by Angie Bates
Frankie rescued me. “Yes, it is,” she said quickly. “And it’s going to be mind-blowingly brilliant.” She gave a cheeky grin. “Want to be in it?”
“No fear,” shuddered Travis. “I go to pieces in front of a camera. Anyway, I’ve got a better idea.”
Without another word, he strode away. Then he looked back. “Come on,” he said. “I want you to meet someone.”
I tugged Andy’s sleeve. “Andy,” I said. “Erm…”
He grinned. “I’m right behind you, princess,” he said.
And we followed Travis into the dark.
As we followed Travis through the crowd, Andy filmed everything in sight. Boy, Mum went to town when she bought that new camcorder! You can even film in slo-mo. Is that cool or what! And it has a funky little monitor which gives instant play-back. So you don’t have to wait until you can get to a video machine.
You’re probably wondering what anyone could find to film in a dark field, aren’t you?
Well, believe it or not, the protest site was turning out to be unexpectedly interesting. Andy was right. It WAS like the circus!
We saw a fire-eater and stilt walkers, and a girl juggling with brightly coloured clubs – you know, glittery metallic-type ones. They looked dead magic, whizzing around her in the dark. Kenny said they looked like flying fish. I didn’t know fish could fly, did you?
All around us there were people chanting and drumming. One protester actually started playing a didgeridoo. I always thought digeridoos were a bit sad, like saying you play the triangle or tambourine or something. But the sound was so incredible it made me break into major goosebumps. The atmosphere was amazing. I really started getting into it. So did Andy.
“Reminds me of Glastonbury Festival,” he sighed.
“I never knew you went to Glastonbury,” I said.
“Twice,” said Andy. “Mind you, I was a young man then.”
“Did they have festivals in the olden days?” said Kenny cheekily.
“Sweetheart, we invented festivals,” Andy told her.
We were getting out of breath. Travis had such long legs, we had to run to keep up. Luckily, he kept stopping and asking people if they’d seen someone called Jewel, which gave us the chance to recover.
“Yo, Pollen! Seen Jewel?” Travis yelled suddenly.
“That’s one name your parents never thought of,” Kenny whispered to Frankie. “Mmm, Pollen Thomas. I like it!”
Frankie rolled her eyes. “This place is too hippie dippie for words,” she muttered.
Anyway Pollen hadn’t. Seen Jewel, I mean. Not recently, anyway.
But a few minutes later, a girl caught us up.
“Looking for me, Trav?” she said cheekily
“These young ladies want’to put you in their film,” grinned Travis.
Then he strode away without saying goodbye, leaving us staring at each other like lemons.
I won’t pretend Jewel exactly fell over herself with excitement when she saw us. But she didn’t look totally hostile either. It was more like she was weighing us up. We were probably staring too, weighing HER up!
Jewel was about our age. She was actually quite pretty, in a scrubbed, freckly sort of way. (Mind you, her hair could have really used a good conditioner.) The good news was that Jewel didn’t seem to go in for body-piercing. Well, a little nose stud and a few earrings, but nothing weird.
“Aren’t you going to tell me your names?” she asked.
We remembered our manners and introduced ourselves, but I think Jewel could tell we felt dead uncomfortable.
“Don’t mind me,” grinned Andy. “You girls get acquainted.”
There was another long silence.
“So, what’s this about a film?” Jewel asked.
We all started babbling at once. Then we stopped at the same moment and went into a major fit of the giggles, which Jewel totally joined in.
“Look, why don’t you guys come back to the van?” she suggested. “And tell me in comfort.”
“That would be great,” said Kenny.
“Ace,” said Lyndz.
Actually, I wasn’t too sure I wanted to go into Jewel’s van, to be honest. I know it sounds snobby, but I couldn’t see how anyone could POSSIBLY keep themselves clean, living like that.
We trudged across the site to the van Jewel shared with her mum.
The snow was getting really mushed up with so many people around.
“Hope you don’t mind,” said Jewel, when we arrived. “But Mum has this rule about boots and shoes. We generally leave them inside the door. Otherwise the van turns into a swamp.”
