Zodiac Girls: Star Child

by Cathy Hopkins

  It was as if she was describing my exact experience! Poor Selene, I thought. “I so know how you feel!” I said.

  “Do you? How could you? You’re Zodiac Girl and your family, well they’re all so fabulous.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “But I’m just like you. They shine but without them, I’m nothing. I’m little Miss Ordinary.”

  Selene looked at me. “You? Never. Just look at you. You’re so pretty, like a toffee-colored cherub with the cutest hair. How do you get it like that?”

  I felt a warm glow inside. That was the nicest thing anyone had said to me in ages. “My aunt braids it,” I said. “It’s called cornrow braiding when they do it close to the head like this because the braids look like sheaves of corn.”

  “So they do,” said Selene as she looked at the top of my head. “You should pick some of the ends up at different angles and put ribbon or colored wool through. I’ve seen some girls do that and it looks great.”

  “I like mine neat,” I said.

  Selene looked sad again and sighed heavily. “Sorry. I guess I don’t know much about hair and beauty. That’s Nessa’s realm.”

  We sat in silence again apart from her occasional sniffing. I searched my mind for something to say to make her feel better the way she had just made me feel when she said that I was pretty and cute.

  “Erm… Selene, you know how the Moon orbits Earth?”

  “Yes. Course I do, about once every twenty nine and a half days.”

  “Exactly and that’s why we call a month a month! Moon equals month. How many of the other planets can say that they have words used about them? And not just any word. Not an obscure word. Month is a word we use all the time…” I said, as everything I’d ever read about the Moon in Dad’s books came back to me. I’d learnt some of it off by heart for a school assembly. “To many early civilizations, the Moon’s monthly cycle was an important tool for measuring the passage of time. The Hebrew, Muslim and Chinese calendars are all lunar calendars. In fact, the New Moon phase is uniquely recognized as the beginning of each calendar month just as it is the beginning of the Moon’s monthly cycle.”

  Selene smiled and looked more cheerful. “You’re a clever little thing aren’t you?”

  I felt more cheerful too. Most people’s eyes glazed over with boredom when I told them about stuff that I’d read like that, but Selene looked like she was genuinely listening to me.

  “And you’re far from dull,” I continued. “The Moon is one of my favourite planets because you don’t just stay the same. You have all the different phases you go through. Erm, let me see if I can remember them. New, New Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full…”

  “Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Old Crescent and back to New again,” Selene added happily.

  “See that’s what makes you interesting. You could never be dull not with all that going on and words being named after you.”

  Suddenly she giggled. “‘Month’ isn’t the only word named after me. Another word to do with the moon is ‘lunar’ and then ‘lunatic’ as in mad person. Loonie.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Um. Well I am sure that makes you interesting too.”

  And then she began to laugh. “Looo-natic,” she said drawing out the word. “That’s me. Loonie petunie. Lunar lunatic.”

  Her shoulders began to shake in a silent laugh. It was catching. Soon my shoulders started to shake too and the more she laughed, the more I laughed. She said, “Looonatic,” again then I said it, “Lunatic. Maaaaaad.” It was like this wonderful private joke that just the two of us got and the more we said it, the funnier it seemed. Selene lay back, slid down the remainder of the stairs, and landed on the first-floor landing in a heap in hysterics. I slid down after her. We couldn’t stop laughing. Pat, Nessa and Yasmin rushed out of my room to see what the noise was.

  Pat took one look at us, shook her head in dismay and said, “lunatics,” which of course set us off again and soon we were both lying on our backs, tears running down our cheeks while Pat looked on, wondering what she’d said.

  Nessa shook her head and sighed. “She’s always like this when the Moon is full.”

  Selene smiled up at her. “Ah but that’s what makes me interesting. Right, Thebe?”

  “Right, my loonie friend,” I said and I put my hand up to high five her and she high fived me back. Selene then coughed and tried to make her face go straight. I did the same but then her shoulders started to shake again and that set me off too and we ended up laughing so much that I got cramps.

