the final farewell tree fest. I waited by the back entrance whilst the girls crept out. They all had make-up on and had done their hair. I said to Vaisey, “You look lovely.”
And she did. She looked pale but determined.
I had gone wild and put my Barely Pink lipstick on and some mascara, and also I had borrowed a dress from Vaisey. It was time to grow into my knees.
We went off to our tree. And the boys were there already lying around under it.
Phil got hold of Jo and lifted her up. He said, “Whey hey hey!!”
Jo has told me that they are going to write to each other over the next few weeks. She biffed him on his arms, which is her way of being affectionate and he kissed her on the mouth. That left the rest of us feeling a bit awkward for a minute. Especially Jack, who looked like he was going to bite his lips off. Charlie wasn’t there, but Ben was.
Oh dear.
Ben flopped over to me and held out his hand.
Again.
I said, “Hello, Ben.”
And then he spotted Honey. She smiled and said, “Thatth a nithe name, Ben.” And he fell into her honey-trap like a hypnotised bee. They were talking and laughing, and he played with her hair.
Oh, well. I sat down with Flossie and we opened some of the crisps that the boys had brought. They had a guitar as well and Jack started playing a little tune on it. He looked up at Vaisey and said to her, “Vaisey, will you come and sit and sing with me?”
And Vaisey said, “I’m not, feeling very well.”
Jack said, “Is that…because…Please come and talk to me, Vaisey.”
Flossie and I didn’t know what to do, so we just started talking loudly together.
Flossie said, “I quite like that Seth boy.”
What???
I said, “He’s a Hinchcliff, they are like wild animals.”
Flossie started singing in a Southern accent, “Wild Seth, you make my heart sing…you make everything…Sethy!!!”
Then Charlie arrived.
I tried to pretend that I hadn’t seen him.
He said, “Hellloooooo, Tree Sisters! It’s me!”
It was really good fun being in the woods at night with people singing and laughing and talking. Jack and Vaisey were half-singing and half-talking. I looked across at her and she smiled back at me.
Hoooray!!! Lawks-a-mercy and splice the mainbrace!!!
After about half an hour, Jo and Phil went off into the woods together.
Charlie was being very funny about Woolfe Academy – he’s back there for another term. He said, “The headmaster says that he thinks a bit of responsibility will be the making of me. So he has made me team-leader in the Army corp.”
And he winked at me and said, “Happy days.”
Phil and Jo came dashing back.
Jo said, “Sidone and Monty are headed this way!!”
We said goodnight quietly and everyone hugged. Then the dorm girls headed back to Dother Hall and the boys went off to Woolfe. I looked after Charlie; this was probably the last time I would ever see him. As he disappeared into the trees, he did this really nice thing.
He blew a kiss to me.
How lovely was that?
I crept around the trees to get back to the road. I could see Monty and Sidone.
Sidone was doing a little dance with her scarf and I could hear Monty saying, “Marvellous, marvellous.”
It was a soft night and I could hear owls hooting. I wonder if it is Connie out there with her friends. I would even miss Connie. And I couldn’t bear to think of not seeing Lullah and Ruby. I must get big Ruby to send me notes and photos of them when I’ve left here.
As I was walking along, I heard something in the trees.
I hope it wasn’t a bat.
A vampire bat.
Charlie stepped out. And said, “Yoo hoo.”
I looked at him and smiled.
He smiled back.
“I thought I would walk you back to Heckmondwhite.”
I said, “What, in case I need to walk up some stairs and fall over?”
He said to me, “Lullah, that is a very random thing to say.”
And I remembered that he had not been on the ‘date’.
Which also reminded me that he had said it would have been ‘stupid’ if he had been.
And that’s when I thought I would show him the Northern grit I’d learned whilst I’ve been here. My inner Emily Brontë.
I said, “Charlie, why did you say it would have been ‘stupid’ to have come to the cinema if I had been going?”
He came and stood near me and looked into my eyes.
I said, “I might be