Tracy Beaker Returns - The Untold Story of Tiffany

Don’t Look Back

“Pass us the milk will you Gus?”  Lily called across the table.

“No, I’m using it.” He said.

“But I’ve been waiting for ages, come on!” 

The typical breakfast-at-the-dumping-ground scene greeted Tracy as she walked in, and it was one that she had seen too many times before.  Toast was scattered over the table like confetti and she could count at least two fresh juice stains on the cloth. 

She grabbed herself an orange out of the bowl and sat down in the only spare seat, next to Sapphire who finished her own breakfast and left the room almost immediately afterwards. 

“So,” Liam was saying to Frank, who was next to him, “We either buy two new controllers for Guitar Smash 5 or we carry on using the controller we’ve got and get Guitar Smash 6. What do you think?”

“Guitar Smash 6 and use the old controller.” Frank said and Liam nodded. The two of them had been saving up for new controllers for months, but apparently that went out the window at the prospect of a whole new game.  Tracy smiled to herself as she remembered Lol and Bouncer having virtually the same conversation when she lived here. Some things never change.

“Right you lot, settle down I need to tell you something.” Mike said as he walked in. Toby put down the piece of toast he was aiming at Johnny.  “You’re all getting a new house-mate today!”

There was only a few seconds silence before the babble broke out again. Only Carmen seemed to be remotely interested.

“Who is it?” she asked him before tucking into her cereal.

“Well I’d say she’s about Liam and Frank’s age and she used to live here when she was tiny. I think she was here when Tracy was.” Mike said, giving Tracy a sideways glance. This got the rest of their attention, as Tracy didn’t exactly tell all on her previous life at the dumping ground.

Tracy, however was trying to rack her brains to think who had been around at the same time as she had, but to only be thirteen now. There wasn’t anyone, was there?

“Her name’s, umm.” another glance at Tracy. “Her name’s Tiffany Golddigga.”

Of course, of course it would be Tiffany. Tiffany who would hate her guts now, and have good reason too. She’d treated the little four year old, as she would’ve treated a sister, but that little four year old wasn’t likely to want to be sisters any more.

*****

Tiffany sat in the car. She could see the taxi driver staring at her in the mirror. She glowered at him and he looked quickly away again, she didn’t like people staring at her.

“So Tiffany, when we get here you, I and the head care worker, I think his name is...”

“His name’s Mike Milligan.”

“Yes. You, Mike and I are going to go into his office and get the basics about this place and then I’ll leave you there, okay?”

“What basics are there to tell me? I know the place inside out. Have done for as long as I can remeber.”

Jack Matthews didn’t reply, Tiffany didn’t want him to.

The car turned into the driveway of Elmtree House, or as Tiffany had known it, The Dumping Ground. It looked no different than she remembered, even down to the group of excited children standing on the doorstep waiting for the new arrival, except this time she wasn’t with them.