• Chapter 1



    It’s been 1 year and 7 months since my brother passed away; I still can’t bring myself to believe it. Every time I pass my mother I can see the look in her eyes of sadness, like waiting for a miracle; my mother will not wear much black as it reminds her of Jordan, and that she thinks it’ s best to carry on normally and will not want to be miserable for ever. She says to me ‘Why do you wear black?’ with a sigh, (it’s rather a straight answer) and then she says we need to let it rest. My brother was in a coma, and not being able to wake up they put him down. He fell whilst rock climbing.

    I’m Alice Bingley-Beckman. I’m 13 and I had a brother (Jordan) 1 mum (Sandra) and 1 father (James). I see things, I see my brother standing at the dock either sitting or spreading his arms out wide, just looking at the sea. I also have other dreams like he’s talking to me, my big brother’s eyes wide with enthusiasm, some times I think he’s there, I reach out my hand and POOF he’s gone. I wake up crying and go into my mothers room sometimes, I no I’m too old, or so people say, but I need comfort.

    “ There’s some salad and chicken in the fridge honey for tea ok?” Said mum
    “Ok, what time will you be home?”
    “About 6ish ok honey?”
    “Ok mum see you, then bye,”
    “Bye,” She put the phone down.
    “So what’s for tea” My best friend Lucy said
    “Salad and Chicken.” She nodded, thinking it was good.
    “Shall we go to yours now? "
    “Yeh lets go.” We walked down the street and got the 297 bus home. Its great when you have the house to yourself especially with a friend, but I still notice the emptiness of not having my brother. (And also mum wouldn’t be home anyway for a while. Mum works as a fitness instructor in LA (LAs where we live,) her shop is called ‘Work for shape’ She’s famous for her work and has helped many famous celebs get fitter and skinnier; there’s even been an article about my mum as well in The celebs magazine saying how she makes her living and the minuses and the goods about it.)
    “What shall we do when we get to your house?” asked Lucy
    “We can go into town? Or watch TV?”
    “Town! And we can get a smoothie from the smoothie bar again! Mmmmmmm yummy….”
    “Ok, ok we’ll have to get our purses first ok?”
    “Ok cool.” We walked down the road laughing as we listened to the latest jokes on my ipod from Michael McIntyre.
    “I love your house sooooo much Alice”
    “Yeh it’s great!” My house as people say was the best as my mum earnt lots of money, but my rich Uncle Conor did chip in a bit, (my uncle is soooooo awesome he takes me out shopping for leather jackets and stuff, he let me try out a cigarette once and I choked and coughed, he laughed at me and I laughed back.) My house is white with brown shutters. It has a big white curving staircase, leading up to our bedrooms, which have pale wood flooring all around. It also has plants here and there in some rooms, like tulips and pansies and the odd snapdragon and 1 venous flytrap. (Which my uncle gave to me for Easter, quite a funny present to be honest.)
    We walked in through the black swirly garden gate and up the short, stone garden path, are heels clicking on the ground. (Heels were not part of our school uniform, but teachers said they could be quite formal if black, so that’s why we wore them. There were some geeks in our school who didn’t wear heels though. I’m friends with geeks, I have no problem with them, as I’m not the type that say oh my god what a loser, the people who say things like that are normally popular, which I don’t agree with, like Ashley.)
    “Here we go,” I said as I put my key in the door lock, just then I heard someone say my name behind us, just as I unlocked the door,
    “Hey Alice!” It was Jonathan Beckender, (his surname suited him or he suited his surname,) he used it a lot beckoning me to his side.
    “Hey Jonathan” I smiled as he ran up the path with his Animal shoulder bag banging against him and his ipod in hand.
    “What’s up?” He said with a large grin,
    “Stuff” I said giving him a smile back, looking down at him from the doorstep,
    “Hang on,” me and Lucy turned around,” Shall we invite him to town with us?” I whispered
    “Yeh” replied Lucy, I could tell Jonathan was staring at us grinning and waiting,
    “Huhum, me and Lucy are going into town, we were thinking whether you’d like to join us?” I said winking at him,
    “Sure!” He said showing his white teeth,
    “Well come in then while we get our bags ok?”
    “Cool.” We entered my house hung our school blazers up and got our black jackets and our scarf’s, (my scarf was bright blue to show up my eyes, and Lucy’s was and orange and pink striped.)
    “Your house is too awesome for any words now Alice”
    “I know Jonathan.” Me and Lucy grabbed our purses quickly and giggled at Jonathan still looking up at the galleried landing, we tiptoed to the front door planning on closing it behind us without him noticing, but Lucy and I gave out snort of laughter, he glanced our way,
    “Oi!” he said as he ran towards us, “come back here!” We shut the door, and he ran after us, after he locked my house behind us, we ran down the path laughing as he ran after us. We came to a halt at the bus stop, panting for air.
    “Hey dudes what’s with the running?” Lucy and me burst out laughing once again as he hugged us to his chest smiling at us. We walked into the bus with his arms around us, come on mates he said finding us each a seat to sit on near him,
    “So what class was your favourite today Jonathan?” I asked turning my head sideways to face him,
    “Well…Science”
    “ Why science?” I asked
    “Well I burnt Mr Rothmans beard” He said smiling to himself looking proud,
    ”Oh my god, really” Lucy and I said
    “You should have seen the look on his face,”
    “Oh yeh because we were doing that art, with Mrs Corum”
    “Yep you missed the awesome moment sadly,”
    “So tell us it all how did it happen?” I said sitting up straighter, in my seat.
    “Ok so it started off when we were experimenting with the amazing flame, as Mr Rothman calls it,”
    “Uhuh” I said listening intently
    “Well I put this substance in it and it seemed to have a big reaction, oh yeh we were testing results but I put in too much substance, so it had a big reaction and Mr Rothman was standing over me, I looked over my shoulder and there he was patting his beard with a flame bouncing on it,”
    “He must have looked so worried!” Lucy and I said,
    “Yeh, but you should have seen his unhappy face when he called me aside, he beckoned me of course.” Jonathan did a screwed up monkey impression,
    “Is that what he looked like?” I asked mouth open about to laugh,
    “Yeh he always does it when he’s upset it’s so funny”
    “So what did he say?” Asked Lucy,
    “Well he said,” started Jonathan screwing up his face, John I’m not best happy with what you did please be more accurate with your measurements!”
    “Oh my god really?” Lucy squealed
    “And he also said in a whisper, do you know a good hair dressers?”
    “You can not be serious!?” I said
    “Oh yeh.”


