Dreams at Silver Spires (6 page)

“Some people are full of big ideas, but they've no idea what hard work it is to make them happen.”

I was chewing away furiously so I could swallow my mouthful and get straight back at her. Only good old Bryony got in first.

She turned round and looked directly at Juliet, but didn't raise her voice or sound at all rattled. “Emily lives on a farm actually,
Jet
, and she's been gardening for years. So I should imagine she's got more understanding of hard work in her little finger than you've got in your whole body.”

I thought that was a totally brilliant put-down, and so did my friends, because I noticed their eyes were all shining.
Jet
, however, was not impressed. She tossed her silky black hair and got up to go, her lips in a tight thin line. Immediately, her little crowd of fans got up too and off they marched. They hadn't even had their puddings. As soon as we six were on our own, every one of us burst into nervous giggles.

“Thanks for sticking up for me, Bry!” I said, hugging her.

She shrugged. “I was just telling the truth.”

There was no sign of Tony when I went through the gate to my precious plot of land. But then I was a bit early, because I'd only had two mouthfuls of cheesecake for pudding, as I couldn't wait another second – I'd just had to get going. Bryony and the others had said they'd join me in a few minutes, and I was dying to show them the garden.

From where I was standing I thought I could tell which part of the plot Tony meant by the herb garden. It wasn't as overrun with weeds as the rest of the land and there were still quite a few plants in there, even though they were overgrown and dried up. That was a shame, because it's so easy to grow herbs. Mum grows them at home. We've got a little raised bed in the corner of the garden at the back of our farmhouse, with coriander, chives, mint and basil. Then we've got a window box with parsley and marigolds. Mum says the marigolds keep the bugs away.

I looked at the dull grey patch of land in front of me, and thought how brilliant it would be if it was full of bright herbs. Next I turned to survey the whole of the rest of the plot and imagined it with proper raised beds and a big compost heap in the corner. After that I got a bit carried away, picturing loads of students picking courgettes and runner beans and taking them into the kitchen.

“Hello there!” came a voice behind me, making me jump when I was right in the middle of my brilliant daydream. “You
are
keen, aren't you?”

It was Tony, and I nodded enthusiastically as he came to stand beside me, drumming his fingers on his arm and frowning at the straggly herbs.

“What a mess. I hope you don't mind hard work, because this ground needs a lot of preparing before anything can go in it. You do realize that, don't you?”

I was getting fed up with everyone going on about what hard work gardening is, and part of me felt like giving Tony a
duh
look and saying,
Of course I realize!
But I knew it was important to keep him on my side. Once I'd proved to him that I was good at gardening and I meant business, I would ask him if I could have the whole plot. But right now, I just needed lots of help so we could get this patch thoroughly dug and cleared of weeds and hoed and raked and ready for planting as soon as possible. That'd impress Tony.

“Yes, I know.” I gave him my best smile and spoke in my politest voice. “Did you bring a spade? I want to get the ground prepared so I can plant some early potatoes in March.”

Tony looked a bit startled, as though I'd asked him to bring a JCB to carve the land up. “You certainly know your mind, don't you? Are your parents gardeners?”

“No, they're farmers, but we grow all our own vegetables too.”

“Ah!” He nodded and looked suddenly very focused as he paced out an area of ground about five metres long and four metres wide, all around the old straggly herbs. He dug his heel in as he walked, to make a definite mark so we could see exactly where the boundary was. “There. I take my orders from the powers that be and that's how much land I've been told to give you for your gardening club. All right? Which means you could have a few potatoes, but not a lot else.” He suddenly raised his eyebrows at me. “So you're used to working on the land?”

I didn't like the sound of “the powers that be”. He couldn't have been talking about Mrs. Pridham, because Mrs. P had been the one to tell me to ask Tony. Tony must have had to ask someone else. I'd no idea who that could be. All I knew was that I badly wanted more land.

“It's only me and my friends at the moment, but once I've started a proper gardening club with lots of others, do you think we could have…some more?” I pointed in a vague kind of way at the rest of the land.

“No chance!”

It felt as though he'd just stamped on my toe.

“It's not up to me, mind,” he went on in a softer tone as he walked round the boundary that he'd marked out, making it even clearer. Then he grinned. “The powers that be reckon that this is enough for a gardening club, so I'm afraid that's your lot, okay?”

I wished I could tell him that no, it was not okay. I desperately wanted the whole garden, which was about ten times bigger. But I reminded myself that I had to be careful.

“Who…who exactly are the…powers that be?”

Tony laughed. “Domestic bursar.” Then he started to walk back to the gate and I saw that he'd parked his pickup truck on the other side. “I've brought three spades, and a couple of hoes and rakes in the truck. Come and help me get them.” I followed him, and on the way he turned round to point to a little outhouse at the far side of the kitchens. “See that door there? It's not locked and there's nothing in the outhouse. You can leave the tools in there when you've finished.” He sighed and scratched his head as though he didn't know how on earth this gardening thing was going to happen. “You did say you'd got friends to help you, didn't you? Because this is going to be a long, slow job.”

We'd reached his truck by then and I could see the tools, which gave me a little burst of excitement. “Yes, my friends are on their way.”

And at that very moment they all appeared and offered to help me carry everything over to the garden.

“Good timing!” said Tony. Then he tossed some gloves out of the front of the truck. “There you go! Only three pairs, mind. You'll have to go shopping for more if you're serious.”

I'd already planned to ask Mrs. Pridham about that, but it annoyed me that Tony had added those last three words. Of course I was serious. He got in his truck then and started to pull away, still calling out to us. “Have fun! And don't worry if you change your mind. It's going to be hard work.” His chuckle got mixed up with the sound of the truck's engine, before he shouted out one last thing: “Good job the matrons keep a nice supply of plasters, because I can tell you, you're going to get a few blisters!”

