Zodiac Girls: Brat Princess (14 page)

“What have you got?” asked Lynn.

I looked down at the box on my knee. It was a
portable DVD player. And a DVD.

Hermie pointed at a switch. “That’s the on button,”
he said.

“I know,” I said.

“What is it?” asked Jake. “A Christmas movie to
pass the time? Can we all watch?”

“It’s a message from your mum and dad,” Hermie
said.

I sat and looked at the DVD player. It felt like it was
a bomb waiting to go off.
What if the DVD was a movie
with Poppy in it and the others asked me about her?
I wondered.
What would I say?
I was about to put it in
my pocket when Mr O shook his head.

“I think we should all share what we’ve received
tonight,” he said. “In the spirit of Christmas, I’d like to
hear what you’ve got and what it means to you.”

There was a collective groan. “Nooooooooo.”

Mr O clapped his hands. “Okay, then let’s play a
game first. Role reversal.”

There was another collective groan. “Noooooooo.”

Mr O took no notice of any of us. “Okay. Who shall
we have go first?”

“Leonora,” said Marilyn. “It’s only fair seeing as she
messed supper up for us.”

I knew I had to co-operate. If I didn’t there would
be no breakfast. Plus, I was starting to tire of being so
objectionable
all
the time. I’d show them. I
could
play
nice. “Okay. Who do you want me to be?”

Mr O beamed and gave me the thumbs up. “You
can play your mother,” he said. “And… Marilyn, you
can be Leonora.”

Marilyn leapt up. “Love to.” She immediately put a
really sour expression on her face.

“I don’t do that,” I said.

“You soooo do,” chorused Lynn, Jake and Mark.

Marilyn started flouncing about like a total drama
queen. “I am so superior. I don’t know whaaaat I am
doing here with these losers. Oh loser,” she turned to
Selene, “get me a toastie would you? And make it
snappy.” Then she turned to Mark. “And slave boy, get
me a goose-down duvet would you. I am sooooo cold.
Brrr. Never mind the others? Who cares about them?
Oh me me me me me me me. Oh my hair! It’s gone
curly. Oh. I think I might die. And that shampoo? It’s
like sooooooo last century.”

The others cracked up laughing. Not me, though. I
felt
outraged.

“Go on, Leonora,” urged Mr O. “Be your mum. You
can do it.”

I felt like my legs had turned to concrete, but I
forced myself to move.
You can do this
, I told myself.
If
there’s one thing I can do better than anything, that’s act. My life
since Poppy died has all been an act
. “Now then
sweetheart…” I began as I got up.

Marilyn turned and gave me a scathing look. “I’m
not your sweetheart. I’m nobody’s sweetheart, and I’ll
be suing your sorry butt as soon as I get out of here.”

Jake fell on the floor laughing.

“But it’s for your own good, dear,” I said in
Mummy’s gentle voice and even if I say it myself, I had
it down rather well. Drama was my best subject at
school, even before accounting. I glanced over at Mr O
and he gave me an encouraging wink.

Marilyn folded her arms and pinched her mouth in.
“You’re not my mother. I disown you. I
hate
you.”

It was so weird because when she said that she
hated me, it hurt. “No darling, please don’t…”

“Oh don’t simper, Mummy. You’re like… so…
annoying
. Like pardon you for squeaking,” snapped
Marilyn as she stepped forward and gave me a good
shove, so forceful that I fell back into a bush. That hurt
too, and as I lay there, I realised that pushing someone
into a bush was exactly what I had done to Daddy on
the day I left to board the plane just three weeks
previously.

“Okay, well done girls,” said Selene. “Yes. Er.
Enough now. Come on, Leonora. Up you come.” She
got up and came over to where I lay and offered her
hand.

“Just give me a mo,” I said. “Please.” I lay in the
bush and closed my eyes. A hundred tantrums I’d had
in the past year flashed through my mind. The hurtful
words I had said to Mummy and Daddy. The moods.
The slammed doors. Phone calls cut short. I opened my
eyes to see Marilyn still flouncing around being Brat
Princess à la Leonora Hedley-Dent and I thought
about what old Cronus had just said about life being like
a movie. Well, if that was true, I might have the lead role
in my personal film but my character stank.
She needs a
major rewrite
, I thought as I pulled a twig out of my hair
then continued looking up at the black sky.
I have been the
daughter from hell. No wonder Mummy and Daddy sent me here
.

