Viva Alice! (3 page)

Chapter Five

A
few minutes later the doorbell rang again. I didn’t know what to say when I saw Veronica and Alice standing on the doorstep. Alice was grinning like a crazy person. Veronica was all neat and tidy and back to her old, scary self.

‘Hello, Megan,’ said Veronica. ‘I wonder if I could speak to your parents for a moment?’

I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, but still I felt nervous.

Why was Veronica here?

What was she going to say?

‘Er … I guess so,’ I said. ‘Come on in.’

Veronica followed me towards the kitchen. Grace appeared from my room, and she stood in the hall with Alice, whispering and giggling. I guessed they were talking about all the cool things they were going to do in Lanzarote.

Suddenly I felt jealous.

Was my Easter going to be totally ruined?

Were my two friends going to go to Lanzarote and have an amazing time, while I was stuck at home doing boring stuff, as usual?

‘Veronica!’ said Mum. She jumped up from the table, as she tried to fix her wild hair. ‘So nice to see you. Would you like a cup of yarrow tea?’

‘Thank you, Sheila, but no,’ said Veronica. ‘This is just a quick visit. I came to tell you and Donal what a great help Megan was this afternoon. She organised Jamie’s party and thanks to her it turned out to be a huge success. She’s a great girl, and an absolute credit to you both.’

‘Well, I––’ began Mum, but Veronica didn’t let her finish. Maybe the fact that Mum was walking towards the kettle, and waving a yarrow
tea-bag in the air, was making her nervous.

‘Anyway, that was all I had to say,’ said Veronica quickly, as she went back into the hall. ‘Thanks again for your help, Megan. Come along, Alice.’

Alice winked madly at me and grabbed Grace’s arm. ‘Megan has a lot to discuss with her mum and dad,’ she said. ‘Why don’t we wait for her outside?’

I watched as Mum closed the front door behind Veronica, Grace and Alice.

What on earth was that all about?

Mum came back into the kitchen and hugged me. ‘Well done, Megan,’ she said. ‘It was nice of you to help Veronica. That poor woman can hardly control her own little boy, much less a whole room full of lively children. I dread to think what would have happened if you hadn’t been there. Someone might have been killed.’

She was exaggerating a bit, but I didn’t care – because I suddenly understood what was going on.

‘Er, Mum, about Lanzarote? You never
exactly gave me a final answer.’

Mum looked at Dad, and he looked at her, and I looked at them both, and suddenly a miracle happened.

Mum smiled. ‘I’m very impressed with what Veronica had to say about you, Megan,’ she said. ‘You’ve been unusually mature and sensible lately, and maybe we should let you go away with Grace and her family. What do you think, Donal?’

Dad smiled too, and I started to feel all breathless and excited.

‘So I can go?’ I asked. ‘I can really go?’

Mum didn’t answer, and I knew that was a good result.

I raced over and hugged them both, and Mum nearly spilled her yarrow tea, and Dad dropped his sugar-free cookie, and Domino raced over and ate it, and Rosie came running in to see what all the fuss was about.

And I thought I was going to die from happiness.

Half an hour later, I went outside and found Grace and Alice sitting on the garden wall, waiting for me. I walked slowly towards them.

‘Your mum’s visit wasn’t an accident, was it, Alice?’ I said. ‘You told her to come and say those nice things to Mum and Dad, didn’t you?’

She grinned. ‘Sort of.’

‘Come on, Megan,’ said Grace. ‘Don’t keep us in suspense. Did it work?’

‘Totally,’ I said. ‘I’m going to Lanzarote! My mum has phoned your mum already, Grace, and she’s booked the flight and everything, and it’s all sorted, and I’m going. I’m really, really, really going!’

Grace and Alice got down from the wall, and we hugged and laughed and jumped up and down, and everything was perfect.

Chapter Six

F
ive days later, Grace, Alice and I were sitting in the back of a shiny white minibus. In the seat in front of us were Grace’s parents, Lorna and Eddie, and her big brother Gavin. Everyone except Gavin was chatting and laughing. All through the journey he’d been staring at his phone and looking like he was going to burst into tears. I felt sorry for him, and wondered why he was so sad.

Already, we’d passed tons of beaches, a volcano, a camel farm and all kinds of cool stuff. The others might have been tired of me saying ‘Omigod!’ over and over again, but I couldn’t help it. This was the best place ever.

Soon we stopped at a huge red gate. There was a big sign on the pillar –
Sunset Beach Villas.

‘Here we are,’ said Lorna, turning back and smiling at us. ‘Home, sweet home.’

‘Omigod,’ I whispered. Everyone except Gavin laughed, and even he smiled a bit.

The minibus driver, José, leaned out through the minibus window and typed a code into a panel at the side of the gate. A second later, the gate swung open and we drove through, following a wide, curvy road. I stared out the window, all buzzy with excitement, as we passed rows of shiny white villas, and a kiddies playground and a few really fancy-looking restaurants.