  Chapter Six

  Sunshine and music

  Thebe’s list of things to do

  Text Hermie, again.

  Do homework.

  Do weekly internet shop. Order extra juices for all the visitors we’ve had lately. Check shampoo and bathroom supplies.

  Check out exactly what is going on in my horoscope and what those planet people ought to be doing!

  On Wednesday night, I got home to find another of the planet people was visiting. This time, it was Sonny Olympus or Mr O as Dad told me he liked to be called. “A big hunk,” Mum said when she told me that he was in the living room. Her and Dad were certainly starstruck and so was I when I first set eyes of him. He was awesome. He was sitting on the sofa smoking a cigar and was very handsome in a white-teeth, chiselled-jaw, Hollywood-movie-star kind of way. He radiated fabdom.

  He beamed a hundred-watt smile at me. “So you must be Thebe? Sun in Virgo?”

  “Yes. That’s right,” I replied and began to splutter as the smoke from his cigar made my eyes water and my chest feel tight.

  Mr O stubbed his cigar out immediately. “Filthy habit, sorry about that. So. I suppose you have the usual Virgo allergies: wheat, dairy, pollen and aversion to smoke?”

  “Some,” I said and I crossed the room to open the window.

  “Too bad. So then, little lady. What can I do for you in your zodiac month?”

  “Who me?” I blurted. I was surprised by his question as the other planet people who had been over this week appeared more interested in Mum and Dad than me (apart from Selene), and I was starting to accept the fact that my zodiac month was going to be a non-starter – the stuff you read about in books but doesn’t happen in real life. I turned back to him after opening the windows. “Er, you could tell me where my guardian is. Hermie. He doesn’t reply to anything and he gave me a special phone but he doesn’t answer it.”

  “Not sure where he is, but before he left he asked me to pop over while he’s gone incommunicado,” said Sonny with another bright smile. “Bummer to get Mercury retrograde when you’re Zodiac Girl, but it happens sometimes. It’s different for everyone and if that’s in your planetary line up, then there’s not a lot you can do.”

  I found myself warming to him. “Yes. I guess I was hoping for an exception seeing as I’m Zodiac Girl this month. I wondered if I’m supposed to be doing anything or if I’ve done something wrong?”

  Sonny closed his eyes for a moment. “Okay. Now let’s see if I can remember. I took a look at your chart before I came out. Uranus landed a surprise on you. He been over?”

  “Uri, the Uranus man? Nope.”

  Mr O shrugged. “He does his own thing. The rebel of the zodiac as you probably know. He likes to do the opposite of what people expect, so I always expect the unexpected if you get my meaning. Now what else? Oh yes, Mars has been in opposition to the Sun in your first house. The job of Mars is to bring up troublesome issues in the home. You had troublesome issues here, kid?”

  “Sort of. Erm, family stuff,” I said with a glance over at Mum. I didn’t want to say too much in front of her about how much I hated sharing with Yasmin in case she thought I was being mean. “Erm… room-mate.”

  “She’s had to share with her cousin,” Mum interjected. “It’s show down time between her parents, both Leos, neither will back down—”

  “I can imagine,” said Sonny.

  “So Yasmin’s come here for a short stay,” Mum continue
d.

  “Oh I get it. And Thebe, you like your room neat and you like your own space, huh?” asked Sonny.

  I nodded. “Dad said that girls are often Zodiac Girls at turning points in their lives so I thought maybe that me having to share was my turning point. Like I’m supposed to learn something from it.”

  Mum looked at me proudly. “Thebe’s a very bright girl,” she said. “She catches on really fast. And she virtually runs this house single-handed. She took over when she was ten. Said she could do a better job than the rest of us and she has too. She keeps everything ship-shape and in order. She’ll be running empires when she’s older. You wait and see.”

