chapter 1 - piano recital
Lee talked about Egypt as we walked into the shop, that was his latest thing. "Hi Julie!" I yelled out when I saw her bright red hair bobbing between the rows of clothes. She scurried towards us, "Lee! And your little friend Lucy? Right?" she said though it was more of a yell, everything she did was with an exaggerated flair. "What brings you here today?" she asked when she finally got to us. "I need a dress" I told her. "A dress? I thought I once heard you proclaim you don't wear such silly things" she said with a smirk. "I don't, but I have no choice. Got something fancy on tonight and they said I have to wear a dress" "oh the hardship, my dear. Wait tonight!? And you're only getting it now?" I shrugged, I didn't really understand what she was on about, how long would it take to buy a dress? "What's today's colour?" Lee asked, they did half price for a certain colour on Friday. "Green, and I have a few things that you will both love in green" Julie said.
We walked out with a couple of bags of clothes. I got my dress, a tshirt for Ian and a onesie, Julie let me take it for free. She also made Lee get a shirt, she said it wasn't proper to go to an event in just a sweater. "I'm so exited to hear you play Lucy" he told me as we got onto the L. "You listen to me play all the time at home" I told him. "I know but this is like proper stuff, and I get to watch everyone else listen to you play too" he told me.
"Lucky I got you to come early" Mr McKenzie said as I walked into the classroom. "What's that meant to mean? I asked him. "Just putting on a dress isn't enough to be considered dressed up, you need to fix your hair and put on a nice pair of shoes too" he said. "She doesn't have any other shoes, I already checked" Lee said. "Are you a friend?" Mr McKenzie asked. "I'm Lee". "Ok well my wife is happy to help with the hair but we might need to buy you some shoes" Mr McKenzie said. "I don't need anymore shoes…" I started but Lee interrupted me "I'll get you shoes, good will is just around the corner. Give me those ones so I can measure" he squatted down in front of me. I lifted up my foot and he took the shoe off. "And the money you just got" he said with a smirk and held out his hand. I sighed but handed it over, "get candy too" I told him as he left. "Wait Lee.. I'll get my wife to fix your hair" Mr McKenzie said as he chased after Lee.
The family and friends of all the other kids who were doing their recitals watched me walk onto the stage, I hadn't told my family. Fiona was busy working with Jasmine, Lip was busy dating as many girls as he could, Ian was working and Debbie and Carl would have hated it, they complained enough when I played at home. Lee was there though, he sat at the front, his new shirt buttoned up right to the top and a big grin on his face. I bowed and sat down, then played.
"Did you see their faces? I knew it was going to be awesome" Lee said as he ran up to me after the performance. I just smiled at him, then spotted Lip and a girl making their way towards us, he didn't look that happy. "Why are you still lying about this stuff Lucy?" He asked as soon as he got close. "That was so amazing!" The girl he was with said. Lips expression softened a bit "it was, I wish I had seen the whole thing not just the end" he said. "You can listen to me at home plus you would have been stuck listening to all the other kids" I explained. Lip just shook his head, "Fiona is going to kill you when she finds out." "Maybe she doesn't need to know" I said. "I think the dress might tip her off" lip said. "Maybe the dress doesn't need to go home, Lee can keep it at his place" I said. "Hey, no way I'm getting in the middle of Gallagher shit" he said. "I'm getting changed" I told them and headed for the classroom where I stashed my stuff.