At school on Monday, I tried not to look too surprised when Ruby came over to me. Up to this, she had always acted like I became invisible the second I walked through the school gates.
Did she want to be friends at last?
And how did I feel about that?
Before I could make up my mind, she was next to me, and whispering in my ear.
‘I haven’t seen my mum this happy for a very long time. Thank you,’ she said.
‘That’s OK,’ I said. ‘Dad likes to fix stuff, and he likes helping people.’
‘So he’s a lot like you,’ said Ruby, making me feel really, really bad.
I looked around the room, wondering how quickly I could escape to Ella and my other friends.
‘My mum would love to do something to thank you, but she doesn’t know what,’ said Ruby then.
‘There’s no need …’ I started to say, before a thought that had been circling around my mind for a while, suddenly fought its way to the surface.
‘You remember that bracelet your mum made me?’
Ruby nodded.
‘Would you like her to make you another one? I know she’d be happy to. What colour would you like this time?’
I hesitated.
‘Well, I don’t want to sound greedy, but could she make me more than one?’
‘You mean like two?’
‘I was thinking more like ten.’
Ruby didn’t answer, so I tried to explain. ‘You know, I could wear a few at a time, and if your mum could do a few different colours, that would be great too, so I could wear them with all different outfits…..and stuff.’
Clearly Ruby thought that I was being very, very greedy, but after what Dad and I had done for her mother, how could she argue?
‘I suppose so,’ she said doubtfully. ‘But it might take her a few days.’
‘That’s OK,’ I said. ‘Tell her there’s no rush.’
I bent to put my school bag on my desk, and when I looked up again, Ruby had slipped away to the far corner of the classroom.
Then Ella was beside me.
‘Hi, Eva,’ she said. ‘I had such a fun weekend. Did you do anything exciting?’
I shook my head.
‘Not a thing. Why don’t you just tell me your news?’
As we went off arm in arm, I could see Ruby watching from the other side of the classroom.
And I was fairly sure that she was smiling.
After lunch that day, I raced through the maths assignment that Mr Gowing had set us, and then I slipped to the corner of the classroom where Dawn was working on the computer.
‘Hi, Eva,’ she said, smiling the happy smile that rarely left her face these days.
‘Hi, Dawn,’ I said. ‘Have you time to help me with something on the computer? It’s to do with a project.’
Dawn narrowed her eyes.
‘Is it just me, or do you seem to be always working on a different project to everyone else in this class?’
I smiled as I remembered the imaginary butterfly project. That seemed like it had happened a very long time ago.
‘It’s just an extra thing I’m doing,’ I said. ‘Now can we get started?’
Twenty minutes later, I had done exactly what I wanted on the computer, and Dawn printed it out for me.
‘I suppose you want it laminated too?’ she said.
I smiled sweetly. ‘Yes please.’
She shook her head, pretending to be cross.
‘I’m going down to the office in a few minutes, and I’ll do it then, OK?’
‘Thanks for your help, Dawn,’ I said. ‘I hope you have a really lovely time in South America.’
‘How do you know about my trip to South America?’
She was totally puzzled now.
I shrugged.
‘A lucky guess, I suppose.’
Dawn gave me a very funny look, and went off to the office to get my page laminated.
When I got home from school that day, Mum was sitting in the kitchen having coffee with one of her new friends.
The firm where Mum used to work part-time had closed down a few weeks earlier, so these days Mum spent most of her time at home.
‘Hi, Eva, this is Deirdre,’ she said. ‘She lives up the road. As soon as we finish our coffee, she’s going to show me how to grow tomatoes.’
The thought of my mum growing tomatoes was just too weird, so I decided to change the subject.
‘Where’s Dad,’ I said. ‘I don’t hear the sound of hammering so I know he can’t be here.’
Mum laughed. ‘He went over to Ruby’s house this morning to check that the stair lift was working ok. While he was there, a neighbour of Maggie’s asked him to come over to see if his attic would be suitable for conversion. Dad thought it was suitable, and the neighbour offered him the job of doing the conversion. Dad accepted, and now he’s gone to buy the stuff he needs.’
This was even weirder than Mum growing tomatoes.
My dad, who’d worked in an office for years, was now doing an attic conversion?
I rolled my eyes.
‘I’m going up to do my homework,’ I said. ‘At least I can understand what’s going on in my schoolbooks.’