Shopping

[Janey Pascot]

Janey had turned 11 years old just a few hours ago. At the very same moment that the clock struck quarter past 9 in the morning, the letterbox had blown open and a letter had landed at her feet. She'd been waiting so long for this moment. It was her letter. She was finally accepted into Hogwarts. With her excitement buzzing, she'd been having a good day, and as it was her birthday, her family had given her money, which Janey put into her pocket for later. She was going to go shopping for new clothes for Hogwarts. Of course, it was still 9 months away, but she was too excited.

She didn't want to take any of her brothers or cousins with her. It wouldn't be the same to have them lolopping around behind her. She wanted to go by herself. Putting on her jeans and a small white jacket and hat, she left the house around noon, and headed down the round to the local shops. She could stay as long as she wanted, and she had plently of money to keep her going.

As she passed one of her favourite shops, one that was full of clothes that her mother just to take her to when she'd been really small, and decided to stop in it for her first destination. She entered the store and looked around her. It was just like she'd imagined. She wandered over to the kids range, and found a beautiful dress. It was brown with little orange threads around the waist and neck. She touch the soft material smiling. Today was going to be a fun day.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy squirmed on the couch as her father attacked her with tickles. "Stop!" she giggled, "Stop!" When her father finally left her alone to tickle-attack his son instead, Poppy's mother approached her with that look on her face. A sort of grimace parading itself as a smile. "There's supposed to be a sale on," her mother began cautiously. Poppy knew what was coming. Immediately, she fixed her mother with a stare and sat up. "My clothes fit just fine," Poppy butted in. She hated the long hours spent shopping, staring at slightly different bits of cloth or leather, or what-have-you. However, the truth was, Poppy was growing fast, and she had managed to grow two inches in the previous year. "Poppy, love," her mother said gently, "if you keep growing at this rate, your head will be through the ceiling. Please, let's just get you a new pair of trousers and a nice t-shirt.." Poppy continued to stare, and, for a moment, her mother appeared to have lost the battle.

It was Mr. Bloxam who saved the day.

"Tell you what, Poppers," Mr. Bloxam said with a smile, "if I give you some extra spending money to buy yourself something nice, will you do what your mother says and 'refresh your wardrobe'?" He had always had a way with the kids, one that Sarah Bloxam had never achieved. Poppy gave a small sigh and glanced towards her mother who was practically squatting over her seat, not sure whether or not this meant it was time to go. "Fine." She replied, a small sum of money being stuffed into her pocket as her father hugged her and told her not to spend it all on sweets.

---

"This one is good," Mrs. Bloxam beamed, dragging her daughter by the hand into yet another shop. They had already bought several t-shirts, a new pair of strong jeans ("Hopefully these will survive more than two weeks"), a pair of plain, black shoes, and a baggy grey jumper that Poppy insisted on buying in the hope of returning home sooner. Poppy stared around the shop; more clothes. More shoes. More jeans and trousers and dresses and skirts. It was never ending. With a resigned sigh, Poppy managed to slip through her mother's grip, and began searching the shop for something that would hopefully satisfy her mother's need to buy her new clothes. She was approaching the dresses when her eyes were drawn to another girl, one around her age. The girl seemed to be looking at one of the dresses. It seemed to make her happy. Maybe she could find one to make her mother happy? Poppy quickly began hunting through the racks.

---

---

 

[Janey Pascot]

Janey smiled as a girl a little taller than herself approved the same rack as her, and continued to look through the dresses that were avaliable. This young girl wasn't one to be scared of meeting new people, afterall, what was life without people? She tugged out a dress, very similar to the one she'd chosen in brown, however this one was blue, with green flowers. Janey smiled, and walked around the other side of the clothes rail.
"This one would suit you" she said, offeringly holding it up to the girl, "It would go with your eyes" she smiled, wondering if she wanted a dress, or simply to get away from her mother, whom Janey had not failed to notice. She put it at the front of the rack, incase the girl was not interested, and turned to look at the shoes behind her. "Those would go well too" she added, pointing out a pair of dark blue shoes. Deciding she should no longer interfere with the girl, she took her own dress and wandered off to the changing rooms. It was perfect. It didn't take her long to realize that. She made her way back through the store, and over to the cashier, waiting patiently for her turn. She wasn't going to spend her money all at once. To start with, one dress would do.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

