Whatever Next? Chapter 13 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 Angharad

---

(title picture Andrea Piacquadio)

“How will we get to school?” asked Maddy when they got home from their ride.

“Harry said something about a bus, but we won’t have passes yet, so we’ll either have to get Auntie Carol to take us, or cycle or catch a service bus.”

“Do they have buses here, I mean you don’t see many, do you?”

“Yeah, there’s a timetable by the phone in the hall,” observed Drew. They went out to it, and discovered there were no buses that were any use to them for school. He returned the timetable to its place none too gently and sighed, “Oh bum.” At which Maddy started to giggle.

He looked puzzled. “It was just the way that came out, it was so funny,” she couldn’t talk and giggle at the same time, so she stopped talking.

Drew began to laugh as well, “Did I do the right thing, I’m beginning to wonder?” He said thinking out loud.

“Do you want to go to school back home and face down the exposure as Gaby?” asked Maddy.

“No, I suppose not,” he said looking at the floor, “but at least we could walk to school there.”

“True, but not from here,” offered Maddy, waiting for the penny to drop.

Drew looked at her for a moment, “What?” he said loudly and she got ready to run.

Just then Josie arrived, “Oh you’re back from your ride, did you have a good time?”

“Yes it was good,” said Drew smiling and smelling himself in need of a shower.

“If you like long, hard hills,” added Maddy, “It was alright for Nicole Cooke here, but we lesser mortals had to use walking gear.”

“Is that a low speed gear then, I thought they called them granny gears?” said Josie wondering what she said that was so funny to the teens, because they were both giggling.

“No, Gran, she means she got off and pushed,” said Drew wiping the tears from his eyes.

“Well that isn’t a gear then, is it, if she has to get off the bike.” Josie looked totally confused.

“It’s a joke, Gran, a cyclists joke.” Drew was now wondering if he should have kept quiet as his explanation seemed to have confused things even more.

“Oh, why didn’t you say, Gaby,” then she began to chuckle which set the teens off again.

“What’s going on out here then?” asked Carol coming into the hallway.

“Oh Maddy and Gaby were telling me a funny story about their ride, come with me and I’ll tell you about it.” Josie gently caught Carol’s arm and steered towards the Kitchen.

Maddy rolled her eyes and Drew giggled once again, before dashing up to the bathroom to get first shower. However, by the time he’d stripped off, Maddy was in the bathroom and the water was running. He sighed in exasperation. To make matters worse, she was singing in the shower, and it was off key.

Drew retired a safe distance sitting on the bed with his MP3 player on, to drown out the noise of an aquatic Maddy. He went to look out the window, then suddenly realised he had no clothes on, and his small but definite breasts would be visible to the people in the next garden. Blushing he stepped back from the window.

Maddy was still doing her impression of badger strangling, when the door to his bedroom opened and she said, “Shower’s free.”

Not many moments later he was under the water when he realised he was still wearing his MP3 player. He jumped away from the water, slipping on the already wet bath and fell, pulling the shower curtain with him, all with a great clatter as the rail came with it.

The only fortunate aspect was his player fell outside the bath, which was where Maddy stepped on it as she came to see what all the noise was about. “What the heck, oops!”

She looked at the prostrate Bond and shook her head.

He looked up at her from underneath the shower curtain, and smiled, “Hi Mad, forget something?”

Carol appeared moments later, the kitchen being under the bathroom. “What happened?”

“I think Gabs just discovered that gravity and slippery surfaces have consequences, and I erm, stepped on her MP3.”

“That’s nothing we can always get another, what about you Gaby, are you hurt?” Carol took charge as alpha adult.

“I think I’ll have one or two bruises that only my best friends will see, but I’m okay. But erm … the shower curtain, erm are we insured?”

Carol looked at him lying in the bath, the shower still spraying on him and she started to laugh, then Maddy and so did Drew finally, although he wasn’t too pleased about his favourite toy being zeroed.

Once dressed, he got the step ladder and found much of the damage could be repaired with the use of the screw driver in his bike repair kit. There was a small rip in the plastic curtain, but some heavy duty clear tape on both sides sorted that.

Sadly his MP3 was broken and along with it many tracks of his favourite albums were lost. Possibly until he could replace the CDs which along with his computer had been lost in the fire. Now he was music-less. That was just another disaster which his life seemed to be becoming in recent months.

If only that stupid woman hadn’t spilt hot coffee on his legs, he should have sued her, he thought to himself, but as things were going, she would have sued him for two more cups of coffee and probably won.

