Discount Diva (Zodiac Girls)

by Cathy Hopkins

  “And I’m off for a cup of tea,” said Mum. “Want one?”

  I nodded and off she went leaving me alone with a pile of black bin bags and nowhere to put their contents. I’ll have to lay them out on the floor as best I can. Oh God, I thought. This is fast turning into a disaster. I looked up at the sky. Clouds were beginning to gather.

  “Oh nooo,” I said to no-one in particular. “Please don’t let it rain. No-one’s going to come if it rains and Mum’s cakes will go all soggy.” I turned my face up to the sky again. “Zodiac Girl calling base. Zodiac Girl calling base. Help needed.” I looked back at the bin bags. Yeah right, I thought, like someone’s going to turn up out of the blue and make it all okay. Be practical, Tori, that’s what Nessa said. There isn’t anyone to sort out this mess but you!

  At that moment, I saw a dark purple van drive into the site. It pulled up alongside Uncle Kev’s van. Three people got out. One of them looked familiar. He was tall, very pale-looking, with a hook nose and had long hair pulled back in a ponytail. The girl with him was wearing heavy black glasses and had blonde hair scraped back in a bun and the third one was a stocky man with a shaved head. Not someone to mess with by the looks of him. They were all dressed in head-to-toe black and exuded mystery and glamour like they were the crew from a film set or something. The tall man is one of Nessa’s alien friends from the phone video, the Goth man, I’m sure of it, I thought as he came over.

  “PJ’s ze name, transformation’s ze game,” he said and gave a low bow. “Nessa sent me for ze Zodiac Girl. Zese are my two assistants, Natalka and Oleksandra.” He spoke in a foreign accent that I couldn’t place. It was European but I wasn’t sure from which country. He snapped his fingers and the girl and man who had accompanied him opened the back of the van and pulled out a folded table and a gazebo.

  “For ze putting on of your sales items things,” said PJ.

  “Wow, thanks,” I said.

  PJ nodded and the three of them seemed to go into fast motion, like a DVD on fast forward. Ten minutes later, they had not only put up a table to put our stuff on but also assembled a small tent with open sides to go over it.

  “In case of ze raining,” said PJ.

  “Fantastic,” I said.

  “Ve no finish yet,” he said and with another snap of his fingers, his assistants pulled a bag out of the back of their van. It was full of balloons, flowers and coloured streamers which they set about decorating the entrance to the tent with. By the time they’d finished, our stall stood out from all the others in the car park and some of the stall holders near us were staring with open mouths.

  “It’s a car boot sale,” said a sour-faced man who had the stall opposite, “not a blooming summer fair.”

  PJ raised an eyebrow and looked at the man with disdain. “Marketing, my dear sir,” he said. “It iz all in ze presentation.”

  “Thanks so much,” I said. “You saved my day.”

  “You’re velcome,” said PJ. “Nessa, she like everything to be beautiful. Iz nice to ’ave her as your guardian yes? Taureans be very luckiest. Nessa knows about making things look good.” And then with a last bow, he, Natalka and Oleksandra dived back into the van and drove off.

  Mum, Dan, Andrea, Will and Uncle Kev could hardly believe their eyes when they got back.

  “What happened?” asked Will. He checked his watch. “We’ve only been gone about ten minutes. How…?”

  “Friends of mine dropped by to help,” I grinned back at him.

  “Megan, Hannah and Georgie?” he asked. “So where are they then?”

  “No, not them,” I said. “Other friends.”

  “From school?” asked Mum.

  “Er… not exactly. Um, new friends.”

  Mum looked puzzled. “New friends? So where have they gone? I’d like to meet them. You never told me that you’d organized this.”

  How can I possibly explain? I wondered. Mum was very particular about meeting the people who I mixed with.

  “They had to go. Um. They’re um… they’re…”

  “How much for the jigsaw?” interrupted a lady behind us. She was holding up a box from the table and looking directly at Mum. “Are all the pieces in there?”

  “Oh yes, all complete,” Mum replied.