The other girl suddenly spoke to her, and Poppy's eyebrows began to raise. She waited until the girl had moved away before she dared to approach the dress to further examine it. It was certainly not the worst dress in the world. Poppy lifted it up and held it against her body, performing a very brief dress-swishing movement. The other girl was definitely right about the dress, though Poppy could already see her mother forcing it onto her as she celebrated her eleventh birthday with her school friends.. Poppy had not noticed that her mother was currently walking towards her, having observed her trying the dress on. "That looks nice," she said with optimistic tones, hopeful that her daughter was finally cooperating. "We could get you a nice ribbon to go with that, and a pretty pair of shoes.." Poppy watched as her mother took hold of the dress. Mrs. Bloxam stroked it, muttering "lovely material" and holding it up against her daughter. Poppy glanced helplessly towards the other girl.

"I don't want it," Poppy added quickly, "I was just looking. I don't need a dress. I already have three." Her mother gave a slight laugh of amusement at her daughter's words; "Three? Two of those went to the charity shop, and the other is full of holes." The shop assistant was looking at the two of them, keeping her thoughts buried in her head. She turned and watched someone else, a girl with fashion sense who stood before a long mirror, checking herself out. "You see?!" Poppy retorted, "You can't complain that I have few clothes if you keep giving them all away!" Poppy moved towards the shoes in an attempt to escape her mother. She could feel her neck practically steaming with the heat of frustration. She began to look closely at the shoes, but Mrs. Bloxam bothered her once again. ".. We could get you those shoes, too.." That was it. She had crossed the line. Poppy had been nice enough to agree to buy the normal sort of clothes she wore, but she had not agreed to start buying silly dresses and stupid shoes for embarrassing formal occasions, no matter how nice they were.

It was not the first time that something odd happened to Poppy, and it would not be the last. Spinning round on her heel to face her mother, Poppy found her eyes drop immediately to the dress- which then leapt from the rail her mother had laid it to rest on, slid along the floor, and came to rest at the feet of the other girl. Poppy turned a little pale, but quickly made eye contact with her mother. "Will you just stop this, please?!" She wasn't angry, anymore, but a little scared. Nobody had really noticed the times before, but the dress was at the girl's feet. What if she thought Poppy a freak? What if she told somebody and got her locked away?

 

[Janey Pascot]

Janey was in a little world of her own as she stood in line waiting to pay. All around her were gimmicks for this and that, each one trying to make her sell something. She didn't need muggle propertly to light up a room, or to clean some curtains. She didn't even need shoe polish. She looked up towards the bright lights that hung on the celing, and quickly looked away again. She didn't like to get too near electricity. It scared her. It wasn't natural. It was something muggles seemed to rely on alot, however Janey couldn't understand it, and in her mind she backed away from it. She closed her eyes, concentrating on something else, when she heard a small "Excuse me" from behind her. It was her turn. She eagerly smiled and walked up to the casier, handing over the dress and some money, before popping it into a bag, and trying to work out which way the exit was.

On her way to the exit, she saw the girl she'd seen not five minutes ago, having a small row or argument with her mother. Something about the dress, Janey figured, wondering if it had been a bad idea to encourage it. All of a sudden, Janey had to look twice, because in front of her eyes she realized that the dress that had once been hanging up was now sliding towards her on the floor. Did she do that? she asked, wondering if Janey herself had managed to conjure it to move. Of course in the past she'd done things, but she'd always felt something. No, it must have been the girl. She was magical too. She quickly hid her suprize, and acted as though it was the most natural thing in the world. She bent down and picked up the dress. "Oh.. i think you may have knocked this off" she said, smiling encouragingly to the girl, hoping she'd go with it. She approached them both, handing it back to her, making eye contact with the girl that gave her indication that that was not normal. Janey had to be sure if it was her, after all, it could have been her mother, or someone else in the store. And if she was, well, did her mother know?

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy couldn't understand it. The girl must have seen the dress sliding towards her- it was impossible for her not to have, and yet, here she was, casually handing the dress to Poppy. A little unsure of what to make of this, she smiled at the other girl. Mrs. Bloxam gave a cough from over her daughter's shoulder. "See, Poppy? You're voice makes the whole shop shake. So, what do you say?" She waited for her daughter to use some manners. Poppy went along with it, wondering if she could get her mother out of the way for a long enough amount of time to possibly speak with the other girl. "Thank you," Poppy said, actually meaning it, though in more ways than one. Mrs. Bloxam hadn't seemed to notice anything, though she was still hanging around by Poppy. "Can I have this?" Poppy said suddenly, gesturing the dress towards her mother as a small idea formed. Her mother's eyebrows raised, but were soon met with a shining smile and a question, "the shoes, too?" Poppy nodded. Her mother spoke as she took the dress and picked up the shoes. "Looks like you're finally growing up."

