End of the Alphabet

by Fleur Beale

I glanced at Fernando. He stared at the floor, half turning away from Bento. Bento finished, beamed a huge, false smile at all of us poor suckers and grinned while everyone — except me — clapped.

  Mrs Bentley said, ‘Thank you, Bento.’ She smiled at Max. ‘Will you please reply, Max?’

  ‘Ask Ruby, Mrs Bentley. She’s been learning Portuguese.’

  I felt the heat rush into my cheeks. Bloody Max.

  Mrs Bentley looked stunned. ‘Ruby! That’s wonderful! Please — will you reply on our behalf?’

  I swear I could feel the smugness oozing out of Max, but I was too mad with Bento to worry about that. I jumped up and walked to the front.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Poor Fernando watched me. He looked terrified of what I’d say.

  I forgot about Max. I forgot about the other kids in my class, and about Mrs Bentley.

  I took a deep breath. I caught sight of Max out of the corner of my eye. He was smirking.

  I smiled at Fernando and spoke in English. ‘Thank you, Fernando. We are happy you are here.’

  The poor guy. He looked so ashamed.

  I turned to Bento. He flashed me a cocky grin. What could I say? I wanted to yell at him — tell him exactly what I thought of him, but there was Fernando looking like he’d cry at any second. Mrs Bentley was looking at me, her face worried. I started talking. The Portuguese words felt good. ‘Bento, I’m sorry you don’t like us. I’m sorry you don’t like our country.’

  He stared at me, his mouth gaping. I struggled not to laugh. He looked stunned, guilty, sulky. He reminded me of Max. I glanced at my brother. He looked stunned too.

  I said more. ‘You think we are ugly, but your words to us are ugly. We welcome you but you don’t want our songs and our welcome. You say horrible things about us, but we still welcome you. We hope you enjoy staying with us. We hope you learn about us. We hope that when you go home, you will understand us better than you do now.’

  I stopped. Fernando rushed to me, grabbed my hands and kissed me first on one cheek, then on the other. He spoke quickly in his own language. ‘I am ashamed of him. You are generous. Thank you. Thank you very much.’ He let me go and snapped at Bento, ‘You have shamed our country.’

  Bento kept his eyes on the floor and muttered an apology.

  Mrs Bentley rubbed her head. ‘Ruby — what was all that about? Is something wrong?’

  Fernando sent me a look that shouted out Please don’t tell her!

  I said, ‘It’s okay. It’s sorted.’

  She looked like she wanted to say more, but instead she told the boys to sit down. ‘Ruby, would you mind sitting with them? I’m most impressed. Your speech sounded amazing.’ Then she smiled at Max. ‘Thank you for telling us Ruby could speak Portuguese, Max. I have a feeling she wouldn’t have told us herself.’

  I spent the rest of the period trying not to laugh.

  I told Tia the whole drama as we rode home from school. ‘Which one’s Bento?’ she demanded. ‘The rat! Show me tonight. I’ll dance with him tomorrow and I’ll smile and tell him what a drop-dead loser he is.’

  Maria’s eyes flashed fire when I told her. ‘That boy must be spoken to,’ she said. ‘I shall phone Mr Parks. He will not tolerate such appalling behaviour.’

  I wondered if Max would say anything about it at dinner the way he always did when he wanted to get at me. But when Mum and Calvin asked the usual What happened at school today questions, he shrugged. ‘Nothing.’

  Davey had got a gold star for maths.

  Theo told about the clown who’d come to the day-care centre.

  ‘Ruby?’ Mum asked.

  I usually said something pathetic like how I’d mucked up a painting, or finished one. Tonight I told them about Bento. Davey bounced in his seat. ‘What did you say, Ruby? Say it again!’

  I grinned at him and said it all again in Portuguese. I used words he’d be able to understand.

  Davey answered in the same language. ‘He’s a bad person. I don’t like him.’

  Mum and Calvin sat there, mouths open, staring at the pair of us. Then Mum jumped up and threw her arms around me. ‘Ruby! I didn’t realise! You can speak it. You’re amazing! I’m so proud of you.’ She was crying, hugging me and laughing as well.

