Alice in the Middle

by Judi Curtin

  I giggled.

  ‘Well, if she gets better too soon, we can send Sam to spit in her drink, and she might have a relapse.’

  When tea was over, we went in to the television room, and watched two DVDs in a row. As usual, there were rows between the boys and the girls about what we should watch. In the end each group picked one DVD, and we had fun mocking the others’ choices.

  By the time the DVDs were over, it was almost time for bed. I told Sarah that I was tired, and went up to my room.

  I lay on my bed and tried to read my book. I couldn’t concentrate though. I kept thinking about Alice and Hazel. I was starting to get a bit nervous. It was getting late. I was sure they should be back by now. What if Gloria came to say good-night and Alice and Hazel weren’t here?

  What would Gloria say?

  What would I say?

  How would I cover for them?

  After a while, I could hear all the other girls coming upstairs and getting ready for bed. Soon Gloria would be around. Usually I liked it when Gloria came to say good-night. Tonight though, I was dreading it.

  I was starting to feel a bit sick. Alice and Hazel would be in soooo much trouble if they didn’t get back soon.

  I turned back to my book and stared at the same page for ages, without reading a single word. Then I threw the book onto the ground. This whole thing was just too awful. I wished I was with Alice and Hazel instead of stuck here worrying about them.

  A little bit later I heard Gloria’s big loud laugh. She was at the other end of the corridor, checking that everyone was tucked up in bed. My heart started to beat really fast.

  I had to do something.

  But what could I do?

  Alice would have known what to do, but that wasn’t much use to me, was it?

  Think, I whispered to myself. Think. Think.

  I slapped myself on the forehead, hoping that if there were any stray ideas lurking inside my head, it might make them pop out.

  Suddenly inspiration struck. I jumped off my bed, raced to the wardrobe, and grabbed big heaps of clothes. I pulled back Alice’s bedclothes and tried to make a person-shape out of a bundle of clothes. Then I did the same to Hazel’s bed. It didn’t look very convincing (well actually it didn’t look at all convincing), but it was the best I could do in about fifteen seconds. I just had to hope that Gloria wouldn’t look too closely. Then I switched out the light and jumped into my own bed with my clothes on.

  A second later the bedroom door opened. I shut my eyes and pretended to be asleep – I so didn’t want to have to answer any awkward questions. I held my breath and hoped that Gloria wouldn’t hear my heart thumping.

  There was a moment’s silence, and then I heard Gloria laugh softly.

  ‘Girls these days. No stamina.’ I coughed so that she’d know that at least there was someone alive in the room, but it didn’t matter anyway. Gloria was gone. I’d saved Alice and Hazel. For a while at least.

  I lay in bed for a long time. Now it was getting really late and I was getting really worried.

  Where were they?

  Why hadn’t they come back?

  Had something awful happened to them?

  I always laugh at my mum, telling her that she always thinks the worst. Now I knew how she felt though. I was sure that something dreadful had happened to Alice and Hazel, and in a crazy way, I felt guilty, like somehow it was going to be my fault.

  After a while, I got out of bed and looked at Alice’s alarm clock. It was nearly ten o’clock. I tip-toed out of my room, and down the corridor to Sarah’s room. She was in bed, but still awake. Luckily the two other girls in her room were snoring softly. I whispered to Sarah,

  ‘I need a loan of your phone.’

  She sat up.

  ‘Megan? What’s going on? It’s the middle of the night. What do you want a phone for?’

  This wasn’t the time for explanations, so I gave her the excuse I’d prepared.

  ‘I’m homesick.’ I whispered. ‘I want to phone my mum.’

  ‘You poor thing,’ said Sarah. ‘Of course you can borrow my phone. It’s on the chair over there. You can bring it back in the morning. Don’t talk too long – my credit’s nearly gone.’

  ‘Thanks, Sarah,’ I whispered.

  I took the phone and tip-toed back to my room.

  Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier?

  In a few seconds I’d be talking to Alice. She’d tell me where she was, and why she was delayed, and everything would be OK.

