The Colour of Words

9.

The rest of the week crawled by with seemingly deliberate sloth-like pace, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Until Friday.

As usual, Tuesday turned into Wednesday, and Wednesday into Thursday, as it had apparently done for the last few thousand years.

I got up, went to school, came home again. Trod carefully where necessary, strutted confidently in others. The in-between bits were just the same as well. Same as they had been for the last five years, actually. Considering what a mess my actual life is, it seems to at least be routinely a pig-sty.

I stayed away from Hilda, ignored her and carried on as if she wasn't there, with Tally sticking close to my side. It helped that she was there, actually, like a shield, or a force-field. My little Tally.

As Friday rolled by, I found myself standing, once again, at the bus stop at God-knows-what unearthly hour of the morning with Tally chattering excitedly next to me.

'So, as Hilda's going as well, I think we should really make an effort to look nice, so I was thinking maybe today we could go and get something really stylish for once, like, I dunno, really...'

I had, as normal, completely zoned out of what she was going on about, but suddenly my attention snapped back to her comment.

I whipped my head round so quickly I heard it snap. So did Tally.

'Ooh! That sounded painful! You alright?'

'Yeah.' I waved a hand dismissively, although to be honest it did ache a bit. 'What did you just say?'

'I said are you alright.' She looked confused. Not the first time.

'No before that, dumbass.' Patience was never one of my best qualities.

'Oh, I said we should go into town tonight and get something awesome to wear to the party.'

'Because...?' Sometimes she really does annoy the hell out of me. Which technically means I should be an angel. Life is basically one big insult after another.

'Because Hilda's going.'

And she finally understood, although the piercing stare that I do so well also probably helped.

'Oh.' Her eyes widened.

'Yes, oh. Now how did you find out that she's going?'

'Allison asked her in Geography the other day.'

That makes sense. I don't do geography. But... 'Who's Allison?' I enquired.

'The girl who invited us to the party?' Tally answered, like I'm a complete idiot. Never a good move, but I decide to let it pass, 'cause for once she could be right. I am a complete idiot. Although at least I now know that girl's name. Allison: suits her.

'So why did you not tell me this before?’  I asked, with as much kindness as I am muster, bearing in mind I am me, and this is Tally.

‘I forgot?’ She replied hopefully. After five years of hanging around with me, she can tell when I’m in a bad mood. And she's right every time.

The bus saves her from further questioning for the time being, for at that moment it came trundling round that corner, quite the innocent.

'And about time too,' I muttered under my breath. 'I spend half my life standing around at bus stops.'

Tally, hearing this, stared at me with a serious look in her eye.

'Not really. You get here after I do, and even then, it's only about five minutes that we wait, maybe ten if the bus is late, and then on the way home...'

She tailed off as I silenced her with one of my most withering looks.

'Sarcasm, lovey. Sarcasm.'

I just had time to see her little face droop before I barged onto the bus.

As I sat down heavily in my usual seat at the back of the bus, with the girls lolling opposite and Tally trailing meekly up the aisle to join us, I decided that maybe Tally was right. It was time to get down to business.

‘Right,’ I announced as soon as everyone had sat down. ‘Tonight, girls, we hit the town.’

The girls, rolling gum in their mouths like dragons with toothache - not the best look, I know, but they didn’t seem to realise this - stared at me blankly.

’To buy dresses?’

They still seemed mildly confused, however I could just make out the traces of a smile glinting under their act.

‘For the party? Tomorrow night? Hello to planet earth?’

I could tell what was coming before they even opened their traitorous mouths. Years of experience have taught me that.

‘Oh we’ve already bought dresses.’

'Yesterday.’

'With Hilda.'

And now, their smirks were open for all to see.