With her mother a safe distance away, queueing up to pay, Poppy found herself unintentionally staring at the girl. It was a long stare. Many seconds too long. If she wanted to save the situation, she would have to say something before it was too late. "Thank you," she started sincerely, "I'm Poppy Bloxam. I'm sorry about all the arguing," she awkwardly nudged the floor with the toe of her shoe, "Mum can get a bit full-on at times."

 

[Janey Pascot]

Janey turned to Ms. Bloxam, putting on her best smile. Janey knew she needed to talk to this girl, so why not pretend they already knew each other? "I'm Janey. Janey Pascot. I don't know if your daughter here has told you about me or not, but i'm.." What did the girl say her name was? "..Poppy's friend..from school" she said, glancing to the girl to make sure she was going to go with it again, rather than throw her in. If Poppy was as confused as Janey was, she hoped she'd want to talk to her just as much. "Could I take Poppy down to the toy shop? There's something i told her about the other week, and while we're here, i thought i could show her. If that's no trouble of course" she asked politely, wondering if her mother thought she was for real. Janey had her manners, and she didn't want to intrude, especially if her mother didn't want her going anywhere, or if they were in a rush to get back, wherever back was.

When Janey and Poppy were finally out of her mothers ear-shot, she replied, "Oh it's fine. I'm sure mother and daughter relationships can get a little difficult at times" she said with experience behind her. What she wouldn't do to be able to argue with her own mother, just once more..

They made their way to the exit, and outside into the highstreet before turning the corner to walk down the road. "I'm Janey" she repeated, knowing she'd heard before but feeling as though a proper introduction was nessessary. "I hope I didn't make things worse. Showing you that dress i mean" she said, eager to get onto the subject of that particular piece of clothing.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy couldn't quite believe her ears as the conversation unfolded, but she nodded along, nonetheless. Her mother seemed convinced and even gave Poppy an encouraging smile. Though she had friends at school, Poppy never really talked to them outside of the place. Mrs. Bloxam seemed fine with the situation, pleased that her daughter had seemingly grown up enough to want to buy new clothes and hang around with friends when she wasn't at school. The two girls made it outside at long last, and began walking together. Only minutes before, they had been complete strangers, and now they were heading to the toy shop together.

"Oh," Poppy replied, attempting a casual wave of the hand which became a sort of robotic gesture, "you didn't. I've been wound up by mum all week over just buying some stupid stupid clothes. It was bound to happen sooner or later." She avoided eye contact. She knew she wished to speak to the girl about the subject of the dress, but she wasn't entirely sure how to say things. She picked up her pace, a little, hoping to get to the toy shop quicker, a place where they could lurk around the shelves and, with any luck, get a chance to have a more in-depth, if whispered, conversation.

The building stood not too far ahead. Poppy loved to visit the place, though normally she had no money. Today, she might just have enough for something more than a tiny frail model animal. "You must be rich," Poppy speculated, having noticed that Janey had bought her own dress, "if you're getting pocket money like that." She didn't mean anything by it, other than to find conversation as they walked, that wasn't directly about that dress.

 

[Janey Pascot]

As Janey heard that Poppy and her mother had been at wits-end all week, it made her feel a little better about offering the dress in the first place, and that prehaps it hadn't been Janey's fault they'd begun to argue. "Just for futures sake, i don't think your clothes are stupid" she said, looking at how Poppy dressed. They wern't admittedly the best clothes in the world, but Janey didn't think they were particularly bad. Her own mother had dressed her in worse. Janey supposed though that to choose your own clothes was more a sense of individuality, and that prehaps that's what Poppy was after.

"Oh no. This isn't pocket money" she said, holding her bag with her dress in. She wasn't that rich, even though she'd inherited her parents fortune, but that was safe ready for when she became of age. "It's my birthday today" she smiled wide at Poppy. "I've just turned eleven" she added. The money that had bought the dress was money she'd been given as a present. Janey was hard to buy for, and her family, who couldn't be less bothered about it, would each stick a fiver in their cards.