‘There’s the communal pool,’ said Grace, pointing at the biggest swimming pool I’d ever seen. ‘And the crazy golf course is just down there past the trees. We go to the communal pool sometimes, but most days we just hang out at our own pool.’

At last I was speechless. I couldn’t even say
‘Omigod’ any more. This had to be the best place in the whole wide world.

We went past the pool, and through some trees. Then José drove down a narrow road, up a hill, and past more trees.

‘Where are we going?’ wailed Alice. ‘I liked that place. Why are we leaving already?’

Eddie turned around and laughed. ‘Our house is just up here,’ he said. ‘It’s all on its own. It’s nice and private and far from all the action.’

‘Boring,’ said Grace, rolling her eyes.

‘We like it that way,’ said Eddie. ‘But if it’s not exciting enough for you girls, you can go to the communal pool or the crazy golf whenever you want. In fact, as long as you stay within the complex, you can safely go pretty much wherever you like.’

By now, we were pulling up outside a huge white villa. Everyone climbed out of the minibus. José helped to unload the bags and then he drove away.

We stood on the terrace and looked around.
The air was warm and there was a smell of flowers and sea and holidays. In front of us, the swimming pool was all cool and sparkly.

‘It’s that time again,’ said Lorna, smiling at us.

‘What time?’ asked Alice.

Instead of answering, Grace smiled too. ‘Put your phones on the table,’ she said.

I didn’t like where this was going. Were Grace’s parents going to take our phones from us? Even though I had hardly any credit, and I was only supposed to use my phone to talk to Mum and Dad every night, I didn’t like the idea of being parted from it.

‘But …’ began Alice.

‘Just do it,’ said Grace. ‘It’s tradition. We do this every time we have new visitors to our house.’

It sounded kind of weird, but I guessed if I didn’t go along with Grace’s family’s tradition, I might never be asked to go on holidays with them again. I soooo didn’t like the idea of that, so I copied everyone else. I pulled my phone
out of my pocket and put it on the table. Lorna took off her expensive-looking jacket, and put it over a chair. Eddie and Gavin took off their watches.

‘Now take off your shoes and stand at the edge of the pool,’ said Grace. ‘Over here, next to me.’

At last I thought I could see where this was going. We had our clothes on, but no one seemed to care. This was all mad and crazy and fun.

‘One, two…..’ said Eddie.

As he said ‘three’ everyone jumped in to the pool. I hesitated for a second, but Grace grabbed me and pulled me in with her. I just had time to take a breath before the beautiful cool water wrapped itself around me. We all came to the surface together, and everyone was splashing and laughing, even Gavin.

‘Welcome to Lanzarote,’ said Lorna.

I wiped the water from my face. ‘Omigod,’ I said. ‘I totally love this place. Omigod.’

‘Come on,’ said Grace when we’d dried off a bit. ‘I want to show you our room. We’ve got the best one, right at the top of the house.’

We followed her into a cool marble hall, and up two flights of polished wooden stairs.

‘Ta-da,’ said Grace as she flung the bedroom door open.

‘Wow!’ said Alice and I together.

It was the most amazing room I’d ever been in. It was like something out of a movie. Every surface was white and shiny. There were three beds, all covered with snowy white sheets. The huge windows were open and floaty white curtains fluttered in the breeze.

‘There’s even a balcony,’ said Alice, stepping through the doorway. ‘If Romeo shows up, I’m totally ready.’

I followed her onto the balcony and leaned on the railings. Far away, over the trees, I could see
the sea sparkling in the sunshine. The balcony was huge and there was a big swinging couch at one end. I threw myself onto the couch, and closed my eyes. I thought that maybe I’d be very happy to spend the entire holiday lying there, swaying gently in the breeze.

Alice had gone back inside though, and a second later I heard a loud screech.

‘OMG, Megan. Come here. Quickly.’

I jumped up and ran inside, afraid that something terrible had happened.

‘What is it, Alice?’ I asked. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘OMG,’ she said again. ‘Have you ever seen a bathroom as big as this?’

When Alice and I had finished admiring everything, the three of us unpacked. Then we lay on the beds and looked at the ceiling fan circling slowly over our heads.

‘No offence, Grace,’ said Alice after a while.
‘But your brother isn’t the happiest guy I’ve ever met in my life.’

Grace sighed. ‘He’s not always like that,’ she said. ‘Usually he’s great fun, but his girlfriend broke up with him and he’s kind of gone to pieces.’

‘The poor boy,’ I said. ‘That’s so sad.’

Grace rolled her eyes. ‘It’s been nearly two weeks,’ she said. ‘He should be over it by now, and anyway, he had a lucky escape. His girlfriend, Leah, was a total witch.’

