Laigh sat in a huff, everyone could see that she was in a very bad mood and
so kept their distance. That is everyone except for Rochelle, she wandered
up to Laigh and sat down next to her.
“Leia? How are you feeling?” she asked gently.
“Terrible,” announced Laigh.
Rochelle sighed and asked “So terrible that you won’t do me a favour?”
Laigh looked at her and forced a smile. “No, not that terrible. What can I do for you?”
“You couldn’t look after Taylor, could you?” she asked, almost apologetically. “Y’see I’ve gotta go into the city to do something...”
“Of course I will!” Laigh interrupted.
Rochelle smiled gratefully “Great! He’s in his room, I told him to wait there. Thank you sooooo much. You know how I hate to take him into the city, if I lost him...” she jumped up and set off on her journey “I won’t be too long, I promise!”
Laigh also got up, but much more slowly. She limped to Taylor’s room. Taylor was Rochelle’s four-year-old brother. He had only been a baby when the virus had killed the adults and so he didn’t remember his parents, Rochelle was very protective of
him and sometimes acted as if he were her own. However she had told him
about his mum and dad, but he was too young to understand what had
happened.
She walked in calling out “Hi Taylor! Your Aunty Leia’s here!”
Taylor ran to her and hugged her legs. “Leia! What are you doing here? Are you looking for ‘Elle?” Taylor called his sister ‘Elle as he had always thought Rochelle was a mouthful.
Laigh picked him up and sat down, putting him on her lap. “No, I’m looking after you!” she announced and his face lit up “So, what do you want to do?”
“Can I go to Anton for another lesson?” Anton was giving Taylor dancing lessons.
Laigh grinned. “Sure! C’mon then, let’s go and find him, that’s if he’s not too busy.”
He jumped off her lap and she got up and took hold of his hand as they left the room. “Anton!” Taylor screamed happily and ran to him.
Anton picked him up and spun him around “Hey there Taylor! Come for a lesson?” Taylor nodded excitedly “Well I’ve got plenty of spare time at the moment, so let’s go!” He waved to Laigh.
“Thanks Anton!” she called.
“No problem Leia!” he called back as they headed towards the practice room.
Laigh sat down and looked up at the sky, suddenly she found herself in someone’s shadow. She turned around to find Cecily stood over her. “What do you want?” she asked.
“Just to talk” Cecily said sweetly, too sweetly. She sat down next to her “How’s your ankle?”
“Fine,” Laigh replied suspiciously “Now what do you want?”
“Like I said, to talk, Laigh,” Cecily said casually. “Now, how’s Bray? Oh and
Amber, and their little daughter? Isn’t it nice, I bet you’re REALLY pleased for
them...”
Laigh’s eyes widened when she realised what she was saying “How do you know?” she demanded in a lowered voice.
“Oh, I happened to be passing by your room when Bray came on his little
visit. He’s cute, isn’t he? Who is he?”
“He’s my cousin, PLEASE you can’t tell ANYONE about this!” she begged.
“Why should I keep it to myself?” asked Cecily nastily “Oh yes, of course, your reputation...” She got up and walked away. “See you later, Laigh.”
She couldn’t take it anymore, she stormed off to her room and lay on her bed
crying, why had this had to happen? Now Cecily would tell Lois, the biggest
gossip of the tribe, and by that evening the whole tribe would know. Then
she’d have to tell them the truth about her past.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. “Leia? It’s me, I came to apologise...” Connor said sheepishly.
“Come in, we need to talk anyway,” she sighed.
He walked in and noticed straight away that she’d been crying. “What’s wrong Laigh sweetheart?” he asked with concern.
“It’s awful Connor, Cecily knows!” she exclaimed worriedly.
“What does she know?” he asked, his face had gone pale, he knew what was
coming next.
“About Bray and Amber! And my nick-name!” she sobbed.
He held her and said “Oh no! That’s awful!”
“It’s worse than that, she’s going to tell everyone, I know she is!” She sobbed
harder.
He held her and there was another knock on the door and Rochelle
called “Leia, I’m back!” Laigh dried her eyes and opened the door, Rochelle smiled
“Where’s the little monster then? How’s he been?”
“I wouldn’t know, he’s been with Anton having a dancing lesson” Laigh
explained.
“Oh OK, I’ll go and try the practice room then,” Rochelle replied.
Laigh and Connor walked with her and talked about Rochelle’s trip to the city. When
they reached the practice room Anton was stood outside - alone.
“Hey you guys, where’s Taylor?” he asked.
Rochelle looked confused “I thought he was having a lesson with you?” she replied.
“He did, I sent him back to Leia’s room” he answered.
