Diary of a Lottery Winner's Daughter

by Penelope Bush

  The best thing about being back at school is that I don’t get the strange feeling I’ve had at home recently;that everything isn’t quite real. I’ve stopped waking up in the morning and getting a shock when I remember that we’re rich now. We still have to get ready for school and do all the normal things that we’ve always done but somehow, at home, it feels like we’re in limbo. I suppose, when we’ve found a new house and moved in, everything will feel more normal.

  No one could believe it this evening when Dad said he was going to keep his job as a delivery van driver. Only Grumps agreed with him that it was a good idea.

  ‘I like my job,’ explained Dad. ‘It gets me out and about and I like meeting people. I’ve got a lot of regular customers and they’d miss me if I stopped.’

  Mum said her ladies were going to have to miss her because she wasn’t going out cleaning houses any more. Except for Miss Evans. She’d keep Miss Evans on, because she reckoned that sometimes she was the only person Miss Evans spoke to all week and she didn’t like to abandon her, though she would feel guilty about taking her money because she didn’t think Miss Evans had a lot.

  Thursday 9th September

  Chelsea’s taken it upon herself to find us a new house. She’s gone completely mental. She spends all night on the internet looking at property sites and selecting new houses to go and look at. The only problem is, she needs Mum and Dad to make the appointment with the estate agents to go and view them. When her wheedling doesn’t work and they refuse to go and look at the latest ‘amazing’ house, she goes off in an enormous sulk.

  Mum and Dad finally agreed to go and look at one house she’s found. I think they’re only going to keep her quiet. Also, Chelsea’s so enthusiastic about it all that it’s hard not to get caught up in her excitement and Mum always tries to encourage us in our hobbies. Like when I was really into my project on Amy Johnson, she got Dad to drive us all the way to the aviation museum so I could see the kind of plane Amy would have flown. I think Dad enjoyed it more than me. He got quite excited and Mum had to drag him away before we all got locked in there for the night.

  So on Saturday we’re all going to look at the house that Chelsea has decided is going to be our new home.

  Saturday 11th September

  It was weird looking round someone else’s home and trying to imagine living there. I know I did it when I went with Mum to the Bings’, but that was just pretend whereas this is real.

  Not that anyone except Chelsea could see themselves living in that house.

  It was massive and very, very modern. It seemed to have more windows than walls, and it even had a swimming pool. Chelsea says we have to have a swimming pool now we’re millionaires.

  Dad said that the kitchen looked like an operating theatre and he wasn’t sure he wanted to eat anything that came out of a place that reminded him of major surgical procedures.

  I could see Mum eyeing the two storey windows and all the polished surfaces. I bet she was wondering what the best cleaning products would be to use on them and worrying about how she’d keep them clean.

  Chelsea loved every minute of it. I could see that she was imagining all the parties she could have there and how all her friends would be impressed. The pool certainly put Sophie Jacobs’ hot-tub in the shade.

  I wish Spencer had come with us. We could have had a good laugh at all the pictures and sculptures. They were everywhere and were all nude people in some pretty contorted positions. I was dying to impersonate some of them but only Spencer would have found it funny. He didn’t come because he said he had too much homework. The new school have sent him work to do so that he’s not behind with it when he starts there. I can’t imagine Spencer being behind with his work. Personally, I think it was just an excuse. I honestly believe he doesn’t care where we live.

  The estate agent was working really hard to try and sell the house to Mum and Dad but I think he knew that they didn’t really like it. Chelsea tried to get me on her side by telling me that I could have the best bedroom. Obviously, I wasn’t taken in. I knew that the moment we moved in she’d nab that room because it had a roll top bath in the en suite and a walk-in wardrobe.

  It was an amazing house, but I couldn’t really see us living there. It wasn’t what you’d describe as cosy or homely.

  Now we’ll have to put up with Chelsea raving about it for the next two weeks until Mum and Dad eventually buy it just to keep her quiet. Chelsea has that effect on people.

