✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

18. Meeting People

Getting to Greater Ashfields should have been easy. The busses were regular, and stopped every two or three minutes along the route. However, Palmerston didn't seem to have any central bus depot; just different circular routes around the centre. Some of them went back to Ashfields, some to other towns that Tess had only heard the names of. She knew that the number 74 was the Raybridge—Palmerston circular, because she'd used it quite a lot before. But that was no use to her because she wasn't heading for anywhere on that route today. It would have been fine if she had some reason to visit her old house, but she needed to head into town.

She missed the first bus, because when it came it was heading in exactly the wrong direction, and there wasn't a break in traffic long enough for her to reach the bus stop on the other side of the road. Asking her phone for transit directions had told her which street she needed to catch it at, but didn't seem to show the direction. Thankfully, she wasn't too bothered about a little delay, and she knew that if she just crossed over there would be another one along sooner or later. So she stood and waited, leaning against the least-rusted side of the bus shelter while she tapped out a quick message on her phone. Her friends would know right away that she was likely to be delayed ten minutes, and she hoped that they wouldn't mind. It wasn't like any of them was universally punctual; and Clatter allowed them to let her know with a single tap that they'd seen her message, so she knew nobody would be wondering where she had got to.

When she caught sight of herself reflected in the window of a little shop opposite, Tess almost did a double take. She'd thought that she looked pretty good before, but now she was impressed with how mature she looked. Maybe not as tall as most girls her age, and a little underdeveloped physically, but that would come with time. What impressed her was how serious she looked, like she had everything sorted out and nothing was going to worry her. In a way, perhaps, she looked a little more like Gabby. She wasn't in a suit, but there was something familiar in that pose, and that expression. Maybe she was coming to understand her cousin more, or just starting to understand herself.

She snapped a quick photo of herself just in case she couldn't recreate the same look later. She'd have to share something to let everyone know she was getting on well after moving to a new home. Friends complimenting her on her pics were the one thing she missed from starting new schools. The people she used to know would be universally positive and give a wave of compliments to keep her spirits up for a couple of weeks until they forgot about her, but now she had the same friends, it seemed strange to move but not have a new and exotic landscape to show herself off against.

The bus came before she could send any of those messages, and once it set off she kept herself occupied just playing silly games on her phone. It would take nearly half an hour to get to Ashfields, and she assumed that it would still be early in the morning for most of the people she might have wanted to talk to. She did briefly consider calling her parents, to let them know she was getting back into the swing of things. She might not like them always peering into her lifestyle, and she knew that she didn't need their help, but it would be polite to let them know that there was nothing to worry about. But she paused for a second before making the call, when she realised that she had absolutely no idea what time it would be in far-off San Lorenzo. It could have been lunchtime, or it could have been the middle of the night. She would have to look up the time difference before she called them again. She was used to sleeping erratically for a few days after moving, and being unable to wake up at a sensible time, but this was the first time she'd had a real reason to call someone who wasn't in her current time zone, and it was a shock to realise just how little she knew about the arrangement of different countries in time.

That gave her enough to think about for the journey, and she was stepping out onto Hilbert Avenue. After all the things that might have slowed her down getting here, she was back on familiar ground.

Spike was already there, and Annette. They were standing outside the Swaggery, the girls' favourite place to check out quirky jewelry. There was everything displayed in the window, from faux-antique brooches to wannabe-gangsta bling, all at prices that weren't completely out of reach for a couple of teenage girls who wanted to change it up a bit. But that wasn't the point on this kind of shopping trip. More than likely, in five minutes they would have fixed their collective attention on something on display in the window, a particular ring that was discounted for good reason, and taking turns to add their own little twist to fantasies about the kind of person who would voluntarily purchase something so hideous. Occasionally they might see something they liked, but that wasn't the point in a shop like this. It wasn't the point of the day at all.

Today it only took them ten minutes to assume that one set of rings was actually a torture device. They knew that some people liked to have a series of tacky gold rings spelling out a word, although their best guesses about the reasons all seemed to fall short. But in a town like this, not the most bohemian of places, why would someone choose to buy something like that bearing Greek characters? The stories started with gangsters who liked to leave a mark when they punched someone, but Tess was able to tell them that the unfamiliar characters spelled out the words 'War' and 'Peace', which seemed a rather unusual choice. Perhaps, she said, they were used by the Greek Mafia to leave people with bruises that reminded them precisely why they had earned a beating.

Only Spike could have managed to one-up that feat of imagination, and he did. He spun a tale of the Greek Inquisition, funded by a secret society of half-elven immigrants from a fantasy land, who didn't fully understand what they were writing. It was completely absurd, even more so than their previous attempts, but it just fit the escalating mood of silliness. And all three were laughing out loud before Chloe and Kim arrived to join them.

"Having fun without us?"

Tess jumped in surprise at the tap on her shoulder, and when she got her breath back she still couldn't talk through the insistent fit of giggles that now lurked behind her serious facade.

"Why, Miss Kim, I think perhaps you have startled my friend. She seems quite unable to warn you about the wiles of the Greek Inquisition." the voice was perfect. Nasal, and with a faint accent, it was the kind of thing that could bring instant laughter to any fan of Live From Palmerston whether they understood the context or not. That had always been Spike's gift. When he was being serious, he could say exactly the right words, but when he wanted to make someone laugh the words didn't even matter; he could call up any character from pop culture just with the right voice, and when he coupled that with an appropriate style of speaking, just the right mix of pretentious and pompous phrasing, that laughter was pretty contagious.

"Is it okay if I get something to eat?" Chloe asked, without dismissing the giggles that had . "I know I just got here, but I had to deal with Dyllan again, so I skipped breakfast."

"Early lunch?" Spike suggested. "We got all afternoon to hang out."

Everybody nodded. Tess didn't check the time until they'd decided, but she was sure that it must be after eleven, so there was no reason they couldn't all get some food. She'd only recently had a substantial breakfast, but that probably meant she would be able to sustain herself on a less substantial meal, and maybe save some money at the same time.