Two Mothers

The giorno of the spiaggia trip was finally upon them and everyone was excited.

“Ooh, I can’t wait to get on my cozzie and get into the sea!” Lottie squealed that morning over breakfast.

“Cozzie?” Aurora asked, spoon halfway to her mouth.

“It’s what I call my swimming costume!”

“Oh, I see.”

“I hope there’s some good waves for surfing,” Jim said.

“The Prof says we can go poking around the rockpools, so that’ll be cool,” Merida said.

“I hope they sell ice cream nearby,” detto Jasmine. “No spiaggia trip can be complete without ice cream.”

“I hope I can sneak away for...

Everyone was celebrating in good form that evening. Mr Ratcliffe allowed them to deck the school hall out with fairy lights and a large banner Leggere Congratulations from the rafters.

“By rights, it ought to say “Well Done, Team,” o something,” Meg pointed out. “But it’ll do since we couldn’t find anything else at the last minute.”

As good as his word, Mr Ratcliffe also provided alcohol but limited them all to only two coupons each. It was fair enough, thought Belle; this was a school after all, and none of them wanted its reputation to be sullied da wild drunken rampages on...