A Storm of Strawberries by Jo Cotterill

Author:Jo Cotterill [Jo Cotterill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2017-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

Kaydee fetches Lissa a pencil and rubber and a large piece of paper, and she starts to draw me. I hear Mum and Dad talking quietly in the hallway and I really want to call out to Mum. I want her to see how I look. But Lissa is concentrating, so I know I should wait until she’s finished.

I am quite good at sitting still. A song by The Beatles starts playing through my head. It’s about a girl called Lucy and she’s got diamonds in the sky. I like the words in the song because they make pictures in my mind. They sing about tangerine trees, and that makes me think of orange trees (not trees with oranges on but trees that are actually orange) and rivers of peanut butter, and grass made of liquorice. And I wonder what the girl called Lucy looks like. Maybe she looks a bit like me, now that I am all made up and beautiful. I would like diamonds. I would like a necklace of diamonds, and a bracelet and earrings to match. And a hair clip of diamonds too.

‘Darby, stop moving,’ Kaydee says, and I blink.

‘I wasn’t,’ I say.

‘Yes, you were. Stop looking up at the ceiling and talking to yourself.’

I frown.

Lissa says, ‘Don’t worry, you’re fine.’

‘See?’ I stick out my tongue at Kaydee.

Lissa laughs. ‘Don’t do that though. Princesses definitely don’t stick their tongues out.’

She looks totally different this evening, and I don’t mean because of the makeover. It’s like all the spiky parts have been rubbed away. She looks softer, gentler, friendlier.

Lissa looks happy.

I still don’t want Kaydee to love her more than me, but if Lissa is going to be nice to me, and do my hair and make-up and draw pictures of me, then I don’t mind her being around.

Maybe Lissa and Kaydee could get married and I could be their bridesmaid. I would love a long pink dress, with diamantés round the neckline. They’re like diamonds only not as expensive. And I would hold a bunch of white roses.

‘Darby, you’re doing it again,’ Kaydee says.

‘What?’

Lissa laughs. ‘It’s all right. I’ve just about finished anyway.’

Kaydee leans over to see the paper. ‘Oh wow, Lissa. That’s brilliant.’

‘I want to see.’ I’m not sure if I’m allowed to get off my chair, but Lissa brings the drawing to me.

‘There you go.’

I stare at the picture. Sitting on a chair, with a round face and serious expression, is me – but extra, extra beautiful. ‘Wow,’ I say. ‘Wow. I look beautiful.’

‘You are beautiful,’ Lissa tells me. Then her expression changes, as if she’s surprised, and she turns away to the kitchen table.

‘I have to show Mum,’ I say, and I get up and go into the hallway. Mum and Dad aren’t there any more, so I turn left for Mum’s study. The door is open a bit, and I can see Mum sitting at her desk, so I go in. ‘Look at this! And look at me!’

Then I realise she’s crying. She looks up, startled, her eyes wet.

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