  Saved for the time being, I thought as Mum turned away and got busy serving our first customer. After the jigsaw lady, there was a constant flow of people browsing and buying and trying things on. I found an old pack of oil pastels and paper and quickly made up some colourful price tags so that prospective customers could see clearly what everything cost. As Nessa had done with the messages she’d sent in the week, I made sure that I made each one of them pretty with either a flower or a leaf or a butterfly or something to make it stand out. A few people commented on them and how attractive they were.

  None of us stopped until past midday by which time we’d sold over two thirds of our stuff and Mum had forgotten all about asking after my ‘new’ friends. All Mum’s cakes went in the first hour plus all of Uncle Ernie’s vegetables and the sale couldn’t have gone better apart from one dodgy moment when I spotted Sonia Marks’ younger brother looking through the old CDs. I ducked down under the table before he saw me. I couldn’t bear to think of him reporting back to Sonia and Chloe that I’d been seen manning a stall at a car boot sale. It would have given them the perfect excuse to sing Nickynonames again, in fact, I’d never have heard the end of it. Luckily by the time I emerged from under the table, he’d moved on.

  I counted up the takings so far.

  “Two hundred and fifty quid already!” I said when I’d finished.

  Mum’s face broke into a broad grin. “And still a pile of stuff to sell.”

  “So that will help with this month’s rent, won’t it Mum?” I said.

  “More than,” she smiled back. “And as it’s Dan’s birthday next Saturday, I’m going to throw a little party for him with some of the takings and I’m going to give each of you ten pounds each from the takings.”

  Ten quid for me! I thought. Ace. That means I’ll be able to go to the movies with the Crazy Maisies tonight without having to worry about not being able to pay my way.

  At around one, Mum suggested that Andrea and I take a break so we set off for a wander around the other stalls. Andrea wanted to look at the books and was soon getting out her share of our takings to spend. Mad, I thought as I left her sifting through boxes of books on one table, she gets rid of one pile of stuff and then buys another. I left her to it and wandered off on my own. All sorts of junk was on sale and I had a good nose round to see who was charging how much for what. I also noticed that there were stalls selling new stuff. Homemade cards, photos, frames made out of flowers, leaves and twigs, flower arrangements, homemade bath products as well as a whole variety of cakes and snacks. As I was looking at one stall with lavender pouches on it and thinking, I could make half of the stuff I’ve seen, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to see an old man with a beard standing behind me.

  I recognised him immediately. It was Dr Cronus. Saturn according to the camera phone video. He was the one who had written his name on the blackboard. He was dressed in an old-fashioned type of tweed suit and had a bright red tie with a planet and star pattern. Neat, I thought as I looked at his tie. I wonder if all of the planet people wear something like that, like a secret club thing that only Zodiac members know. Nessa had been wearing star earrings at the ball and I had noticed that Mr O had a star and planets design on his cufflinks.

  “Hi,” I said with a grin. “Dr Cronus I believe. I’m Tori.”

  He didn’t return my smile. In fact he looked like he was having a major grump. “I know who you are,” he said.

  “So how’s it going?” I asked. I couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement. If he was another of the planet people, maybe he had another surprise for me, like PJ coming and helping with the stall.

  “How’s it going? How’s it going? What kind of grammar is that? Speak properly, girl,”
said Dr Cronus.

  “I… I meant, you know, how are you? How’s it hanging sort of thing,” I replied. As the words “how’s it hanging” came out of my mouth, I knew I’d said totally the wrong thing but there was something about the doctor that made me feel nervous.

  Dr Cronus rolled his eyes.

  No need to be so grouchy, I thought.

  “So come on then, girl,” he said. “I haven’t come here to waste my time. What have you learnt so far this afternoon?”

  “Learnt?” I said. “Nothing. It’s a car boot sale,” (in case you haven’t noticed, I thought.) “We’ve sold loads of our stuff already.”

  “Yes, I went past your stall. You did the price tags, I presume?”

  “I did,” I said.

  “Not a bad effort.”

  “Thanks.”

  “And you’ve had a good look around?”

  I nodded.

  “Notice anything?”

  “Yeah. It seems to be more of a craft fair than people just selling old tat.”