As they reached the toy shop, Janey wandered in, holding the door behind her. Of course, she didn't have anything to show Poppy, however in case her mother decided to burst in on them, Janey led her daughter round the shop until they came to a set of small bears, each one with a small red light on it's nose, and smelt of different fruits. Janey had had one of these when she was younger, and she felt sure she was safe if they'd be interrupted.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy did not know what to say; this girl had been so nice to her, and she had interrupted her on her birthday. Though they had only just met, Poppy already felt as though she owed her something. The very least she could do was open her mouth and speak. "Happy birthday," she said rather more speedily than she had anticipated, ".. Happy birthday." They walked until they reached the toy shop, and Poppy followed Janey inside, through the shop, and over to many small bears. She couldn't help the thoughts that struck her mind as she looked from Poppy to the bears. Why was she alone on her birthday? Was her mother meeting her at the park, or something? She decided to say nothing on the matter. It wasn't her place to intrude, and besides, she might as well try to help Janey make the most of her birthday while she was with her.

Poppy took her small, drawstring purse into her hands, tugging it around her neck. She unzipped the top and glanced inside. It was pointless, really, as she already knew how much she had saved up. It was enough to buy the toy zoo she had been eyeing up for months. The little model zoo had tiny model people who could stand and look at the animals, and the animals each had their own little places to live. She had fallen head-over-heels in love with the zoo after seeing the tiny model lion cub. There were many versions of the model zoo in boxes, but only one that was set up within the confines of a display case. It was practically screaming to be taken home and played with. However, Poppy's morals were telling her that today was not the day to buy it, that she would have to save up for a couple more months, for today was Janey's birthday and she had not yet repaid her kindness.

"Do you like them?" Poppy asked, gesturing to the bears, making sure she did not give away the thoughts in her mind. If her mother had been psychic right at that moment in time, she would likely have been proud of her little girl.

 

[Janey Pascot]

"Thank you" she replied smiling. It was going to be a difficult one this year. It was the first birthday she'd had since her parents past away, and today more than any other was hard without them. She appriected her friends, and found just one comment on her birthday to mean the world to her. Her family had said it too, but they'd been more or less interested in themselves than Janey. She looked at a purple bear that sat in the box staring out, and had a small grapes sticker on it's stomach. "I had one of these when I was really small. About 4 or 5 I guess" she replied, tilting the packet so she could get a better look. "Lost it at school. I suppose someone stole it" It was regular for things to go missing at her old primary school. Luckily she didn't have to go there anymore. Her mother had been furious with her ones when she'd have her shoes stolen after a P.E lesson. How she'd shouted...

"Have you ever had one?" she asked Poppy, whilst scanning the rest of the isle, the bear now hanging back in it's natural position. Janey was careful with her money, and often told her cousin off for wasting things such as food. She never listened though. She had enough to buy quite a few more bears, or prehaps some new books. "When's your birthday?" she asked, wondering how long she'd have to wait before she could make this girl's day..magical.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

"That's awful," Poppy said upon hearing of a potential theft. She hated children who stole things. She had once owned a highly reliable blue and green decorated pen that had been stolen after she had turned her back for five seconds in a lesson. She fell into silent contemplation as she looked over the bears, wondering what one she liked best. "No," she replied honestly, taking a mental note of the bear that Janey had returned to the shelf, "never."

Another child brushed past, their eyes skimming over the shelves as they went. "May the twelfth." Poppy said abruptly, not exactly sure how she felt about telling Janey her birthday.. But then, what harm could it do? They were, slowly but surely, forging a friendship. Two complete strangers until that day, two people who had met by chance, were now well on the way to becoming friends. Poppy smiled inwardly. It would be nice to have a new friend, someone she could talk to about things and share her secrets with- not that she had any secrets.

Yet.

"Oh!" Poppy exclaimed at her eyes flitted past Janey and to the 'pocket money' shelf. She dived towards it, grabbing something circular and wooden. Poppy slipped the loop of string over her finger, gripping the yo-yo in her palm. "Sorry," she apologised for the sudden outbirst, I have about a million of these at home- broken, of course." She grinned at this, before flicking her wrist in such a way that the yo-yo slid down the string- and immediately rolled back up again. Poppy had many toys from the pocket money shelf- it was the only stuff she could normally afford. "Here," she said encouragingly, offering the yo-yo to Janey, "you try." Once Poppy was satisfied Janey wasn't looking, she slipped away to the shelf of bears, and picked up the one Janey had looked at. She also picked up pink bear with a strawberry sticker on its stomach. Poppy hid the purple one behind her back and returned, briefly, to Janey. "I'm just going to buy this," she said as innocently as possible, "I'll be back in a moment." Poppy hurried to the counter, emptied out her purse, and made the transaction as speedy as possible. Once her purchase was bagged-up, she returned to Janey.