  Calvin put a hand on Davey’s shoulder. ‘Both of you. You’re a couple of surprise packets. We’re proud of both of you.’

  Max looked as if the log in the swamp had just bitten him.

  I had a ball at the concert that night. One of the teachers with the Brazilian kids asked if I could stay for supper. ‘I have heard about Bento’s speech,’ he said. ‘I thank you for your gracious reply. We are honoured that you have come tonight.’

  I made what I hoped was a gracious reply. It was only because of Fernando that I’d been gracious.

  What an evening. I didn’t stop talking — swapping from English to Portuguese and back again. Only a few of the Brazilian kids could speak English. I was yabbering away to Vidonia — Megan’s billet — telling her how Megan had stressed about meeting her. Then I looked up and saw Mrs Swann standing there, staring at me with her mouth gaping.

  Vidonia glanced at her. ‘Why does she look as if somebody has hit her on the head?’

  I laughed. ‘It’s because she thinks I’m dumb.’ I looked Mrs Swann in the eye as I said it. Damn, it felt good!

  I didn’t feel dumb or stupid once during that whole evening. Fernando brought me a plate of food and a drink. He sat beside me and wouldn’t let anyone talk to me until I’d had some supper.

  I caught Wiremu looking at me several times, but he didn’t come over. He stayed close to his billet, which he had to do, but there was no rule saying he had to keep any of the girls glued to his side. Every time I looked at him, he was gazing into the eyes of the most gorgeous girl in the room. I asked Fernando what her name was. ‘She’s so beautiful,’ I sighed.

  ‘She is called Rosa,’ he said. ‘But you are beautiful too and tomorrow I will teach you to tango.’

  I thought he was joking, but the next night at the social, he grabbed me as soon as I walked through the door. I don’t think we ended up doing the tango, but I had the very best evening ever. Wiremu danced with Rosa, but only once. Tia asked me which one Bento was and danced with him first. Fernando and I danced past her several times. I caught snatches of talk. ‘… loser. Ugly bastard … put you in a blender … feed you to the gannets except I don’t want to kill them …’

  Fernando said, ‘I’m glad she is angry with him. He deserves it.’

  When the music stopped, she trod on his foot — hard, turned her back and stalked off. She dragged Wiremu’s billet onto the floor for the next dance and then another of the Brazilian boys.

  But I didn’t pay too much attention to Tia. Fernando wanted to know all about me. How did I learn his language? Why wasn’t I coming to Brazil next month? He put a hand over his heart. ‘I am so sad about that, Ruby.’

  It was a magic evening. I felt like Cinderella — it would all stop at midnight and I would turn back into Ruby who couldn’t read, but for now the magic carried me along.

  ‘Will you email me?’ Fernando asked. He gazed into my eyes — I could drown in those eyes.

  I shook my head. ‘I can’t.’ I told him why and that we didn’t have a computer anyway. With his head close to mine, he murmured, ‘No matter. You have a telephone? I will call you.’

  It was lovely of him to say that, but I knew he wouldn’t. I told him about my plan to go to Brazil.

  ‘You will stay with my family,’ he said. ‘There will be no argument. We will meet you at the airport. It is arranged.’

  ‘Thank you!’ I didn’t believe that would happen either, but it made me happy. Brazil suddenly seemed much less scary. I would know somebody there my own age.

  The Brazilian party left on Sunday. Fernando kissed me goodbye, and not the polite air-kiss to one cheek then the other. He wrapped me up in his arms and gave me a kiss to die for.

  ‘R
uby,’ he murmured, ‘I have your phone number. When I get home, the first thing I will do is call you.’

  Tia, Megan, Carly — and Wiremu — all gaped at us. I didn’t care. I kissed Fernando back and waved until the bus turned the corner.

  ‘So,’ said Tia. ‘Had a good time, did we?’

  ‘Don’t know about you,’ I said dreamily, ‘but I did.’ And now he was gone and I would probably never see him again.