He was just tidying away the step ladder, back to the garage, when Maddy came out and told him that Carol would take them to school until they could organise bus passes. One less worry for him.

“Wotcha gonna wear the first day, skirt or trousers?” asked Maddy.

“I dunno, hadn’t thought that far ahead.” He shrugged, putting his mini tool kit back together.

“I think you should wear the skirt, let ‘em see you in all your glory.”

“What!” choked Drew, “Wear a skirt to school?”

“Yes, I do it all the time and it’s hardly a novelty to you either is it?”

“But we can wear trousers?” he thought she was barmy.

“Yeah, but don’t you want to get all of them admiring your legs?”

“What for?” he seemed completely unaware of the new situation.

“Gabs, we are outsiders, we’re gonna be going into a strange school and we need to make a favourable impression. Our lives could depend on it. Yours especially.”

“What are you on about?”

“You have to convince them all you’re a girl for starters, which was okay back home, ‘cos there you always had one of us to back you up. We could be in different classes and you’ll be under the eyes of other girls, who will be jealous of you.”

“Jealous of what?” This was fast losing his attention, the consequences were less than the cost, he was about to suggest he’d made a mistake when Maddy hit him with the next piece of information.

“You are gonna be prettier than half of them, plus you won that race and helped catch a criminal….”

“Who escaped again …” He interrupted.

“Wasn’t your fault, plus you have a mother who is a celebrity, and a nice boyfriend. They are either gonna love you or hate you.”

“They’re not are they?” Drew looked down at the floor.

“The boys are gonna love you, some of the girls will too, but some are gonna see you as a threat to their status. Pretty well the opposite of what could happen at home.”

“What do you mean?”

“Gabs, concentrate please! Back home you were worried all the boys who fancied you would want to kill you when they found out.”

“Yeah so,”

“Well unless they find out here, it’s the girls who will want to kill you.”

“Why?”

“Competition, survival of the prettiest. Who attracts all the boys? That sorta thing.”

“But I’ve already got one boy I don’t really want following me around.”

“Get ready for a few more.” Maddy smiled almost maliciously.

“Maybe I’d better wear trousers then.” He sighed, something else to worry about.

'Thought you would,' Maddy told herself, 'you are so predictable Drew Bond.'

“Do you want to run into Dorchester and see if we can get you another MP3 player?” said Carol as the teens were in the garage.

“Wow, that would be great, Auntie Carol.” Drew’s spirits rose a little, all he had to do then was get Maddy to download what she had on her laptop. He needed to get one of those himself, especially for digital photos and things.

“Are you going out like that?” said Maddy, giving him a disdainful look.

“We’re only like, going to a shop,” he responded feeling suddenly very scruffy, but he had been mending wrecked bathrooms.

“You could put on some makeup, and your nails are all chipped, and those jeans have dirt on them, so does that top. You need to go and change, and brush your hair while you’re at it.”

“Sieg Heil!” he shouted back as he ran up the stairs, but he did as he was told, except the nails, he just cleared those off. He was certainly getting better at the quick change stuff, skirt and top three minutes, makeup five, hair brush three and nails clean up another five.

“Ah there you are, Gaby,” said Carol, “are you coming too, Josie?” The four of them trooped out to the car and thence to Dorchester, to an electrical goods chain store near Tesco.

Sadly the one Drew fancied was too expensive, and he settled for an equivalent replacement, which would do the job. However, what caught his eye was a laptop computer, which was half price. Josie spotted him drooling at it, and said quietly, “Don’t you have one of these?”

“No, mine was a desk top and went up in the fire. Mad has one and so does Jules.”

“Can’t you borrow one of theirs’?”

“Could be a problem if we’re all doing homework at the same time.”

“Don’t you use books anymore?”

“Yes, like all the time, but sometimes we need to do stuff that’s typed or research something on the net.”

“Net?” Josie looked bemused.

“Oh, Gran, the internet.”

“Ah!” she smiled, “Sometimes I think I need to get some lessons on it and maybe get myself a computer.”

“That would be brill, Gran, we could email each other, except neither of us has a computer at the moment.”

“Is that a good buy?” She pointed at the computer he’d been looking at.

“Is it ever?” he beamed, “Look it’s like, a gig of RAM, DVD rewriter, fifteen inch screen, an’ it’s got XP.”

“XP?” she asked.

“The OS.”

“What’s an OS?”

“Operating system, it’s what runs everything, along with the RAM,” he noticed her confused look again, “Random Access Memory, the bigger and faster that is the quicker it all happens.”

“So it’s a good one is it?”

