Eva's Holiday Page 9

  Kate stood up and started to pick up the fencing tape that had been trampled into the grass around the tree.

  ‘Jeremy gets upset when there’s a mess around him,’ she said.

  I hate it when she says weird stuff like that.

  I looked to see what Lily thought. She was laughing.

  ‘You say the craziest stuff, Kate,’ she said, but in a nice way. Then she went on. ‘I remember your dad once—’

  I was just wondering how come Lily was brave enough to mention Kate’s dad, when Kate raced over and stood right in front of Lily.

  ‘Don’t talk about my dad,’ she said fiercely.

  ‘But—’ began Lily.

  ‘Don’t even mention him,’ said Kate. ‘If you say one more thing about him I’ll—’

  Lily raised her hands as if to surrender.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I won’t mention him again. I promise.’

  She looked at me, and I shrugged. How was I supposed to know why Kate was being so defensive? Most of the time I could only give the wildest guess as to what was going on in her mind.

  Kate sat down again, and after a minute, she spoke quietly.

  ‘Sorry for shouting at you, Lily. All that family stuff is private, and I don’t like talking about it.’

  Lily smiled. ‘That’s OK,’ she said.

  Then she stared at Kate for so long that it was beginning to be a bit rude.

  ‘Know what, Kate?’ she said in the end.

  I sat up straight, afraid that there was going to be a big row.

  ‘What?’ asked Kate.

  ‘You should wear a hairband,’ said Lily. ‘It would really suit you.’

  I breathed a big sigh of relief.

  Kate looked at her blankly, but Lily didn’t seem to notice. She was busy scrabbling around in her hand-bag.

  ‘I think I might have one in here,’ she said. ‘And short hair held back with a hairband is the latest thing.’

  She pulled out a cool green hairband and a cute little pink hairbrush decorated with small red hearts.

  ‘May I?’ she said, and without waiting for an answer, she started to brush Kate’s hair.

  I expected Kate to shout at her, but she didn’t. She just sat there meekly while Lily worked.

  By the time Lily had finished with Kate’s hair, it looked completely different – all shiny and nice. Then Lily put the hairband on Kate, using it to hold back part of her fringe.

  ‘Wow,’ I said.

  Kate looked completely different. She gave a big smile and I gasped.

  How come I’d never noticed how pretty she was?

  Lily found a small mirror in her bag and held it up so Kate could see herself. Kate looked in the mirror for a long time. Then her cheeks began to go pink, and a slow smile spread over her face.

  ‘Thanks, Lily,’ she said.

  Lily rooted in her bag again. ‘Maybe it’s time for a bit of lip-gloss,’ she suggested.

  Kate looked interested, but when Lily produced the lip-gloss and leaned towards Kate, Kate jumped back like Lily was holding a poisonous snake to her face.

  ‘Don’t do it,’ she said in a panicky voice. ‘I thought it was for you.’

  Lily and I laughed, and Lily put the lip-gloss back into her bag.

  ‘I’m not giving up,’ she said. ‘I bet I’ll have you wearing lip-gloss before the week is out.’

  ‘Bet you won’t,’ said Kate.

  I looked at my two new friends, wondering who was going to win that strange bet.

  Lily still wasn’t finished though.

  ‘Why do you always wear tracksuits?’ she asked Kate.

  That was something I’d wondered about too, but I’d never dared to ask. Lily seemed to have a way of asking that wasn’t insulting though.

  Kate thought for a while. Then she shrugged.

  ‘Don’t know, really. I just do.’

  Lily wagged her finger at her.

  ‘Well you shouldn’t. You should wear nice clothes.’

  Kate put on a sulky face.

  ‘Martha hasn’t got much money, and nice clothes are expensive.’

  I turned to look at Lily. How was she going to answer that?

  Lily tossed her head.

  ‘That’s just stupid,’ she said. ‘You don’t have to be a millionaire to dress nicely.’

  ‘Lily’s right,’ I said. ‘When both my parents lost their jobs last year, I didn’t know how I was going to manage without the weekly shopping trips I was used to. But after a while, I got used to just buying the occasional nice thing.’