    Chapter 2


    “People stopping off at centre shopping this is your stop.” boomed the coach driver in his speaker,
    “Thanks” Said Jonathan,
    “Welcome lad!” We got off the coach and headed for the shopping centres doors. The surroundings were colourful, with big shop names like ‘We are the genies’ in purple or ‘Palma’s’ the book store or even ‘Manicures’ with a picture of a butterfly next to it and the famous jewellery shop crescent moon; I know the people who own it, they’re brother and sister. They looked after me and my brother once and were very supported at the time of my brothers death, they even gave me an amber necklace to remind me of them and them being there to support me when I’m upset. I’m wearing the necklace now holding the amber in my hand near my neck. Jonathan and Lucy noticed,
    “ You ok?” they said putting their arms round me,
    “Yeh I’m fine just remembering that’s all; come on.” We hurried into the shopping centre and rushed to the smoothie bar. It had a banner above saying ‘Smoothies-only 50 cents with new pineapple and grapefruit.’
    “Ewww that’d be sour” said Lucy
    “It isn’t ewwwww, it’s awesome!” said Jonathan, I smiled at them. We entered under the banner and stood at the till,
    “Can I help you?”
    “Yes one pinapple and grapefruit smoothie please and…”
    “One raspberry and banana” said Lucy
    “And one pineapple, and grapefruit for me as well” Said Jonathan. We paid over the counter to the lady our $1.50,
    “How can you take such sour things, I certainly can't take it,” she said giving me a frown,
    “Yeh I can take it it’s rather cool I guess, I mean I like sweet stuff a swell”
    “When I was your age I had a sweet tooth, but now days I can’t take it at all, I try sweet things in restaurants and pull a horrible face out the window and people stare at me like I’m from a loony bin,” she smiled at me, whilst handing us our smoothies, and I laughed. We sat down and drank our smoothies, chatting about the latest movies we were dying to see,
    “Well I went to see twilight with Alice” said Lucy
    “Yeh it was great but it wasn’t like… A real good film or anything.”
    “Yeh” replied Lucy. Lucy always was like me except we looked completely different, but our minds thought alike and that’s what made us best friends, well part of it anyway.
    “Well I wanna see Marley and Me, you know the one with the dog,”
    “Oh yeh that looks so funny”
    “Oh yeh he like hangs out the car” Said Lucy
    “Yep that part is so funny” I said. It would be great if Jonathan and I could like hang out together more, as I have this…um crush on him, only Lucy knows but I wanna go out with him. I loved him when I got to know him in the second month of being at this school, as I never really knew him but sometimes we got to chat… Very awkwardly. I started this school about 4 months ago, it holds people aged 12 to 16 it’s great! I joined late though. Lucy and I talk about my crush all the time, she says he’s well fit and that he’ll fall for me any day, I said yeh right! She doesn’t have a crush on him to but she knows why and that I like him. I called me Lucy and Jonathan the rainbow dudes, as it totally suited our personality, we hang out a lot and love going to school discos or out into town, or just hanging out.
    “Shall we go round the shops with our smoothies?”
    “Yeh ok” said Lucy. Jonathan followed us to a boys and girls clothes store,
    “Hey me and Lucy are gonna go look for some dresses for the prom at school ok?”
    “Ok I guess I’ll look at suits see you back here in 20 minutes?”
    “Make it 25” I said cheekily, putting my finger on my pursed lips,
    “Deal.” We headed towards the girls clothes, we saw loads clothes but no dresses so we went up to the reception desk and saw a lady with blonde hair and great bold hazel eyes,
    “Can I help you?” she said smiling at us like she had nothing to worry about in the whole world,
    “Yes could you tell me where the dresses are?”
    “Going to a school prom?”
    “Yep” I replied
    “Shall I show you?”
    “That would be wonderful thank you” I said smiling. The lady got up with a key in her hand and walked down through a passage in the store,(she wore a pencil skirt and a natural coloured lipstick, her tidy black jacket overlapped at the bottom, hiding her tucked in shirt.) She got the key from her pocket by her hip, and opened a wooden door, clinging to the metal handle. Inside were beautiful dresses on a rack, she pulled them out and wheeled the rack towards a red dressing room.
    “Here you go just take off the ones you want to try on ok?”
    “Ok thank you” I said as the lady walked away, tapping the keys in her pocket.
    “Which one first!?” said Lucy almost screeching,
    “Well your trying on first not me!”
    “OK” she squealed
    “Try on that one” I said pointing with my tanned hands at a red dress, it was a halter neck, with a black lacy pattern at the bottom edge.
    “OH yeh I like it already because it’s red and stuff,”
    “Good, so come on then try it on!”
    “OK ok.” Over the top of the changing room door I saw her remove her purple scrunchie and shake down her sunshine blonde hair; she’d always looked lovely with her hair down at parties, especially when caught under discos lights.
    “Ready?”
    “OK” I said. (It took her ages to do her hair for real parties, but it didn’t matter now.)
    “Tada!” she said, flinging the door open and gashed the wall, and she pulled a face, and mouthed ‘oopsy’. I smiled at her in approval but yet in a way of a funny smile of what she had just done,
    “You like it?”
    “Yeh, but maybe you should try on another one just in case”
    “Ok which one, this orange one?”
    “Ok.”The dress she’d dug out was orange, it was a Grecian dress I’ll draw a sketch of it later.