A few moments later, I scrambled out of the bush
and Mr O patted the ground beside him to indicate that
I should go and sit by him.

“Okay?” he asked as I took my place.

I nodded, but I felt peculiar – as if I was waking from
a long, stressful dream.

We played out some more scenarios. Lynn got to be
Dr Cronus, which she did very well – grumping and
scowling her way around the camp fire and
threatening us all with extra lessons. Mark got to be
Selene, and he played her as a madwoman who lived
her life by the phases of the Moon and who liked to do
strange dances to “get her feelings out.” Mark was
turning out to be good fun since he’d started talking,
and Selene took his impersonation like a great sport and
laughed along with the rest of us.

When the role-playing had finished, Selene asked to
see what we had all got in our packages.

“You go first, Jake,” he said.

Jake held up sticky fingers. “Chocolate. It’s my
favourite. Mum always gets it for me at Christmas.” He
showed us the card that accompanied the chocolate.
Inside it was a photo of a boy who looked like a younger
version of Jake. He had a sweet face and was in a
hospital bed. His parents were on either side and the boy
was holding up a teddy bear with a Christmas hat on. It
made me think of all the times that my family had
accompanied Poppy to the hospital when she couldn’t
breathe and that last fateful time when she didn’t come
home with us. I glanced at Jake’s earnest face and hoped
that he never had to go through the same.

“What’s the matter with your brother?” I asked.

Jake shrugged. “Some kind of autoimmune disease
I think it’s called.”

“Can they help him?”

Jake shook his head. “Not here they can’t. They
could if we sent him to America. There’s a man there
who could help him but we can’t afford it.”

“Is that why you stole cars?” asked Selene.

Jake nodded. “Yeah. Partly. I was trying to raise the
money. But… I enjoyed it too. It was a laugh. Some’at
to do to take my mind off things.”

Mario got up and stood threateningly over Jake.
“But you won’t be doing that kind of thing any more
will
you?”

Jake coughed. “Er, no. Course not, sir.”

“Good,” said Mario. “Because, if you do, you’ll be
back here before you can say BMW. Your choice. So
who’s next? Mark?”

Mark showed us his video phone. His family had
recorded a message for him and he showed us a busy
family scene, with dogs, cats, babies, grandparents,
parents, siblings. All the adults were singing “We Wish
You a Merry Christmas”. They looked like fun.

“They must have clubbed together to get it for me,”
said Mark. “I would have nicked it from somewhere if
I’d been home probably.” Then he coughed and
glanced at Mario. “But not any more, sir. No, sir. I have
mended my ways. Sir.”

We all laughed.

“Sounds like your family knows how to enjoy
Christmas,” said Selene.

Mark nodded. “Yeah. I guess so. Might be the last
one in that house though. Come the New Year, they’re
going to be evicted. The landlord put up the rent. My
dad lost his job. My mum has done everything she can,
but no joy. My family will be homeless.”

“Maybe something will turn up,” said Selene. “You
never know what’s around the next corner.”

“Yes, I do. Homelessness,” snapped Mark, and he
punched his right palm with his left hand. “And there’s
nothing
I can do about it. Not in here where the stupid
social services sent me.”

Oh god, here we go with the sob stories again,
I thought
when I noticed that Mr O was giving me a very
pointed look.

“What?” I asked.

“And what do you think of Mark’s situation?” he
asked.

I shrugged. “Yeah. Tough. Win some, lose some.”

Mr O looked at me with narrowed eyes, then sighed
heavily. Whatever he was thinking, it wasn’t happy
thoughts.

“What did you get, Lynn?” asked Selene.

“A scarf from Mum. She wouldn’t send a photo. Not
of her and
him
. She knows how I feel about my
stepfather, but…”

“And how do you feel about him?” Selene asked.

Lynn shifted about, then stared at her feet. “I
guess… well, sometimes people deserve a second
chance don’t they?”

When she said that, we all knew that she was talking
about herself and not just her mum or her stepfather.
And then I noticed that Mr O was giving me his
pointed look again.

“What?
What?
” I asked.

Mr O just pouted by way of reply.
He’s such a drama
queen,
I thought. “I’m not psychic,” I said. “If you’re
trying to tell me something just tell me.”