Rochelle’s face went pale and she turned to Connor “Could you get the tribe together to see if anyone’s seen him. He’s probably with one of the other girls,” she said calmly.
Connor called “Everyone, could you come here for a minute?”
The entire tribe wandered to where Connor, Rochelle, Laigh and Anton were stood. “Has anyone seen Taylor?” The group looked at each other and there was a lot of murmuring. Everyone shook their heads.
It felt like there was a boulder in Laigh’s stomach “Oh no...” she murmured.
“NO!!!!” screamed Rochelle suddenly “Where is he? He can’t be missing, please no!” she started to sob uncontrollably. Anton and Connor tried to comfort her. Laigh couldn’t do anything, she felt so guilty - it was all her fault, she shouldn’t have gone off like that, she should have waited for Taylor and Anton to finish and then he wouldn’t be gone. She stood, frozen to the spot.
Rochelle and Laigh were sat sipping cups of tea in silence. Laigh couldn’t think of a thing to say and Rochelle was too shocked to say anything. But suddenly she dropped her cup, spilling hot tea everywhere and leapt up. “This is all your fault Leia!” she shouted accusingly. “If you hadn’t have gone off and left Taylor with Anton then he would never had gone missing!” Tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“No! Please, I know it’s my fault! It was irresponsible of me to leave!” Laigh was distraught.
“It’s not just your fault, Anton should have walked him back to your room. I blame both of you!” She was so angry, but it was really the shock that was making her blame them. “Now leave me alone! I NEVER want to see your face AGAIN!” she screamed, pointing at the door.
Laigh, who was now close to tears, ran out of the room, Rochelle slammed the door behind her. Laigh didn’t stop running, even though her ankle hurt a great deal. She ran to the woods and started to cry against a tree. She was so miserable, she couldn’t go back, could she? She decided that the only way to get Rochelle to be friends with her again was to try and find Taylor herself.
She started to wander deeper into the woods when suddenly she heard Connor’s distinct voice calling “Taylor! Taylor, where are you?” He stopped when he saw a very distressed Laigh standing nearby. “Laigh! What are you doing here?”
“Rochelle blames me and Anton for Taylor’s disappearance,” she explained. “She told me to leave and so I thought I’d come and help search.” She suddenly crumpled up and burst into tears again. “I know it’s all my fault! It was just when Rochelle said it...”
“It’s not your fault at all Leia, honestly,” Connor sighed and started to comfort her. He noticed that he’d been doing this a lot recently. “We all make mistakes sometime in our lives, you know that.”
“Well how come I make them more than others?” she asked. “I mean, look at my life - first of all the virus, then my boyfriend cheats on me with the worst person possible, then I leave all my friends and family behind, now this...” she sobbed into his shoulder and he just held her.
“We’ll find him, I promise...” he assured her.
Suddenly there was a cry and Meg appeared from nowhere. “Connor! Leia? What are you doing here?” she asked.
“What is it Meg?” Connor asked excitedly.
“It’s Taylor! We’ve found him!” she exclaimed.
Connor grinned at Laigh, “See? What did I say?” She breathed a sigh of relief.
“There’s one thing though,” Meg said more seriously “He’s unconscious, Sandy thinks he slipped and fell.”
Connor looked at Laigh, who once again looked worried. “I hope he’s going to be OK” she said anxiously.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine!” Connor replied optimistically.
Back at the camp. Taylor was lying in his bed, while Rochelle sat keeping watch of him. She was exhausted but wouldn’t sleep until she knew her brother was going to be alright.
“I think he tripped over the root of a tree and banged his head” Tammy whispered to Laigh, who were stood along with Anton at the door. “He should be OK” she smiled at Laigh reassuringly and gave Anton a quick kiss before leaving.
Anton turned to Laigh and said “I feel so terrible, if only I’d gone back with him...”
Laigh smiled. “It’s my fault, I should have stayed” she sighed.
Rochelle shot them a look. “Both of you are to blame. You know that,” she snapped, then looked softly at Taylor, who was still out cold.
Someone tapped Laigh on the shoulder, she turned to find Meg stood behind her. “Connor wants to see you, he’s in his room.”
Laigh nodded and said goodbye to Anton. She was terrified as she walked towards Connor’s room, she had an awful feeling that she knew what Connor wanted her for - he was going to ask her to leave. But what would she do? She’d have to find somewhere to stay and a new tribe probably. She knocked on his door and waited for him to shout “Enter!” in his usual way before she let herself in. Connor was sat in an armchair. He smiled at her and gestured towards the seat opposite him. She sat down in it and stared at him. “Meg said you wanted to see me,” she told him.
“Yes I did, I need to ask you something,” he sighed.
She was now certain that he was going to tell her to go. “Connor, I know what you’re about to ask me...” she started.
