Number Fifteen---Sex, The Cane And Naughty Schoolgirls 15
Without Prejudice
Everyone here wears these awful knickers. Granny Wisher calls them Witches britches and they are the ugliest thing I have ever seen and they are huge. They are made out of nylon, are stretchy, go all the way down your legs, almost to the knee. They have black lace as an edge and they come in purple, red, blue. Mum said she would get me some if I wanted and I said I'd rather die. Old ladies knickers. Yuk.
The holidays are such fun, we are allowed to sleep in and Jenny has to go off to work. Well she shouldn't have kicked the Teachers knee in at 14 and flounced out of class. She's been a t work ever since and serve her right I say as she hated school and lessons. I love it. So Jay and Dennis and I get to sleep in and she doesn't. She's also doing shows now with Dad at night. She thinks she is so grown up and is allowed out with boys and I am so jealous of her.
She gets her own money and she took me out for Chinese after the opticians to a Chinese restaurant and it was so grand. I've never had Chinese food before it was delicious. We had soup with tiny thin slivers of mushroom in it and rice and pork and a fried banana with topping. I felt so grown up and elegant. I have to wear the glasses from now on and they are dead set ugly. How am I going to put them on in class. Everyone will stare and laugh at me. But it's worse if I can't see. I dread those lessons where the Master puts sums on the black board and I can't see them.
We are moving to a house and we've seen it from the outside. It even has a name Roselea, that is so pretty and it has a horse chestnut tree outside so we can play conkers when the Autumn comes. It's grand a has a huge front door, a scary cellar Mum and Dad said. Double storey with a grand staircase in the middle and two lounge rooms. We can't wait to see in side of it.
Denise and I went to see Caroline again and she's still in bed and will be for months. Pauline, the rat fink is there all the time. No wonder as those boys that were swinging the ranty so high were friends of hers. No doubt she feels guilty and so she should. Caroline and her are more alike anyway, they both don't have two parents and they both steal makeup and I guess Mum is right, they are both a bit "rough", they swear a lot and hang a round boys.
Denise and I are a bit more lady like, having two parents and that. My Dad would skin me alive if I shoplifted or did something bad. Well, no he wouldn't exactly skin me alive but he wouldn't respect me and I don't want him to be disappointed in me. He treats me like a special girl, does my Dad, and I would hate for him to be cross, anyway, or Mum. When I say to Mum I am trying she always answers,
"Yes, very"
I'm going to be different when I have kids I will let them go out with boys when they are ready and not have to wait until they are sixteen. I know girls with boyfriends now at my age, nearly 13, but to tell the truth it's a bit young. I can't imagine girls at Southport State in year 8 having boyfriends. But next year I am in Form 2, we will see how it goes. The school year here starts near my birthday and I shall be 13. A teenager, how exciting! I will be allowed if I am good to go to Monday night Mecca where Jenny goes now. It seems so grown up.
Saturday afternoons are good though. The lights are dim and the girls all dance and we get to see all the new bands and play games. Its getting us ready for the big grown up nights. The Mecca Lucarno Ball Room it's called and I love it. We can dance for three hours, non stop, to the best music and they sometimes top the music and have spot prizes. I haven't won anything yet but I am sure trying to. You have to run where the spotlight is and if you are spotted you get the prize. It's such fun.
Denise and I go to her house a lot as both her parents are at work. We tried her Dad's whisky and it was utterly vile, tasted like fire and burned all the way down. How are you supposed to get drunk on that ? Denise said aspro in coke will make us drunk and we tried that too but it didn't do anything. People are such liars at school about stuff like that. We heard there are things you can have like blue Bennie's and red Bennie's but we have no idea where to get them. And who would want them, they make you mean someone said.
We are greasers at the moment and wear the same clothes. Dark navy poplin trews with silver eyelets on the bottom and around the waist. We wear tops and macs and don't really look like greasers, more like mods. We have to sort out what we are going to be, mods or greasers and we just can't decide. Never mind plenty of time, We are still only 12. Denise is four months younger than me. But she is so much nicer than those rough girls.
Her parents and her live behind a hairdressers shop and I can ring the number and the lady hairdresser will go and fetch her for me. I have met her Mum and Dad and they are really nice. Just like my Mum and Dad. Her Dad and Mum don't drive though, so we have to rely on my Dad. I have to beg and beg sometimes to get him to drive me to Denise's house. or catch the bus and one time I biked on Jay's bike and boy is it a long way. Denise came back with me on her bike and stayed for tea and then we took her home.
Her Mum is the most wonderful cook. She has a pressure cooker and does all her food in that. Denise said it exploded once and meat and vegetables went all over the ceiling. She often has to check it when her Mum's not home and she says it scares the life out of her. Me too. The house she lives in is tiny with just two up and two down and it's made from stone. There is a tiny little garden out the back and we lie there and enjoy the sun and talk and talk. She makes us dry biscuits with red cheese and relish and I have never tasted anything like it.
The cheeses here are so different from anything I have had before. You can go to Wakefield market and buy Stilton, Wensleydale, Cheddar, its all delicious and so is Branston pickle that is tarty and strong. I love Dad's Favourite Sauce as well and H.P. Sauce. on my Yorkshire's. We eat outside using napkins and proper china and feel very lady like and grown up. We imagine having a husband and kids one day and being a wife. We always imagine these things. I ask her where do babies come from and she has no idea.
"Don't they just happen, when you are married?" she says.
"Yes, I guess so". I reply but I am not too sure about it after what those rude boys said at Southport State and I am in no hurry to find out more, any more. I just want to be a kid and have fun with my best friend, Denise and sit in the sun in a British backyard and eat cheese.
