I couldn’t wait to tell Bella about meeting Aunt Thecla’s old fiancé, because I knew such juicy information was bound to earn me a good chunk of her undivided attention.
I found myself automatically following in the direction my sister had gone – up one of the side roads that led away from the river. I cycled to the end of the road and found a small car park next to a grassy area where a few younger kids were playing football. I couldn’t see Bella but I spotted her bicycle chained up against some railings. I went over to inspect it just to make sure it was hers, then I walked into the field where the noisy ball game was going on. A girl who looked about my age was sitting on the grass.
‘Hi,’ I said shyly, walking up to her. ‘I’m looking for my sister. That’s her bike over there. Have you seen her?’
The girl looked up. ‘She went off with some guy on a motorbike.’
‘What?’ I was totally shocked. ‘Are you sure?’
She gave me a look like I was stupid and didn’t bother to reply.
‘Was it a young guy?’ I asked, thinking that it had to be Sam, though I still wasn’t quite able to believe it.
‘Pretty young. Not some old pervert, if that’s what’s worrying you.’ She was looking at me curiously. ‘I haven’t seen you here before.’
‘We just moved here.’
‘Oh yeah? I only moved here six months ago.’
‘Really?’ I was instantly interested, pleased to have found another newcomer.
I sensed she might be interested in me too. ‘Are you starting at Westbury High?’ she asked.
I shook my head. ‘St Clara’s.’
‘Really?’ She looked like she was about to say more, then suddenly tensed up as she spotted two girls our age walking towards us, dressed in jeans and branded T-shirts. They were carrying cans of Coke, and handed her one before flopping down on the grass beside her.
‘Who’s this then, Katie?’ one of them asked. She was wearing quite a lot of make-up and she had a pink streak in her dark-blonde hair, which actually looked pretty cool.
‘I’ve only just met her,’ Katie replied. ‘She’s just moved into the village.’
‘Hi, I’m Libby,’ I said shyly.
‘I’m Fran,’ said the girl with the pink streak.
‘I’m Lara,’ said the other girl, who had long white-blonde hair and was very tall and slim. ‘So are you going to Westbury High? What year are you in?’
Katie said, ‘She’s going to St Clara’s.’
‘OOH, Katie’s got a friend at the posh school!’ Fran teased.
‘Don’t be stupid,’ Katie said crossly. ‘She’s looking for her sister. Remember that cute guy we saw on the motorbike?’
‘He’s her sister?’ Lara said with a giggle. ‘Wow – that’s some amazing sex-change op!’
Fran started laughing too but Katie looked annoyed. ‘The girl who got on his bike is her sister.’
‘Her name’s Bella,’ I said, but none of them were listening to me.
Lara and Fran eventually stopped laughing. ‘My dad says St Clara’s is for girls who are too delicate or too dim to make it in a normal school,’ Fran said.
‘She doesn’t look delicate,’ Lara put in as she stared at me. ‘At least her thighs certainly don’t.’
‘Right, so I guess that makes her dim!’ Fran said, and they both started laughing their heads off again while Katie looked uncomfortable.
I could feel my face burning as I turned and walked away from them. So much for making friends here. I was relieved Bella wasn’t with me because I know she’s still really sensitive about other girls being bitchy – to me as well as to her. I was just really glad those three weren’t going to the same school as us.
As soon as I was sure I was out of sight, I fished my phone out of my pocket to call my sister. I had other things to worry about now. Sam must have come here on his motorbike to visit her.
Her phone went straight to voicemail, so I sent her a text instead: I know u r with Sam!
A few minutes later she rang me. Before she could even speak I burst out, ‘Bella, I know you’re with Sam! I found your bike and someone saw you go off with him.’
‘Libby, you haven’t told Mum and Dad, have you?’ She sounded breathless.
‘Of course not!’
‘Good. Listen, I’ll explain everything when I get back. Just carry on with our plan for today. Promise me?’