    “A have the perfect thing to put in my hair if I get this” I heard Lucy say over her door,
    “What will you do with your hair” I asked, I was curious to know as she always spent lots of time on her hair,
    “Well…I was thinking that I could straighten it, and have hair down at the front, with a bun at the back, and then I could put my lily clip in my hair.”
    “That’s such a fab idea!” I said with a sigh, I couldn’t help thinking what I would do, I mean of course it was a fab idea but I would have loved to do my hair as nice as what she was going to do. I twiddled with my hair while I waited for another tada, followed by another crash; but instead I heard her say,




    “This is it the one dress I’ve been waiting for Alice are you ready?”
    “Yes I’m ready.” The truth was, am I ready but before I questioned the words inside my head she appeared.
    “Wow” I said gapping at her, she truly did look amazing more amazing then I’d ever feel or look.
    “You think this is the one?” She said twirling to show me herself
    “Absolutely, 2nd time lucky.” I said smiling she smiled back,
    “I feel wonderful”
    “You certainly look it bezzie!”
    “Now for you!”
    “No don’t worry, we’ll do me another time, as we should be getting back to Jonathan;”
    “You sure?”
    “Yeh” I said giving an encouraging smile, “Better get going then.” I said getting up, and stretching out my arms.



    Chapter 3
    “Where the heck is Jonathan?” I said looking round the suits,
    “Hey guys!” Came a chirpy voice from out of behind a rack,
    “Hey Jonathan, starting to miss you!”
    “Aww gees honestly there couldn’t be any more perfect girls than you” he said putting his arms round us,
    “Yes we’re just 1 of a kind,”
    “Actually 2 logically” said Lucy, we giggled as we walked out of the shop together.
    “Oh no, not them”
    “Who? Oh them,” Jonathan said tightening his grip on my shoulder,
    “Watch it” hissed Lucy, pulling a face at Jonathan.
    “Well hello, what a surprise Alice, Lucy… Jonathan, how are you?” He gave Ashley a scowl, she laughed,
    “So where are you off to Alice?”
    “Another SHOP in this SHOPPING centre,” Lucy sneered at them,
    “Shut up you I’m asking Alice!”
    “We’re going to the music store.”
    “Oh so your going to the music store, getting a film about how to climb?” She asked, “I’ve always loved climbing it’s so fun.”
    I felt tears whelming up inside of me, and anger, what was I doing? I gulped back my tears,
    “I never knew you did rock climbing, I always thought you were afraid of heights.” I replied sounding confident; I put my hands on my hips;
    “Did you hear that? That’s nice,” she said sarcastically
    “Yeh really nice, telling lies again!” said Gabby, throwing back her black shiny ponytail, revealing her tanned face. Jonathan stepped forward in front of Gabby, before she decided to step forward herself,
    “I’m sorry Jonathan Gabby doesn’t know her place yet,” Said Ashley turning her head and sighing over her shoulder.
    “You know Jonathan, I never knew you were so tough; anyway give me a ring,” she said slipping away.
    “Ugh you actually have her number” I said looking grossed out,
    “Yeh, I’ll bin it when I get home ok?”
    “You’d better!” Said Lucy waggling her eyebrows, as we started
    walking away laughing.
    “So you actually going to the music store?”
    “No I think we can just go to clothes shops,” I replied to Lucy
    “Wicked”
    “Cool man, hi-five” said Jonathan slapping his hand against mine; I felt a tingling sensation as his warm hand greeted mine.
    “So what’s in the bag?” Jonathan said pulling the bag off Lucy towards him,
    “Hey no!” she said squealing pulling the bag back,
    “Ooooooh a dress”
    “Yes! My prom dress!”
    “Cool.” Jonathan said as Lucy banged her bag against him on purpose,
    “Hey” He said back doing his angry face. We walked up to the escalator and took it up to the next floor; I stared at the new shop called, ‘Beam’ it looked like a nice clothes store,
    “Hey guys! What about this shop?”
    “Beam? You can’t be serious, I’ve been to a Beam before it’s wicked…” Lucy going to Beam, where had she been to?
    “Ok chill out Lou” Jonathan said putting his hand on her shoulder and pushing her down to her normal height.
    “Wanna go in then?” I asked her, her face lit up, just like a sunbeam,
