Cherry Blossom Dreams Page 17

  I made a mental note to tell Leo that one since I knew he’d be pleased. He always says there’s nothing worse than a teacher with halitosis.

  I listened as Lily described her grand plan to put a positive spin on the whole Mum and Leo fiasco at school. ‘Trust me, Sasha, if handled correctly, this situation has the potential to rocket you to the very top of Helensfield High’s social hierarchy! And believe me, we are talking the dizzy heights here!’ She frowned as she saw the looks on my face and Ellie’s. ‘What’s so funny?’

  ‘You! Honestly, Lily, you are such a T.D.Q.!’ I said.

  She looked perplexed. ‘T.D.Q.?’

  Ellie gave me a grin to show she was with me on this. ‘Total Drama Queen!’ we burst out together.

  ‘Hey, I am not a drama queen!’ Lily protested, but she started to grin too. ‘Well … maybe just a bit.’

  Later that afternoon I was in the kitchen trying to rub an ice-lolly stain off the front of my T-shirt when Rafferty suddenly walked in and stood in front of me awkwardly. I couldn’t help noticing how muscly his arms were but I felt a lot more detached about that fact than I usually did when the two of us were in such close proximity.

  Before I could muster up my best glare and tell him to get lost, he began nervously, ‘Hey, Sasha …’ He was chewing his bottom lip, something he used to do a lot when he was younger, and his hair was sticking up on top so he didn’t look as cool as he usually did. ‘Listen, Sasha …’ he began again. ‘I’m really sorry …’

  I just about fell over on the spot! Raffy was apologising to me? I mean, was I hallucinating this or what?

  ‘I know I shouldn’t have told Jake about your mum and Mr Anderson,’ he continued rapidly. ‘I didn’t know he was going to tell everyone, but still … it was dumb.’

  ‘Yeah, it was dumb,’ I agreed coolly.

  He sighed. ‘Look, if it makes you feel any better, Mum and Dad nearly killed me when they found out. I was grounded and had to give up my phone for two weeks.’

  ‘Yes – though I don’t think that was enough of a punishment for him really,’ Lily chipped in as she came in from outside.

  ‘Hey!’ Raffy protested, dodging out of her way as she picked up a hefty wooden spoon and threatened to give him a hearty whack on the bum.

  ‘Actually, Sasha, you should be the one getting to do this!’ Lily teased.

  ‘Get lost, Lily,’ Raffy growled. He was clearly embarrassed, judging by how he was blushing.

  Weirdly enough it was right then that the funny little knot I’d had inside me ever since Ellie had told me what he’d done seemed to vanish as quickly as it had come. And, much to my frustration, there was something about seeing Raffy just a little bit vulnerable that made me like him all over again.

  What was wrong with me?

  Of course I knew what Mum would say if I told her, but frankly I didn’t always find her whole ‘hormones’ explanation for everything all that comforting. Because if this was what hormones did to you when you were just coming up to thirteen, I doubted I was going to make it to adulthood without going completely bonkers!

  The next day Mum went round to Miranda’s house (Miranda no longer blamed her for the party, thank goodness) and while she was there, Miranda introduced her to her half-brother on Skype for the first time.

  ‘What’s he like, Mum?’ Sean and I asked in unison the second she got back.

  ‘Well, actually he reminds me quite a lot of my father,’ Mum said. ‘He told me he remembers me coming to Blossom House a few times when I was three or four, though they didn’t tell him who I was. His mother knew all along about my mother and me and told him later when he was a teenager. It sounds like his parents had rather an unusual relationship to say the least! Anyway, he says he wanted to get in touch with me years ago, but his mother always insisted he respect my mother’s wish for no further contact. He definitely wants to meet up now though. He’s coming over from Canada in a month’s time. You won’t believe this, but he’s a magician too.’

  ‘No way!’ Sean blurted. ‘Maybe he’ll be able to teach me!’ He grinned as he added, ‘Hey, you probably don’t need to bother with maths and English and all that conventional stuff if you want to be a magician, right, Leo?’

  Leo just rolled his eyes and didn’t reply.

  ‘Greg’s only a magician in his spare time, Sean,’ Mum said. ‘He’s also got a degree in architecture and now he owns his own building firm.’

  ‘So does he have a family?’ Leo asked.

  ‘He’s just got divorced. No children. What’s interesting is that he’s asked Miranda to take Blossom House completely off the market. Apparently he’s thinking of leaving Canada and moving back here and, if he does, he’ll probably want to live in Blossom House while he renovates it himself. Miranda thinks he’s also very keen to get to know us.’

  ‘Hey, you should totally invite him to the wedding, Mum … seeing as how he’s your brother,’ Sean suggested.