  Kate didn’t look convinced, but she smiled anyway.

  ‘I like those jeans you were wearing the other day, Eva,’ she said. ‘They’re not too girly or sparkly. I hate sparkly stuff.’

  I smiled and tried not to stare at Lily’s sparkly flip-flops.

  ‘I got those jeans in a sale,’ I said. ‘And because they’re kind of plain, they go with everything.’

  Kate leaned over and felt the edge of Lily’s totally cool cardigan. ‘That’s lovely,’ she said.

  Lily smiled. ‘Thanks. And it wasn’t that expensive. I got it on the internet.’

  Kate put her head down. I knew why. She didn’t have internet. She didn’t even have a computer.

  Suddenly Lily realised what she had said.

  ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Anyway, I’ve got loads of clothes. I can give you something.’

  ‘I don’t need charity,’ said Kate.

  Lily just sighed. ‘I don’t mean charity. I can lend you something. It’s what I do with all my friends.’

  I nodded. ‘She’s right. I do that too, with my friends Victoria and Ella. Even Ruby, who’s not that into fashion, has one or two cool things she lends me.’

  Kate looked doubtful. ‘I’m not used to having friends. How am I meant to know what friends do?’

  I hugged her.

  ‘You’ve got friends now, so just do what we say. OK?’

  ‘Are all friends as bossy as you two?’ asked Kate, and we all laughed.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  A while later, Joey showed up with a big basket of food.

  ‘Paula said you can stay out until ten tonight, Eva,’ he said. ‘But if you’re any later, she’s going to come up here and drag you home by the ear.’

  ‘Really?’ I said, shocked.

  Joey laughed. ‘I made up the bit about dragging you home by the ear, but she did say to be home by ten.’

  I sighed. I’d thought of begging Mum and Dad to let me stay all night with Kate, but it looked like there was no point. Parents can be an awful pain sometimes.

  Joey went off, and Kate, Lily and I dived in to the food. It’s funny how hungry you get when you’re trying to save the world.

  There was a big lasagne and loads of drippy garlic bread and then yummy lemon cookies. We ate every single scrap and then we lay back on the rug and looked at the darkening sky and talked about nothing.

  It was a bit weird. I felt like I was a million miles away from my real life. Victoria’s phone was still broken, so I hadn’t been in touch with her for ages. She didn’t know anything about the tree, or the protest or about my new friends.

  Kate was telling us a funny story about Martha trying to catch a crazy chicken when Lily looked at her watch. ‘Oh no,’ she said. ‘It’s five to ten. I have to go.’

  I jumped up too. ‘Me too,’ I said.

  Kate stayed lying on the rug.

  ‘Why don’t you go home?’ I said. ‘They can’t cut the tree down in the dark. And you can come back real early in the morning.’

  Kate shook her head. ‘No. I’m staying here,’ she said. ‘It just feels like the right thing to do.’

  I hadn’t known Kate for very long, but I knew there was no point in arguing with her once her mind was made up.

  ‘I’ll get back as soon as I can,’ I said.

  Then I gave her a quick hug and walked away with Lily.

  When I got home, Joey was playing on
the old tyre that Dad had hung from a tree, and Mum and Dad were sitting in the garden having a cup of tea. I sat on the grass beside them.

  ‘Tell Eva about the Japanese people,’ said Mum.

  Dad smiled, ‘I had a long chat with them this afternoon.’

  ‘I thought they didn’t speak much English,’ I said.

  Mum laughed, ‘They don’t. The chat involved a lot of sign language.’

  ‘Anyway,’ said Dad. ‘It seems that the Japanese have this special tradition called “hanami”. When the cherry blossom is in flower, all the workers have lunch outside under the trees, and have a kind of party to celebrate the flowers.’

  ‘That’s so cool,’ I said.

  ‘And it explains why those nice Japanese people are so interested in helping you to save the tree,’ said Mum.

  ‘Who cares about Japanese people and their cherry blossom,’ said Joey, jumping off his swing and running over to us, ‘I much prefer Friedrich.’

  ‘Friedrich?’ said Dad.

  ‘He’s one of the Germans,’ I explained. ‘The one without the guitar. Why do you like him so much, Joey?’

