It’s the day after Christmas Day.
Soon Alice will be arriving to stay with her dad for ten long, lovely days. Her mum is going to Lanzarote, for a break. My mum laughed when she heard that, and said that it must be nice to need a break from bridge and tennis and going to the beautician’s, but then she realised that I was listening so she didn’t say any more. It wasn’t a mean laugh though, and I didn’t mind.
I’d better go back and give a quick account of what happened next.
Going back to school after mid-term was nearly as bad as September had been. But then, over the next few weeks, things started to improve. One day I noticed that Grace and Louise, two of Melissa’s friends, didn’t seem to be talking to her. I wondered why, but of course I didn’t ask them. That night I e-mailed Alice to tell her. She replied that it was probably because they didn’t curtsey low enough when they were talking to her. Then I e-mailed back and said that they probably forgot to admire her hair, or her new coat or something. Anyway, I didn’t care what they were fighting about, it was nice to know that that there existed two more people who understood that Melissa wasn’t the most wonderful creature on this earth.
Next day, Miss O’Herlihy decided to move our places in class again. She put Melissa next to Jane, and everyone laughed. Melissa looked really, really mad, but couldn’t say anything because Miss O’Herlihy had her very cross face on. Jane just sat up straight, and said nothing. I felt kind of sorry for her. (Not sorry enough to want to sit with her again though.)
Then Miss O’Herlihy put me next to Louise. I would have hated that before, but it turned out that Louise was really quite nice. At break-time she shared her crisps with me. And when I told her a joke, she laughed like she really thought it was funny.
A few days later, we were told to divide into three for history projects. Louise suggested that Grace, me and her would go together. I was delighted, but tried to look cool, like it was no big deal. We decided to do our project on the Vikings. We worked on it for two weeks. Grace and Louise came to my house most days after school, and we looked stuff up on the Internet. Mum made us celery and carrot sticks, and Grace and Louise were really nice and didn’t laugh once.
When the project was finished we all went to Grace’s house for a pizza, to celebrate. It was fun.
At first, I didn’t know what to say to Alice about my new friends. I didn’t want her to be jealous. I didn’t want her to think that I had already forgotten about her.
I needn’t have worried though. She thought it was great that I wasn’t on my own any more. She said that made her feel better about making new friends in Dublin.
One weekend when she was staying with her dad, Alice asked Grace, Louise and me over for an evening. We watched a video, and played basketball, and just did girlie kind of stuff. It was great.
That Sunday, when she was leaving to go back to Dublin, I felt extra bad. I told her so.
She gave a big laugh. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I’m invited to a sleepover in Dublin on Friday, and on Saturday a few of us are going to the pictures in the afternoon. I’ll miss you. But I’ll get over it.’
I laughed too.
She gave me a quick hug. ‘And I’ll see you the week after next.’
As her dad drove her away, I forgot even to feel sad.
* * *
So there it is.
I hope that even when I’m a grown-up, Alice will bemy very best friend. Grace and Louise are nice, but they’ll never replace Alice. We’ve decided that we both want to go to college together, and we’re going to share a flat. Alice says she’ll live with me forever as long as I promise not to feed her with dried noodles. I agreed, but made her promise to do something about her snoring.
Alice says she probably won’t get married, after seeing how her parents turned out, but if ever she changes her mind, then she’d like me to be her bridesmaid.
I hope Alice and I will be very best friends when we’re ninety, and shuffling round a nursing home in baggy brown cardigans and furry slippers, talking about hearing aids and walking sticks and stuff.
But in the meantime, I’m having fun.