  When we got home, it was kind of sad. Going to see such a lovely house made our three-bedroom council house feel even more pokey and shabby than usual, even though it’s not that bad really, and it does feel like home. Although I really want to move because I want my own room, I’ll be sorry to leave this house. Also, Lauren only lives down the road and we can see each other whenever we want. I wonder if I can persuade Mum and Dad to buy a house not far from here.

  Monday 13th September

  We got our diary homework back today from Mrs Harper. She’d put ‘very good’on mine. I didn’t think it was that good. I’d only written a load of rubbish about Weston-super-Mare. I didn’t put all the stuff about Chelsea going off or the cave guide being a troll, like I put in my real diary. I wonder what comment Mrs Harper would make about this one.

  Spencer started at his new school today. He did look funny in his smart new uniform. I felt nervous for him but he seemed to be totally unfazed, though he did check his bag about six times to make sure he had everything.

  He will have to go on the bus, but Dad said he would give him a lift there for the first few days, just until he’s settled in. I wonder what they’ll make of Dad’s delivery van pulling up in front of such a posh school. I mentioned

  this to Spencer, but he said it wasn’t a problem and that the school wasn’t that posh really. It was just a normal school, except you had to pay to go to it and have really good grades. It wasn’t like one of those boys’ public schools or really expensive boarding schools. I felt better after that. I hoped that, if all the people there were clever, then Spencer wouldn’t get picked on for being brainy. When Lauren and I got to school this morning there was a bit of a buzz in the playground. There were groups of people hanging around, chatting, and when we walked by some of them gave me funny looks. I immediately felt paranoid and wondered what I could have done. Apart from the lottery win, which people still occasionally asked me about, I couldn’t think of anything. We found Karly and Tiffany and asked them what was going on.

  ‘There’s just been a stand-off between Sophie and Chelsea at the school gates,’ said Karly.

  I groaned. I thought Chelsea had vowed never to speak to Sophie again, although I didn’t really know what had been happening because the Sixth Form block is so separate from the rest of the school.

  Apparently, Chelsea had been describing, in a very loud voice, the house we had been to see and how, when we’d moved in, she was going to have the most amazing pool party. Sophie had been passing and said,’ You can take the girl out of the council estate, but you can’t take the council estate out of the girl.’

  Chelsea had come back really quickly with, And you’ll never take the Nob out of Snob.’According to Karly, who had seen it all, this had got a huge laugh from everyone. Even Josh had laughed and that had really wound Sophie up and she’d hit him with her bag and stormed off. Josh had just shrugged and winked at Chelsea.

  I knew it wouldn’t take much to spark off a war between the Ratcliffe estate kids and the rich kids. And if that happened, where would Chelsea and I stand? We might be rich now, but we weren’t in with that crowd - all our friends were Ratcliffe estate and they all tended to stick together. When we moved, would they think we weren’t one of them any more? I was so upset I was shaking. But I knew I was being silly. Lauren wasn’t suddenly going to stop being friends with me just because we’d moved house!

  Tuesday 21st September

  There are definite tensions at school. Chelsea and Sophie are now openly hostile to
wards each other. Sophie must have made it up with Josh though, because I saw them snogging at the bus stop. It’s not just the Sixth Formers either. I heard two Year 7s talking about it at break time, and Chelsea is going round with the estate girls now, the really hard ones that live in the flats and that she’s always avoided until now. I think the teachers have got wind of it though, because they’ve started patrolling the playground and corridors at break and lunchtimes so I don’t think anything will happen.

  Lauren, Karly, Tiffany and I have all decided to rise above it and not get involved.

