kit up really quickly.
Vaisey stood there like a little red lemon for a minute or two, and then disappeared out of the stage door.
An hour later we found her up on the roof looking out to Grimbottom. And crying.
She must have been crying for an hour because her eyes are all tiny.
And her hair is droopy.
She wouldn’t come in, so in the end I headed home and the others took her out a blanket.
Back in my squirrel room, I decided I am definitely going to make our Wuthering Heights production about Cain.
I’ve been practising in the mirror. I put my hair back in a ponytail, and I can do his harsh looks now.
There are some illustrations in the book I’ve got, and Heathcliff has got a white shirt on with a long black jacket. And riding boots. And a moustache.
I hope Cousin Georgia won’t mind, but I’ve trimmed her moustache. It had droopy curly ends on it that made me look a bit Japanese.
I’m going to show Ruby. And tell her about my Heathcliff.
I went and called into The Blind Pig.
She wasn’t in, though. Mr Barraclough said, “Hello, young man.”
And I wasn’t even wearing my costume. Just being me.
He told me that Ruby had gone to dog obedience classes with Matilda. I walked up the back way, in case she was coming home, but I couldn’t see her. And after five minutes, I gave up.
The moors were brooding in the dusk. A few sheep were baa-ing, but mostly there was just a swishing sound as a little breeze played on the grasslands. I would have to tell Honey and Flossie about the little breeze business.
I looked out over the land. It had seemed so bleak when I first came here, and now it seemed…well, so bleak. But I liked it more now.
I was so sad for Vaisey.
It was horrible seeing her so upset.
And she hadn’t even been kissed yet.
At least I had. Well, if you could count the ‘bat trapped in the mouth’.
Jo told me that Phil said Ben thought I was too ‘immature’ to go out with.
I would be upset, but then I had an image of him puffing along with a rucksack full of bricks.
I wish that I had Georgia around to give me some advice. I know she said, “A boy in the hand is worth two on the bus.”
But what does that mean?
I had met Ben on a bus (nearly), so maybe that is what she meant. I had to wait for a boy who wasn’t on a bus.
If I was going to come back to Dother Hall next term, I would get her to write down stuff for me. Like a guide to boys.
But I won’t be coming back. I’ve only got forty-five per cent, which is a fail.
I can’t even think about it. I find it hard to talk about things that mean a lot to me.
I wonder if the girls will miss me. I will miss them and I won’t forget them. And I still have the nice thing of having known them.
Which is gooderer than nothing.
And also, I have had a nearly boy friendy. Charlie did come and see the owlets with me, didn’t he?
I didn’t make him.
But I can’t figure out what he meant by saying that thing about the cinema. That it would have been stupid if he had come.
Does he mean because I am too immature?
How am I supposed to get mature, unless someone gives me a hand becoming more maturerer? Jimminy cricket and also gadzooks.
I went off down the path home, and as I came round the corner of the lane by the pub, Cain was turning up the pathway towards me. Just as I stepped into a rabbit-hole and fell over.
He looked down at me. Then he laughed.
He said, “This is fun, int’ it?”
I said, “No, it’s not.”
He laughed meanly. “You love it, you follow me abaht. I see a lot of you, if you know what I mean.”
I was thinking of something clever to say as I got up when I heard Alex’s voice.
“Alright, Cain?”
Mr Darcy was here. He would see Heathcliff off.
Cain was still looking at me and didn’t bother to turn to Alex, he just said, “Aye, not so bad.”
Alex said, “Are you on your way home, Tallulah? I’ll walk with you.”
Cain said softly, “Mixing with the big boys now. Watch tha sen, Tallulah.”
I didn’t bother to reply to him, I just smiled at Mr Darcy.
As I walked by, Cain slowly rubbed his chest