“Hah!” said Mr O. “
Now
she wants to listen.
Honestly! In all my days I have never had one like you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“One who ignores me like
you
do. Really. Leos can
be self-centred at the best of times, but you! You take
the prize. Leonora – it’s
clear
what you have to do. But
have you listened? Learned anything? Oh no. First you
smashed your phone and then you rip up all my
messages. All that good advice I’ve been sending you.
All in the bin. Don’t think I don’t know.”

Oops,
I thought. “Oh that. Yeah. I know. Er… sorry?
Um. I will try to be better. Is that what you want to
hear? Is that why you’re giving me those pointed
looks?”

Mr O sighed heavily. “I give up,” he said, then he
turned to the others. “This time here could have
changed everything for Leonora, but I fear she’s going
to blow it by being stubborn. It does happen
sometimes. Not often. Most girls are over the moon to
be a Zodiac Girl. Okay sometimes it takes some
adjusting to, but never,
never
before have I had one who
rejects the whole idea
and
breaks her phone.”

“Oo er,” I said. “Listen to you, lord of the luvvies.
Just because you’re not the centre of attention you
don’t like it. Honestly, the way you go on, you really do
think everything revolves around you, don’t you?”

There was an awkward silence, then Selene
coughed. “Well, it does actually… he
is
the Sun.”

“Okay,” said Mark. “Enough. What is all this?
Maybe someone could explain. This zodiac thing?
Even that deli guy who was here with the food was on
about it. He called you a Zodiac Girl, Leonora. What’s
it all about exactly?”

“Every month, somewhere on the planet, a girl is
chosen to be a Zodiac Girl…” Selene began. I glanced
at Mr O. He seemed to have gone into a major sulk
which made me want to smile. I was beginning to feel
very fond of him. He could stick his bottom lip out
further than I could.

“Chosen how?” asked Lynn.

“Different elements every time,” Selene continued.
“The only thing that each Zodiac Girl has in common
is that it happens at a turning point in her life and for
one month, she gets the aid of the planets.”

I sighed. I knew there was no keeping the fact that
I was this month’s Zodiac Girl hush-hush any longer.
“Blah blah de blah. Oh come on, surely I’m not the
only one who has heard them going on about the
Moon and the stars and Mr O saying he is the Sun.”

“Yeah, but I thought he was speaking
metaphorically,” said Marilyn. “You know, like ’e’s a
little ray of sunshine and that.”

I shook my head. “Nope. He thinks he
is
the Sun.
As in the planet. Don’t you, Mr O?”

Mr O stuck his bottom lip out even further while
Jake burst out laughing. “No way,” he said.

“Yeah. No way. You’re saying to me that Mr O said
that he was the manifestation of the Sun?” asked
Lynn. “Do you think that, Mr O? Do you?”

“I’m not saying anything,” said Mr O, “in fact, I may
not stay around if I’m not going to be appreciated.”

He got up and flounced off into the dark garden.
Mario, Selene and Hermie rushed after him and we
could hear them reasoning with him a distance away.
I could just about make out, “She’s not going to
change.” “Some you just have to accept are stuck in
their ways…”

“It’s not just him,” I continued. “Lunie Petunie
thinks she’s the Moon, Dr Cronus thinks he’s Saturn,
Mario is Mars and Hermie is apparently none other
than Mercury, the planet of communication here in
earthly form as a motorbike messenger boy.”

Marilyn rolled her eyes to the sky. “Pff. Yeah, right.”

“Are you winding us up?” asked Mark.

I shook my head. “Honest. That’s what they think.”

Lynn looked troubled. “Oh. My. God. I thought
there was something different about them, but I
thought that it was you, me, Mark, Lynn and Marilyn
who were supposed to need help.”

“I know. Do you think that our parents know that
they signed us away to a bunch of crazies?” asked
Marilyn.

“Probably not,” said Lynn. “But… how come no-one’s
mentioned any of this zodiac stuff to the rest of
us. Only to you.”

“Not just me. Dr Cronus goes on about it just about
every day in classes,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess… but I thought that was just a lesson
in astronomy and no-one listens to ’im much anyway
and ’e didn’t say much about you being a Zodiac Girl,”
said Marilyn as behind her Mr O, Mario, Selene and
Hermie returned to the fire.