March 1998

I thought I would include the age of each of the wives. It will consist of their actual age and the age they pose as in the chapter. Emma is the only one to have a mental age, as all the other queens have the same mental age throughout.

Catalina of Aragon- 16th December 1485- 512 years old, looks four years old.

Anne Boleyn- 2nd April 1501- 496 years old, looks four years old.

Jane Seymour- 2nd April 1508- 489 years old, looks four years old.

Anna of Cleves- 22nd September 1515- 482 years old, looks four years old.

Katheryn Howard- 14th February 1524- 473 years old, looks four years old.

Emma Smith-White- 24th December 1993- four years old, looks four years old, mental age seven years old.

The queens must look like they are ageing up with Emma for it to fit with the story.

'It will be fun if we start learning new languages,' Anne says. 'Ce sera une aventure.'
'Pardon?' I ask.
'Oh, you don't know any of the languages we speak!' Lina says. 'We better start teaching you.'
'Maybe we should buy exercise books, one for each language,' Jane suggests. 'Even after living with you lot for four hundred years, I still find myself stumped at the basics.'
'Let's do that,' Anne nods. 'We can customise our books as they are not proper schoolbooks.'
'Maybe we should try buying in bulk, so we don't run out anytime soon,' Anna suggests.

Each of my friends is wearing the same colours that I saw them in when I first met them. Lina is wearing a yellow dress, a black cardigan and a pair of black patent shoes to match. Anne is wearing a green t-shirt with a horse on the front, black trousers and green trainers. To my surprise, Jane is wearing a white t-shirt with silver sequins sewn into the shape of a cat, black trousers and black shoes that have a small heel underneath. Anna is wearing a red t-shirt and shorts, something that surprises me still even though I know she doesn't feel the cold. Kitty is wearing a pink dress and black cardigan with pink shoes. We all begin talking about the three languages Lina, Anne and Anna will teach us: Spanish, French and German.

'We can try to get exercise books that match our colours,' Anna suggests. 'How can we pose it to our parents?'
'What do you mean?' Kitty asks.
'I'm thinking more about Emma, we don't know much about her parents nor if they would agree to the lessons.'
'I'm sure my mums will agree,' I say. Now, I must wait until I get home to ask them.

'Come on, let's play house,' Jane says.
'You always want to play house,' Anne moans. 'Can't we play something different?'
'I like playing house,' Kitty says.
'That's because you're always the baby! I am the mad aunt.'
'I have a mad great-aunt,' I say.
'Not that helpful.'
'I agree with Anne,' Anna says. 'Let's do something a little more entertaining.'
'What do you want to play then?' Jane asks, folding her arms. We begin thinking about different games we could play, and we start laughing about some of the things we come up with during those minutes.

We give up after a while and decide to do something else. 'Let's read a book,' Anne says.
'I've brought a book with me,' Anna says, holding it up.
'Is that in German?' I ask.
'You've got a good eye, Emma.'
'You'll have to tell us a translation. I've got a book as well.' I pull out one I randomly picked out that morning- and it's the alien one. 'Sorry, forget about that.' I stuff it back in my bag, slightly embarrassed by what happened.
'I have a French book for beginners,' Anne says. 'That could be easier than the German book.'
'Oh, you wish!' Lina yells. The other toddlers begin staring at us.

'Girls, can you please keep it down?' Miss Waterfield asks. We nod and begin whispering about what book to choose.
'I've got a book on Spanish military history,' Lina says.
'That's so cool!' Jane says, even I nod.
'I'm a sucker for history.'
'Please, not history!' Anne moans. 'I don't like it.'
'I know you don't; when I tried to learn about something other than the Six Wives of Henry VIII, you bailed. Everyone else helped me try to find something different to obsess over.'

A young boy approaches us. 'Uh-oh,' Lina says before turning to us. 'Pretend you're talking to me!'
'We are talking to you,' I say.
'Hey Lina,' the boy says, interrupting our conversation. His red hair shines in the sunlight, and his blue eyes stare at Lina intently.
'Whatever it is, we don't want to hear it,' Anne says.
'I was talking to this beautiful girl,' he says, taking Lina's hand. Lina pulls her hand out of his grip.
'You are an idiot if you think you get a third chance with me, Henry,' Lina snaps. 'Go and play with your cars and don't distract us.'
'I'm not distracting you,' he places an arm around Lina, and she tries to move away. Henry tries again, and Lina squirms.
'You're not getting the message,' I say. 'Lina's not interested.'
'Hey, do I know you from somewhere?'
'No,' I say, and he walks away.