Then he was gone, and I was left fuming.

“What a cheek!” I hissed. “I never get blisters!” I marched back to the herb garden and leaned on my spade, eyeing the land. Then I suddenly realized the others were totally silent as they stood beside me, and when I looked at their faces I saw that their eyes were big and anxious. Apart from Bryony's.

“It's going to be great, Ems,” she said, giving me a thumbs up.

“Don't take any notice of how it looks now,” I told the others. “You won't believe how much you'll love it when it's all planted up. Honestly, it'll be all green and lovely!” They were still looking worried, though, so I kept chatting away. “I'll be meeting up with Stan tomorrow and he's going to show me some photos of how it used to be, remember!”

There was a silence, then Nicole shook her head slowly. “I wouldn't know where to start,” she said quietly.

“I'll tell you what to do,” I assured her brightly. “Look!” I bent down and tugged gently at a big weed, then pulled a bit harder, and felt a great thrill as it came out.

“But we can't start now!” said Antonia, looking shocked. “We'd get our uniforms and shoes completely messed up.”

“And there are only three pairs of gloves,” said Izzy. She spoke hesitantly. “The soil gets right under your nails, Ems.”

Why was I the only one feeling excited? Even Bryony was frowning. And Sasha was looking at her watch.

“Actually, Ems, afternoon school's about to begin.”

I felt a real stab of frustration when she said that. I'd no idea so much time had gone by since lunch, and I was desperate to make a start. “I'll be along in a sec,” I said.

Sasha's eyes were wide. “You don't want to be late for Mr. Pattle, Ems. He
is
the strictest teacher at Silver Spires, remember. Can't you just wait till after school, when we're changed? Then we'll have loads of time.”

“It's okay. You go. I'll just put the tools away. I'll catch you up.”

So the others went off, calling out to me to hurry up. But the moment they'd gone, I went over to the corner of the herb garden and thrust the spade into the hard earth, then wriggled it further in with my foot. I heaved out a spadeful of soil, and – there! – I'd actually turned over my first bit of earth in my brand new garden. It felt brilliant and I couldn't help carrying straight on with the next and the next. It was so amazing, but I was a bit anxious, because it looked like Antonia was right – my shoes were already dirty and I'd got marks on my tights and skirt. Never mind, I'd probably be able to rub them off easily.

My eyes went back to the soil. Already you could see the dull grey turning black. I glanced at the sky and noticed happily that it wasn't quite so cloudy as it had been earlier. Good. That meant that I could come back after school and have a proper go. It felt wonderful to imagine how clean and soft and rich the land was going to be by the time I'd finished, and I so wished I could carry on all afternoon. But I knew it was time I ought to get going to face geography and the boring subject of maps and their scales with Mr. Pattle. I glanced at my watch and that's when I got a massive shock. Mr. Pattle's lesson would be just about finishing. I must have been in a total dream doing my gardening – I couldn't believe the time had gone so fast. I'd just have to make some excuse next time I saw him. I could say I'd been stuck in the loo feeling sick, but then I'd got better so it must have been something I'd eaten. Yes, that's what I'd say.

What was it after geography? French. Right. Luckily there are toilets and washbasins near the language labs, so I'd have time to get cleaned up and then I'd go straight into Madame Poulain's lesson.

I moved at a hundred miles an hour, putting away the tools, then racing out of the garden, trying to rub the soil off my hands.

At the end of school I quickly got changed into my tracky bums and wellies and went rushing over to my new garden. I'd asked the others if they'd come along to help, but unfortunately they'd all realized they had other stuff to do. Nicole had swimming training for the gala, Bry had to go to a meeting about an Outward Bound course that she was interested in, and the others had clubs. I didn't mind, as they'd all promised to join me the next time. But I felt frustrated while I was jogging over, because I realized I'd only got about half an hour before it would be too dark to see.

I set to work quickly, digging with the spade, then breaking up the soil bit by bit with the hoe and dragging out the weeds and old roots, thinking how well everything had turned out earlier on. Bryony had said that when Mr. Pattle asked where I was, she didn't know what to say, so she'd mumbled something about a stomach ache and he'd been fine with that. Then I'd turned up, just about clean and tidy enough, in time for the beginning of French. And now here I was enjoying myself in my garden again. Even though I'd only done what seemed like a tiny patch, I'd done it really thoroughly and I was accumulating quite a pile of weeds and old plants to start a compost heap. It would be small but at least it would be a start.

Now, where would be the best place for it? I turned to look around, and that was when I realized one of the cameramen was standing there filming me.

“Sorry, didn't mean to startle you,” he said. “You're certainly deep into the work, aren't you?”

I just nodded and went back to my hoeing, because I didn't feel like talking when I was trying to plan my garden.

“So is this like a project or something?” he asked, as I bent down to pull out more weeds.

“It's a…gardening club,” I replied, feeling a bit of a fool because I was all on my own.

“Oh, right. How many people in the club?”

I tried not to blush. “It's only just started.”

He didn't ask any more questions, but I was left feeling embarrassed about not seeming to have anyone at all in the club, and I decided to have a proper talk to the others later about getting more people to join. I'd kind of forgotten about that important point in my excitement over starting work in the garden. Maybe I could put up posters. That would be better than making an announcement in assembly, because it would mean I wouldn't have to put up with hearing Juliet sniggering about me with her friends. I remembered how she'd laughed at the idea of a gardening club and I thought she and all her friends would laugh even more if they saw the tiny plot of land I'd got. But I shouldn't think about that now. So I pulled my mind back to my pile of weeds…and felt a wave of hopelessness coming over me.