    “Ok, ok don’t get too dramatic,” I said pushing her to the door of the shop. As we entered we saw racks and racks of clothing and lots of shoes all brightly coloured on the shelves, Lucy’s face seemed to be laughing almost or just a very wide grin, she picked up a red top and held it over her,
    “This is what I want heaven to be like when I get there!” She said clutching the top to her chest, and smelling the sweet sent of the washing powder. I laughed at her with her mouth still open, looking at the shoes.
    “I am so trying these on!” She held up the red top, a pair of jeans and a pair of heels, they were grey with a buckle across.
    “See you in a minute” I tried to say to her, but I don’t think I reached her quickly enough as she charged to the changing rooms.
    “Hey”
    “Oh sorry Jonathan I was just talking to Lou”
    “You should try this on. “He handed me a dark purple kind of violet dress,
    “You would look good in it”
    “Hm? I didn’t catch that what did you say?”
    “Um you should try this on” he started blushing lightly. Oh my god! What did he say; you’ d look good in it? I started blushing myself and turned my face away.
    “I guess I’ll try it on then” I smiled at him. When I got to the changing rooms I saw Lucy strutting her stuff in front of the mirrors, I laughed into the palm of my hand, giving my position away.
    “Like it?” she said
    “I think its looks great especially with all of them together. You should buy them.”
    “Are you sure?” She said taking one last glance of herself in the mirrors,
    “Well do you think its looks nice?”
    “Uhuh although, I think I’ll leave the heels I guess they’re… actually I cant think of a word…Oh I’m getting them anyway! ”
    “Ok.” I smiled.
    “So what you got there?” Lou said pinning her hair up, and looking round at me,
    “Well it’s a purple kind of violet dress,”
    “Did you choose that?”
    “No, I didn’t see it but…” I crept over to her, “Jonathan did,” I whispered,
    “Oh my god!” She squealed back,
    “I was just saying something to you as you went off to get changed and then he said, ‘hey you should try this on, then he said I’d look good in it; I pretended I didn’t hear him though,”
    “Why the hell did you do that!?” she said raising her voice a little,
    “Shhhhh!” I said hushing her,
    “Well it would have been the perfect time to…”
    “Lou! Shut up” I hissed,
    “Lou, Ali?”
    “Yeh?’ I shouted, ‘oh my god it’s him now!’ I whispered to Lou
    “You nearly finished?”
    “Um nearly just going to try one more thing on,” I looked at Lou with my eyes as if saying hurry. I grabbed a pair of jeans of a rack that I thought I could try on under the dress. I grabbed the purple velvet curtains hanging off the silver rail, and pulled them quickly across. I got changed into the denim jeans, and pulled on the soft dress over the top of my head. As the soft surface of it got pulled down onto my skin I felt the smoothness and the comfort it brang to me, I got my hair tie and put it into a bun. I got out of the changing room, and showed Lucy, she applauded me,
    “Beautiful!” she said, clutching her jeans and t-shirt under her arm and trying to avoid dropping them.
    “Lucy, Alice?” It was Jonathan,
    “If your wondering what’s going on I’m applauding Alice,” Lou said this whilst winking at me; I mouthed ‘what the heck are you doing,’
    “Applauding?” Jonathan said sounding puzzled,
    “Yep, it’s just she looks so nice, come and see!”
    “Yeh I would except for it’s the ladies changing room Lou!”
    “Oh yeh we’ll come outside then,” I could hear his tapping hand, (he always had a habit of patting his hand on his leg when waiting.)
    “You can’t expect me to go out and show him,” I whispered to Lucy,
    “Well I do expect you to and you are going out there,” she hissed back. Before I knew it I was out there in front of him blushing a LOT.
    “Wow” he said, “You look really nice.” I blushed even more at this remark, which made him smile even more.
    “Well I’d better get changed and go to pay at the till” I said smiling at them both. I got back into the changing rooms and drew back the luxurious curtains again. Wow what a moment, I even still had goose bumps, what a chicken I am! I heard Lucy and Jonathan talking about the weekend and what there plans were, then I heard them mention us hanging out. I thought about ways to earn money and buy more clothes, before I slipped on my jumper.