  “Exactly,” said Dr Cronus. “People using their resources. It’s inspiring, isn’t it?”

  I shrugged. “I guess. There’s loads of stuff here that people can buy for Christmas and birthdays. Good gifts.”

  “Exactly,” said Dr Cronus again. “And doesn’t that make you think?”

  “Think what?”

  “Think Tori! About what you could do?”

  “Me? But I’ve done a lot. I got our whole stall organized.”

  “But it needn’t end here,” said Dr Cronus.

  I laughed. “Oh I think it will, sir, I mean doctor. We’ve cleared out all our cupboards and I don’t think our relatives could donate any more without ending up with empty houses.”

  “Look around you, Tori. Look around.”

  I looked around. I saw the same stalls I’d looked at for the last half-hour. Was I missing something? I asked myself. Dr Cronus was looking at me as if he expected me to say something. “Yes. Um. Lovely. Glad the rain held off but it looks like it might shower later.” What did he want to hear? Sure as beetroots were red, I didn’t know and his stern stare was making me more nervous than ever.

  “So have your friends from school come to help?” asked Dr Cronus.

  “Who? Oh them? No. Um. Busy.” His question caught me off guard. No way was I going to admit to him that I hadn’t told my mates that I was spending my Saturday selling off old stuff because basically we couldn’t afford our rent and barely could afford food.

  “I’d have thought they’d be here with you,” said the doctor. “Be fun.” He spat the word fun like it was a dirty word. Boy, this guy is heavy going, I thought. He’s so unlike Nessa, Uri and Mr O.

  “Nah,” I shrugged. “My mate Georgie’s gone shopping in town with her mum. Megan was going out to lunch with her parents to a new restaurant down on the river and Hannah’s at her pony club.”

  Dr Cronus looked thoughtful for a moment. “New restaurant? Pony club huh?” he said. “Your friends sound well off.”

  I shrugged. “Kind of. Yeah, they are. Anyway, that’s how they usually spend their Saturdays.” I was about to add, Which is why they wouldn’t see schlepping out here as ‘fun’, but I stopped myself just in time. I didn’t want this old geezer probing too much and finding out that I pretended that my Saturdays were as glam as theirs. He looked the sort that would give me a long lecture about telling the truth.

  “Let them in,” he said as if he had read my mind.

  I pretended that I didn’t know what he was talking about. “Let who in?”

  “Your friends. They will understand more than you realize. And no-one’s life is ever how it seems on the outside.”

  “Tell me about it!” I sighed.

  “Tell them about it.”

  The doctor regarded me for a few moments and I felt like he could see right into my mind and knew all that went on there. It felt really spooky and I felt myself blushing. Then all of a sudden, he looked away and almost smiled. “So what next Zodiac Girl?”

  “Next? Dunno.”

  The half-smile faded fast. “Dunno? You mean don’t know. I do wish you’d pronounce things properly. Either way, that’s not going to change things is it?” he asked then sighed wearily. “I’ll tell you something else about Taureans, Victoria Taylor. As well as being a sign that is good at being practical, being born under the sign of the bull can also produce the laziest of people. They love to sit and do nothing. See nothing. Come on Tori, think. What have all these stalls told you?”

  “I don’t know, I really don’t. Can’t you just tell me?” I asked.

  Dr Cronus sighed again as if the whole encounter with me was exhausting him. “See? That’s you being lazy and not using your brain. Okay. I suppose I have to spell it out to you. What’s your best subject at school?”

  “Art.”

  Dr Cronus gestured the car boot sale with a sweep of his right arm. “And do you possibly think that some of the people here might have been any good at art at school too?”

  “Some of them,” I said. “And others even I could do better than.”

  Dr Cronus nodded. “Yes, even you could. You could make most of the things here. The cards. The little paintings. The Christmas gifts. It’s all in your chart. You’re a very creative girl.”

  I gazed over at a stall over to our right. It was selling handmade cards at an extortionate price. And people were paying it, just for a bit of paper with some glitter and seeds sprinkled on it. I could do better. Is that what he’s saying? I asked myself. That I should be making these things? I mean, doing a car boot sale is one thing. A one-off. But was he saying that I should be making all sorts of things to sell here? Me?