  Lauren and I spent the lunch hour trying to decide which after-school club to join. I fancied the book club but Lauren hated that idea. She fancied the choir because the music teacher is male and good-looking. I had to remind her that I’m tone deaf and I’d be thrown out for singing out of tune. In the end, we decided not to bother because there wasn’t anything we both wanted to do. As we were leaving, I saw Alec putting his name down for the War Hammer club. I said hi to him because he looked so lost without Spencer. Alec’s really brainy too and they’ve always stuck together. I felt bad for him being on his own now. I wonder if Spencer will still meet up with him on Saturdays to go to the Games Workshop or whether he’ll be too busy with all his new friends.

  Saturday 2nd October

  Today, at breakfast, Mum and Dad announced that we were going to view another house. It’s quite unusual for us all to be having breakfast at the same time on a Saturday morning. Normally Chelsea would still be in bed, but Mum and Dad had agreed to raise her allowance, so she was planning to go on a spending spree. They’ve raised my pocket money too. Mum said that when I want to start buying my own clothes I can have an allowance as well but at the moment I don’t really need one. I’m still happy to go shopping with Mum if I need anything as I’m not that interested in clothes and stuff.

  Chelsea said she wasn’t coming to see the house because she was too busy.

  ‘Why do we need to look at more houses?’ she said. ‘I thought we were going to buy the one with the pool, so what’s the point?’

  ‘We never said we were going to buy that house, Chelsea,’ said Dad.

  Chelsea flicked her hair back and took a deep breath in. It was a sure sign that she was about to list (again) all the reasons why we had to buy the house she’d chosen.

  Mum, who had been clearing away the breakfast, got in first. ‘We’re all going and that’s an end to it. Half an hour everyone,’ she said, clapping her hands, because only Spencer was actually dressed.

  Chelsea let her indrawn breath out in a big huff, but she knew there was no point in arguing with Mum when she used that no-nonsense voice. There was always the possibility that her newly inflated allowance would be cut back to its original size if she refused.

  I was halfway up the stairs when Chelsea barged past me and headed for the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Typical. So I’m waiting for her to come out. I hope the house we finally buy has more than one bathroom. Most houses do these days, I’ve discovered. Ever since I found out we were going to move, I’ve started watching property programmes on the television. Mostly they’re people who want to move and they get the presenters to find them a house. I wonder why Chelsea has never thought of applying to take part in one of the shows, seeing as she’s so fond of the limelight.

  And that is the main difference between us. Chelsea seems to live her life on full power. She’s either mega happy or super stroppy. Everything is a drama and she has to be centre stage. I, on the other hand, am the opposite. Like Mum, I don’t like a scene. I’d be quite happy if nothing dramatic ever happened to me. I like everything to be calm and predictable. Not in a boring way, just in a reassuring way.

  We all piled into the car and Dad drove to the estate agent’s to pick up the keys. This meant that I couldn’t really judge how far this house was going to be from ours. I didn’t want to look at a house that was miles away from Lauren’s.

  We drove up some pretty steep hills and I reckoned we were in the Clifton area of town. I relaxed a bit because that was only a short bus ride from our estate.

  Dad slowed down and finally turned into a driveway between two big stone pillars with round stone balls on top. The pillar on the left said HILL and the one on the right said HOUSE.

  I was craning to get a look at the house but the drive was bordered by great big shrubs. Then we drove round a bend and the house came into view.

  Chelsea gasped. ‘You are kidding, right?’

  Spencer looked up from his DS to see what all the fuss was about. ‘Cool,’ he said, and I had to agree with him.

  Chelsea was less than impressed. ‘Are we changing our surname to Addams?’ she sounded seriously outraged. ‘I’m not going in there. There’re probably bats in the belfry and God knows what else.’

  It did look a bit Addams Family. There was even a turret on one corner with a conical roof. The large oak front door was impressive and the porch reminded me of the entrance to a church. I couldn’t wait to get inside.

  ‘Victorian Gothic,’ said Mum. ‘Isn’t it gorgeous?’