    Chapter 4
    “Hey I’m changed now,” I pulled back the curtains to reveal myself once again in my black coat and my blue scarf.
    “Why do you have to wear black?”
    “Because I still feel sensitive Lou.” I replied swinging my bag onto my shoulder. I couldn’t help it, it’s just he was so nice, he was the best brother anyone could ever have, we were so close.
    “I’m sorry I mentioned it Ali,” she said comforting me by holding my hand,
    “We’ll look after you ok? Look there’s Beth Caden ” Lucy said after a pause. I looked where Lou was pointing. (Beth Caden was my friend; she had light blue eyes and gingery blonde hair, mostly blonde. She was a healthy person, not fat, not very petite, about average. She was a kind person, who always knew how to make a person laugh, when sad.)
    “Hi!”
    “Hi Beth” I said giving her a big friendly hug, “Oh hi Pippa” I said giving pip a hug. (Pip was another friend her actual name was Phillipa, but Pippa or Pip for short; she had lovely brown hazel nut eyes, and had dark brunette hair, she was funny and average size.)
    “Hey I’m just paying, I’ll see you tomorrow at school ok?”
    “Ok, bye Alice”
    “Bye!” I yelled after her. I pulled out my black purse and got out $20.00.
    “Hey Alice? Me and Jonathan were wondering are you doing anything this weekend.”
    “Um no I don’t think so, although my mum might have planned something, I’ll have to ask,”
    “Yeh ok” replied Lucy nodding her head, holding her left arm down with her right one. I paid my money and left the shop, clutching my black purse, in my perfectly manicured hand.
    “Lets go to mine ok?” I hoped they would come to mine, as then it would just be us 3,
    “Sure!” cried Lucy out loud,
    “Um yeah I think that’s ok” I crossed my fingers behind my back, without Jonathan everything is different, it’s good when all of us meet up, because were great mates, and were unique from ay others. We walked linked with our arms, through the shopping centre, my chocolate brown hair wavered as it floated behind my back, and Lucy’s toffee blonde hair, swaying in the light breeze, that was creeping through the shopping centre.
    “So you bought your MAGNIFICENT dress yet?” Jonathan said looking at me with his silly face,
    “No I haven’t but it will be MAGNIFICENT,” I said putting on a mans voice,
    “Oh jolly ho Ali, good luck!,”
    “Why thank you Sir John!”
    “Welcome ready A!”
    “Your so funny!” I said clutching my belly with laughter, as I put my arms round his neck and hugged him. Suddenly right there right now there they were his eyes still blue and bright, staring at me. I suddenly remembered where I was; I pulled away, and straightened down my school skirt and bit my lip,
    “Come on then!” I said trying to get away from the subject, and I carried on walking, like nothing had happened, (although god, IT WAS A BIG DEAL TO ME!). I heard them both trying to catch up quickly,
    “Lets not go to the music store, shall we head back to yours instead?” Asked Jonathan peering round to look at me,
    “Yeh ok cool.” I said holding their hands, as we walked out the glass door of the shopping centre, the rays of sunlight shining on us.