  I sat on my bed and dialled Alice’s number. Even the ringing tone made me feel better. Then I got the dreaded message – Hi, It’s Alice. You’ve missed me, but try again later.

  I sighed. What was the point of having a phone if you hardly ever turned it on?

  Hazel had a phone too of course, but I had no idea of her number, and no idea how to find it out.

  I put the phone down.

  Now what?

  I sat on my bed and worried some more.

  Alice and Hazel could be hurt.

  Something awful might have happened to them.

  And if I didn’t tell someone, no-one would know, and no-one would go to help them.

  But if I told on them, and then it turned out that they were OK, neither of them would ever forgive me. Hazel didn’t like me anyway, so that didn’t matter so much. But Alice? What would I do if Alice hated me?

  I looked at Alice’s clock again. Fifteen minutes, I decided. If they weren’t back in fifteen minutes, I’d have to go and tell someone..

  Chapter eighteen

  Those fifteen minutes went veeeeery sloooooowly. Every time there was a creak on the stairs, or a footstep in the corridor or the sound of a door closing, I sat up in bed, hoping that it was Alice and Hazel coming back. But it never was.

  At last the fifteen minutes were up.

  I stood up and went to the door.

  Then I went back and sat down again. Ten minutes, I decided. I could wait ten more minutes.

  So I waited ten more long minutes, and still there was no sign of Alice and Hazel. I couldn’t delay any more. I knew it was time to do something.

  I went out into the corridor. It was deserted, and a bit creepy. I tip-toed as far as Sarah’s room. This would be so much easier if she was there to support me. I raised my hand to tap on her door and then stopped myself. It wasn’t fair to involve her in all of this. It was my mess, not hers. So I continued my lonely journey along the corridor.

  I knew that the group leaders’ rooms were all on the first floor. I tip-toed down the stairs, and along the corridor. I quickly found the door with Gloria’s name on it. Under her name was a smiley face, and the words, ‘knock if you need me.’ I needed her, but still I was afraid. This was all much too hard.

  I stood outside Gloria’s door for a moment. I could hear music coming from her room. Lively, happy music. Just the opposite of the way I felt.

  What would she say?

  What would she do?

  Was I about to make the biggest mistake of my whole life?

  I took a deep breath, then I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I waited a minute, and then I knocked again, louder this time. Still no answer. I knocked a third time, louder than ever. Just as I did so, the song came to an end and my knock sounded really loud, almost loud enough to wake up the entire school.

  Gloria came to the door with a book in her hand and her usual big smile on her face. She looked surprised to see me.

  ‘Megan? What is it? Are you sick?’

  I shook my head. Now that I was standing outside Gloria’s bedroom, I didn’t know exactly what to say. Gloria shook me gently by the shoulder.

  ‘Talk to me, Megan. Something tells me this isn’t just a friendly visit. What’s wrong?’

  At first I couldn’t talk, but seconds later I couldn’t stop. Everything came out in a rush.

  ‘It’s Alice. And Hazel,’ I said. ‘They sneaked out of camp. And they haven’t come back. But they’ve been gone for ages
. And I didn’t know what to do. I’m so afraid that something dreadful has happened to them. What if they’ve been kidnapped? What if they’re dead? And if they’re not dead, I will be, because they’ll kill me when they discover that I told you. They went to the pictures. In Cork. But they should be back by now. They should have been back ages ago. I’m so afraid, Gloria.’

  The smile had faded from Gloria’s face long before I had finished speaking.

  ‘When did they go?’ she asked.

  ‘Just before lunch.’

  Now Gloria’s face was really serious. She threw her book into the bedroom, and stepped into the corridor, closing the door behind her.

  ‘Now Megan, don’t you worry. I’ll deal with this. I’ll have to go and talk to Mrs Duggan.’

  Mrs Duggan? I so did not want to get Mrs Duggan involved in this. Now I was sure I’d done the wrong thing. Alice would never, ever, ever forgive me.

  It was as if Gloria could read my mind.

