others to vote for that. So I was really surprised when my suggestion of ‘The Blue Lavender Tea Palace’, led to a big ‘YES!’ from all of them. Naming tearooms, another thing I don’t exactly suck at. The lettering will have to be done really well so Bob and Jenny have volunteered to work on a stencil for it in Nanny Gloria’s house tomorrow morning. Bob is a bit of a showoff, but not badly enough that you wouldn’t want to hang out with him. He’s also way goofier even than Jackson, but he and Jenny are so sweet together. I hope he gets it together and kisses her soon.
Jackson pulled me aside and whispered in my ear (again, a lot of that going on with him lately!), asking me to meet him in the courtyard at ten o’clock tonight for more dancing.
I was so surprised or something that I forgot to answer, so he said, ‘We only have two weeks until the party and I’ll need you to dance with me so I don’t have to waltz with all my great aunties and the women who do charity work with Bob’s mother.’
‘I’m sure they dance beautifully,’ I said.
‘They lead,’ he said.
So I agreed to meet him at the courtyard at ten tonight, purely a charitable thing to benefit him, and because I have a goal to reach.
God this was a long day!! Usually I don’t do this much in a week!
When I got back I had some oil on my new skirt (which must have come from the oil barrels in the warehouse) and was really upset, but luckily Aunt Maisie had a bottle of stuff that soon shifted it.
I told her that we had a meeting at the Big House and she said she wasn’t happy about me being out that late, so I had to promise to be back by midnight. I put a cardigan over the white outfit. I’m now really confused because I love the new stuff but I don’t feel that it’s really me, and the old stuff isn’t me either. So I can feel self-conscious but stylish and fun in the new stuff, or depressed and comfortable in the old stuff. I love the new clothes it’s just that my personality hasn’t grown into them yet.
When I was cycling over to the Park just before ten I remembered that they lock the gates at night, but this time Jackson was standing there with a key and he showed me that a spare was kept behind a nearby wooden post so now I can always get in. I thanked him and threatened to murder them all in their beds,which made him laugh. I left my bike leaning against the wall of the Gate Lodge we ran through the Park in the pitch darkness all the way to the courtyard. Now that I think of it, I don’t know why we ran, it was just kind of exciting to be doing something in secret in the dark.
He got straight to it and taught me how to do a whole foxtrot. He had turned on the lights of the sitting room, which gave us enough light to see how badly I was doing. I kept stepping when I should be bouncing, and bouncing when I should be stepping, and going back on my left foot twice instead of backwards and then forwards. Then he produced a portable sound system from behind a pillar, which made me nervous about someone hearing us.
‘Grandfather is the only one around and he’s not likely to hear,’ Jackson reminded me.
‘And Bob?’
‘Not here.’
‘Where’s he gone to? There’s nowhere to go around here.’
‘I meant sleeping, he sleeps like a log.’
But Jackson is a really bad liar, he went totally red. Bob must have been with Jenny.
It felt fantastic dancing to real music rather thanjust music in my head. I stepped on Jackson’s toes a lot, but these new shoes are a lot less clumpy, in fact they are rather dainty. The only problem is that I am not. Still, I’m getting better.
I caught sight of the time on Jackson’s watch and it was ten to midnight. I said I had to run and he laughed and called me Cinderella and ran back with me to the gates. I grabbed my bike and cycled off and didn’t catch what he said as I left.
DAY 23
I can’t believe I thought I would be bored here. Something really amazing happened today.
Jackson pulled me aside and whispered in my ear (again, a lot of that going on with him lately!), asking me to meet him in the courtyard at ten o’clock tonight for more dancing.
I was so surprised or something that I forgot to answer, so he said, ‘We only have two weeks until the party and I’ll need you to dance with me so I don’t have to waltz with all my great aunties and the women who do charity work with Bob’s mother.’
‘I’m sure they dance beautifully,’ I said.
‘They lead,’ he said.
So I agreed to meet him at the courtyard at ten tonight, purely a charitable thing to benefit him, and because I have a goal to reach.
God this was a long day!! Usually I don’t do this much in a week!
When I got back I had some oil on my new skirt (which must have come from the oil barrels in the warehouse) and was really upset, but luckily Aunt Maisie had a bottle of stuff that soon shifted it.
I told her that we had a meeting at the Big House and she said she wasn’t happy about me being out that late, so I had to promise to be back by midnight. I put a cardigan over the white outfit. I’m now really confused because I love the new stuff but I don’t feel that it’s really me, and the old stuff isn’t me either. So I can feel self-conscious but stylish and fun in the new stuff, or depressed and comfortable in the old stuff. I love the new clothes it’s just that my personality hasn’t grown into them yet.
When I was cycling over to the Park just before ten I remembered that they lock the gates at night, but this time Jackson was standing there with a key and he showed me that a spare was kept behind a nearby wooden post so now I can always get in. I thanked him and threatened to murder them all in their beds,which made him laugh. I left my bike leaning against the wall of the Gate Lodge we ran through the Park in the pitch darkness all the way to the courtyard. Now that I think of it, I don’t know why we ran, it was just kind of exciting to be doing something in secret in the dark.
He got straight to it and taught me how to do a whole foxtrot. He had turned on the lights of the sitting room, which gave us enough light to see how badly I was doing. I kept stepping when I should be bouncing, and bouncing when I should be stepping, and going back on my left foot twice instead of backwards and then forwards. Then he produced a portable sound system from behind a pillar, which made me nervous about someone hearing us.
‘Grandfather is the only one around and he’s not likely to hear,’ Jackson reminded me.
‘And Bob?’
‘Not here.’
‘Where’s he gone to? There’s nowhere to go around here.’
‘I meant sleeping, he sleeps like a log.’
But Jackson is a really bad liar, he went totally red. Bob must have been with Jenny.
It felt fantastic dancing to real music rather thanjust music in my head. I stepped on Jackson’s toes a lot, but these new shoes are a lot less clumpy, in fact they are rather dainty. The only problem is that I am not. Still, I’m getting better.
I caught sight of the time on Jackson’s watch and it was ten to midnight. I said I had to run and he laughed and called me Cinderella and ran back with me to the gates. I grabbed my bike and cycled off and didn’t catch what he said as I left.
DAY 23
I can’t believe I thought I would be bored here. Something really amazing happened today.
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