Life Swap

Mischief Managed

"Well? It is past nine o'clock at home?" I demanded, as the five of us crowded around poor Felicity, who was trying to refresh her mobile phone for about the tenth time, getting more and more nervous with each swipe. "As soon as we know that you have passed every single exam with top grades, we can get on with celebrating my birthday!"

"I don't have a great signal here? We are in France, after all?" Felicity replied, holding it up in a vain attempt to make it work, as we all jumped up and down beside her, all five of us so excited for her, although I was keen to get on with my big day. Five twelve year olds, all of her little friends, all dressed in brightly coloured sun dresses with our hair in braids to help us survive the heat, all happy for her, and for my birthday. It was August, obviously, four months after our last visit to the Dream Stone, and the fifth twelve year old was Kelly, of course. Nice Kelly, if occasionally frustrated Kelly, because although Professor Hoyte had disappeared, she was still stuck at Deepdene, as she would put it, and a church girl to boot, after her mum was encouraged to join by Auntie Sheila and my own Mummy. But the nastiness in Kelly/Olivia had just completely disappeared, and after joining the rest of us back in year seven, it was almost inevitable that we would all become friends, once we were together. "Wait...it's here I think...a text message..."

"I'm right, aren't I? All grade nines?" I said, trying to see the screen, because Felicity was so bright, and a swot as well, although some of that was obviously encouraged by her parents at home.

"Calm down, girls...let poor Felicity take it all in?" Auntie Sheila called out, as she appeared from the villa carrying a tray of orange juice and breakfast pastries. "Felicity?"

"Mummy?" Felicity murmured, before running over to her surprised mother and throwing her arms around her, in sudden floods of tears.

"What is it, darling? Don't cry...I know you did your best..."

"I got three eights," Felicity wailed, and I rolled my eyes at Louise, who grinned, all of us crowding around our big sister. "In Latin, music and art?"

"And the rest?" Her mother asked, rubbing her heaving back.

"Nines...but three eights? I've let you down..."

She was being silly, because eights were still pretty good marks, and the subjects were hardly the important ones. Auntie Sheila calmed her daughter down, and we ate breakfast around the pool with all of our parents. And then finally, I got my birthday presents, which I opened sitting on Daddy's lap, next to Mummy and Mrs Hughes, or Auntie Sarah as she was to me. We were in the middle of our holiday in the south of France, near Nice, and my birthday just happened to coincide with the release of GCSE results back home. So, we had two things to celebrate for once, and no more worries. Professor Hoyte was gone. No one knew where, those of us who remembered him, at any rate. Mum, or rather Mrs Hughes, Auntie Sarah, thought that she had inherited the house, and quite a lot of money, from her grandfather's brother, a man I certainly had no memory of, and that was why she had been able to enrol her daughter at Deepdene. But Martin the weasel had not miraculously reappeared, and she had decided that she did not like the big old house. And that was when Caroline had an idea, because Auntie Sarah was saying that she was bored doing nothing and wanted some sort of job, but one that did not stop her spending time with Kelly, and looking after her properly. So, she did not want to go back to working night shifts in the care sector. It turned out that the little cottage at the end of the drive leading to Broomwaters was actually ours. It was designed for staff, who the previous owners had employed, and was being rented out at the time. Mummy had been toying with the idea of getting some help around the house, and she asked Sarah Hughes if she would like to rent the cottage and become our housekeeper. So, Kelly and Auntie Sarah were soon installed at the bottom of our garden.