"There's a great sweet shop around the corner- I'm sure you've been there, before, but they've got some great fizzy sweets on sale." If Poppy was looking forward to the thrill of seeing the sweetshop around the corner, it was nothing compared to how she would feel in just under a year's time..

 

[Janey Pascot]

Janey follow Poppy when she moved over to another rack that had small wooden yo-yo's, and watched as made it spin. May the twelve. That was ages away. At least she had time to prepare at least. It was only now that Janey realized that maybe Poppy didn't actually live around here, and that prehaps this would be the only time they were ever going to see each other. As she was handed the small toy, she playing with it herself. As the youngest sibling she was always forced to share her toys with her brothers, and being boys, Janey rarely had anything of her own. As Poppy dissapeared again, Janey wondered what she could do to help Poppy. Whilst she had the chance, she walked up to the counter and purchased the small wodden toy, before wrapping it up in a small bag and putting it at the bottom of her own that hung over her shoulder.

Walking back over to the "pocket money toys" she waited for Poppy, wondering where she's got to. She grinned as she noticed she was buying one of the bears she'd recommended, and though how even though they'd onyl known each other a few minutes, they were already getting to know each other quite well. It was how the world worked. Sometimes you could talk for hours and know nothing, however other times, two people would just click. Janey just hoped this wouldn't be the last oppountiy they had to "click". "Do you live close by?" she asked as they wandered back out the shop, heading towards the small sheet shop. Janey was not normally allowed in here, but on more than one occasion, Claus had slipped her a little something. Now it was time that she could go in there in her own free will, and not having to worry about being nagged about broken teeth.

As the reached the red titled steps, Janey offered out her hand "After you" she smiled, waiting for Poppy to go in. She wasn't sure whether to give Poppy her gift now or later. Prehaps if she gave it her now, Janey wouldn't have to worry incase they never met again, besides, Janey felt like she owed the girl something after pulling her away from her mother. They still needed to address the situation of the..dress, but Janey didn't know how to go about it.

She decided to leave the yo-yo in her bag, until there was a suitable time to give it to her. Maybe she could convince Poppy's mother to let the girls go and get some lunch, or prehaps a picnic in the park? For now, Janey was concentrating on the task at hand. Befriending someone.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy walked cheerfully alongside Janey, her troubles momentarily forgotten, the bag of purchases was dangling from her wrist. Poppy smiled when Janey enquired as to whether or not she was local. "Oh, yeah," she replied with a smile, "not too far from here. I go to the local school.." Poppy refrained from asking whether or not Janey lived near, and, if so, what school was she going to. But right now, the girls were headed to one of the greatest places Poppy new; the sweet shop.

Poppy thanked Janey as she stepped through the door and into the wonderful world of sweets. Instantly, she hurried towards the jars of fizzy sweets. She had enough money to buy any sweets she wanted. There were no limitations. Maybe she could just buy up the whole shop and her and Janey could find somewhere nice to hide away and eat the sweets? Poppy smiled and continued to stare about the place. In her mind, she was doing well at distracting herself from thinking about the dress. Perhaps, someday, she would talk fully about the incident, and the ones, openly to Janey. She was learning to trust the kindness of this stranger. "There's a great bubblegum ball," Poppy explained, gesturing to a jar full of big blue gobstoppers. "It takes forever to get through the outside layers, but in the middle, there's a chewy center."

She caught herself subconsciously squeezing the purse she owned, testing to see how empty it was. It was still full enough, and certainly full enough to buy enough sweets to rot Poppy's pearly gnashers. She sort of owed it to herself to buy enough sweets to at least put her off sweets for a good couple of weeks. She had worked so hard to earn the money she had. "We could get some sweets," Poppy began, smiling to Janey, "and head to the park- there's a tree there," she paused only to lower her voice. The shopkeeper would never have said anything to anyone about what Poppy was going to say, and Poppy sort of knew that, though it felt far more exciting to make it seem secret and risky, "it's a lovely big one that I always climb. We could sit in that to eat our sweets.. I mean, you don't dislike heights, do you?" Poppy added a little worriedly. She did not want to upset her new friend, or offend her.