Everyone here wears these awful knickers. Granny Wisher calls them Witches britches and they are the ugliest thing I have ever seen and they are huge. They are made out of nylon, are stretchy, go all the way down your legs, almost to the knee. They have black lace as an edge and they come in purple, red, blue. Mum said she would get me some if I wanted and I said I'd rather die. Old ladies knickers. Yuk.
The holidays are such fun, we are allowed to sleep in and Jenny has to go off to work. Well she shouldn't have kicked the Teachers knee in at 14 and flounced out of class. She's been a t work ever since and serve her right I say as she hated school and lessons. I love it. So Jay and Dennis and I get to sleep in and she doesn't. She's also doing shows now with Dad at night. She thinks she is so grown up and is allowed out with boys and I am so jealous of her.
She gets her own money and she took me out for Chinese after the opticians to a Chinese restaurant and it was so grand. I've never had Chinese food before it was delicious. We had soup with tiny thin slivers of mushroom in it and rice and pork and a fried banana with topping. I felt so grown up and elegant. I have to wear the glasses from now on and they are dead set ugly. How am I going to put them on in class. Everyone will stare and laugh at me. But it's worse if I can't see. I dread those lessons where the Master puts sums on the black board and I can't see them.
We are moving to a house and we've seen it from the outside. It even has a name Roselea, that is so pretty and it has a horse chestnut tree outside so we can play conkers when the Autumn comes. It's grand a has a huge front door, a scary cellar Mum and Dad said. Double storey with a grand staircase in the middle and two lounge rooms. We can't wait to see in side of it.
Denise and I went to see Caroline again and she's still in bed and will be for months. Pauline, the rat fink is there all the time. No wonder as those boys that were swinging the ranty so high were friends of hers. No doubt she feels guilty and so she should. Caroline and her are more alike anyway, they both don't have two parents and they both steal makeup and I guess Mum is right, they are both a bit "rough", they swear a lot and hang a round boys.
Denise and I are a bit more lady like, having two parents and that. My Dad would skin me alive if I shoplifted or did something bad. Well, no he wouldn't exactly skin me alive but he wouldn't respect me and I don't want him to be disappointed in me. He treats me like a special girl, does my Dad, and I would hate for him to be cross, anyway, or Mum. When I say to Mum I am trying she always answers,
"Yes, very"
I'm going to be different when I have kids I will let them go out with boys when they are ready and not have to wait until they are sixteen. I know girls with boyfriends now at my age, nearly 13, but to tell the truth it's a bit young. I can't imagine girls at Southport State in year 8 having boyfriends. But next year I am in Form 2, we will see how it goes. The school year here starts near my birthday and I shall be 13. A teenager, how exciting! I will be allowed if I am good to go to Monday night Mecca where Jenny goes now. It seems so grown up.
Saturday afternoons are good though. The lights are dim and the girls all dance and we get to see all the new bands and play games. Its getting us ready for the big grown up nights. The Mecca Lucarno Ball Room it's called and I love it. We can dance for three hours, non stop, to the best music and they sometimes top the music and have spot prizes. I haven't won anything yet but I am sure trying to. You have to run where the spotlight is and if you are spotted you get the prize. It's such fun.
Denise and I go to her house a lot as both her parents are at work. We tried her Dad's whisky and it was utterly vile, tasted like fire and burned all the way down. How are you supposed to get drunk on that ? Denise said aspro in coke will make us drunk and we tried that too but it didn't do anything. People are such liars at school about stuff like that. We heard there are things you can have like blue Bennie's and red Bennie's but we have no idea where to get them. And who would want them, they make you mean someone said.
We are greasers at the moment and wear the same clothes. Dark navy poplin trews with silver eyelets on the bottom and around the waist. We wear tops and macs and don't really look like greasers, more like mods. We have to sort out what we are going to be, mods or greasers and we just can't decide. Never mind plenty of time, We are still only 12. Denise is four months younger than me. But she is so much nicer than those rough girls.
Her parents and her live behind a hairdressers shop and I can ring the number and the lady hairdresser will go and fetch her for me. I have met her Mum and Dad and they are really nice. Just like my Mum and Dad. Her Dad and Mum don't drive though, so we have to rely on my Dad. I have to beg and beg sometimes to get him to drive me to Denise's house. or catch the bus and one time I biked on Jay's bike and boy is it a long way. Denise came back with me on her bike and stayed for tea and then we took her home.
Her Mum is the most wonderful cook. She has a pressure cooker and does all her food in that. Denise said it exploded once and meat and vegetables went all over the ceiling. She often has to check it when her Mum's not home and she says it scares the life out of her. Me too. The house she lives in is tiny with just two up and two down and it's made from stone. There is a tiny little garden out the back and we lie there and enjoy the sun and talk and talk. She makes us dry biscuits with red cheese and relish and I have never tasted anything like it.
The cheeses here are so different from anything I have had before. You can go to Wakefield market and buy Stilton, Wensleydale, Cheddar, its all delicious and so is Branston pickle that is tarty and strong. I love Dad's Favourite Sauce as well and H.P. Sauce. on my Yorkshire's. We eat outside using napkins and proper china and feel very lady like and grown up. We imagine having a husband and kids one day and being a wife. We always imagine these things. I ask her where do babies come from and she has no idea.
"Don't they just happen, when you are married?" she says.
"Yes, I guess so". I reply but I am not too sure about it after what those rude boys said at Southport State and I am in no hurry to find out more, any more. I just want to be a kid and have fun with my best friend, Denise and sit in the sun in a British backyard and eat cheese.
