*Chapter 27*

Sleepless in Dernau

 
 
Did my conversation with Mum make things any better? I lay staring at my ceiling, sleep unwilling to visit, my mind playing events over and over in my head, snogging Toni, kissing Max earlier, how the experiences felt but failing to turn up any conclusions about my feelings. It’s almost like I’m two different people – Drew, that’s the real me yeah, certainly doesn’t kiss boys, ut uh, no way José. Gaby however has no such hang ups, well boys aren’t off the radar at least and she even has some enthusiasm for a bit of lip locking.

One a.m. came and went, I was surprised when my alarm did a blitzkrieg on my senses just before seven.
 
 

Flippin’ eck! Remind me again why I’m getting up at stupid o’clock again?

I blearily stumbled to my shower and stood letting the water do its best to return me to full consciousness.

“Gaby, are you getting up?” Dad’s voice enquired from below.

“Just dressing.”

After weeks of dressing as gender neutral as possible – well except for the modeling stuff, oh and Lilleshall of course, well you know what I mean, today everyone is expecting to see Gaby. Not just Gaby of course but Gaby wearing makeup, hair done and doing the whole girl bit – shorts and t-shirt just won’t cut it. A glance out of the window confirmed the promise of a hot day; Drew inwardly winced at Gaby’s choice – a light cotton dress over sensible, plain underwear. Nothing remotely male about that, no sirree.

 
 
“You alright, kiddo?” Mum enquired.

“I guess.”

“Nice dress,” she offered.

“I suppose,” look I’m a teenager okay.

“Gab, what we talked about last night, just be yourself eh?”

“Which one, this or Drew?”

“You’ll miss the train if you sit there much longer,” Dad suggested a few minutes later.

“Bum.”

“You got everything?” Mum queried.

“In my bag…where’s my bag?”

“The one in the hall?” Dad suggested.

“Um thanks, Dad.” I sheepishly allowed.

“What time are you back?” Mum enquired.

“Not really sure.”

“Well ring and let us know if you are going to be late, the Pinger’s are coming for dinner.”

“Yes, Mum.”

“And take a cardigan.”

“Mu-um,” I groaned.

“Listen to your mother,” Dad put in.

Grrr, now I’m gonna have to cart a flippin’ cardi round all day.

“Whatever.” I dashed up stairs; I really will be late if I don’t get off soon. Rather than a proper cardigan, heavy and bulky at best, I located my crocheted shrug, it’s black but won’t look too daft with my pale yellow dress. I made a very unladylike descent to the ground floor, glad that I was still barefoot.

“Cardigan,” I announced brandishing the garment at my parents before stuffing it in the top of my bag.

“Come back in a better mood, eh?” Dad suggested as I pulled my sandals on.

“Hmmph,” I grunted back, “later.”

I made good my escape and quickly headed towards town.
 
 

‘I am so not in a mood!’ I huffed to myself, ‘flippin’ cardigan, take your phone, you got everything, ya-di-ya-di-da.”

 
 
My chuntering continued all the way to the bakery where the rest of the Dernau contingent were waiting on the pavement.

“Thought you weren’t coming.” Anna opined.

“Parents,” I almost spat, “do this, take that – I woulda been here ten minutes ago.”

“Yow, Gabs, you on?” Con suggested.

“On?”

“She’s on,” they both stated.

“So are we going or what?” I asked ignoring their comments.

 
 
The train was a minute late getting to Dernau and was unusually busy. The others had seats but it was standing room only for us – well I managed to perch on the edge of Steff’s seat.

“Gab’s on,” Anna announced to the others.

“I am not!” I’m a boy; I can’t be ‘on’ as she put it.

“Well you’re doing a good impersonation.” Con observed.

“Tickets?” the conductor, a chap I didn’t recognise prompted.

I retrieved my pass and presented for inspection.

“Don’t forget to renew this, eh?” He mentioned before moving on.

“Sugar, I forgot about that.” I moaned.

“We did ours last week.” Nena noted.

“That’s gonna put a dent in today’s spending.”

“You buy it yourself?” Pia asked, “Dad pays for mine.”

“You could get your rents to do it online,” Brid suggested, “mum does that now.”

