When Dove returned to camp the smell of freshly made bread was drifting through the air. She followed it to where Petra was preparing breakfast. “Hi Petra, how long have you been up?” she asked.
Petra turned around, looking rather tired. “Long enough to bake two loaves of bread,” she sighed, gesturing to the bread on the side. “How long have you been up?”
“Since about 5 o clock, I didn’t hear you when I left,” Dove told her. “Anyway, why are you cooking so early?”
“Didn’t you remember?!? Today’s Cecily’s birthday,” Petra said, shocked. “She’s been on about it for about a week now and she demanded I made a large celebratory breakfast for her!”
Dove groaned and smacked her hand against her forehead. “Oh great, this is all I need! I try to make peace with her and then I forget her birthday!” Dove had been working really hard to get Cecily’s respect. Over the last few days it had seemed to be working - Cecily hadn’t been so nasty to her, but now Dove had forgotten her birthday, who knows what would happen? “I’d better try and find her a present.” Dove ran to her room, she had no idea what she could give Cecily for her birthday, perhaps talking to the others would help.
Dove re-emerged from her room about two hours later when she could hear the rest of the tribe chatting. She went to sit with Marco, Tammy, Anton and Laigh, who were talking about Cecily.
“I still can’t believe that Petra gave in to her and made her that breakfast!” Tammy said with a slight tone of jealousy in her voice.
“She won’t appreciate it, she never appreciates anything,” Anton sighed.
“Poor Petra, she’s been slaving away all morning for nothing,” Laigh said sympathetically. The others nodded in agreement.
Dove leant over and whispered “What are you guys giving her as presents?”
The others sighed, they didn’t really want to talk about Cecily’s birthday anymore. “I’m giving her a necklace I found,” Laigh told her. “I didn’t like it, but I think it’s the kind of thing she likes.”
“I got her some flowers,” Anton said. “I had no idea what else to get her.”
“I haven’t got her anything,” Tammy muttered. The others looked at her in shock. “Hey I don’t like her and she doesn’t particularly like me so why should I bother?”
“That’s true, I’ve noticed you don’t seem to see eye-to-eye,” Dove said understandingly. “What about you Marco? What did you get her?”
“A diary,” he said. “She hinted to me that she wanted one.”
“That’s not all she wants from you,” Tammy said quietly, however it wasn’t quiet enough as the others heard and started to snigger.
Marco looked apprehensively at them. “Help?” he said and they began to laugh.
Laigh put her arm round him in a friendly way. “Don’t panic, we’ll protect you!” she declared as if she were a super hero. They began to laugh harder when Anton asked “Hey Dove, what did YOU get her?”
Dove looked at the group worriedly. “I’d forgotten all about it until Petra reminded me earlier,” she confessed.
The others looked at her horror-stricken. “What? You forgot?” Laigh gasped.
“You’re in for trouble now” Tammy warned her.
“I know, everything was just starting to look up and now I’m going to ruin it unless I think of something quickly!” she said distraughtly.
Marco hugged his step sister. “I’m sure you’ll think of the perfect present, you always have good ideas” he said reassuringly.
She smiled at him, “Thanks, I’m sure I will.”
Suddenly Michaela came running up. “Everyone! Cecily’s coming!” she announced. The group of friends looked at each other confusedly.
“Oh quickly, everyone get ready to pay homage to the darling Queen Cecily,” Tammy mumbled sarcastically.
Cecily skipped up. “Good morning everyone, isn’t it a lovely day?” and then sat down with Michaela and Lois.
“Look at the Three Musketeers” Anton whispered to the others.
“More like the ‘Three Little Pigs’,” Laigh whispered back as they looked longingly at the huge breakfast that Petra was bringing out.
Cecily stood up and looked apologetically at Petra. “Oh I’m soooo sorry, I’m just not feeling hungry today,” she shrugged and skipped off again, closely followed by her ‘fan club’. Petra just stood gob-smacked, holding the tray out in front of her.
Laigh, Tammy, Anton, Dove and Marco got up and went to her. Anton took the tray off of her while the others comforted her, she was sobbing exhaustedly. “I’m - I’m so tired!” she wailed “I’ve been up for hours preparing this and now she tells me she isn’t hungry!”
“Oh Petra, it looks wonderful” Tammy said gently “Cecily’s just an arrogant pig.”
“Yeah, she always puts herself before others,” Laigh added.
“Thanks guys, hey why don’t you eat it?” Petra suggested “You deserve it more than her.”
“Thanks!” Marco said hungrily, the others all started to thank her as well and then tucked in to the best breakfast they had eaten in a long time.
Dove sighed contentedly and looked at the paper. “Finished.” she said proudly. She had finally thought of the perfect present for Cecily - a portrait. She knew how vain Cecily was and so a picture of herself would definitely please her.