    Part 5

    “Right popcorn?” I said going into our modern kitchen with its great wooden beams, and great glass windows with a great view of fields.
    “Yeah toffee flavoured, as we both like that!” Said Lucy getting a glass of water from the metal tap. As soon as I had microwaved the popcorn I heard the door slam shut,
    “Hello?”
    “Hi darling it’s Sandra!”
    “Hi mum” I said greeting her with a big hug. She smiled down at me,
    “A kiss and a hug, shows of your love,” she said kissing my head. Suddenly we heard a shriek of laughter from upstairs along the corridor,
    “J and L here?” She said to me,
    “Yep”
    “Go on then she said kissing my head again and smiled as I walked up the staircase.
    “AHHHHHHHH” screamed Lucy, “OH hi Mrs Pinford,”
    “Good day Mrs Pinford!” Shouted Jonathan,
    “Good day to you two aswell!” she said giggling as her blonde hair flicked over her shoulder. She sighed and shook her head smiling.
    “Come on guys into my room” I said holding a bucket of popcorn under my arm. I opened my bedroom door and got the remote for the TV off my bed. (My bed was made of chocolate coloured wood, and had a white duvet cover, It was a double bed and it had a nice view through its big glass windows, with plants and candles for decoration.)
    “Right sit down then!” I said. I slumped down onto the short white comfy sofa at the end of my bed, and turned on the TV. At once I felt every stressing point in my body, feel relaxed and I felt overwhelmed once again by comfort.
    “You look happy” Said Jonathan turning his face to look at me as he sat down with Lucy.
    “Well you know this sofa,”
    “MMMMMMMM yeh” replied Lucy, “Lush and luxurious comfy…”
    I laughed at her.
    “Right I think it’s time to watch a movie, how bout it?”
    “Yeh which one?” Said Lucy snuggling further into the sofa, “The horror Saw 4,”
    “WO you have it?”
    “Course Jonathan” I winked at him and smiled as I got up and crept across the floor and put the disc in the player. (The player was bright blue and black and I got it as a present from my brother when I was younger.)
    “Righty ho” I said, as I settled back onto the sofa, next to Jonathan. There it was Saw 4, the title…
    I woke, my head on Jonathan’s lap. I looked to the up, Jonathan was looking at me smiling warmly, oh god what on earth was going on?
    “Where’s Lou?” I said confused, yawning.
    “She’s gone home now, her mum wanted her back, and you slept through the whole film; but thanks for letting us watch it anyway…”
    “Welcome” I yawned. He started asking me about the prom.
    “So, you bought your dress yet?”
    “Nah haven’t had time yet really” I replied quietly, “You bought your suit or shirt or whatever?” I stared up at him waiting for his answer…
    “Yes I think so.”
    “Ok.” I slid up and sat there waiting, not sure what for.
    “Jonathan!” Shouted my mum from the staircase, we looked at one another and got up. We walked over to the door and stood on the galleried landing.
    “Yes?” Shouted Jonathan back,
    “I got a call from your dad saying to come back home now, says you’ve got homework to do!”
    “Oh ok!”
    “You’ve got homework?” I asked,
    “Yeh… See you tomorrow right?”
    “Yeh ok bye then.” I walked, my arms crossed, down the stairs, to say a final goodbye to Jonathan.
    “See you at school then” He said cheerfully. He waved as he walked down the stone path and through the black gate away from my house.

    “Alice phone!” Shouted my mum. Reluctantly, I got up from the comfortable, luxurious, heavenly bed, (as many may call it) why the hell does it appeal so much, when having to go to school and also the words I described it with, are what it is, (when a school day, which is totally unreasonable and unforgivable.) Grumpily I put on my white night dressing gown and my black fluffy slippers and slipped out of my door, onto the cold corridor. I walked clinging to the banisters down the stairs to the right, into the kitchen, still feeling wobbly. I put my nice cool hand on my hot head went over to my dad.
    “Hello how’s you then?” He asked beaming up at me,
    “Fine and you?” I said pushing my hair back behind my right ear. My dad was a tall man (a bit taller than mum,) he had light brown hair, and light blue eyes, and wasn’t fat or thin, he was bigger built though. I opened the cupboards to look for some cereal; there was fruit and flakes, and porridge and other various boring things.
    “Ali!” Shouted my mum again from the hall,
    “Coming…” I grunted, I walked over to my mum,
    “Took a while Ali, and it’s Lucy on the phone for you.” She handed me the phone and I took it as my mum walked away.
    “Hello?”
    “Hi Ali! It’s Lou, are you getting the bus or walking today or what?”
    “Um… walking I guess,”
    “Cool, can I be dropped off at yours, then walk with you to school?”
    “Yeh ok see you later,”
    “Bye!” I hung up and wondered back into the white kitchen, my dad sat at the table reading the newspaper.
    “Hey poppet, I bought you that magazine you wanted, you know, with the celebrities and stuff, ok?”
    “Thanks!” I said hugging him on his chair.
    “Want some toast with marmalade?”
    “Ok” I said sighing. As he rose from our expensive oval chair I sat down, and started to read the weekly magazine, my dad had bought me.
    “It says that Victoria Beckham’s favourite colour is black.” I never really liked Victoria Beckham that much, (not like those types of girls that were obsessed with her hair and clothes.) I like bright blue and bright yellow, they’re probably my favourite colours, I like purple as well though. I looked near the back where it had the celebs clothes, to see what type of things they were wearing. There was Christina Aguilera. I could tell she had a thing for her thick belts, especially for her one with the white and black pattern. She also had a thing for big open necks, normally V-shaped, and loved her bright red lipstick. I looked up as my dad got my toast from the toaster, and spread the wobbly marmalade on to it.
    “Here you go,” He said popping it onto a plate, and putting it in front of me on the table.
    “Thanks daddy.” I sat back and munched on my toast, as I thought about what I would wear next weekend; looking up every few seconds from the magazine. I decided I would wear my purple top with jeans, and maybe my heels. Alicia keys in my magazine, was wearing a brown, creamy dress, with long silver earings with diamonds at the end. The dress was for the special occasion of a premiere. She was waving in the photo and it said beneath, that a person interviewing her got an answer of,
    ‘I’m glad to have this opportunity to wear this dress, it cost me a lot!” According to the interviewer, she said this with a smile. I thought for a moment, if she said that, people would be making all sorts of things up about her dress, and how much it costed, which was quite stupid. I hurried, eating my toast quickly, shoving it into my mouth, and ran up to my bathroom to get showered.
    I shoved my tattered schoolbooks into my bag, along with my magazine, and took one last look at my clock, and went out my bedroom door.
    “Are you going now then?” Asked my mum, eyeing me as I moved about, searching for my school jacket.
    “Yes I am, and can you get a copy of uncles designs for me?”
    “No you’re a big girl now, you can do it, but I can drop you at his, if it’s ok with him.”
    “Ok!” I picked up my shoulder bag and unlocked the door with our rusty neon painted key, with its hearts on. (That key was mine, my mum had given it to me a few years ago, when she started working longer hours.)
    “Love you,” I said closing the door behind me, and walking down the steps and out of the gate.
    The sun was hot, shining down like a giant spotlight on the gravely, stony pavement. As I walked I saw a car and a waving hand, were they waving at me? Just after I realised who it was, Lucy started getting out of the car, and waving her hand, and pointing at her friendship bracelet. I smiled at her as she arrived at my side, and waved to her mum, and said goodbye, as she drove away into the distance.
    “Hey!” She said asking me how I was,
    “I’m fine I hope you are too.” We linked arms and talked about magazines, and the latest news.
    “Did you know that Lenka, the new artist is one of the most favourite singers in L.A?”
    “No…”
    “Well apparently its true, but I like various boy artists mostly, like James Morrison’s song Broken strings.
    “Well I like Dr.Scruff and Lenka really.” Replied Lucy tilting her head.