  “But I’m only thirteen,” I said.

  Dr Cronus looked at me as if I had said something funny. “Onwee firteen,” he mimicked in a little girlie voice.

  “Yes. So it’s not my responsibility to sort everything out. I’m not the grown-up.”

  “Not the gwown-up,” he mimicked again.

  For a moment I saw red. I didn’t like this Dr Cronus. I only liked the nice friendly planet people. I wanted to sock him.

  He raised an eyebrow. “You want to hit me, don’t you?”

  “No,” I lied.

  “Yes you do,” he said. “Taureans may be gentle souls most of the time but they are the sign of the bull and we all know that when a bull loses their temper, they can see red and it’s best to get out of the way.”

  I made myself take a deep breath. “I am not going to lose my temper,” I said but I was close to it. I’d thought that he’d understood my predicament and had come to help but he was poking fun at me and trying to make me work! Well, I wasn’t going to listen. I didn’t have to. Just because I was a Zodiac Girl didn’t mean I had to do what old-timers like him said. You’re not my boss, I thought.

  “I’m going back to the stall now,” I said and turned away from him.

  He burst out laughing as I walked away.

  “Oh Victoria,” he called.

  I glanced over my shoulder. “Yes?”

  “The other thing about Taureans…”

  “Yes?” I asked, but made my face looked as uninterested as I could.

  “Stubborn,” he said and rolled his eyes up to the sky. “Oh but they can be stubborn.”

  Chapter Ten

  Inspiration

  “Hey, how’s it going with the planet people?” asked Hannah when we met up at the cinema.

  “Yeah, how’s it going being Zodiac Girl?” asked Megan.

  I rolled my eyes. “Not as much fun as I thought,” I said as we stood in line to get tickets. “I met that Saturn chap. Dr Cronus. He’s picked up on the fact that I’m good at art. He was ranting on about being practical. I think he wants me to make stuff for craft fairs or something mad like that. Crazy huh?”

  “How does he know you’re good at art?” asked Megan.

  “Oh… from my chart,” I said quickly as I didn’t want to say anythin
g about the sale earlier that afternoon. “When I got home this afternoon…”

  “From your lunch on your Uncle’s estate?” asked Megan.

  “Er… yes um that. Anyway, there were a ton of messages about websites to check out. And links to websites. I had a brief look. They were mostly for arty sites selling cards and paintings or sites with details of craft fairs in the area. I think he wants me to make nick-nack gift type things as a hobby or something. Doesn’t he know that I’m a schoolgirl? That I have homework to do! Television to watch? Magazines to read? Nails to paint?”

  Georgie laughed. “Yes, it’s a hard life isn’t it? Some people don’t appreciate just how tough it is for us.”

  “Maybe he was trying to give you some guidance as to what you should do when you grow up,” said Hannah.

  “Maybe,” I agreed. She might be right. Already our teachers had begun to talk about it and careers advisers had been in to give us lectures on what subjects to choose for GSCEs when the time comes. “All I know is that I want to be very, very rich.”

  Megan and Hannah laughed but Georgie looked sad. “Being rich isn’t everything,” she said. “I don’t think money makes you happy. I want more than that.”

  “Like what?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine how anybody could be unhappy if they were loaded like her.

  Georgie shrugged. “Dunno. Like friends. Like people around…”

  She stopped what she was saying and bit her lip. She’s upset about something, I thought and I was about to ask her more about it when Megan interrupted and I decided that maybe this wasn’t the best time to ask Georgie what was going on as she looked like she was about to cry.

  “Did Doctor Cronus say anything else?” asked Megan.

  I shook my head. “Not really.” The words “stubborn” and “lazy” rang in my head but I blocked them out for the hundredth time since he had said them. His words had struck a nerve and part of me feared that he was right. It wasn’t the first time I’d been called those things, but I didn’t like to think that I was like that. “Um… do you think that I’m er… lazy?” I asked.

  “No more than the rest of us. Why?” asked Megan.