Withering Tights - By Louise Rennison Page 0,39

split splot! Look, Daddy’s got his tricycle ready to go as well.”

We looked beyond him into the garden and there it was. His tricycle.

After they had all gone Dibdobs said, “Sorry, girls, you were telling me about your performance, how exciting! What did you say it was about?”

I looked at Vaisey she looked at me and I blurted, “It’s a…bicycle ballet.”

A bicycle ballet?

Actually it sounded quite good.

Dibdobs said, “A bicycle ballet? Gosh, that sounds good. How does it work? What happens?”

I said, “Well…it’s a ballet…done on bicycles. Come on, Vaisey, we must go and er…polish our saddles and so on.”

Vaisey said as soon as we got out of the door, “So, so, what happened???”

I looked thoughtful.

I was thoughtful.

The trouble is I didn’t know what I thought.

What had happened?

I said, “You go first.”

Vaisey’s hair had gone completely mad. She had not strapped it down under a hat or tied it half to death with a laccy band and it was taking full advantage. Bobbing around. Sticking up on end. She looked like an electrified floor mop.

We ambled up round the village green and towards the bridge to go to Dother Hall.

She said, “Well, in the cinema, we sat down, didn’t we? And it was all dark, and I daren’t look to see what anyone else was doing.”

I said, “I know my eyes nearly fell out trying to look out of the corners. I think that Phil put his arm around Jo.”

Vaisey said, “I think he did.”

I said, “I mean, I thought it was his arm, but then I thought it might have been the leg of someone in the row behind, sort of sticking up.”

Vaisey said, “There wasn’t anyone in the row behind. The only people were about three rows back and you would have had to have eight foot legs to reach—”

Then her gaze sort of drifted to my legs.

I said, “Go on.”

“Well, about halfway through, Jack shifted his legs a bit and one of them brushed against my knee. I looked round at him and he smiled at me.”

Wow. I said, “ Yabbadabadooooo…here we go. Then what happened?”

She said, “That was it.”

“OK, well go from the bit when I left.”

Vaisey shook her hair-hat about.

“Well, we all chatted for a bit and then Phil said he would walk Jo home.”

I said, “Oh yes, I see. Walking her home. Leaving you all alone with Jack the smiler.”

I winked at her.

But she didn’t see me, because she had walked in some sheep poo. So I said, “And? When they went, you did a bit more smiling, and then—”

“We talked about stuff.”

“You talked about stuff and then—”

Vaisey looked at me. “He showed me his new plectrum. But said he really wanted to be a drummer.”

“And then he lunged—”

“No, then he said goodnight, thanks, see you later.”

Vaisey said, “Do you think that’s bad? Do you think it means he doesn’t really like me? Except in a musical sense?”

She looked a bit upset and her hair had gone flat. “Anyway, I like him. What happened to you?”

I told her about the kiss thingy.

She looked at me like I was the cat’s pyjamas and said, “You have kissed a boy. In person.”

I said, “Yeppity doo dah.”

Vaisey said, “And what was it like?”

I said, “Well, um, it was a bit like being attacked by a jelly, and then having a little bat trapped in your mouth.”

Vaisey said, “Was it nice? Did you like it? Did he like it?”

And I said, “Well, he shook my hand at the end.”

When we arrived at Dother Hall there was a big notice on the board that said:

Summer School girls

Report to the main hall at 10.30 am

For assessment meeting.

Whoops.

This was all getting a bit scary.

We loped in with the others and sat down. Gudrun came on to the stage with a chair and a drum and started beating a rhythm. The lights flashed and I could see Bob half-concealed by the side curtains, at control centre. Well, the lighting desk. He was crouched over a keyboard, moving dials and waggling stuff like a man possessed. It was only then we recognised they were playing a reggae version of All Things Bright and Beautiful.

As the music reached a crescendo, Sidone appeared on stage, dressed in a suit and braces. She stood looking out at us.

Gudrun sidled off backwards with her drum as Sidone began to speak.

“Girls, my girls. You have been here now at Dother Hall for nearly two weeks, finding your feet. Although Madame Frances tells me that some of you have