Connor looked over her shoulder. “Hey, not bad!” he said, impressed.
“Not bad? I’ve spent three hours drawing it and all you can say is not bad?!?” she said, pretending to be angry. They looked at each other and laughed, Dove gave Connor a quick kiss and said “Connor, you’re wonderful.”
“Not as wonderful as you” he said gently and was about to kiss her when someone hammered on the door.
“Dove! Connor! The party’s about to begin!” Michaela’s voice piped up. Michaela and Lois were giving Cecily a surprise party, however the others had a suspicion that Cecily had planned it herself.
“OK we’ll be out in a moment!” Dove called back.
Connor looked confused. “In a moment? Why not now?” he asked.
She looked seriously at him. “Connor, there’s something I need to tell you.” she said gently, taking his hand in hers.
“What? You can tell me anything, you know that,” he smiled softly.
“This is really hard for me Connor, I don’t know how to put it,” she said.
Connor was mystified. “What, Dove?” he asked.
“I’m leaving soon,” she told him.
His eyes widened. “No, not again! Why Dove? You and Cecily are getting on now!” He was really upset, his true love was leaving again?
“I know, but I told you that I was only making sure Marco settled in,” she sighed sorrowfully. “But this time Connor I can’t leave you behind.”
“What are you saying Dove?” he asked her, even though he knew what she was getting at.
Dove took a deep breath, “I want you to come with me, leave this behind. Laigh’s a great leader, I’m sure she’ll be able to manage on her own.” Dove felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. However Connor was still in shock, could he leave the tribe he made behind?
“SURPRISE!”
It was half an hour later and everyone finally leapt out of their hiding spaces to greet Cecily. The reason they had been waiting for so long was that Lois had got it wrong, Cecily had been going for a walk - a long one - and as the tribe hadn’t realised that, they had waited for her to come along. Cecily tried her hardest to act surprised however she had never been much of an actress.
Tammy muttered “Told you so, didn’t I?”
“Oh is this for me?” Cecily exclaimed unnecessarily, as everyone rushed forward to give her their presents. She looked at her comrades and said “Oh Michaela, Lois, you’re the best friends a girl could have!” and started to hug them.
“How over-the-top?” Rochelle remarked.
Dove stepped forward to give Cecily her present. “I sense trouble...” Anton warned and they all began to stare persistently at the two girls. Cecily eyed the roll of paper suspiciously. “I hope you like it,” Dove said hopefully. Cecily took the roll of paper “It’s a picture I’ve drawn myself...” her voice faded as she saw Cecily’s face light up as she opened it. “It’s me! Oh I look wonderful!” she said selfishly, and didn’t even bother to thank Dove, who walked back to the others and breathed a sigh of relief.
“I told you that you’d come up with the perfect present!” Marco told her warmly. However, his face turned white as he saw Cecily heading towards him.
“So, how about a kiss for the birthday girl?” she asked him coyly, he looked at Laigh nervously who smiled encouragingly at him.
Suddenly he knew what to say. “Errr, no thanks Cecily, I’ll take a raincheck,” he shrugged apologetically and she stormed off in disgust. Marco grinned at Laigh, who held his hand more firmly.
Later, and Laigh was dancing with Marco even though he couldn’t dance very well and had the habit of treading on her toes. She noticed that Connor was sat alone, she leant forward and told Marco, “I’m going to talk to Connor now, OK?” He nodded a little disappointedly and they hesitantly dropped each other’s hand.
Laigh wandered over to Connor and sat herself next to him. “What’s wrong Connor? You’re not exactly the life of the party, are you?” she asked him teasingly.
He tried to smile but he couldn’t bring himself to. “I don’t know what I’m going to do!” he exclaimed. “I’m so confused.”
Laigh looked at him feeling a little bewildered. “What about, Connor?” she asked gently.
“Do you promise not to tell anyone?” She nodded. “It’s Dove, she’s leaving...” he sighed.
“What?!? Oh no...” Laigh interrupted.
“She wants me to go with her,” Connor looked at her. “I don’t know if I can leave though, I’m worried that the tribe may fall apart without me.”
“Hey I’m not going anywhere!” Laigh exclaimed. “I can look after this lot easily.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Sure as anything,” she replied reassuringly. “Anyway, the most important thing is that you follow your heart, just like I did all that time ago.”
“Was the right decision?” he asked.
“Yes, I miss my friends and Bray but if I hadn’t left I would never have met you, or my new friends, or...” she paused, “...Marco.”
“You really like him, don’t you?” he asked. She nodded dreamily.
All of a sudden there was a lot of shouting from the party, Connor and Laigh jumped up and ran to where a crowd was starting to form. Tammy was pinning Cecily to the ground. “If you ever say anything like that again you’ll regret it for the rest of your life...” Tammy said through clenched teeth.
