The woman’s voice echoed in the loud speaker “Now boarding Gate 5 to Dublin”. Derby’s mum was standing near the men’s toilets winking at every desperate looking guy that walked past. Derby rolled her eyes “Mum, we’re leaving now”, her mum wore a short hot pink skirt with a crop top that read WIFEY, and heels that could be easily mistaken for skyscrapers. Her fake red lips protruded from her pointy face “Well, darlings” she hugged them both but her massive, fake boobs got in the way “I will miss you so much, and always remember mummy loves both of you” she grabbed their cheeks; her long, plastic nails nearly poked Derby in the eye. Derby looked at her mum, it was quite an effort as her heels made her look a meter, and it was even worse that Derby was short already. Bu the hardest part of looking her mum in the eye was trying to see over her chest mountains…SERIOUSLY, it was ridiculous. “Yep, us too mum” she said, trying not to laugh. Derby and Leila hated their mum, yeah it’s bad to say- but their mum was a total skank, she was so irresponsible too! Leila and Derby literally raised themselves. Their mum was looking around, subtlety suggesting for the girls to get on the plane. “Last call for Gate 5 Dublin” the woman’s voice echoed in Derby’s ears. They waved one last goodbye to their mum and boarded…this was going to be a long flight….
Leila woke Derby up when they landed “We’re like just about her, Derbs” she said. Leila reapplied her caked on lip-gloss, it made her lips look like a slimy lolly. ‘Eww’ Derby thought, but decided not to say anything. When they were in the Dublin airport, Leila’s phone rang, it was their dad. “He’s waiting in the food court for us” she said excitedly. Leila was really keen to see her Dad after so long but Derby didn’t really care. He embraced both of the girls; he smelt really bad of beer and had a really strong Irish accent “Hey Daddy!” Leila kissed him on the cheek. Derby laughed; there was pink sparkles in his facial hair from the lip-gloss. “Hey Dad” Derby said, he hugged tightly her and almost broke her ribs. “I’ve missed my girls so much! C’mon lets go and get something to eat.”
When they arrived in Mullingar, at their Dad’s house Derby was asleep again but the sound of Leila’s excited screams woke her. It was a pretty large house, two storeys and the lawn was freshly mowed. “How is it so neat?” Derby asked, surprised. Her dad laughed and replied “Well this is the neatest it’s been in years!” We all got out of the car and carried our heavy luggage upstairs. Derby’s room was average size, but the neighbours had a perfectly good view into her room; ‘great’ she thought. The furniture was pretty basic; a desk and chair, drawers, a bed and a lamp. Derby could hear her dad making his way upstairs “I know, I know, it’s boring- but you can decorate it, can’t you?” he smiled, the beer in his hand was ice cold “Hay darl, I’m just going over to water the garden next door” Derby frowned as he left ‘Wait, why?” she asked confused. Her dad spun around on his heel “They’re out for 2 weeks on holiday and I said I would do it” he rolled his eyes and sighed at the thought of applying effort and clumped down the stairs.
While Derby was fitting her new room Leila walked in. “Derbs,” she said “Listen, we need to talk.” She pushed Derby onto the desk’s chair and plunked herself onto the bed; her hair was spread evenly and perfectly as she fell. Perfect sisters…you gotta hate them…. “In Australia, you weren’t quite popular, right?” she asked, already knowing the answer
“Yeah…” Derby said, raising her eyebrow “Who said I wanted to be?”
“Well, I’m going to do you a favour” Leila smiled ignoring the last comment. That smile almost made Derby scared; she knew that smile- it was always used when Leila was up to something, and was determined to make it happen. “And what would that be, Leila?” Derby questioned while flicking through her papers on the desk next to her. “Well. I am going to give you a makeover!” she said excitedly, she smiled again, this time it was the ‘reassuring smile’ but it wasn’t quite reassuring as she remembered. “Yeah, probs not Ley” Derby replied, she was still going through her papers, trying to find something, but she didn’t know what, just mindlessly. Leila jumped up and grabbed her shoulders suddenly “Yes, c’mon please? Please, Derbs?” Leila pleaded. But Derby knew what this was for- to make Leila and her popular. They would be the new Aussie girls- the hot girls. It was tempting- to finally get some male attention and popularity, to be envied by other girls. But Derby knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it all. “No Ley,” Derby answered, she sounded firm and sure “it’s not me!”
After Leila had her spaz and they argued for a while, their dad came home; the phone rang as soon as he came in the door. “Hay Bobby” Derby’s dad’s voice echoed throughout the house “Yeah, I’ve been looking after it! Yeah, the girls got here today” the conversation continued but Derby couldn’t be bothered to listen whereas Leila’s ear was basically beside the speaker. After dinner, Derby’s dad brought up the subject of school “I’ll get you started in school in 3 weeks” he looked really awkward as he said it “I know a couple of parents that send their kids there and my friend Kath picked up all your books for me” Leila raised her eyebrow “Hmmm, so Kath?” Their dad had a drop of sweat on his forehead, ‘eww’ Derby thought. As Leila went on questioning him about Kath, Derby lost interest and left the table and decided to go and play her guitar. After an hour of practicing her Dad knocked on her door “Hey, you’re quite good at that, aren’t ya?” he was smiling, like he was pleased with himself. Derby frowned “Well, I practice a lot so….” She strummed a note to try and suggest for him to leave, she wasn’t a very social person, but he stayed and sat on her bed. She looked at him expecting an explanation for why he was still here, he detected this “Listen, I understand if you miss your mum,” the words understand and miss your mum were strained out, he absolutely hated her “But, this is your new home now, and I really would like for you to settle in.” But Derby actually really liked it here, and she hated her mum so much, why would he think this? ‘Must be the body language’ she thought. Her dad stared at her expecting an answer that meant that she had to conjure some type of a straight answer that he couldn’t ask any more questions from “No, I really like it here, dad. It’s really cool, and plus I don’t think I will miss mum much, she wasn’t the best, as you know” Derby tried to push a smile, but her lips refused, she was definitely not a social person. The only person she really opened up to was her sister, but that was still a rare occasion. “Ok then,” her dad said standing up (‘Finally’ she thought) he was walking out when suddenly he turned around “Just to let you know, Derbs” he said “The boy next door plays guitar too, and he sings” he winked and left. ‘Oh wow’ she thought sarcastically; seriously, boys are so immature, and how could her dad even subtlety suggest that? She shivered at the thought and continued playing.