 

[Janey Pascot]

Being part of the magical familes also had it's disadvantages. She was used to chocolate frogs, and seeing the rows of sweets lined up on the shelve, she now knew why her mother didn't like her coming in here. It was so..mugglish. Of course, Janey didn't have a problem with it, it was just different. She smiled to Poppy and stood beside her, just an inch shorter than the girl. When she heard about bubblegum ball, she nodded, and got out her money. As she did, the little bag that she'd put in there earlier fell out too, and she hurridly picked it up, trying to tuck it away before Poppy noticed, luckily, Janey thought she was too busy looking up at the sweets.

She joined her friend, and admired what there was to have. She was eyeing up some sherbet when Poppy asked her about heights and something about a tree. "Heights?" she replied, her mind only half in the convocation as the rest was still flicking through the cavities. "No. I like heights" she said, turning to give Poppy her best and friendliest smile. "That would be good" she added, glad there was somewhere they could just sit and talk. Shopping was fun, but it wasn't too high on the young girls priority list.

She approached the counter, "Excuse me" she asked polietly, waiting for the shop keeper to notice her. "Could I please have.." how did they measure it? "..Some of that sherbet with the lolly, and a bubblegum ball" she asked, buying it out of kindness more than anything else. She was willing to give most things a try, and afterall, she'd never tried gum before. "Make that two actually" she added, taking the second one and giving it to Poppy. "Happy Late Christmas" she said, taking her paper bag and moving to the door to wait for her.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy was glad that Janey was not against heights. It would make their friendship a lot less complicated. Happily, she watched as Janey bought some sweets and even handed one to her. "Thank you." She beamed and pocketed it for later, moving to the counter to quickly buy a couple of things: Her mother had not intentionally upset her, and Poppy wished to make it up for her. But she knew that buying sweets for her mother, would only wind her brother up. In the end, she bought a multi-coloured swirly lollypop for Michael, a small bar of dark chocolate for her mother, a small brown bag of sour cherries for her father, and some pink sugary pear sweets for her godfather. Once she had paid- which, thankfully, did not take too long, she joined Janey at the door.

They began the walk towards the park, Poppy carrying a single, heavily packed out bag. It did not take them a huge amount of time to reach the place, and when they got there, only a few other children were hanging about the place, and most of those were on the tiny climbing frame, chatting animatedly. They were a good few years older, and Poppy wondered if she would ever become like that- talking to friends for hours on end without even playing a game. Growing up frightened her, a little bit. She worried she would turn into some sort of monster, or that her whole life would completely transform before her eyes.

Poppy led Janey to the tree with a big grin on her face, "this is the tree I always sit in," she began proudly, "the closer to the top you can get, the quieter it is." And, with that, Poppy slid her shopping bag onto her shoulder, curved her fingers, and took hold of the first branch, heaving herself up onto it. She grabbed out for a second one, grasped it firmly between her palms, and swung her legs up onto it. She gradually climbed her way up to a set of thick branches, where she casually hung up her bag, and called out to Janey. "Do you want a hand getting up?" she said uncertainly, not wanting Janey to feel as though she was abandoning her. After all, she didn't know what Janey's climbing ability was. They'd only just met.

 

[Janey Pascot]

With her bag safely overy her shoulder, Janey didn't have to worry about it falling as she climbed. She hadn't done this in a very long time, but of course she knew how. She waiting for Poppy to go first, and watched her method. She would know all the best hand and footholds, so it was good to get an idea of where she could go. Making a mental note of the braches she used to stand on, Janey began, taking each step at a time. She heard her friends voice, but looking up she smiled, "I think I will manage thank you" and heaved herself up onto the first branch, leaning on her stomach as she ungracfully pulled her legs up.

She peered down, she'd only made one branch yet she already felt part of a different world. The other older kids that sat in the park were no longer a bother to her (Not that they were before, she is a witch afterall), but she felt as though she'd escaped something. No wonder Poppy liked to come up here. She made her way up the rest of the tree, until she caught up with her, and hung her bag on a spare stick poking out.