“Hey what’s going on?” Connor asked as the fight was broken up.
“She said Anton was seeing someone else behind my back,” Tammy muttered.
“It’s true! I saw him hugging Sandy by the river the other day!” Cecily exclaimed.
“You stupid cow! Anton was comforting her! We’d had an argument and it really upset her! If you’d stuck around for a few minutes longer you would have seen me come and apologise!” Tammy explained.
Sandy and Anton stepped forward. “It’s true” Sandy told them.
“OK, so that’s that,” Laigh concluded. “Now let’s either get back to the party or start tidying up.”
The tribe decided to party, none of them wanted to face the clearing up. All with the exception of Tammy and Anton, who were fed up with Cecily, and Dove and Connor, who went to talk alone. Laigh found Marco and they began to dance again, Laigh rested her head on his shoulder and sighed contentedly. I’m so happy, she thought to herself, now I just hope that Connor makes the decision that will make him the happiest...
Laigh, Marco and Tammy weren’t the only ones who were awake. Connor was sat up in bed, Dove fast asleep at his side. He was thinking about what she had asked him the day before . He looked down at her, and brushed a few stray strands of her flame red hair off of her face. He smiled tenderly at the sleeping girl. He really did love her, but was he brave enough to walk out on the Wandering Minstrels for her? He recalled his conversation with Laigh, she had sounded so confident when she had assured him that she could run the tribe by herself. He then thought about the fight between Cecily and Tammy, how could he leave Laigh to cope with those two and their petty arguments? Would she be able to withstand the pressure by herself? He had noticed that she had recently looked exhausted from all the work she’d been doing as well as performing. He sighed, jumped out of bed and started to dress. As usual there was a lot of work to do and been as he was awake he might as well get an early start.
Breakfast time. Everyone had emerged from their rooms and were sat around listening to Marco’s new song as Laigh and Connor walked up. They had been clearing up the mess that had been left from the party (after the party had ended everyone had suddenly come up with excuses to leave quickly so they wouldn’t have to tidy up) and were starving. Everyone applauded as Marco finished playing.
“That’s brilliant Marco!” Rochelle commended.
“Yeah, the words are beautiful,” Meg added.
“Well thanks, but don’t give me all of the credit,” Marco said. “It was Laigh who came up with the lyrics.”
“Really? They’re brill, Laigh!” Sandy grinned.
“They’re not that good, Marco has changed a few of them,” she replied modestly.
“Oh come on Laigh, they were amazing!” Marco exclaimed and flashed that cute smile in her direction.
She sat down next to him and Meg and Sandy looked at each other with a knowing expression on their faces. Petra joined them. “Hi guys, where’s Tammy and Anton?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Meg shrugged.
“Anton’s probably trying to wake her up,” Sandy laughed. “She’s such a heavy sleeper!” They all laughed then.
Laigh didn’t know whether or not she should say anything about earlier that morning. She looked over at Dove and Connor, who were sat alone, talking about something. Laigh had a good idea that she knew what it was they were talking about, she wondered if Connor had decided to go or not.
She was about to go and talk to them when Tammy wandered up. “Has anyone seen Anton?” she asked. The group shook their heads and she bit her lip, she seemed a little agitated about something.
“What’s wrong Tammy?” Sandy asked her.
“Nothing, it’s just I don’t know where he’s gone,” Tammy sighed. However she was definitely hiding something from her friends.
Cecily and Michaela walked up. “If you’re looking for Anton, I saw him heading towards the river,” Cecily told her casually.
Suddenly Tammy turned as white as a sheet and her eyes widened. “Oh no...” she gasped quietly and suddenly started to run.
“Tammy?” Laigh stood up and called out, what was wrong with her?
She began to chase her to catch up when Connor stopped her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Tammy, worried about Anton, she’s gone to the river,” she explained.
“I’ll come with you,” he said.
Marco also stood up, “I will too” and so they all began to sprint wildly to the river.
When they got there they found Tammy screaming on the bank. “Help! No, this can’t be happening!” she wailed.
When they rushed up to see what was wrong a terrible sight met their eyes. There, floating in the river, was Anton.
“Oh no...” Connor murmured.
“Help him, please he can’t be dead!” Tammy begged and Laigh hugged her as Marco dived into the water and swam up to Anton.
He dragged him out and felt for a pulse. Tammy rushed up and knelt next to him, looking hopeful. “I’m sorry Tammy, he’s gone,” he sighed and she began to sob even harder as she held his drenched body in her arms. Laigh also began to cry.
“It’s all my fault Laigh! I killed my own boyfriend!” she lamented.
“Don’t say that Tam, you couldn’t have done anything!” Laigh sniffled.
“That’s what you think.” Tammy murmured woefully...
Episodes 13-15
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