It's Not Fair! Chapter 2

Back when Matthew’s mum had still spoken to him from time to time, she’d told him to watch out which group of people he got in with at school.
“Try and avoid the total losers,” she’d said. “Even if they’re quite nice people, you won’t get anywhere.” And he’d never been able to decide if this was a dig at his dad or not.
He hadn’t been sure if his mum would have rated Charlie as a loser or not – he hadn’t seen her in a school setting to be able to judge it. Now he was meeting Hanako, Charlie’s best friend, and completely re-assessing Charlie’s position in the school social circles. “You played the violin eight hours a day for two weeks solid?”
Hanako shrugged. “Yes. And then there were performances, master classes, lectures…”
Charlie smiled to herself. Fiercely competent, hugely individual – Hanako took some living up to. And some getting used to! “And these are the fish tanks. This is where your dad will be all day!” Charlie’s dad had given them passes to see round the breeding area – Matthew hadn’t really known much about his dad’s new job.
“They’re breeding for increased tolerances – greater temperature ranges and so on. Then the fish go back to their own country. The idea is to improve native breeds, make them hardier, more fertile, whatever.” “So this is GM stuff?” Matthew hadn’t really paid much attention to his father’s talk about his new job.
“No! No genetic modification at all – that’s the whole point of it. Just cross-breeding in the sort of controlled conditions that the original countries can’t provide. That’s why the salaries aren’t amazing. It’s all aimed at developing countries. No huge commercial promise, but it changes people’s lives for the better, little by little.”
Charlie obviously thought this was worth doing. And Hanako was nodding too, in agreement. But Matthew’s mum had almost seemed to despise his dad for not earning more, not respect him for what he was working on. The two girls took Matthew to the diner near the RMB laboratories.
“Dad used to bring Daisy and I here for a treat when we were little. She says it’s ‘like, so not coolsville’ now, but I still enjoy it! So, go on. Before we eat! Let’s all have a go on the bronco.”
“As long as you promise not to tell my parents. You know how they fuss about me injuring myself,” Hanako said.
Matthew looked puzzled, and Charlie explained. “Injure your hand or your arm, and you can’t practise. She does a good three hours a day. That’s a lot of no practice if she’s hurt herself.” “Hey, you’re good,” Hanako said admiringly.
“I can actually ride,” Matthew admitted, a little jerkily.
“Oh of course – that’s an Eleigh stables top you’re wearing, isn’t it. Do you work there?”
“No. I live there. Bryony Eleigh’s my new stepmother.” There. He’d admitted it to them at last, and he felt strangely liberated. Charlie was nowhere near as competent! But she shrieked with laughter and thoroughly enjoyed herself. “You’re supposed to grip with your knees,” Matthew called out, helpfully. Charlie had no breath left at all to answer him!
They all ate together at the diner. “Last bit of freedom,” Hanako said mournfully. “Once school starts I have no free weekday evenings at all.”
“Well, you could always give up on the vile din,” Charlie said, teasing her. Hanako threatened her with the tomato sauce. “Of course, plum is still the new pink. Honestly, Mum, you’re like, so not up to nowsville. Now is all about a pop of plum. Like in my hair. And the polka dots are, like, retro but re-interpreted.”
“So where did this dress come from?”
“You know Grandma H loves sewing.” Charlie had been dreading the day Matthew finally met Daisy. He was bound to think Daisy was prettier, better, brighter…but it didn’t work out like that at all. It was a late Saturday afternoon, and all three of them were free together. They’d been in the garage, admiring Charlie’s latest painting before going out to the cinema. Then Daisy, Chloe and Poppy all came into the garage together. “Tell Mum we’re all going to Poppy’s for tea, will you.” Daisy was just ordering Charlie around, Matthew thought. And her tone of voice reminded him of someone. “I see you’re all dressed up to go out.”
Charlie fought back – he’d give her that. “That dress really suits you. Dotty. Very you.”
“Well, what would you know about current fashion? Let’s face it, looking good for you is like, impossiblesville. Polka dots are, like, the current micro-trend.”
“I thought it was plum from head to foot.”
“Oh, that’s so last Tuesday.” Hanako weighed in on Charlie’s side. “Derivative.”
Secretly, Daisy was afraid of Hanako’s sense of style.
“Mainstream. High street trends are not micro-trends.” And then Hanako smirked quietly to herself as Daisy was left speechless. She was a bit sorry that Poppy and Chloe looked uncomfortable, but not very. Daisy flounced off in a huff, her acolytes in tow. “Is she always that awful to you?” Matthew demanded. He knew now who Daisy reminded him of.
“Oh, that’s just her way,” Charlie said good-naturedly. But Matthew was seeing something more than sibling bickering.
