When I next see Charlie, I’m going to be very icicle-like with him.

I will be cool friendly, not rude but just cool, and forgetting about “it,” whatever “it” is I am supposed to be forgetting about. I’ve forgotten “it” already.

Then I nearly died of a heart attack because the girls popped out from behind a fence with their umbrellas up, like three mad Mary Poppins.

I shouted, “Jesus, Joseph, and Mary!!!!!”

And they all laughed. Vaisey said, “Guess who’s here!”

Honey popped up from behind the fence.

She was sooo excited.

“Loobbyyluuuullah!!!! Ooohhhh, it’s WEALLY WEALLY gweat to see you!!!!” And she came over and hugged me. Then we all started hugging. And jumping up and down.

She’s just the same, sooo Honeyish. Not in a sticky way, just smoothy and golden and sweet. So pretty and with lovely golden hair and quite curvy. When she let go of me for a minute I looked at her properly.

She had an amazing mink-colored suede miniskirt and jacket on. And long boots to match. And her hair looked sort of “done.”

I said, “Hey, have you got false eyelashes on?”

She smiled and said, “Yeth, they awe weally natuwal, don’t you think?”

And she blinked a lot so we could all see.

I said, “I’m going to get some.”

Honey said, “Aww, Looby, you don’t need to, your eyeth are all gweeney and like a cat’th eyeth.”

I felt a little smile turning my mouth up at the corners, first the jiggling corkers and now the cat’s eyes. Life was good. Even as a boy reject. I said modestly, “Oh, eyes-smyes, they’re just a bit green, you know. Nothing unusual about that. Loads of people have green eyes.”

Vaisey said, “No, they don’t, it’s mostly brown.”

I said, “Oh really? Yes, I suppose it is. People have, you know, noticed my eyes are quite green. Cat’s eyes they said as well. Yes, there is a boy and he calls me Green Eyes so I suppose that must mean that they really are green and not just … brown.”

Flossie said, “Lullah, have you ever heard the expression ‘Shut up about your eyes’? Yes, they are nice, but just shut up about it now.”

I looked at her and said, “You can’t stop me.”

She said, “I can.”

And I said, “I know.”

She shook my hand.

We linked up as we walked along. Wow, proper friends, I’ve got proper friends. The Tree Sisters. And it has stopped raining. We put our umbies down and Vaisey said, “We’re like the Brontë sisters on a good day.”

I couldn’t help thinking that Chaz, Em, and Anne didn’t ever have good days. Unless you count the day they got an extra turnip, and Em wrote about it in Wuthering Turnips.

Even Jo was leaping up and down like an excitable retriever. It was my pep talk about human glue kissing that did it. I am quite wise in the ways of boys. Even though I don’t know what I am talking about.