Now that sounds like a plan, I’ve got the money in my account but it’s nearly €2000 for the Bahn card. I’m sure Dad paid for Jules last time; it’s worth a try I guess.

“So what are we doing when we get there?” Steff asked.

“Usual I guess.” Con shrugged.

“I need to get a day pack for college, we do a field trip next week.” Anna advised.

“It’s gonna be weird without you at Silverberg.” P mentioned.

“I’ll still see you guys.”

“Why won’t you be at Silverberg?”

“Duh, Gabs, she starts college in Koblenz this year.” Nena told me.

“She has been away all summer,” Anna pointed out.

“Yeah I’ve not been here, when did this happen?”

“Well I applied and got a place, I got confirmation about a month ago.”

I hadn’t even thought that we wouldn’t all be together this year but Anna is over a year older than me, she would’ve left secondary school in England this year so it’s not really that different here in Germany.

“So what are you doing at college?”

“Don’t get her started, Gab.” Con cautioned.

“Shut up, Con, natural and human environments which covers all sorts of stuff, biology, geology and so on.”

“Sounds a bit heavy to me.”

The subject of discussion for the remainder of our journey north was set. To be honest, apart from riding bikes I haven’t really given much thought to any future education or career goals. I suppose I’ll have to at some point but that’s in the future, right?

 
 
The Rhine Express deposited us into the ever-busy Köln Hauptbahnhof just before quarter to eleven, first stop the toilets!

“So how do we get to this Globetrotter place.” Brid queried.

“It’s not far from Neumarkt,” I offered having been there with Mum a few weeks ago.

“At the far end of Schildergasse?” Nena confirmed.

“Uh yeah, there’s a bit of a short cut we can take.”

“Lead on then, baroness.” Anna prompted.

Not that again, “I am so not interested in Max.”

“She doth protest too much,” Con misquoted from the Shakespeare we did with Herr Viessner before the summer.

 
 
Rather than go through the already busy shopping streets I led the way behind to cross into the lesser-known shopping area of Breite Straße. Of course we had to detour through the Opern Passage shopping plaza – bit expensive for teenagers, but there was some nice stuff even if it was more Mum’s style than mine. We continued past the street cafés and dwindling numbers of shoppers.

“You sure it’s this way, Gab?” Anna queried.

“Yeah, it’s down one of these side streets.”

“If you say so.”

To be honest, a bit of doubt was creeping into my head but at the next corner where the pedestrian zone ended I spotted the shop sign about a hundred metres away.

“There it is!”

“‘Bout time.” Steff grumped.

Our little expedition soon entered the huge store, directly into the bit with all the bags.

“There’s a boat down there.” Con mentioned from the rail enclosing the huge space in the middle of the store.

“Told you.” I noted.

“Well I need coffee.” Pia stated.

“There’s a place upstairs,” I offered.

“You guys go get your caffeine, I’ll meet you there.” Anna suggested.

“Okay, come on guys!” Pia enthused leading the way towards the stairs.

“Come on, Con, we’ll take the lift.”

Clearly the others hadn’t spotted the elevator, which by chance was sat waiting for a load. The look of confusion when the others huffed out of the stairwell to find us waiting for them was classic! We made our way past the books and maps to the coffee bar – wonder if Mum managed to drag Dad on that walk, I’ll have to ask them later.

 
 
Anna eventually appeared twenty minutes later bearing a big Globetrotter carrier bag, which clearly contained not just a rucky, but other stuff too.

“Get what you wanted?” Con enquired.

“Yeah, it’s got a Deuter back and you can put one of those drinks things in it.”

“A bottle?” Brid suggested.

“No dumbo, it’s like a bag thing that fits in the bag and you drink out of a tube.” Anna explained.

Hmm, I’ve seen something like that in bike shops, “Camel something?”

“That’s it, Camelback, even Gab’s knows what it is.”

“I think mountain bikers use them.”

Hey what does she mean, ‘even Gab knows’?

“So we gonna do some real shopping now then?” Pia asked.

Some of my friends have a one-track mind, must be an over developed shopping gene.

My stomach gave an involuntary rumble.

“Food first?”

Maddy Bell © 30.03.2014