“Did you hear me cleanin’ my teef ?”
Hang on, this is where I came in. Will I wake up and be back in my room at home, with Connor talking about poo? And Dother Hall was all a dream?
Dibdobs was smiling proudly like she had grown the ‘teef’ herself.
CHAPTER 18
It was time to grow into my knees
I rushed off to Dother Hall because I was worried about Vaisey, and I thought I should tell her what Alex had said about the status boy stuff. I went up to the dorm and all the others were in there, talking on their beds. But there was no sign of Vaisey.
I said, “She’s not still on the roof, is she?”
Ten minutes later, Vaisey came down. She is very pale but not crying.
I said, “Oh my little friend, look at your sad hair.”
I gave her a cuddle, but it made the tears come out of her again, so I thought I would do that thing that adults do to crying children. I went and got a big handkerchief from Milly, and then I got hold of Vaisey’s nose with it and said, “Blow!”
It worked a little bit because she half-smiled and said, “I’ve got a song to sing at the performance lunchtime.”
She didn’t come to any of the classes in the morning. Sidone has given her special permission to practise her song. If this is the state that you get in when you get a note from a boy, what is it like to have a real boyfriend?
We went into the theatre for the lunchtime stuff.
Lavinia did a piece of avant garde dance. With a beach ball. And Sidone complimented her on her ‘jazz hands’.
I don’t know what it was about, we were all so tense. And waiting to see whether Vaisey would sing or not. There was a long pause.
But then Sidone, in a chiffon hat, came back onstage and said, “Today, you are going to see live theatre. Someone who is paying their dues. She didn’t want to perform today because she has been very upset. But I told her, this is it, this is what Dother Hall is about. Show us your bleeding feet. Your bleeding heart.”
And she went off, beckoning Vaisey out from the wings.
It was hard watching her walk on. Her hair looked so sad. Everyone was very quiet and still. And she was so pale. Where was the jolly red person?
Vaisey said to us, “I am going to sing a soul-music classic. It’s quite old, but it doesn’t seem old when you feel the same way. I suppose some things are said so well that they can’t be said any better.”
And she stepped forward, into a single hard spotlight. There was no accompaniment.
And she started to sing so beautifully:
You looked at me
It shook me
You tore me apart.
You’ve broken my
Tender, tender heart.
I woke up
We’d broke up
Before we could start.
I’ll never forget you
Because I am so…
Bluuuuuueeeee
(Ooh-oooh-oooh)
Blimey, we were all wailing by the time she’d finished.
We gave her a big hug at the end and Blaise Fox said, “That’s it, that’s your big song for Cathy in Wuthering Heights. Marvellous, you’ll have them weeping in the aisles! Keep the crying up, you’ll look like a wreck by Friday.”
We’ve been rehearsing Wuthering Heights for most of the day.
I think I am really getting into character.
I made Flossie laugh with my Yorkshire accent.
Even Vaisey giggled when I did my big ‘song’ for her, which was mostly growling and kicking things.
As I was walking home, practising my bad temper and surliness, and also trying to walk like Cain, Phil popped out from behind a tree and went, “Pssssst.”
He said, “Tell the Tree Sisters, to come to a late night bonanza at the tree tonight, before we all go home.”
I said, “What do you mean?”
He said, “I’ll tell you what I mean, tell Jo, Flossie, Honey and Vaisey, and, of course, your good self, to come to the tree at eight o’clock. We will bring stuff.”
So I went all the way back to Dother Hall and told them.
Vaisey said she didn’t want to go. But we persuaded her that it was probably one of the last times we would see the lads. In the end, she said she would. She is very brave, I think. Especially as Jack is going to be there. I wanted to say goodbye to Phil, and maybe Charlie would be there. My sort of friend.
That night, at about half-past seven, I set off up the path to Dother Hall for