Blue Lavender Girl by Judy May Read Free Book Online Page A

Jackson’s cousin who is seventeen and hasn’t been over for the last four summers. Apparently he is short, loud and annoying and keeps doing silly things like tipping food into people’s laps or making fart sounds under his armpit to get attention. Jenny says that she hopes his last four years have made him understand that something is only funny when both people are laughing. Then, because she always has to see the good side, she said she’s sure he is very changed and will be fine to hang out with.
    ‘Yes Jenny, maybe he’s grown a foot taller and been in a Swiss finishing school for the last four years, majoring in the social graces.’
    ‘Anyway, if he’s completely unbearable we can gang up on him and throw him in the lake,’ she said miserably, which means that he must be pretty hideous.
    While Jenny and I sat there getting toast crumbson her bed I somehow told Jenny that I was really jealous of the way that she dresses and laughs, and the way she is so whirling and happy. Then I was amazed when she told me that she was really jealous of the way I say funny things, and the way I am so daring, like I don’t let other people dictate my life. We agreed to help each other, and Jenny said she will nudge me whenever I start to look miserable so I can remember to smile. And I am going to encourage her every time she says or does something daring, something that is not meant to make someone else happy.
    I feel really good after that chat and I think that Jenny is now my best friend, even though I don’t know her for nearly as long as I know Kira and Dee. I think sometimes you just click with people, and it doesn’t matter how long or short a time you’ve known them.
    Nanny Gloria let us bring the TV and dvd player up to Jenny’s room and we watched this really old movie where the man and the woman were fighting all the time, but it was as if, each time they danced together, they fell in love in spite of themselves. The man wasn’t my type, probably not anyone’s type, all skinny and a pointy chin, but when he was dancingyou thought he was really handsome. It was brilliant.
    I had to cycle quickly because I was quite late because we were having such a laugh afterwards, acting out the scenes from the movie.
    Aunt Maisie said that my mum called and said they won’t be visiting this weekend as planned, but that she asked did I need anything.
    ‘Parents, I need parents,’ I mumbled, and made my way upstairs.
    I am not sure if I am now in a good mood or a bad mood.

DAY 20
    I’m going to be the best dancer in the world. That is my goal. No up-to-date stuff either, only the romantic dances like that lady in the movie last night. The trouble is that I need someone to teach me, and someone to dance with.
    I wonder if you can do that for a career, dancing like they did in the olden days?
    ‘Hello, I’m a doctor’, ‘Hello, I’m a lawyer’, ‘Hello, I’m a long-dress-type dancer, like in black and white films.’
    I practised waltzing around the garden because Aunt Maisie was out for the morning. Sometimes I did it as Rose Red, sometimes as the girl in the film last night, and sometimes as me. I wish I could get itright, I know that there is complicated stuff you can do that looks better. Problem is that if I ask Jackson to help me then he will think he is great and that I fancy him. So I’ll maybe go to the supermarket at a quiet time and see if the manager is free (joke!).
    This afternoon when I was walking past the lake on the way to the tearoom, Jackson was standing there (in a very unfortunate pair of loafers) as if he was waiting, and when he saw me said he had a surprise. I guessed he had got something for Jenny and wanted to see if I thought she’d like it. Instead of going to the tearoom we turned towards the little hut. It’s tiny, about the size of an ordinary garden shed, but it’s a hexagon shape and made of stone. Inside it also has loads of flowers and angels and seashells carved on the stone