“My mum has the same rule,” I said.
We cautiously followed Jewel inside.
“Ooh, it’s really cosy in here,” said Lyndz, sounding surprised.
“Mum’s a heat freak,” Jewel explained. “She insisted on getting the most powerful wood-burner she could physically fit in our van!”
By this time I think my mouth had actually dropped open.
Jewel’s home was GORGEOUS!
I mean, it was quite untidy, but in a really sweet, homey way.
Everywhere I looked there were lovely things. Tiny paintings, bright cushions with bits of mirror sewn on them, shelves carved with fruit and flowers, gauzy curtains splattered with gold-painted stars, pretty crockery.
It also smelled lovely. Jewel said her mum always kept lavender oil in a special burner. “She says you can’t be too careful about smells, living in a van!” Jewel filled the kettle from a little dolly-type sink.
Kenny beamed at everyone. “Don’t you guys LOVE this place?”
“Where do you go to school, Jewel?” Frankie asked. She sounded as if she was interviewing her for a job or something. Somehow I got the definite idea Frankie didn’t approve of Jewel.
Jewel put the kettle on the stove. “It depends where we’re living,” she said. “Sometimes I don’t go for months.”
“Excellent,” said Kenny.
“Then how will you get an education?” asked Frankie primly.
“Mum teaches me,” said Jewel. “Up until I was about four, she taught art in this school in Brixton. Then she decided she’d be more use trying to save the planet.” She grinned. “I know it’s corny! But it’s true.”
I found myself smiling back. I thought Jewel was ace. But ever since we’d met Jewel, Frankie had been acting dead snooty. The truth is, Frankie likes to think she’s a really unusual person. And I think Jewel made her feel, you know – ordinary.
“Do you go in for a lot of this protesting lark?” Andy asked. “You and your mum?”
“A fair bit,” said Jewel. “Did you hear about that big motorway protest last year? We were there for ages. Mum actually got arrested for lying down in front of the bulldozers. They let her off with a fine, luckily.”
Lyndz gasped. “Weren’t you terrified she’d go to prison?”
Jewel shrugged. “Sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe in.” She started taking mugs down from their hooks. “Anyone take sugar?”
Frankie gave one of her fake yawns. “Doesn’t it get boring, protesting all the time?” she asked. “I mean, don’t you ever do anything that’s just FUN?”
“Of course she does, bird-brain,” said Kenny. “She’s not a protest clone.”
“Of course I do, bird-brain,” echoed Jewel, in a zombie voice. “I’m not a protest clone.”
We all burst out laughing. Even Frankie cracked up! Jewel was a real laugh.
“So, are you guys going to tell me about this film?” Jewel asked, pretending to be fierce. “Or do I have to DRAG it out of you?”
“No, we want to tell you,” giggled Lyndz. “Come on, Frankie. You’re the media star.”
Jewel picked up a cute little bracelet she was making. “You don’t mind if I get on with this, do you?”
Jewel seemed unusually keen on bracelets. She was wearing loads, and there was a pile of them beside her.
Frankie started to expl
ain about the school Millennium Dome and how we’d got lumbered with a zone we knew absolutely zilch about. I think Jewel was genuinely interested, because she kept interrupting to ask us questions.
She wanted to know all about the Sleepover Club. “I’d love to do that,” she sighed. “But this van is WAY too titchy.”
Also Jewel was dead sympathetic about our big feud with the M&Ms. In fact, everything was just buzzing along nicely when Kenny dropped a HUGE clanger.
“It’d be so-o great if you’d agree to be in our film, Jewel,” she chipped in. “You’d be perfect, because you’re really nice and normal. I mean, some protesters are a bit, you know…” She turned bright red.
“Sad?” Jewel suggested, a little shortly. “Weird? Hippie dippie? Happy clappy?”
Poor Kenny totally lost the plot at this point! “Phew, you’re right about that stove. It’s really hot in here,” she said, fanning herself.
“What Kenny means,” Lyndz corrected quickly, “is that other kids will be incredibly impressed to realise someone their own age can, like, care so strongly about ecology that they’re willing to do something, even taking risks, to make a difference.”