'What the hell was he talking about?' I ask. 'It didn't make much sense to me.'
'You do time travel in the future,' Anne says, then covers her mouth. 'Oh tirer, je suis stupide. We said we wouldn't talk about it and I let you down!'
'You're not stupid, Anne,' I tell her.
'But I told you part of your future; you told us not to do that! It messes up the timelines.'
'It's all right, Anne,' Kitty says. 'We all make mistakes; at least you didn't reveal anything too major.'

When we go home, I think about what I learnt. 'Mum, my friends and I want to start learning languages other than English.'
'What languages were you thinking about?' Mum asks.
'Spanish, French and German. Lina, Anne and Anna already know these languages, so we don't need a tutor, and it could be fun. Can we please go into town over the weekend so I can get some exercise books?'
'I don't see why not,' Mum smiles. 'I'll talk to Sarah, and we'll see about getting you some exercise books.'
'Thank you, Mum.'

So, that weekend, we go into town. We go and find some notebooks that look like schoolbooks and begin searching for ones with lined pages. While we are there, we meet my friends. 'Hi, Emma. It's great to see you again,' Lina says. 'Are you here to buy notebooks too?'
'That's right. Lina, Anne, Jane, Anna, Kitty, these are my parents.' If my parents are surprised by my friends, they don't show it. 'Mum, Mummy, these are my friends. We are going to practice Spanish, French and German together.'
'I hope you don't mind me asking, but how old are you?' Mum asks.
'About four hundred years old,' Lina says. 'I'm over five hundred, but we're all in our late 400s, early 500s.'
'Right, that's sorted that.'
'We also know Emma because she time travels in the future,' Anne adds. 'Pas encore!'
'ANNE!' Jane yells.
'I'm sorry, I can't keep my mouth shut!' We all laugh, then continue looking at the notebooks.

'These look like schoolbooks,' A five-year-old boy with red hair picks one up and opens it. 'And lined, that's a good start,' he passes it to Jane. 'I hope you do well.' His blue eyes twinkle as he glances at us. 'You not going to introduce me to your friends?'
'Thomas!' Jane groans. 'We're meant to act our age!'
'Yes, but Emma already knows that we're hundreds of years old.' He holds his hand out to me. 'Thomas Seymour, Jane's older brother.'
'Thomas, yes, right. One of the two uncles to Edward VI.'
'We don't talk about that much.'
'You might not, but Edward and I do,' Jane says. 'There was no reason for you to kidnap my son!'
'And we're still arguing about it after hundreds of years! Cool down, Janie.'
'Only my friends can call me Janie; you're my brother!'
'And your friend.'
'You kidnapped my son to try and control the kingdom!'
'Jane!' Lina hisses. 'Keep it down; people are noticing!' We look around, and some adults are noticing. 'Let's get what we need and go.'
'Easy for you to say; you don't have to live with him.' Jane turns to Lina, and for the first time, I can see a fire in her eyes. 'He keeps winding me up every day, and I can't take it anymore.'
'Don't say that. We promised Emma that we would do this for her; keep her company during her toddler years, so she has these happy memories. Don't ruin it for any of us.' Thomas smirks at his sister, then walks over to me.

'I think we will have a lot of fun together.'
'Get your head out of the gutter, she's a kid,' Lina shoots back.
'She's not going to be a kid for much longer,' Thomas winks at me, then turns to go.

'Thomas,' I say. Thomas turns. 'I have something I want to say to you.' Thomas walks towards me. I feel my hands curl into fists. He smirks at me.
'Well, Smith-White, what is it?' I might not be able to reach his face, but he must have another weakness. I know something better than hitting him; he's close enough. I kick him right in the private parts. Thomas yells out in pain. 'You idiot! You- You-'
'She stood up for herself,' Kitty smiles. 'We don't need your help.'
'And I don't need your love,' Jane adds, and we turn back to the notebooks. Thomas limps out of the shop, making everyone think I kicked him in the knee.

We finished choosing our three notebooks when we leave the shop. I have three light blue exercise books that I will label when I get back home. Kitty has three in pink; Anna has red, Anne has green, Lina has yellow. Jane decided to go with orange since they do not make white or grey exercise books.

On the way back, Mum nips into a book shop. Mummy waits outside with me, and we start talking. 'Who was that boy?' Mummy asks.
'From what Jane said, that was her older brother. Both he and his older brother tried to kidnap her son, Edward VI. Thomas woke up the King's dog and shot it.'
'Jane must have complicated family relations.'
'Just a bit.' At that point, Mum arrives carrying a bag.
'I thought I should get you dictionaries if you are studying new languages,' she explains, showing them to me.
'Thanks, Mum,' I pull both her and Mummy into a hug.