I laughed. ‘Why?’

‘Well she always called me “kiddo”, for one thing, like she was all grown up, and I was just a baby. And she called him “Gavvy”, which is just pathetic. And when she was around, Gavin was different – like everything he did had to please her. She made him cut his hair, and she tried to scare away his friends.’

‘That’s evil,’ said Alice. ‘Everyone needs friends.’

‘I agree,’ said Grace. ‘But I haven’t got to the
worst part yet. You see, it’s not the first time Leah’s broken up with Gavin. She’s done it at least three times before. Each time, just as he’s starting to get over it, she bounces back into his life and messes him up all over again.’

‘Ouch,’ I said. ‘She sounds kind of mean all right. Pity he’s so sad though.’

Grace sighed. ‘He’s a mess. I bet he’s in his room right now, listening to sad songs, and looking at pictures of Leah on Facebook. That girl is so totally mean. Every time they break up, she posts pictures of herself hanging out with other guys and having a great time at parties. Gav can’t help looking at the pictures and then he gets really upset.’

Alice sat up suddenly. Her eyes were all bright and sparkly. ‘That’s not healthy,’ she said. ‘We’ve got to fix him. We’ve got to help him to get over the witch lady.’

‘Gavin’s nineteen,’ said Grace. ‘He’s grown-up. He doesn’t need us to help him.’

I smiled to myself. Grace doesn’t know
my best friend as well as I do. Alice had that dangerous look in her eyes, and she was on a mission. Nothing was going to stop her now.

Chapter Seven

N
ext morning, after a totally delicious and porridge-free breakfast, Grace, Alice and I put on our bikinis and went to lie outside in the sunshine.

I took out a monster-sized bottle of factor 50 sunscreen and started to rub it all over my arms and legs.

‘Your mum?’ asked Alice.

I nodded. ‘If I go home with the tiniest trace of sunburn, she’ll go crazy and she’ll never let me out of her sight again – and I’m sooo not going to let that happen.’

‘Anyway,’ said Alice quickly. ‘Enough about your mum. We’ve got more important things to worry about. We need to get started on our
plan.’

‘We have a plan?’ asked Grace.

I giggled. ‘Alice always has a plan,’ I said. ‘Don’t bother arguing, because you’ll end up doing what she wants anyway.’

Alice ignored me. ‘Where’s Gavin gone, Grace?’

Grace pointed to an open window at the side of the house. ‘Can’t you hear the sad music?’ she said.

‘That’s why we need a plan,’ said Alice. ‘Music that sad can’t be healthy. Anyway, the first problem is the way Gavin spends time looking at photographs of Witch-girl. Did you see him at breakfast-time?’ He looked like he wanted to climb into the phone and hug her. He’ll never get over her while he’s doing that.’

‘That’s true,’ said Grace. ‘But how do you suggest we stop him?’

‘Could you tease him until he gets really mad, and then your mum and dad could take his phone from him?’ I suggested. ‘My parents
are forever doing that to me when I get mad at Rosie.’

Grace and Alice both laughed, which was a bit mean. ‘He’s nineteen,’ said Grace. ‘I think he’s a bit old to be banned from his phone.’

She was right of course, and that made me feel worse.

‘I know,’ said Alice. ‘I could “accidentally” push Gavin into the pool while he’s got his phone in his hand.’

I rolled my eyes. Trust Alice to go for the dramatic option.

‘No way!’ said Grace. ‘He just got that phone last week and it was really, really expensive. If it goes for an “accidental” swim, Gav will go crazy. We need to find a way of stopping him from checking up on Witch-girl, without actually damaging his phone.’

‘OMG!’ I said. ‘I know what to do. My mum threatened to do it to me last week when she caught me on the computer when I was supposed to be doing my homework. One of her
loser-hippy friends told her about a way of blocking access to particular sites.’

‘Yesss!’ said Alice. ‘Good idea, Meg. Only thing is if we block Gavin’s phone, he’ll probably find another way of getting on the internet. Is there a computer in the house, Grace?’

Grace grinned. ‘No. There are no computers or laptops here. Mum and Dad wanted this house to be kind of a computer-free haven. They don’t bring their smartphones with them either. If we block Gavin’s phone, he won’t have any other way of getting on to a site to gaze at his lost love.’

‘Sounds good,’ I said. ‘Except for one small detail.’

‘Which is?’ asked Alice.

‘How are we going to get at Gavin’s phone?’ I asked. ‘He always has it in his hand. I haven’t seen him put it down since we got here.’

‘I heard him saying he was going for a run this morning,’ said Grace. ‘He’ll bring his phone with him, of course – he always does.
But after the run, he’ll have a shower, and even
he
doesn’t bring his phone into the shower with him. Hopefully he’ll leave it in his bedroom and we’ll be able to get it then.’

