The arrival of the next morning is accompanied by a curtains being flung open and solid sunlight filling the room. I squint and throw my duvet over my head, before remembering where exactly I am and swinging my legs around so my feet touch the pale wood of the floorboards.
"Spain Spain Spain!" Mum sings, already dressed and prancing around the room. Her white, knee-length dress billows out around her and she looks rather goddess-like. I make my way over to the mirror in the bathroom to tackle my bed head and splash water on my face to make me look vaguely awake.
"Spain Spain Spain Spain SPAIN!!" Mum sings out again, opening her window wide and addressing the whole hotel with her girlish excitement.
"MUM!" I cringe, embarrassed but still laughing. I can't help but be swept up into the excitement of being somewhere completely new, completely unknown.
I pull on some shorts and a vest top, throwing a thin shirt on over the top so I can avoid the wrath of Mum's sun cream particularities. I take one last look in the mirror, at my pale, skinny legs; my lanky arms; my baby face with its huge eyes; and my hair that won't grow out, and sigh.
After breakfast, we go back up to our room. We're having a pool day today, maybe going for a walk around the town we're near. Mum might go to the gym too.
The day flies by in a flurry of bomb jumps, swim races and water slides. My toes and fingers are wrinkled by the time I get out of the pool. The heat of the Spanish sun dries my swimming costume (I'd managed to leave my bikini at home) almost straight away and I recline on a sun lounger next to Mum, trying to tan my legs.
I shut my eyes for a while, relaxing in the sun soaked poolside, trying not to be jealous of the perfectly bronzed teens in their perfectly fitted bikinis that emphasize their perfect bodies, until I feel something hit my foot. A beach ball had somehow ended up escaping its owner. I look up, see a tall young woman running over to claim it. Now where do I recognize her from?
"Sorry!" she says to me. "Tom can't catch."
I laugh and hand her the ball back. As she thanks me and turns to go, everything falls into place. Jodie. Jodie Abisgold smiles at me and runs back over to her brother - her brother being Tom - and I stand there, stunned.
Spain is even better than I imagined.
