason.

‘How’s your writing going?’ I asked.

‘Not bad,’ he said. ‘I entered a student playwright competition so I’m waiting to see if I got on the shortlist.’

I asked if the play was a musical, inspired by our current
amazing project. He looked a bit put out.

‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s about a soldier about to go into battle who wonders whether he should kill himself rather than take an enemy’s life.’

‘Oh,’ I said. Really I should have known it’d be something serious like that.

‘So,’ said John, looking more cheerful. ‘How about you? Have you been writing any great works of art?’

‘Well, not really,’ I said. ‘Just a few poems.’

‘There’s no such thing as JUST a few poems,’ he said. ‘You’re making art. That’s very impressive.’

Then we had to go back to the hall. I would have liked to stay there longer. Although I am not sure what I would have said about my poems. Most of them so far are about Paperboy or how annoying Vanessa is. He might have thought I was a bit mad.

WEDNESDAY

Rehearsal was great today! We were doing ‘A Spoonful of Sugar’, and at first Ms Byrne was getting a bit crotchety because we couldn’t get the harmonies right and people kept
coming in doing the whistling bits at the wrong time. But then it was like something clicked and it all came together and it sounded really good. It was like the band when we finally figured out how to play a song from beginning to end. It was brilliant, even though we have to sing it behind Vanessa and Karen (and Wiktoria Nowak from 2:4 who’s playing Jane, the other kid, but she seems pretty nice so I don’t have anything against her) while they parade about in front of us.

John Kowalski came up to me afterwards.

‘Well, Miss Rafferty,’ he said. ‘You’re nailing those chorus songs.’

‘Ooh, thanks,’ I said.

‘Keep up the good work,’ he said, and walked off. There’s something so dashing about him. I wish he didn’t smoke. Not that really it makes any difference to me whether he does or doesn’t, of course. I’m just concerned for his health.

Oh. I just got a mail from Paperboy and I don’t know how I feel about it.

He didn’t break up with me. And I know he still likes me.
But I think he thinks we both need to move on. Actually, I don’t just think that, I know it because he basically said it. He said, and I quote, ‘I really miss you, but I want to know you’re having a great life in Dublin while I’m having a great life over here. I don’t want you to be sad just because I’m not coming back to Ireland. And I hope we both keep moving on and doing cool new stuff.’

I know he is right. I think I’ve known he was right for a while. But think I might have a cry now.

THURSDAY

I told Cass and Alice about Paperboy’s mail (it doesn’t count as moping and whining when something big or new happens). They were very understanding.

‘It’s not like he’s broken up with you,’ said Alice. ‘He just knows you haven’t been happy with, you know, the current situation between you and him. And I mean, you haven’t.’

‘It’s true,’ said Cass. ‘I know it’s … I mean, I know it makes you feel a bit awful. But weren’t you feeling awful before too?’

They are both right. Who knew both of them could be so wise? But at the same time I feel very sad. Sadder than I have in weeks.

Although they do have a point. I still don’t feel quite as miserable as I did before the musical started. But I do feel more miserable than I did yesterday morning. I tried writing some poetry to cheer myself up, but it didn’t work. I think I will just lie on my bed for a while and listen to music. If I lie down, I won’t be able to see that stupid Mulligan kid across the road even if she does start dancing at me.

FRIDAY

Had another big chat with John Kowalski today. He doesn’t know anything about the Paperboy business so it is nice and distracting talking to him. Cass had to stay late after rehearsal because the paint wasn’t dry on some of the carousel horses. I have to give Cass credit, she’s turned out to be pretty good at set designing. So her dream wasn’t really so illogical. She came up with a great idea for the ‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’ scene at the end – they’ve made big cardboard kites painted in cool patterns and put them on sticks, and we’re all going to raise them up and down in formation. A bit like a synchronised dance (one of my own dreams, as you may remember).

Anyway, the rehearsal went pretty well this evening, even
though Vanessa kept asking John to go through lines with her, and we had so much to do I actually didn’t really think about Paperboy at all during it. And then when it was finished, I was halfway up the school drive all on my own (I had kindly let Alice go ahead of me with Bike Boy) when a voice from behind me said, ‘Hello there, Rafferty.’

Not even a Miss or a Ms. I didn’t mind though. I actually liked it.

‘Hey,’ I said. ‘How are you?’

‘Oh, you know,’ said John. ‘A bit bored. Counting down the seconds until I never have to sing a song with Vanessa again.’