  ‘Because he’s an amazing soccer player,’ said Joey. ‘He used to play in the German second division.’

  ‘Wow!’ said Dad impressed.

  ‘And he’s going to give me and the lads a coaching session tomorrow.’

  Mum smiled. ‘This is turning into an amazing holiday,’ she said. ‘We’re meeting such interesting people.’

  ‘So even if we win the lottery, you don’t want to go back to Tuscany?’ asked Dad.

  Mum shrugged. ‘Maybe someday,’ she said, looking like she didn’t care much either way.

  I stood up. ‘I can’t stay chatting all night,’ I said. ‘I’ve got a big day tomorrow, and I need my beauty sleep.’

  ‘You certainly do,’ said Joey, and screamed as I chased him inside, pretending to be mad.

  I went to bed meaning to get up shortly afterwards, but I was so tired that I fell asleep within seconds. Much later I woke with a jump. I looked at my phone. It was almost four o’clock. Poor Kate had been on her own in the field for ages.

  I jumped up and threw on some clothes, then, just like the night before, I left a note for Mum and Dad, and tip-toed out of the house.

  It was another clear night, and it was kind of peaceful walking along the quiet tree-lined road.

  When I got to the tent I peeped through the flaps; Kate was asleep.

  ‘Kate,’ I whispered, trying not to frighten her.

  She opened her eyes. ‘You’ve been ages,’ she said.

  ‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Now move over. I’m coming in.’

  We lay there for a while without speaking. I looked out through the tent flaps and found the constellations that Kate had taught me about the night before.

  Then Kate asked, ‘What do you think will happen when Mr Phillips comes?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said, not wanting her to know how worried I was about Mr Phillips.

  ‘I bet he’s an evil property developer,’ said Kate. ‘I bet he won’t care about us, or about the tree, or about the protest. He’ll find a way to get rid of us. Poor Jeremy is doomed.’

  Something had been on my mind, and I felt like now might be the time to say it.

  ‘Er … Kate,’ I began.

  ‘What?’

  ‘What if you told Mr Phillips about your dad?’

  Kate sat up suddenly. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked so fiercely that it frightened me.

  ‘Er, you know … about how he used to bring you here when you were a little girl … and how special this place was to the two of you … and how he died … you know … all that stuff. Mr Phillips might … you know … feel sorry for you … and he might decide not to cut down the tree.’

  ‘No,’ shouted Kate, her voice sounding really loud in the quiet of the night, ‘I am not doing that.’

  ‘But it might help Jeremy,’ I said. ‘It might be the only way to help Jeremy.’

  ‘Can’t you understand English? I said no.’

  ‘But why?’ I persisted.

  She hesitated. ‘Because … because …well because it just wouldn’t be right. Dad wouldn’t want me to use his memory like that. It would be disrespectful. Now I don’t want to talk about it any more. OK?’

  ‘OK,’ I whispered.

  I felt a bit cross with Kate. I was doing everything I could to save her special tree, and now she wouldn’t help by doing the one thing that would surely sort it out once and for all.

  But a few minutes later, I decided that wasn’t fair. After all, what did I know?

  I had a mum and a dad who loved me. (OK, so they’d kill me if they knew where I was right now, but basically, they loved me.)

  I should probably be grateful.

  I lay there looking at the stars, and after a while Kate whispered, ‘Eva?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Sorry for shouting at you.’

  I smiled into the darkness. ‘That’s OK. If we didn’t have the odd fight, we wouldn’t be proper friends.’

  Kate curled up like a puppy and sighed.

  ‘Thanks, Eva,’ she said, and then we went to sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Iwoke up cold and hungry, but didn’t like to go away and leave Kate on her own.

  I was really glad when I heard the sound of Joey’s out of tune whistling coming along the lane.

  ‘Breakfast is here,’ he said, putting a basket on to the blanket next to us. ‘Your mum and dad said they’ll be along in a while, Eva, and I’ll be back too. I’m going to round up the troops.’

  Kate grinned at him. ‘Know what, Joey?’ she asked.

  ‘What?’

  ‘If I had a brother, I’d like one just like you.’

