Imaginary Friend

Imaginary Friend

For the third day running, a crowd of pupils clustered around Alice. Shed gained a reputation at school as something of a seer and counsellor; everyone wanted a piece of her wisdom. Theyd try to catch her by the loos, sit next to her in the canteen, and offer her sweets, their exercise books with homework, and other little gifts which, curiously, she always refused.

I really like Daniel from Year 5B. Do you think well ever get married? sighed my classmate, Charlotte.

I wouldnt recommend it, replied Alice, sipping her tea and munching on a digestives biscuit. That Daniel might seem like a decent lad, but hes a nose picker and eats what he finds. Youd never go hungry, true, but is that any consolation? Hell nose-pick his way through life, mark my words.

Yuck! Thats vile! Well, what about Tom then? Hes clever and hes learning the guitar, Charlotte carried on, grinning hopefully.

Tom torments cats. Ties empty tins to their tails and chases them round the estate. Hell turn out mean, if you ask me, and probably take to drink.

How can you be so sure?

Have you ever seen a sober guitarist? Anyway, its too soon for you to fret about boys, live for yourself for now theyre not going anywhere. Fix your Maths and stop biting your nails or youll end up with worms.

Ive got no friends. Everyone calls me fat and ignores me, grumbled Paul from Year 4V, shoving the lovesick fifth former so hard she slid down the bench.

Registration for wrestling starts on Wednesday. You can sign up in the PE office. You wont exactly slim down, but at least the teasing should stop. And dont throw your future wife around like that again.

Alice stood up and took her tray to the counter.

Alice, do you think I should learn to drive this year or wait till next? asked Miss Green, the geography teacher, pretending to be casual as she approached the sink.

To learn to drive, Miss Green, you actually need your own car. All youve got is your dads clapped out Ford Escort. See the difference?

I-I suppose so

Alice rolled her eyes and, washing her hands, added, Sell that old banger, buy yourself a bicycle and some shorts instead youll get lifts to work in two months. But youd do well to look into a mortgage the rates are dreamy right now, and living with your parents when youre thirty-five is far from ideal, just between us.

With everyone gawping after her, Alice wandered off to her technology lesson.

While the other girls learned about cutting patterns and threading a needle into the sewing machine, Alice patched up a pair of trousers shed brought from home, took in a skirt, and crocheted a pair of socks, which she presented to the teacher, telling her that expectant mums should keep their feet warm. Mrs Jenkins promptly excused herself and dashed to Boots for a pregnancy test. The next day, the whole class was treated to a big chocolate cake as a thank you from their teacher.

At home, things were just as odd. Shed told off her mum for buying supermarket mince, and took it upon herself to make a batch of homemade dumplings. In the evening, instead of watching YouTube, she picked up The Three Musketeers and kept whispering to someone. Dad watched her over his laptop, only for Alice to remind him he was slouching and would do better to beat the rug in the garden, rather than waste time on dodgy websites.

Rumours spread around the school, the teachers grew concerned and called for the school psychologist. A session was arranged, the whole staff committee gathered, including the Headteacher.

Alice, dear, is anyone picking on you here at school? began the bearded psychologist with trendy specs.

Im more troubled by the fact the school was given a couple of million, yet the best weve got in the gym is a battered old vaulting horse and a couple of metres of rope.

Everyone turned to look at the Headteacher, who quickly disappeared into a meeting through the open window.

Do you have any friends?

Friendship is pretty abstract, Alice replied, idly twirling her plaits, One day youre playing tag at breaktime, the next your friends washing up in your kitchen while you sort out tax deductions.

Hold on, tax deductions? Washing up? Whos been telling you this?

My friend.

There you have it! The root of all this! Can you call her here?

Shes already here, said Alice calmly, shocking everyone in the room.

But we cant see her. Whats her name?

Rose Palmer.

Well, thats something. How old is she?

Seventy.

What else does she say to you?

She says you should brush your teeth from the gum up, that the dog in my road isnt vicious, just scared and hungry, and that family should never be forgotten. Oh, and by the way, youve had your property tax calculated wrongly for the last five years. You need to pop to the town council and ask for a recalculation based on the market value it was done off the valuation list.

The psychologist made a note of that, underlining the last bit twice.

At the end, an announcement was made over the intercom, summoning her parents who were both out at work.

Wait just a second! came Dads voice, suddenly agitated. Thats my mums name! She died ten years ago!

The room filled with gasps and soft sighs.

Exactly, its been ten years and none of yous visited. Its all overgrown now, the railings are falling over, Alice muttered, sounding hurt.

Well, yes, I meant to, just never seem to have the time Dad mumbled down the line.

The session ended.

Next day, the whole family trooped off to the cemetery. Alice had never met her gran, only heard snippets from Dad. They struggled to find the grave the place had turned from a pine grove into a marble field in no time at all.

Alice brought a bunch of yellow tulips and stood them in the cut-off top of a plastic bottle. Dad straightened the fence, Mum weeded the grass.

Dad, Gran says youre a good man, just too wrapped up in work and the internet. Thats why youve never got time, not even for me.

Dad blushed and nodded sheepishly.

Tell her well make a change, he said quietly, stroking Alices hair and the faded photo on the headstone.

Shes at peace now and wont visit me any more, though Ill miss her a lot she was ever so kind, funny, and clever.

Thats true. Your grandmother could see straight through people. Anything else shes said?

Yes. She says your cucumber diet is nonsense, if you want to slim down you need the gym. Opening that foreign currency account was silly too you should check things properly before big decisions. Oh, and about that cheap cement you ordered for the conservatory foundationsDad laughed, shaking his head, and gave Alice the kind of hug shed almost forgottentight and proud and a little bit sad, as if hed just found something precious he didnt know hed lost. Mum wiped her eyes and smiled, glancing up at the sky where the sun slipped past a drifting cloud.

Alice tucked her hand into her dads and smiled, her heart lighter than it had been in weeks. As they walked toward the cemetery gates together, she thought she caught the scent of roses in the breeze, just for a moment, and the faintest sound of laughtergrand and free and very far away.

Back home that night, with dumplings for tea and every light on in the kitchen, Alice didnt hear Roses quiet voice before bedtime. She didnt need to. Her grandmother had finished what shed startedleaving behind advice and warmth, and stitching invisible seams between those who sometimes forgot how to love each other.

From then on, Alices wisdom seemed more ordinary, her tea a little sweeter, her laughter brighter. Whenever she braided her plaits or mended someones torn backpack, she did it with a secret smilea reminder that sometimes, the very best friends are the ones who remind us how to find our way back to each other, and then trust us to walk on, together.

And in quiet moments, when no one was watching, Alice would twirl a lock of hair and say softly, Thank you, Rose, just in case old friends sometimes listened inespecially when they were needed most.