Give Me Your Answer, Do, Chapter 1. A Rowansford story

As far as Daisy was concerned, it was so not fair! They’d moved house to live with her grandparents, and she’d ended up with this dump of a room! And she was still stuck with that stupid unicorn bed she’d wanted so much when she was six. Now it was just an embarrassment. And with Mum giving up her job – because she was pregnant, of all the so-not-okay things! – there wasn’t going to be the spare money to make over her room. And for goodness’ sake! What teenager had a bathroom that looked like this? So last Tuesday? This was, like, so last century! Meanwhile, her darling sister, Charlie, had a bathroom that was fresh, mostly modern, and new-looking. And as for Charlie’s bedroom! Daisy was seriously envious of that too. It was just so unfair! And the whole family had just ganged up on her, just because of one tiny joke she’d played on her sister. Somewhat reluctantly, Daisy went into the (hopelessly old-fashioned) sitting room and sat down at the desk to do her homework. Her parents had been remarkably unanimous: her schoolwork had to improve.
“Just ‘cos Charlie’s clever,” Daisy thought resentfully, “I have to do well too. It is so not fair!” Charlie sat down at her desk and picked up her homework: she wanted to fit in some painting time as well. She still got so much pleasure out of her lovely bedroom: it was a far cry from the tiny room she’d had at their previous house. And she loved living with her grandparents too. The house was huge – there was more than enough space for them all. Space to get away from Daisy too… Charlie still hadn’t forgiven her sister for the mean trick she’d played on her. Daisy had swapped the – very good – paintings Charlie had entered in a competition for two terrible ones that Charlie had painted when she’d been very young. And Charlie had come last, the results published for everyone to see. It wasn’t just the humiliation she was angry with Daisy about – it was the fact that she’d had a good chance of winning, and Daisy had taken that away from her as well. Their father had come home from the exhibition to find Charlie doing her level best to pound Daisy into a pulp. And when he’d heard what Daisy had done, he’d totally taken Charlie’s side. With the house move as well, everything had changed for Daisy – and she didn’t like it one little bit. “Daisy, your room’s a mess. You need to tidy it up. Jonnie’s far too tired to come up here and take your dirty dishes down for you. Do it now.”
“This room’s never going to look good. What difference does it make if I tidy it? Why can’t I have a new bed…?”
“We’ve been over this. The profit from selling our other house is going on re-roofing this one – and painting the outside as well. That’s not cheap. We need to put a kitchen in for ourselves, do up a room for the baby...”
“But Charlie has a lovely big room, with a spare bed so that she can have friends for sleepovers, and I’m just stuck with this stupidsville bed…” “You’re never satisfied are you?” David remarked mildly. Too mildly – Daisy should have recognised the warning signs, but she just carried on.
“Honestly, this house is like, huge. I could at least have had a bigger bedroom. And if I have to look at that stupid unicorn for one more night, I’ll – I’ll paint the whole bed black!”
“So. You want a different bedroom, a new bed – no, two new beds – and a new bedside table and light as well, no doubt?”
“Yes!” Finally, her dad was getting the message. “And a proper wardrobe of my own, and I want a desk. Charlie has one…” “You know we didn’t know where to put the baby once it moves out of our room?”
“It has to be born first, remember,” Jonnie said, laughing at her husband. “But yes, I do remember.”
“Well, I think I might have solved the problem.” The two of them were sitting in Lorraine’s kitchen before going to bed, seizing a few minutes away from their daughters’ flapping ears.
“How on earth have you solved that? I know you’re clever, darling, but…” David told her about his conversation with Daisy, about her demands – and then about his plan.
“Do you know,” Jonquil said slowly, once she’d got her head round the idea, “this might be the making of Daisy. I’ll back you up. And I think I know where I can sell that unicorn bed. Daisy’s going to Poppy’s the weekend after next for a sleepover – it’s Poppy’s birthday – we could do the change-over then. Daisy can come back to her new room. Are you parents okay with this, though?”
“Don’t worry – they’re all for it too. They’ll back us up as well. And we can rely on Charlie not to be a problem.”
“Hmmm. We do rely on Charlie to be reasonable, don’t we?” “I do believe you’re making progress with that car!” Charlie’s friend Matthew had come round and was gently teasing Charlie’s grandfather.
“Cheeky young monkey,” Jonathan said mildly. “I don’t know, young people today, no respect for their elders and betters…Just for that, you can listen to one of my jokes. What do Italians eat for breakfast?”
“I don’t know,” Matthew said, laughing. Jonathan’s jokes were famously bad.
“Eggs Florentine! So why are you here today? Not that we’re not pleased to see you, of course…” Charlie came in before Matthew had a chance to answer.
“I thought I might find you here. Impressed by the progress? Now Dad’s living here, Grandpère’s got a spare pair of hands at the weekend. Shall we tackle that French homework first? Hanako’s free later on. We could all meet up at the park: there’s a band playing there tonight.”
Jonathan smiled to himself at his grand-daughter’s happy enthusiasm for life. He liked it a lot better that Daisy’s spoilt brat attitude. To be fair on her parents, most of Daisy’s spoilt brat attitude had been fed into her by her other grandmother. Since Daisy had been very small, Cynthia had favoured Daisy over Charlie, given her more than she’d given Charlie, encouraged Daisy to think that she was better than Charlie…the party dresses she’d made for them each year had been a nice example of that. Daisy’s dress had always looked lovely on her. And Charlie’s dress had always been a total nightmare! Because Charlie wasn’t girlie enough to suit Cynthia’s tastes, her grandmother had always made her extremely frilly and ruffled dresses, in an attempt to make her “more feminine, my dear.” This had gone on right up until the Christmas just gone. Daisy’s dress had,as usual, looked really good on her. And Charlie’s had been the usual nightmare. But instead of being willing to wear it, to keep her grandmother happy, Charlie had refused point-blank. And her father had backed her up. That hadn’t exactly suited her grandmother – who wasn't prepared to admit how awful Charlie looked in the dress.
