Being Bee Read Free

eccentric, do you?’
    â€˜I don’t know that it’s such a bad thing to be,’ Lucy said, but she didn’t sound very sure about that.
    I didn’t want to be weird, but I didn’t want Jazzi changing me, either.
    â€˜ You are both getting weird,’ I said to Lucy and Sally. That’s what I think. I’m just me, the person I’ve always been.’
    â€˜Not according to my mother,’ Sally said, and then the bell went, so I didn’t find out exactly what Sally’s mother thought of me.
    â€˜It’s not that I don’t like Jazzi,’ I told Nanna when she picked me up from school. ‘It’s just that everything is different when she’s around. She calls me Beatrice, too.’
    â€˜Well, darling, that is your name, and a lovely one.’
    â€˜It’s an old-fashioned name, Nanna.’
    â€˜Fashion, pff,’ and Nanna blew a raspberry into the air. ‘Who cares about fashion? It’s a good name. It’s got style.’
    â€˜She cooked these scones but they weren’t real scones. They didn’t rise properly either. They were flat.’
    â€˜The self-raising flour was probably old – your dad’s pantry! It’s a wonder she found any.’
    â€˜Why are you taking her side, Nanna. You haven’t even met her.’
    â€˜I am not taking sides. I’m just giving the poor woman a chance.’
    We walked past the Star cinema and the expensive café and on to the bakery where Nanna ordered a coffee for herself and a hot chocolate for me. I was in for a talk. When she added yo-yo biscuits to the order I knew it was a long talk. Sometimes these are good. She tells me about my mum and when I was a baby. Sometimes she gives me lectures about how I need to look after Dad, as if I was the grown-up, not him.
    â€˜You have to understand, Bee, that your dad has been a lonely man since Lindy died. We’ve all been lonely. God only knows how much I miss my girl. Children shouldn’t be allowed to die first. It’s cruel. But that’s neither here nor there. Your father has sacrificed time and energy to raise you, Bee, but you’re growing up and now it’s time for him to find companionship. This Jazzi sounds quite acceptable. It’s a pity she doesn’t have any children, but I don’t suppose that can be helped.’
    â€˜She doesn’t like Fifi and Lulu much.’
    â€˜Bee,’ Nanna said sternly, ‘you can’t judge someone on whether or not they share your obsession with guinea pigs.’
    â€˜I’m not obsessed,’ I said. ‘That’s when you have posters and stuff on your wall. I have horses on my walls, not guinea pigs. I just like them, that’s all. And they like me. It’s good to own something that likes you, isn’t it?’
    â€˜Well, that’s probably how your dad feels about Jazzi – without the owning, of course. She likes him, obviously, or she wouldn’t be staying the night and cooking scones! Nick needs someone to like him again.’
    â€˜I don’t just like Dad, I love him. Why don’t I count?’
    â€˜Don’t be ridiculous, Bee, of course you count. This is just different and I’m sure I don’t have to spell out to you why. You’re not a baby anymore. Good heavens, another couple of months and you’ll be taller than I am.’
    â€˜They were kissing in the kitchen. I saw them.’
    â€˜How lovely for them – the kissing bit, I mean, not the being spied on bit.’
    â€˜I wasn’t spying, I just wanted a drink.’
    â€˜Well, make sure you don’t hang around them all the time. The last thing a new couple needs is some great girl poking her nose in where she shouldn’t.’
    Honestly, Nanna was beginning to sound like one of those people on the radio who solve your problems for you. I didn’t like being called a ‘great girl’, either. It