  Wiremu didn’t speak to me. He jumped on his bike and headed for home.

  ‘Tut tut,’ Carly said. ‘Who’s jealous, then?’

  I shook my head. ‘He doesn’t need to be.’ Damn. Fernando had blown any chance I had of going out with Wiremu. But that kiss! I would treasure it for always.

  After the Brazilian kids had gone, life felt flat. School was hard. The only halfway interesting thing was that Max started talking to me. Not often and not a lot, but every two or three days, he’d say something to me. Ordinary things, not nasty stuff. Mum was over the moon, but I didn’t really care any more. It would take more than that before I trusted him.

  Two weeks after the Brazilian kids left, Wiremu asked me to go to the movies with him. We had a good time and he didn’t say anything about Fernando.

  A week after that, Fernando called me. ‘Wow! I didn’t think you meant it!’ I gasped.

  ‘Of course I meant it. And my parents say you will come and stay with us when you arrive in Brazil.’

  We talked for nearly an hour. ‘This will be so expensive!’ I protested.

  ‘You are worth it,’ he said. ‘I don’t want you to forget me.’

  As if I could.

  I didn’t tell Wiremu that Fernando had rung. He rang again before Wiremu, Megan and the others left to go to Brazil. I didn’t tell Wiremu about that either. We went out the night before he left. He held my hand on the way home. He walked me to my house, put his arms around me and kissed me. ‘I wish you were coming on the trip,’ he whispered. ‘I’m going to miss you.’

  I let myself into my room, my head spinning. Wiremu and Fernando. Two boys liked me. I sat on my bed. Which one did I like? Both of them. I really liked both of them.

  I couldn’t wave Wiremu and Megan goodbye the next day because I was working. As soon as I finished, I rushed over to Tia’s. ‘What’ll I do? Tell me! This is crazy.’

  She got the stitch she laughed so hard. ‘Ruby Yarrow! You’re priceless! But why stress? One of them lives in Brazil and the other one lives here. No problem!’

  No problem? It was all right for her, she wouldn’t be the one juggling two of them. Then I laughed. Why worry about it? So much could happen in a year.

  I shivered. It was less than a year now till I went to Brazil. Much less than a year. The shiver went through me again. I laughed out loud — that shiver was an excited one, not a scared one. Tia was probably wrong — there probably would be problems, but I’d deal with them.

  On Monday, I took Davey and Cat into town on the bus. We went to a travel agent. ‘I want to go to Brazil at the end of November. I want to fly into São Paulo.’

  The agent booked it for me. ‘You’ll need to pay before the end of the month,’ she told me. She printed out an itinerary. I took it. It would go on my notice board.

  At home, there was a postcard waiting for me from Wiremu.

  He’d written To Ruby from Wiremu XXXXXX and drawn a heart around it.

  I pinned that on my notice board beside the itinerary. I could be like Tia — have a short romance that would end when I left the country. And then there was Fernando. He might want me to stay in São Paulo all the time, but I wouldn’t. I had to follow my dreams — and my dreams didn’t include having a serious boyfriend, not for years and years.

  When I came home from Brazil, I would train to become a personal shopper — an image consultant. That was my dream. The future looked bright.

  Copyright

  A RANDOM HOUSE BOOK published by Random House New Zealand

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  A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand

  Random House International, Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 2SA, United Kingdom; Random House Australia Pty Ltd, Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney 2060, Australia; Random House South Africa Pty Ltd, Isle of Houghton, Corner Boundary Road and Carse O’Gowrie, Houghton 2198, South Africa; Random House Publishers India Private Ltd, 301 World Trade Tower, Hotel Intercontinental Grand Complex, Barakhamba Lane, New Delhi 110 001, India

  First published 2009

  © 2009 Fleur Beale

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted

  ISBN 978 1 77553 045 9

  This book is copyright. Except for the purposes of fair reviewing no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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  Cover and text design: Kate Barraclough

  Cover illustration: gettyimages

  Printed in Australia by Griffin Press