Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ENVY (jealousy of another’s advantage) (02/12/15)
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TITLE: What Money Can't Buy. | Previous Challenge Entry
By Danielle King
02/19/15 -
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Caroline joined our school year mid-term. She was different; she oozed alien. The boys didn’t mind. Bees… jam pot… the more they buzzed the more aloof Caroline acted.
She was all the things I was not. Slender, with bumps only where they rightly belong; fair hair and peachy pale complexion; the archetypal English Rose.
Think Jane Bennet, Pride and Prejudice. Miss Dobson in English lit tried to make us cultured. It was on the curriculum, she said. Time waster for us lot in remedial.
Caroline was definitely not one of us. We don’t do posh.
Even the boys lost interest eventually. Miss prissy knickers was a toffee-nosed snob. Or was she? I needed to know before I poked her eyes out.
“Hey Caroline, mind if I sit with you?” She shrugged, so I plonked down my tray and pulled up a chair. The girth of my midriff caused a major collision with the table, resulting in her nice, healthy meal option being splattered all over her crisp, white shirt.
“Should you be consuming that?” I offered to share my burger and chips in recompense. “You need a personal trainer,” she declared.
It bounced off me. Who cares, I’m used to it. “So, why are you at Manchester High?” I ask. She shuffled a bit,
“We moved house.”
“Where from?” This conversation smacked of being hard graft.
“South.” She wasn’t playing. I got some sneering leers, sharing a table with Prima Donna, but I persevered.
“I live on the council estate round the corner,” I offered. “It’s dog rough, but we watch each other’s backs.”
She frowned. “Why would you look at someone’s back?” Now it was my turn to be puzzled.
“In case someone’s out to have a go at you, you know, dealers, druggies ‘n’ stuff.” She looked thunderstruck. “Don’t worry, I was born here and I’ve lived to tell the tale.
“Dad’s doing time for burglary, and my brother’s in rehab. Bit of a wino, that one. Mam cleans toilets to make ends meet. Look.” I pulled out a picture. “Don’t ya just love ‘em?”
“But, you look so… happy.”
“We’re sound.” I laughed, “Dad’s a bit of a rogue but then, who’s perfect?” I swear I saw her eyes misting over.
“Vicki, why don’t you come to mine after school, and I’ll fix your hair for you.”
“My hair?”
“Garish. Needs toning down.”
I kept it quiet to avoid disrespect. The likes of me does not hang out with the likes of her. But I was curious…
“Oh my... Is this your house Caroline?” The swanky side of town was a no-go area for ne’er do wells, like us. Unless you’re my dad, who reckons folk blessed with abundance should share, because God said… so he nicks it!
“Daddy is abroad on business,” Caroline tells me. “He and Mother divorced.”
“Do you see her?”
“Rarely. Come to my dressing room. I’ll change your image.” I didn’t know what a dressing room looked like, so I followed on. She slid open a wardrobe the length of the room. I gasped. It could have been one of those pricey upper crust shops in the precinct.
“Choose something you like Vicki,” she said. “And I’ll get our seamstress to make it fit you.”
Seamstress? Hang on. Silk purse, sow’s ear... “Caroline, what’s your game?” I ask, menacingly. Nobody makes a mug out of me!
Astonishingly, she burst into tears; floods of ‘em. I had to give her a great big hug. Frosty-face had feelings!
“I so envy you,” she sobbed.
“You; envy… you’ve gone mad!”
“Miss Piggy, they call you, everyone’s friend. And your family… you seem so… together!”
“When Dad’s not banged up,” I laugh. “Yep, there’s a lot o’ love around.”
“Are you jealous of me, Vicki?”
I took my time answering. It seemed crazy to say no with the trappings of wealth and status all around. I’m not the sharpest tool in the box, but I soon fathomed that newbie Caroline thought she could buy my friendship. How sad!
I noted the mascara streaked cheeks and puffy eyes. “Caroline, you and me have learned from each other today.” I held out my hand,
“Mates?”
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Would make a good book, no doubt.
God BLess~