  Joey went bright red, so I knew he was pleased. Then he skipped off.

  Soon afterwards Lily arrived. She was dressed a bit more suitably than the day before, but she still looked totally cool in jeans and a loose top. I was really glad that I was wearing Victoria’s blue hoodie. Kate was still wearing her old tracksuit, which was by now dirty as well as raggy, but I was glad that she had used her fingers to flatten her hair a bit, and she’d put on Lily’s hairband again.

  Lily had a bag with her.

  ‘Now, don’t go taking offence,’ she said to Kate, ‘but I brought you some stuff – for a loan – like we said yesterday. And there’s nothing pink or sparkly – I promise.’

  Kate looked at her suspiciously, and said nothing as Lily pulled a pair of cropped denim trousers from the bag.

  Lily held them towards Kate. ‘Here,’ she said. ‘Try them on. I’d say you’re about the same size as me.’

  Kate took the trousers from Lily and stepped behind the tree. When she came back, we could see that the trousers fitted perfectly.

  ‘Excellent,’ said Lily.

  Kate made a face.

  ‘They’re lovely, thanks, Lily, but they look a bit stupid with my old tracksuit top.’

  Lily grinned.

  ‘Not a problem,’ she said, as she pulled a really nice casual top from the bag.

  Seconds later Kate came from behind the tree again. The top and trousers looked great, but now that she was wearing short trousers, her old runners looked even worse than they had before.

  Lily grinned again.

  ‘I think I just might have thrown in a pair of flip-flops. Oh, yes, I did.’

  She handed the cool, non-sparkly flip-flops to Kate, and watched as Kate took off her old runners, flung them to the ground, and slipped the flip-flops on to her feet. Her feet were kind of dirty, but no one mentioned that.

  ‘Now stand up straight and let us look at you properly,’ commanded Lily.

  Kate did as she was told, and Lily and I gasped.

  ‘You look totally different,’ I said. ‘You look beautiful.’

  Kate went red.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘And thanks, Lily.’

  Lily smiled.


  ‘You’re welcome.’

  Suddenly Kate’s smile vanished.

  ‘If you’re lending me all this cool stuff, I should be lending you something back. That’s the way it works, right?’

  ‘Er … sort of … yes,’ said Lily doubtfully, looking at Kate’s discarded tracksuit, and the runners that were perched on the grass like they were getting ready to run away.

  Kate picked up the two pieces of her tracksuit.

  ‘Which one do you want, Lily? Top or bottom? Or, since we’re really good friends now, you can have both.’

  Lily didn’t answer. I put my head down. How stupid was Kate?

  Suddenly Kate gave a big laugh.

  ‘I’m kidding. Now that I think of it, I don’t want to wear these any more, and I certainly don’t expect you to.’

  Lily gave an embarrassed smile.

  ‘I knew that,’ she said, and it didn’t matter that we all knew she was lying.

  Still Kate wasn’t happy.

  ‘I know you don’t want my clothes, but I feel bad. I ought to give you something.’

  Then she gave a sudden smile. She unzipped the pocket of her tracksuit bottoms, and pulled out a smooth white stone. She handed it to Lily.

  ‘Here,’ she said. ‘You can have my favourite stone.’

  I looked at Lily to see what she thought about this. She didn’t seem to be the kind of girl who liked to borrow stones from her friends.

  But Lily seemed entranced.

  ‘It’s perfect,’ she said. ‘And what are these lines?’

  Kate leaned over and stroked the stone.

  ‘It’s a fossil. A creature died millions of years ago, and its skeleton left these marks on the stone.’

  Lily gasped.

  ‘That is so, so cool.’

  Kate looked pleased.

  ‘You can keep it if you like.’

  Lily shook her head.

  ‘No thanks. We’re just lending remember.’

  ‘OK,’ said Kate. ‘But I know a real good place to find these. Maybe the three of us can go there some time?’

  Lily and I nodded happily.

  Lily reached in to her bag again.

  ‘Do you want me to paint your toe-nails for you Kate?’

  Kate backed away.

  ‘No way. Do that and I’ll make you borrow my tracksuit.’