Awake and Dreaming - Kit Pearson [52]
“Thanks for telling us that,” said Anna quietly. “Let’s go back now.” Lisbeth took Theo’s hand and kept hold of it all the way down.
Anna’s friend Grace Leung came over for a while and Theo had to pretend she’d never met her. When they started talking about school she risked a careful question. “Who teaches grade four at your school?”
“Mrs. Hutchinson,” said Anna.
“Not Ms. Tremblay?”
“There’s no one at our school called that,” said Grace. “Why do you want to know?” She looked wary, as if she thought Theo was weird.
“Oh, no reason. I once knew a teacher called Ms. Tremblay and I—I heard she moved to Victoria,” said Theo lamely.
Grace still looked suspicious, but Anna gave Theo a reassuring smile. “Maybe she’s at a different school,” she said. “Do you guys want to try our new computer game?”
Theo followed them downstairs, dizzy with confusion. Some details of her former time here were the same as before—like Grace. But Ms. Tremblay didn’t exist! Maybe the kids in Ms. Tremblay’s class didn’t exist either. It was all so confusing she tried to just lap up the soothing warmth that Anna and Lisbeth were showing her.
THEO WAS EXHAUSTED by the end of the day. The Kaldors seemed to expect her to ask them questions, too—to participate, to make an effort to know them as if they’d never known each other before. It was hard work, becoming an involved new friend instead of a passively accepted member of the family.
By the end of the day she felt glimmerings of a new kind of belonging—as if they had each put out fragile filaments that knotted them together.
“We’re going skiing on Monday for Spring Break,” said Anna, “but come and see us again when we get back, okay?”
“Are you going to Mt. Washington?” asked Theo.
“Yes—how did you know?”
“I just guessed,” said Theo.
“It’s a great place!” said John. He went on to tell Theo about his favourite runs. Theo listened longingly, remembering her exhilarating attempts at skiing when she’d gone with them. If only she could go again!
“How did you like the Kaldors this time?” Sharon asked her on the way home.
“They were … all right,” said Theo slowly. They would never be the same as before—she knew that now. But the present family was better than no family at all.
SHARON ARRANGED for Theo to spend the first four days of Spring Break with Skye. “I wish I could get the whole week off,” she sighed. “They won’t let me take my holidays until the summer.”
“Who are these people you’ve been visiting?” demanded Skye. She sounded jealous.
“Just some friends.”
“Did you know them before you moved here?”
Theo started to say yes, then she shook her head.
“Then you knew me first!” said Skye. “I don’t think it’s fair that you spend all your time with them.”
“I’ve only been there twice,” said Theo.
Skye still looked hurt and Theo realized how much she’d ignored her since she’d found the Kaldors again. She never went to Skye’s after school and even in class she barely spoke to her.
But Skye was so needy and dull. She only wanted to be with Theo so she could talk about her father and her old home.
Robin, Skye’s mother, was a nurse. Her companion, Carol, was a freelance writer who worked at home. They were both funny, nice women; Theo didn’t understand why Skye always seemed so dissatisfied. All she and Skye ever did was play with Barbies, like much younger kids … like Lisbeth!
Anna and Lisbeth weren’t as perfect as they’d been before, but they were still much more special than Skye. Theo thought of them constantly as she and Skye watched TV, dressed the Barbies in their endless outfits, or went on outings to the museum and the beach and movies with Carol. She was relieved to get away from Skye when Sharon took her to Nanaimo for three days.
BY THE NEXT SATURDAY Theo was bursting to see the Kaldors again. Anna had told her that it was her eleventh birthday; Theo was to come early and help get ready for her party.
Theo had spent a long time picking out a mystery novel for Anna in the store Sharon had taken her to in Nanaimo.