The Re-Set

Deepdene and into the belly of the Beast

"Good grief...you look awful?" Beth exclaimed, hugging me as we met at the corner of her road and mine, as always. Redstone, as it still technically was, until the September, was walking distance from both of our houses, and we had been meeting up every school morning since the start of year five, when our parents stopped insisting on dropping us off and let us walk under our own steam. My best friend was in the Redstone uniform, grey blazer, black jumper, white blouse and kilt, which was as familiar to both of us as anything possibly could be, after wearing it every school day of our lives since we were three. But I was depressingly resplendent in my brand-new Deepdene uniform, which was a gaudy dark blue and pale blue striped blazer, white blouse and blue striped tie, dark blue jumper with a single pale blue ring around the collar, and a garish blue plaid kilt, all topped off with a dark blue hooded raincoat, with a pale blue lining of course, and the ridiculous straw boater, bedecked with pale blue ribbons. My old Redstone uniform had felt like a second skin, whilst the new one felt like a straightjacket. But I had to wear it, or my father was going to kill me, so I was trying to put a brave face on things.

"Same for everyone...when they finally sign on for September...why haven't your parents done the dirty deed yet?" I asked, feigning indifference to my appearance, but keen for Beth to confirm that she was not abandoning me to go somewhere else. I knew that I was not going to be the only one wearing the new livery, hence my attempt at ambivalence, and everyone else would know why I was wearing the truly disgusting costume, so I had decided that there was no point getting embarrassed about any of it. My strategy was to ignore it and anything anyone said, safe in the knowledge that more people would join me as the term went on and that teasing only worked if you let anyone see that it was getting to you. Dad had assured me that getting places elsewhere was not as easy as some of us assumed, and that most people would end up staying on at Deepdene. I just happened to be one of the early-adopters.

"Dad says that he is assessing the alternatives...he really isn't happy about the whole going to church thing and he says the fees are higher as well, so he wants to have a look at all the other options...did you really go bible-bashing on Sunday?" Emma asked, grabbing my arm as we headed up the gentle hill towards Redstone. Like me, she was not into God, and we were both horrified by the very idea that we would have to attend a weekly service to secure a place at Deepdene.

"Yeah...you have to get the stupid diary signed by the vicar, apparently...you can't start if you don't have it signed to prove you went."

"I mean, the blazer is bad...so Malory Towers...but that coat is actually worse...no one over the age of six wears anything like that anymore!" Beth giggled, as we crossed over the road to where the pavement was wider, like always. "And the hat? I mean, bloody hell..."

"Come May the first, I can wear the pale blue and white summer dress, though...so how cool will that be?" I joked, whilst dying inside. I was not stupid, I knew that in September, everyone would be dressed exactly the same, and it would become normal, and unremarkable, whilst we were all at school, at any rate. But we would still look like total idiots on the way to and from school, of course. Deepdene was going to make us all stick out like sore thumbs.

"So...tell me all about the new love interest, then? Is she the one?" Beth grinned, keen to get all the gossip. She was my best friend, and we told each other everything as best friends do, so as soon as I got my phone back, on the Monday, because Dad was trying to build bridges, I had brought her up to date. But she wanted all the gory details face to face, as always.

"Well, not that new to Dad, obviously...I think they have been seeing each other since about last summer." I sighed, chewing my bottom lip. Beth knew all about my mum, obviously, since she had already been my best friend when mum died, and she also knew that I had never been keen on the idea of a stepmother. But I had not told her that Dad and Caroline were effectively engaged, and had actually set a wedding date. I was not quite ready to share that bombshell as yet, because I was still half-hoping that it would all go away, like the others had, once I got my claws into them. "She lives in this huge house out in the countryside, near Brockham, and she is so posh..."