‘Ouch,’ I said. ‘It’s bad enough being her backing singers.’

‘Oh well,’ said John. ‘It’s all for the greater good. I think. It’s an experience, anyway. And it’s important to experience lots of weird things if you really want to be a writer. Maybe I’ll write a play about her and what a scary diva she is.’

‘She’d probably want to play herself,’ I said.

‘Good point,’ said John thoughtfully. ‘And if it showed her in a bad light, I bet she wouldn’t even realise it. She doesn’t really understand criticism, does she?’

‘She really doesn’t,’ I said. ‘She’s unstoppable.’ And I told him about her party. He was amazed.

‘Wow,’ he said. ‘It sounds hideous. The vulgarity! It’s almost so awful it’s brilliant. Like a sort of pageant.’

‘It was just awful for most of it,’ I said. ‘Especially for Alice.’

‘What?’ said John. ‘Oh yeah, the wrist thing. Yeah, I suppose that’s bad.’

‘We probably would have never taken part in the musical if she hadn’t hurt her wrist, though,’ I said. ‘And I’m glad we did. Not that it’s worth Alice being hurt, obviously. But you know what I mean.’

‘I do,’ said John. ‘I think it’s a good thing too. You lot doing the musical.’

‘Oh,’ I said. I could feel my cheeks going pink.

‘Yeah,’ said John. ‘It’s done Richard good, going out with Alice. I think it’s really enhanced his performance as Bert. It’s like he’s got a new drive, you know? A new vision.’

‘Oh,’ I said flatly.

‘Yeah,’ said John. ‘And of course, I’m glad I met you.’ He paused. ‘Always good to meet a fellow writer.’

‘Oh!’ I said. We were at the corner of Gracepark Road now. John looked at his watch.

‘Ah,’ he said. ‘I’d better run. My parents are making me go to my cousin’s engagement party, or something. I wasn’t really
listening because they’re so boring. Some stupid thing in a tacky hotel on the southside.’

He smiled. His mouth goes up more on the left side than the other when he smiles.

‘Bye, Rafferty,’ he said. And then he was off down Gracepark Road and I just stood there staring after him.

It wasn’t until I got home that I thought about Paperboy and remembered his mail. The whole musical thing really has been a good distraction. I feel a bit better now, so I am going to watch telly and eat biscuits. Luckily, my parents were feeling lazy tonight and got a posh takeaway, so I wasn’t forced to chop onions or something equally dreadful. For once. I’m sure they’ll be making me slave away as usual tomorrow.

SATURDAY

Quite a relaxing day today, which is just what I need after all the emotional upheaval and drama of the last week. Something must have happened to my parents. Not only did they not drag me out of bed at an ungodly hour and force to me to study/go to the shops/visit a baby, but when Alice called in to visit me before going in to town to see Richard, my mother
actually produced some biscuits! Nice biscuits too, not boring old digestives or something. It was very mysterious, but I’m not complaining.

Alice is in a good mood too. We had a good chat about stuff. Richard sounds really nice, so nice that it makes me feel a bit jealous and sad about all the Paperboy business. But Alice doesn’t go on about him in an annoying way. And I made a big effort to stick to the rules and I didn’t go on about Paperboy’s depressing mail. I am surprised to realise it actually made me feel better talking about other stuff, like the musical and how good Bike Boy and John are in it, and school, and, of course, Bike Boy and his ways (Alice says he wants them to try and write some songs together). I told her about my poem writing (though of course I didn’t show her any) and she was very enthusiastic.

‘It’s great practice for lyric writing for when we get the band going again,’ she said.

I told her a lot of the poems were haikus and they are too short to be a song, but she said it didn’t matter.

‘You’re building up your artistic skills,’ she said.

‘That’s kind of what John said,’ I said. ‘He told me he’s writing a play. Oh, and he also said Vanessa was doing his head in.’

‘I don’t think she knows that,’ said Alice. ‘She keeps trying to corner him.’

‘I know,’ I said. ‘It’s really annoying.’

Alice looked at me in a slightly odd way, but then she looked at her watch and realised she was going to be late to meet her true love Bike Boy. So off she went.

But we had had great biscuit feast. It is amazing what a difference just being distracted can make. I feel quite serene now and ready for a night of reading and watching DVDs. And I’m going over to Cass’s tomorrow for a bit so that will stop me from moping for at least a couple of hours.

SUNDAY