Dreamstone

Happy

My father told me about dropping me down to year six, for the rest of the school year, on the Thursday night, twenty-four hours after I accepted my fate. His reasons were logical, after the results of my end of term tests. Not only was my Latin non-existent, but I was clearly behind in every subject, which would take a lot of time and hard work to rectify. But it would, looking on the bright side, also mean that I would be in the same class as the twins. Charles was worried about telling me, no doubt because the old Cate made such a fuss about being kept down a year when she started at Deepdene. But I knew it was meant to be. So, I said all the right things, and cried in all the right places, but it did not bother me. Even as I was being kissed and cuddled as they tried to reassure me that everything would be all right, once I was on my new medication and I started to grow, I knew that it was what I needed. My brain was still cloudy, and gallingly obtuse, but love conquers all, so they say. I had no doubts anymore. No mad hope about making the magic put me back into my old life. Caroline, Mummy, let me, Grace and Chloe sleep in the same cot that night, because the twins wanted to comfort me, and I wanted to be close to them, forever. Kelly always hated being alone.

"Do you want to go on the swings, Catherine?" Rebecca asked, on the Friday morning in the safe play area. She was holding my hand, looking out for me, as always. I turned and looked back over my shoulder, to the terrace next to the café. Caroline was sitting there, with Auntie Debra, and she waved at me. I waved back with my free hand, chewing my lip. "Your Mummy would love to see how high you can swing today...don't you think?"

"Not as high as me," Chloe insisted, dancing around Rebecca and me, looking sweet in her red and white polka dot raincoat with red ribbons in her hair, the same as me.

"Can we just watch the twins?" I asked, looking up at Rebecca. She smiled, and nodded, so we walked to the bench to the side of the swings. She sat down, smoothing out her own green raincoat, and I climbed up onto her lap.

"You are becoming a real lap girl, aren't you?" She sighed, putting her arms around me.

"Uh huh," I agreed, watching Grace and Chloe using their legs to pick up speed and height on the swings.

"Is Kelly still in there?" She sighed, kissing the top of my head.

"Not really."

"And are you ok with that?"

"I think so...the Dreamstone turned me into Catherine because it was what I needed...and I do need this." I murmured, snuggling up against my friend.

"Don't you miss Kelly...or your real Mum?"

"Kelly is still there...with her Mum...I am just here." I sighed, as she kissed my hair. "It's a life swap...no one is missing anyone...and I think I needed a proper family...a different life to the one I had...and maybe Cate needed the opposite?"

"As long as you are happy?"

"I am, I promise."

And I was. Not about being in diapers, or being dropped down another year, or being treated like a baby, but I was happy about being loved, and about having a family. Rebecca, who was like a big sister to all three of us, put me down on the bench and went to push Chloe and Grace on the swings, and I got up to stretch my legs. I walked around the edge of the play area, next to the fence, be closer to Rebecca, chewing my bottom lip. It was a nice day, and I felt ok, with my family.

"Hello, Cate." Kelly/Cate Hughes said, taking me by surprise. She was on the other side of the wire fence, dressed in a pair of tight jeans and my favourite bomber jacket.

"It's Catherine."

"Oh, sorry...the one in my head was always Cate...but I just wanted to make sure that you were all right?" She said, smiling and confusing me.

"Are you saying that you are Kelly again?" I asked, frowning.

"I think so...it's weird, isn't it?"

"So...I am Catherine, then? Kelly is back where we belong?"

"I sort of remember Cate...I know all about her life...but I am Kelly."

"And I remember Kelly...I thought I was Kelly...deep down?"

"Maybe you are? Cate wasn't very happy...and this is magic, isn't it?"

"Yes...we think so...but how can I be both...if you are Kelly?"

"No idea," Kelly shrugged, as I stared up at her. She looked very much like a big girl to me in her jeans and jacket, but she also looked like me. In my head, it was like looking into a mirror in a way, because she was so familiar to me, so part of me. "This is weird, but I wanted you to know that I was ok...and Mum is ok...so, you can enjoy being you..."

"Come away, Catherine...she will only upset you," Rebecca called out, hurrying over

"No, Rebecca...it's not Cate...it's Kelly," I said, as Rebecca arrived and grabbed my hand to protect me. So, I brought her up to date, and then explained all about Professor Rand to Kelly as well, as best I could.

"But I didn't ask the Stone for anything...we were bumped into it?" Kelly pointed out.

"Yes, I know...I...I mean you...or is it we...we were just thinking what it would be like to be like a girl like me, weren't you?" I insisted, getting terribly confused. "So...doesn't that mean that it was Cate who asked for something...to be us...you...me?"

"But the Dreamstone doesn't give you what you want...it gives you what you need?" Kelly said, and we both nodded. "And you are happy now, right?"

"Yes...thanks to you...I think?"

So, it was a happy ending for everyone. I am still not sure how much of Kelly is left inside me, but I do not think there is any Cate. Catherine is a happy little girl, thriving in year six at Deepdene, with the twins to look after me, and Rebecca keeping an eye on us all. Mummy and Daddy are pleased with the new me, and I love them, so much. I am still having accidents, and the medicine I have to take is vile, but I think I am going to grow. I have not been back to the Victoria and Albert Museum, but if I do ever go, I am not going anywhere near the Dreamstone ever again.