    “Now you lot you are to go to your next lesson, without any fuss!” Said Mrs Dorson, “Apparently it’s something about trees…”She said her voice slurred.
    “She’s mad, tree’s? I mean what could you do with trees?” Lou said grabbing her book for our next lesson.
    “I don’t know.” I myself was puzzled at what she had said.
    “Oh no…”
    “What?” I asked,
    “Well if I’m not seeing things, then I think we’re doing family trees…” She said as she peered round the corner of our class door, the words echoed round in my head, making it feel sore. My stomach churned and I bit my lip tentatively, as I slowly walked forward pulling my books closer to my chest, breathing gently. I felt like a zombie, my heart was pounding as we entered the art room. I liked art, I really did, but this subject, (family trees) was really not going to make my day better.
    “I think it would be best to grab a seat at the back...” Lou said quietly. We sat down in the bright room at the back; Jonathan made a peace sign to us. I stared at him like I thought he was a stranger, he turned back round and watched the teacher talk about our lesson. My hands lay tapping violently, on the new wooden desks and my eyes glued to the board, hardly able to remove them from their place.
    “Now class,” started Miss. Goldman, “ Today we are doing family trees, a memory of how our family look is required to be perfect, and just to illustrate how well you can remember them, lets see if you can put their looks onto paper as they are shall we?” She picked up her brush and began to paint, the image was a blur then a blob of colour, them shapes came into view, and quickly enough, a child appeared.
    “This, is my daughter.” We looked at the page with the girl on, taking in the sight. She had the golden brown curls of her mother, and brown eyes, like a hard rock, that seemed to show her strength, and a little golden dress. She was laughing, it seemed like she was there, playing in that very frame.
    “Now Lizzie, guess her age”
    “Is she about four?”
    “Around about that, now see how the image captures the brain and you know roughly what age the person is, that is how you know you have an excellent painting. Now I’ll give you a sheet like what is on the board. You are to fill in your family tree, and when having done so, you shall paint your family separate from one another.” Lou gaped at the board, her eyes wide,
    “Is there a problem Lucy?”
    “No miss!” She said shaking her head.
    “Great.” I said Sarcastically to Lucy.
    “I know right it’s like it’s torment chamber from the London friggin’ dungeons.” This cheered me up a little but still I felt the picture of my brother come to life in my head.