‘But –’
‘Please, Libby? You’re the only person I can trust … Listen, I have to go. I’ll meet you where we said at five o’clock, OK?’
I didn’t know what to do after she’d hung up, so I decided to chain my bike alongside hers and walk back to the high street.
No wonder Bella was being so secretive. If our parents found out Sam was here they’d kick up a massive stink. And if Dad found out she’d been riding around on Sam’s motorbike … I shuddered as I thought back to the last row she’d had with Dad about Sam.
‘I’m not a child any more, so stop interfering!’ she’d shouted at him.
‘You’re fifteen!’ Dad replied scornfully. ‘You haven’t got a clue what’s best for you!’
‘Dad, you are so patronising!’ Bella retaliated, practically boiling with rage. ‘You know what? One day I’m going to leave home with Sam and never come back, and you won’t be able to do anything to stop us!’
I can’t remember how Dad responded to that but I was pretty sure he hadn’t taken her threat very seriously.
I thought about how Bella talks about Sam. It really isn’t that dissimilar to the adoration she always seemed to have for Dad when we were younger. Everyone had called her a daddy’s girl, just like they now call Grace a mummy’s girl. It seems strange to imagine that now when you see how much Bella and Dad argue. She says he’s stupidly overprotective and that he worries like an old woman – especially about us.
I was walking past the post office ten minutes later when I saw Tansy heading towards me. There was no sign of her dad.
‘Hi,’ I said, giving her a shy smile.
She immediately stopped to talk to me. ‘It’s Livvy, right?’
‘Libby,’ I corrected her. ‘Short for Elisabeth.’
‘Right.’ Suddenly her attention was caught by something behind me. ‘Look,’ she said quietly. ‘Isn’t that Mrs McLusky?’
I turned to look. We were a short way along the road from the village dental practice and the headmistress of St Clara’s was standing outside chatting to someone. And that someone was Aunt Thecla!
Of course it was no secret that they knew each other but I still felt uncomfortable seeing them together. It felt like my aunt was encroaching on my school life, where she normally didn’t belong.
Mrs McLusky was going inside the dentist’s when Aunt Thecla turned her head and saw me. There was nothing for it but to wait for her to come over.
Suddenly Tansy’s dad appeared beside us. ‘Tansy – there you are!’
At first he didn’t seem to recognise my aunt as she approached, but then he stiffened, standing almost to attention the nearer she got.
Aunt Thecla’s eyesight obviously wasn’t as good as his because she kept walking towards us with a smile on her face.
‘Oh no,’ I murmured under my breath. ‘Please God …’ The next thing I knew I was actually praying for divine intervention. I don’t know quite what I expected God to do, but something along the lines of freezing time for a few minutes so that we could all run away would have been pretty good.
‘Michael!’ Aunt Thecla’s voice was a little hoarse as she got close enough to recognise him.
‘Hello, Thecla.’
They looked at each other so awkwardly that for several moments it almost seemed that time really was standing still, waiting for one or the other of them to leg it out of there.
‘Well, Michael,’ my aunt finally said in a strange, tight voice. ‘It’s been a long time. How are you?’
‘Good, thank you. Good enough anyway … You heard my father died?’
She nodded.
‘I’m trying to sort out his house … I met um …’ He glanced at me. Clearly he’d forgotten my name.
‘Elisabeth and her two sisters are starting at St Clara’s this year,’ Aunt Thecla said as she looked questioningly at Tansy, who had drifted away to look in the bakery window.
‘So is my daughter, Tansy,’ he said. ‘We’ve just been getting her uniform.’
Tansy turned round and my aunt let out a gasp of shock. ‘Oh my goodness! She’s the spitting image of –’ She broke off, flushing pink and looking like she was worried she’d put her foot in it in some major way. ‘Forgive me, Michael, I didn’t mean to … I’m so clumsy sometimes …’
‘Don’t worry, Thecla,’ he said at once. ‘Anyway, it’s true. She does take after him. Everybody who knew him says so.’ He paused. ‘As you can imagine, my father was absolutely delighted!’
