X snow- pony x have corrected me about this of mail boxes and postboxes. I'll try and sort it out before this chapter is put up. Whenever I do it will be done, and how and where Tracy and Seth lives will be changed somewhat and I'll make sure it's correct.

Tracy Beaker
and
Seth Foreman
Hereby invites you to their wedding
By New Year's night 2019- 2020, midnight.
Saint Peter's chapel, Newcastle
Followed by a simple meal
As for dressing code, we hope everyone will stick to the colors of white, black and red.
Sincerely
Tracy and Seth

The wedding invitations were simple, a white sheet of paper, black text and then a red balloon in the upper left corner.

It spoke just way too much about everything we were trying to save money on.

And so was the fact that we had asked the current people of the dumping ground to do the cooking and also cleaning afterwards. They might or might not be very happy about it. But Mike at least wouldn't ask for much in payment and we could need that.

It was at least the millionth time I read through it, it was Christmas Eve and Seth had gone to talk to his band about the songs we wanted…

I was on one of the kitchen chairs with my back towards the hallway. I thought I had heard the door to the stairwell open and close, but when I couldn't hear anything more let it go. And then jumped high when suddenly someone came up behind me and blindfolded me.

"Now you come with me Tracy Beaker."

"Cam?"

She might be trying to make her voice hoarse so I wouldn't be able to recognize it. But I did easily anyway.

"Here." She put something in my hand. "Can you feel what it is?"

"Yeah, a pair of shorts."

"Put them on. No, no. You can wear them over your tights. And here." She handed me what must be a shirt and I pulled it on. "Here." She led me through the hallway and then helped me get my jacket and my shoes on. "Can you get downstairs and to the street with the blindfold on?"

"What's going on?"

"You must know what's going on Tracy."

Hen night? Well… I hadn't exactly intended to have one of those.

For a moment it passed by my mind that it was almost eleven at night and more than anything I'd like to sort out things for the wedding before I went to bed and then dreamt all night about things that could go wrong during the wedding.

"It's nothing big." I could hear the voice of… someone I knew- I just couldn't place it exactly whose it was. "But we… I and Cam, wanted to make something one of the last nights you spend as unmarried and…" I could hear voices around me, a lot of people, glasses and smelling. As if we had gone into a restaurant. "And…"

Cam took the blindfold of and moved to standing in front of me. Right by her my friend Jackie Hopper who had come to live at the dumping ground while I did and…

"Well, Crash… Liam would have come too. The three musketeers if you remember. But this sort of had to be a girl's night. And we decided this only yesterday so it's only us two, neon colored clothes and a basket of gifts."

Jackie held up a big, braided basket, covered in a couple of kitchen towels and in her other hand held up a bridal sash in bright pink (just like the shorts and shirts Cam had made me wear while she wore bright green and Jackie bright orange) with the text "future Mrs. Beaman."

"Excuse me." As I pulled the sash on to sit on my shoulder a waiter came over. "Are you the one who booked for hen night?" I looked back at Jackie who nodded and answered him yes. "Then follow me."

This wasn't a very nice sort of restaurant or bar, there were people wearing as well as T-shirts as well as tux, a bar desk and people who glanced at us in our bright colors when we walked by. By the bar desk where there sat a number of men red in their round faces and whistled after me.

"She's getting married?" I heard one of them almost shout to his friends. "She's ugly! How can she when I can't?"

"Just leave it." Jackie mumbled to me. I bit my jaws tightly together and past them after the waiter.

"Here is your table." The waiter stopped at a table in the furthest back corner of the bar. "The drink is on us." He gestured to a bottle and three filled-up wine glasses. "The menus are on the table. I'll be back in a second, take your time."

When the waiter walked away he walked straight up to the fat guys sitting at the bar desk.

If I wouldn't have made up my mind not to let the comments get to me I would have turned and seen someone else…

"Now." We finished our meal just chatting about random things as we would have done if this wasn't a special dinner moving towards a special day.

Then of course. My personality wasn't any different than any other day either.

"What's in that basket?"

"There are…" Jackie lifted the basket onto the table. "…Actually a lot of things…" She took the kitchen towels of it and revealed a mess of different things. "Cam? Do you want to start?"

"I do want to." Cam reached into the basket and lifted a book from it. "Here is a recipe book. We're not sure what is so special about it. But it's called "the newlywed cookbook" so we thought it would suit." She laid it on the side at the table. "Jackie Hopper, do you want to go next."

"I do want to Camilla Lawson…" Jackie took something from the basket. "This one is for the honeymoon more than the wedding." She held it up- it was a passport case, white leather with "Tracy Beaman" written in golden letters on it. "Cam?"