Daisy could see it though – and didn’t mind one bit. She was quite happy to be her grandmother’s favourite – and to watch Charlie suffer! French homework night, Matthew went to Charlie’s house. Her half-French grandmother was an enormous asset. And with her help, he was making up for being a year behind – his previous school had done German first, and then started on French. For Charlie, the subject was a breeze!
“But you are much improved, Matthew. One can see with clearness that you are working very hard. Do not despair so!” Lorraine was looking at Matthew’s gloomy frown.
“Soon it will be the summer holidays. Each day, Charlie or I will help you – you do not have a holiday away, no?” “No.” His stepmother – like Charlie’s mother, and quite a few other women in Rowansford! – was pregnant.
“The stables are always busy over the summer, and with my little brother or sister on the way, Bryony can’t do anywhere near as much. I’m going to be working all summer!”
“But you get paid, no?”
“I get paid, yes. And so does Charlie – she’s got a job there too if she wants it.” “You asked her! Thanks, Matthew, that’s great!”
“So what will you do with your earnings, ma petite?”
“Buy painting stuff,” Charlie replied promptly. “And clothes.”
Thanks to Matthew, and her best friend Hanako, Charlie was discovering that clothes didn’t have to be things that made you feel ugly and humiliated.
“You’ll come with me and Hanako to help choose them, won’t you Matthew?” They both laughed at the look of total resignation that crossed his face. “This is Poppy’s birthday,” thought Chloe. “And yet here we are, listening to Daisy talking about herself.” The spell Daisy had once cast over her was beginning to fade. Poppy, however, obviously thought that listening to Daisy complain was a lovely way to spend her birthday evening. “And they sold the old house for thousands, but would Dad spend on my bedroom at the beginning? No…”
“Daisy, they might have sold it for thousands, but they’d have had to pay off the mortgage, you know,” Chloe pointed out. Money was tight in her family, and with another child on the way, likely to be tighter still. But Poppy’s dark eyes were full of nothing but sympathy.
“Daisy, how dreadful for you. Is there nothing you can do to make him see how much you need a new bedroom?” “Well, I’m doing my best. And I think he might have got the message when I said that there was, like, no point in tidying my room because it was so awfulsville anyway…” Chloe just tuned out, and wished she wasn’t so far away from the chocolates. “How come Daisy got the spare bed again?” Chloe thought, as they all settled down for the night. “It was my turn this time. And the time before, now that I think about it…” As Daisy came up the stairs, home from Poppy’s, she heard her sister arguing with their father.
“Are you just going to give Daisy what she wants? Again? I’m fed up with this!”
Good, thought Daisy, pleased on both fronts. She was going to get what she wanted! And, with a bit of luck, Charlie would be in trouble as well.
“I asked for painting stuff, and you said we couldn’t afford it, I’d have to wait until my birthday. Or get a part-time job. This is so not fair!” “Daisy.” David had spotted her. “Just let me check this over with you. You’d like a bigger bedroom – with two beds, a desk, a wardrobe, more space, a new bedside table and a new lamp?”
“Yes,” Daisy said trying not to sound too smug. That would show Charlie that she wasn’t the only one to get a new bedroom! Charlie glared at her. “You really are sure about this. Because you’ll have to come down and sleep on this floor, instead of being on the top floor with the rest of us.”
Great. She’d get away from the baby when it came as well! It was bound to cry.
“Yes, I’m sure. That’s fine.”
“And I agree with Charlie – if you want anything else for your room, you’re going to have to get a part-time job and save up for it yourself. The new mattresses weren’t cheap.”
“I could do that. I will do that, if I want to.”
“And if you go for this, there’s no changing your mind and saying can I have my old room back. From the moment you say yes, that’s it. No repeat of your eighth birthday party.” Daisy had the grace to blush at that memory.
“I’m totally sure. I won’t ask to change my mind.”
“Really sure? Because you won’t be allowed to change your mind.”
“If I’m going to get all that – two beds, a wardrobe, a desk, more space so I can have sleepovers…?”
“All of that.”
“Then I agree.”
“Here’s the key. It’s that door over there.” Nose in the air, a gloating smile on her lips, Daisy pushed past her sister, unlocked the door and swept triumphantly into her new bedroom. And stopped short in disbelief as she saw what was behind the door.
“Like I said, the mattresses are new,” her father’s voice said behind her. “And your mother and Lorraine washed all the bedding for you – don’t forget to thank them. I didn’t think it was fair to ask them to clean the room though – you can do that for yourself. After all, you’re neither pregnant nor old.” But worst of all was the sound of Charlie splitting her sides with laughter.
“Well, Dad, you did give her what she asked for. I’m sorry I was so rude to you. I have so got to go and phone Matthew and Hanako!”

The previous Rowansford story about Daisy and Charlie is here: Prologue: http://samelasstories.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/its-not-fair-prologue.html Chapter 1: http://samelasstories.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/its-not-fair-chapter-1.html Chapter 2: http://samelasstories.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/chapter-2.html Chapter 3: http://samelasstories.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/its-not-fair-chapter-3.html Chapter 4: http://samelasstories.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/its-not-fair-chapter-4.html Chapter 5: http://samelasstories.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/its-not-fair-chapter-5.html Chapter 6: http://samelasstories.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/its-not-fair-final-chapter.html