“You do?” Connor asked, surprised.
This confused Laigh, why was he acting like this when it was obvious that he was throwing her out? “Yes, and if you want me to, then that’s fine” she sighed.
“Erm, you’ve lost me Laigh, if I want you to what?” he asked.
“Leave, of course,” she said knowingly. “I made a big mistake and no one will
forgive me for it, I know that.”
“Wait a moment, you thought I was going to kick you out?” he asked her, shocked. “What, and lose my star dancer? No way!” Laigh looked so relieved that Connor couldn’t help but laugh. “No, don’t be stupid! They’ll forgive you, I promise."
“Well what did you want to ask me then?” Laigh asked, perplexed.
“Well...” Connor started. “I’ve been thinking recently...”
“About what?” Laigh asked suspiciously.
“About how much you mean to me, and the rest of the tribe,” he replied. “And
how much the tribe means to you.”
“It means the world to me!” Laigh exclaimed. “What are you getting at?”
“I’ve been snowed under recently as you know, and well I think it’s starting to get to me. So...” he stopped deliberately.
“So what?!?” Laigh asked. She was bewildered.
“How would you like to be joint leader?” he asked.
Laigh gasped, he was asking HER to be joint leader? “Are you sure?” she asked.
“Never been so sure in my life about anything.” he said firmly.
“I’ll have to think about it...” she replied.
“Take all the time you need!” he smiled.
Laigh got up. “I’ll go and think about it now, see you soon.” she grinned, she couldn’t
believe it.
“Bye Laigh!” he replied.
She felt as if her feet had left the ground as she walked back to her room, what an opportunity! Joint leader! Bray would be proud of her, that’s if she decided to take it, it was a lot of work to take on.
She was just opening her door when she heard “Leia? We need to talk.” Rochelle walked up to her, hesitantly “I need to apologise, Taylor’s woken up...”
“Great!” Laigh exclaimed “How is he?”
“Fine, he told me what happened. Apparently he was heading for your room when someone came up to him and told him that you’d gone into the woods. He thought he’d go and look for you there. If he knew it was a lie he would never had gone. The person who told him was...” she paused, “Cecily.”
“Cecily?!?” exclaimed Laigh. “I should have known!”
“I’m going to Connor to tell him.” Rochelle said “Anyway, I hope you can forgive me.”
“Of course I can! See ya and good luck!” Laigh called to her.
She was just about to open her door again when Cecily pounced, “Aaah Laigh, I’m glad I caught you. I see Rochelle’s told you about my little joke,” she said.
“It wasn’t very funny!” Laigh snapped.
“And now she’s going to tell Connor. And that means I’ll get in trouble, and if I get in trouble, do you want to know what I’m going to do?” Cecily asked.
“What?” Laigh asked suspiciously.
“You know Lois? Well, I’m going to tell her your little secret and everyone will know by tomorrow night. Anyway, bye Leia.” she sauntered off.
Laigh was left alone, what was she going to do? Let Cecily get into trouble or face the truth, before Cecily told her secret?...
The next morning finally came. Laigh wandered out of her room, worn out from lack of sleep. The others were sat around eating breakfast. Laigh went to sit with Tammy, Anton, Sandy and Meg. As she sat down Meg leant towards her and asked “Have you heard the news?”
Laigh gave her a puzzled look. “It depends what you’re talking about” she replied.
“That Cecily told Taylor you were in the woods with Connor, so he went to find you!” she exclaimed.
“Isn’t it awful?” Sandy said. “How could someone, even if they are as nasty as Cecily, tell a little child a lie like that?”
“Who knows?” Laigh replied. “Yeah, I knew because Rochelle came to apologise last night before she went to see Connor about it.”
“Yeah, she came to see me this morning,” Anton said. “She was too tired to come and find me last night, poor girl.”
“Yeah, anyway, have you heard what’s happened now?” Tammy asked.
“No, what?” Laigh felt her heart start to pound.
“Cecily’s been sent to Connor’s room to talk,” she said in a hushed voice. Laigh felt the colour rush out of her cheeks.
“Are you OK, Laigh? You gone awfully pale all of a sudden” Meg asked. concernedly.
“Oh yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t get much sleep last night that’s all.” She tried to smile and found it very difficult, but it must have worked because Meg had started to chat to Sandy about something.
Tammy moved to sit next to Laigh and whispered “I KNOW that it was Cecily that set you up to fall on stage as well.”
“Oh Tammy, it was an accident, OK?” Laigh sighed exasperatedly. Tammy was always jumping to conclusions, usually involving Cecily in some way.
“No it wasn’t! You know Connor’s rule - no bottles or other objects to be left on or near the stage at any time,” she recited. “And you know everyone sticks to that rule, the only person stupid enough to break it is Cecily!”