It certainly was peacful up here. The slight wind made her dark blonde hair flutter slightly, and as she made herself comfortable enough that she was sure she wouldn't fall, she turned back to Poppy. "What do you normally do now?" she asked, turning to get her sweets and the other bag she'd been hiding and popping it into her jacket pocket. As she dunked her strawberry lolly into the sherbet, she looked out over the park again. "This has been a fun birthday" she mentioned. A lot better than she'd ever hoped it would be.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy sat down beside her bag and waited for Janey to reach her. Finally the two were away from the rest of the world, sitting up in a tree with sweets and toys. "Normally," Poppy said, the world in which she had hidden away in the tree before meeting Janey, seemed so long gone, "I just sort of.. Sit and think. Sometimes I try hanging upside down, though if mum catches me, she'll have my guts.." Poppy gave a slight laugh. Janey spoke again, mentioning her birthday. As she did so, Poppy seemed to jump back in surprise. "Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, for the second time that day, "I.. I have something for you." Poppy reached into her bag and withdrew something from it. "I'm sorry it's not wrapped," she began apologetically, handing over the purple grape bear that Janey had been examining. "Happy birthday."

That night, Poppy would look back on the events of the day as she lay in bed, and she would wonder what on earth had possessed her to perform this sudden act of generosity. It wasn't as though Poppy wouldn't have shared her own toys with her friends, but the fact that she had spent some of her own, hard-earnt money on a girl she had only met today, was a surprise, even to her. Especially when she had been saving up for something so valuable.. But now she had something worth even more than anything money could ever buy: A friend.

 

[Janey Pascot]

They may not have known each other for very long, but Janey felt like she'd known Poppy for longer and better than some of her primary school friends. Janey sat and thought, like she said, and kicked her eyes legs, before realizing she may topple off if she kept doing that. Janey came from a family that was used to doing magical things, and she'd often missed out of these childish experiences. Maybe time was finding her again.

As Poppy gave her something, Janey realized it was the small bear she'd said she'd once had when she was small. So that's what she'd been doing whilst she was buying....She put her hand in her pocket, as her other hand took the small toy bear. "Thank you" she said apprieativly, before looking back up at her. "Didn't you buy one too though? For you? I saw it. It was red" she asked, smiling at the fact they'd have "bear friends". "You're not the only one who did a little secret shopping" she said, putting her hand towards Poppy to reveal the small bag. "I thought i owed you something after pulling you away from your mum" she explained, waiting for her to take the light package. When she did, Janey turned back to her own bear, and memories of her childhood came flooding back. It was the sweetest thing anyone had done for her.

 

[Poppy Bloxam]

Poppy's eyes lit up at the sight of a package. A package for her. Nobody had ever just bought her something, before. "You don't owe me anything," Poppy said quietly, thinking about the dress, once again. She had hoped that all the shopping would have driven that thought from her head, but it hadn't. Janey's hand remained waiting, holding the package. "Thank you." Poppy managed to add, glancing to Janey's eyes as she received the gift. Carefully, she opened it to find.. "A yo-yo," Poppy beamed, genuinely pleased to have a new one, one that she intended to take a lot more care of. "This is brilliant, thank you."

While she slipped the loop of string over her finger and got into the starting position, Poppy wondered if it was finally time to talk about the dress, to see if Janey had noticed, to see if strange things like that happened to all young girls. What if she just went ahead and openly said something about it? How would that work out? Poppy mustered up her courage to speak. This could be the making or breaking of a friendship. "Janey," Poppy said, tucking the yo-yo into her bag to fully concentrate on the conversation, "I wanted to talk to you about the dress-" But before Poppy could get the chance to say anymore, someone standing at the base of the tree, spoke. "Poppy? Are you up there? It's time to go." Mrs. Bloxam had tracked her daughter down, though she seemed not to have heard Poppy's words. The words that Poppy had nearly presented to Janey in a question. A question that would be answered in a few months time.

Poppy gave Janey a small smile. "It doesn't matter," she said, trying to shake the thoughts from her head, "I hope we can meet again. You're good fun." She paused to grab her bag and slip it over her arm. She slowly began to climb down the tree, but stopped part way to look back at Janey. "I come here a lot," she added with a wink, a hint that she hoped to meet Janey again, "see you." And that was it. Poppy had leapt down several branches and had rejoined her mother who immediately began asking questions. "Did you have fun?" It was an easy question for Poppy to answer, and she did so with a great inward smile, one that said more than words could.