‘We won’t have much time though,’ I said.

Grace laughed. ‘We’ll have
ages
,’ she said. ‘Gavin always has really, really long showers – Mum and Dad kill him for using so much hot water. Trust me, we’ll have plenty of time to do whatever we want to his phone.’

‘Perfect,’ said Alice. ‘That’s when we’ll do it. Get ready, girls, step one will be happening very soon.’

An hour later, I was standing guard outside the bathroom, and Grace was at Gavin’s bedroom door, waiting for a signal from me. Inside the bedroom, Alice was madly trying to figure out how to block all social media sites from Gavin’s phone. She’s really good at computers
and stuff, but still, I was all nervous and jumpy.

Much too soon, I heard the sound of the shower being turned off.

‘Quickly,’ I whispered to Grace. ‘Tell Alice to finish up. He’s going to be out any second.’

Grace nodded and passed on the message.

From the bathroom, I could hear the shower door opening and closing. Then there was the sound of a towel being pulled from a rail. Gavin was whistling the chorus of a sad love song. I felt a bit mean listening to him, but mostly I felt terrified.

What was I going to do if Gavin came out, before Alice was finished?

How was I going to stop him from going into his bedroom?

Was it going to be totally embarrassing if I had to stand on the landing with him while he was only wearing a towel?

I heard the sound of bare feet on tiles.

‘Quick,’ I hissed. ‘He’s coming. He’s coming.’

For a second, nothing happened. I heard the
rattle of the key in the bathroom door. I wondered if I should throw myself on the floor and pretend to be dying. I mightn’t even have to fake it. I actually felt like I was going to die.

And then, at the very last second, Alice came racing out of Gavin’s room. She slammed the door behind her, just as Gavin opened the bathroom door.

‘Hey, Gav,’ said Alice breathlessly. ‘How’s it going? Did you have a nice shower?’

And before the poor boy had time to answer, Grace, Alice and I raced up the stairs to our room. My heart was all jumpy, and I thought I was going to faint. Alice was laughing though. She loves danger.

She threw herself onto her bed and sighed. ‘Phew, that was close,’ she said. ‘But the good news is, it’s done. I’ve blocked Gavin from every site he’s been on in the past week – and that’s pretty much every social media site in the world.’

Even though the whole thing had been my
idea, now that Alice had actually done it, it seemed kind of extreme.

‘Is Gavin’s phone going to stay like that forever?’ I asked.

‘Nah,’ said Alice. ‘I could easily have blocked him forever, but that might have been a bit mean.’

‘So what happens?’ asked Grace.

‘He’ll be automatically unblocked after five days,’ said Alice. ‘And hopefully, by then he’ll have forgotten all about Leah.’

I smiled. ‘The wicked witch will just be a distant memory. Well done, Alice. I think this is really going to work.’

When Gavin came down for lunch, he had his phone in his hand as usual.

‘He doesn’t look happy,’ whispered Alice.

‘No change there, then,’ said Grace. ‘He hasn’t been happy for weeks.’

‘Everything OK, Gav?’ asked Lorna.

‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s not OK. It’s a disaster. There’s something wrong with my phone. It won’t let me go on to any of my usual sites.’

‘Let’s have a look,’ said Alice, winking at Grace and me. ‘I’m good with phones. Maybe I can figure out what’s wrong.’

‘Look,’ he said, as he handed the phone to Alice. ‘I’ve tried all my favourite sites, and the same message keeps popping up –
This website is blocked.
’

Alice pressed a few buttons, managing to look like she was trying to help. ‘Oh, dear,’ she said in the end. ‘You probably have a virus.’

‘That doesn’t sound like a virus to me,’ said Lorna.

I agreed with her, but Alice just smiled at Gavin. ‘It’s a new virus,’ she said. ‘And that’s probably why you haven’t heard of it. I only know about it because my dad got it on his phone a few weeks ago.’

‘And how did he fix it?’ asked Gavin, taking
the phone back from her.

Alice pretended to think. ‘Hmmm,’ she said. ‘Oh, yes. I remember now. He took it to an expert and he said it was one of those things that usually fixes itself after a while.’

‘After how long?’ asked Gavin.

‘Oh,’ said Alice. ‘I can’t really remember. I think my dad’s phone was OK after a few days, or maybe a week or something.’

Gavin looked at her with wild, scared eyes, like she’d told him the virus was going to last for a hundred years.

‘Anyway,’ said Eddie. ‘Lunch is ready now. Why don’t you leave the phone down, Gavin, and engage with the outside world for a bit?’

And, amazingly, that’s what Gavin did. Lorna brought out some cold drinks, and Eddie served us really delicious bowls of pasta, and Gavin put the phone down, and chatted to us, and he was really quite sweet and funny, and Alice grinned at me, and I remembered once again how very, very good she is at sorting things out.