“Hanako?” Matthew asked her for her opinion, and Charlie expected Hanako to say that, yeah, Daisy was just like that, and it couldn’t be helped.
“Yes, she is always like that. She runs Charlie down at every opportunity, and Charlie believes it.” “I don’t,” Charlie protested.
“Who do you think is prettier? Who do you think is better to be seen with?” Hanako had been wanting to say this for a while, and now it looked like she had some support. “Who has the biggest bedroom, even though she’s the youngest? Who gets the best presents from Grandma and Grandpa H?”
Charlie hung her head.
“It’s time you stood up for yourself, and said that you minded.”
Matthew agreed. He’d seen what happened when people didn’t stand up for themselves – with his own father. Daisy had reminded him of his mum, niggling and picking at his dad until his dad thought he was a total failure.
“What are we going to do about this?” Hanako – cool, reserved Hanako – was being surprisingly passionate. “Any ideas?”
“It’s time Charlie started asking for her fair share of things…” “Mum, how come you bought Daisy a new dress, and didn’t get me anything?”
Hanako and Matthew’s indignation on her behalf had begun to make Charlie think that there was something amiss.
“Grandma H made it for her.” Jonquil was slightly apologetic – it did seem a bit uneven, that Daisy got new clothes and Charlie didn’t. But they’d both needed new school uniforms: two years of hard wear had killed off their previous ones, and that hadn’t left any spare money. “Really? And she made on just like it for Poppy as well? But didn’t offer to make anything for me?”
Jonquil paused suddenly. “Poppy had one the same?”
“Yes. And it didn’t do much for her. And poor Chloe was in full cowgirl rig, with Daisy saying that was so last Tuesday.” Charlie wasn’t happy, and it was showing. “Charlie. Let me ask my mother about this. Let it lie until I have, please.”
It was one thing for her mother to make clothes for Daisy – who, let’s face it, appreciated it – but if she was going to do it for Daisy’s friends but not Charlie, then that was another matter. And one that she wasn’t too pleased about. As she cleaned the sink, Jonquil faced up to the fact that she was going to have to confront her mother about what was going on. Like Charlie, she was easy-going and didn’t enjoy conflict. But her mother’s too-obvious preference for Daisy was beginning to cause real trouble between the girls. She’d never known Charlie to make a protest like she had the other night, so it must matter to her, that only Daisy was getting new clothes. Maybe Charlie was finally beginning to care about how she looked? And Charlie’s comment about the holiday money niggled too. “I’m going over to my mother’s house. Can you do the meal?”
David pulled his mind back from the theory he was exploring. “Why? Are they all right?” His eyes dropped to the page again.
“I need to talk to my mother. Listen. This is what she’s been doing.” “But that’s just not on.” David didn’t often get cross, but now he was seriously annoyed, and Jonquil didn’t blame him.
“I know.” Both her voice and her face were strained. “But I can’t let this go on, can I? I’m going to have to say something.”
“Talk to your dad as well. First, in fact. He’s fond of both the girls.”
“Yes, but…” And there it was, the thing that lay between them. Would he stand up to Cynthia or not? Usually he didn’t.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“Better not. You know she doesn’t like you much! I still don’t know why she suddenly stopped objecting to me getting engaged to you!”
“I think your dad put his foot down for once. He could see how much you loved me!” “So how much holiday money did you give Daisy?”
“Well, a little more than I gave Lottie – dear Daisy cares about clothes, which Lottie doesn’t. Which reminds me – I’m just about to start planning their Christmas party dresses. Let me show you…” Her mother was trying to slide out of answering, and Jonquil’s heart sank. “I thought this cream, green and lilac print for Daisy. Something simple and elegant, perhaps, as she’s so pleasingly slim. Lottie, alas, inherited your figure – and not even your colouring! And she’s still so distressingly tomboyish! Something that says, ‘I’m a girl’, I think…”
“Mum. How much more did you give to Daisy? It’s not fair if she gets a lot more than Charlie, and David and I need to make it up to her.”
But her mother’s face set in that mulish, disapproving look that Jonquil knew – and feared – so well.
“I don’t want to argue with you. And if I choose to give Daisy a little extra, why does that matter?” Jonquil seized a quick word with her father before she left – and before her mother came into the room – but he was apologetic.
“I can’t really stop her, Jonnie my dear.”
“Well, can you try and find out how much extra she gave Daisy, then?”
“I’ll do my best,” he said, dubiously. Jonquil wasn’t the only one thinking about Charlie, and the imbalance between her and Daisy. Matthew (in between focussing on the horse he was schooling) and Hanako were both hatching plans to even things up a bit too. And they didn’t have to worry about how Grandma H would react.