Diary of a Lottery Winner's Daughter by Penelope Bush Read Free Book Online Page B

thing about being back at school is that I don’t get the strange feeling I’ve had at home recently;that everything isn’t quite real. I’ve stopped waking up in the morning and getting a shock when I remember that we’re rich now. We still have to get ready for school and do all the normal things that we’ve always done but somehow, at home, it feels like we’re in limbo. I suppose, when we’ve found a new house and moved in, everything will feel more normal.
    No one could believe it this evening when Dad said he was going to keep his job as a delivery van driver. Only Grumps agreed with him that it was a good idea.
    ‘I like my job,’ explained Dad. ‘It gets me out and about and I like meeting people. I’ve got a lot of regular customers and they’d miss me if I stopped.’
    Mum said her ladies were going to have to miss her because she wasn’t going out cleaning houses any more. Except for Miss Evans. She’d keep Miss Evans on, because she reckoned that sometimes she was the only person Miss Evans spoke to all week and she didn’t like to abandon her, though she would feel guilty about taking her money because she didn’t think Miss Evans had a lot.

Thursday 9th September
    Chelsea’s taken it upon herself to find us a new house. She’s gone completely mental. She spends all night on the internet looking at property sites and selecting new houses to go and look at. The only problem is, she needs Mum and Dad to make the appointment with the estate agents to go and view them. When her wheedling doesn’t work and they refuse to go and look at the latest ‘amazing’ house, she goes off in an enormous sulk.
    Mum and Dad finally agreed to go and look at one house she’s found. I think they’re only going to keep her quiet. Also, Chelsea’s so enthusiastic about it all that it’s hard not to get caught up in her excitement and Mum always tries to encourage us in our hobbies. Like when I was really into my project on Amy Johnson, she got Dad to drive us all the way to the aviation museum so I could see the kind of plane Amy would have flown. I think Dad enjoyed it more than me. He got quite excited and Mum had to drag him away before we all got locked in there for the night.
    So on Saturday we’re all going to look at the house that Chelsea has decided is going to be our new home.

Saturday 11th September
    It was weird looking round someone else’s home and trying to imagine living there. I know I did it when I went with Mum to the Bings’, but that was just pretend whereas this is real.
    Not that anyone except Chelsea could see themselves living in that house.
    It was massive and very, very modern. It seemed to have more windows than walls, and it even had a swimming pool. Chelsea says we have to have a swimming pool now we’re millionaires.
    Dad said that the kitchen looked like an operating theatre and he wasn’t sure he wanted to eat anything that came out of a place that reminded him of major surgical procedures.
    I could see Mum eyeing the two storey windows and all the polished surfaces. I bet she was wondering what the best cleaning products would be to use on them and worrying about how she’d keep them clean.
    Chelsea loved every minute of it. I could see that she was imagining all the parties she could have there and how all her friends would be impressed. The pool certainly put Sophie Jacobs’ hot-tub in the shade.
    I wish Spencer had come with us. We could have had a good laugh at all the pictures and sculptures. They were everywhere and were all nude people in some pretty contorted positions. I was dying to impersonate some of them but only Spencer would have found it funny. He didn’t come because he said he had too much homework. The new school have sent him work to do so that he’s not behind with it when he starts there. I can’t imagine Spencer being behind with his work. Personally, I think it was just an excuse. I honestly believe he doesn’t care where we live.
    The