  ‘Telling me was the right thing to do, Megan. Alice and Hazel are probably perfectly fine, but we need to be sure. We can’t take any chances. Now you run along to bed, and stop worrying. I’ll take care of everything.’

  Gloria walked quickly towards the stairs, and out of sight. I stood for a few minutes, wishing I was at home, or at school, or even at the dentist – anywhere but there in that silent empty corridor.

  Then I went back to my room, and got into bed.

  What else could I do?

  A few minutes later, I could hear whispering and giggling out in the corridor. Very familiar whispering and giggling.

  My heart sank. All of a sudden I wasn’t glad that my friend was back. I was almost sad that something bad hadn’t happened to her, because now I knew for sure that something bad was going to happen to me.

  The door opened and Alice and Hazel tip-toed into the room. Alice reached for the light switch, but Hazel pulled her hand back.

  ‘Don’t put on the light,’ she whispered. ‘Do you want us to get into trouble?’

  I gulped. They were already in very serious trouble, and it was all my fault.

  I sat up in bed. Alice saw me and came and sat next to me.

  ‘Meg, I’m glad you’re still awake. Oh, we’ve had the best time ever. The film was so funny. You’d have loved it. I’ll go and see it again with you when we get back to Limerick, if you like. And then we went for burgers. Lee and Conor know all these cool places in Cork. And then we just hung out in the park doing nothing really, but it was still fun. And we were enjoying ourselves so much, we forgot about the time, and we missed the last bus home, and we had to walk the whole way, and it’s miles and miles. I’ve got a huge blister on my foot. If it doesn’t get better quickly I so won’t be able to dance at the disco. Did anyone notice that we were gone? Did Gloria say anything? What did you say to her? And Lee is soooo nice. You’d really like him. He said…’

  And on and on she went, as only Alice can when she’s excited about something. And I said nothing, because what could I say? And then, it didn’t matter anyway because the door opened and the light went on and there were Gloria and Mrs Duggan and two other group leaders, and none of them looked very happy. And Alice looked at me in surprise, and Hazel leaned over to me, and gave me the most evil look I’d ever seen in my whole life and whispered,

  ‘I’ll get you for this.’

  Then Mrs Duggan beckoned with her finger and everyone except for me followed her out of the room, and I sat on my bed and waited some more.

  Chapter nineteen

  Much, much later the bedroom door opened again. Alice and Hazel came in with Gloria. The two girls didn’t look cool and sophisticated any more. They had red blotchy faces, and Hazel had a big black streak of mascara down one cheek.

  Gloria spoke sharply to them.

  ‘Take your toothbrushes and towels and go down to the bathroom. Be back here in three minutes.’

  The girls picked up their stuff and left the room without saying anything. Gloria came and sat on my bed. I started to cry. I couldn’t help it. Gloria pulled a big flowery hanky from her pocket and handed it to me.

  ‘It’s clean. I promise,’ she said.

  I wiped away my tears, but it didn’t make any difference. Lots more came to take their place. They dripped down my face and on to my bedcovers.

  ‘What’s going to happen to Alice and Hazel?’ I asked.

  Gloria sighed.

  ‘They did a very silly thing, and they have to be punished. They’re lucky they’re not being sent home. Mrs Duggan is writing to their parents, of course. And instead of activities, Alice and Hazel are going to have detention after tea in the evening. Every evening.’

  I gasped.

  ‘But what about the disco?’

  The disco was the highlight of the camp. Everyone had been looking forward to it since the day we’d arrived.

  Gloria shook her head.

  ‘I’m afraid they’re going to miss the disco.’

  ‘Alice is going to hate me forever,’ I sobbed.

  Gloria stroked my hair.

  ‘She might for a little while. But she’ll get over it.’

  Just then Alice and Hazel came back into the room. Gloria stood up.

  ‘Straight to bed, you two,’ she said, in a voice very different to the one she’d used to me. ‘And not a peep out of either of you.’

  She looked at Alice.