  I did my best to smile modestly but Sonny didn’t look impressed at all. “Hmm. So it looks like this aspect has been sent along to stir up some family stuff,” he continued. “It will pass. Everything passes. And Jupiter is prominent at the full moon at the end of the month so that will be nice. But what’s the root of this month? A difficult aspect to Saturn. There always seems to be difficult aspects to Saturn in all Zodiac Girls’ charts.”

  “Dad said that too. He said that Saturn is the taskmaster. The one who teaches you major lessons in life when he touches your chart. I wondered if it was to do with my cousin. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I was really resistant when she got here and I’m still not happy about it but I reckoned that might be the problem. I have to let go and learn to share.”

  “Nope. That’s not it,” said Sonny.

  “Why not?”

  “It’s never that simple with Saturn. You’ve just told me exactly what you need to do with that situation. You’ve worked it out, learnt your lesson and it sounds like you’ve given yourself good advice there. Nope, the lesson Saturn has to teach you is more subtle, deeper.”

  “So what is it? Dr Cronus was here the other day but he hardly even spoke to me. Can you help me?”

  Sonny beamed again. “Maybe, maybe not. See, being Zodiac Girl, it’s all how you run with it. You can’t have expectations as it’s different for everyone. Now then, how about you put on some music, we kick off our shoes and sit back and relax?”

  Kick off my shoes? Relax. Was this man mad? I asked myself. It wasn’t the time. I’d just got home from school and I had a list of things to do. “Can’t. I got homework to do and—”

  “You can do it later,” said Mum, and she kicked off her shoes and looked coyly at Sonny.

  He got up, took off his shoes too, pulled a CD from his pocket and put it in the CD player. “Summer chill-out sounds. Just the thing for an evening like this when it’s wet outside. I brought it specially. It’s my favourite,” he said. “Now let’s draw the blinds, light us a candle Mrs Battye if you would, and let’s all lie back and enjoy being in this wonderful room.”

  Our living room was the Scorpio-themed room. I called it the Goth room because it was painted blood-red with spooky paintings of dark angels and crows on the wall and huge silver candelabra in the fireplace, very dramatic. It wasn’t my favourite room in the house partly because the paintings made me feel uncomfortable, but also because the heavy velvet curtains were a dust trap and they always set my allergy off when I cleaned in there. Mum got up and lit a candle in the fireplace.

  “Okay, let’s all lie on the floor,” said Sonny.

  “Can I be excused?” I asked. “I really do have stuff to do, a pile of homework and—”

  “Thebe’s an A star pupil,” said Mum. “We never have to remind her to do her homework like we do our other daughter.”

  “Indeed,” said Sonny. “Well even A-star pupils need some time off. What do you do to relax, kid?”

  “Erm… play on the computer. I don’t know. Crosswords sometimes. Word games. Chess. Surfing the internet. I like keeping busy. That’s how I relax.”

  “Okaaaaay,” said Sonny. “Yes. Good. It’s good to work, excellent, but you’ve got to have balance. Light and dark. Yin and yang. Sweet and sour. So come on, kick back.”

  Mum made a face as if to tell me to do as I was told, so I took off my shoes and lay back on the floor.

  “Hit the play button Estella, my friend,” said Sonny and he lay down on the rug. “Ah, one, two, three, let’s be in the moment and go with the music.”

  The swell of a hundred violins filled the air. I closed my eyes and began to listen.

  I’ve never done anything like this before, I thought. Just wait until I tell Rachel. Although I have listened to music but only when it’s been on in the background. Oops, got an itchy foot. I sat up and scratched my left foot then lay back down. Wonder if Mum and Sonny have their eyes closed. I couldn’t resist so I took a peek. Yes, they both looked very peaceful. Close my eyes. Okay. Come on, Thebe. Relax. Wonder how long it will take to do my French homework this evening? And I have to prepare for my history project too. And I suppose I’ll have to have another go at ice-skating although I can’t imagine I’ll ever manage to do it. Oops, got an itch on my head. I gave my forehead a scratch.