  ‘Half-brother,’ Mum reminded him sharply. ‘And of course I’m not inviting him. Think how Granny would feel.’

  ‘Are you sure Granny’s definitely going to come to the wedding?’ I asked her with a frown.

  ‘Oh, I’m fairly certain she won’t miss it.’

  ‘Hey, Mum, why don’t we offer to buy Blossom House from your half-brother after he’s done it all up?’ Sean suddenly said. ‘We could sell this house, and Leo could sell his flat, and we could all move into Blossom House together.’

  Sean’s tone was light, as if he wasn’t all that serious, but just the same I found myself holding in my breath. If Blossom House really did become ours it would be … well … it would be the happiest ending in the whole history of happy endings as far as I was concerned!

  I looked hopefully at Mum and Leo …

  ‘I doubt selling both our places would raise enough to buy Blossom House, Sean,’ Leo said.

  ‘In any case, Granny would never forgive us,’ Mum added dismissively. ‘And not only that – do you honestly think I’d ever want to live there now?’

  I had to admit that I hadn’t considered how Mum might feel about the house now that its connection to her family had been revealed. I must have let out a louder sigh of disappointment than I’d intended, because suddenly they were all looking at me.

  ‘I’m sure we could find ourselves a smaller lovely old Victorian house with high ceilings and wooden floors and a nice big garden if we set our minds to it,’ Leo said. ‘Isn’t that right, Annabel?’

  Mum nodded. ‘Absolutely. You know how much I love old houses. But I want us to move somewhere where we don’t have any sort of personal history – somewhere that will give us a fresh start as a family. You do understand that, don’t you, Sasha?’

  I nodded. Of course I understood. It didn’t mean I wouldn’t miss Blossom House though.

  ‘Hey, Sasha, you never know, maybe our uncle will want to live there himself after he’s done the place up,’ Sean said. ‘We’d be able to go there whenever we liked then!’

  ‘That would be cool,’ I agreed with a smile.

  ‘Please don’t get your hopes up on that front, you two,’ Leo warned us. ‘It’s an enormous house for just one person. I’d be very surprised if your uncle intends to move back in there permanently.’

  I lifted up my chin and said stubbornly, ‘Stranger things have happened.’

  Leo laughed. ‘Oh, in this family, Sasha, I don’t doubt that they have.’

  I briefly wondered if I ought to be offended, but when I looked at the happy smiles on Mum’s face and on my brother’s, I decided to let it go. After all, what did it matter if Leo thought our family was strange? He was still choosing to become one of us, wasn’t he? And in my book that was what mattered most.

  Poppy’s family has always included at least one little foster brother or sister. But when her mum announces they’ll be getting a new foster child, she isn’t expecting it to be Sadie. Sadie is hard as nails, cold as ice, tougher than a tiger – and she’s the n
ew girl in Poppy’s class at school. They’d never be seen together in public. Now they’re sharing a bathroom. How can Mum fall for Sadie’s sweet-as-honey act, when Poppy knows all too well what she’s really like?

  Coming Soon!

  MISSELTHWAITE MANOR in The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

  It’s not just the garden that is full of secrets.

  MANDERLEY in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

  Another house of secrets, this time with a wonderfully scary housekeeper thrown in. (This one’s meant to be for adults, but I read it when I was a teenager and loved it!).

  THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE in Hansel and Gretel by Hans Christian Andersen

  Yum yum!

  LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

  by Laura Ingalls Wilder

  I loved the TV programme as a kid and now I’m loving reading the books with my daughter.

  THORNTON HALL in The Making of May by Gwyneth Rees

  I know it’s cheating to include one of my own stories. But getting to create my own house full of mysteries was brilliant fun.

  In a walled garden – preferably not a secret one or there wouldn’t be many guests!

  In a palace – that’s the princess in me talking!

  On a rooftop terrace in Venice – I have done this one for real and it was fab!

  On a beach – a gorgeous, warm, tropical one preferably.

  In a chocolate shop – yes, they honestly do have parties in chocolate shops!

  If you’d like to find out more about Gwyneth Rees, check out her author page on

  Facebook.com/GwynethReesAuthor

  or email her on gwyneth.rees@bloomsbury.com.

  Please make sure you that you have permission from a parent or guardian.

  Coming soon:

  The Honeymoon Sisters

  For younger readers:

  The Fairy Dust series

  Cosmo and the Magic Sneeze

  The Magic Princess Dress

  My Super Sister

  My Super Sister and the Birthday Party

  Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney

  First published in Great Britain in June 2015 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP

  www.bloomsbury.com

  Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  Text copyright © Gwyneth Rees 2015

  Illustrations copyright © Hannah Davies 2015

  The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  eISBN 978 1 4088 5264 4

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