  ‘Don’t you dare give Megan a tough time about this. She was worried about you. She was trying to be a good friend. And sometimes being a good friend means doing hard stuff.’

  Alice didn’t answer. Hazel gave me an evil look. Gloria went out of the room, and I could hear the slap-slap of her flip-flops as she went downstairs. I felt like running after her, and begging her to stay with me, to protect me. It wouldn’t have helped though. Sooner or later I’d have to face up to what I had done.

  Alice and Hazel began to change into their pyjamas. Neither of them looked at me.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said softly.

  Still neither girl looked at me.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said again, a bit louder this time.

  Still there was no response. I got out of bed and went over to Alice.

  ‘I’m sorry, Al,’ I said. ‘I wasn’t trying to get you into trouble. I was worried about you. That’s all. I was afraid something bad had happened to you.’

  Hazel interrupted.

  ‘Something bad did happen to her. She met you.’

  ‘Al, please listen,’ I continued. ‘Please, please listen to me. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble. Honestly I didn’t.’

  Suddenly Alice turned to face me.

  ‘But you did get me into trouble, didn’t you? I am so dead when I get home. I’ll probably be grounded for the rest of the summer. And the rest of the week is going to be no fun now. Everything is ruined, and it’s all your fault.’

  ‘But why?’ I asked. ‘Why do you think I’d deliberately get you into trouble?’

  Alice pretended to think.

  ‘Oh, I know,’ she said. ‘Maybe it’s because you were jealous of me and Hazel having a good time. You wanted to get back at me and you found the perfect way.’

  I started to cry again.

  ‘That is so not what happened. I tried to help you.’

  I pointed to the bundles of clothes under her bedclothes.

  ‘Look, I even tricked Gloria when she came to say goodnight. I made it look like you were here. I wanted to help you, but in the end I was scared. You’re my friend and I was worried about you.’

  Hazel stepped towards us.

  ‘Ignore her, Alice. She thinks she can get back with you just by stuffing a bundle of clothes in your bed. She probably did that after she went telling tales to Gloria. I don’t think you should talk to her.’

  Alice tossed her head.

  ‘Don’t worry. I won’t. Ever.’

  I got into bed.

  ‘You’re not even trying to understand what happened. It’s
not fair,’ I cried.

  Hazel gave a cruel laugh.

  ‘Life’s not fair. Get over it.’

  Chapter twenty

  The next day was totally awful.

  When we woke up, Alice and Hazel acted as if I wasn’t in the room. They chatted about the fun they had had on their date, and all the cool stuff they’d done with Conor and Lee. Then they went on and on about how they didn’t care about stupid camp activities, and that the camp disco was only for stupid babies anyway.

  I tried talking to Alice a few times, but each time she just turned away.

  I sat with Sarah for breakfast, as far away from Alice and Hazel as I could manage. Most of the kids had some idea that something had happened the evening before, but Alice, Hazel and I were the only ones who knew exactly what it had been.

  When most of the other kids had gone to get ready for activities, Sarah asked me what was going on. I hesitated, but then decided that I had nothing left to lose, and told her the whole story. She listened without saying a word.

  ‘You poor thing,’ she said, when I had finished.

  ‘What would you have done?’ I asked.

  Sarah didn’t even hesitate.

  ‘I’d have done exactly what you did.’

  I’ll never know if she was telling the truth, but it made me feel a bit better anyway.

  ‘Come on,’ said Sarah, giving me a quick hug. ‘Try and forget about it for a while. Let’s go and get ready for basketball.’

  I hoped that by lunch-time, Alice might have calmed down a bit, and that I could get a chance to explain my side of the story to her. There was no real hope though – now Hazel acted as if she owned Alice. Everywhere one went, the other followed, almost as if they were attached to each other by an invisible string.

  And so the day dragged on. I think Sarah told Sam what had happened, because he was especially nice to me. He was so nice that I even began to feel a bit better for a while. That only lasted till Alice and Hazel walked by though, pointing at me and laughing, and then I felt as bad as ever.