  “Stop twitching, Thebe,” said Mum. “She’s such a fidget, Sonny. Can’t ever sit still. Even when she’s watching TV, her foot twitches.”

  “Just listen to the music,” said Sonny in a dreamy voice. “Let it wash over you.”

  My back hurt. It was hard down on the floor even if there was a rug underneath us. I made an effort to listen to the music though. It was quite nice. Soothing, but my mind was soon off again. It was mad. Like there was a whole pile of people in there commenting on what was happening and making lists of things to do. Lists? That’s what I should be doing. Making my list of things to do. And they weren’t the only lists I made. I had exercise books filled with lists. Lists of my favourite music, my favourite films. Lists of foods I liked and foods I didn’t. My favourite people. Favourite books. Lists of my worries. My pet hates. My goals. I liked lists. They made me feel safe and secure. And I liked ticking off the jobs on the “things to do” ones. Tick. Tick. Tick. Done. There was always a nice feeling of having achieved something. That was how I relaxed. By writing lists and by getting things done, not by lying about in the dark.

  “You’re not listening to the music, Thebe,” said Sonny. “Relax. Chill. Let it all go.”

  I made my mind go back to the music but I couldn’t stay with it. My mind was too active. I liked Sonny but he wasn’t much use. I opened my eyes and looked up at the dark ceiling.

  Yasmin popped her head around the door, surveyed the scene and pulled a disapproving face. “Mad,” she declared and shut the door.

  For once I had to agree with her. Relaxation. Who’d have ever thought it was such blooming hard work?

  Chapter Seven

  Desperately seeking someone!

  Another week went by and still no sign of Hermie. Not an email, not a call, not a text on my zodiac phone – which I checked regularly. My month as Zodiac Girl was almost half over and nothing had happened. Least not for me. Mum and Dad were having a merry old time entertaining their new planet pals, most of whom had been over while I was out at school. At least one of them was also over most evenings, hanging out, having beers and chatting in the study or sitting out in the garden by the pergola. It was looking lovely at the moment with tumbles of flowers cascading down over the trellis near there. It’s usually my favourite time of year as all the roses, clematis and wisteria suddenly come into bloom, but this year I couldn’t appreciate it. The Zodiac thing was bugging me. Not that anyone seemed that bothered about it except for me. Pat and Yasmin were happy as they appeared to have bonded with Nessa, who was often found in either my room or Pat’s after school talking hair, make-up and nails while they listened to music. Even Selene, who I would have thought would have been more sensitive to my case, was over one night having a long conference call with Mum and Auntie Maggie and Uncle Norrece about how to fix their marriage. Seemed like the whole family was benefiting from being with the planets, apart from me. I had never felt so left out of anything in my whole life. I was starting to feel more and more wound up about it all to th
e point that I could hardly sleep, as my mind went over and over what I thought should or could have been happening.

  One night after yet another pathetic attempt at ice-skating, I decided that I couldn’t face going home again only to feel like the odd one out. Instead I decided to go into Osbury and see what the planets got up to when they weren’t hanging out with my relatives at Zodiac Lodge. I particularly wanted to see if I could find Hermie.

  I explained my plan to Rachel in the afternoon break at school on Friday, “If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain. You coming?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it. I love mountain climbing,” she said, then when she saw my blank reaction added, “That was a joke, Thebe.”

  “Sorry,” I said. “Course. Very funny. Sorry. Been a bit distracted lately.”

  “You can say that again.”

  “Been a bit distracted lately,” I repeated to show that I hadn’t totally lost my sense of humour.

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Okay. Just let me phone Mum and let her know I’ll be late home,” she said.

  At least I have one friend in this world, I thought, as Rachel spoke to her mum. It wouldn’t be a long journey – we had to get our school bus to the cross roads at the bottom of the hill then change onto the number seventy-three bus which would take us straight there. Easy-peasy. It would take about forty minutes.

  “What do you do to relax?” I asked Rachel once we’d got onto the second bus after school.