Are you impressed? We were totally stunned!
To everyone’s relief, Lyndz’s little speech really did the trick.
“OK,” said Jewel calmly. “Count me in. What do you want to ask me?”
She added the finished bracelet to the pile beside her. Then she started on another one, using different colours.
Unfortunately, none of us had actually thought to prepare any questions! We stared at each other in a panic. It was so-o embarrassing. I mean, media people are meant to be dead cool and smooth. The Sleepover girls were really letting themselves down.
This time Frankie saved the day. “Why don’t we let Jewel speak for herself?” she said sensibly “She’s the one who knows about ecology, not us!”
“OK,” Jewel agreed. “If you’re sure. Ready to roll, Andy?”
Andy gave her a nod. Jewel took a big breath and started talking to the camera.
“Some people think it’s really weird,” she said, “that people like me and Mum would actually choose to live in a van, or a tent, or even up a tree, like a wild bird or a squirrel, just to save some old field.”
Jewel added that if being normal meant not caring about things, and shutting her eyes while people destroyed the beautiful planet she lived on, she’d rather be weird any day, thanks very much. At least that way, she’d done the best she could.
Jewel was so relaxed in front of the camera, you’d think people popped round to her place to film her every day. Suddenly she leaned forward.
“Listen up, you kids,” she said in a loud clear voice. “Nature might seem dead boring, compared to TV or computer games. But at least you HAD the chance to play hide and seek in Browses Piece. If we don’t protect these beautiful wild places, one day they’ll all vanish under concrete. What kind of future is that for your little brothers and sisters? So take care of Browses Piece before it’s too late. OK, Cut! That’s it folks,” Jewel announced.
“Wow,” said Lyndz. “That was excellent.”
“Brilliant,” said Kenny.
Frankie was blinking back tears. I think Jewel’s words hit her really hard, now she’s got that new little baby sister to take care of.
“Right,” beamed Jewel. “Now let’s think of some ways you can REALLY get one up on the M&Ms.”
“Yess!” we all said at once.
We had a truly brilliant brainstorming session with Jewel. For someone who doesn’t go to school, she’s incredibly smart. (Oh, in case you were wondering, by this time Jewel and Frankie were getting on like a house on fire.)
We were having such a great time, we completely forgot we’d left Mum out in the snow, talking to Mrs Diggins! Luckily Andy remembered, and dashed off to find her. “I want you girls to meet us by the car in ten minutes,” he said.
You’ve probably noticed Rosie hadn’t said much, since we’d hooked up with Jewel? She wasn’t sulking. She was bursting for the loo!
She told us later she was really nervous, in case Jewel and her mum had one of those really gross chemical toilets. But finally she got so desperate she didn’t care where she went!
Jewel quickly showed her the tiny cupboard loo. Actually, I think Jewel guessed what the problem was, because she said, “It shouldn’t be TOO bad, Rosie. Mum only emptied it the other day.”
“Can I ask you something personal?” I said, while we waited for Rosie to come out of the cupboard. Jewel nodded. “Why do you need so many bracelets?”
“The friendship bracelets?” said Jewel. “Oh, I sell them. That way I don’t have to ask Mum for money every time I want a Twix,” she grinned.
“They’re cute,” said Lyndz.
Frankie fingered one. It was mostly silver, with a lavender blue and minty green pattern running through it. Frankie’s favourite colours.
“Would you like that one?” Jewel asked her. “It matches your jacket.”
Frankie blushed. “You’re giving me a friendship bracelet?”
“Of course, man,” said Jewel, laughing. “I want you all to have one.”
When Rosie came out of the loo, Jewel told her she was forbidden to leave until she’d chosen a bracelet.
Rosie’s face lit up. “Oh, coo-ell!”
I chose a pink one, surprise, surprise. SIX different shades to be accurate, from zingy shocking pink to pale pale rose.
After we’d chosen them, Jewel personally tied the bracelets on our wrists. “Now you’re all my friends. And you can’t ever take them off,” she teased. “Not even in the bath.”
“You ARE kidding,” said Kenny.