    Part 6



    I picked up my pencil reluctantly, and brang it to the paper. It was ok, I knew I could do it; all I had to do was fill in everyone else first, (instead of my brother.) I started to fill in names and rough sketches and was then faced with it, the blank space, I stared at it, unable to bring myself to do it still. That was it… I was sweating, my palms were red, my cheeks burning with anger, remembering what Ashley had said the previous day in town. My fists clenched I stood up, I ran outside, tears streaming down my face. I didn’t care if I’d humiliated myself, or had 100 faces staring at me, whether they were staff or pupils, I didn’t care one bit, I just needed to be alone to think, to calm down. I went and sat down on a bench under a tree, and wept and wept. I had to walk through the doors opposite our classroom to get there. Suddenly I realised no one had noticed I was gone, or had they? Just then, I saw my best friends come running to me with Miss. Goldman whose glasses were bouncing up and down on her slim pointed nose.
    “Oh Ali!” Lucy said softy, wrapping her arms round me, and stepping back to see my face. She reached into her jacket, and pulled out a tissue and handed it to me, then sat down beside me, Miss. Goldman and Jonathan.
    “Now now,” started Miss. Goldman, “You don’t have to continue this work, you can always paint Lucy or Jonathan as they’re your friends.” I clasped my hands together and put them against my mouth, as I rocked back and forth.
    “Hm?” Miss. Goldman continued, I nodded my head back and forth slowly,
    “Ok then Alice, come back to class in a few minutes with Jonathan and Lucy, after you’ve clamed down.”
    “Ok.” I watched as she walked away,
    “Thanks for getting us out of lessons Ali!”
    “Jonathan!” Shouted Lucy, “She’s upset, now respect it Ploppington bear!”
    “Oi!” He shouted back, “So…” He continued, he put his arm around me, and held my hand firmly,
    “Shall we go back now then?”
    “Yeh ok then.” I sighed pulling myself up from the bench.
    “You look pale” Said Jonathan sounding concerned,
    “Just the cold.” I said starting to walk to my classroom.

    “Ah Alice, who would you like to paint then?” Asked Miss. Goldman,
    “I shall paint Lucy and Jonathan together.”
    “Well, that sounds good!” I shall be at my desk if you need me ok?” I nodded, as I got to work.
    “Pose!” I said to Jonathan and Lou.

    “What a splendid piece of work!” Cheered Miss. Goldman, well done, a merit for your top standard!”
    “Thank you.” I replied, pleased with my result. Today had worked out ok, despise the fact having to run out of the classroom. I took down my painting and rolled it up and placed a rubber band round it to take it home. I got my bag and said goodbye to my classmate Lizzy, and set off to my mum who was waiting in our car at the edge of the grey road.
    I stood in the middle of my uncle’s living room, watching a film on TV. The woman was yelling at another woman, but the film seemed to be a comedy.
    “What you watching then Div?” He said lowering himself onto the coach and patting a comfy spot next to him.
    “May contain nuts this is! Great film, its real funny, a good comedy!” He said his voice slurred as he took another gulp of beer, his breath echoing through the bottle. The smell of beer lingered as he looked at me and said,
    “So what you come ‘ere for?”
    “I was hoping you’d give me some designs, to put up on my wall.” Uncle Conor frowned,
    “Which one?” He said, “The one with the blue or the other one?”
    “I was hoping all of them so far, if I can get a copy I’ll scan them then sell them for money.”
    “What’s the money for?” He asked leaning further towards me,
    “Children in Africa and other countries. Uncle Conor leant back into his normal position,
    “Good cause,” Nodding his head, he said looking at me, “Can you sell some for me as well?”
    “Yes. Just think Conor sells his paintings worldwide; I can see the front headlines.”
    “Come here squirt!” He shouted, squeezing me so I felt my arms go all tingly.
    The rain pelted down on my rain Mac, as I cycled round the windy roads of the village. The crimson flowers lining the road made the place look a whole lot brighter. And as I entered another side road, I saw instead of the old green grass from the winter, a patchwork of brilliant colours, marigolds, and fuchsia on the lovely green grass. Although it was raining, instead of smelling the damp rain, I could pick out the scent and the look of the flowers. The mist lingered out and among the oak trees as I cycled, listening to my ipod. I was listening to a piano, and every so often playing a song from a pop group to keep my spirits up.

    The sunlight began peeking through a thin gap in the clouds, and who new whether it would take over the sky, or creep back to hiding behind a cloud. Here it was again peeking through the grey clouds, but in just a few minutes the sky was lit by the summer sun, its beams like fingers pointing to flowers here and there. There were scattered flowers on the floor and an occasional green leaf, probably pulled off its crisp lush tree, by an infant, on their way home from school. It still seemed to be spitting a bit, but apart from that it seemed pleasant weather. I loosened my scarf from my neck, as I began to feel a bit warm and sweaty from the sudden nice weather. I jerked my head as I saw a car coming towards me, quickly I tried to get on to the pavement. A man leaned out of the car,
    “Watch it kid!” The car knocked me to the side of the pavement, and I landed with a thud, half in, half out of the road.
    ..........to be continued