Chapter 48
‘Lia. Time to get up, sweetie.’
Ugh, do you ever feel like you’re living in the movie Groundhog Day?
Because I get déjà vu every time my mum wakes me up.
It reminds me of my school days, when I’d wake up, cosy in my bed, and school was the last place I wanted to go.
Whether it was to dodge PE, because I’d fallen out with one of my friends, or because I just fancied a duvet day watching daytime TV and drinking Lucozade, it would always start like this.
Mum politely encouraging me, me pushing my luck, before one of us won – and it was almost always Mum.
In fact, she once dropped me off at school with an ear infection because she thought I was faking it to get out of PE.
‘Just five more minutes, Mum,’ I beg, pulling my pillow out from under me and placing it over the top of my head.
‘Today is a big day for you, darling, you deserve to be there. So, come on, get out of bed. You’re going to be late.’
As my mother says this, she whips the duvet from over me.
‘I don’t want to go,’ I whine.
‘We’re all going and we’re all ready, so come on, get up,’ she says again. ‘I won’t tell you again.’
She absolutely will, so there’s no point trying to ignore her.
I sit up straight and look my mum in the eye.
‘Mum, you’re not seriously still going, are you?’
‘Yes, we’re all still going. Rory and Sally are meeting us there. Your dad and I are ready, we’re just waiting for you. We want to enjoy your big day.’
‘I’m hardly going to enjoy it,’ I reply, lying back down.
The day of the Bonfire Night Festival has crept up on me out of nowhere, and while I had hoped I’d be over all this Adam business by now – or at least mature enough to pretend I was over it – I’m not even close to feeling better about it.
In fact, I popped to the shops the other day and thought I saw Adam so I actually hid behind the counter at the deli.
The staff looked at me like I was mad, and it turned out it wasn’t even Adam.
I had to lie and say I was trying to get a closer look at the salami, which I think the young male employee thought might be some kind of euphemism.
Let’s just say I’ll be shopping elsewhere for the foreseeable.
‘Mel and Angie dropped by to see if you wanted to walk to the festival with them,’ she says.
‘I told them you weren’t ready to head out yet but that I would make sure you went.
Even Mel said that you have to be there, to see all your hard work pay off – although she used quite a few effs when she said it. ’
‘Effs’ being what my mother politely refers to any variation of the word ‘fuck’ as.
‘Okay, fine, I’ll get up, I’ll get ready. We’re sitting at the back though,’ I insist.
‘Of course,’ my mum agrees, although I’m sure she’d say anything to get me up and out of bed. ‘I’ve laid you out an outfit.’
My mum leaves my room, closing the door behind her.
I climb out of my bed to see what outfit she has recommended for me today – with my mum, you never know.
My eyes widen with amazement as I see the burgundy long-sleeved wrap dress laid out on the bed, along with black tights, ankle boots and my leather jacket.
I am not amazed because she has chosen something beautiful, or because it just so happens to be one of my favourite dresses, I am amazed because the first time I showed it to her she branded it ‘a bit London-y’ and told me to give it to a charity shop.
I glance at the clock on my dressing table – I’d better get a move on.
I need to shower, wash my hair and cake myself in make-up.
The plan is to keep as far back as possible so that Adam hopefully won’t see me, and keep a watchful eye out for Si.
He was never crazy about all this festival stuff, but he did say he’d go to support me and Adam, so maybe he’ll be there for Adam today.
While I’m worried about bumping into Adam or Si (or even worse, both of them at the same time), my mum and my friends are right; it will be great to see all my hard work pay off.
I grab a few accessories and place them down next to my dress, including an oversized scarf I can hopefully hide behind – all that’s left to do now is get ready and go.
I just can’t shake the feeling that there may well be fireworks… and I don’t mean the epic display Kerry has planned to round off the day.