She gave a weak smile. ‘I can imagine.’ There was an even longer awkward silence. ‘Um … I was just going to get a coffee, so …’
‘Actually, Thecla, perhaps I could join you?’ he said in a rush.
Aunt Thecla looked totally floored. I could tell she hadn’t seen that one coming. ‘Well …’
‘Here, Tansy.’ Her dad swiftly handed her some money. ‘Why don’t you girls go and buy yourselves an ice cream?’
‘So do you know anyone else here?’ Tansy asked me as we sat down on the wooden bench in front of the village war memorial, licking the ice creams we’d just bought. I was keeping a lookout for the girls I’d met at the park, but thankfully there was no sign of them.
‘No,’ I replied, my friend radar switching on for the second time that morning. ‘Do you?’
‘Nope.’
Good, I thought. ‘Where have you moved from?’
‘Southampton. Now Grandpa’s died my dad’s decided to come back and live here. It’s a crazy idea if you ask me.’
‘Is it just you and your dad then?’ I asked curiously.
‘Yes. Mum and Dad are divorced, and I’m living with Dad because Mum’s gone to Africa to work for a charity there. She’s a doctor and she’s helping to set up a health clinic.’
‘Wow.’ I felt pleased that she was confiding in me so easily. Maybe Tansy wanted a new friend just as much as I did. ‘So how long has she been away?’ I asked, trying to sound politely interested rather than super-nosy. (Bella says I sometimes sound like I’m interrogating people when I get curious and want to know more.)
‘Almost four months. It was meant to be three but it got extended. She gets back to England in two weeks’ time though.’
‘I bet you can’t wait to see her.’ I could only guess how much I’d miss Mum if she ever went away for that long.
When Tansy just shrugged rather than agreeing with me, I asked, ‘So … will your mum have to go away again after that or is she back for good?’ Maybe her mum was leaving again and that was why she still seemed unhappy.
‘No.’ Tansy sounded angry as she added, ‘But I’m still not going back to live with her. I don’t care what she says!’
‘Oh …’ I could sense there was more she wasn’t telling me, but I didn’t feel like I knew her well enough to ask without risking her thinking I was sticking my nose in.
We sat silently eating our ice creams while I tried to think of something else to say. If there’s one thing I’m good at it’s getting people to talk about themselves.
‘So how do you like living in the country?’ I finally asked.
She pulled a face. ‘It sucks! I mean, Dad never really talks about growing up here, but as far as I can work out the most exciting thing that ever happened when he was a kid was the church fête!’
I smiled. ‘Don’t forget the annual tractor race!’
‘Dad actually won that one year,’ Tansy said with a grin. ‘He and his girlfriend paid a local farmer to let them use his tractor. He says no one could believe it when they came first. He says it was all down to his girlfriend, because she drove like a maniac!’
I was positive that the girlfriend in question had to be Aunt Thecla. I couldn’t imagine her perched on a tractor, but the driving like a maniac sounded right. And I was sure I’d also heard some story about her winning the village tractor race.
‘Tansy, did you know that your dad and my aunt lived next door to each other when they were young? And that they were engaged for a while.’
‘What? You mean that aunt we met just now?’ she looked shocked. Then she started to grin. ‘Oh wow! I thought he was acting a bit weird. I had no idea she was Bluebell!’
‘Bluebell?’ I was confused. ‘But that’s not her name!’
‘Oh, Bluebell was just Dad’s pet name for her. Her real name was pretty weird apparently.’
‘Thecla?’ I said.
She grinned. ‘Very possibly. Wow! I can’t believe Bluebell is your aunt! Wait till I tell my mum. She thinks Dad never really got over his first love … though Dad says that’s rubbish!’ She grinned even wider. ‘I’m telling you, seeing him with your aunt just now, I’m thinking Mum might be right … I’ve never seen him so keen to take someone out for coffee!’