But actually, I don’t think she was.
Jewel insisted on coming with us, to make sure we didn’t get lost on the way to the car. But when we got there, she gave a little businesslike wave. “I’m not big on goodbyes,” she said. “Love and Peace, you guys.”
And she kind of melted back into the dark.
I twisted my bracelet on my wrist. Jewel and her mum were really hard up, but she’d given us these brilliant presents. Not to mention saving our skins from Mrs Cruella DeVil Weaver!!
I wish I had something to give Jewel, I thought.
But I didn’t have time to feel bad, because Mum and Andy turned up. Mum had been having this big discussion with the protest women about natural beauty products!
“Some of those girls could look quite sweet,” she said thoughtfully, “if they’d remember to pluck their eyebrows. Oh, Mrs Diggins says you can go round and interview her,” she added.
“Excellent,” said Kenny.
“Can we have this conversation at home?” complained Andy. “In case no-one’s noticed, I still haven’t had my tea.”
I looked at my watch. It was only half-past eight.
I couldn’t believe it! We’d had a Siberian picnic, been to our first serious protest, made a cool new friend, totally solved the problem of what to do for our project, and still had OODLES of time left for our special year 2000 sleepover!!
The minute we got back home, Mum insisted we’d all got to have hot baths, like IMMEDIATELY!
“I don’t want anyone getting a chill,” she wittered.
Phew! My fusspot mother was back to normal.
We tossed a coin to see who was going first. It was Kenny.
“Hey!” said Kenny. “I never bathed in a whirlpool bath before.”
“Keep it short, Kenz,” moaned Frankie. “Don’t practise your underwater breathing, OK? Otherwise we’ll never get round to the actual sleepover.”
“Time me,” grinned Kenny. “Catch!” She tossed Frankie the sporty watch she got for Christmas. “It’s got a stopwatch function,” she explained. “Neat, eh?”
She skipped upstairs, humming some hippie dippie protest chant under her breath.
“Has Kenny’s watch got a dynamite function as well?” giggled Rosie.
“I wish,” sighed
Frankie. “Ten minutes, Laura McKenzie!” she bellowed up the stairs. “Ten minutes, TOPS!”
“Or the watch gets it!!” called Lyndz in a gangster voice.
“Would you girls like a late-night snack?” Mum yelled from the kitchen.
Can you believe we were all starving? All that trudging about in the snow must totally burn up the calories! Mum promised to make us some cheese toasties after she’d made Andy his tea.
I helped the others carry their stuff upstairs. I was so-o pleased to see my room, I can’t tell you. It felt really peaceful and welcoming. And after Jewel’s cluttered little home it seemed absolutely HUGE!
I threw myself on my bed, practically hugging it, and sighed with pure relief.
“Jewel’s van is amazing,” I said. “But I wouldn’t like to live in one, would you?”
“I wouldn’t mind” Rosie said. “If my van had, you know, NORMAL facilities.”
Aren’t you glad it was Rosie, not Kenny who had the Protest Loo experience? I just know Kenny would have insisted in going into gruesome details, don’t you!!
I don’t want you to think Rosie was being horrible about Jewel’s home. Actually, she said her trip to their chemical toilet gave her serious respect for Jewel and her mum.
“To tell the truth, I’m ashamed of myself,” she sighed. “Meeting Jewel made me realise that I’m a totally shallow person.”
“You are not!” said Lyndz.
“I am. If I had to choose between saving a wood or a field or something, and having a bathroom, I’d choose the bathroom every time,” Rosie confessed.
“I’m shallow too,” I said in a small voice.
Because the truth is, if it was up to me personally to save them, all those wild, beautiful places Jewel talked about would be concreted over by now.
I’m serious.
“Maybe you wouldn’t do it to save a field, but you’d do what Jewel and her mum are doing to save a person you cared about, wouldn’t you?” Lyndz argued.
We stared at her. “You’re right,” said Rosie, amazed. “I’d do anything to save Mum and Tiff and Adam.”
“So would I,” I said. “I mean, for MY family. Not that I don’t like yours, Rosie,” I added hastily.