“Better than my old one, that was ninety eight.”

“Ninety eight what?” asked Josie, wondering if she would bother with a computer after all, these kids spoke a different language anyway, when they were talking jargon, it was like double Dutch to her.

“Windows Ninety Eight, the OS, sorry operating system, XP is like better.”

“Well, if I buy this for you, it’s an advance Christmas and birthday present, alright? So don’t expect more than a card then.”

“What, Gran, you can’t afford to buy this,” he whispered at her, hoping he didn’t put her off too much.

“No you’re probably right, Gaby, what a sensible girl you are.” She watched his face fall.

One of the ‘sales advisors’ popped up. It had always struck Drew that when you wanted one they were noticeable only by their absence, when you didn’t, they insisted on showing how little they knew about their products. He also smiled at the title, sales advisor, was this the modern gobbledy-gook for shop assistant?
“Can I help you ladies?” said the spotty youth. Then he peered at Drew much harder. “I know you from somewhere.”

“Doubt it, we like only just moved down here.” Drew felt quite defensive.

“Got it,” said the youth, “you won the bike race in Weymouth. Something Bond?” He seemed to be working his brain extra hard.

“James,” said Drew sarcastically, but it was lost on the youth.

“Oh, I thought it was Bond.” He looked really puzzled, “Your mum rides as well.”

“Bond, Jamesh Bond,” said Drew in a very poor Scottish accent.

“Oh I see, ha ha, yes very funny.” He chortled away to himself while Drew looked at Josie and they both began to giggle. Even if he couldn’t have the computer, he was having fun teasing boys. Hell, it’s a girl thing!

“Could we buy this computer?” said Josie, drawing the episode to an end.

“Yeah sure, it’s got…”

“Yes young man, I know what it has, all the latest OS and RAM, my granddaughter has explained everything to me. Haven’t you, Gaby?”

Drew had flown off to another planet, a laptop, he was getting a lappie, wowie! He threw his arms around Josie and kissed her on the cheek, “Wow thanks Gran, you’re like the best Gran in the world.”

“Let’s hope Juliette agrees with you,” she said quietly back.

“There’s a free printer with this one too,” said the youth trying to take back the initiative.”

“Yes please,” said Drew.

“Insurance, our cover….” Said the youth hoping to sell a policy.

Is a rip off, “No thanks, we have a coverall insurance at home, I’ll get Daddy to add it to the list.”

“Oh okay.” He went off to the store computer to check stock. “That’s the last one, the display one.”

“Oh!” said Josie, “I’m not so sure then….”

“How about I chuck in a free carry bag and a mouse, it’s got a touch pad, but a mouse is better.”

Drew nodded and Josie agreed. The boy took it off display and went to pack it up. “I just wanted to see if he’d offer us a discount, “ she confided to Drew.

“The bag is worth at least twenty quid, Gran, so we did quite well, and the mouse is probably a fiver.”

“Oh good-o,” said Josie, reaching for her debit card.

“You are the bike race girl, aren’t you?” said the youth, coming back with a box about five times the size of the computer.

“Yes, why is it important?”

“You beat me,” he blushed.

“In the Dorwey race.”

“Did I? Sorry, I didn’t notice too many of the other riders.”

“You’re good, are you going to race down here?”

“Dunno, we might only be down here on a temp’ry basis.”

“Oh, ‘cos there’s a road race club in Weymouth.”

“Yeah, I know through Matt.”

“Course, you know Matt don’cha?”

“Well, I did race for him.” Drew mentally slapped his forehead and said duh!

“Maybe see you round then.”

“Which club does Harry ride with? That’s her boyfriend,” said Josie deciding that this boy was too old for Gaby.

“I don’t know if he does, yet.” Drew reflected on his answer, he was pretty sure Harry didn’t belong to anything yet, except maybe CTC*.

They collected the two boxes and carried them out to the car.

“Well who’s a lucky girl then? New MP3, and a lappie?” Maddy smirked.

“Only ‘cos you stepped on the old one, big feet,” retorted Drew, thinking the insult wasn’t so clever as he couldn’t run off with the box in his hands.

So Maddy hit a sitting target. “Big feet ha! Mine are smaller than yours.”

Drew was about to retaliate, with something like, “Yeah so’s yer brain,” when he was stopped by Carol’s intervention.

“Let’s get fish and chips tonight.” With which no one disagreed.

CTC* Cyclist’s Touring Club biggest cycling society in the UK with over 10, 000 members, campaigns for issues affecting cycling and cyclists and runs local groups. Angharad is a member