  ‘If you’re a goth, maybe,’ said Chelsea,’ or a vampire. I’m waiting here, so don’t be long.’ She produced a nail file from her bag and started on her nails. ‘Hill House, my arse,’ she muttered. ‘More like Hell House.’

  ‘Come on,’ said Dad. ‘You’ll love it when you see the inside.’

  ‘God, this is such a waste of time. I could be out shopping,’ she said, but she put the nail file away and followed us to the front door. Dad got the keys out and grinned at Mum. Then he ceremoniously flung open the door.

  The hallway was probably as big as our sitting room at home. It had a patterned, tiled floor and a wide staircase leading up to a half landing, where there was a stained-glass window. The sun chose that moment to come out and the hallway was suddenly bathed in a rainbow of colours. I half expected dramatic music to ring throughout the house.

  ‘Well, go on then,’ said Dad. ‘Go and explore.’

  Chelsea seemed reluctant to move any further into the house. ‘Does anyone actually live here?’ she asked.

  ‘No,’ said Dad. ‘The house belonged to a very old man who lived here all his life. It’s an absolute gem. Totally unspoilt.’

  ‘You mean totally unmodernised, muttered Chelsea. ‘What a nightmare!’

  I tried to ignore her mutterings because I was enjoying a nice, warm, cosy feeling that had come over me. I could see us living in this house and I hadn’t even gone further than the hallway.

  ‘It’s got four bedrooms on the next floor,’ said Dad,’ and two more in the attics, so no fighting over them.’

  Mum went back out to the car and started rummaging in the boot and Dad disappeared through a door at the back of the hall.

  ‘They must be mad,’ said Chelsea. ‘We’re never buying this house.’

  I didn’t like to point out to her that it was Mum and Dad who would be choosing a house and not her. At least I hoped so. Chelsea has an uncanny ability of always getting her own way.

  Spencer and I spent the next hour exploring. The house was big, but not too big. We started in the attics, which Spencer got quite excited about. They were just two big rooms but, as Spencer had always slept in the box room at home, I could empathise with his dream of having space, at last, to put out all his War Hammer stuff. When Dad had said attics, I’d imagined pokey, dusty rooms with sloping ceilings but this wasn’t the case. Each room had a large, arch-shaped window that looked out over the garden in the back one and the street in the front one. I could see that Spencer favoured the back room and was already mentally moving in. I wasn’t going to commit myself to a room; I didn’t want to get too excited just to be disappointed when we moved into the glass monstrosity of Chelsea’s choosing.

  ‘Do you want that room in the front, opposite mine?’ said Spencer.

  It was sweet of him, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be that close to Spencer’s piles of smelly socks and the late ni
ght explosions from his computer games.

  ‘Let’s look at the other rooms first,’ I said, leading the way downstairs.

  I was suddenly very excited but also anxious. I’d dreamt of having my own room for so long and now that it was going to happen I was worried I’d be disappointed with the choice. Mind you, not that I was likely to get much of a choice. Even if we did buy this house, Mum and Dad would get the master bedroom in the turret and then Chelsea would pick the next best. But at least that would leave me with a choice of the remaining rooms.

  Back on the landing I paused. There was an archway that led to the two back bedrooms. What if they were awful? What if they were dark and had ghastly wallpaper?

  ‘Come on,’ said Spencer, charging off down the corridor. First on the right was a door which turned out to be the bathroom. It wasn’t exactly modern but there was a big shower head over the bath. I liked it, but Spencer wasn’t going to linger in a bathroom so we shut the door and carried on to the next door on the left.

  ‘Whoa,’ said Spencer. ‘This must be Morticia’s boudoir.’

  I followed him in. The room was dark, because there was a large tree outside the window blocking most of the light. The walls were covered with the most hideous green and purple wallpaper and there was a huge wardrobe on the back wall, just like the Bings’. I suppressed a shudder. You won’t catch me climbing in there; you’d be more likely to come out in hell than Narnia.