"This one is too for your honeymoon." Cam reached for something else. "More exactly for the packing. There are five cubes that you can pack in to sort out jewelry or makeup and some other small things that always gets lost in the bag."

I could feel my smile getting bigger, there weren't a whole lot of presents but until now they had been perfect…

"And here…" Jackie picked out some packs of condoms from the basket. . "For quite obvious reasons."

"And this." Cam took up a fabric item I couldn't quite see what it was. "See? It's a mitten, and you put your hand in there and then Seth his hand in there so you're holding hands without getting cold. Best idea ever!"

"There are these two too." With the basket almost empty Jackie picked up a pair of running shoes. "So you can get out of high heels and run fast away if you need to."

"And this." At last Cam pulled up a hip flask, and when I took it I could feel there was something in it. "In case you're wondering- wine."

"Wow guys…" I thanked them. "These are great gifts and thank you so much."

I wasn't so sure what more I could say, Cam started packing the things back into their basket. And I couldn't help but to listen to the music that was playing through the bar and watched people getting themselves onto the small dance floor in the middle of the room.

"Come on." Just as Cam packed down the passport case with everything else in the basket I stood up when a pop song came up. "Let's dance." But as I turned around someone by the bar desk suddenly caught my eye, at first I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. But when I looked back there was no denying…

"Tracy? Who is that?"

Cam looked at me and then towards the man.

I hadn't gotten the chance to even call her about what was going on. The only ones who knew about all of this (except for mum and Gav then of course) were I and Seth. Because I didn't want anybody else to have to worry about it now right before Christmas.

"I just have to do something."

While I watched him my dad caught the attention of a bartender and ordered another drink. A big, filled up beer glass was put in front of him. But for just one moment he didn't touch it. And was left sitting with his elbow heavily on the bar desk and his head in his hand.

"I just… Wait here."

Cam frowned and by her side and behind I saw Jackie do the same. I sent them both a look and a shaky smile before I turned around and went to sit by the bar desk.

"Hiya Gavin."

It felt awfully strange to say it, knowing who he really was…

Gav opened his eyes and turned towards me. I could smell the alcohol on his breath and pushed away the glass from him.

"I think you've had enough to drink for tonight."

Gav just glared at me- if glares could kill! But the glass was within his reach and he didn't reach out to take it.

I couldn't help but watch him- seeing just the dark hair that I had, wasn't there something else?

"Will you be seeing my mum anything?" Gav shrugged. "Well, if you are… I just wanted to say that you're invited to the wedding if you want to." He raised an eyebrow at me. "I don't really know you, but you are my dad after all. I am close with a care worker though, and he's the one who will walk me down the aisle."

He had been looking down during all this time except for glaring at me when I took away his drinks. And it wasn't until the mention of who was leading me down the aisle he looked up again.

"You really have a lot of details sorted out for the wedding, do you?"

"Yes."

Not much in my life had quite worked out the way I had planned it to. Now this was something that I refused to let go of the plans to. Still something clenched in my stomach when I watched my dad look at me, looked up and down before he said something.

"I messed up so badly."

"It's never too late to change. Now get up, go… home, to a hotel- I don't care where you go but get a drink of water and a shower. And then sleep. I think you're going to need that if you're still willing to come to my wedding. The wedding is the night in between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, at midnight."

"Uh- huh."

Gav stood up and seemed to be a bit unsteady at first. For a moment I wouldn't have been surprised if he threw up right on me and the neon- pink shirt, then he swallowed, took one last look on me and made his way towards the door.

He would have gotten there and out, and I would have gotten back towards Cam and Jackie if there wasn't for another comment shouted from a fat, red- faced man shouted another comment for the night.

"HEY, you in pink clothes. The ugly one! Yeah, you know who you are. How would you like to come with me to my hotel room when you're finished." I stopped and took a deep breath. "Yeah… You know, the name Beaman does sound stupid. And whoever is the... unlucky guy to get married to you… OW. What was that for?"

Gav had walked straight up to the man and slapped him across the face so hard the noise had everyone in the whole bar had silent and turned towards them. Staff came running but Gav had already pulled the man down onto his back, put a knee on his chest and got one blow after the other.

"Stop it." I tried among many others. "Stop it." Gav kept hitting once, twice, the man was barely conscious by now. "STOP IT DAD!"

At my last shout Gav was knocked off his concentration. He looked up and towards me and there was not hard for two of the waiters to grab him from behind and pull him off the man, barely conscious enough to sit up and blood covering his face.

"What was all that for?"

"That's my daughter you asshole."

Random fact

I had this chapter almost finished for ages. But I never got on with it because I kept wanting to write new chapters for tsfaf instead.