Jasmine knew everything about Evie, or so she thought. They had been best friends since that first scary day at primary school. Although they were completely different they both had one thing in common. They both loved to sing and this made their friendship so strong.
Jasmine was spontaneous and carefree while Evie was sensible and clever. Jasmine had long, wild, curly hair while Evie had short, black, straight hair. Evie wore dark purples, black and bright blues (a bit of a rock chick!) while Jasmine would wear long floaty dresses with bright and curly patterns, whatever took her fancy really!
It was the first of May when the problems had started. It was meant to be one of the best days of their lives, but, something happened which made it one of Evie’s worst. They were both really excited that day as it was the day they would be auditioning for the famous “school of song and music” (SOSM). This was the school that if you got in, then you were guaranteed to make it big in the world of music. This had not been their plan, to have a job in singing. It had just been their hobby, but at the New Year party, where they had sung Auld Lang Syne, there had been a talent scout (one of the kids parents) who worked for the SOSM and was blown away. He had suggested they come to this years audition’s as they were in 3rd year (the age at which you could join the school). This had planted the idea in their heads and the more they thought about it, the more excited they had become. They spent their days planning how they would become famous together and sing in a duo! They couldn’t wait!
The audition had gone well, they had done the best that they could and were relieved it was over. Jasmine only lived a few blocks away from Evie, so they both got off at the same bus stop. They both remember the day really well although Evie tries to forget! They had walked down the street together and said goodbye when they reached Evie’s house. Evie opened the door for herself and walked in and through to the lounge to see where everybody was like she always did. Because Evie was so excited about the audition she hadn’t realised that her mum had been crying but Evie quickly noticed and stopped going on about how fab the audition had been. A million thoughts flashed through her head. Had something happened to the baby (Evie’s mum was pregnant)? Had she had an argument with Evie’s father? But no, that was impossible - her dad was at sea at the moment. He was a fisherman and loved the job very much, but the down side was that half the time he was out at sea. At that moment, Evie’s mum noticed someone was in the room. She turned around, wiped her eyes and smiled but Evie could see from her eyes that she was still crying inside, screaming and desperate. It was at that moment Evie’ heart skipped a beat - something was terribly wrong.
“Evie, I need to talk to you and Anna together. Can you call Anna down for a second. Tell her you’re home and that means Mummy can tell us the scary news.” Evie nodded. With every word her mother spoke, she became more frightened, but she obeyed her mother and climbed the stairs to her little sister’s room. Her sister was only six. Evie shook with the thought of how she must be feeling knowing that something was wrong with her mum but not knowing what. She had been all alone with her mum who had quite frankly been a nervous wreck when Evie had got home. She knocked on Anna’s door and then clicked the latch open. “Anna,” she said cautiously as she entered. As she had expected, Anna was upset and confused. She was sitting on her bed hugging her knees, tiny tears flowing down her cute little cheeks. Evie walked across the room, opened her arms wide and hugged her. Evie wanted to cry too, but she had to be strong for Anna’s sake. “Mum is ready to tell us the scary news now” she said, stating the obvious. Anna climbed down from her bed and followed Evie down the stairs. They re-entered the lounge and sat on the sofa opposite their mother. “I am sorry for being like this today, it’s just that I am very upset. I am ready to tell you the news now, though I am not going to lie to you. It is bad news so be prepared but remember, we can and will get through this - we are still family.” These words scared Evie - what did she mean? But she soon knew. “Your father is dead.” A tear rolled down her cheek. Before they knew it, all three of them were crying but Evie was confused and angry. She wanted to know answers. She wanted her mum to give her answers. Her mum took a deep breath and wiped her eyes dry. “He was killed on the boat at sea. It’s a dangerous job you know, this was always my worst nightmare. I should have stopped him, especially now that the baby is coming.” Evie had calmed down now. She hugged her sister and her mum. She needed to be strong for her sister’s sake. “It’s not your fault, Mum. You couldn’t have stopped him if you’d tried. He loved that job to bits.” They all laughed then but it was a fake laugh to cover up the reality of the tragedy.
From that day onwards, there was a strange feeling in the house. They all acted normal, but things shouldn’t be normal. Someone had died. This annoyed Evie. She wanted to talk about it to her mum and sister. She was sure they wanted the same but they couldn’t quite bring themselves to talk. Was it the fact that if they didn’t talk about it, they could pretend that he was still alive, out on a fishing trip, enjoying himself?
It was only after the funeral that it started to properly sink in. That was when Evie’s mum realised that she wouldn’t be able to cope with the baby on her own. There would be no money coming into the house and she wouldn’t be able to work. She thought about this a lot and decided that the only option was to move to the country where her sister lived. She would be able to support and help her. Her sister and her husband lived on a farm with five kids. She wouldn’t mind looking after an extra few for a couple of hours of the day while Evie’s mum earned some money, would she?
Evie’s mum called her sister that evening and her sister was overjoyed at the idea of having a female friend around and soon to be three extra kids to keep an eye on. They arranged that the move would be in about a month. That way there would be enough time to get an estate agent to be able to sell the house for them.
When Evie’s mother told Anna and Evie the news, Evie pretended to be overjoyed, but in actual fact she hated the idea. If they moved, she would be abandoning all hoped of joining the SOSM and becoming a singer, not to mention the fact that she would be spoiling her best friend’s dream also. That hurt more than anything. She couldn’t do that to Jasmine, but it looked to Evie as though she had no other choice. Right now, Evie hoped that they wouldn’t get in, that her audition had not been good enough. That way, she wouldn’t spoil something that wasn’t going to happen anyway.
On the day the two girls received the letter telling them the results of the audition, they were both apprehensive, but Evie was far more worried than Jasmine. She knew that the strength of their friendship could depend on this letter. “Come on Evie, are you going to open it?” Jasmine giggled. She was so excited. Evie carefully teased open the envelope and let the letter drop out into her hand. She unfolded it and read to herself what it said. Her heart sank.