Dreamstone

Spring Fever

Two days later, blissfully reunited with the twins, but missing Rebecca so badly, I was a lot calmer in general, but also more resigned to my future as Catherine, somehow. I felt totally trapped, caught inside a gilded cage, but whenever I actually managed to switch my mind off for a while, I was also happy. The Wednesday at Broomwaters had been so peaceful, with just Rebecca, Mummy and me at first, and then the twins were dropped back, to complete the set in the nursery. I had a plan again, of sorts, even if it was dependent on someone else, and all I wanted to do was relax, and recover, like my batteries needed a recharge. But on the Thursday morning, Caroline decided to take us all into Reigate, to buy us what we needed for the summer term at Deepdene. And Reigate was only a mile from Redhill, and Redstone, and the estate. It all closed in on me again, like a cloud of depression.

"Shopping first, and then we can go to the park...if the weather holds," Caroline said as she helped us out of our car seats. It was a nice day, sunny and spring-like. Late March, warmer but not warm, so we were wearing our blue plaid dresses with the pale blue coats.

"Can we go in the safe play, Mummy?" Grace asked, as she followed me out onto the smooth tarmac of the car park.

"Obviously...because then I get coffee and cake," Mummy laughed, clicking the car locked and taking my hand. "And Auntie Debra and Rebecca might well meet us there...but only if we are all good...ok?"

Being good was the family mantra. Mostly aimed at me, of course. My stepsisters were quite capable of getting overexcited, but they could never be bad, so Caroline was talking to me. Old Cate had been difficult, moaning about everything and never satisfied with her lot, as far as I could make out. New Catherine was a different kettle of fish, but Caroline was obviously still wary, totally unaware that she had said my magic words. I needed to see Rebecca, because she ought to have messaged Kelly/Cate by then, but the holidays were slipping past and with the Easter weekend ahead of us, when most people would spend time with their families, and I did not expect to get too many chances to talk to my confidante. So, it was a competition between me and the twins to be the best behaved as we walked along the high street towards the shop that sold all the school uniforms in the area, including Redstone. Mostly because I needed to talk to Rebecca, but also because I wanted Caroline to trust me as much as I trusted her. I could see that she would want to keep a special eye on me, because of the difficult week I had endured after becoming Catherine, but she was also worried about any sudden return of the behaviour of old Cate, which I was learning much more about, day by day.

Obviously, old Cate had not done anything really bad, by Redstone standards. Kelly was not the worst behaved girl at Redstone, by any means. I was a good student, by those mediocre Redstone standards at least, attending all my lessons, mostly doing my homework and getting reasonable grades when compared with the rest of my class. But Kelly had still done things that would horrify stuffy old Mrs Scott and Caroline. The Buckingham-Montague family, and the Scott's, who were the only other Deepdene family I had really got to know as Catherine so far, lived in a very different world to Kelly. Broomwaters was basically a palace, hidden behind high walls and electric gates, and Deepdene was unbelievably strict, giving pupils more or less no chance to mess around like Kelly used to do. But Cate had rebelled against all that, when she moved into Broomwaters and started at Deepdene, after Charles had married Caroline. Her crimes, as related by Rebecca, seemed really mild to my Kelly side, but at Deepdene, and with someone like Caroline, it would have caused real shock waves, I thought. At Deepdene, Cate had apparently made it quite clear to everyone that she did not want to be there. She was less than polite to teachers, and especially prefects, spent a lot of her time staring out of windows during lessons, and put absolutely no effort into anything. At home, she had to be made to do anything Caroline wanted, and moaned about everything all the time. All of that caused her parents to put her down one year, one day, back into year seven, and after that Rebecca felt that Cate was slightly better, but I could see why my appearance as Catherine had quickly changed the mood at Broomwaters. I was their dream come true.