“Maybe someone was having a bad day and forgot the rule - it happens, you know,” Laigh sighed again.
“No! I WON’T forget it, OK? Something needs to be done about Cecily, and if Connor won’t do anything...” she began, but couldn’t finish as Cecily had just walked out of Connor’s room. She looked furious. Michaela jumped up and ran to her “Cecily! What happened?” she asked sympathetically.
“I’m not allowed to perform for three weeks,” she grumbled. Tammy’s face lit up, Cecily noticed and glared at her.
Connor stuck his head out of his room and called “Tammy? Anton? Could I see you for a moment?” They got up and walked into his room.
Cecily walked over to Laigh. “I’ve changed my mind about telling Lois” she whispered.
“You have?” Laigh said with a sigh of relief.
“Yes. I’m going to tell everyone myself,” she announced to her. She stood in the centre of the group and shouted “Could I have everyone’s attention? I have an announcement to make...” Suddenly she stopped and started to stare. Everyone turned to see what she was looking at. Liam and Damon were stood there, with them was a seriously cute guy.
“Hey you guys! We’d like you to meet someone!” Damon said.
“This is Marco, he’s an old friend of ours, and a great musician!” Liam finished.
Marco flashed a sweet smile at everyone. Laigh looked at Cecily, who had obviously forgotten about her ‘announcement’ and was melting away.
“Erm, you were going to say something Cecily?” Sandy asked.
“Oh, it doesn’t matter,” she replied, a huge grin on her face. She stepped towards Marco, “Hi I’m Cecily, pleased to meet you.”
Marco looked at his friend’s for help. “Let’s go and find Connor, you’ll need to audition,” Damon said quickly. They turned and rushed to Connor’s room before Cecily could say anything else.
Marco wasn’t just a ‘great’ musician - he was brilliant! Laigh, Petra, who was another of the dancers, and Meg were sat watching him play the guitar.
“He’s brill!” Petra commented.
“Yeah, Connor will snap him up definitely!” Meg added.
“As well as being cute,” Laigh grinned.
“Yeah, did you see Cecily? I’ve never seen her like that!” Petra laughed.
“I wonder what that announcement was?” Meg said out loud.
“Oh I’m sure it was nothing,” Laigh said quickly and as Damon and Liam walked up saw the perfect opportunity to change the subject “Wow! He’s good!” she exclaimed.
“Thanks, Connor’s said he can join!” Damon said happily.
“That’s great! I bet you’re both pleased.”
They nodded. Petra and Meg decided to go for a walk and left just as Marco walked up. “Well? What did he say?” he asked nervously, sitting down beside Laigh.
“You’re in!” Liam exclaimed. Marco’s face lit up.
“Welcome to the Wandering Minstrels!” Laigh said warmly, he flashed that smile at her.
“Marco? This is Leia,” Damon introduced them. Marco grinned at Laigh again. “Nice to meet you, Leia.”
“Nice to meet you too!” she smiled. He is soooo cute, thought Laigh to herself. She snapped out of it as Connor walked up. “I hope you’ll enjoy it here. What made you decide to come anyway?” he asked.
“Well my step-sister said it was a great tribe and when I found out Liam and Damon were here I decided I’d give it a go!” he replied. They all laughed for some reason.
“Hey we’ll give you tour of the place!” Damon exclaimed, and so Damon, Marco and Liam left.
Laigh found herself alone with Connor, she had been doing a lot of thinking while she had been watching Marco play. “Connor...” she sighed. At the exact same moment Connor sighed “Leia...”
They smiled at each other and Laigh stood up. Her face became serious. “Look, I want to say sorry about last night” she said apologetically.
“It’s OK, I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything” he sighed.
“You did, asking Marco to join was great! Cecily totally fancies him! It should keep her off of my back for a while,” she laughed. Then that serious expression returned, “Connor, I’ve decided. If you still want me to be joint leader, I’d love to take the post!”
Connor’s face brightened. “You do? That’s brilliant!” he hugged her and spun her around as they laughed again. They stopped and looked at each other, they both grinned and Laigh had an awful feeling she knew what was coming next.
Connor leant in to kiss her but suddenly, “Connor! Thank goodness we’ve found you!” Tammy exclaimed as she and Anton came running up.
Laigh didn’t know whether to feel relieved or exasperated. “What’s wrong?” he asked, slightly annoyed at the interruption.
“Marco’s step-sister’s here to see him!” Anton said breathlessly “You are NEVER gonna believe who she is!...”
Episodes 7-9
Back to the Fan Fiction index
Back to The Tribe's Shopping Mall
Last updated 24/03/00© 2000 scaramouche@tribeworld.com